Students today are taught to avoid plagiarism by properly citing the sources that influence their work. New Testament authors used citation to a degree, but sometimes their efforts in doing so leave modern readers with more questions than answers. Let's attempt to answer some of these questions by considering a couple of New Testament examples.   Read More

"Man of sorrows" (Isaiah 53:3): I agree with Isaac Watts who added, "what a name / for the Son of God, who came." But it wasn't just a name; Jesus became a Man of Sorrows by being "acquainted with grief." What can we learn from the One who came not merely to grieve alongside of but to relieve and save the brokenhearted?   Read More

Gospel Meetings were both both successful and common in the yesteryears of the United States. However, there once was a Gospel Meeting that would put even the best attended meeting in the United States to shame. What can we learn from this meeting and the man who preached at it?   Read More

We are to be in the world but not of the world, right? Well, how can we not be "of the world" and still reach those who are? Let's consider the aim of finding common ground while pursuing higher ground.   Read More

If you were challenged to open your Bible to an account of Jesus' temptation in the wilderness, would have you have turned to Mark 1? Mark's short account of this event is often overlooked or lumped into the longer accounts. What can be gained from focusing specifically on what he recorded and developing a habit of considering texts in their context first?  Read More

"Christianity is a relationship, not a religion." Have you ever felt like this, or said it? More and more people see religion as the antithesis of faith instead of an avenue for faith. Are they right? Let's see what our Bibles say about "religion."   Read More

Recently, an assembly that had identified as a church of Christ allowed itself to be absorbed into a denominational body. Several alterations have already been made to the assembly's practices, a byproduct of the denomination's leadership being as one of them put it, "not doctrine-driven." But what is doctrine, and is it something that matters to God?   Read More

A children's song says that we have, "Two little eyes to look to God." So why do Moses, Isaiah, and Paul say that, "God has given them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see" (Romans 11:8; cf. Deuteronomy 29:4; Isaiah 29:10)? Let's reflect upon spiritual blindness and the role that God, Satan, and our own choice play in it.   Read More

Prophets are sometimes understood as finger pointers at rather than participants in their culture. The truth is that prophets helped their people move forward and that their loss was keenly felt. What can we learn from Enoch, Elijah, and Elisha about walking with God and having an impact on others?   Read More

Some claim that God directly communicates today apart from the Bible through feelings, circumstances, or perhaps even through dreams or an audible voice. What does the Bible teach on this subject?   Read More

Ephesians 5:21 calls Christians to submit "to one another," and then, starting in v. 22, calls wives to submit to their husbands. But if a wife is "one" who submits, who is "another" who does so? Let's dig deep deeper into this text and see the Lord's will for our marriages.   Read More

2 Peter 2 is a chapter full of condemnation for the wicked, and yet in the midst of it, there is a hopeful promise: "the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation" (2 Peter 2:9). What can we learn from the context about the Lord's deliverance?   Read More