I’m excited that Beverly and I have the opportunity to go to Israel together again this year. We are participating in the GRTS 2019 Ancient World of the Bible Study Tour of Israel, Palestine, and Jordan. Prof’s Jonathan and Jennifer Greer lead this annual tour. You can find daily posts by GRTS students here and at #grtsIsrael.
The Advent According to John
John tells us of a surprisingly human Jesus who experienced many of the circumstances we struggle with, and, more importantly, who showed us how to deal with what may actually be the most difficult time of the year.
Giving Thanks When It’s Hard
How we respond to different circumstances shows what we really think of God. A friend recently found out that, contrary to previous reports, she does not have cancer. Our response was Praise the Lord! But other friends just lost their son to cancer. He had a wife and three young children. Was our response Praise […]
The New Commandment, the Old Testament, and Andy Stanley
My previous post on the new commandment left me with one regret—that I didn’t explore the relationship of this new love command to the love commands of the Old Testament. The current debate over Andy Stanley’s view of the Old Testament in general and of the new commandment in particular, expressed in his recent […]
Love one another: A one-hit wonder and Jesus’ greatest hit.
The “new commandment” (John 13:34-35) is one of Jesus’ most well-known sayings. Of course, the sentiment that people should love one another has been a constant theme in pop culture since the hippie movement of the 1960’s. The opportunity to speak at a recent Grand Rapids Theological Seminary chapel service gave me a chance to […]
John the Spiritual Gospel: Soaring Eagles, Wading Lambs, and Swimming Elephants
I’ve been thinking through the Gospel of John recently. Here are some of my thoughts and some information about a set of 22 video lectures on John that I just did for biblicalelearning.org. Also news about an opportunity I have to teach John this fall.