Dr Paul Allen

Octavius Winslow once famously said, “Who delivered up Jesus to die? Not Judas, for money; not Pilate, for fear; not the Jews, for envy—but the Father for love.” 1  We could just as easily edit this statement in the following way: “Who put Jesus on the cross? Judas, for money; Pilate, for fear; the Jews, for envy; and you and me, for enmity.”  We should never tire of hearing this truth, to which we must often return. Our understanding of the nature of our depravity is essential if we are to rightly understand the nature of Jesus's death. In short, the doctrine of human depravity helps us better understand who delivered Jesus up to the death on the cross. When considering the nature of sin, many professing Christians focus on the horizontal relationships they sustain with those around them. In a genuine sense, we have all been culturally conditioned to think of the manifold ways we violate the last six—rather than the first four—commandments.  Perhaps it is because the rel...

Rev. Roland Mathew The Apostle Paul faced a crucial moment in his missionary endeavours when a number of men came to the church in Antioch from the church in Jerusalem. Their arrival in Antioch triggered a stunning reaction from the Jews who had been amiably fellowshiping and feasting with their gentile brothers and sisters. Immediately upon the arrival of these men from the church in Jerusalem, the Jews who had previously enjoyed table fellowship with their peers in Antioch began to separate themselves.  Alarmingly, among their number were the Apostle Peter and Barnabas, who had been Paul’s co-labourer on his gentile mission. Paul was scandalized by their behaviour, and he recounts this event and his response to the Jews who had separated from their gentile brothers and sisters in Galatians 2:11–21. This was a watershed moment in the life of the early church. What is the basis for table fellowship between Jews and Gentiles? What were the conditions that would enable people who wer...

  Moab (Isa. 15:1–16:14) The Moabites were the product of Lot’s incestuous union with his daughter (Gen. 19:30–38) and were the avowed enemies of the Jews (Num. 25; 31; Deut. 23:3). The plight of Moab (Isa. 15:1–9). Within three years (16:14), this prophecy against Moab would be fulfilled with great national lamentation. At least fourteen different references to lamentation occur in this chapter: weeping, wailing, baldness, sackcloth, crying out, etc. The people fled to their temples and prayed to their gods, but to no avail (15:2, NIV). Even a day of national humiliation did not stop Assyria from invading Moab and ravaging the land. Advancing armies often stopped up the springs and watercourses, and left the land in desolation (vv. 6–7). Where there was water in Moab, it was stained with blood, so great was the carnage (v. 9). How could the weak Moabites ever hope to defeat the great Assyrian lion? The plea of Moab (Isa. 16:1–5). The one place the Assyrians could not conquer was J...

The most popular belief about Satan’s fall is based on the Bible in Isaiah 14:12 (KJV): “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer son of the morning!” The passage goes on to say that Lucifer tried to raise his throne above the stars and become like the Most High, but God cast him down to the depths of the pit (Is 14:13-15). This passage is often compared with Ezekiel 28:11-19, which allegedly speaks of Lucifer as the king of Tyre living in the Garden of Eden. He was a beautiful cherub angel, but God said to him, “Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth; I made a spectacle of you before kings” (28:17). Some even claim that Lucifer was the choir director of heaven based on the names of instruments listed in the King James translation of Ezekiel 28:13. Hence popular theory has it that Satan, as Lucifer, fell at the beginning of creation. The Bible, however, never directly affirms anywhere that...

Scripture both describes the Israelites exterminating the Canaanites in cities like Jericho (Josh. 6:21) and also presents this as the command of God. This is what the Israelites are supposed to do when they enter the Promised Land and encounter its inhabitants: "devote them to complete destruction . . . and show no mercy to them" (Deut. 7:2, ESV). The Hebrew word for "devoting to destruction" is 'herem'. It is not an ordinary kind of massacre but something sacred, a way of giving things totally to the Lord. It includes property and livestock as well as men, women, and children. And it has the effect of cleansing the land of abominations. The procedure looks very much like an ethnic cleansing demanded by the holiness of God. Is this what holiness looks like? Is this what we are supposed to imagine when we read, "Be holy, for I am holy" (Lev. 11:44, ESV)? How can we possibly read and teach the genocide accounts in our churches today? To answe...

We are prone to make assumptions about God and His favor when life has us down due to sin, mistakes, or incomprehensible circumstances. Of all the Scripture passages we might turn to during these times, the bizarre vision that opens the book of Ezekiel would not register high on our list. However, reading this passage with its original ancient context in mind reveals a powerful message for its original recipients and for every believer. https://hopecollege.com The Babylonian Context Ezekiel had his vision in Babylon as one of the captive exiles (Ezek 1:1–3). Comparing his vision to Babylonian iconography reveals that Ezekiel saw a divine “throne-chariot” of the heavens—widely described in the ancient biblical world. Just as human kings had chariots, so did deities. A deity would traverse the heavens in his chariot throne, inspecting his domain and exercising authority over it. In Ezekiel’s vision, this throne sits atop the “expanse” (רקיע, raqiaʾ, 1:26)—the same word used in Gene...

Rembrandt's Timothy and his grandmother, 1648. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) A certain disciple was there, named Timothy .… He was well spoken of by the brethren who were at Lystra and Iconium ( Acts 16:1b–2). Having begun his second missionary journey by passing through Syria and Cilicia , Paul now comes to Derbe and Lystra, the cities he visited last on his first journey. He comes to them first on this trip because he is traveling from the east; on his first journey, he came to them from the west and returned the way he came.  He is now beginning to fulfill the stated purpose for his second journey (Acts 15:36). He is also returning to the site of his severest persecution (14:19). Luke has little to say about the churches in these cities. But he records Paul’s encounter with Timothy, who will become his companion and his “true son in the faith” (1 Tim. 1:2). Unlike John Mark, with whom Paul would have nothing to do (Acts 15:38), the apostle is impressed by this young m...

One of the most difficult episodes for us to handle as people who live on this side of the New Testament are the Old Testament records of what is called the herem . This is where God calls Israel to embark in what we could call a holy war against the Canaanites . He tells them to go in there and wipe out everyone—men, women, and children. They were forbidden to take prisoners and were to utterly destroy and put the ban, or curse, upon this land before they occupied it for themselves. When we look at that, we shrink in horror at the degree of violence that is not only tolerated but seemingly commanded by God in that circumstance. Critical scholars in the twentieth century have pointed to that kind of story in the Old Testament as a clear example that this couldn’t be the revealed Word of God. They say that this is the case where some bloodthirsty, ancient, seminomadic Hebrews tried to appeal to their deity to sanction their violent acts and that we have to reject that as not be...

When the Roman authority in Jerusalem crucified Jesus , who was viewed as a dangerous messianic pretender and disturber of the peace, there was no uncertainty about what came next: The body of Jesus would be buried in a tomb, but not in a place of honor. That was the Jewish law, and the Romans had no objections to it. We know the Romans permitted the Jewish people in Israel to follow their customs. If they had not, they would have had insurrection on their hands. Proper burial of the dead, even the bodies of the executed, was of enormous importance to the Jewish people. Guided by the Mosaic law of Deut 21:22–23, the Jewish people buried the dead before nightfall to safeguard the purity of the land. This included criminal dead.  We also know that this Jewish custom was respected by the Romans, during peacetime (as seen in Philo, Embassy 300 ; Josephus , J.W. 2.220; Ag. Ap. 2.73), especially because of what Josephus reports: “the Jews used to take so much care of the burial...

Jesus tomb is sealed and guarded a. Sir: They gave Pilate a title of honor and respect. But the day before these same religious leaders rejected the King of Kings . They mocked and despised Him, putting Jesus to open shame, but they honored Pilate.   i. On the next day: “It must mean that the chief priests and Pharisees actually approached Pilate on the Sabbath with their request. If they did that, it is clear to see how radically they broke the Sabbath Law.” (Barclay) b. We remember … how that deceiver said, “After three days I will rise”: Ironically, the enemies of Jesus remembered His promise of resurrection better than His own disciples remembered. c. While He was still alive: In this, the enemies of Jesus admit that Jesus is dead. They did not believe the “Swoon Theory,” a conjecture that denies the resurrection, saying that Jesus never really died, but just “swooned” on the cross, and then somehow wonderfully revived in the tomb.   i. A humorous letter t...

Painting by Rembrandt of Paul, one of the most notable of early Christian missionaries, who called himself the "Apostle to the Gentiles." Paul, a Hellenistic Jew, was very influential on the shift of Christianity to Gentile dominated movement. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Even though thousands of Jewish people embraced Jesus in the early days of the Christian church (three thousand in Acts  2:41 ; at least another two thousand in Acts 4:4), some also claimed that Christians aimed to “destroy [the temple] and change the customs that Moses delivered to us” (Acts  6:14 ). Nevertheless, the first and greatest Christian missionary , a Jew himself and former Pharisee, the apostle Paul , protested that he was “saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would come to pass: that the Messiah must suffer and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles ” (Acts 26:22–23). Great Sorrow, Unceasing Anguish ...