Displaying 1 - 20 of 338 in total

2 Corinthians 13 - Test yourselves

"False teacher" is an accusation easy to throw around, but who gets to decide? The receiver of a teaching is not always the best judge of whether it was false — or eve...

2 Corinthians 8 - Excel also in gracious giving

Paul tells the Corinthians that since they excel in so many things — faith, knowledge, enthusiasm, love — they should excel also in giving. It's an interesting framing...

2 Corinthians 3 - The veil is taken away

Paul opens 2 Corinthians 3 with a small piece of wordplay that turns out to carry a large idea: the Corinthian believers themselves are his letter of recommendation — ...

2 Corinthians 1 - Grace and peace

Almost every New Testament epistle opens with "grace and peace" — and it turns out to be a phrase worth pausing on. It captures something essential, and makes an excel...

1 Corinthians 15 - A foolish question

1 Corinthians 15 centres on the idea of resurrection. We explore what the chapter has to say to Adventists specifically, for whom the state of the dead and the mechani...

1 Corinthians 13 - Put away childish things

1 Corinthians 13 is possibly the most well-known chapter in the Bible, and for good reason — it speaks for itself. Love is preeminent. The heart of our discussion is t...

1 Corinthians 14 - Ten thousand words

1 Corinthians 14 opens in a way that might feel familiar to Adventists — an emphasis on prophecy over tongues. But Paul's description of prophecy diverges quickly from...

1 Corinthians 8 - Not cause a believer to stumble

Paul's argument in 1 Corinthians 8 is elegant: food sacrificed to idols is fine to eat, since idols are meaningless — but avoid it if eating would lead a fellow believ...

1 Corinthians 6 - The temple of the Holy Spirit

Paul is not afraid to talk about sex — but his approach is more nuanced than the church's reputation suggests. In 1 Corinthians 5 he tells the church to get involved w...

1 Corinthians 4 - How can you brag

What would Paul make of denominational pride? We can sincerely reject division within our own tradition while quietly celebrating everything that makes us distinct fro...

1 Corinthians 1 - Made the world’s wisdom foolish

The gospel has always looked foolish to the wise — and Paul in 1 Corinthians 1 seems untroubled by this. In this belated episode (holidays interrupted the edit process...

1 Corinthians 2 - I came to you in weakness

What is an apostle, and what does it mean to be called? We open a new season in 1 and 2 Corinthians by sitting with Paul's own answer — which turns out to be surprisin...

Psalm 80 - We will be alright

A season about growing in relationship with God ends not with a method or a programme, but with a recurring cry. Psalm 80 turns out to thread through almost everything...

Revelation 12 - They did not love themselves

"Friendship evangelism" can sound like ulterior-motive friendship, and that discomfort is worth taking seriously. We explore what separates genuine friendly witness fr...

Genesis 15 - What good are all your blessings

Setbacks don't only happen when you can't see the big picture. Job is a famous example of hardship accompanied by confusion about what God is doing, but we focus a bit...

Hosea 6 - Slaughter you with my words

In this episode we look at the themes of repentence and forgiveness.  God tells us in Exodus 20 that he shows love to a thousand generations to those who love him, but...

Romans 7 - Who can save me from this?

Romans 7 names the experience precisely: the things I want to do, I don't; the things I don't want to do, I end up doing. We explore how sin, gospel, and law fit toget...

Hebrews 11 - Saw it all from a distance and welcomed it

Faith has two sides: the kind that moves mountains, and the kind that endures when the mountain stays put. We explore the idea that faith is a belief held strongly eno...

1 Kings 19 - A still small voice

Unanswered prayer is a genuine part of Christian experience — not a failure of faith. Many of the tidy explanations we reach for turn out to be exactly the arguments J...

Luke 18 - Came to him repeatedly

Prayer is a bit like calling emergency services — in the moment you need it most, technique and philosophy are the last things on your mind. We explore a tension that ...