Where in the Bible …is Poetry
In order to appreciate the Joseph story as the masterpiece that it is we must introduce you to a concept with which most of you probably are not familiar. Ancient writers and rhetoricians loved to use a literary structure that in modernity has come to be called the “chiasm,” referring to the Greek letter “chi” (our letter X). A chiastic figure of speech is a… Read more »
Where in the Bible …is the GOSPEL
Acts 6:8-7:60 Luke’s account of the death of Stephen is unmistakably patterned after the suffering and glory of Jesus. Stephen, like Jesus, was full of grace and power, working signs and wonders among the people (Acts 6:8). He charged the religious leaders of Jerusalem with killing God’s prophets (Acts 7:52), just as Jesus had done (Luke 11:47). As a result, the Jews were incensed against… Read more »
Where in the Bible …is Resurrection
Recalling Adam and the first garden, with its two trees of death and life in the midst (Gen 2:9), the evangelist poetically places Jesus’ cross in the midst (John 19:18) of his account of the Garden of Gethsemane (John 18:1) and the Garden Tomb (John 19:41). It is upon the cross, then, that John presents Jesus as the new Adam, whose own tree of cursing… Read more »