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.

All Articles

Evangelism is hard work requiring lots of patience. Churches and mission boards are often too impatient and want to see numerical growth explode overnight.
Absolution is the word God speaks to cause his sin-dead creation to live.
Those called out for their sins, who find themselves knee deep in their transgressions, always need grace.
Preaching needs to recover the recognition that it is a monumental event, setting forth through proclamation the monumental Gospel.
The expectation of the Old Testament is NOT first and foremost obedience, but rather adoration!
If Christ is the holiness, righteousness, salvation, truth, grace, resurrection life, eternal life, and perfection of God, then the spirit of the world is the antithesis of all those.
Jesus is the vine. You are His branches. And God the Father delights to bring the inside out.
There is one verse in the Bible that talks about tattoos. In this article, Chad Bird explores the original Hebrew of that verse to see what light it sheds, looks at the verse in context, and discusses what application--if any--this verse has for Christians today.
The creatures and the elders show us what to do now. They hit the deck, sing, and worship, so we would know what the liturgy is supposed to look and sound like.
Just as the grave could not hold the Lord of Life, neither could the calendar contain Easter to just one Sunday.
God has a strange delivery system, the foolish preaching of the cross and foolish preachers for Christ’s sake delivering it.
What kind of shepherd does God provide? The answer, of course, starts and ends with Christ.