It is easy, especially in an election year, for us to feel the tension between religion and politics. It seems that each election cycles this tension gets more and more intense as the temptation to bring the political world into the church context becomes more and more appealing. In my area of the world, in 2016, it was not uncommon to see churches in the area that I am living to hold different political events and rallies, all taunting the need to save the US from sure destruction. However, much it may seem, this is something that is not new. Each generation of Baptists have had to struggle with how to relate to the political culture around them. 1 Baptist come to this with an especially interesting perspective for a few reasons, but their belief in individual soul liberty is the major the theological driver. Soul competency speaks to the ability for all humans, regardless of race, creed, or religion, ability to be individually accountable and responsible to God. B.H. Carrol s...

I don’t know how many grew up in the same way that I did but being typical boys me and my brothers would take sticks to about any plants that we could find in the forest behind our house. Obviously, this was the responsibility of an 8 and 10-year-old, right? Thankfully, Jesus is not like 10-year-old me, but even more thankfully He is not like many in the churches of our day. While likely with genuine intentions, many take it upon themselves to root out the problems that they perceive in the church. If they see weakness, we need to get it out post haste, right? Well not necessarily. Jesus gives us a parable about the wheat and the tares to help illustrate something that we need to understand. (Matthew 13:24-30) In this parable we find a group of eager servants that have discovered that the enemy has sown tares, or weeds, in with the wheat. These servants run to the master and are willing and ready to go pull up these weeds from the field, but the master gives them what may seem like...

The apologetic and rhetorical function of Luke 24 can is summed up by the understanding that, “Luke's use of the Old Testament is best summed up as a prophetic and Christological use—all of the Scriptures point to Jesus and must be fulfilled by him”. [1] This prophetic and Christological explanation of the scripture that this couple of disciples knew was the whole point of Jesus conversation with them on the Road to Emmaus. It is said that beginning with Moses, or the Torah and following the paths through the prophets He interpreted the scriptures to them those things that were about him. (Luke 24:27) Ultimately, we can see this same apologetic theme played out again and again in the book of Acts, Luke sequel to his gospel. Peter walks through the scripture of the Old Testament showing Christ (Acts 2:14-41), Stephen does the same before the Pharisees (Acts 6), and Philip will preach Christ from Isaiah to the Ethiopian Eunuch. These accounts of Jesus throughout the Jewish scri...

If we are going to understand discipleship in Mark, we must first understand what it means to be a disciple. The first time we find disciple (mathētḗs) ion Mark, is in chapter two. The word here means a learner or a pupil of someone.  It is said that in early Jewish writings the description of a disciple, or learner, was one who would  “cover himself in the dust of [the rabbi’s] feet”.  This basically meaning that one would follow the words and actions of their teacher so closely that the dust stirred up by them would cover their follower. So, what was it that Jesus did? The first teachings that we find from Jesus is that of the good news of the gospel. Jesus begins His ministry on earth by preaching that we should repent and believe the gospel. (Mark 1:15) This proclamation is the lesson that we should take if we are to be disciples of Christ. The first instance of the twelve going out, this is exactly what they are commanded. (Mark 6:12) Even later in the book of Acts t...

To be honest, I was surprised at the frequency of the word “immediately” in the book of Mark. It is interesting how many times it comes up when you are looking for it, especially in the first chapter. Craig Blomberg mentions in his book Jesus and the Gospels , that the word “immediately” (Gk. euthus) is used forty-two times in the book of Mark and that, “at times [it is] virtually equivalent to little more than “the next important thing I want to tell you is…”   (Blomberg p. 142) The word in Mark gives us a view of Christ as God’s Servant, and at other times “immediately” gives us the view of how He served. We see no delay, no reluctance in the mission to be about “His Father's business”. (Luke 2:49) The “immediateness” of the ministry of Christ in Mark lines up with the prophecy that Isaiah gave about the Servant of God when he said that the servant would set “His face like a flint” to the task. (Isaiah 50:7) The first instance that we find the word in the book of Mark is re...