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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Tim wanted everyone to know to the deepest part of their being that they were justified by Christ alone.
May you believe, in this thin-line world, that this Jesus is for you, not against you.
The drama of Scripture is about God renaming us by bringing us into his image-bearing family once again. And it would take “a name above all names” to accomplish it.
This week we are taking a closer look at 1 Corinthians 15:14-19 and what we lose if Christ has not been raised from the dead.
This is the prelude of Easter. Is a dead Jesus still resting in the tomb? No!
Ash Wednesday's purpose is not to motivate our resolve to redouble our efforts to do better.
Rightly distinguishing between law and gospel, as Paul helps us see in 2 Corinthians 3, is, quite literally, a matter of life and death.
The gospel's message is the scandalous announcement that Yahweh has stooped to our frame, to where we are.
The law had to have its way with the expert to bring him around (and back) to Abraham's response.
Maybe, just maybe, our goal for 2023 should not be to live more but to die more.
In Memory of My Friend, James Arne Nestingen
We live again, not so that we will now pay our debt, but to proclaim that we live because our debt was paid!