The short, often overlooked book of Philemon is tucked towards the end of the New Testament, nestled between letters to Titus and to the Hebrews. Philemon and Onesimus Philemon is a letter written by Paul to his friend Philemon about a man of mutual interest, Onesimus. The short version is that Onesimus is a slave […]
Whoever Has the Son Has Life In the first of John’s three letters, he writes to the early followers of Jesus, reminding them of God’s essential message about Jesus, light, and life. Jesus, by the way, is the light and he gives life. So amid John’s poetic flare, his words all revolve around Jesus. And […]
Discover How God Can Have One Son and Have Many Sons (and Daughters) The Bible calls Jesus the Son of God. We see this in forty New Testament verses from speakers ranging from his disciples to his detractors, including evil spirits and even Satan. Saying that Jesus is the Son of God suggests there’s only […]
The First Reformation Happened 2,000 Years Ago As the time for Jesus’s sacrificial death approaches, his enemies come to arrest him. They’re armed. This might be as a show of force or maybe because they expect trouble. I imagine Jesus smiling a bit at this weapon-wielding mob. “Do you think I’m leading a rebellion?” he […]
The Kingdom of God Is About Power, Not Words When Paul writes to his friends in the city of Corinth, he encourages them to change their behavior. In the middle of this, he slips in a curious line about the kingdom of God. He says that God’s kingdom isn’t about talk but about power (1 […]
The Disciples Walking to Emmaus Teach Us to Open Our Eyes and See God After Jesus is executed and rises from the dead, he appears to two of his followers as they walk down the road, but they don’t recognize him. They don’t see Jesus. Yet he listens as they talk about him. He pretends […]
Don’t Put Off Following Jesus While we shouldn’t wait to follow Jesus, it’s nice to know that he’ll give us up to the last minute to make a decision In Luke’s biography of Jesus, the author sometimes shares details not found in the Bible’s other three accounts of Jesus’s life. One such example is about […]
Jesus Teaches Us to Keep Praying and to Not Stop Jesus gives us an object lesson (a parable) of a widow who keeps appearing before a judge to seek justice. A bad adjudicator, he cares nothing of her, of public opinion, or of God, but she wears him down with her continual plea. He eventually […]
Sometimes We Need to Go Away for Jesus and Other Times We Need to Go Home Before Jesus returns to heaven, he tells his followers to go throughout the world and let others know about him (Matthew 28:19). Does that mean we’re all supposed to travel to a distant country for Jesus? Is that their […]
Forgiveness Is a Serious Thing, and We’re Well Advised to Never Withhold It You’re probably familiar with the Lord’s prayer, sometimes informally called by its opening line as the Our Father. It’s a well-known passage in the Bible and many Christian traditions recite it as part of their Sunday worship service. Growing up in a […]