I bought a bottle of mystery liquid in Poland. It was a confusing experience that reminded me of the need to understand cultural context when we read the Bible. So, I talked about it in church.
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translation
Three Arguments not to Make in the Chronology Debate
The Patterns of Evidence documentary series has become popular with evangelicals in recent years. It proposes a revised chronology based on David Rohl’s work that shortens the Egyptian timeline such that the Exodus weakened Egypt’s army, making them vulnerable for an invasion and occupation that’s known as the Hyksos Period (aka the Second Intermediate Period). Others who accept the historicity of the Exodus will typically say that Israel was enslaved during the Hyksos Period and left sometime afterwards during the Eighteenth Dynasty.
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Greek for People Who Don’t Know Greek: James 2:21–24
James 2 has become a proof text for a concept that is known in Russian as “Salvation Through Lordship,” which supposes that saving faith must be accompanied by works (or submission to the lordship of Christ) in order to be truly salvific. There are several problems with this view, but one problem in this context is that James 2 is saying precisely the opposite, that it is possible to be saved through faith alone, not through lordship, and still lack works. Obviously, James wants his audience to have both faith and works, so in James 2:21–24, he appeals to the life of Abraham to distinguish between faith and works and to show that faith and works have two different results.[Read More]
Soviet Propaganda Art
The Kingdom, a word study, and a story about King Darius running away from Ukrainians
This post is extracted from some research I’m doing related to the kingdom.
φθάνω (Matt 12:28; Luke 11:20)
A host of clear biblical passages teach that the kingdom is literal and earthly. Two obscure passages that have become key to overthrowing the plain meaning of the text are Matt 12:28 and Luke 11:20, both of which record Jesus telling unbelievers that the kingdom ἔφθασεν ἐφ᾿ ὑμᾶς, which the KJV translates, “is come unto you” in Matthew and “is come upon you” in Luke. To the assertion that Jesus made it plain that the kingdom had already come, Millar Burrows responds:[Read More]
Reconsidering the Talmudic Definition of “Day”
I’ve recently had the privilege of being able to edit Robert Courtney’s article on the day when Christ died. This is a huge topic in apologetics. Mark and Luke record Jesus’ tomb being empty on Sunday, the first day of the week, the day after the Sabbath (Mark 16:1–2; Luke 24:1) and Matthew records Jesus saying:[Read More]