Book Review – Paul: A Biography By N.T. Wright

430 pages of text. Less than ten citations of contemporary secondary sources. Roughly a dozen extra-biblical ancient source citations. Another dozen intertestamental/apocryphal citations. Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of scripture citations. All of that to say Wright’s book, “Paul: A biography” is scholarly but not written in direct conversation with various theories of what is […]

Was Paul the Best, Worst Communicator or is Something Else Going on?

There is a place in Paul’s writing that confused me for the longest time. What is the confusing statement? “My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words,” – 1 Corinthians 2:4 When I hear “wise and persuasive” I think of Paul. I think of him first because of his pedigree, “If […]

Losing & Finding Our Way: Paul points to Jesus

One final post on Paul before we dive into Jesus in order to connect the two. One of our fundamental miscues in the Restoration Movement has been turning to Paul to fine tune how we do church rather than turning to Paul to find Jesus. Paul was certainly interested in church life and worship. He […]

The Power of God’s Possession

One of the things that has been really helpful to me over the last few years has been the little word “of.” When you use that word you are talking about belonging. If something or someone is “of” something or someone…then it belongs to them. That little word of is in the phrase/name “Church of […]

If You Want To Understand Church, Start With Jesus

If you want to wrap your mind around church you can’t just stick with Paul, you have to go to Jesus. If you want to wrap your mind around Jesus you can’t just go to the Gospels, you have to go to the Old Testament. The story of Scripture from cover to cover is amazing […]

Exploring the First Century Church: Mission (Part 2)

In spite of the persecution and in spite of their lack of technology…the early church experienced explosive growth. A quick glance at the book of Acts reveals just how much the church was growing in its early years. Acts 2:41 – “Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to […]