6:30 AM Up for a stern warning this morning? Before I issue it, some background. I have nothing against public speaking. I am asked to speak all the time. I enjoy listening to other speakers (provided they are well-prepared and not just repeating the same old same old). I have been responsible for organizing [...]
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The Standard of Obedience, not the Standard of Knowledge
6:50 AM Good morning, friends. You won’t believe this: A blog post called Jesus – A Practicing Socialist. I feel positively giggly. This is the message I’ve been trying to get across to my students for years. Note this paragraph: But that is not what Christ is saying in the Great Commission. Jesus commands us [...]
Get the Focus Off the Externals
12:50 PM Do you remember the words of missionary martyr Jim Elliot? We are “sideliners” — coaching and criticizing the real wrestlers. Oh that God would make us dangerous! I thought of these words today when I read this comparison between being “imprisoned” by church traditions and literal imprisonment for the sake of Christ. As [...]
Dave Black Recommends Books for Studying New Testament Greek
6:52 AM Several bloggers have been recommending books to read in 2012. Others have noted their favorite books of 2011. I’d like to re-post here my ten best books for studying New Testament Greek (excluding my own books, of course). I hope many of you will read them if you haven’t done so already.
Reading for a Church Leadership Workshop
11:02 AM On Dec. 4 I will be holding a church leadership workshop in Durham, NC. I thought you might be interested in the reading assignments that must be completed prior to the workshop. If you are interested in the topic, you might want to take a look at them yourself. You can print out [...]
Missional Task is the Basis of Christian Unity
8:42 AM Hello Internet friends, Some of you who have been reading this site for a while may recall that I’ve been working on a new book called Will You Join the Cause of Global Missions? My desire is to reflect accurately what Scripture teaches in the area of associating with non-Christians and their world. I’m not especially [...]
Changing in a Grace-Filled Way
1:02 PM This week in our Greek 3 class we exegeted Phil. 4:1-9, a passage full of references to the need for unity and cooperation in the cause of the Gospel. I want to say from the start that I have tremendous respect for my students who are trying to effect changes in their churches. [...]
True Homeland Security
7:10 PM Good evening, thoughtful bloggers of cyberdom! I want you to meet James. I thought of James while we were discussing Epaphroditus in Greek 3 class on Tuesday. James was my translator when I trekked among the Guji tribe in southern Ethiopia a couple of years ago. At the time he was a young [...]
On the Authorship of Hebrews
Richard Ousworth has published a fine piece called What Are They Saying about the Letter to the Hebrews? (.pdf). Much of it is a review of Alan Mitchell’s recent commentary in the Sacra Pagina series. As someone who has published a number of essays on Hebrews, I was interested in this quote about authorship: Let [...]
New Book: Except for Fornication
1:58 PM This week I completed the editing of what I believe may well become one of the most important and helpful books ever to have been written on the difficult subject of Christian marriage and divorce. The book is entitled Except for Fornication: The Teaching of the Lord Jesus on Divorce and Remarriage. From [...]