Another Look at 1 Timothy 2:11-15

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Recently (see here) I wrote a blog addressing Ben Witherington’s defense of Evangelical feminism. One of the comments to that blog asked about feminist explanations of 1 Tim 2:11-15 and mentioned some articles which could be read. I did not find the explanations given to be persuasive. However, rather than interact with those articles, which primarily focused on extrabiblical material and
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Grace in Ministry (Galatians 6:13-14)

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Paul’s letter to the Galatians contrasts law-religion and grace-religion. The contrast applies not only to how you are justified before God, but also to how you live the Christian life.  One of the differences between law-religion and grace-religion shows itself in the pressures to have a “successful” ministry.  What usually counts as a successful ministry?  Numbers.  Numbers of people.  Numbers
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Burden Bearing (Galatians 6:1-6)

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I believe that Christian “spirituality” boils down to loving Jesus and loving your neighbor. There are some other elements, to be sure, but that’s the master theme.  And this isn’t an emotional-sentimental love. It’s a practical, get-your-hands-dirty kind of love. It’s a give a hungry person a sandwich, or better yet, give him a job, kind of love. Christians shouldn’t be known for their spiritually useless liturgical calendars (Gal 4:10) or esoteric
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Unless You Repent You Will All Likewise Perish (Luke 13:3, 5)

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I’ve been working on a book on repentance. I wrote my doctoral dissertation on this subject over thirty years ago. Then about a dozen years later, I changed my understanding of repentance, and of the passage we discuss in this blog.   This chapter is drawn from one of the proposed chapters for this upcoming book.  
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No More Scarlet Letters (Galatians 6:1)

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Have you ever read Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter or seen one of the film adaptations?  The story is set in Puritan Boston. The protagonist is a woman named Hester Prynne. She was sent to live in colonial America by her husband, who was supposed to follow her but was captured by the Indians. As a result, Hester lived alone, making a living as a seamstress. She found comfort with the
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The Benefits of the Cross: Actual or Potential?

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I was talking to a friend about the different views of the atonement in Free Grace circles. We came around to the issue of potentiality versus actuality. What did the cross actually accomplish? What did it potentially accomplish?  I came up with an illustration for the differences of opinion that exist in Evangelical circles.  Imagine if poisonous snakes escaped from a pet store and bit everyone at the mall.
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The Role of Women in the Local Church

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Recently a friend pointed me to a blog (see here) at patheos.com. The blog is entitled, “Why Arguments Against Women in Ministry Aren’t Biblical.” The June 2, 2015, blog was written by leading NT scholar Ben Witherington. In this blog, Witherington argues that there is a bigger role for women in the local church than many conservative Evangelicals believe. I welcome the opportunity to interact on
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Salvation in Romans and Hebrews

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A reader asks, “I heard Bob say that the word save never refers to eternal life or justification in Romans or Hebrews. However, the following texts seem very much to refer to spiritual salvation: Rom 5:9-10; 8:24; 10:1; Heb 7:25. What should we think about them?”  Okay. Here is a brief explanation of each of
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