I cannot tell you how many times I have heard in a sermon or Bible class Romans 12:1-2. I am not certain how many times I have quoted this verse at different times to different people. It is a powerful verse on its own. But it is an even more powerful verse when heard in its original context. In Rom...

There are many dates that are etched into our memory. We hear July 4, 1776 and think indpendence, December 7, 1941 - Pearl Harbor, and on and on you could go. Then we have arbitrary dates that mark historical events that are difficult to date like December 25 and Christmas. But there is another date...

A couple of verses that have been used in the anti-baptism argument come from Romans 10. The first is found in Romans 10:9 - “That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” That seems pret...

Romans 11 is probably the most difficult chapter in the entire book. As was mentioned in previous posts Paul is writing a letter to the church in Rome, which was a church he had never visited in person. In this letter he is dealing with divisions between Jewish Christians and Gentiles Christians and...

Before I start this, I should say that I greatly appreciate Bill Mounce and all of the work he's done. It's not easy to write a first-year grammar that anyone besides yourself can productively use. And have you ever really dug into his Morphology of Biblical Greek book? While not my cup of tea, ther...

At the end of Romans 9, Paul writes about how some Gentiles have obtained righteousness by faith, while some Jews did not have faith in God that resulted in righteousness. Instead of building on Christ as the rock and chief cornerstone, they stumbled over him (Rom 9:30-33). As in the beginning of ch...

One of our main interpretive principles in the church of Christ is to speak where the Bible speaks and be silent where it is silent. I think that is a wonderful concept to try to attain. I respect our heritage and the overarching respect for scripture that our forefathers have brought to the table. ...

Continuing the list of ten characteristics of Jesus’ preaching, as observed by a chapter in Preach the Word: (6) Visual in its Appeal - Jesus painted word pictures.  He didn’t speak in abstractions, but he helped his teaching to form in the minds of the listeners (whether they were inte...

Haslam’s book, Preach the Word, has a chapter entitled “Learning from Jesus.”  To some it is obvious that we should look to Jesus, who was, after all, the finest of preachers.  But I suppose some would overlook Jesus as a model of preaching since, well, we’re not Jesus.  I...

In light of the certainty of God’s promises as laid out in Romans 8:28-39 it must pain Paul tremendously to realize that some of God’s people are not coming to the result God has desired for them - that the law would lead them to Christ and be the perfect fulfillment of everything they h...