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Why the Ethiopian Bible Is Captivating a New Audience: A Search for Ancestral Faith

Dr. JP Foster
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Why the Ethiopian Bible Is Captivating a New Audience: A Search for Ancestral Faith

The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church (EOTC) is one of the oldest and most unique Christian traditions in the world. Recently, however, the Ethiopian Bible has become the subject of intense fascination outside its traditional geographic and cultural boundaries.

Viral social media posts frequently describe the Ethiopian canon as a “hidden” or “suppressed” version of the scriptures, suggesting that Western ecclesiastical authorities deliberately excluded important texts to control or obscure theological truths.

This recent spark of interest is not simply a matter of historical curiosity; it is deeply connected to a movement, particularly within the African American community. As trust in American Christianity declines because of its ideological and political entanglements, many are searching for spiritual alternatives that connect them to their African heritage.

The Historical Development of the Ethiopian Church

The Book of Acts, also known as “The Acts of the Apostles,” records a pivotal encounter between the Apostle Philip and an Ethiopian eunuch, a high-ranking official in the court of the Kandake (Queen) of Ethiopia. As recounted in Acts 8:26-39, Philip encounters the eunuch traveling on the road to Gaza and explains the Gospel message to him through the lens of Isaiah 53. The eunuch’s response is immediate and profound: “Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?” (Acts 8:36 NRSVue). Philip baptizes him, and the eunuch continues on his way “rejoicing” (Acts 8:39).

This encounter, though brief in the biblical narrative, holds profound significance in Ethiopian Christian tradition, as many scholars believe this eunuch carried the Christian faith back to Ethiopia, planting the seeds of what would become one of Africa’s most enduring Christian communities.

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Ethiopian Christianity’s formal establishment, however, traces its origins to the early fourth century, with its establishment in Aksum mainly credited to Frumentius, revered as the “Apostle to Ethiopia.” Historical accounts describe Frumentius and his brother Aedesius being shipwrecked and subsequently serving in the royal court of Aksum, a region encompassing modern-day Ethiopia and Eritrea. This key period established the foundation for the emergence of a Christian kingdom in the Horn of Africa.

Frumentius’s profound influence fostered the flourishing of Christianity, culminating in King Ezana’s official adoption of the faith in the mid-fourth century. This momentous decision positioned Aksum among the earliest nations globally to declare Christianity as its state religion. The consecration of Frumentius as the first Bishop of Aksum by Athanasius of Alexandria solidified an enduring spiritual and administrative link between the Ethiopian Church and the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria.

Ethiopia’s acceptance of Christianity was not a passive reception but a purposeful process of indigenization, deeply integrating the Christian message into the fabric of Aksumite cultural identity. This synthesis gave rise to the EOTC, a church rich in unique liturgy, calendar, hymns, and iconography, all faithfully preserved in the sacred Ge’ez language. The Ge’ez Bible, translated from the Greek Septuagint, became the bedrock of this robust tradition, showcasing a continuous African Christian heritage that developed independently of colonialism.

The Ethiopian Bible: A Distinctive Biblical Heritage

The EOTC’s most distinctive feature is its expansive biblical canon. While many Protestant traditions recognize 66 books and Roman Catholicism 73, the EOTC embraces an 81-book canon. This broader collection is a testament to Ethiopia’s historical and geographical isolation, which enabled the EOTC to preserve ancient Jewish and early Christian texts that were not universally adopted elsewhere.

The Ethiopian Old Testament comprises 46 books, including the standard canonical and deuterocanonical books, as well as significant pseudepigraphical works such as the Book of Enoch (1 Enoch) and the Book of Jubilees, both preserved entirely in Ge’ez. These texts offer important insights into Second Temple Judaism and early Christianity. The New Testament consists of 35 books, encompassing the universally recognized 27, supplemented by eight books of church order, including the Sinodos, Didascalia, and the Epistles of Clement. These additional texts provide guidance on ecclesiastical discipline and moral instruction, showing a unique approach to Christian life and governance.

The inclusion of these texts reflects an older, more diverse stage of Christian history, rather than a later alteration. The EOTC’s criteria for canonicity emphasized liturgical use and traditional veneration, differing from the more formalized criteria that emerged in the Western church. This approach preserved a wider array of spiritually edifying texts, revealing insight into early Christian thought and practice.

Leaving the Church: A Search for Ancestral Faith

The Ethiopian Bible’s contemporary prominence is greatly influenced by recent cultural and theological dynamics, particularly within the African American community. A phenomenon termed the “Black Exodus” is fueled by a rising disillusionment with traditional American Christian institutions, which are perceived as ideologically rigid, politically entangled, or complicit in historical oppression. This crisis of trust stems from a belief that some churches have failed to embody the radical love, justice, and compassion of Jesus.

This exodus is rarely a rejection of faith in Jesus Christ; rather, it signifies a profound search for authentic, uncompromised faith outside of the Church. Many individuals are attempting to reconnect with ancestral roots and align their values. This quest is for a different spirit of Christianity, one that corresponds with Jesus’s transformative teachings of love, justice, and compassion.

Canon Formation: A Credible and Deliberate Process

Popular claims frequently oversimplify the complex process of biblical canon formation. The assertion that the 66-book Western canon resulted from arbitrary exclusion or deliberate suppression (e.g., by the Council of Nicaea) is a historical misconception. The formation of the biblical canon was a gradual, organic process of recognition by early Christian communities.

Texts were evaluated based on widely accepted criteria: apostolic origin or close connection to eyewitnesses, doctrinal consistency in accordance with the teachings of Jesus and the apostles, and widespread, continuous use in worship. As scholars such as F.F. Bruce and Bruce Metzger have demonstrated, the canon was not imposed from the top down but emerged organically from the bottom up. This process included meticulous deliberation, theological debate, and a firm dedication to preserving authentic revelation.

The Old Testament of the 66-book canon is consistent with Hebrew scriptures preserved within the Jewish tradition, reinforcing its historical continuity. The New Testament is supported by an exceptionally strong manuscript tradition, enabling reliable textual reconstruction. This strict process underpins the Western canon’s credibility. The absence of certain texts was not an act of suppression, but a result of them not meeting universal recognition criteria across the wider early Christian world.

While the larger canon of the EOTC includes valuable ancient works like the Book of Enoch—which provides important insights into Second Temple Judaism and early Christian thought—these texts were not consistently recognized across the wider early Christian world. Therefore, they were not granted the same level of universal authority in the West.

The differences between the canons demonstrate the rich diversity of early Christianity and the multiple ways in which communities have preserved sacred texts, rather than a conspiracy effort to hide the truth.

Conclusion

The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and its 81-book Bible represent a vital and often overlooked chapter in global Christianity. The preservation of texts like Enoch and Jubilees provides invaluable resources for understanding antiquity and the varied expressions of early Christian faith. The recent fascination with the Ethiopian Bible speaks to contemporary cultural changes, including an upsurge of interest driven by viral social media discussions. Frequently described as a “hidden,” “original,” or “complete” version of the Bible, these claims deserve careful scrutiny.

These popular narratives are misleading for several important reasons.

First, the Ethiopian canon was not deliberately hidden or suppressed by Western authorities. Rather, Ethiopia’s geographical isolation in Africa allowed the EOTC to develop independently, preserving texts that were not universally adopted in other Christian communities. This was a consequence of historical circumstance and independent ecclesiastical development, not conspiracy or exclusion.

Second, the notion that the Ethiopian Bible is the “original” or “complete” version misrepresents how canons form. The EOTC’s inclusion of additional texts indicates its distinct theological criteria, emphasizing traditional veneration and liturgical practice rather than access to hidden knowledge.

Third, claiming deliberate suppression ignores the rigorous, transparent scholarship that shaped Western canon formation. The texts excluded from the Western canon were not suppressed because they threatened institutional power; they were not universally recognized across the wider early Christian world and therefore did not meet the criteria for universal canonical authority.

Instead, these additional writings are used in Christian scholarship, seminaries, and sometimes in church Bible study as historical and cultural background sources to understand the intertestamental period. This refers to the time between the book of Malachi and the Gospel of Matthew, often called the “400 years of silence” because no widely recognized or canonized prophets were speaking or producing new Scripture. During this period, texts such as 1 Maccabees, 1 Enoch, and the writings of Flavius Josephus help explain the historical events, religious developments, and cultural context of the Jewish world. In this way, they are valued as an important background to understanding the New Testament, even though they are not considered part of the authoritative 66-book canon of Scripture.

Nonetheless, for many African Americans, the Ethiopian Bible has become a powerful symbol of ancestral connection and spiritual liberation from Western Christian traditions perceived as compromised by historical racial oppression and a failure to embody the radical love and justice central to Jesus’s teachings. While this search for identity and authentic faith is meaningful and legitimate, it is fundamental to approach the history of the biblical canon with nuance and respect for its credible formation. The differences between the Ethiopian and Western canons result from complex historical, geographical, and theological developments — not from deliberate suppression.

The Gospel and My Black Skin by Dr. JP Foster

Pre-order Dr. JP Foster’s new book, The Gospel and My Black Skin: Confronting the Past, Reclaiming the Future.

In The Gospel and My Black Skin, Dr. JP Foster boldly tackles the complex, often unspoken questions many Black people are asking today. Is Christianity really a white man’s religion? Is it any good for Black people? Can a faith once used to enslave also empower Black lives?

With both historical insight and pastoral compassion, Dr. Foster uncovers Christianity’s suppressed African roots, exposes how Scripture was gutted to keep Black people in chains, and reclaims the original Christian message as a source of liberation, justice, dignity, and oneness. 

When the World Is at War: The Unseen Battle Behind Geopolitical Chaos

Joel Muddamalle
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When the World Is at War: The Unseen Battle Behind Geopolitical Chaos

Every time a new conflict erupts on the world stage, my social media feed lights up. Within hours, the posts multiply, reactions videos surface, and the comments go crazy.

In the midst of all of this Christians are often trying to make sense of the headlines in real time. They look at their social media platforms and they are bombarded with Christian influencers and Bible teachers calling the church to action. And when there is talk of large-scale war, you can be assured the end-times prophecy charts make the rounds. Now, some of the responses are genuinely biblical and helpful. Others, if I’m being honest, are deeply unwise and lack discernment.

So let me ask the real question underneath all of it: How do we, as followers of Jesus, make sense of the chaos, division, and conflict we see playing out among the nations of the world?

The answer is the same as it always has been. It is simple, but far from simplistic. We look to the Bible. We depend on the Spirit of God. We trust in the Son of God.

A Biblical Theology of Geopolitical Warfare

The Scriptures give us both prescriptive guidance (what we should do) and descriptive examples that frame what we’re actually seeing. For this conversation, the most important place to start isn’t the headlines. It’s Daniel 10.

In Daniel 10, we get a rare, behind-the-curtain glimpse of what is happening in the cosmic realm while geopolitical events unfold in the earthly realm. Daniel is in mourning, seeking God, when an angelic messenger arrives. Daniel must have wondered why cosmic help took so long. Well, maybe to his surprise he learns it was because of cosmic conflict. The angelic messenger explains the delay because he had been engaged in conflict with “the prince of Persia.”

What is this prince? Scholar Matthias Henze describes it as a “celestial conflict between the angelic princes that is currently raging, in which each prince represents a nation: the ‘prince of Persia’ and the ‘prince of Greece’ are fighting against Michael, the warrior and defender of Israel.”

What Daniel 10 makes visible is the cosmic struggle that mirrors and drives what we see in the earthly realm. Behind geopolitical empires, their ambitions, their wars, their policies, were cosmic spiritual powers, the “sons of God” that had been allotted to the nations after the judgment at Babel (Deuteronomy 32:8–9, DSS, LXX).

These fallen divine beings were not passive. They actively worked through the nations, influencing their rulers and directing them in opposition to Yahweh and his kingdom. As I write in my book The Unseen Battle, “the cosmic warfare in Daniel shows us that the battleground — the prize over which they war — is the nations of the earth and their human rulers and peoples, once again affirming that what takes place in the cosmic realm is mirrored in the earthly realm. The two cannot and should not be disconnected.”

Powers, Principalities, and the World We Actually Live In

When Paul writes to the Ephesians about “powers and principalities,” he’s not inventing new theology. He’s retrieving and applying the Deuteronomy 32 worldview to the present reality of the church. Paul understood that the sons of God, the patron gods of the nations were real, fallen supernatural beings who had gone into rebellion against God and were now determined to lead humanity into rebellion with them.

But here’s where it gets important for our everyday lives: these powers are not only interested in geopolitics. They work at every level. They work through governments and empires, yes; but they also work through the ancient vices that have corrupted human hearts since Eden. Pride. Ambition. The desire to make a name for ourselves. The craving for influence, control, and power. Paul works through these in the New Testament through his “vice lists” (Gal. 5:1-21, 1 Cor. 6:9-10, Rom. 1:29-31).

Consider this. Every major rebellion in the early chapters of Genesis — the garden, the sons of God in Genesis 6, the tower of Babel — follows the same pattern: see, desire, and take. Adam and Eve saw the fruit, desired it, and took it. The sons of God see the daughters of man, desire them and take them. The people at Babel saw what they lacked, desired to make a name for themselves, and took matters into their own hands. The desire to be like God, to possess what only God possesses, to build our own security rather than trust his: this is the ancient strategy of the powers, and they haven’t changed the game plan.

The powers don’t need new ideas. They have been fighting this battle for a very long time. They understand our weaknesses with terrifying precision, and they work to exploit them by repackaging ancient, tried-and-true tactics in new ways. The same impulses of pride and selfish ambition that moved the builders at Babel are alive in every human heart. And the same cosmic powers that instigated conflict among the nations are working through those very impulses in your life and mine. The most dangerous ways are through what we love, what we fear losing, what we worship in the quiet moments when no one is watching.

G.K. Beale’s words are sobering here: “What we revere we will reflect, either to our ruin or restoration.” The enemy wants our reverence. Our deepest loves, our ambitions, our sense of significance all pointed inward towards self-destruction.

At the Cross, the Powers Were Disarmed. But They Are Not Done

Here’s the theological reality we must hold as we consider the work of the powers today. At the cross, Christ disarmed the powers and principalities. Colossians 2:15 is clear: he stripped them, publicly humiliated them, and triumphed over them. The dark powers have been defeated.

But they did not dissolve. They are fatally wounded and in full awareness that their end is near — which makes them even more dangerous today.

Yet, these powers are said to be stripped and disarmed. What can that mean when we feel and see the reality of their corruption in the world today?

It means they can no longer blind the nations to the beauty of the gospel. That stranglehold is broken. However, they can still deceive. They can still manipulate. They can still exploit human pride, ambition, carnal desire, and the craving for dominance. When these vices are planted in the hearts of man, the fruit of such evil works through the systems and structures of our world.

This means the unseen battle isn’t only taking place on the geopolitical stage. It’s taking place in your heart. It shows up in the way you consume media about conflict in the world. Whether it increases your fear, fans your outrage, or deepens your tribalism. It shows up in whether your response to watching the world come apart is to double down on your own agenda or to intercede for people made in the image of God who are suffering.

The Real Prize Has Always Been People

Every battle has a prize. The prize of the unseen battle, the one that has always been in view, is the people made in the image and likeness of God.

When nations are at war, when governments are destabilizing, when the news cycle is on fire, at the center of the bullseye are human beings who bear the image of God. People who were made for relationship with their Creator. People for whom Christ died.

Every death of an image bearer who has not yet heard the good news of the gospel is an eternal tragedy.

This is why our response cannot be partisan triumphalism or idle debate. The powers are more than happy for the church to be distracted and divided. To argue about eschatological timelines and political implications while image bearers in every nation remain captive to the very powers Christ already defeated.

The Church Is the Sign the Powers Fear Most

Here is the part of this story that never ceases to stop me in my tracks. Paul tells us in Ephesians 3:10 that God’s eternal purpose is accomplished through the church. Through the gathered, multiethnic, unified family of God, “the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms” (NIV). In other words, a divided church is a compromised witness. However, a unified church across ethnic lines, across political persuasions, across denominational distinctions is a direct pronouncement on the powers of their defeat.

The powers ordered the present age to exacerbate the divisions of humanity. God’s response is to create, in Christ, one new family out of formerly divided people. As Timothy Gombis observes, “God confounds them by creating in Christ one unified, multiracial body consisting of formerly divided groups of people.” That is the sign the powers fear most. Not our arguments. Not our political platform. Our unity as the household of God.

Do Not Let Your Witness Be Compromised

So here is my plea: don’t get caught up in the distractions. Don’t let the chaos of the geopolitical moment deepen already existing divides in the household of God. The battle is real. The powers are real. And the stakes — eternal souls made in the image and likeness of God — couldn’t be higher.

A conflicted household of God is a compromised witness of the victory of Jesus.

Our calling is to proclaim the victory of King Jesus and to embody, together, the multiethnic, multifaceted household of God that the principalities and powers cannot stop.

The dark powers cannot blind the nations to the beauty and brilliance of the gospel.

The Unseen Battle by Joel Muddamalle

We Live in a World at War. Do You Know Who You are Fighting … and Why?

In The Unseen Battle: Spiritual Warfare, the Three Rebellions, and Christ’s Victory Over Dark Powers, Joel Muddamalle weaves through the Old and New Testaments, using Paul’s supernatural household framework — the idea that God has both a supernatural and a human family — to explain the cosmic worldview of the Bible. Cutting through the noise of conspiracy theories and fanaticism, the theological framework in The Unseen Battle will give readers a biblical and balanced understanding of spiritual warfare, equipping Christians to make sense of evil powers, what God is doing in the world today, and the part we play in it.

May 2026 Bible Verse Calendar

Bible Gateway
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May 2026 Bible Verse Calendar

Here’s your Bible Gateway verse-of-the-day calendar for the month of May. Click each link below to read the verse in your preferred translation — or scroll to the bottom to download the image (or PDF) of all verse references.

You can also subscribe to get Bible Gateway’s Verse of the Day right in your inbox every day — in your preferred translation (or multiple translations)!

Bible Gateway’s Verses of the Day for May

DayVerse
1Hebrews 11:6
21 John 5:14–15
3Romans 12:12
42 Chronicles 7:14
5Philippians 4:6–7 [What does Philippians really say about anxiety?]
6James 5:16
71 Thessalonians 5:16–18
8Colossians 4:5–6
9Romans 8:1–2
10Matthew 18:15 [What does biblical forgiveness look like in this chapter?]
11Ephesians 4:32
12Proverbs 31:10, 27–28
13Proverbs 31:30
14Psalm 139:13–14
15Ecclesiastes 11:5
16Zephaniah 3:17
17Romans 11:33
18Hebrews 6:10
19James 3:17–18
20Romans 15:5–6
211 Corinthians 1:10
22Galatians 5:13
23Romans 15:2
24Romans 12:10
25James 1:19
26John 3:17
27Acts 20:24
28Romans 12:15
29Psalm 103:17–18
30Psalm 56:4
311 Thessalonians 4:16–17

A Life Shaped by Joy, Prayer, and Gratitude: 1 Thessalonians 5:16–18

May 7’s reading this month is from 1 Thessalonians 5:16–18. In a few short lines, Paul describes a way of life that can feel almost impossible at times:

“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (1Th. 5:16-18 NIV)

How can anyone live this way — especially in difficult seasons?

The NIV Woman’s Study Bible (available with Bible Gateway Plus) helps clarify what Paul is pointing to:

“The Thessalonians were apparently under tremendous persecutions. … In the midst of their persecution, these requests seem absurd. Yet, these requested actions are not in response to their present circumstances but to their future hope in Christ and will be accomplished through the power of the Holy Spirit in them.”

This insight reframes the passage. Joy, prayer, and gratitude are not dependent on what is happening around you. They flow from what God has already promised — and from the Spirit’s work within you.

With Bible Gateway Plus, Study Bibles like the NIV Woman’s Study Bible — and many more — appear alongside the verses you’re reading — helping you understand not just what Scripture says, but what it means in context.

Start your free trial today to get access dozens of Study Bibles, dictionaries, commentaries, and other resources to go deeper into every aspect of God’s Word.

Calendar of daily Bible verses for May 2026

Paul’s Church Trauma: Rethinking the ‘Thick-Skinned’ Apostle

Scot McKnight
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Paul’s Church Trauma: Rethinking the ‘Thick-Skinned’ Apostle

I grew up in a church where nearly all the sermons were from the letters of the apostle Paul. We loved Paul. Those whose heritage lands squarely in the Reformation like ours have a theology very dependent upon the apostle Paul. By more than one he has been described as the greatest theologian ever. In his book Why I Love the Apostle Paul, John Piper described the apostle Paul as a “towering intellect” who operated with a “logic on fire” that turned over into “lyrics of love.”

But not everyone likes the apostle Paul. The apostle Paul’s claim about his own observance of the law was, he said, “blameless” (Philippians 3:6). Not a few critical scholars of the New Testament think his claim reflects not Christian character but hubris and arrogance. Some feminists have argued that he was androcentric, that he never compromised in debates, that he was insensitive, and that he was therefore nothing short of thick-skinned. He had learned to dodge the darts of criticism with skill.

Yet, that’s not the apostle Paul that I see in his most personally revealing letter, 2 Corinthians. Paul was sensitive, vulnerable, and tender. He was, not to put too fine of a line under his name, a people-pleaser type. His relationship with the Christians in Corinth kept the man awake at night. They seemed to have slept well.

What Does 2 Corinthians Tell Us About Paul?

Paul wrote something to the Corinthians that upset them. So tense was the situation that Paul sent Titus as a mediator. And he waited for Titus to return to him to inform him how the Corinthians responded. When he was in Troas (modern Turkey) on a mission trip, waiting for Titus with his eyes on the horizon, Paul informs us that “my mind could not rest because I did not find my brother Titus there” (2Co. 2:13 NRSVue). What stuns many readers today is that so vexed was Paul over the Corinthians that he abandoned a great opportunity for evangelism in Troas (2Co. 2:12). He headed for modern-day Greece.

Paul catches us up just a little bit later. When he arrived in Macedonia he was still awaiting news from Titus. Now writing to them again, a most tender statement is made by Paul when he pleads with the Corinthians to “make room in your hearts for us” because “you are in our hearts” (2Co. 7:2–3). He describes himself as “afflicted in every way — disputes without and fears within” (2Co. 7:5).

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The Corinthians, with all their criticisms of Paul, were living rent-free in his head. “But God” forms his transition to relief in the heart. Titus showed up with good news. The Corinthians evidently liked him after all! Titus “told us of your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced still more” (2 Co. 7:7). He now fills in a detail. He had written a nasty letter to them. “I grieved you with my letter” (2Cor. 7:8). He sort of apologizes but he knows that letter, painful as it was to write and to read, led them to genuine “repentance” and “godly grief” (2Cor. 7:9).

What we should notice here is Paul’s pastoral heart, his love for the Corinthians, his desire for them to do what was right. His emotions were tethered tightly to their response to him. If they responded with Christian character, he was on top of the world. If not, he was in the pits of despair. This is not a thick-skinned man.

Paul, the Traumatized Apostle?

Now to the most revealing passage about this so-called thick-skinned man. A seminary professor-psychologist, Peter Yuichi Clark,1 puzzled as he was by the apostle Paul’s responses in both 1 and 2 Corinthians, diagnosed the apostle with PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder.

You may need to gulp, so I’ll say it another way. The Corinthians were so harsh with and hard on Paul that he was pushed into the trauma zone. Paul was a traumatized apostle, pastor, and leader.

I give this recommendation to you. Sit down with your Bible, a cup of coffee, a notebook, and a pen, and read 1 Corinthians 16, 2 Corinthians 1, and then especially chapters ten through thirteen. Jot down in your notebook the allegations Paul seems to be responding to in this letter.

7 Criticisms Against Paul by the Corinthians

I have done this and I want to mention seven criticisms the Corinthians wrote out in sticky notes and pasted them at the back of the room for all to see. As you read through the following, I suggest you ask yourself how you would respond if your own house group or close friends lodged such criticisms against you. And, while you’re at it, use your empathy skills to imagine your way into the apostle’s emotions. I think you will say he was traumatized by the Christians in Corinth. He would not be the last leader to have been deeply wounded by those to whom he was ministering.

Here we go.

1. Fickle

First, Paul was accused of being fickle. Not a good trait for a leader then or now. Imagine yourself a Corinthian, read 1 Corinthians 16 and ask yourself when Paul was going to show up. Here’s an indicator of how up in the air his plans were: “I will visit you after passing through Macedonia — for I intend to pass through Macedonia — and perhaps I will stay with you or even spend the winter, so that you may send me on my way, wherever I go. I do not want to see you now just in passing, for I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits” (1Cor. 16:6–7 NRSVue).

They were waiting. No Paul.

On the first page of his next letter he informs them that “it was to spare you that I did not come again to Corinth” (2Cor 1:23). Fickle is fair.

2. Inconsistent

Second, in some settings he was like this and in other settings like that. That is, there were two Pauls. A tough-skinned guy and a thin-skinned guy. Both bold and timid. In 2 Corinthians we catch the raw edge of this when Paul reveals what they were saying about him: “His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak” (2Cor. 10:10).

We might ask today, “What was he like?” Someone will say, “It all depends how you catch him.” It’s not easy to relate a person like that. You have to guess how they are feeling. Guessing is not always accurate.

3. Small and Unmanly

Third, evidently Paul didn’t look the part of a leader. In that world a manly man mattered for leadership, and Paul, well, he wasn’t manly in the perspective of the Corinthians. His name “Paul” translates Paulos, which means little, tiny, short, or small.

A second century text called The Acts of Thecla and Paul describes Paul by someone who saw him: “Then he saw Paul coming, a small [mikros in Greek, which means very short] man with regard to height, bald on the head, curved in the legs [often indicative of dwarfism], healthy, monobrowed, to a little degree, an aquiline nose, full of grace.” So short was Paul that he could be let down a city wall in a basket (2Cor. 11:32–33).

If the average male was about 5’4” to 5’6” at that time (and that’s the most recent conclusion), then Paul was shorter than that. We could guess he was under five feet. Isaac Soon, who has developed this point at length, wrote that “Persons with short stature and dwarfism were stereotyped, made the object of humor and derision, and subjected to violence and processes of dehumanization.”2

Enough of this. We can see why some at least would think Paul didn’t look the part. They maybe had to build a small step on which Paul could stand to see him when he was speaking.

4. Mediocre Preacher

Fourth, the Corinthians alleged he was a mediocre talent when it came to preaching. I cut off the citation of 2 Corinthians 10:10 above about the contrast between his bold letters and his timid physical presence. Now I continue with their hot dart to the heart: “and his speech [is] contemptible.” That is, he couldn’t preach. Or, when he did, his speech didn’t flow. His skills didn’t measure up to the many public orators the Corinthians had heard in their public forums. This one had to hurt.

5. Boastful of Suffering

Fifth, Paul didn’t boast the way the Rome-loving Corinthians expected a man of talent to boast. Boasting was not bragging in our terms. A person with success behind them, measured by actions in the military, athletic competitions, political leadership, and public oratory, was expected to trot out their resume and walk their audiences through their success story.

Not Paul. He boasted about his sufferings. In fact, he went on and on about them (2 Corinthians 11:16–12:10)! For them, that was just weird.

6. Favoritism

Sixth, the Corinthians alleged that Paul played favorites when it came to churches. They were not his favorite. (I wonder why.) He brings this criticism up, too. In 2 Corinthians 11:11 he asks, “And why?” he had not taken funds from them. His answer is a jab back at their criticism: “Because I do not love you? God knows I do!” This appears as an act of desperation on the part of the Corinthians. They said Paul didn’t love them.

7. Old News

Finally, the Corinthians have moved on from Paul as their pastor-leader to others, and this deeply wounded the sensitive heart of Paul. Notice these words — and it only takes a little reading between the lines to hear the Corinthians: “And what I do I will also continue to do, in order to deny an opportunity to those who want an opportunity to be recognized as our equals in what they boast about” (2Cor. 11:12). I have italicized the words that hurt Paul: “our equals.”

The Corinthians, in short, no longer thought Paul was special to them. He was but one leader among many. Others’ talents had moved in and were more up to their expectations for a manly leader and preacher. Every pastor I know who has left a church and returned some time later as a guest, and has heard the kind of observation that suggests the new guy or gal is an improvement, has walked away wounded.

Conclusion: Paul’s Church Trauma

To draw this into a tight knot: The reputation that the apostle Paul was a thick-skinned leader who could deflect and dismiss any and all criticisms is simply untrue.

In fact, we would be better off seeing the apostle as a bit of a thin-skinned, vulnerable, sensitive, tender, and emotional apostle. His love for his churches ruled his life, and their responses to him shaped the condition of his heart. His topsy-turvy, here-a-little and there-a-little language of the final chapters of 2 Corinthians are best explained when one sees him in the trauma zone. He was a deeply wounded man.

Traumatized Church: What Paul's Relationship with the Corinthian Church Teaches Us About Helping Those Who are Hurting by Scot McKnight and Adrienne Gibson

Diving deeply into the realities of trauma — how it impacts individuals, communities, and ministries — Traumatized Church: What Paul’s Relationship with the Corinthian Church Teaches Us About Helping Those Who are Hurting pairs theological insights with counseling expertise to guide readers through the four R’s of trauma care: Realize, Recognize, Respond, and Resist.

Whether you’re a pastor, counselor, church leader, or someone who has been hurt by the church, Traumatized Church — written jointly by New Testament scholar Scot McKnight and therapist Adrienne Gibson — will help you on the road to healing and understanding.

Footnotes

  1. Peter Yuichi Clark, “Toward a Pastoral Reading of 2 Corinthians as a Memoir of PTSD and Healing,” in Bible Through the Lens of Trauma, ed. Elizabeth Boase and Christopher G. Frechette, Semeia 86 (SBL Press, 2016). ↩︎
  2. Isaac T. Soon, A Disabled Apostle: Impairment and Disability in the Letters of Paul (Oxford University Press, 2023), 195. ↩︎

The Beatitudes on Display: Learning to Live a Holy Life

Matt Chandler
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The Beatitudes on Display: Learning to Live a Holy Life

Several years ago, I had the opportunity to spend time in Rome. It’s hard to explain how full of history and beauty that city is. In a tour of the Vatican, we walked through the Gallery of the Tapestries — an 800-foot-long room with wall-to-wall tapestries depicting scenes from the life of Jesus. The guide talked a bit about where each tapestry came from and how they were made.

I was shocked to see that behind the beautiful images, the backs were a knotted mess — beauty brought forth from chaos.

8 Expressions of Blessedness

That’s what Jesus is up to. In Isaiah 61, the prophet says that Jesus would comfort those who mourn, turn things that have burned to ash into beauty, and transform despair into dancing.

In Matthew 5:3–10, we see what Jesus is committed to accomplishing. These eight verses are called the Beatitudes. (You can read about them from different angles here and here.) They are eight things Jesus wants to grow in each of our lives.

Blessed are …
… the poor in spirit, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs.
… those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
… the humble, for they will inherit the earth.
… those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
… the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
… the pure in heart, for they will see God.
… the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
… those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs.

In Matthew 4:23–25 we see Jesus preaching the Kingdom of God. Heaven has invaded earth; the future has come into the present. All that Isaiah 61 said would happen is happening. Diseases are being healed, demons driven out, hope restored, and lives put back together.

The Kingdom is the foundation on which the Beatitudes are built. Each of these eight traits are preceded by the word “blessed” — from the Greek word makarios, which means “happy.” Happy are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the humble, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, and those who are persecuted because of righteousness.

The Pathway to Biblical Joy

I think our modern translation of happy is inadequate to hold the weight of this word in ancient Greece. We think of happiness as a subjective feeling tied to circumstances. It’s why “happy are those who mourn” doesn’t make sense. I like to differentiate between happiness and biblical joy. The Bible speaks of joy transcending life’s circumstances.

In Acts 5:41, we read of the disciples rejoicing after being beaten by the Jewish high court. That’s joy, not happiness. In Job 1, we see Job lose everything, tear his clothes, and worship God. That’s joy, not happiness. This is more like what’s in view in the Beatitudes — a joy born of knowing and trusting God rather than a subjective feeling.

I know this firsthand, as over the past thirty-three years following Jesus, I have experienced that deep joy promised by God through a difficult seven-year season in my marriage, “terminal” brain cancer, betrayal, and significant slander. I spend a lot of time with Christians who feel like they are losing heart or feeling thin in the journey. Part of that is the misunderstanding of progressive sanctification as being up and to the right.

If you are judging how you’re doing by victories and losses, then joy is nearly impossible. Every stumble, hardship, or failure will make you move out from the beauty of the gospel and the reality that there is nothing in your past, no present struggle, or no future concern that Jesus wants distance from. He wants all of you: mind, body, and soul.

The Way of the Coil

What if I told you that becoming like Jesus is more like a coil laid horizontally, where every high and every low moves you forward and is used by God to transform you into the blessed people we read about in the Beatitudes? That might change how you view the different seasons of life, wouldn’t it? If God was using the current sorrow or present difficulty you’re enduring to grow you into a blessed life, and Jesus was intimately with you in it, that might help you inherit the promises found in the text.

Horizontal coil

You might loop through poverty of spirit, through mourning, through meekness — again and again — but each time at a deeper level, refined by experience, softened by grace. You do not graduate from poverty of spirit; you discover it more profoundly as you grow.

The Beatitudes are not merely sequential; they are symphonic. They rise and fall, harmonize and dissonate, but always in the direction of Christlikeness. We are not earning these traits; we are being shaped into them by the Spirit who forms Christ in us. The Beatitudes are not for the ambitious but for the yielded. And if we yield, they begin to move in us, around us, and through us. Slowly. Invisibly. Powerfully.

Here’s another fact about those second lines in the Beatitudes: Almost all English translations will read, “for theirs is” or “for they shall.” A better translation would be “for theirs and theirs alone is the Kingdom” or “they and they alone will be comforted.” Jesus makes this promise to those who follow Him all the way home.

Finally, there is a deep coherence to the Beatitudes. A Spirit-wrought logic that carries the disciple forward, not by human strategy but divine design. The first experience of becoming like Jesus is usually sequential through the Beatitudes. After that, depending on what we brought into the journey, our compulsions and weaknesses, the experience will vary from person to person.

No matter how the journey unfolds, this truth remains: He who began a good work in us is faithful to complete it.

Becoming Like Jesus by Matt Chandler

Discover the profound freedom of a grace that meets you right in the middle of your mess in Becoming Like Jesus: The Everyday Journey to Living a Life of Holiness! Join an honest, lifelong journey through the highs and lows of following Christ, and experience the transformative power of letting go of the heavy weight of perfection.

When walking out our faith, we often fall into the exhausting trap of trying to earn God’s approval, and therefore miss the wild, beautiful reality of how He is already molding us. Pastor and author Matt Chandler, in his deeply earnest and encouraging way, helps readers see the Beatitudes in high definition, enabling them to better understand the stunning picture of progressive sanctification, God’s intention for every season of our lives, and how He actively uses our triumphs and tears to shape us into the image of Christ.

The Word ‘Trinity’ Isn’t in the Bible … So Is It Really Biblical?

Timothy Jones
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The Word ‘Trinity’ Isn’t in the Bible … So Is It Really Biblical?

Some years ago, I noticed how Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — the three persons of the Trinity — kept turning up together in the New Testament, sometimes in the same breath. As when, for instance, Jesus told his followers to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19 NIV).

Yet the word Trinity itself never shows up in Scripture. Anywhere. So I’ve also long wondered: For a belief that sits at the center of the Christian faith, what should we make of this big, important word missing from the Bible’s vocabulary? Is the Trinity in the Bible?

If the actual word cannot be found, I have concluded again and again, the Trinity’s truth stretches across the Bible’s many pages. It interweaves so much of what we see of God in God’s character and work. And the Trinity, as the early church found, provides the best explanation for how the three persons belong together, work together, operate together for our life and salvation.

I find it helpful to categorize such pointers to God’s triune reality in four ways: hints, examples, teachings, and hopes.

1. Hints of the Trinity, Early On

You could argue that the Trinity first makes a subtle appearance in the very first chapter of the Bible. I mean the use in Genesis of the first-person plural — us — when God fashions and speaks humankind into existence.

To be clear: What we find in Genesis is more a hint than any proof. Still, many Christians through the ages have seen foreshadowing here. There is something intriguing when the one God in Genesis 1 says at Creation, “Let us make humans in our image, according to our likeness” (Gen. 1:26 NRSV). Why “Let us make”? Why “our image”? Does that not suggest a picturing of God richer than that of some aloof being shut up in lonely solitariness?

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Of course, Bible scholars, including those well before there was a New Testament, have found varied explanations for the plural forms: God perhaps simply spoke out loud to no one in particular (as suggested the medieval rabbi and commentator Rashi). This would be a creative and affable God, almost talking to himself, you could say, as he came to the supreme culmination of all his creating.

Or maybe, another line of reasoning runs, God is speaking to the angelic host, a heavenly court of celestial beings of astonishing glory. (See, for instance, Isa. 6:8; Job 38:7, for tantalizing scenes of the heavenly realms.)

But Christians have long thought more than that was going on here. God would not say to his cherubim and seraphim, “Let us make,” would he? And look at how Genesis names clearly the “spirit” of God hovering over the dark, soon-to-be fashioned waters. The word spirit in Genesis 1 (capitalized in some versions) can mean wind or force. But also, in an image much more personal, it conjures the imagery and feeling of breath.

Was not the Spirit here hovering over the inky waters? As a Creed would later proclaim of the third person of the Trinity, here was “the Lord, the giver of life.” Might we be witnessing here a divine collaboration, a delighted, relational engagement as God makes the universe and bequeathes life?

Again, while the word Trinity is not in the Bible itself, later Christians would have a field day with the rich possibilities found in such interplay of the Three. With the benefit of the early church’s clarifying of the persons of the Trinity, fourth-century church preacher and archbishop John Chrysostom would go so far to say this: “‘Let us make’ suggests deliberation, collaboration, and conference with another person.”

To extend the ancient preacher’s thought, I think of what John’s Gospel also says about the world coming into being through Jesus, the Word. “Through him,” John declares, “all things were made” (Jn. 1:3a NIV, emphasis mine). So I’m thinking collaboration and conversation with not just “another person,” as Chrysostom suggested, but persons. Even in the Bible’s opening scenes.

No proof here, but, I would argue, a clue. But there’s more — far more.

2. Examples of the Trinity, as the Bible’s Story Unfolds

In addition to an occasional hint, God gives some moving glimpses. The Bible unveils not only the oneness, but also the triune, even conversational nature of God. I’m thinking particularly of examples of the communion enjoyed in the Gospels between Jesus the Son and his Father. I see their tenderness in a scene in the Gospel of Mark: John baptizes Jesus, and a voice, the Father’s, “came from heaven, ‘You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased’” (Mk. 1:11 ESV).

This isn’t even the first glimpse in Mark of the Father and Son in conversation and communion — that is found in Mark’s opening to his Gospel, in his very first line in Mk. 1:1 (ESV), “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” We learn how being “Son” rests at the heart of Jesus’ identity. And then, when you grant that, how do you have a son who does not share in the very nature of his father? For good reason, Jesus’s earliest witnesses realized he was God made flesh, God made human, the Son of God (see especially John 1:14).

And in the baptism story, while you could miss it, the Spirit also shows up, completing the whole trinitarian scheme of things, for in Mark, after his baptism by John the Baptist, Jesus comes out of the Jordan’s waters and “saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove upon him” (Mk. 1:10 NIV, emphasis my own).

Here we see the Trinity in action. Theologians would later call this idea of the operations of the Trinity the economic Trinity; that technical theological term refers to the “economy” or the “assembling” of the persons of the Trinity. This kind of vocabulary highlights the Fellowship of the Three’s unbreakable unity, and yet their distinctive, active roles in time and history: their deep work in creating, redeeming, and sanctifying.

3. Teachings on the Triune, Relational God

So much of the Bible’s imagery (inadequate as it must be in referring to an infinite God) has a relational feel. The Bible stresses all kinds of things about God through word pictures: a stone wall’s strength, a tree, cooling water, an eagle’s wings, but its profoundest word pictures also portray love in action.

Even the most concrete, most poetic images have relational aspects. For instance, God may be called a Rock in the Old Testament, but we see how he also lives as a Rock of refuge — for his people. We hear of the tenderness of God carrying his people on “eagle’s wings” — upon which God says, “I bore you.” As though all along he bears us, all along carries his people.

While we can take comfort from such reassuring imagery, the Trinity breaks the picture of a kind God wide open.

Perhaps nowhere is there a more triadic, triune-like bringing together of the Three Persons than on the lips of Jesus himself. As noted above, Matthew 28:16-20 presents a clear interlinking of the three. To return to our question, “is the Trinity in the Bible?” — it certainly seems so here, for in Matthew, as we’ve seen in Mark, we watch all three persons present and involved in Jesus’ baptism (Mt. 3:16-17).

But something exceptional happens in Matthew’s chapter 28, as the resurrected Jesus is commissioning his followers, instructing them on how to baptize new believers. Scholar R.T. France even calls 28:19, with its talk of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, a trinitarian “formula.”

“[N]othing like it occurs elsewhere in the New Testament,” he writes, “though the close association of the Son with the Father has been seen [elsewhere in Matthew’s Gospel] in 11:27; 24:36.” For, France continues, “It is one thing for Jesus to speak about his relationship with God as Son with Father … and to draw attention to the close links between himself and the Holy Spirit …” but for the Son to assume a place amid the Father and the Holy Spirit, to make all three a focus of “the disciple’s allegiance is extraordinary.” Why baptize the new child of God into the three if they were not all vitally important in the new birth and life made possible in God?

And later, another place where we gain more than a hint — what qualifies as a teaching — is 2 Corinthians 13:14: “May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,” Paul the apostle wrote, “and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (NIV). (“God” in Paul’s formulation refers to the Father.) Here is Paul’s concluding benediction for the church at Corinth, a conclusion to an intense letter in which he had to confront them and brook some worrying challenges. And he knows that only a reference to all three persons will be adequate.

Paul envisions not just Christ’s grace, then — the central Gospel news of our unmerited grace and favor through redeeming love. No, we are also pointed to the love of a Father-like God, a love fathomless in depth and infinite in height. We are told of a communion made possible by the vivid, visceral presence of the Spirit, the intimate contact point of God with believers.

Of course, one can veer off into problematic ways in exploring the Trinity: so accenting the oneness that the richness of the three gets lost in a kind of vast, unrelatable God; or so emphasizing the threeness that we see God as composed in parts, with wills and “personalities” operating separately.

No, three in movements and person, but one in divine will and essence and being. And the one then points us back again to the three.

Lest we think all this merely comes as a philosophical add-on in later centuries, it strikes me how the three link in oneness and rich relational reality even in the early church’s first proclamation. Peter, on the day of Pentecost, declares to the crowd not only the redeeming atonement of Jesus on the cross, he also pulls in the divine three: “Exalted to the right hand of God, [Jesus] has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. … Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:33, 38, NIV, emphasis mine).

4. Hopes for What the Trinity Can Mean

Such is the mystery of the Trinity: not a mystery that baffles or confounds as much as one that calls forth reverent awe and growing expectancy that we, even in life’s hard or little moments, can share in that loving, wonder-filled communion.

When we think about our desires to pray and draw closer to God, we picture a way of talking about God and speaking to God that resembles a family’s moments of intimacy. Such imagery, rooted in Scripture itself, gives us a grammar for the expansive, extravagant love of God.

The Trinity, gently articulated in the New Testament, warms our view of God rather than complicates it. We feel the mountain sunshine air of a warmly personal God in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — calling us, welcoming us.

Cover of Fully Beloved by Timothy Jones

Discover the life-changing answer to your soul’s deepest question: Am I loved? 

In Fully Beloved: Meeting God in Our Heartaches and Our Hopes, author and pastor Timothy Jones leads you on a spiritually nourishing exploration of how God’s triune nature of love really impacts your life, bringing deep healing, richer connection with others, and renewed passion for life.

The Abide Bible: Engaging Scripture, Engaging God

Thomas Nelson Bibles
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The Abide Bible: Engaging Scripture, Engaging God
Buy your copy of The Abide Bible in the Bible Gateway Store where you'll enjoy low prices every day

You probably have been told you should read the Bible. It’s an important book. It’s been influential for centuries. And it’s the number-one bestseller year after year.

But has anyone taught you how to read the Bible to achieve maximum spiritual growth in your life (not merely knowledge of biblical people and events)?

Engaging Scripture is more than acquiring and cataloging information. Effective Scripture engagement is when you personally interact with the Bible’s stories, poems, songs, history, principles, and lessons so that you discern the text speaking to you by the power of the Holy Spirit, enabling you to get beyond the printed page and hear the voice of God, and discover for yourself the unique claim Jesus Christ is making upon you.

The Bible itself teaches us how we’re to approach God’s Word. It uses such vocabulary as “meditate” (Psalm 1:2; Joshua 1:8), “reflect” (2 Timothy 2:7), “look intently” (James 1:25), “dwell” (Colossians 3:16), “ponder” (Psalm 119:95), “consider” (Jeremiah 2:31), and even “eat” (Jeremiah 15:16). These words describe Scripture engagement.

The Abide Bible, available in both the New King James Version (NKJV) and New English Translation (NET), is designed to help you experience the peace, hope, and growth that come from encountering the voice and presence of God in Scripture. Every feature in The Abide Bible is arranged to teach and develop Scripture-engagement habits that help you know the power and spiritual nourishment of abiding in Christ (John 15:4).

The Abide Bible is also one of the many resources you have immediate access to as a member of Bible Gateway Plus.

Buy your copy of The Abide Bible in the Bible Gateway Store where you'll enjoy low prices every day

Having a foundational understanding of Scripture engagement is critical, as is developing the skills necessary to actually be able to better meet God in his Word. Like the Ethiopian eunuch, we often need a “Philip” to come alongside of us who can model the process to help us know what to do when we come to the Bible (Acts 8:26-40).

Just as there are many ways to exercise that lead to being physically healthy, there are a variety of ways to engage Scripture that lead to spiritual health. Throughout its history the church has used and taught a number of methods to help people assimilate scriptural meaning into their lives.

[Read the NKJV Bible translation on Bible Gateway]
[Read the NET Bible translation on Bible Gateway]

Created in partnership with Bible Gateway and the Taylor University Center for Scripture Engagement (@TaylorU_CSE), The Abide Bible’s features include articles, book introductions, and practical Scripture prompts based on five ways of engaging deeply with the Bible. What follows is a more detailed description of the five specific Scripture engagement practices used in The Abide Bible. These five are not the only five that exist, but they are five foundational practices that probably every follower of Jesus should be exposed to and experiment with.

The prayer icon for The Abide Bible

Praying Scripture:
Pattern your prayers after biblical texts, personalizing the prayer and gaining language for the thoughts and emotions you want to express.

The picture it icon for The Abide Bible

Picture It:
Place yourself in a biblical narrative as a bystander or participant in important events.

The journal icon for The Abide Bible

Journal:
Focus and reflect on Scripture and its meaning for your life, opening yourself to God’s voice as you ponder.

The art icon for The Abide Bible

Engage Through Art:
Consider a classic piece of art — photograph, sculpture, painting — and let it deepen your meditations on scriptural truths.

The contemplate icon for The Abide Bible

Contemplate:
Follow the church’s long-standing practice of reading, meditating on, praying, and contemplating a passage of Scripture in order to experience God’s presence through the words of the Bible.

The Abide Bible is published by HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc., the parent company of Bible Gateway.

5 Offbeat Questions for When You’re Stuck on a Hard Bible Passage

Matt Whitman
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5 Offbeat Questions for When You’re Stuck on a Hard Bible Passage

What do you do when you get stuck on a difficult Bible passage?

God wants to be known and he wants his word to be understood, so it makes sense that most of the Bible is pretty accessible even for a first-time reader. There are layers upon layers of depth to even the simplest parts of Scripture, but the basics of most passages are pretty straightforward.

That said, there are a few parts of the Bible that are incredibly challenging even for the seasoned student of Scripture. This is certainly a feature, not a bug, because when we run into these hard parts, we’re reminded of the magnitude of God, how much we depend on Him, and how much we have to learn from His Word.

It’s great to pause and reflect on such things, but at some point we have to get down to the challenging business of wrestling through those difficult passages. This article is meant to help with that.

Here, I’m going to share five offbeat questions for getting unstuck when studying the hard parts of the Bible. This list is anything but comprehensive. There are plenty of excellent, well-known techniques for sorting out tough passages (e.g., context, language study, keywords, related verses), but these questions are great for stepping back and taking a fresh angle when you’re really stuck.

Before we get into the questions, we need to pick a hard part of the Bible to try this out on. We’re going with Romans 13:1-8, where the Apostle Paul exhorts his readers to respond rightly to governmental authorities. This passage has been a point of debate and consternation for Christians since the earliest days of the church, and should be tough enough to practice on together. Please take a moment to read the passage before moving forward.

1. What is the author trying to get his audience to think or do?

This is usually going to be the easiest question of the five, and it certainly is in this case. Clearly, Paul is urging Christians (at least Christians in Rome in the first century, but maybe all Christians for all time) to submit themselves to governing authorities and to understand that God establishes all authority. He tells them to do so out of fear of possible punishment and also out of conscience.

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In verses 7 and 8, he broadens the question of how Christians relate to government to the larger question of how they treat everyone else in society. He wants Christians to generously give what is owed to others, and most of all, to love one another.

Romans 13 is still a tough passage to fully apply, but because we started by asking what the author is trying to get the audience to think or do, we now have clarity as to why Paul is writing this and what his top priority is. His first concern here is not to issue a treatise on government, but to urge Christians to live rightly. This tells us that if we’re looking to Romans 13 for the complete and final word on the relationship between Christians and the state, we’re going to be disappointed.

2. What pressure is the author responding to that caused him to write this passage?

Nothing in the Bible is just there. Every author wrote for a reason and under certain circumstances. Some because God showed up and literally told them to write down what he was saying, others to impart wisdom, and still others to persuade readers toward belief. The larger context of Romans shows Paul wrote to strengthen the Roman Christians’ understanding of the gospel and challenge them to live that out in their daily lives. Other parts of the Bible reveal that Paul wanted to visit Rome at the time of this letter, but had to go east to visit the Jerusalem church instead. Paul knew great things were happening with the gospel, but he also knew trouble was brewing in the form of persecution, and that Rome was a potential hotbed of such troubles.

Paul and the Roman Christians both knew the Emperor Claudius had recently expelled the Jews from the Eternal City, presumably because of conflict about Jesus (Acts 18:2). Nero had been emperor in Rome for about three years as Paul penned this letter, and he was already behaving dangerously and erratically. Enemies of Christianity had a habit of accusing Christians of being lawbreakers in order to weaponize the Roman government against the early Church.

Paul knows he’s writing a public letter that could easily be handed to Nero himself. With that in mind, Romans 13:1-8 reads as a forthright exhortation to Roman Christians, but also as a discreet signal to Nero and his administration that Christians are law-abiding citizens who pose no threat to the state and who should not be lumped in with the expelled Jews.

3. What can’t it mean, must it mean, and might it mean?

These three inter-related questions are incredibly potent when used together. Sometimes figuring out what can’t be the case and what might be the case can help us nail down what must be the case. Let’s try it out on this passage.

  • What it can’t mean: Romans 13 can’t mean that all governments are always right. Every single king of Israel proves that. It can’t mean governments are always just in their judgments, because even in the Bible we see them miss on this (Jesus was innocent, but condemned to die by Rome). It can’t mean Christians are required to go along with government and refrain from criticizing it, because the prophets of old criticized their own governments all the time, as did John the Baptist and Jesus with Herod. We could easily brainstorm another dozen interpretations of Romans 13 that can’t be right, but let’s move on to the next part of question three.
  • What it must mean: Beyond the shadow of a doubt, Romans 13 clearly teaches that all authority is from God, and even bad authority figures are somehow a result of God’s will and his grand plan for history. God uses government authorities to carry out justice. Christians should be people who live peaceably in their communities and who are known for integrity and love.
  • What it might mean: Romans 13 could be understood as Paul describing ideal government. It could even be understood as Paul “inceptionizing” the idea of governing justly to Nero, on the outside chance the emperor might encounter the letter. Romans 13 might mean that Rome had been fairly just with Christians up to this point, and Paul thought it made sense at this moment in history to express that and urge Christians to take note, be grateful, and continue to live peacefully in the city. It could also be understood as Paul employing timeless truths and kingdom values to justify a shrewd response to the Christian situation in Rome at this time. In short, Romans 13 could represent a flat, universal teaching for all Christians at all times, or it could represent a shrewd application of universal kingdom values in a specific set of circumstances.

Running Romans 13 through this three-part question doesn’t solve everything, and we’re certainly still left with some points of tension, but we’ve weeded out the impossible interpretations, nailed down the certain ones, and are better positioned to consider the more nuanced ones.

4. Why is this passage hard for you, specifically?

As much as I might like to imagine that I am a stoic, emotionless scholar who approaches the Bible with pure, uncompromised reason, the truth is far from that. We bring our flaws, frailties, and fractures with us when we approach the text, and sometimes passages are difficult not because they are academically challenging, but because they challenge how we live and think. That can make us uncomfortable and skew our capacity to think clearly about what’s happening on the page.

In this biblical test case, we’re considering a passage that deals with politics and government. Those are topics most people have strong feelings about, and it’s worth pausing to ask whether our deeply held presuppositions might be obscuring our understanding of this text.

5. What would happen if this passage weren’t in the Bible?

Every bit of the Bible is there for a reason. We believe God superintended the whole thing to accomplish exactly what he wanted to accomplish. Here at the end of our list, it makes sense to ask what would happen if this passage weren’t in the Bible.

What would we lose about our understanding of early Christianity in Rome and the realities they contended with? Without this passage, might Christians have become a hair-trigger people group, quick to take up the sword in rebellion any time they even slightly disagree with the decisions of secular kings?

Few things cause more anxiety than politics and government. How important is Romans 13 in helping Christians to understand what peace that passes understanding looks like?

See These in Action and Give Them a Try

We haven’t solved Romans 13, but we have made progress. If we started out imagining ourselves “stuck” for the sake of this exercise, I think we’re now at least “unstuck” and moving forward again toward a better understanding of the passage.

I recently wrote a book called The Lightning-Fast Field Guide to the Bible. I leaned on these questions and others like them to make sense of some of the hardest books and passages in Scripture, and if you want to see these offbeat questions in action, pick up a copy for yourself. Whether you try out my book or not (and of course I hope you do!), these slightly outside-the-box questions can be a big help when you find yourself stuck on a difficult passage.

Cover of "Lightning-Fast Field Guide to the Bible" by Matt Whitman

The Lightning-Fast Field Guide to the Bible offers a quick and smart breakdown of each book of Scripture to help you discover “must-know” facts — who, what, where, when, and why — along with fresh and surprising takes on questions you didn’t even know to ask.

You want to understand the Bible better, but you don’t need a huge commentary with hard-to-understand words. The Lightning-Fast Field Guide to the Bible fills that gap by using concise, playful, and relatable language to tell you everything you want to know and more about the most influential document in history.

Who Is the Holy Spirit? The Third Person of the Trinity Explained

Thomas Nelson Bibles
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Who Is the Holy Spirit? The Third Person of the Trinity Explained

This is Part Four of a four-part series on the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, one God in three persons. This article explains the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. See the other articles in this series for an explanation of the whole Trinity, the Father, and the Son.

Some picture the Holy Spirit as an ethereal ghost — ill-defined and transient. Some reduce the Holy Spirit to a powerful feeling of emotion or the voice of your conscience. In the Bible, the Holy Spirit is depicted as fire, water, and wind — each incredibly powerful when harnessed for good.

While all of these reflect parts of the Holy Spirit, none of them fully explain the mystery. This mysterious member of the Trinity is distinct and works in the Christian’s life before and after they are saved.

The Person of the Holy Spirit

One of the most serious errors concerning the Holy Spirit is the belief that He is simply a principle or an influence. On the contrary, the Holy Spirit is as much a Person — an individual existence of a conscious being — as the Father and the Son.

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Two notes concerning the Holy Spirit’s nature are worth mentioning:

  • The Personality of the Holy Spirit: The Bible speaks of the mind (Romans 8:27) and will (1 Corinthians 12:11) of the Holy Spirit. He is often described as speaking directly to people in the Book of Acts. It was God’s Spirit who spoke directly to the leaders of the Antioch church, commanding them to send Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey (Acts 13:2). During Paul’s second missionary journey, the apostle was forbidden by the Spirit to visit a certain mission field (Acts 16:6–7) and then was instructed to proceed toward another field of service (Acts 16:10).
  • The Deity of the Holy Spirit: The Holy Spirit is not just a Person; He is a divine Person. He is often referred to as God in the Bible (e.g., Acts 5:3–4). Like God the Father, He is omnipresent, or everywhere at once (Psalm 139:7). As the Son is eternal, so is the Holy Spirit (Hebrews 9:14). In short, the Holy Spirit is equal with the Father and Son. This is seen during Jesus’ baptism (Matthew 3:16–17) when the Spirit descended like a dove. Just prior to His ascension, Jesus tells the disciples to baptize in “the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19–20).

The Work of the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit starts His work even before a person makes a confession of faith in Christ. Salvation comes “through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5 NKJV). He performs at least three critical works in preparing unsaved people to become Christians: restraining, convicting, and regenerating.

  • Restraining: Satan would enjoy nothing more than to destroy people before they make their decision to trust in Jesus as Savior. But the Holy Spirit prevents this from occurring by lifting up a standard (Isaiah 59:19).
  • Convicting: Humankind’s sin and righteousness are exposed by the Holy Spirit (John 16:8). There are two well-known examples of people being convicted by the Holy Spirit in the Book of Acts even before they are saved. Felix, a Roman governor, trembled under conviction as he heard Paul preach (Acts 24:25). Then, King Agrippa responded to hearing the gospel by saying: “You almost persuade me to become a Christian” (Acts 26:28 NKJV). The Spirit works to convict people of their sin and their need for a Savior.
  • Regenerating: When people repent of their sin and trust in Jesus as Savior, the Holy Spirit gives them a new nature (see 2 Corinthians 5:17). Jesus explained this ministry of the Holy Spirit to Nicodemus saying, “unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (John 3:3–7 NKJV). Part of the work of the Holy Spirit is to create a new nature in the believer and to be born again.

6 Ways the Holy Spirit Works in Believers’ Lives

Once a person makes the decision to follow Jesus, the Holy Spirit continues to work in their life. We know that as believers we must keep the commandments of God, but we also know that as sinners this is a constant struggle (1 Corinthian 6:19).

As a loving and wise mother tenderly watches over her child, so the Holy Spirit cares for the children of God. As we grow and mature, the Holy Spirit is there to watch and to guide God’s children.

Here are six ways the Holy Spirit works in the life of believers:

  1. The Holy Spirit indwells believers. All believers are indwelt by the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19) for the purpose of guiding the newly created nature given at conversion (Ephesians 3:16).
  2. The Holy Spirit fills believers. We are admonished to “be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18). The word “fill” means “to be controlled.” The filling does not mean that the Christian gets more of the Holy Spirit, but rather, the Spirit gets more of the Christian.
  3. The Holy Spirit sanctifies the believer. “God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth” (2 Thessalonians 2:13 NKJV). Sanctification is the ongoing process of making someone holy and righteous so they can be set apart for God’s purpose.
  4. The Holy Spirit produces fruit in the life of the believer. This fruit is described by Paul: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22–23). When you see these things in the life of a believer, you know that God is at work.
  5. The Holy Spirit imparts spiritual gifts to Christians. A spiritual gift is an ability imparted to every Christian (1 Corinthians 7:7; 1 Peter 4:10). The purpose of these gifts is to glorify God (Revelation 4:11) and to edify the body of Christ (Ephesians 4:12–13).
  6. The Holy Spirit teaches believers. He will instruct us in all spiritual things as we read the Word of God (John 14:26) and abide in the Son of God (1 John 2:24–27). So when you don’t understand something in Scripture, ask the Holy Spirit to show you.

The Comfort of the Holy Spirit

This third person of the Trinity is active in all of our lives. He is the comfort that Jesus offered to His disciples when He said, “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth” (John 16:12-13 NKJV). He did not leave us alone to navigate the Christian life on our own. He sent the Spirit of Truth as a Helper.

The Holy Spirit is the guarantee that our salvation is true and the seal that marks us as God’s beloved children (2 Corinthians 1:21-22). Walk in the Spirit (Galatians 5:16) in everything you do and experience the freedom that comes from following Jesus.

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