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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Show me a sinner, and I’ll write you a story of a God who saves them.
No matter how many times we hear this good news, it never stops being good news.
Our faith is precisely where Paul puts it, namely, in the blood of Christ.
God’s creatures on four legs are some of the greatest storytellers of the Scriptures.
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 mere fact of “having faith” or saying that “you believe” is not as important as in what or in whom your faith rests.
He will never leave you nor forsake you. Your faith is not fragile glass.
This is an excerpt from Chapter 6 of Clothed with Christ written by Brian W. Thomas (1517 Publishing, 2024). Now available!
What a small thing in the big picture to give his head for the Head of the Church who would give his life for John and all sinners.
It is the story of a God who is not distant, not indifferent, not doing anything in half-measures, but who is here, now.
What the gospel does is take people who were enemies of God and transform them into lovers of God
God can never really be said to be ignoring us, even if our experience with God at any given moment is that he is.