Dr Paul Allen

I love the seemingly insignificant phrases in the Bible—phrases like the ones we find at the end of Genesis 1:16—“He also made the stars” (NIV)—or at the end of John’s gospel, where we are told the exact number of fish that Peter caught after Jesus had been raised from the dead—153 “large fish” (John 21:11). We frequently pass over these kinds of comments without giving them further thought.  But we must remember that there is no such thing as an insignificant phrase in the Bible. The Lord was not trying to fill up a minimum word or page count like many students try to do today with their writing assignments. Everything the Bible says is essential, and God intends to teach us something. Rather than passing over these phrases, we should consider what God might be trying to teach us through them. The account of the feeding of the five thousand, recorded in all four Gospels, contains several seemingly insignificant phrases—but one in particular has recently grabbed my attention. In Jo...

Icon depicting the First Council of Nicaea. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Here are a three reasons you should give up Lent for Lent:  History —the idea of giving up something for Lent comes from a few factors—the growth of infant baptism, the increase of Roman Catholic traditions, and silliness of the Catholic approach to meat. Allowing for some oversimplification, for the first few hundred years of church history baptism was generally practiced on what we now call Easter  Sunday . Candidates for baptism would spend a period of preparation where they would fast, not shave, and in some cases not even bathe. While the exact length of this time varied (some say it was a few days, while other sources say 40 days), it would end at baptism, when the believer would be baptized, thus ending his fast. In some churches, the entire congregation would join the fast (but not the no bathing part), as a form of spiritual preparation for baptism  Sunday . With the legaliza...

Jesus and the miraculous catch of fish, in the Sea of Galilee, by Raphael (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Luke 5:1–11.  Simon Peter and his partners had fished all night but had caught nothing, yet at Jesus ’ command their fishing nets filled with so many fish that the boats began to sink. This miracle proved Jesus’ authority over nature and showed his power to provide for those in need (similar to the miracle of manna that God  performed for the wandering Israelites in the desert (Exodus 16:1–36). However, as with all of Jesus’ miracles , this event can be understood on a deeper level. This miraculous catch of fish illustrates a key aspect of Jesus’ ministry: His call, when obeyed, changes everything .  As soon as Peter saw the overflowing nets, he recognized his sinfulness in contrast to Jesus’ power. From that point onward, every priority in the fishermen’s lives changed, and things that once seemed important (the fis...

Image via Wikipedia Jesus guides us in many different ways. Sometimes he makes the next step clear as day. Other times, like Peter discovered in John 21:1-14, it feels like we’re left to muddle through, only to find that Jesus was leading through our muddling. “I am going fishing .” Peter didn’t know what else to do. The past few weeks had been indescribably intense with the nightmare of Jesus’ crucifixion and the ineffable wonder of his resurrection. Now he was sitting with Thomas, Nathanael, James, John, and two others. They were just waiting. It was disorienting. Jesus wasn’t there and he hadn’t told them what to do next. Peter used to know just what to do: prepare the nets and boat , go fishing, take what he caught and sell it in the market. Fishing was hard and sometimes dangerous work. But Peter knew what was expected of him. The memory of the familiar was comforting. So as long as he didn’t know what else to do, he figured he might as well do something productive. The othe...