Jesus does not see this event as allegory, myth, or fable. He alludes to the Genesis account and then even quotes a portion of it (Gen 2.24 in Mt 19.5).
The Dying Thief’s Remarkable Theology
“Unlike Thomas, who believed after seeing the risen Lord of glory, this thief believed while looking upon a man hanging on a cross under God’s curse (Gal. 3:13). Many witnessed Jesus raise the dead and still refused to believe. This man watched Jesus die and believed He was a King with a kingdom.” - Ref21
Getting Emotional (Part 2): Emotions in Jesus’ Teaching
“Out of 255 verses referencing emotion, one fifth (20%) are verses where Jesus teaches someone about how they ought to feel. Half of those references are about fear and/or anxiety.” - Don Johnson
Getting Emotional and Using AI in Study
“I set out to read through the Gospels, noting down every mention of emotion that I could find. I came up with 255 verses…. The next step was to classify or arrange the references. I could do this manually, verse-by-verse in an Excel spreadsheet, but I thought ‘this is a perfect job for AI.’ And so it was.” - Don Johnson
The Resurrection of Jesus Should Not Have Been a Surprise
“The accounts of Resurrection Sunday morning in scripture seem to indicate that the resurrection of Jesus bodily from the tomb was a surprise—to the women who went there, to the disciples, and to Jerusalem….
Why Did the Triumphal Entry Crowd Turn on Jesus a Week Later?
“The simple answer is that they probably didn’t. There were two groups of people. The Matthew account of the Triumphal Entry clearly delineates between the two.” - P&D
How Jesus Reached the Pharisees
“But what might be surprising in all of this, if we are paying close attention, is that there were Pharisees who were followers of Jesus! …. With this in mind, I want us to go back to the gospels and look carefully at Jesus’ interaction with the Pharisees.” - P&D
Rescuing Martha: A Response to Elizabeth Schrader Polczer
“Elizabeth Schrader Polczer … claims editors in the second century rewrote the story of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus to hide the original secret story written about Lazarus and only one sister, Mary, who she claims is Mary Magdalene.” - Darrell Post
A Recommended List of Commentaries on Each of the Four Gospels
“While dozens of commentaries have been published on each of the gospels since the year 2000, we recommend these below because they have stood the test of time in an ‘evergreen’ way.” - Christ Over All
The Bethesda Pool, Site of One of Jesus’ Miracles
“the Bethesda Pool is described as having five porticoes—a puzzling feature suggesting an unusual five-sided pool, which most scholars dismissed as an unhistorical literary creation.