Luther Seminary's Bible Q & A

Podcast discussion with Eric Barreto, Cameron Howard, and Mary Hinkle Shore. Article written by Mary Hinkle Shore.

Jesus was a small-town peasant in a Roman province far from the centers of political and religious power. People in such circumstances rarely threatened Rome in any serious way. A miracle-working Jewish prophet and teacher would not have posed much of a conventional threat to such power and brutality. For his own part, Jesus never took up arms, nor did he encourage his followers to …

Podcast discussion with Eric Barreto, Cameron Howard, and Fred Gaiser.Article written by Fred Gaiser.       

"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" ( Mark 15:34 ). Jesus was not the first to pray this prayer, nor was he the last. But when we hear this terrible outburst on the lips of Jesus, echoing the opening words of Psalm 22 , we might be confused: Was not Jesus truly God? Was not Jesus "of one Being with the Father," as we confess in the Nicene Creed? So, how could God forsake …

Podcast discussion with Eric Barreto, Cameron Howard, and Sarah Henrich. Article written by Sarah Henrich.  

Was Jesus married -- and why do we care?

In the wake of the recent publication of a small (1.5-inch x 3-inch) piece of a Coptic (an ancient language of Egyptian Christians) manuscript , we suddenly have "The Gospel of Jesus' Wife" along with speculation about Jesus' marital status and the presumption that the Church -- that mythical, monolithic entity -- is suppressing the whole truth. …

Podcast discussion with Eric Barreto, Kathryn Schifferdecker and Fred Gaiser.
Article written by Fred Gaiser.

One could, I think, answer this question too quickly, either with an “Of course!” or an “Of course not!”

The quick “Of course” could come from a faithful Christian who might then continue, “Yes! This is what I have heard every year during Advent or Lent, when the pastor read the Old Testament lesson from Isaiah about the birth of Immanuel ( Isa 7 …

Podcast discussion with Eric Barreto, Kathryn Schifferdecker, and Craig Koester. Article written by Craig Koester.

  People often wonder what to make of the book of Revelation. Some find its bizarre images of seven-headed monsters and fire falling from the sky confusing at best and terrifying at worst. The Internet has numerous websites that attempt to turn Revelation into a roadmap for the end of the world. They speculate about the identity of the Antichrist and wonder how soon global conflict …

Article written by Mary Hinkle Shore.

The New Testament includes four gospels. When two of them introduce Jesus, he is already an adult. The Gospels of Mark and John include no information about the birth of Jesus or his childhood. Our information on the infant and the boy Jesus comes from the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. These two gospel writers introduce us to the older generation of Jesus’ family …

Podcast discussion with Eric Barreto, Kathryn Schifferdecker and Lois Malcolm.
Article written by Eric D. Barreto .

Jesus' first words in the Gospel of Mark do not appear until the 15th verse of the first chapter, and what he says is a definitive statement of what his mission is all about. At the same time, his first words are a bit enigmatic. Once we start thinking about he says, his mission statement may be not as clear as we would like.

Emerging from his baptism by John in the Jordan and his temptation …

The New Testament consistently teaches that Jesus, God’s Son, dies so that we may be saved from sin. The ultimate motive for this is the love of God. Underneath the surface of events, behind and beyond the folly and wickedness of human leaders, God's plan for salvation was being worked out (Acts 2:23; 1 Peter 1:20).

The short answer to our question is: "through Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their sins against them." ( 2 Cor 5:19 ).

The death of Jesus is not …