Unless you happened to have spent some time in the Eastern part of the world, you probably will not be very familiar with the Orthodox Church. The Orthodox Church traces its roots back to the early church and has been the predominant Church in the Eastern world since that time.…

In his commentary on Genesis in the Old Testament Library series, Gerhard von Rad provides a careful reading of the serpent’s subtlety as it craftily draws the woman into a conversation. Let’s see how he unpacks the subtle and crafty tactics of the serpent which set the woman and man…

Greetings all! You made it through the first full week of September. My family is now full swing in the routine of school and school-year activities. It’s busy, but it’s a good busy – full of opportunities for hard work, physical activities, and joyful fellowship. This is the first full…

In the third chapter of Colossians, Paul provides several metaphors for the believer’s growth in holiness. As a result of the believer’s union with Christ, they are to put some things to death, put off some things that they used to wear, and put on new things that resemble the…

One of the most profound statements on God’s unbreakable and inseparable love for his people in Christ is Romans 8:38–39. In these two verses Paul basically states that there is nothing that can separate us from God’s love in Christ. According to Grant Osborne, this results in the “absolute security…

Greetings Olive Tree fans. I am not usually the one who writes our posts, but I wanted to start a weekly blog post going through a particular Bible reading plan: The Bible Reading Challenge. I invite you to join in the plan with me and read my recaps of the…