“All under the power of sin” is not a place we want to begin. It isn’t very flattering. But we can’t buy our way out or even work our way…
One of the big Jewish holy days is Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement: the day above all others for seeking God’s forgiveness for the failure to live as God…
Not quite a century ago, Louis Berkhof, Professor of Dogmatic Theology and president of Calvin Seminary in Grand Rapids, Michigan, wrote his Systematic Theology, which remained influential probably even into…
It’s not that Pilate was not in the habit of condemning troublesome men. He needed a justifiable pretext, though. There was Roman law to consider, after all: a charge, evidence,…
“It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (10:4). So much, then, for the entire sacrificial system established in the first books in the Bible. …
Prestige, status, honor, respect, deference—marks of power and authority. The authority comes by virtue of the office, the position. We tend to show respect and deference to a police officer…
Mark presents what’s happening over these Sundays as a consecutive series of encounters, sharp arguments and stunning responses, all in the Temple, in the course of a single day, just…
You’d think, after what had happened there just the day before, the Temple officials would be on the lookout to bar Jesus from the Temple: strict orders to the gatekeepers. …
The Sons of Thunder had it coming, not that Jesus owed it to them, of course. But who among them really was going to argue that he had outdone James…
If Jesus is always teaching, he is also preparing his followers. He has something he’s asking them to do, wants them to be doing. In much of the first part…