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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This is an excerpt from Chapter 4 of Clothed with Christ written byBrian W. Thomas (1517 Publishing, 2024). Now available for preorder.
In the Bible, we meet the God who also does not prance around naked as a jaybird.
Jesus took the poison of sin and drank the cup of wrath on our behalf to gain favor and righteousness for us.
What the gospel does is take people who were enemies of God and transform them into lovers of God
The one who delights in the law of the Lord learns to fear his own good works and trust God outside of them.
Free speech isn't dead yet, and when it comes to the proclamation of the gospel, it never will be.
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.
Success is emphatically not your primary identity.
God does not give us an undebatable answer to suffering. Instead, God suffers, too.
Like Jacob, sinners approach the Heavenly Father wearing the clothes of their older brother, Jesus.
We know we are made for something great. We humans were created in God’s image and restored through Christ in his perfect image.
The gospel is for sinners – both the tax collector and Pharisee, both in need of the Great Physician.