faithrootsdw

New Exodus

After his baptism, Jesus goes into the wilderness or desert region around the Jordan river. He spends forty days there, fasting and experiencing temptation from Satan. Mark sums this up in a few lines: 12 At once the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness, 13 and he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted[g] by Satan. He was with… Continue reading New Exodus

Heralded

The sudden appearance of John on the scene, proclaiming a message of repentance is captured by all of the Gospel writers.[1] John introduces his namesake as the first significant event in his Gospel. He portrays those coming to him as curious and trying to identify him. It seemed that an Old Testament figure had re-emerged… Continue reading Heralded

Arrival

Matthew and Luke both provide accounts of Jesus’ birth with Luke going on to provide further detail about his infancy up until the age of 12. Whilst Mark and John do not include such narratives, John does make this brief but theologically explosive statement. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”[1] The imagery there… Continue reading Arrival

The story of Jesus – arrival

I’m gradually recording a retelling of Luke’s Gospel in everyday English. This is part of our Jesus and the Gospels teaching series and the ides is that these short podcasts can be listened to by anyone regardless of age or level of background knowledge about Christianity, the Bible and Jesus. The audio files are now… Continue reading The story of Jesus – arrival

Predestination in Ephesians

One of the most controversial statements in the New Testament is found in Ephesians 1:5 where it says: “ he[b] predestined us” It’s controversial because if God has determined from eternity what will happen to us, then where does that leave free will. It seems that everything has already been decided. If, God “chose us …before the foundation… Continue reading Predestination in Ephesians

The Sexual Reformation (Book Review)

I was a bit late getting round to it but I’ve finally sat down to read Aimee Byrd’s “The Sexual Reformation all the way through. The premise of the book is that we’ve got our understanding of sex, gender and sexuality all messed up and certain elements of conservative evangelicalism -specifically the Campaign for Biblical… Continue reading The Sexual Reformation (Book Review)

Precursors

Mark and John both launch straight into the adult ministry of Jesus whereas Matthew and Luke both commence with birth narratives, although picking up on different aspects of the nativity. There has been a tendency by some to over make much out of this difference between the Gospels with the implication being that because the… Continue reading Precursors

Orderly and verified accounts

Luke was a companion of the apostle Paul. He is the recognised author of both Luke and Acts and so at the point when he joins Paul on his missionary journeys, we can see a switch from the third person (he/they) to the first person, plural (we) as Luke describes the acts of the apostles.… Continue reading Orderly and verified accounts

So if not TGC UK, what is it that the UK church needs?

I recently wrote in response to Affinity UK’s announcement that they were heading up an initiative to launch a UK version of The Gospel Coalition. My initial response was to ask some questions because I genuinely wanted to understand what was behind the proposal, what it was that the proponents were trying to achieve. I… Continue reading So if not TGC UK, what is it that the UK church needs?

Introducing Jesus

There are four Gospels or accounts focusing on the life of Jesus. John stands distinct from the other three with Matthew, Mark and Luke being referred to as The Synoptic Gosels meaning that they can be read together. This is due to the fact that there appears to be a significant overlap of source material… Continue reading Introducing Jesus