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    • Prophecy is not an end unto itself

      Prophecy is not an end unto itself, “For the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy” (Rev.19.10).

      It can mean the witness that the Christian bears to Jesus. It can equally mean the witness that Jesus Christ bears to …

      The Political geography of the Middle East in the time of Ezekiel

      In January 2016, I wrote Part One of this series on Ezekiel 38 in the EJournal. This set out to expose the prophecy’s historical background, logic of potential interpretation, and, hence, its present-day application. My final paragraph, in January, explained …

      An Intertextual Analysis of Ezekiel 38 (Part 1)

      Introduction

      For several reasons Ezekiel 38 is a difficult prophecy to understand. It presents difficulties in identifying the protagonists, the ancient geographical regions, the chronology and the initial fulfilment (is there a contemporary fulfilment or is it all placed in …

      Galatians 4 – Made of a Woman

      Introduction

      What is Paul’s most basic statement about Christ? The difficulty in choosing such a foundation lies in how to balance the difficult pronouncements of passages such as Phil 2:5-11 and Col 1:15-20 with the more straightforward statements to give …

      Evaluating other texts about Creation

      Text evaluation and the interpretation of Genesis

      Elements of Genesis 1 are often interpreted against the background of other Ancient Near Eastern (ANE) cosmological/creation texts. This is a very different choice to one that confines itself to inter-textual interpretation and …

      The Library of St. Catherine’s Monastery digitises ancient texts

      St. Catherine’s Monastery, a UNESCO World Heritage site that’s located on rugged terrain at the foot of Mount Sinai in Egypt, houses the oldest continually operating library in the world, containing ancient and medieval manuscripts second only to those held …

      Anti-Semitic Events leading to Balfour

      [a] The Romanov Dynasty [1613 – 1917]’s invention of the pogrom & the influence thereof

      It is argued by some commentators that Russia is, and always has been, such a large, diverse and unwieldy country that it is ‘awkward’ to …

      How does eschatology function in 2 Thessalonians?

      By appropriating and extending imagery from the same genres as 1 Thessalonians, the eschatology of 2 Thessalonians both corrects and consoles its audience, in order to engage with the developing Thessalonian situation. By comparing 2 Thess. 1.5-2.12 to 1 Thess. 4.13-5.11 …

      Proverbs 31:10-31: The Virtuous Woman

      Genre

      The genre of Proverbs 31 is an encomium. An encomium is high praise for a person or type of person.  In the Bible, the encomium is found in psalms that praise the righteous man, and here where the woman …

      Is Romans 9:5 a proof text for the deity of Christ?

      Introduction

      In addition to Tit 2:13, Rom 9:5 is the other text cited most often in a ‘proof-text’ approach to the deity of Christ. Again, it is a text where commentators disagree at the level of the Greek, but …

      Four criteria for identifying the church of Jesus

      The approach to Paul that considers he had a problem with his fellow Jews and Judaism is misleading. Paul is working with/under the Spirit to incorporate the Gentiles into Israel in keeping with the ‘last days’ prophecies of his scriptures. …

      First Century Background of James

      Introduction

      The hypothesis proposed in this article is that the Epistle of James is the earliest of all the New Testament writings, written before the Gospels and that it was produced in response to the problems facing the church in …

      1 Cor 8:6: Monotheistic Christology

      Introduction

      Erik Waaler notes “It has been argued that 1 Cor 8:1-6 is the earliest NT text testifying to the pre-existence of Christ and His participation in the act of creation.”[1] C. Fletcher-Louis says that 1 Cor …

      What is a Bible Student?

      If we ask what a Humanities ‘student’ is, an obvious answer is that s/he is someone who is devoting many hours to study each day in a given subject, writing essays, talking with their peers and working towards a goal …

      Who is Immanuel?

      Introduction

      The identity of Immanuel is disputed and different suggestions have been proposed. This article will argue the case that Immanuel is Hezekiah. The problem with identifying Hezekiah as Immanuel are two-fold; (1) It is disallowed by the chronology of …

      Matt 27:46 – When did God leave Jesus behind?

      The cry from the cross, ‘My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me’ is very well known. The Greek verb () is given the meanings ‘leave behind, abandon, desert, forsake’ in lexicons. The corresponding Hebrew verb in Psalm 22 …

      What roles could a woman perform? (Rebuttal)

      Introduction

      The question for this discussion is what roles did a woman perform under the Law and in the NT ecclesia. A contested area in this age of equality. T. Gaston has presented an egalitarian reading of the evidence. We …

      What roles could a woman perform?

      Introduction[1]

      Our assumptions about biblical roles are often set within a masculine frame. We imagine priests as men, prophets as men, apostles as men. Yet just because we imagine something to be so, does not mean that it …

      Closure and Conclusion in Matt 13:44-52

      Form criticism attempts to reconstruct the life settings that produce biblical texts. Most scholars date Matthew’s gospel between 80-90 CE, written to a Jewish Christian audience, initially in Palestine (Galilee or Antioch) where the first Jewish Christian became established.  Matthew’s …

      Colossians 1:15-20: The Wisdom of Christological Monotheism

      N. T. Wright opens his exegesis of Col 1:15-20 by saying the passage “exhibits a characteristically Pauline form of what we may call christological monotheism”.[1] His exegesis takes the line that the passage expresses a Wisdom Christology. The …

      New Perspectives, Historical Context and Textual Problems in Psalm 22

      Introduction

      This article will suggest new perspectives for Psalm 22 and also attempt historical contextualization as well as resolving some difficult textual problems.

      Psalm 22

      Psalm 22 is incredibly important in the New Testament. R. D. Patterson summarises:

      “Pride of …