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53 results for “Mark”
Clear searchWhy the distinction matters when we speak about Jesus
…t divide the one Christ who experienced or did it. The Lord Who Slept and Stilled the Sea Mark tells us that Jesus was “in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow” while a storm filled the boat with water (Mark 4:38). His sleep was real. The eternal Son had entered fully…
Read article →The brothers of Jesus, the sons of Mary, and an argument of strong plausibility
…stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother’s children.” This verse bears a remarkable resemblance to the rejection of Jesus by His brothers: “For neither did his brethren believe in him.” —John 7:5 The correspondence does not constitute an absolute proof that the bro…
Read article →Simon Greenleaf · Legal examination of testimony · 1846
A nineteenth-century legal scholar's examination of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John as witnesses, asking how their credibility, consistency, knowledge, conduct, and accounts would fare under principles used to assess evidence in courts of justice.
View recommendation →The crucifixion in history, Scripture and the Qur'an
…l attention to Jesus' arrest, condemnation, crucifixion, death and burial (Matthew 26-27; Mark 14-15; Luke 22-23; John 18-19). This should be stated carefully. The four accounts are not four entirely independent modern depositions. Matthew and Luke use Mark and other material; th…
Read article →Two failures, two responses, and the difference between remorse and repentance
…ist’s tomb was empty, Peter ran to see it. Most importantly, the risen Lord sought Peter. Mark’s Gospel records that the angel specifically instructed the women: “But go your way, tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee.” —Mark 16:7 “And Peter”—two smal…
Read article →The divine identity of Jesus across the Gospels
…is the strongest recognisable form of the Islamic claim. It does not deny that Jesus is remarkable. It denies that anything He says or does removes Him from the category of a human prophet. The question is whether that category can contain the Jesus of the Gospels. This cannot be…
Read article →Which Gospel does the Qur'an affirm?
…stians no longer possess the original Injeel. Jesus received one revelation, but Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are later human accounts. They may retain fragments of His genuine teaching, but the original book was corrupted, obscured or lost. That answer must do more than create a…
Read article →Israel's Messiah, Israel's Scriptures, and a gospel for the world
…n: "The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord." —Mark 12:29 He did not treat the Hebrew Scriptures as the relics of a discarded religion. He declared that they testified of Him, answered temptation from Deuteronomy, interpreted His mission…
Read article →Isaiah, John, and the Divine Identity of Jesus Christ
…st prepares the way of YHWH Isaiah 40:3 calls for preparation of YHWH’s way. Matthew 3:3, Mark 1:2–3, Luke 3:4–6 and John 1:23 apply the passage to John the Baptist. The person whose arrival the Baptist prepares is Jesus.[^22] The Hebrew presentation naturally places the highway…
Read article →Samuel G. Green · Historical survey · 1904
…Those limits should be kept in mind, but they do not diminish its value as a lucid and remarkably balanced guide to the first fifteen centuries. Apostolic Church Church Fathers Councils Doctrinal development Eastern and Western Churches Medieval Church Reform movements
View recommendation →Near-death experiences, neuroscience, and the authority of Christ
…ascination with near-death experiences was gathering momentum, it did more than collect remarkable accounts. Brooke examined the beliefs being carried back from the brink: claims about God, judgement, reincarnation, universal salvation, spirit guides and the meaning of death. Tha…
Read article →How an openly transmitted text survived copying, criticism, and centuries of examination
…umber are both meaningful and difficult. Well-known passages such as the longer ending of Mark and the account of the woman taken in adultery are marked in responsible modern editions precisely because the evidence is discussed openly. That does not mean every textual question ha…
Read article →How the Law reaches its goal and appointed end in Christ
…t reveals why justification is needed. It is not the final destination, but it faithfully marks the road towards the One who is. Christ is the end of the Law Paul's choice of telos is richer than a simple announcement that the Law has been discarded. Christ is its goal because it…
Read article →Why the final seven is unfinished, future, and centred upon Israel and Jerusalem
…re the crucifixion. The calculation is ingenious and has rightly drawn attention to the remarkable messianic shape of Daniel's chronology. It should not be presented as though every premise were uncontested. Interpreters dispute which Persian decree begins the count, whether the…
Read article →Responding to five common criticisms without defending what Scripture does not require
…lly. The Jewish people's preservation and return to the ancestral land are historically remarkable and may properly be considered in light of prophecy. But no government receives moral immunity from Scripture. Let me therefore state my own position plainly. If being a Zionist mea…
Read article →Ezekiel 20, child sacrifice, and the judgement of being given over
…on repeatedly condemns an action as abhorrent, we do not immediately treat an ambiguous remark as proof that they commanded it—especially where a recognised manner of expression offers a coherent explanation. The same fairness belongs in biblical interpretation. Some scholars und…
Read article →El, the Exodus, and the God Who Came from Sinai
…derness does not by itself establish that He originated there as a local god. A place may mark the beginning of a people’s knowledge of a mighty act without marking the beginning of the One who performed it. El: A Word, a Title and a Possible Ambiguity The Hebrew El belongs to th…
Read article →Why the Son assumed a complete human nature, not merely a body
…ept at Lazarus’s tomb (John 11:33–35). He looked upon the rich young ruler and loved him (Mark 10:21). None of these verses should be forced to bear a technical definition of the soul by itself. Together they reveal real human understanding and affection, not the movements of a p…
Read article →Origen, Arius and the line between Creator and creation
…o explain—not merely assert—why Jesus is not the first creature, why His Sonship does not mark a beginning, why His obedience to the Father does not deny His divine nature, and why Nicaea clarified rather than created the Church’s faith. Our children will encounter rival accounts…
Read article →Matthew, the Hebrew word almah, and a sign whose meaning reaches beyond Ahaz
…married could conceive and bear in the ordinary course, and the child's early years would mark the collapse of the hostile alliance. The promised child grows larger than the first crisis If the passage ended at Isaiah 7:16, the near-historical reading might appear sufficient. It…
Read article →History, heresy, and the temptation of private Christianity
…ous authority lies in themselves. A testimony of being “born again” can become a boundary marker used not only to distinguish faith from unbelief but to dismiss baptised and confessing Christians whose experience does not fit an approved script. Lee is especially strong when he d…
Read article →Does John 6 teach the literal eating of Christ's body?
…living God.” —John 6:68–69 This is the inspired conclusion to the discourse, and it is remarkably neglected in appeals to John 6 as a Eucharistic proof text. Peter does not say: We accept that we must one day eat Your body sacramentally. He says: You have the words of eternal li…
Read article →Faith, assurance, and the unseen reality of God
…on, without suggesting that faith and reason are enemies? These questions bring us to a remarkable statement: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” — Hebrews 11:1, KJV There is something profound here. Things still hoped for have a pre…
Read article →The LORD, Zion, and the meaning of Beulah in Isaiah 62:4–5
…God rejoice over thee.” —Isaiah 62:4–5 Isaiah 62:4–5 brings together three parties in a remarkable prophetic picture: the LORD, Zion, and Zion’s land. The LORD delights in Zion. The land is called “Married.” Zion’s sons are said to marry her. Finally, God rejoices over Zion as a…
Read article →Seeing God, bodily resurrection, and life in the renewed creation
…. Jesus' own resurrection was physical and recognisable: He could be touched, He bore the marks of crucifixion, and He ate with His disciples. Paul does call the resurrection body “spiritual” (1 Corinthians 15:44), but the contrast is not between material and immaterial. A spirit…
Read article →Divine judgement, the character of God, and the promise of escape
…is to gather the Church into safety before the indignation falls. Isaiah gives language remarkably suited to that expectation: "Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be over…
Read article →A response to Hank Hanegraaff on resurrection, Daniel’s final week, and the Tribulation
…h. The central chronological facts remain: one final heptad is named, and its midpoint is marked by the cessation of sacrifice and an abomination which desolates. Jesus later says: “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand…
Read article →Testing Islam's evidence for divine revelation
…reverse their fortunes. Its text was memorised, written, collected and transmitted with remarkable stability. Its language has shaped worship, law, civilisation and personal devotion across many centuries. The informed argument is therefore cumulative: Muhammad was not equipped b…
Read article →The peace Christ gives in a troubled world
…foundation is God, not our control of tomorrow. Sometimes this peace is experienced as remarkable calm. At other times it appears as the quieter grace to continue: enough light for the next step, enough strength for the present duty and enough confidence to pray again. We should…
Read article →Why the Trinity is not polytheism—and why Christians confess one God
…s none else, there is no God beside me” (Isaiah 45:5). Jesus affirms Israel's confession (Mark 12:29), and Paul writes, “there is none other God but one” (1 Corinthians 8:4). The Trinity was not developed to escape those declarations. It protects them. The Son is not a second dei…
Read article →Sources behind Qur’anic narratives
…uke 1:1–4). He later introduces the ministry of John the Baptist by locating it among a remarkable concentration of rulers and religious authorities: “Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Cæsar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judæa, and Herod being tetrarch of Gal…
Read article →Why a loaded label does not settle the question
…Noah was secured before the Flood. Lot was removed before fire fell upon Sodom. Rahab was marked out before Jericho was destroyed. Israel passed through the Red Sea before it closed upon Egypt's army. Peter draws the moral principle from Noah and Lot: “The Lord knoweth how to del…
Read article →An unrequited love for the historic Church
…of where authority finally resides. The Church’s Ancient Confession Irenaeus provides a remarkable standard by which to test this question. Writing in the second century against the Gnostic schools, he described the faith received by the worldwide Church from the apostles and the…
Read article →Spiritual ecstasy, altered states, and discerning what is from God
…ience does not explain itself. People belonging to contradictory religions can describe remarkably similar sensations while drawing entirely different conclusions from them. One person encounters what he calls Christ; another believes she has met a Hindu deity; another speaks of…
Read article →The Messiah cut off before the Temple fell
…:21). The Messiah’s identity and the Messiah’s death are joined in His own instruction. Remarkably, the Qur’an also calls Jesus the Messiah. It announces one “whose name is the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary” in Surah 3:45 (Pickthall) and again calls Him “the Messiah, Jesus son of M…
Read article →Creation, judgement, and the coming reign of Christ
…wheat, cattle, sheep, horses, chariots, slaves, and "souls of men" pass through the same market (Revelation 18:12-13). The list descends from splendour to horror. Materials, food, animals, transport, bodies, and human lives have all been absorbed into one system of appetite. The…
Read article →How the Lord knows His own—and how their lives bear His name
…shed: the foundation stands, and it bears a seal. The two inscriptions on the seal A seal marks ownership, authenticity and security. Paul describes this seal with two inscriptions: “The Lord knoweth them that are his.” “Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from in…
Read article →The near was real. The far is still coming.
…a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest.” — Isaiah 32:15 “Until” marks a boundary to the devastation. The Hebrew ʿad, “until,” does not supply a date or specify the length of the intervening period. It does identify the event that changes the situation: t…
Read article →Regathering, national rebirth, and the spiritual renewal still to come
…modern Israel is neither a prophetic irrelevance nor the completed restoration. It is a remarkable and providential stage in the restoration whose decisive spiritual fulfilment still awaits the return of Messiah. Israel has returned nationally. Israel will be restored spiritually…
Read article →Christianity, Islam and the verdict of the evidence
…s the paralytic to demonstrate that “the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins” (Mark 2:10). He declares Himself Lord of the sabbath. He commands wind and sea. He walks upon the waters in a manner which recalls the LORD’s mastery of the deep. He receives worship rather t…
Read article →The glory philosophy could not contain
…back inside his own system? A recent study by Matthew R. Crawford draws attention to a remarkable historical example. (See Note 1.) In the third century, the Platonist philosopher Amelius read—or at least knew—a clear account of the opening of John’s Gospel. He recognised the et…
Read article →Irenaeus of Lyons · Early Christian theology and polemic · c. 180–190
I value Irenaeus for his remarkably high view of Scripture and for the patience with which he first explains his opponents and then answers them. His rebuttal of Gnosticism contains powerful discussions of the true hu…
View recommendation →Born, begotten and firstborn in the eternal identity and saving work of the Son
…swer is that resurrection belongs to the Son’s saving mission within history; it does not mark the beginning of His eternal identity. Eternity and economy In Christian theology, the eternal or immanent Trinity refers to who the Father, Son and Holy Spirit eternally are in God’s o…
Read article →Four popular claims tested in context
…of one God to Arabian tribes. The reference to Kedar is therefore taken as a geographical marker identifying him. This is probably the most plausible-looking of the four arguments because Kedar really does have an Arabian association. The error lies not in noticing Kedar, but in…
Read article →Election within Abraham's family, the believing remnant, and the future of the nation
…:21-31 Michael Cranford, "Election and Ethnicity: Paul's View of Israel in Romans 9:1-13" Mark D. Nanos, "The Gifts and the Calling of God Are Irrevocable: If So, How Can Paul Declare That Not All Israelites Truly Belong to Israel?" Susan Grove Eastman, "Israel and the Mercy of G…
Read article →Constantine, Arius, the Trinity, the biblical canon—and the myths that refuse to die
…uring or immediately after the council, and accounts from three participants representing markedly different interests. They do not tell the story found in social-media mythology. The historical verdict is more interesting. Constantine summoned and funded the council, urged agree…
Read article →Governmental restraint, the final ten kings, and the preparation of the temple
…ealings with humanity, commonly called a dispensation. A building project does not itself mark a dispensational boundary. The sanctuary’s preparation could begin during the present age and reach its predicted use in the seventieth week. This is a chronological possibility, withou…
Read article →Earth-dwellers, heaven-dwellers, and the literary structure of the Apocalypse
…and the beast exercises authority for forty-two months. These are Danielic and Israelite markers, not the ordinary language of Paul's body of Christ. Nor does the Spirit abandon the earth. He gave life and empowered servants before Pentecost and can do so after the Church's pres…
Read article →A forensic reading of Christ's Olivet Discourse
…salem-centred emergency. Geography alone cannot identify the elect. It supplies the first marker: the discourse is rooted in the land and institutions of Israel. Clue two: "elect" already has a biblical history The word "elect" does not arrive in Matthew without a history. In the…
Read article →A sign of Israel's renewal, not Israel's disappearance
…ters. Jesus came proclaiming, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand" (Mark 1:15). He announced good news in Israel's towns, taught in its synagogues, went up to its feasts, and identified His immediate mission with "the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (Matt…
Read article →The positive argument of the whole series, brought together
…rusalem is later destroyed. The final week therefore remains distinct, with a covenant, a marked midpoint, sacrifice, abomination, and desolation (Daniel 9:26-27). Jesus places Daniel's abomination before unparalleled Great Tribulation and His manifested coming (Matthew 24:15-31)…
Read article →Labour, purpose, and faithfulness in a fallen world
…ntrusted to Him. Jesus taught that the sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath (Mark 2:27). Rest is not the enemy of useful work; it is one of the ways we confess that the world does not depend upon us. Work becomes an idol when we cannot stop, when success determines o…
Read article →How Christians can think politically without surrendering conscience to a package deal
…complete Christian ethic. A believer does not have to swallow the whole set of positions marketed under either name. A conservative can care deeply about the earth. "The earth is the LORD'S" (Psalm 24:1), and humanity was placed in the garden to dress and keep it (Genesis 2:15).…
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