What does Jesus mean when he says that, for those who are willing to accept it, John the Forerunner “is the Elijah to come”? How does John function as Elijah in the Gospels? In this episode we discuss the text that is heard in the Orthodox Church on the Nativity of the Forerunner, in which John is said to go before the Lord “in the spirit and power of Elijah” (Luke 1:17). Koran performed by Delerium. Photo by Brett Jordan: https://www.pexels.com/photo/page-of-book-of-malachi-in-bible-20764514/...
Jun 27, 2025•19 min•Ep. 57
The Scriptural God has no representative statue, no temple and no earthly city. As such, he is unique among other deities of the ancient near east; they are made by the hands of men, they reside in temples made of stone, set in fortified cities and governed by a king who, like the statue, is the representative of the deity, his plenipotentiary on earth. By comparison, the Scriptural God seems like an anti-god. He is present among his people exclusively through his word of instruction, his Torah....
Jun 13, 2025•17 min•Ep. 56
Have You Anything Here To Eat? This episode is the audio of a sermon given on the Feast of Annunciation. The prescribed texts for the feast are Acts 1:1-12 and Luke 24:36-53. In the New Testament, table fellowship (koinonia) between Jews and non-Jews is an expression of the oneness of the Gospel. Peter was taught in Acts 10 that he must not call “common” what God has cleansed, and Jesus continued to teach that to his disciples until he was taken up into Heaven. The dietary differences between Je...
May 30, 2025•16 min•Ep. 55
Harmonizing the Narrative is a Betrayal of the Text. The Church considers the complete and necessary depiction of Jesus to be that which is drawn out of all four gospels. Rather than assuming a harmonized narrative that each one gives some little glimpse into, the Church has always affirmed the full authority, and thus the necessity, of all four. This is apparent in Church’s use of similar but different stories involving a woman anointing Jesus. Elements of Luke 6 are used in the hymnography to ...
Apr 25, 2025•13 min•Ep. 54
In Hebrews 2:11, it says, “for he who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all “of one.” In Greek this is ex enos - literally “out of one.” Various translations render that phrase “of the same family” (NIV), “have the same father” (New Living Translation), “have one source” (ESV), and “have the same origin” (NET). These are misleading and make Hebrews sound philosophical rather than Scriptural, which it is. The “one who sanctifies” is a Son by whom God has spoken in these last times...
Apr 04, 2025•13 min•Ep. 53
The Weekly Quizzes Are Open-Book. The Final Exam Is Not. Chapter 21 of Luke is the only Gospel to use the noun form of ὑπομονῇ , often translated “patience” or “steadfastness.”This term comes from a verb which literally means “to bear under.” Luke uses it another time in his Parable of the Sower to describe how those who hear the word keep it and bear fruit, “with patience” (8:15). This goes against our human inclination to “stay on top” of things. Throughout Luke 21, Jesus warns his hearers not...
Mar 14, 2025•18 min•Ep. 52
From A To Z. When we hear Scripture, we are always beyond the grace. This is point A. And we always have the peace - point Z - ahead of us. All of the epistles of Paul start with “grace and peace,” and they all end with “grace.” He gives you the starting point and the end point at the outset, but then after teaching for the duration of his letter, he leaves you a reminder of where you are, saying essentially, “Now go put into practice what I have told you.” In Scripture, the grace (point A) had ...
Feb 28, 2025•15 min•Ep. 51
In Galatians, Paul maintains that God’s promise to Abraham was implemented in Christ; and that this “freedom from the curse” was accomplished specifically through his going to the cross, essentially becoming a curse for us. The basis for his conclusion is neither philosophical or mystical, but is the same as in all his letters: Scriptural, that is, according to that which is written. Here his reference is Deuteronomy. Galatians 3 is a striking example of the Apostle’s strict approach to teaching...
Feb 14, 2025•18 min•Ep. 50
What’s Your Problem? Hearers of the gospel often put too much emphasis on Jesus’ death as death . In Scripture, death itself is not an issue since all are dust to dust. What carries more weight is the shameful way he was put to death - by crucifixion. While some deaths can be seen as noble and dignified, even heroic and glorious, crucifixion was abject and shameful. When Jesus says that anyone who comes after him must take up his cross and follow him (Mark 8:34), he doesn’t means to death per se...
Jan 31, 2025•21 min•Ep. 49
When we insist on historicizing the biblical text, we diminish its value as a teaching. “Did that really happen?” we often ask and then look for verification. It is likewise a calamity when we hear Scripture as a philosophy, in Greek, the “love of wisdom.” The Bible was written against human wisdom, and its teaching is that true wisdom is to found in the words of instruction which proceed out of the mouth of God. Scripture is self-referential: to understand its teaching, our only reference can b...
Jan 24, 2025•16 min•Ep. 48
Scripture In Four Parts. In the Torah, when the Lord delivers Israel out of Egypt, he gives commandments and statutes which they are required to keep; this Law is understood to be the expression of his will, instructions on how to live if the Lord is indeed your God . (and since it is he who delivered them from the hand of Pharaoh and is bringing them into a land of promise to serve him; how could it be otherwise?). In the Latter Prophets, in which Israel is again in captivity, the message sound...
Nov 29, 2024•21 min•Ep. 47
Naked Deception! part 2: Nothing New Under The Sun. Recently my son, who is 10, was asking about God - does he love us and does he punish us? I said yes, both of those are true. I reminded him of the story of Noah and the flood. Then he asked, how could God love us if he wanted to wipe us out from the face of the earth? But son, I asked, don’t you see? You and I are still here. Did God send a flood to wipe us out from the face of the earth? Clearly he did not. But precisely because he loves us h...
Nov 15, 2024•13 min•Ep. 46
Naked Deception, Part 1: Smooth Criminal. You don’t need a theological degree to understand the Bible. If you have ears to hear what the text is saying, the message can be quite clear. That’s why, in the Gospels, Jesus teaches in parables - to make the message so straightforward that the only excuse people could have for not getting it is their own unwillingness to hear and to submit: “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” The problem is that the Bible wasn’t written in our language. What we r...
Nov 01, 2024•12 min•Ep. 45
You know what he said. So what are you doing here? In the Gospel of Luke, the women go to the tomb and do not find Jesus; they meet two men who remind them what Jesus said; they remember what he said; and they go and report all to the eleven and all the rest. The “all” here refers to everything Jesus said while he was still with them. The phrase “he is not here; he is risen” is not found in all manuscripts; as such, its addition may be understood as a clarifying statement. In Luke, the solution ...
Oct 18, 2024•14 min•Ep. 44
Episode 43 - A Common Table. In the culture of the ancient Near East, to sit at a table and share a meal with someone means you are at one with that person. It is with this understanding, which is still prevalent in middle eastern culture today, that we hear the Pharisee’s complaints against Jesus in the Gospel: why would he accept “unclean” tax collectors and sinners at his table? And yet when Jesus said to Levi, “Follow me,” it says that he left all, rose up and followed him. It is Jesus’ word...
Oct 04, 2024•15 min•Ep. 43
“The Lordship of Jesus is on you if you trust in the word of the gospel and you become doulos xristou.” This is an extract from an audio commentary on the Gospel of Mark by the Rev. Fr. Paul Nadim Tarazi. In his reading of Mark 3:11-12, Fr. Paul makes an aside about what the titles “Son of God,” “Christ” and “Lord” mean and why, in the narrative, Jesus systematically rejects them. Fr. Paul’s audio commentaries on the New Testament are available from the Orthodox Center for The Advancement of Bib...
Sep 25, 2024•5 min
Chapter 21 of Luke parallels the mini-apocalypse in Mark 13. Whereas Mark warns his hearers against joining in the revolt and against putting their hope in the earthly Jerusalem, Luke is writing at a time when the city had already collapsed to Rome. Still, the Lord will continue to instruct his people with words out of his own mouth. When they put their trust in those words and follow his commandments with patient endurance , it will be the Lord himself who speaks when they give their martyria ....
Sep 20, 2024•10 min•Ep. 42
In the Gospels, miracles and marvelous works are not signs in and of themselves. They must be based on something else. Jesus’ opponents even accuse him of casting out demons by the power of Beelzebub, and how would one know this wasn’t the case unless what was done was in fulfillment of Scripture? Jesus systematically affirms that Scripture- that which is written - is the sole valid reference for everything, even for the authority that he gives to his apostles over demons. Join me in a discussio...
Sep 06, 2024•13 min•Ep. 41
Was Jesus A Carpenter’s Son? The word tekton , translated “carpenter,” appears first in the Gospel of Mark. Its only other occurrence in the New Testament is in the parallel text from Matthew, and both times it is said of Jesus.* In the former he is referred to as “the carpenter” and in the latter, “the carpenter’s son.” This change may be attributed to the fact that Matthew addresses his gospel to a new generation - identified in his gospel twice as ekklesia , the Church. Throughout, Matthew fo...
Aug 23, 2024•12 min•Ep. 40
Scripture In Nutshell. Each of the synoptic gospels handles the choosing and sending out of Jesus’ twelve disciples differently. Matthew, the last of the four gospels to be produced, takes a unique approach: he combines the calling of the twelve and the sending out in one section. His gospel also includes the following instruction: “Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” What are we to make of this oddity - tha...
Jul 12, 2024•16 min•Ep. 39
Emasculation of the Priesthood. In the Orthodox Church on the Feast of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist and Forerunner, the gospel reading is complied from Luke. It includes the first 25 verses of chapter 1, plus a selection of additional verses dealing specifically with John. Despite offering an abridged version of the first chapter of Luke, this pericope expands on Mark’s approach of beginning the Gospel of Jesus with the origin of his Forerunner. In this “back story” we can note important...
Jun 28, 2024•15 min•Ep. 38
In his gospel, Mark presents an alternative to armed revolt: submission to the one God of both Jews and Gentiles. Thus for him, Jesus is both Christ and the Son of God in a very specific way: according to the Gospel preached by the Apostle Paul, which is itself the fulfillment of what was written in the prophets, the second part of Scripture. Here we have to understand that one could not call Jesus “Christ” if they expected him to lead the revolt and use earthly power to subdue Rome. On the cont...
Apr 26, 2024•13 min•Ep. 37
The story of Rahab the harlot takes up the bulk of chapter 2 of the Book of Joshua. In Scripture, “playing the harlot” is typically a stand-in for following after foreign gods. Her prevalence here can be understood as an invitation to biblical Israel not to commit “Scriptural harlotry.” She is the example for them to follow if they wish to ensure the Lord’s blessings in Canaan. The sinfulness of the nations is a given in Scripture, so Rahab’s harlotry is unexceptional. Israel, however, having re...
Apr 12, 2024•19 min•Ep. 36
In the announcement of Jesus’ birth in the Gospel of Luke, what stands out is that God singles out Mary for favor as a sheer expression of his will. In biblical terms we can say it’s a “textbook example” of grace. In that she possesses no special prerequisite or qualifications for being chosen, Mary’s election is throughly scriptural: it parallels Noah’s finding favor in the eyes of God (Genesis 6) and Abraham and his descendants receiving the promise of future blessings. Join me in a discussion...
Mar 29, 2024•20 min•Ep. 35
In the opening scene of Husbands and Wives , Woody Allen’s character references something Albert Einstein once said, “God doesn’t play dice with the universe,” then adds his own snarky, “no, he just plays hide and seek.” Indeed people often cite God’s invisibility or his absence as grounds for disbelief. While classic Christian Theology has made of God’s invisibility a divine attribute, in the Biblical text, God appears when he wants to appear and is absent when he wants to be absent. His invisi...
Feb 16, 2024•16 min•Ep. 34
In all four Gospels, Judas Iscariot is identified as Jesus’ betrayer. Only Luke and John add the detail that “Satan entered him.” In Luke, Satan also has his eye on Simon Peter. Thus the ultimate opponent of the Gospel attempts to undermine it from the inside - seeking to influence two from Jesus’ inner circle. Luke sets the battle against the backdrop of the celebration of the Passover, the remembrance of the Lord and his saving acts towards his people. Join me in a discussion of Luke 21:37-22:...
Jan 26, 2024•14 min•Ep. 33
In the genealogy in the first chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus is strategically placed following 3 sets of 14 names. With this structure, hearers are meant to recall the Sabbath Year and the Jubilee Year ordinances from Leviticus. Like the produce out of the ground which the sons of Israel were commanded not to sow nor prune, Jesus comes directly from God. Join me in a discussion of Matthew 1:1-25. References Leviticus 25:8-12 Leviticus 25:3-7 Genesis 1:29-31 Genesis 2:4-5 Genesis 5:1 Isa...
Dec 29, 2023•19 min•Ep. 32
In the New Testament, the scribes purport to be in expectation of the coming of Elijah. But in their rejection of both Christ and his forerunner, they de facto reject the authority of Scripture, whose God declares of Jesus, “this is my beloved son, hear him!” in the presence of both Moses (the Law) and Elijah (the Prophets). The scribes are not the only ones without understanding. So are Jesus’ disciples, who resist what their master teaches: that the Cross is necessary; and the only acceptable ...
Dec 15, 2023•12 min•Ep. 31
Come And See. On November 30, the remembrance of the Holy Apostle Andrew, we hear about his call from the gospel of John. Andrew first received word about Jesus from John the Forerunner, and then followed him; after being invited to come and see, he is said to “see” where Jesus abides. The Greek word here ἰδεῖν expresses seeing in order to worship. Throughout John, the evangelist uses different words that are rendered “to see” in English. Sometimes, seeing is equated with believing. This seems t...
Nov 30, 2023•19 min•Ep. 30
In chapter 9 of Matthew, it is the tax collector, and thus sinner par excellence , who is called to follow Jesus; it is he who responds without hesitation; and most importantly, it is he who is seated at table with Jesus alongside other sinners, merely through God’s grace, which proves to be a stumbling block to the religious authorities. It is this same Matthew that the author will name again in chapter 10 as one whom Jesus sends out to do the work of teaching, preaching and healing. Thus, the ...
Nov 17, 2023•12 min•Ep. 29
