Category: Bible

  • Hannah / Mary Parallels

    Yes, the Eastern (Greek-speaking) Church Fathers explicitly draw the Hannah–Mary / Samuel–Jesus parallel more frequently and earlier than is sometimes realized in Western scholarship. The connection is especially prominent in homiletic, liturgical, and exegetical texts from the 4th century onward. Key Eastern Fathers and Sources Summary The Eastern Fathers not only see the parallel —…

  • The Stone the Builders Rejected

  • Orthodox Zionism?

    Zion as a Historic Location 2 Samuel 5:7Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion (that is, the City of David). 1 Kings 8:1Now Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the chief fathers of the children of Israel, to King Solomon in Jerusalem, that they might bring up the ark of the covenant…

  • Lord’s Prayer in the Quran?

    Muslims claim the Lord’s Prayer is in the start of the Quran. This is false. No, the Lord’s Prayer (as found in the Bible, primarily Matthew 6:9–13 and Luke 11:2–4) is not in the Quran. The Quran does not contain the exact text, structure, or sequence of the Lord’s Prayer, which is a Christian prayer…

  • Luke 21:20 and Partial Preterism

    The Destruction of Jerusalem – 70 AD Luke 21: 20 And when you shall see Jerusalem surrounded with armies, then know that its desolation is near. Eusebius of Caesarea AD 339 By the desolation of Jerusalem, He means that it was never again to be set up, or its legal rites to be reestablished, so that…

  • Church as Hospital

    Today’s Gospel reading is the teaching of the Church as Hospital, Jesus as the Great Physician and sin as sickness. Matthew 9:9-13 King James Version 9 And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose,…

  • Ultimately Victorious

    Text for today 1 Corinthians 4:9-16 King James Version 9 For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men. 10 We are fools for Christ’s sake, but ye are wise in…

  • The Letter of Aristeas

    Letter of Aristeas to Philocrates is a Hellenistic work of the 3rd or early 2nd century BC. The letter describes the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible by seventy-two interpreters sent into Egypt from Jerusalem at the request of the librarian of Alexandria, resulting in the Septuagint translation. The work relates how the king of Egypt, presumably Ptolemy II Philadelphus, is urged by…

  • Evangelical “Re-” Baptism

    When I was an associate Evangelical pastor, I taught the Baptism class. I talked a woman in the class out of being rebaptized. She was originally baptized Catholic. Our Sr Pastor wasn’t happy. I was more of a sacramentalist than most. Eph 4:5-6 One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all,…

  • Messianic Judaism

    I went to a Messianic Jewish synagogue for 1.5 yrs back in the mid 1990’s. I mistakenly thought if I went to a Messianic synagogue, I’d get to learn the Jewish roots of the Christian faith. What I got was the form of rabbinic Judaism that was practiced after the temple was destroyed. I learned…

  • The Chosen People

    New Testament fulfillment of Old Testament passages.

  • The Mercy of God

    The Jews still exist. God did not destroy them when they rejected His Only Son. He could have and would have been within His rights to do so. After all, He destroyed Sodom for a much less serious crime. The mercy of God is to give them time to repent.

  • Good Pharisees?

    John the Forerunner Most of the Gospel accounts of Pharisees are negative. Matthew 3:7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Nicodemus – Secret Follower John 3:1 There was…

  • Najran Massacre

    The Massacre of Christians in Najran (523 CE) The most prominent historical event referred to as the “massacre of Christians in Yemen” is the persecution and mass killing of Christians in the city of Najran (in modern-day southwestern Saudi Arabia, but part of ancient Himyarite Yemen) in 523 CE. This event, carried out under the…

  • Priestly Vestments

    Exodus 28 provides detailed instructions from God to Moses about the garments for Aaron, the high priest, and his sons. These include the ephod, breastpiece, robe, tunic, turban, and sash, with specifics on materials (gold, blue, purple, scarlet yarn, and fine linen), design, and symbolic elements like the twelve gemstones representing the tribes of Israel.…

  • John the Forerunner

    There’s a tradition of the Orthodox Church, not in the Bible, that John the Baptist went to Hades and preached about Jesus there. His mission wasn’t just to those on earth, but also to those awaiting the Messiah. And of course, it makes perfect sense. What else would John do? He isn’t the sort of…

  • Honoring Relics

    The Patriarchs commanded their sons to take their bones out of Egypt and bring them into the Promised Land. Their bones were buried in the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron. To this day, Jews go there to pray. Why would Christian tradition be any different? We have the same roots. If they honor Abraham…

  • Everybody is Kissing the Wall…

    There is a real lack of basic historical knowledge among Christians about the Western (wailing) wall in Jerusalem. Many believe it’s always been a place Christians go to worship and that it’s somehow “holy” to Christians today. Bottom line: It wasn’t a place Christians considered holy nor did they go to the Temple wall until…

  • Woman Caught in Adultery

    There’s a claim in the story of the woman caught in adultery (John 8) as well as an unresolved issue. The story was intended as a trap for Jesus which he managed to outwit (v 6) without violating the Law. The claim was “she was caught in the act”. The requirement of the Law was…

  • If they abide not still in unbelief

    Romans 11:17-21And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree; Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. Thou wilt…

  • Orthodoxy vs Christian Zionism (Grok)

    Christian Zionism, the belief that the modern state of Israel is a divinely ordained fulfillment of biblical prophecy and that Christians should actively support its political and territorial aims, is a controversial topic within Christian theology. Orthodox Christian theology, rooted in the patristic tradition and the teachings of the early Church Fathers, offers several arguments…

  • OT Text – 2025-03-24

    ISAIAH 14:24-32The LORD of hosts has sworn: “As I have planned, so shall it be, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand, that I will break the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains trample him under foot; and his yoke shall depart from them, and his burden from their shoulder.” This…

  • OT Text – 2025-03-10 (3)

    GENESIS 3:21-4:7And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins, and clothed them. Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and…

  • OT Text – 2025-03-10 (2)

    PROVERBS 3:34-4:22Toward the scorners he is scornful, but to the humble he shows favor. The wise will inherit honor, but fools get disgrace. Hear, O sons, a father’s instruction, and be attentive, that you may gain insight; for I give you good precepts: do not forsake my teaching. When I was a son with my…