A Biblical Theological Study of Citizenship in the Kingdom of God

This paper engages with the conceptual backdrop to the term “citizenship” which appears within the Pauline corpus in passages such as such as Philippians 3:20 or Ephesians 2:19. While a lexical study of the NT πολίτης and its various forms are engaged within this work, significant space is also devoted to elucidating the Old Testament … Read more

Unsolved Mysteries and Burdensome Superstitions: Seneca’s Epistle 95 and the Colossian ‘Heresy’

Although for almost two centuries now scholars have marshaled endless texts to support their preferred reconstruction of the “Colossian heresy”, one pertinent parallel has not been included in the debate, namely Seneca’s Epistle 95. Nevertheless, enough similarities exist between this epistle and Colossians to pique the scholar’s interest. For instance, in his epistle, the Stoic … Read more

Matthew 9:18–26: The Nature of the Kingdom as Displayed Through Two Suffering Women

Matthew 9:18–26 recounts the stories of a bleeding woman and a young girl, and this narrative has become a focal point of homilies, sermons, religious art, songs, and social movements. Varying interpretations of this passage abound throughout church history, and although many of these interpretations typically express more than a simple correlation between faith and … Read more

God’s Wrath Remains: John 3:36 in Light of the Old Testament

The unique feature of Johannine eschatology – the tension between the present and the future, with a significant focus on the present age – is well reflected in John 3:36, which describes two destinies: eternal life or the wrath of God. Two further aspects of this verse have been largely overlooked by scholars: (1) the … Read more

They Feared the Crowd: The Matthean Mob in Its Roman Context

From the Jewish leaders’ fear of the crowd to their own use of the crowd to intimidate Pilate, the specter of mob violence lurks in the background of Matthew. Unfortunately, very little scholarly work has been done on the role of mob violence in Matthew. This paper seeks to fill this gap in scholarship by … Read more

Be Strong in the Lord: Spiritual Warfare and Participation with Christ

This essay brings the theology of participation with Christ into contact with Paul’s first-century belief about the spirit-world, both fundamental components of Paul’s thought. By doing so, one can see that participation with Christ, who triumphed over the powers, entails similar spiritual warfare for believers. While Tannehill briefly recognizes this component of participation, and Gombis … Read more

A Case to Read the Matthean Beatitudes through Hebrew Eyes

This paper argues that a robust examination of the Old and New Testament beatitudes is needed to best interpret the Beatitudes of Matthew 5. A literature review will reference the voices from today to those of St. Gregory of Nyssa and St. Augustine, connecting the modern ear to voices from the Nicene period. The review … Read more