Epaphras Wrestles in Prayer The letter to Philemon ends with a list of supporting players who send their greetings and implicitly endorse Paul’s missive of reconciliation. First up is Epaphras, who by being singled out, stands alone in...
The Friends and Foes of Jesus: Discover How People in the New Testament React to God’s Good News Jesus Was Loved. He Was Hated. But He Was Never Ignored Some people think Jesus was easy-going. Hardly. Everything he did and said sparked passionate...
What Kind of Person Are You? Paul affirms Tychicus as a dear friend, faithful minister, and servant of God Tychicus is a character in the Bible who most people don’t know. His name occurs only five times, once in Acts and four times in Paul’s...
Onesimus, the Useful One The focus of Paul’s letter to Philemon is Onesimus, the runaway slave. Ironically, Onesimus means “useful.” After Onesimus flees, he encounters Jesus through Paul. Paul mentors the escaped slave and the...
Inherit Eternal Life The Bible tells the story of a rich young ruler who asks Jesus the question: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” His use of the word inherit is interesting—and a bit confounding. His question implies that...
What Sycamore Tree Do We Need to Climb? There was a man in Jericho who was boss of the people who collected taxes. He was quite rich. He wanted to catch a glimpse of Jesus, but couldn’t because he was a short rascal and the taller people...
Nine Guys Named Simon in the Bible In the last post, we talked about the disciple Simon, who Jesus named Peter. I only know of one person called Peter in the Bible, but there are several guys named Simon in the Bible. Simon Peter (the disciple)...
Four Johns but One Mark In “Another Man with Two Names” we talked about a guy known as John Mark. Although no one knows why he’s called John Mark, it does distinguish him from other men in the Bible named John. John In addition...
Who is Jude? In the Bible, there is only one mention of a man named Jude. That lone reference occurs in the opening greeting of the letter that he wrote. However, Jude is a variation of Judas. Apparently, Judas was a common name two thousand...
Philemon and His Friends The short, often overlooked book of Philemon is tucked towards the end of the New Testament, nestled between letters to Titus and to the Hebrews. Philemon and Onesimus Philemon is a letter written by Paul to his friend...
