"One-third of the Bible does what most of us pastors won't do: Preach on prophecy." - Dr. Walter Kaiser Jr. 

Why his (Jesus's) followers had this experience is an interesting question. After all, many other Jews in this period followed other charismatic, prophetic figures (John the Baptizer comes readily to mind); but none of their movements outlived the death of their founder. Why was this group different? - Paula Fredricksen, When Christians Were Jews. 

The first-century C.E. Roman orator Quintilian nicely described the social function of this Roman mode of execution: “Whenever we crucify criminals . . . [we place them] where the greatest number of people can watch and be influenced by this threat; for every penalty is aimed not so much at the offense, as at its exemplary value.” - Paula Fredricksen, When Christians Were Jews. 

My commentary: Agreed, the cross of the Christ has exemplary value for all of his followers. 

Theology 101: As a general rule, not everything about the church you grew up in was right, and not everything about the church you grew up in was wrong; graciously correcting the bad and gratefully embracing the good—these are marks of spiritual maturity. - Dr. Micheal Svigel

My teaching on Jesus's use of parables. Notes. Audio 1. Audio 2. 

Many debate whether we should interpret the biblical more literally or more spiritually. I'd suggest it should be understood through the same lens that we understand most human communication—the lens of simple, rational literalism. Those who lean too heavily on a spiritualized lens may be likened to someone with schizophrenia who sees imaginary code words everywhere. Those who lean too heavily on a hyper-literal lens like someone with autism, often unable to recognize the world of subtle inferences. - Joel Richardson

"...salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed." -Paul the apostle

"...the time is near." -John the apostle

"Surely I am coming soon." -The Lord Jesus Christ

-BA Purtle

My teaching on the resurrection of the dead from 1 Corinthians 15. Notes. Slides. Audio 1. Audio 2. Video. 

Theology 101: The more firmly I embrace the catholicity of the church, the less likely I am to leave my church tradition for another. - Dr. Micheal Svigel

Most religious writings from the Second Temple Period are categorized as either Gnostic or Jewish Apocalyptic. Today, much of the Charismatic AND Reformed worlds are increasingly becoming far more Gnostic than Jewish or Apocalyptic. - Joel Richardson 

Theology 101: The Bible isn’t a guide for dieting, a manual for leadership and management, an outline for economics, a playbook for politics, a textbook for science, or an anthology of frame-worthy quotes to hang in your office. It is an account of God’s story of redemption to make us wise for salvation and to lives that glorify him. - Dr. Micheal Svigel

To study the scriptures, and neglect the Spirit, who ‘searcheth out the deep things of God’, leaveth us in darkness about God’s mind. —Thomas Manton, Works 8:76

Jesus never warned his audience to change their way of thinking. He likely spoke in Aramaic and sometimes in Hebrew. Greek word studies when looking at the words of the master are only indirectly helpful. He wasn’t speaking in Greek.

Rather, he (like John before him) warned men that they must change and turn (a common idiom for behavior and actions in the Hebrew Bible) in light of the coming Day of God. - Bill Scofield

Theology 101: In two centuries, the church grew from a single room in Jerusalem to countless congregations in Africa, Europe, and Asia without government power or acts of violence. - Dr. Micheal Svigel

Once typology drifts from its Jewish apocalyptic moorings, its flights of fancy know no end. - John P Harrigan 

If we ask, What is God ultimately doing in this age? then we must answer: He is showing love and offering mercy to his enemies in light of his coming severity and eternal recompense. Redemptive history is cruciform-apocalyptic, and consequently the mission of the church is to “proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Cor. 11:26). - John P. Harrigan

It is the prerogative of Christ alone to break the knees of those who refuse to bow down before him. - Aaron in Writing

My teaching on Genesis 3:15 as the metanarrative to the Bible. Slides. Audio 1. Audio 2. 

Everything begins, and events unfurl, from Zion, that is, from God’s “holy mountain,” Jerusalem. 

Further: it would be to Jerusalem that all the families of man, at the End time, would flow. Biblical tradition had long distinguished the human family as comprised of two groups. The first, by far the smallest, was Israel, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Their plenum number, at the End, corresponding to Jacob’s twelve sons and grandsons, would be all twelve tribes. “The nations,” by far the larger group, were themselves divided into seventy “families” or “peoples,” the biblical number derived from the total count of descent-groups from the three sons of Noah in Genesis 10. These seventy nations are distinguished from each other according to their kinship groups, their lands, and their languages. All humanity, in brief, is summed up in this eschatological arithmetic: the twelve tribes of Israel and the seventy nations. - Paula Fredriksen, When Christians Were Jews.

"A saint is often under a cross, but never under a curse." — Charles Spurgeon