Biblical Wordplay Doesn’t Obfuscate Meaning
Years ago, inaugural Tampa Bay Buccaneers' Coach John McKay was asked, after yet another loss, about his team’s execution. He quipped without hesitation, “I’m all for it.” McKay had the ability to quickly recognize not only the original, intended meaning of a word,...
History of the Problem of Evil, Part 2
The Problem of Evil in Modern Philosophy Calvin (1509-1564) Calvin resolutely disregards human volition as a means of absolving God for evil’s existence, and thus rejects earlier mainstream theodicies. In Ockham, however, Calvin finds an agreeable response to the...
9 Steps for Bible Exegesis and Exposition: #8 Secondary Verification
Technically only the first seven steps of the exegetical process are truly exegetical. In those steps we aren’t using anything but the text itself (though because of our limitations in connecting with the languages especially it is expected that we will use tools like...
“The most effective leadership, management, and efficiency models share traits common with each other, and traits that are ultimately traceable to the pages of the Bible. While these models are often not intentionally rooted in Biblical concepts by those that promote the models, the models illustrate how applying Biblical principles can set a trajectory of success in enterprise and in life. Led By a Lion is designed to introduce some of these leadership, management, and efficiency models, but goes a step further in identifying the Biblical genesis of many of the core traits that fuel the success of these models.”
History of the Problem of Evil, Part 1
The seemingly unavoidable contradiction between the existence of a personal God and the reality of evil provides a crucial point of entry not only for discussion both of (1) argument for and against the existence of God and (2) the nature and character of such a God,...
Hypocrisy, A&E, Phil Robertson, and Us: Lessons to Be Learned
So let’s recap. Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty fame was quoted in a GQ interview as saying, “It seems like, to me, a vagina – as a man – would be more desirable than a man’s anus. That’s just me. I’m just thinking: There’s more there! She’s got more to offer. I mean,...
Aesthetics as an Example of the Cross-Disciplinary Pervasiveness of the Problem of Evil
Where do theology and philosophy intersect, and at what points can they be observed as doing so? For Aquinas, theology was a subset of philosophy – a part, actually. He describes the relationship saying, …all things which “are” are dealt with in the philosophical...
“This approach has the advantage of seeking to view all knowledge through the lens of Scripture, and to subject all knowledge to the authority of Scripture. It encourages science and research within the field of psychology. It offers a Biblical balance of description and prescription. Of course, if the Bible is unreliable, then the refractive power of Scripture is distortive rather than corrective, but the epistemological premise of this approach is that God’s word is authoritative and sufficient for our understanding, for our equipping, and for our practice. There are many extra-biblical resources that we can employ, but in seeking out how and when to do that, we mustn’t lose sight of the one reliable constant that God has provided for us – the Bible.” –Chapter 9
9 Steps for Bible Exegesis and Exposition, Step #7: Identify Theological Context
In Step #6, we considered Biblical context, examining contexts on the basis of immediate and near textual proximity. In Step #7, our concern is theological context – a contextual consideration of theologically (topically) similar passages. The goal here is not to...
Coniah’s Judgment: Did The Grinch Steal Christmas?
In order to fulfill Biblical prophecy, the Messiah had to come from the seed of David. He had to be of the tribe of Judah, in the line of Solomon, yet he could not be of the seed of Coniah, whom (because of a litany of evils) God essentially removed from the royal...
Why I Said “No” to Ghostwriting
Once upon a time, early on in my academic and writing career, I was invited to ghostwrite for a best-selling author (who shall remain anonymous). I recall my initial shock at the request, because in my naïveté I had no idea that there was any such thing as a...
“The Green Tree is an exceptional work…provides a vital tool for every Bible interpreter…Just as the root system is the foundation of a tree and directly impacts the health of a tree, hermeneutic method is at the root of one’s worldview. This illustration demonstrates that the hermeneutic method that an interpreter of the Bible employs will significantly affect the outcome. The tree will either be healthy, or it will not be healthy…The authors provide a unique examination of Revelation, Genesis, and Job that demonstrates that the LGH hermeneutic is derived from within Scripture, something that other hermeneutical methods fail to demonstrate. This is perhaps the most crucial principle demonstrated in The Green Tree, and it effectively demonstrates that the LGH hermeneutic is also the Biblical hermeneutic.” – Andrew Friend (Amazon Review)
7 Core Values for Effective Life and Ministry
#1 The Supremacy of His Glory It’s simple: It is all about Him, end of story. Ephesians 1 illustrates how Father (1:6), Son (1:12), and Holy Spirit (1:14) each work together for the glory of God. His activities serve His own purpose of expressing His character,...
Modeling Thanksgiving
What can we learn from Paul’s prayers of thanksgiving?
Obadiah Overview
A downloadable synthetic overview of the Book of Obadiah.
Did Jesus Teach Cannibalism or Transubstantiation?
In John 6:53-56 we find a strange statement by Jesus that troubled even His disciples (6:60): 53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. 54 “He who...
What is Wisdom?
If we define it by lexical etymology, then philosophy is simply the affection for or love of wisdom. Consequently, how we define wisdom will go a long way in helping us get to the heart of what philosophy really is. In Proverbs Solomon uses the term nearly fifty...
9 Steps for Bible Exegesis and Exposition, Step #5: Identify Lexical Keys
After we have recognized and understood the relationships of words to each other, we need to examine the words themselves. The context of the word is the greatest definer, but lexical meaning is important. At this point a lexicon is a necessity. The standard authority...
Artificial Color is Not an Ingredient of Love
An excerpt from The Bible in Government and Society, now available from Tyndale Seminary Press: Once upon a time there was a group of believers so stunted in their spiritual growth, that they received one of the sternest rebukes of any assembly to that point. Rather...
Hermeneutical Ramifications of Applying the New Covenant to the Church: An Appeal to Consistency
Addressed to The Council on Dispensational Hermeneutics at Baptist Bible Seminary, on September 24, 2009, and later published in Journal of Dispensational Theology, December 2009, and currently scheduled to be included in a forthcoming single volume handling the issue...
Never Miss an Opportunity to Say “Thank You”
I first met Dr. Mal Couch in 1993, after returning to Texas from Moody Bible Institute, and at a time when I was unsure of where I would continue my Biblical education. Discovering Tyndale Seminary in a DFW Christian newspaper, I promptly visited the campus and...
The Bible, Government, and Social Justice Part 3: Government’s Inherent Limitation
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels provide a helpful case study in the inherent limitations of government. Their landmark publication, The Communist Manifesto (hereafter, TCM), was first printed in 1848, and offered to some the hope they had been desperately seeking....