The Joy of Hearing

There is perhaps no book of the Bible that offers as many interpretive challenges as the book of Revelation. I sometimes debate whether the book is actually perfectly clear while we are pathetically thick or whether the book is extremely difficult to understand because God intended it to be. Either way, though the intent and general message of Revelation is clear enough, the details present a challenge worthy of the most eminent theologian. Speaking of which, Thomas Schreiner has recently …

Best Commentaries on 1 Corinthians

Series Introduction: I live in a small house. I work in a small office in a small church. For those reasons and others I will never have a huge library. When I add a book I almost always remove a book, a practice that allows me to focus on quality over quantity. Over the past couple of years I have focused on building a collection of commentaries that will include only the best volumes on each book of the Bible. …

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Best Commentaries on Romans

Series Introduction: I live in a small house. I work in a small office in a small church. For those reasons and others I will never have a huge library. When I add a book I almost always remove a book, a practice that allows me to focus on quality over quantity. Over the past couple of years I have focused on building a collection of commentaries that will include only the best volumes on each book of the Bible. …

The (Graphic Novel) Book of Revelation

The iPad has proven itself a game-changing medium in many ways, not the least of which is in being a medium that Christians can use to share the good news of Jesus Christ. A few weeks ago I came across a fascinating app called The Book of Revelation App, a graphic novel adaptation of Revelation. I have been enjoying the app and recently got in touch with Chris Koelle, the artist, to ask him about the project. I hope you …

A New (Big!) Commentary Giveaway

If I was faced with a desert island scenario in which I had to choose a favorite commentary series, just one series to take with me, I am quite sure I would go with the Reformed Expository Commentary set published by P&R. For someone like me, someone who has no seminary education and who has very little knowledge of the original languages, this series offers trustworthy, accessible commentary on the biblical text. I have used them in sermon preparation, I’ve …

Giving Away a Commentary Set

The more stuff I give away, the more stuff I’m able to give away. I guess that’s a good thing. Today I am giving away a great little prize: Zondervan’s Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament. The series currently stands at 4 volumes and I’m giving away a complete set. Maybe if we get a big enough response I can convince them to part with another set or two. Here is where the series stands so far: Matthew by Grant …

A La Carte (12/6)

I enjoyed a great weekend with the men of Heritage Baptist Church in Johnson City, Tennessee. I flew out to Tennessee on Friday and spent a couple of days on retreat with these guys, discussing issues related to sex and purity. What a godly group of men they are. And what an awesome thing that I can fly 1,000 miles from home and immediately find fellowship with brothers in Christ. God is good. London Cab Ride – Here’s a great …

The Progressive Nature of Revelation

I am about to spiritualize (and very possibly even trivialize) one of the great laws of physics. As you no doubt remember from your days in school, Newton’s Third Law of Motion states, in its simplest form, that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Take a look around and you will see this law in action every day. Have you ever seen a slow-motion replay of a big boxing match where the broadcasters show the punch …

Longing for the Im-mediate

Have you ever considered what it must have been like for Adam and Eve to walk and talk with God in the Garden of Eden? Have you thought of the things you would say to God if you were to hear His footsteps today? What Christian hasn’t experienced a pang of jealousy when he reads “they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day.” And what Christian hasn’t experienced a pang …

Quotes – Biblical Interpretation

Yesterday I posted a Review of Biblical Hermeneutics. In reading and researching the topic of hermeneutics (Biblical interpretation) I ran across a few interesting quotes. I hold that the words of Scripture were intended to have one definite sense, and adhere rigidly to it…To say the words do mean a thing merely because they can be tortured into meaning it is a most dishonorable and dangerous way of handling Scripture. J.C. Ryle God sometimes blesses a poor exegesis of a …