Reading through the books of the Bible in chronological order can really help you put the different sections of the Bible together. But this can be a challenge since our Bibles are not arranged chronologically. That’s where a resource like the Chronological Life Application Study Bible (NLT) is a tremendous…

What image best depicts the idolatry of the people of God? One could make the case that the image most utilized by the prophets to depict the idolatry of God’s people is adultery. Idolatry is spiritual adultery. In order to illustrate this point, Hosea begins with the Lord commanding the…

Have you ever recited a creed in a church service? What did you think of participating in a corporate confession of that sort? Did it give you a sense of continuity with the past, a historical rootedness? Or did including human tradition in the church’s worship bother you? Let’s learn…

One of the downsides of living in the west is our tendency to think individualistically instead of corporately. This can lead to downplaying or ignoring the significance of the corporate emphasis found in the Scriptures. God’s purpose has always been to have a people for His own possession (see Ex.…

In the opening chapters of the greatest letter ever written, Paul completely obliterates any thought of human righteousness. The conclusion to his dismantling of any thought of human righteousness is that “none is righteous, no, not one” (Rom. 3:10). God does not even consider one person as righteous in his…

The Bible describes many ancient religious practices largely foreign to our own cultural practices. Notions of consecration, dedication, vows, holiness, and ritual cleanness are somewhat common in contemporary Christianity. But how well do we know the origin of this terminology and these practices? Take, for instance, the Nazirite vow. The…