Category Archives: Index

Let me suggest that we take more seriously a couple of passages that we don’t talk about very much– (1 Cor. 2:14-16)  The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for … Continue reading →

A certain expert in the Law of Moses asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” He was asking Jesus for an interpretation of the Law of Moses, which commanded the Israelites to love their neighbors. In response, Jesus told the Parable … Continue reading →

I was not expecting to find this as an important principle, but as I read Paul’s arguments in particular, I am struck at how many times he refers to baptism or the Lord’s Supper as instructive for our behavior in … Continue reading →

The application should be obvious by now. Love and faith are the “interstitial doctrines,” that is, they fill in all the gaps. There are no gaps. No silences. No missing authority. It’s all there in two words. Maybe a reminder … Continue reading →

In Galatians 5, at the apex of his argument, after four chapters of elaborate explication, Paul declares a profound principle—one that the reader is to understand as being just as true as can be: “The only thing that counts is … Continue reading →

One school of hermeneutics is called “flat” hermeneutics. In flat hermeneutics, it’s concluded that because all the Bible is from God, all the Bible is equally important. It’s just as important to understand how to worship or organize a church … Continue reading →

We in the Churches of Christ call ourselves “New Testament Christians,” as though there were another kind. But the point of the phrase is to emphasize our reliance on the New Testament and belief that the Old Testament has been … Continue reading →

Jesus himself teaches an important lesson on hermeneutics in Luke 6. It’s not an immediately transparent passage, at least not to me. (Luke 6:1-10) One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and his disciples began to pick some heads … Continue reading →

How can I understand the gospel if I don’t understand who God is, what he has done, and that we mortals are all fallen creatures lost in our sins? This is why, for example, Paul begins the great book of … Continue reading →