This review of Peter Enns' short but important book, The Evolution of Adam: What the Bible Does and Doesn't Say about Human Origins, is getting some discussion on the web. I just finished Enns' book, so I want to share some impressions of this review and what Enns is...
Romans
Naked Bible Podcast 007 Uploaded
No, it's not about James Bond. Click through to find out! In this episode, Dr. Michael Heiser explores the question of how baptism should be performed, analyzing whether Scripture definitively supports immersion, sprinkling, or pouring. He examines the Greek verb...
New Perspective on Paul: A Recent Reading Group Post
Well, the Naked Bible Reading Group on the NPP has started up. I gave everyone a week to read Kent Yinger's short book on it (The New Perspective on Paul: An Introduction), and posting has begun. What follows is my most recent post. I thought it might be useful to...
Election and the Subset Remnant: Thoughts on Predestination
Finally got this video made. The audio isn't great, so turn up your speakers. I hope this helps you see how I'm thinking about predestination with respect to election and the subset of the saved remnant, per earlier posts on those topics. ...
Election and Salvation, Round Three
I decided to throw together a short video (9 minutes) to try and better explain/illustrate what my take on this topic is. I reference my thoughts on baptism therein -- how it is divorced from salvation, just as circumcision was -- and so it might be useful to skim...
Election, Salvation, Unbelief, and Eternal Security
Here we go. You'll note by the end that I really don't care for (or feel the need) to frame these issues they way they are typically framed. Election and Salvation The major point of my previous post on election was that it was not to be understood as synonymous with...
Back to Election
Well, I'm finally over oral surgery, the holidays, and the beating I received this past weekend in the Naked Bible fantasy football league. (And that hurt more than the surgery). Time to get back to election. As indicated in my previous posts on this, I think the...
The Election of Israel and Its Meaning
I want to take this topic in shorter, manageable posts. My goal is to take you through my thought process in shorter increments than usual. This topic seems to require it. We'll start in the Old Testament. Anyone can tell from a lexicon or the list of verses I posted...
Choosing Election
Okay, it's a bad pun (are there really any good puns?). I've decided that it's time for the Naked Bible to weigh in on election. I've hinted at this a couple of times, but I figure it's a good way to have 2010 go out with a bang and start the New Year running. (Yes, I...
Interesting Article on Phoebe as a Deacon
I hope to post again on baptism this weekend, but in the meantime, here is an interesting (short) article on the Greek descriptions of Phoebe. I've posted on the "women in ministry" issue a bit before, so I figured some of you might be interested in this. Previous...
Romans 5:12 and Universalism: Applying My Take on Romans 5:12 to the Problem
I'm actually surprised at how brief this one turned out to be! (I'm sure you all are as well). Here's the passage: 12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned 13 for sin indeed...
A Side Note on “Corporate Solidarity”
Forgot to push the button on this last night. I recently had a good exchange with a Naked Bible reader via email and wanted to share my thoughts on the notion of how "corporate solidarity" (CS) fails to answer my objections to the traditional view of Romans 5:12. The...
Paul, Original Sin, and Rabbinic Theology
I've had a request for the two articles on the idea of "original sin" and rabbinic material. Here they are: S. Porter, "The Pauline Concept of Original Sin in Light of the Rabbinic Background," Tyndale Bulletin 41:1 (1990): 3-30 Kister, "Romans 5:12-21 Against the...
Adam’s Sin and Old Testament Theology
In my last post about contextualizing the OT in light of the ancient Near Eastern culture of the OT writers, I was reminded again of the striking absence of Adam's sin in OT theology. Other than Genesis 3 and then Genesis 4-5, where Adam is mentioned with respect to...
A Brief Note on Contextualizing the Bible (Especially OT)
One of the responders accuse me of being extrabiblical in my approach to Romans 5:12. Actually, I'm being explicitly biblical, since I refuse to de-contextualize the Bible in favor of rendering interpretations that are comfortable, or that are European, American, or...