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For Bible Study Nerds

Reader Appeal: Pastors, Bible teachers Genre: Commentary FBSN Rating: B+   It seems strange that asking a theologian to write a Bible commentary would be considered, well, strange. But in the “academic silo” world we live in, the fact is that theologians don’t typically write commentaries. Professors of biblical studies write commentaries, while theologians write,…

Reader Appeal: Bible teachers, students, Bible Study Nerds Genre: Christian History FBSN Rating: B   Dr. Bryan Litfin is a theology professor at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, Illinois. He also holds a Ph.D. in the field of ancient church history and a master’s degree in historical theology. So, you know, he’s a big ol’…

Reader Appeal: Pastors, Teachers, Seminary Students Genre: Commentary FBSN Rating: A   The risk with Christian history and theology is that voices from our shared past are often drowned out by the voices of today’s popular thought leaders and megachurch pastors. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with listening to modern theologians. It’s just that sometimes…

“Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?” It’s interesting that John asked an academic question, recorded in Matthew 11:3, and Jesus responded with a legal answer (Matthew 11:4-6). John’s question really only required a yes-or-no reply, but instead of giving that simple solution, Jesus convened an impromptu, informal…

When John the Baptist was in prison and heard that Jesus was nearby, he sent his disciples to ask of Christ himself: “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?” (Matthew 11:3). Why did he ask this question? Legendary preacher John Wesley explained John’s question as a manipulative teaching…

Matthew 11:2-3 reported that, while in prison, John the Baptist heard about what his Jesus was doing, and wanted to know more. What Matthew didn’t report was the conditions John endured in prison. Historians tell us that John the Baptist was imprisoned in the castle fortress of Machaerus, located just east of the Dead Sea…

  Matthew 10:23 quotes Jesus as saying to his disciples, “I tell you the truth, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes.” This appears to be a reference to the second coming of Jesus—and it clearly didn’t happen. So…how do we make sense of that? Theologians…

“They will hand you over to the local councils and flog you in their synagogues…” Don’t gloss over Jesus’ promise of flogging that’s recorded in Matthew 10:17—you can be sure his disciples didn’t. Here’s what happened when one of Jesus’ disciples was flogged in a synagogue: Any person—man or woman—deemed guilty of entering the temple…

So…were there really 13 apostles of Jesus? The New Testament gives four separate listings of Jesus’ inner-circle disciples, a group of men known as “the Twelve.” The list in Matthew 10:2-4 claims to be a complete summary of “the names of the twelve apostles.” That list includes: Simon (who is called Peter) Andrew James son…

Matthew 9:36 reports this of Jesus, “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them…” (italics mine). That two-word phrase the NIV translates as “had compassion” is actually just one word in the original Greek: splagchnízomai—and it means more than we might assume. Our tendency is to look at Matthew 9:36 and think that…
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