The story of the Israelites in the Old Testament was a story filled with trials and tribulations that they had to overcome with the help of YHWH. It was only through YHWH’s divine intervention and preservation that Israel survived as a nation. The book of Genesis became the foundation for that story. Throughout the book, … Read more
God who made the world and all that is in it desires to be known. But not just known in some abstract or non-personal sense; rather, he wants to be personally known by self-aware and reasoning creatures by his holy Name and character in his glorious being, and this knowledge of God comes covenantally. As … Read more
In a culture that tends to view shame as neither helpful nor productive (Brené Brown, “Shame vs. Guilt,” 2013), Christians have rightly responded in defense of shame (Te-Li Lau, Defending Shame, 2020). Lau correctly asserts that Paul used shame for the sake of the moral formation of his readers, even encouraging the church to disassociate … Read more
“The time has come for God to do something new. God is bringing people into his family. So, turn back to God and believe this good news.” (Mark 1:15) Several Bible translations into Australian Indigenous languages use familial language to describe God’s ‘kingdom’, such as the version above. This language is sometimes alongside language of … Read more
The Gospel of John begins with an open disclosure of Jesus’ person—“the word became flesh.” The Gospel of Mark, on the other hand, follows a different strategy. Mark has arranged his Gospel to reflect the struggle of the first disciples to grasp the identity of Jesus. They come face to face with a human being … Read more
This study explores three fundamental inquiries. First, it investigates the core message embedded within the primary speeches in Acts, employing the information structure analysis which was developed by Stanley E. Porter and Matthew B. O’Donnell. Second, it examines the formulation of a creedal statement derived from an amalgamation of core expressions of the speeches and … Read more
This paper considers the varied order of the latter prophets between the Hebrew Bible and the list found in the Babylonian Talmud tractate Baba Bathra 14b. How does one explain the sequence “Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Isaiah” found in Baba Bathra 14b? The discussion focuses on how the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah may have conceived of … Read more
In Scripture, inhospitality is often associated with divine judgment, though the association is seemingly inconsistent. Inhospitality in the Bible (1) incurs judgment when an outsider rejects the people of God (e.g., Matt 10:5-15), (2) brings judgment on the people of God when they overlook the sojourner (e.g., Deut 27:19), and (3) becomes the means of … Read more
Scholars discussing marriage and divorce in Matthew typically only focus on Jesus’ instructions to the crowds in 5:31-32 and to the Pharisees in 19:3-12. The Matthean theology of marriage is incomplete, though, without also taking his correction of the Sadducees and its teleological ethics in 22:23-32 into consideration: Matthean creation theology in the reference to … Read more
This paper investigates the theological and redemptive-historical relationship between the passion and ascension of Christ by focusing on the use of Psalms 2 and 24 in the Matthean account. Recent research by Brian Carrier and Tucker Ferda has argued that Matthew’s passion narrative alludes to Psalm 2 at the crucifixion and to Psalm 24 at … Read more