Thomas Kidd, a professor of Church History at Baylor University, is personally invested in the answer to the question posed in the title of his book. He is invested, because he calls himself an evangelical, and he fits in the historical stream of those who have borne...
With the current restrictions on gatherings in Michigan we were unable to host our commencement ceremony this year at DBTS. While we have invited our graduates from this year to participate in our 2021 ceremony, we would also like to take some time to recognize their...
In light of the challenging time, I have been writing a series of posts designed to help us think through how to do evangelism during the pandemic. You can see the previous posts in the following links: Part 1, 2, 3a, 3b, 3c. Step 4: Keep the Conversation Going The...
This is a really strange time for ministry generally and evangelism specifically. Over the last few weeks, I have been writing a series of short posts designed to aid us in evangelism during this unprecedented time (See Step One, Step Two, Step 3a, and Step 3b). Step...
This is a really strange time for ministry generally and evangelism specifically. Over the last few weeks, I have been writing a series of short posts designed to aid us in evangelism during this unprecedented time (See Step One, Step Two, and Step 3a). Step 3b: Tell...
This is a really strange time for ministry generally and evangelism specifically. Last week, I began to develop a series of short posts designed to aid us in evangelism during this unprecedented time (See Step One and Step Two). Step 3a: Tell the Lost about Christ:...
This is a really strange time for ministry generally and evangelism specifically. Last week, I began to develop a series of short posts designed to aid us in evangelism during this unprecedented time (See Step One). Here is a second installment. Step 2: Tell the Lost...
Our pastor quipped on Sunday (3/22) that, during the present crisis, we should spread the gospel, not the virus. This is a really strange time for ministry generally and evangelism specifically. Over the next week or so (while we’re all staying put in our homes!), I...
Note: This post, as well as future and past posts concerning the Septuagint, are rough drafts for a potential upcoming book on the Septuagint. Accordingly, these posts will be removed at a future date. In regard to this article, it is the second of two which analyze...
Note: This post, as well as future posts concerning the Septuagint, are rough drafts for a potential upcoming book on the Septuagint. Accordingly, these posts will be removed at a future date. In regard to this article, it is the first of two which seek to analyze and...
A unique resource has finally been fully completed, and I thought our readers should take note. Mark Ward, a graduate of BJU who now works at Logos, has worked for two years compiling a helpful resource for comparing the Greek text underlying the KJV (TR) with modern...
A few weeks ago, Dan Wallace wrote an article on the recent trend towards online theological education. I would like to summarize his points here, and then offer a few comments. You can read his entire post at this link (and I encourage you to do so). The main point...
A local pastor recently asked me to recommend a reliable Greek guide for working through a New Testament text. He was planning to preach through the text, and while he had plenty of commentaries, even commentaries based on the Greek text, he was looking for something...
One of the more troubling mis-translations in the history of English Bible translation (at least in terms of its popular acceptance and impact) is the King James rendering of Luke 2:14 as “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” Despite...
Is our world a simulation? That position has been expressed in the past.[1] Some of the more well-known theories come from Descartes and the movie, “The Matrix.” According to Descartes, it is possible that our world experience is the hallucination caused by a...
A few weeks ago I asked the question concerning how much those committed to evangelical faith should engage with progressive scholarship.[1] The reader’s responses were helpful, pointing mostly to limited and purposeful engagement. Let’s say we follow this advice and...
When the King James Version was published in 1611, there were actually two printed editions, with 450 variations in the biblical text (Norton, Textual History of the King James Bible, 173–79). These are commonly called the “He” and “She” Bibles, from their respective...
Church Works Media has produced a number of devotional works over the past few years. Each has a special emphasis (e.g., missions, prayer, suffering) that focuses on unpacking biblical texts and helpfully applying them to life. I was asked to participate in the...
Dear Fellow Servant of Jesus Christ: It seems like every day brings more bad news in this crazy, sin-cursed world. And it seems, at least sometimes, like God's people are dropping into defense-mode as the world becomes increasingly hostile toward Christianity. While...
At the beginning of the year I mentioned in a post that in September of 2011, Liberty University Biblical Studies Symposium held a discussion on the topic, “Which Bible Translation Should I Use?” featuring Dr. Ray Clendenen (HCSB), Dr. Wayne Grudem (ESV), and Dr. Doug...
This is the provocative title of a post by Stan Porter, well-known NT scholar, challenging Dan Wallace's claim that a 1st century copy of Mark has apparently been discovered. We reported on Dan's claim in a series of posts here, here, here, and here. You can read...
Most of us are familiar with the KJV's reporting of Paul's declaration in Rom 1:14, "I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise." We are commonly told that the motivation for Paul's willingness to give himself to the...
With this post I finish my critique of the framework interpretation of the creation week. As I stated in the first post, three major theses support the framework view. Having looked at the first and second arguments, I will focus on the final one in this post. The...
In my previous post, I asked if churches should abandon the King James Version for a modern English translation. I answered, "Yes," and suggested there were two main reasons. The first is the inferior Greek text from which the KJV was translated, the Textus Receptus...
With this post I continue my critique of the framework interpretation of the creation week. As I stated in the previous post, three major theses support the framework view. Having looked at the first argument, I will focus on the second argument in this post. The...
There is a new web site, Early Bible, that recently came online, whose purpose is to display pictures of the New Testament papyrus manuscripts. It is very nicely done and hopefully more papyri will be coming online soon.
Previously (here, here, and here), we reported on seven new papyrus manuscript finds reported by Dan Wallace, including a first-century copy of Mark's Gospel. Below is a recent video with Dan giving a few more details.
The current popularity of the framework interpretation of the Genesis creation account is largely a result of the work of Reformed scholar Meredith G. Kline. His initial entry was an article in the late 1950s, “Because It Had Not Rained” (Westminster Theological...
The King James-only movement suggests that with the coming of the KJV there was no need for further translation work and that the proliferation of modern versions is harmful to the church. Yet the translators of the KJV faced the same objection. They note in their...
The King James-only movement refuses to recognize any other translation in English as the Word of God. As I noted in previous posts (here and here), the Preface to the 1611 KJV is an embarrassment to the KJV-only position because in the Preface the translators...
Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God" (ESV). A contested issue in John 3:5 relates to the meaning of “born of water and the Spirit.” In this post, I will argue that the best way to...
I received a phone call from a pastor in Florida a few weeks back who was going to be speaking in his church from the book of Ephesians. He wanted my opinion as to what I considered to be the best commentary on the epistle. I quickly told him to look at Harold...
We received word yesterday of the death of noted New Testament scholar R. T. France on February 10. Dr. France was well known for a number of important books, including commentaries on Matthew and Mark. You can see a list here. But today I want to call attention to...
Today is the memorial service in St. Louis for Frederick Danker, who died on Thursday. Danker was the editor of the Bauer-Danker-Arndt-Gingrich Greek lexicon (BDAG), which is the standard Greek dictionary of the New Testament. Those of us who teach New Testament Greek...
This article by Frederica Mathewes-Green has more to do with the problems of feminism and is worth reading, but I thought this section was particularly thought provoking: Take the bad idea that I’m calling "careerism." I don’t mean by this that women shouldn’t have...
If you’re looking for a book to give for Christmas, you might consider Surprised by Oxford. This is a delightful memoir by Carolyn Weber, a Canadian from London, Ontario. It traces her first year as a graduate student at Oxford University (Oriel College). The title, I...
This past April, Andrew Naselli’s new volume, How to Read a Book: Advice for Christian Readers, was released by Canon Press. Over the past few months, six of my kids have read it. Most of them had already read Adler’s book with a similar title.[1] They thought...
The use of the term passion has seen a huge uptick in conservative evangelical life in the past 25 years or so, roughly paralleling the sharp rise in influence of Reformed Charismatism in conservative evangelical theology and hymnody. The...
You’ve heard the mantra a dozen times: “Christianity is not a religion; it’s a relationship.” This statement is quite wrong. Firstly, because it’s a false dichotomy (can’t it be both?), but secondly because if we have to choose, Christianity is more...
In 1 Peter 2:11–12, Peter argues that believers should live “good lives among the pagans” with the goal that unbelievers would see the believers’ “good deeds and glorify God.” From 2:13–3:7, Peter lays out the various ways this can be accomplished: by citizens...
Many people are looking for excuses to do less for God. This post is not for them. This is for Christians who tend to burn the candle at both ends, for people who have a hard time saying “no.” I regularly meet with people who are overwhelmed with life. Sometimes it’s...
I knew I had a difficult task ahead of me. The next passage to teach in my Adult Bible Fellowship was 1 Peter 3:18–22. If you have ever preached or taught through 1 Peter, you got goosebumps when I mentioned that passage. In just five verses there is complexity upon...
Dealing with difficult passages requires that we keep four hermeneutical principles in mind: Principle #1: Interpreting difficult passages starts with understanding what the text says.Principle #2: Difficult passages must be interpreted in light the immediate...
DBTS just hosted the Bible Faculty Summit, a meeting of faculty from various theological institutions. This year, we had multiple faculty members from institutions like Bob Jones University, Maranatha Baptist University, Faith Baptist Bible College in Ankeny, and...
The tendency among young men and women to delay marriage (or even to abandon it entirely) in contemporary Western society has given birth to a curiously parallel increase of interest in Paul’s passing comment in 1 Corinthians 7:6–9 about his own marital state...
We can endure the worst kinds of pain when there is a meaningful purpose. A cadet can endure strenuous labor and exhaustion as long as he knows that his suffering is designed to prepare him for future battle. A mother can endure severe labor pains if she knows the...
* Note this is a two-part series. The first part details my theological reservations about the book. The second details some of the insightful elements a discerning reader may nevertheless gain from the book. C.S. Lewis was a master of imagination. Most Christians...
Breaking news: We are all going to die. But prior to death, we lose our strength and energy. Old age comes with waning strength. Memory starts to slip; instability and immobility become a norm of life. Young, healthy people don't think about the later years as...