The Bible in Context
Les Bridgeman As I read through Colossians, I found myself fastened on the word mystery. Paul says God commissioned him to present “the word of God in its fullness—the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people” (Col. 1:25b-26, NIV). Prior to reading those words, I had … Read more
Updated November 2023 Divine violence in the Bible is a huge challenge. Here’s the problem in a nutshell. Christ—the perfect revelation of God—taught and practiced nonviolence, even to the point of allowing himself to be mocked, beaten, and killed. We don’t have a single example of Christ physically harming another human being. And yet the … Read more
Slavery is evil. It is wrong for one person to own another person. While people argue in favor of various moral issues, no one is arguing in favor of slavery. The issue is clear-cut: slavery is wrong. That brings up a problem for readers of the New Testament. Why is slavery mentioned in several places … Read more
There’s a lot of ways to summarize the Old Testament. Here’s one of my OT summaries: Divine Creation (Gen. 1-2) Human Rebellion (Gen. 3-11) Divine Judgment/Curse (Gen. 3-11) The Universal Blessing Begins: God’s Promise to Abraham (Gen. 12-25) The Universal Blessing Continues: The Story of Abraham’s Descendants (rest of OT) a. Israel’s Slavery, Freedom, and … Read more
What is the most unique and mysterious doctrine of the Christian faith? For many the answer is the Trinity—one God who eternally exists in three Persons. (Of course, the word “Person” does not mean exactly the same thing as human persons.) How can you understand that concept? And if you can’t understand it, how can … Read more