Biblical Studies – The Two Cities

A Revolutionary Jesus with Dr. Jesse Nickel (Podcast)

Nov 20, 2024

In this episode we’re joined by Dr. Jesse Nickel, who is a member of the Faculty of Biblical Studies at Columbia Bible College in Abbotsford, British Columbia and the author of the new book, A Revolutionary Jesus: Violence and Peacemaking in the Kingdom of God (published by Fortress). Over the course of our conversation, we talk about Jesus’s non-violent kingdom and his call to peacemaking, noting, among other things, how pacifism is not passive-ism. As...

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...

Immigration and Apocalypse with Dr. Yii-Jan Lin (Podcast)

Oct 23, 2024

In this episode we’re joined by Dr. Yii-Jan Lin, who is Associate Professor of New Testament at Yale Divinity School and the author of the forthcoming book, Immigration and Apocalypse: How the Book of Revelation Shaped American Immigration (with Yale University Press). Over the course of our conversation we discuss the conflation of America with the New Jerusalem in political rhetoric, and the implications that has for how some conservative politicians talk about immigration. We...

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...

The Divine Heartset in Philippians with Dr. Crispin Fletcher-Louis (Podcast)

Sep 4, 2024

In this episode we’re joined by Dr. Crispin Fletcher-Louis, who is a Fellow at the University of Gloucestershire and the author of the book that we’re discussing in this episode, The Divine Heartset: Paul’s Philippians Christ Hymn, Metaphysical Affections, and Civic Virtues (published by Cascade). Over the course of our conversation, we talk about Dr. Fletcher-Louis’s massive volume on the Christ Hymn in Philippians 2, in which he makes several fascinating exegetical decisions rooted in...

Embedded Genres with Professor Jeannine Brown (Podcast)

Aug 28, 2024

In this episode we’re joined by Professor Jeannine Brown, who is David Price Professor of Biblical Foundations at Bethel Seminary, a member of the NIV translation committee, and the author of a number of books on Hermeneutics and the Gospels as well as the book that we’re excited to discuss in this episode, Embedded Genres in the New Testament: Understanding Their Impact for Interpretation (published by Baker). In our conversation we talk about the interpretative...