Pisteuomen - πιστευομεν - T. Michael W. Halcomb

Recently, I was reading a book from the "Christian Inspiration" category and stumbled upon a comment that reminded me why I quit reading those types of books a long time ago. The book made a statement, one that I've heard many, many Christians make before, it said this: "According to Mt. 10.30, the Lord knows you so intimately He has the very hairs of your head numbered. Not only can God pick you out of a crowd, He's been paying so much attention to you He knows exactly which hairs are still on your head and which ones migrated to your hairbrush this morning!" Comments like this one frustrate me quite a bit. In my view, it is not only a skewed interpretation of the text, it is missing the point of the passage altogether. The "hairs on your head" comment is not making a point about God's "all-knowingness" or even God's "intimate knowningness". I've always wondered: "What kind of God is it that sits up in the heav...

A few days ago, Alan Knox wrote a post titled “What’s With The Begats”? From there, he proceeded to offer a number of insights on the genealogy of Jesus. I was particulary interested in this post because the Sunday before (12/16/07) I had actually preached on the genealogy; something I’d never attempted before. (I think that visiting the graveyard last week where a number of my relatives are buried is what ultimately got me reflecting on the genealogies.) Anyways, as one who is highly interested in using the social-sciences to interpret the Scriptures, that is the angle from which I approached Mt. 1.1-17. What follows are some insights into Jesus’ genealogy at Christmas (or any other time of the year for that matter). To begin, we should keep in mind that in Jesus’ world, honor was the thing most sought after and shame was the thing most avoided. It has been said more than enough that antiquity was an honor/shame culture. When reading Matthew’s genealogy, then, and the rest of the birt...

Despite the fact that my blog would lead persons to believe I've been taking courses on Mark this semester (actually, I've never had one undergrad or grad course on Mark's Gospel), for the last 7 months, from an academic standpoint I've been working on nothing but the Hebrew Scriptures. Currently, I am translating my way through Micah and yesterday when I crossed paths with Micah 4.1-5 I was stopped dead in my tracks. Here's what those verses say (my rough translation): (1) And it will be in the end of the days that the mountain of the house of God will be established as chief and it will be lifted up from the hills and His peoples will stream to it. (2) And many nations will come and say, 'Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob and He will instruct us in His ways and we will walk in His paths.' For from Zion the Law shall go forth and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. (3) And He will judge between many peoples an...