According to Bart Ehrman, the Synoptic Gospels teach that the human Jesus was at some point ‘exalted’ to a divine status, but not that he was pre-existent.
But, responds New Testament scholar Simon Gathercole, this is to ignore the significant number of ‘I have come’ statements found on the lips of Jesus. Here are some of them:
And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.…
Robert Reymond writes:
The NT speaks explicitly of the obedience of Christ only three times: “through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous” (Rom. 5:19); “he humbled himself and became obedient to death” (Phil. 2:8); and “he learned obedience from what he suffered” (Heb. 5:8). But the concept these verses contain is clearly alluded to in many other places, e.g.,
(1) the several contexts in which Christ is called “servant” (Isa.…
‘Lord, I lift your name on high’ is a song by Rick Founds dating back to 1989.
The chorus is particularly striking:-
You came from heaven to earth
To show the way
From the earth to the cross
My debt to pay
From the cross to the grave
From the grave to the sky
Lord I lift Your name on high
I have long thought that I had come across something similar to this in the writings of one of the Puritans.…
‘With God all things are possible’ (Matthew 19:26). ‘Nothing is impossible with God’ (Luke 1:37)
So why doesn’t God simply forgive sinners, without need of any atonement? Why can’t he just let bygones be bygones?
After all, he can do anything, can’t he?
Well, setting aside the obviously absurd (God cannot create a two-sided triangle), we note with Puritan Thomas Brooks that there are three things that God cannot do:- he cannot die; he cannot lie; and he cannot deny himself.…
The Gospel accounts of the resurrection of Jesus are sometimes thought to be hopelessly inconsistent with each other. Thus, their historical accuracy is doubted.
One profitable line of enquiry is to how the various account line up with what is know about burial practices in the 1st century.
Ian Paul gives a few examples:-
…‘Only the family tombs of the relatively wealthy would have disk-like round stones closing the entrance which need to be rolled away (and there are more and more examples of these being excavated year by year); the entrances are often quite low, so you would indeed need to stoop down to see the inside (John 20.5) and the space (unlike a modern ‘tomb’) can indeed be ‘entered’ (Mark 16.5).
The Universal Christ (London: SPCK, 2019)
Richard Rohr’s latest offering will, as with his previous books, delight some and perplex others. His many fans will love his fresh, imaginative, free-association, experientialist approach. His critics will be distressed by what they see as his careless irrationality. Count me among the latter; one of those ‘who value plodding virtues such as accuracy and attention to what the scriptures and teachers of the tradition have actually said, [and] will find difficulty with the sweeping generalisations, questionable assertions, and Aunt Sallys that Rohr frequently sets up, so as then to be able, triumphantly, to knock them down’
…(Edward Dowler, writing in the Church Times).
According to Acts, the gospel is all about the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 1:1; 2:36, 38; 4:8–12; 5:42; 8:12, 35; 10:36; 11:20–21; 13:38–39; 15:11; 16:31; 18:5, 28; 19:4; 20:24; 24:24; 28:31).
David Cook (Teaching Acts) notes that:
• At Pentecost Peter preaches about Jesus (Acts 2:14–39).
• At the healing of the lame man, Peter preaches about Jesus (Acts 3:6).
• To the God-fearing, Peter preaches Jesus (Acts 10:34–48).
• To conservative Jews, the apostles preach Jesus (Acts 14:3).…
Matthew 21:1-16 (Mk 11:1-10; Lk 19:29-38; Jn 12:12-15)
Grand entrances. Wedding. Royalty.
Verse 10 – “Who is this?” Note:-
(a) the deliberate ‘staging’ of the entrance. He is in sovereign control, (and yet uses human means).
(b) the nature of the entrance. Similar to ancient ‘victory parades’. Solomon, 1 King 1:33. 2 Kings 9:13 – ‘They took their cloaks and spread them under him on the bare steps. Then they blew the trumpet and shouted, “Jehu is king!”…
Compared with some other books of the Old Testament, it is not quite so easy to find Jesus in the Proverbs. So writes David Murray, in Jesus On Every Page, pp175-186. [The substance of this section of his book can be found here]
But, since all Scripture witnesses to Christ, we will look for him, and expect to find him there. Of course, the witness of Proverbs to Jesus will be ‘temporary, provisional, preparatory, and prophetic’, because in Jesus himself, “A greater than Solomon is here.”…
‘Jesus’ disciples prophesied “in his name” (Mt. 7:22), cast out demons “in his name” (Lk. 10:17), performed miracles “in his name” (Mk. 9:39), etc. With the use of this expression it becomes evident that the disciples spoke and acted like Jesus, in His place and with His authority, as did the prophets of Yahweh in the OT (see Acts 4:7–10). Similarly, the gospel is to be preached in all the world “in his name,” i.e., by His authority, and thus be made effectual to save people (Lk.…
