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.
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.
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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It's a new year, and you are still the same you: a sinner who is simultaneously perfect in every way because Christ declares it to be so.
The name of Jesus holds us fast.
A Bit of Earth is about the garden, but it’s also about us—as we are made from dirt.
Show me a sinner, and I’ll write you a story of a God who saves them.
This is an excerpt from Chapter 7 of Junk Drawer Jesus written by Matt Popovits (1517 Publishing, 2024). Available today!
Jacob is given the gospel afresh right when he needed it and it is because of this gospel that his faith is stirred up anew.
The good news for Jacob is that God humbled himself so that he could lose a wrestling match to a man with a dislocated hip so that he could give him a new name.
This is a companion article to “Johann Spangenberg on Dying Well”
If you are a Christian, you already have what you need to give a reason for the hope within you. That reason, though, is not you.
Now that the Lord of Sabaoth has involved himself, something ends, something is born.
Some part of us always wants our ability under the law to be just as important (or more) than grace.
Paul knew that, without the resurrection, the Christian life was a “Smells Like Teen Spirit” video.