Dr Paul Allen

The annunciation is Gabriel’s prophetic announcement to Mary that she would give birth to the Son of God. However, in the past, some critics believed the idea of the Messiah as Son of God was a Graeco-Roman concept that Christians picked up after Easter. They thought Christians encountered the Graeco-Roman myth of the divine man or the son of God and then secondarily applied it to Jesus, redefining messiahship. Was the idea of Messiah as Son of God already circulating in the first century Israel? Or did it come later? One of the very noticeable features about the Gospel of Luke is it’s a very well-developed infancy narrative—or even narratives because we’re really talking about the infancy of John the Baptist, as well as the infancy of Jesus, and even a story from his early childhood. I want to focus on the Son of God theme, also on the canticles, or songs of Israel, that are embedded in the infancy narrative, as well as another interesting theme that develops that often is overlooked,...

About two thousand years ago, a holy man arose among the Jews of Palestine. He gathered disciples around himself. He founded a community based on what he called “the new covenant” between God and Israel. Entrance to this group was through a ritual of water washing in which the Holy Spirit forgave one’s sins. After the death of the founder, the community continued to celebrate a daily meal of bread and wine. They awaited the return of the Son of David and the coming of the kingdom of God. The story sounds familiar. But I’m not talking about Jesus and the Church. The holy man here is a mysterious figure known as “the Teacher of Righteousness.” The group he founded made its home at a place called Qumran on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea. Thousands of years later, in the caves around Qumran, we would find the remains of their library. We call them the “Dead Sea Scrolls.” How could two such groups arise at about the same time in the land of Israel?  And how are they relat...

When we speak of the “canon of Scripture,” we are referring to those books that the church has recognized as the authoritative Word of God. Thus, although a formal distinction can be made between canon and authority, they are closely related. Specifically, books that the church has recognized as canonical are those that are recognized as having divine authority (F.F. Bruce, The Books and the Parchments, p. 95).  Therefore, we can first note the testimony of the Scripture concerning its own authority. First, the OT itself witnesses to its own authority. This is seen especially instances where the words of Scripture are said to come directly from the Lord. Both the Mosaic Law (for examples, cf. Exod 4:30; Deut 18:21, 22; Lev 4:1, 5:1) and later parts of the OT use phrases such as, “The LORD has spoken,” “The mouth of the LORD has spoken,” or “The word of the LORD came to saying” (Josh 24:2; Isa 8:11; Jer 7:l; 11:1; 18:1; 21:1; 26:1; 27:1; 30:1,4; 50:1; 51:12; Amos 3:1). The...

The Tower of Babel . King Nimrod wanted to be famous, so he convinced the people of Babylon to build a great tower that would reach heaven. God could see that the people were becoming prideful and decided that he should go down and mix up their language so they couldn’t understand each other. This teaches us that pride is bad and helps us understand where all the world’s languages came from. Most adults don’t really have an understanding of this story that’s any more sophisticated. But Dr. Michael S. Heiser , author of The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible , would like to remedy that.  In this post, adapted from his popular book, Heiser explains what really happened at the tower of Babel and unpacks its implications. Then he goes on to show how the New Testament corrects what happened at the tower of Babel.The famous story of the building of the Tower of Babel is about much more than an ill-fated construction project and language confusi...

Photo credit: Randall Price A New Cave, an Old Controversy: Dramatic New Discovery in Israel will Re-Ignite Debates By Craig A. Evans . The last Dead Sea Scrolls cave, linked to the ruins on the marl shelf at the mouth of Wadi Qumran , was discovered in 1956, bringing the total number of caves to eleven — eleven caves containing the famous Dead Sea Scrolls, ceramic jars, and a number of other artifacts. For sixty years archaeologists and looters have been searching for a twelfth cave. Would another one ever be found? Most didn’t think so. This is what makes the announcement from Hebrew University so astounding: A twelfth cave has been discovered! Playing in the dirt One of the Operation Scroll volunteers was archaeologist Randall Price, who today serves on the faculty of Liberty University . One of the briefly examined caves in 1993 — cave 53 — caught his attention.  Last year Price received permission to excavate that cave. Last month (January 2017) he, Oren G...

“Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.” ( Luke  22:20 )   The Greek word  diatheke , translated as both “testament” and “covenant,” occurs 33 times in the New Testament, 17 of which are in the book of Hebrews. The Hebrew word for “covenant” ( berith ) comes from a word meaning to “cut, or divide,” referring to the fact that blood had to be shed to bind the parties involved to the covenant. (See  Genesis  15:10 ;  Jeremiah 34:18-19 .) God had made covenants with Abraham and Moses on the part of the people of Israel. He had kept His part of the agreement; but in each case the others involved “continued not in my covenant” ( Hebrews 8:9 ). But God, in His grace, has issued a new covenant.   This covenant or testament is not unlike a human “last will and testament,” but there are some differences. He did not merely die, thereby enabling His children to inherit His fortune, b...

English: manuscript of the Epistle to the Romans (fragment) (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” ( James  2:10 )   The law of God , centered in the Ten Commandments , is “holy, and just, and good” ( Romans  7:12 ) and expresses perfectly the will of God for holy living. “The man that doeth them shall live in them” ( Galatians  3:12 ).   The problem is that no man can possibly do them all. He may keep most of the commandments most of the time, but he will inevitably fail in some of them some of the time. Since the law is a divine unit, breaking any commandment—as our text reminds us—breaks the whole law, bringing the guilty one under God’s curse of death. “Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them” ( Galatians  3:10 ). “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight” (...