Tom Peters

About Tom Peters

The author received a degree in accounting from Duquesne University and a law degree from the University of Michigan. He went on to practice law as a partner at an international law firm before retiring some years ago. As an undergraduate, the author took a summer course in New Testament Greek, prompting a lifelong interest in the subject. The author enjoys taking long walks in the nearby woods, playing the violin, and studying modern languages, one of which, German, interested readers will soon see, came in handy in researching and writing this note.

A Suggestion for Future Commentators on 2 Corinthians

Nov 11, 2024

Photo credit: “inside the library (1)” by Joelk75 is licensed under CC BY 2.0. Some scholars currently working on new commentaries to 2 Corinthians and others updating older ones have expressed some interest in the series of articles I have posted on this blog concerning the proper translation of 2 Cor. 5:10, namely the subordinate clause. Since the grammar of this passage has never been rigorously examined by any commentator as far as I know, and only touched...

Christian Nationalism with Professor Sam Perry (Podcast)

Oct 30, 2024

In this episode we’re joined by Professor Sam Perry, who is Sam K. Viersen Presidential Professor at the University of Oklahoma is the Department of Sociology and the author of several books, including two on the topic of Christian Nationalism, Taking America Back for God (with Andrew Whitehead, published by Oxford University Press), and The Flag and the Cross (with Philip Gorski, published by Oxford University Press). In this episode, Professor Perry talks about Christian Nationalism as an...

Beyond the Current Confusion toward a Coherent and Scripturally Sound View of the Final Judgment

Oct 21, 2024

This note contends that telescoping all final judgment of both believers and non-believers alike before one final apocalyptic tribunal at the end of the age following Christ’s return has yielded a number of unfortunate consequences, which include: (1) creating an unnecessary tension between the doctrines of judgment according to works and salvation by faith; (2) scripturally fabricating the need for some form of a completely unnecessary Intermediate State following one’s physical death; (3) minimizing and...

A Quick Summary in Plain English Why the Conventional Translation of 2 Cor. 5:10 is So Wrong, and Possible Reasons Why It Has Nonetheless Held Up For So Long

Oct 5, 2024

Photo Credit: “Courtroom” by ☺ Lee J Haywood is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. Here is the Greek text of this verse, with the crucial subordinate clause in italics. Don’t worry if you don’t know Greek. You’ll be able to follow along anyway. The key words are in bold print. τοὺς γὰρ πάντας ἡμᾶς φανερωθῆναι δεῖ ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ βήματος τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ἵνα κομίσηταιἕκαστος τὰ διὰ τοῦ σώματος πρὸς ἃ ἔπραξεν, εἴτε ἀγαθὸν εἴτε φαῦλον. Readers might be surprised...

Book Review and Essay on The Role of Works at the Final Judgment, edited by Alan P. Stanley.

Sep 28, 2024

Four Views On the Role of Works at the Final Judgment. Edited by Alan P. Stanley. Counterpoints: Bible and Theology. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2013. Paperback ISBN: 0310490332. Contains contributions by Robert N. Wilkin, Thomas R. Schreiner, James D. G. Dunn, Michael P. Barber, and Alan P. Stanley. Here, in this well-conceived 275-page book (page numbers are from the Kindle edition which roughly approximates the print version), four prominent scholars advance different views on the role...

The Transfiguration of Christ: A Book Review with Reflections on Judgment

Sep 20, 2024

In his wonderfully fascinating new book, The Transfiguration of Christ: An Exegetical and Theological Reading, by Patrick Schreiner (Baker Academic 2024), Dr. Schreiner demonstrates in minutely researched detail how the transfiguration of Christ reveals Christ’s preexistent glory, while also foreshadowing his messianic function of bringing about a transformed and reworked creation in which heaven and earth are united, and in which everything in this broken world will be set right. Professor Schreiner’s main point (page...

A Modest Critique of N. T. Wright’s <i>Surprised by Hope</i> from the Perspective of Paradise and the Final Judgment

A Modest Critique of N. T. Wright’s Surprised by Hope from the Perspective of Paradise and the Final Judgment

Sep 13, 2024

Professor Wright has given us all a precious gift by “reminding” us and, more importantly, by explaining to us in persuasive detail that Jesus on Easter did not pass into some vague spiritual netherworld, but rather rose bodily from the dead. The resurrection, Dr. Wright correctly proclaims, represents the defeat of death and the inauguration of a new and transformed cosmos, both of heaven and earth, in which those who believe in him, each of...

Do Near-Death Experiences Conflict with the Biblical Notion of the Final Judgment?

Aug 26, 2024

A near-death experience (NDE) is generally defined as what people experience after they have been pronounced clinically dead, that is, with no brain waves or heart function, and who are later resuscitated. It is important to note here that Jesus did not resuscitate, but resurrected. He is the only one in human history to have done so. All those who experience NDE’s come back to their earthly bodies and later die. Jesus died fully, but...

Postscript to an Article on the Judgment Seat of Christ in 2 Cor. 5:10

Aug 9, 2024

In response to my full article on a new reading of 2 Corinthians 5.10 (which you can read here in full), Dr. Garland wrote: “Tom rightly points [out] that one’s unexamined presuppositions about what the text says tends to predetermine the reading of the Greek grammar. If one assumes the interpretation is correct, one is less likely to probe as exhaustively as Tom has done [on] the grammatical complications” (his full reply to the short...

Jeannine K. Brown, Embedded Genres in the New Testament: Understanding Their Impact for Interpretation (Reflections for 2 Corinthians 5:10)

Jul 15, 2024

Dr. Jeannine Brown’s new book, Embedded Genres in the New Testament: Understanding Their Impact for Interpretation (Baker), was a delight to read and should benefit both scholar and lay Christian alike. What intrigued me the most was the preliminary matter of attempting to identify and sort through various subgenres within larger works, and then how to go about analyzing their interrelationships. As I read the book, I couldn’t help thinking about its potential relevance to...

About Tom Peters

A Suggestion for Future Commentators on 2 Corinthians

Christian Nationalism with Professor Sam Perry (Podcast)

Beyond the Current Confusion toward a Coherent and Scripturally Sound View of the Final Judgment

A Quick Summary in Plain English Why the Conventional Translation of 2 Cor. 5:10 is So Wrong, and Possible Reasons Why It Has Nonetheless Held Up For So Long

Book Review and Essay on The Role of Works at the Final Judgment, edited by Alan P. Stanley.

The Transfiguration of Christ: A Book Review with Reflections on Judgment

A Modest Critique of N. T. Wright’s Surprised by Hope from the Perspective of Paradise and the Final Judgment

Do Near-Death Experiences Conflict with the Biblical Notion of the Final Judgment?

Postscript to an Article on the Judgment Seat of Christ in 2 Cor. 5:10

Jeannine K. Brown, Embedded Genres in the New Testament: Understanding Their Impact for Interpretation (Reflections for 2 Corinthians 5:10)

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