It is a Christian commonplace that God matures us through suffering. But how does that work? The New Testament writers often comment on the maturing effect of suffering. “Suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope” (Rom. 5:3-4); “God disciplines…
I’m not preaching resurrection this Easter. It’s not that I won’t be preaching. I am grateful that even in this strange season the pastors at my church have still invited me to preach. So, I will be preaching (Lord willing),…
We are facing a virus crisis. Perhaps it is not unprecedented, in that there have been previous pandemics with huge death tolls. Yet the world is also more connected than ever before, and more integrated economically. The result is that…
One of the great things about the discipline of preaching lectio continua (in sequence through books of the Bible) is that you end up preaching on passages which otherwise you would probably not choose. So I was allocated Luke 17:20-37…
Paul and the Giants of Philosophy: Reading the Apostle in Greco-Roman Context, Edited by Joseph R. Dodson and David E. Briones (IVP, 2019) Paul proclaimed the gospel to a culture shaped by philosophical traditions. This book offers a series of…
