The Household Motif in the Letters to Timothy and Titus In recent years, I’ve wrestled with various questions related to men and women in ministry and other church-related topics. As I’ve done so, I’ve increasingly come to realize that ecclesiology is often where it’s at. That is, as I try to adjudicate a question or… Read More
Community and Mission
As we read at the beginning of the book of Acts, the early church was devoted to fellowship, koinōnia (sharing things in common; koinon = common): “And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. … And all who believed were together and had all things in common” (Acts 2:42). The… Read More
Heaven and Hell: The Only Options?
Conditional Immortality (CI) is the view that life or existence is the Creator’s provisional gift to all, which will ultimately either be granted forever on the basis of righteousness or revoked forever on the basis of unrighteousness. Believers will be raised to inherit eternal life while unbelievers will be raised to be judged by God and then be destroyed…. Read More
Best Books in Biblical Studies 2014
I am grateful for the publication of several volumes in 2014 that will equip serious exegetes and preachers to study and proclaim God’s word with greater accuracy and authority. This pertains particularly to the study of Acts, Galatians, 1-2 Thessalonians, and 1 Peter. Other important books pertain to the divinity of Jesus, church leadership, and… Read More
Who Is Jesus?
With the publication of Bart Ehrman’s book How Jesus Became God and the response How God Became Jesus by a team of scholars, Jesus is in the news again. That’s a very good thing. It’s also terrific that scholars are rising to the challenge of responding to the skeptical questions raised by the likes of Ehrman…. Read More