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...
Even though there has been a steady rise of in-person and online gambling over the last several years, few voices seem to be speaking out against this societal ill, a true threat to human flourishing. While some of the focus inevitably needs to deal with the role of...
Brett McCracken has written a helpful, short book on managing our information-overload world. He rightly notes that though we live in a world of exponentially increasing knowledge, such knowledge has not done much to make us wise. The book breaks into two unequal...
It has been over 8 months since the initial major responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S. Various local, state, and federal leaders and agencies have pursued a variety of responses and adopted a range of policies. Personally, I am thankful I was not responsible...
I was recently reading a book designed to answer questions posed against Christianity.[1] The book is good, and I recommend it, but I want to use one of the statements in the book as a jumping pad to a point the author was not directly making. Rebecca McLaughlin was...
This is a review of the book, The Saints of Zion: An Introduction to Mormon Theology Are Mormons Christians? If you don’t know the answer to that question, or if you know the answer but don’t know why your answer is right, then this book is written for you. The...
The origins of the Septuagint (hereafter, LXX) remain murky despite the evidence of its wide dissemination in the Hellenistic world.[1] Clues to its existence begin to emerge as early as the mid-second century B.C. Historical details, however, concerning the identity,...
A message from Dr. Doran: Dear Friend of DBTS, Happy Thanksgiving! God has been gracious to us and is worthy of every bit of thanks, and more, that He receives. I am looking forward to a fun and refreshing time with family and friends on Thanksgiving Day, then...
In my previous posts, here and here, I reported on a debate between Dan Wallace and Bart Ehrman during which Wallace remarked that he had information about the discovery of a fragmentary papyrus manuscript of the Gospel of Mark that possibly may be from the 1st...
In the past few weeks, a number of significant new commentaries have been released, and several more are on the immediate horizon. Below are a few of the more interesting additions. Douglas Moo, Romans, 2nd ed., NICNT (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2018) Originally...
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...
Brother or Sister in Christ, Every one of us must find our righteousness in Jesus Christ and in Him alone. He lived perfectly (the way we couldn’t) and died sacrificially (in our place) and rose victoriously! He is our hope for being made right with God, overcoming...
Personally, I think that Thabiti Anyabwile has provided some of the best commentary on the inclusion of T. D. Jakes into the Elephant Room discussion. His initial offering before the event was dead on target, and his follow up post is also worth reading. He continues...
Each successful doctoral completion in biblical studies results in a niche scholar; that is, a scholar who knows massive amounts about a small corner of the biblical marketplace.[1] For instance, I completed my dissertation on John Frame and Vern Poythress’s...
When a person self-describes as “conservative,” the meaning of the adjective can be elusive. Conservatism can be noble in one context and ignoble in another. What gives the word meaning, ultimately, is the explanation of what one is conserving and what one is allowing...
Is technology killing our sanctification? Recently I was excited to attend a sacred Christmas concert. Soaring Christmas music combined with splendid orchestration and lush decoration created a unique visual and auditory experience. Elegant Christmas programs are...
"I would like to buy about three dollars' worth of gospel, please. Not too much—just enough to make me happy, but not so much that I get addicted. I don’t want so much gospel that I learn to really hate covetousness and lust. I certainly don’t want so much that I...
On this day 499 years ago, a monk named Martin Luther (1483–1546) approached a church door in Wittenberg, Germany and posted a list of topics for academic debate at the local university. With this relatively innocuous act Luther started a movement that developed into...
OK, so I told myself I was done talking about Christians and voting. But the events of the last week got to me. Not the Billy Bush video, but the evangelical reaction to it. Please don’t get me wrong—the video was awful and disgusting and demeaning and odious and...