This is an excerpt from Chapter 6 in Sinner Saint: A Surprising Primer to the Christian Life (1517 Publishing, 2025). Sinner Saint is available today from 1517 Publishing.
On its journey from Byzantium to Constantinople to Istanbul, this special place helps us understand the broader arc of Christian history, which goes on until Christ's return.
We needn’t fear statistics and studies as palm readings into a certain future. God is God, and his Spirit is alive through his Word.

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We must be careful in how we use Bible verses to establish Scriptural truth both to others and to ourselves.
Grace does not emancipate us from any requirement of obedience. Rather, grace allows Jesus to be obedient on our behalf that the righteous demands of the law can be fulfilled.
God’s word is creative in both the imaginative sense and the constructive sense. It brings things into existence and displays new ideas, images, and concepts we did not previously perceive.
While all Scripture is the self-revelation of God, not all Scripture should be read in the same way.
The “Lamenter” does not ask to carry out the vengeance/action himself, rather He trusts the LORD God to take care of business.
We have a Servant who stands in/is a substitute for Israel. This is the One who will atone for the sin of Israel—even the sin of the whole world.
A seed grows the kingdom of God. A whisper eventually turns the world upside down. A carpenter’s son from nowhere becomes the Savior of everyone. Such is God’s way.
As the body positivity movement has gained traction, we must also be aware of some of its pitfalls
The Old Testament is a long, strange book that’s not easy for modern readers to understand. What is understandable, therefore, is that people can get lost and confused when studying it. Here are three common misconceptions about it.
The Christ Key: Unlocking the Centrality of Christ in the Old Testament by Chad Bird is now available to order
As the sin-bearer, Jesus was also the sin-confessor in the psalms.
Hermeneutics in Romans: Paul’s Approach to Reading the Bible is now available from 1517 Publishing