John’s Epic Vision The book of Revelation is a curious one; there is none other like it in the Bible. It is perhaps the most scrutinized and misunderstood section. While I will not make any attempt to explain it, I will offer some context as a guide: We can consider Revelation in three sections: Introduction: […]
Consider How We Use Technology For a long time I resisted getting a smartphone. It’s not that I’m technologically adverse; I love technology. And it’s not that I didn’t see how beneficial it would be to have internet access anytime, anywhere. It’s that I worried about how having a smartphone might affect my interactions with […]
One of Jesus’ disciples was Simon, who Jesus renamed Peter. According to the Amplified Bible, Peter means “stone” or “a large piece of rock.” Sometimes the Bible refers to him as Simon (47 times) and other times Simon Peter (33 times) but mostly just Peter (139 times). Peter was the first leader of Jesus’ followers, […]
As covered a few weeks ago, the book of Jude contains three cryptic references to ancient non-biblical texts. In addition, Jude also includes references to biblical accounts. The first is in verse 6, where Jude mentions angels who abandoned their role and their home. This is likely a nod to Genesis 6:1-4, which talks about […]
The apostle Paul writes to the church in Galatia about being “crucified with Christ.” In his letter to the church in Corinth, he states, “You are in Christ.” That is a hard concept for me to grasp, yet, the phrase “in Christ” occurs some 90 times in the Bible. It appears in about half of the […]
It’s interesting that we tend to equate writing prolificacy with profundity. After these three, the reminding New Testament authors, especially those of shorter letters, fade into obscurity and are barely noticed by most readers of the Bible. Such is the case of Peter, whose two short letters comprise but 2.5 percent of New Testament content. […]
Peter cried when he realized he had denied even knowing Jesus (Mark 14:72). What makes this even more ironic is that earlier that same day he pledged his support to Jesus, claiming to be willing to die with him (Mark 14:31). For most people, admitting that we “know” Jesus is a relatively easy thing to […]