Topic Archives: Biblical Studies

Deep within the bowels of the library of Princeton Seminary, with his Indiana Jones fedora firmly upon his brow, Dr. Bill VanDoodewaard pulled out yet another archival box. He blew the dust off and lifted the top. Underneath the glow of the singular light bulb hanging above, his eyes widened. His trembling hands reached in […]

According to tradition this Gospel was composed to satisfy the urgent request of the people of Rome for a written summary of Peter’s preaching in that city. However, this cannot mean that the information found in this book must be withheld from everybody living outside of the city limits of the capital. As is clear […]

Well done, good and faithful Servant. — Matt. 25:21 Of all the Servants spoken of in Scripture, if one were called upon to say which most nearly comes up to the idea one forms to oneself of a ‘good and faithful servant’, it would be that eldest servant of Abraham’s house, whom Abraham sent into […]

 Adam and Eve In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Gen. 1:1) On the sixth day of creation, the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. Now the LORD God had planted a […]

While our ignorance of Lamentations is to be lamented, it has to be admitted that there are reasons for our failure to get to know the book better. Though it is a book of poetry, closely related in style and theme to the Bible’s Wisdom Literature, it is found among the Major Prophets, and easy […]

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned (Romans 5:12). Many people are fascinated with their family trees. There are hundreds of websites, and an active department in the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth that are dedicated […]

This is a difficult book to categorize. It is not a commentary and yet it deals with the Joseph saga in its Biblical order (for the most part) and there is much detailed commentary on the text. It is not a fictional account of ‘Joseph and his brothers’, or even a fact/fictional re-telling. There is […]

I Wish Someone Would Explain Hebrews to Me!* So do I, and so do a lot of other believers who, reading Hebrews, find it a rich mine of Divine teaching and, sensing there is something special about it, nevertheless don’t really know quite what to make of it. Well, Stuart Olyott has done us the […]

Who is the Wretched Man of Romans 7? In Romans 7 we find the statement, ‘O wretched man that I am!’ It is made by no one less than the Apostle Paul. A question that is often asked is, does he speak here as a regenerate or unregenerate person? The answer to this question is […]

First published 1893. This was the last book written by the celebrated 19th century preacher C. H. Spurgeon. He was working on it until a few days before his death so it contains the last thoughts that he wanted published. Spurgeon takes Jesus is King as this theme. He divides Matthew into just over 100 […]

The appearance of a new book by Stuart Olyott is always a welcome event and his latest offering is no exception. He is a master of good communication and clear Christ-centred teaching. The letter to the Hebrews is one of the hardest books of the New Testament to understand, yet as the author says in […]

The Let’s Study series aims to explain the Bible in a clear and understandable way and then apply it to our lives today. Let’s Study Matthew by Mark Ross admirably fulfils these objectives. Writing from a reformed evangelical perspective, Mark Ross accepts Matthew’s teaching on such doctrines as the virgin birth, Jesus’ divine and human nature, and the reality […]

The Let’s Study is a series of paperbacks written to help ordinary Christians to read, understand, and apply God’s Word to their lives. Ian Hamilton has written an excellent addition to the collection, on the three letters of John. Although only 130 pages long there is a wealth of good, sound teaching in its pages. The apostle […]

Apparently extempore, these sermons were delivered in course, in Geneva from the summer of 1549 to the New Year of 1551. Indeed the series went on over the next few years until the Acts of the Apostles was preached through. Only these forty-four sermons survive in this transcribed form, however. The aim is expository, not […]

John Calvin is thought of, principally, as a theologian. Of course, he was that. But, as Andrew W. Blackwood once told me, in his day he was first of all considered a preacher. Too few of his sermons have been preserved.1 English translations are mainly in 16th century English!2 Nevertheless, the more I read them, […]