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War in the Bible: an Examination of Biblical Conflict and Violence
The Bible doesn’t flinch at portraying the world’s violence, especially during wartime. And while there is no such thing as a kind and gentle war, you might be surprised to learn t...
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Who Do Your Give Credit to? (Romans 15:18–19) - Mondays with Mounce
Paul’s only boast is in what God has done through his own ministry, the goal of which was “bringing the Gentiles to obedience” (v 18b). Paul...
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When γάρ Can’t Mean “For” (Romans 12:3) - Mondays with Mounce
γάρ is a tricky word. The more formal equivalent translations tend to just use “for” and let you figure out what it means. The problem is th...
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Who Wrote the Gospel of Mark?
The four Gospels are were anonymously written, strictly speaking. None name their authors. Luke and John come closest: Luke with its first p...
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Understanding Privilege and Leveraging Its Power
Dominique Dubois Gilliard’s Subversive Witness: Scripture’s Call to Leverage Privilege offers a significant scriptural examination of the is...
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When is Tribulation only Affliction? - Mondays with Mounce
How do you translate θλῖψις? If you translate it as “tribulation,” does that bring in foreign ideas in some contexts? This is a tricky one.B...
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Who Was Julian the Apostate?
In the AD 330s, 40s, and 50s, everything seemed to be going the church’s way. Successive emperors and co-emperors (Constantine II, Constanti...
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Is “Dynamic Equivalent” a Dirty Word? - Mondays with Mounce
I was talking to someone yesterday who was explaining why he didn’t use the NIV. He referred to it as a “dynamic equivalent” translation, an...
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Did Jesus Care the Disciples were Drowning? (Mark 4:38) - Mondays with Mounce
Don't you find it strange that after many months with Jesus (we don't know how many), the disciples find themselves in a potentially fatal s...
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Is Prayer Part of God's Armor? (Eph 6:18) - Mondays with Mounce
Paul encourages us to “put on (ἐνδύσασθε) the full armor of God” (v 11), and again to take up (ἀναλάβετε) the full armor of God (v 13). The ...
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Do Modern Translations Deny the Trinity? (1 John 5:7b–8a) - Mondays with Mounce
It is often argued by a small but vocal minority of people that modern translations omit the doctrine of the Trinity. Despite the overwhelmi...
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Answer the fool, or not? (Proverbs 26:4–5) - Mondays with Mounce
Some people say they don’t trust the Old Testament because of all the so-called contradictions. One of the apparent contradictions often poi...
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Are the Gospels Truly Anonymous? - Mondays with Mounce
It has long been said that the Gospels are anonymous. At one level, that’s true. The names of the authors are not embedded in the text of th...
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Should The Gospel of Thomas be in the Bible? - Mondays with Mounce
It appears that there were three tests as to whether a book was viewed as authoritative and therefore included in the biblical canon. With s...
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Exploring the Topic of Racial Identity
Today's post includes excerpts from Jemar Tisby’s book How to Fight Racism. For a deep dive into racism and race identity, pick up your copy...
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Can Cornelius and Luke tell Time? (Acts 10:30) - Mondays with Mounce
“Cornelius said, ‘Four days ago at this hour, I was praying at the ninth hour in my house, and behold, a man stood before me in bright cloth...
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What is “Genuine” Love? (Rom 12:9–13) - Mondays with Mounce
Romans 12:9 and the following verses give us an interesting challenge as to what it means and how to translate it. Specifically, where did a...
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