Once again this blog title is the same as that of a song by David Bazan, from his ‘band’ Pedro The Lion.

All the time you were burning my letters You were only acting the part You think without me you’ll get on much better But you don’t even know your own heart

Come home,...

The title of this blog post mirrors the title of its subject, namely a song by David Bazan, as performed by his ‘band’ Pedro The Lion. The lyrics are below, and you can hear it here:

I could hear the church bells ringing They pealed aloud Your praise The member’s faces were smiling...

Now as He was walking along the Sea of Galilee, Jesus saw two brothers—Simon (the one called Peter) and his brother Andrew—casting nets into the lake, for they were fishers. And He said to them, “Come follow Me, and I will make you fishers of persons[1]” (Matthew 4:18-19).

Our...

When Black Friday comes I’m gonna stake my claim.¹

Ah, it’s that time yet again. Time when most all merchants are opening up their stores earlier and earlier in their efforts to reach further and further into your wallet and purse (avarice). A time when the collective values of US...

[See Introduction; John 1:1-2]

The earliest New Testament Greek manuscripts were written with no spaces between words and no punctuation. This could pose challenges for readers and interpreters, especially in places where it may be difficult to determine if a given word or words were meant to close...

As mentioned in the introduction, we are embarking on a journey through John’s prologue. The importance of a proper understanding of these first eighteen verses of The Gospel According to John is well-reflected in the words of this writer: “The most puzzling Johannine discourse is...

At the Beginning is the Prologue

For years I’ve had a fascination with John’s Gospel. As someone who is self-learning NT (Koine) Greek, I find it helpful that the Gospel writer uses rather simple language. However, while the Greek text itself is not difficult, The Gospel According to John...

[This is part 6 of a multi-part article. See part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, and part 5.]

Comparison with John 1:1c and 1:14a

Comparing 5:27b with other theologically similar anarthrous PN-CV constructions in John’s Gospel, specifically 1:1c and 1:14a, may reinforce the stance adopted here.

In the verse which begins John’s Gospel the...

[This is part 5 of a multi-part article.  See part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4.]

Grammatical-Syntactical Analysis of John 5:27b

We now turn specifically to the anarthrous PN-CV construction in 5:27b:

ὅτι υἱὸς ἀνθρώπου ἐστίν ὅτ&io...

[This is part 4 of a multi-part article.  See part 1, part 2, part 3, part 5.]

Immediate and Larger Context of John 5:27b

Chapter 5 of John’s Gospel begins with Jesus healing the man at the pool of Bethesda. Jesus’ Jewish adversaries took exception to His healing on the Sabbath, and then commanding the now-healed man to...

[This is part 3 of a multi-part article.  See part 1, part 2, part 4, part 5.]

NT Usage of ‘(the) Son of Man’

In the NT the idiom is most often arthrous, with only four instances of anarthrous constructions, with John 5:27b included in the latter. We’ll briefly discuss the use of the articular form of the expression in the...

[This is part 2 of a multi-part article. See part 1, part 3, part 4, part 5.]

‘Son of Man’ in the LXX

In the LXX, the Greek OT, υἱὸς ἀνθρώπου (huios anthrōpou), the words translated into English most often as “son of man” – though some use...

[This is the first part of a multi-part article. See part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5.]

This article will argue that, properly understood, John the Gospel writer¹ conveys in John 5:27 that Jesus Christ was given authority by the Father to judge due to His incarnational status of being fully human yet the Son of God. In other words, the Son of God was...

³⁶ “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

³⁷ Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰ A...

This will be a bit unusual in that, just like the title states, this post will consist of random thoughts.  In thinking about writing down the ruminations swirling through my head of late, I was reminded of a term from a psych class I took as a college freshman – flight of ideas.  I’ve been convinced for some time now that...