Pilate and Jesus circle around the question of Pilate's power to condemn him or release him, and Jesus' refusal to play the power game with him. Instead, Jesus holds out the ultimate value of Truth for Pilate's consideration, but Pilate refuses to give up...
The Lord's Supper – the body and blood of Jesus in, with, and under the bread and wine – unites holy God and forgiven humanity through a Jesus-shaped, vertical connection. But the Lord's Supper also creates a Jesus-shaped, horizontal connection...
Legalism is the belief that humans flourish best when they have order, structure, and rules to guide them. The opposite philosophy is liberty – the belief that humans need freedom from restrictions to flourish. Christianity, while definitely promising freedom...
The crowd who has just witnessed Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead follow Jesus into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday – the impossibility of the dead being raised irresistibly pulling all toward Jesus. But when some Greeks are pulled by the possibility of resurrection...
The new covenant happens when God acts to forgive his people's sins, create a fresh community of people who have all experienced the power of this new covenant, and pour out his Holy Spirit into his people's hearts so that his good Law can be internalized and...