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Mark D. Roberts

One of the most influential theological movements in ancient Judaism was what scholars call The Wisdom Tradition. Beginning many centuries before Christ, faithful Jews began to pass along popular wisdom, such as we find in the biblical book of Proverbs. Throughout this book we find wise sayings of the sort popularized in America by Ben…

In last Friday’s post I began to answer the question of why the earliest Christians came to regard Jesus as divine. I showed how belief that divine salvation came through Jesus led to confessing Jesus as the Savior. Then, given the consistent testimony of the Old Testament to the effect that God alone is Savior,…

Psalm 10:1-18 You will bring justice to the orphans and the oppressed,      so mere people can no longer terrify them. Psalm 10:18 Psalm 10 begins by wondering why the Lord lets the wicked do their evil deeds and even prosper because of them. The wicked even think God is absent or, at any rate,…

Autumn is just now coming to the Texas Hill Country. I thought I’d share with you a couple of photos of Laity Lodge, the retreat center where I work. Laity Lodge is situated on the bank of the Frio River in the Hill Country, about two hours from San Antonio. It is in the middle…

So far in this series we’ve looked at historical evidence that shows that some of the earliest Christian spoke of Jesus as Lord, applying to him the very name of Israel’s God. To their Lord they prayed and offered worship. Why? Why did faithful, monotheistic Jews begin to believe that Jesus, the human Messiah, was…

One of the classic Jewish affirmations appears in the sixth chapter of Deuteronomy: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength” (Deut 6:4-5, NIV). This is often called the Shema, Hebrew for the…

In my last post I examined one of the very oldest bits of evidence for early Christian belief about Jesus. As you may recall, the original Greek text of 1 Corinthians 16:22 contains the Aramaic phrase, marana tha, which means, “Our Lord, come!” This shows that some of the very earliest Christians actually prayed to…

Sometime in the mid-50s A.D., the Apostle Paul wrote a letter to the church in Corinth. He concluded this epistle in the following way: I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. Let anyone be accursed who has no love for the Lord. Our Lord, come! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with…

In the last two weeks I’ve read three provocative pieces on the future of Christianity in general, and evangelical Christianity in particular. Two are books, one is an article. All three share certain things in common, though their visions for the correct future of Christianity are diverse if not contradictory. (I’ll get back to my…

Real, Basic Stewardship READ Psalm 8:1-9   You gave them charge of everything you made,      putting all things under their authority. Psalm 8:6 At this time of year, many churches focus on stewardship. For sixteen years as pastor of Irvine Presbyterian Church, I would preach sermons on this core biblical theme. Yes, these sermons were…
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