Josephus does not tell us that Christianity is true, and Christians do not need Josephus to tell them that Christ is risen. But Christianity makes claims about things that happened in public history under identifiable rulers, priests, and governors. For that reason, testimony from outside the church matters.
Today, the longing for cultural Christianity on both the left and the right hearkens back to an older version of Christendom that was a mixed blessing for the church in the western world. The cultural mediation of Christian views on created order has certainly benefitted the civilization we’ve inherited. But the gospel itself isn’t something that can be reduced to cultural mediation either. Instead, the gospel as a message stands apart from all human accomplishments and achievements, no matter how beneficial they might be.
The student of Scripture should always have a map open next to their Bible as they read. If possible, they should also travel to Israel, not to make a pilgrimage, but to see the context of the land in which these stories took place. These are not fairy tales made up about fictional fantasy lands; these are stories about real people in real places interacting with a real God.

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While God may and does test one’s faith and life, yet He does not tempt with sin.
Because we have this hope and calling, we must speak boldly and plainly; no veil, no shiny veneer, just the truth about God nailed to a tree.
Saint Paul recognizes the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus is how the Spirit of God translates people from death and darkness to life and light.
This Spirit of love permits no Christian to exercise their freedom at the expense of another Christian still troubled by old associations.
Because this life is transient and we already live in the new and eternal age restored in Christ (at least in part), our preoccupations are different to those bound to this world and life.
What does being free from sin, which is obviously a good thing, have to do with being free from the Law, which sounds dangerous?
The church does well to remind the world that God is unmasked, indeed, that God has unmasked himself in the person of Jesus.
Rituals resist domestication and confront us with a world and worldview brought forth from the Bible and through twenty centuries of Christianity for the purpose of arresting our contemporary worldview through its self-sameness.
In Scripture, to be "in Christ" is nothing but living in the light and reality of one’s baptism.
Here is Paul’s repacking of the Christmas gift in terms of the personal and corporate implications of God so loving the world that He gave His only begotten Son.
The incarnate Son of God makes ordinary events extraordinary by making them events that factor into our salvation.
Why is it important for us to confess and remember the virgin birth? It is important because of its place within the total story of redemption.