Tag: Exegesis

Tag Exegesis

A Proposal For Reading Hebrews' Warning Passages

I’ve often joked that Hebrews languishes in the New Testament’s wilderness. Compared to the Gospels and Paul’s writings, most Bible Christians make a wide berth of Hebrews, together with the...

Graham Heslop
26 May 2022

Preaching: Great Exegesis Without Prayer Is Public Speaking

Many years ago I wrote a reflective article about a dangerous assumption among Evangelicals, particularly those for whom expository preaching is a badge of honour. I summarised this assumption like...

Graham Heslop
28 Apr 2022

Hebrews 4:9 And The Sabbath

One of the occupation hazards of biblical studies is that proof texts are inevitably seen for what they are: unconvincing. Throughout 2020 I worked on my Masters dissertation, focusing on...

Graham Heslop
23 Feb 2021

Christus Victor and 1 Peter 3

The formation and refining of a Christian’s theology is the result of a continuous conversation between Scripture and theology. Though exegesis seeks to understand the plain meaning of Scripture, inevitably...

Graham Heslop
23 Sep 2020

Malachi on Divorce, Godly Offspring, and the Gospel

Two months ago I responded to an article posted by Tim Challies. He developed a few points made by Christopher Ash, in Married for God, arguing that it is sinful...

Graham Heslop
15 Nov 2016

Galatians: Faith in Christ or the Faithfulness of Christ

Nestled in the tightly argued and exegetically demanding section of Galatians 2:15-21 we read this: “A person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus...

Graham Heslop
23 Jun 2016

Galatians: No Other Gospel

For the next two quarters my church will be working through Galatians in our small groups. I have decided to attempt a translation of Paul’s letter, with the hope that...

Graham Heslop
05 May 2016

The Pharisees According to Jesus

Last year I wrote a three part series on the Pharisees, prompted by my frustration at how the Pharisees are often portrayed in teaching and writing. My appeal throughout the...

Graham Heslop
17 Feb 2016

Does Barabbas' Release Illustrate Substitution?

‘When Jesus is held back for execution and Barabbas is set free we have a wonderful picture of substitution.’ Have you heard that before? I have. Perhaps you have even...

Graham Heslop
07 Oct 2014

Do you understand the about loaves?

It's always awesome when things in the Bible suddenly fit together and you realise something bigger going on that makes a whole bunch of pieces fit together. Most of the...

James Cuénod
15 Aug 2014

Who is the Son of God?

Not a bad question if you live in the first century. Most Christians today will tell you without hesitating that the answer to that question is Jesus. What's interesting is...

James Cuénod
25 Jun 2014

Risks in Reading for the Art of Biblical Narrative

Graham has recently written a couple of posts (here and here) on Alter's seminal work, "The Art of Biblical Narrative". The "New Literary Criticism" movement is not new any more...

James Cuénod
16 Apr 2014

Daniel 7: The Kingdom will be Given to the Saints

Despite the difficult details and apocalyptic flavour of Daniel, the overarching theme is not too complicated and I think correctly summarised as: “God is sovereign. He overrules and eventually will...

Graham Heslop
08 Apr 2014

Irony Abounding to the Chief of Persia

I few weeks back I posted in the wake of completing Robert Alter’s The Art of Biblical Narrative, noting his method and drawing out some theological conclusions. The experience implicit throughout...

Graham Heslop
02 Apr 2014

Basic Exegesis Diagram in isiZulu

One of the most exciting elements of my ministry this year is that of training lay preachers. In South Africa many rural churches share a pastor who alternates visiting churches...

James Cuénod
28 Jan 2014

The Lord is With You: Idiom Observations

Somehow the inevitable reading of an account that has likely been read or heard every year of my life was nevertheless fresh on Sunday. The reading was from Luke and...

James Cuénod
24 Dec 2013

Let's be Sensible: Original Insights [Titus 2]

Most people arrive at Bible College dreading the prospect of Greek and Hebrew - nerdy as I am, I relished it. Not because I expected to have original insights on...

James Cuénod
14 Aug 2013

Coming and Going: Idiom Observations

Some time ago I preached from Mark 6 and thought verse 31b a little weird, “For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat”. Of...

James Cuénod
09 Jul 2013

Scripture’s Doctrine And Theology’s Bible: A Bilateral Hermeneutic

I recently wrote a post on what I labeled, The Dangerous Evangelical Assumption. In it I asked if we are in danger of limiting the work of the Holy Spirit...

Graham Heslop
14 May 2013

Doodle: The Dangerous Evangelical Assumption

It was as a teenager that I first encountered exegetical preaching. And it is significant, though not paramount, that I was converted under that model of preaching, as the Holy...

Graham Heslop
09 Apr 2013

The road to Emmaus and all the things concerning Christ...

The adventures of leaving theological training to starting in full time church ministry present to me familiar challenges that my three years of training could not solve. And one such...

David Kobedi
15 Jan 2013

Mark's Ending: From Apologetics to Application

At Friday youth we have been doing a course called Christianity Explored (the youth version though - called Soul). The course runs for seven weeks with each week teaching something...

James Cuénod
22 Oct 2012

Lying Jews (and the art of biblical narrative)

Hebrew authors, it seems, have a propensity towards the prodigious use of direct speech but rarely reported speech and it seems clear that they were willing to summarise conversations into...

James Cuénod
28 Nov 2011

Rekindle