“Peter, answering for the others, affirms their conviction that Jesus was ‘the Christ’—that is, the Messiah, or the coming King of the Jews. This affirmation became the bedrock upon which the Jesus movement was formed. This story, like the ‘good confession’, served to highlight the central conviction that bound Jesus’s earliest followers together: Jesus of Nazareth was the coming King of Israel.”
Read and listen to, THE GOOD CONFESSION by @wscofield77 available now on our app, website, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Why does Jesus’ death atone for sin? Is the church right about Penal Substitution Theory—or is the real answer far more Jewish? https://t.co/Q1h4aEujKD
Blunt force theology derails the very conversations that could enable us all to get to know God better. The good news? There’s a better way to study Scripture.
Learn more here: https://t.co/Avy5Fn0sIy
First service back in the US. Perfect sound. Perfect lighting. Perfect facilities. Perfect service format. Perfect preaching techniques. (all of this is impossible on the field, so it's a bit startling)
But no reference to the return of Jesus. No reference to the resurrection of the dead. No reference to the judgment to come. No reference to the day of the Lord. No reference to the ONE THING, the eternal prize that Paul lived his whole life to attain.
How did we get to the place where we do literally everything perfect, but we miss the one thing that ultimately matters?
When they saw the mute speaking, the crippled healthy, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they glorified the God of Israel. (Matt 15:31)
Small miracles testify to God's ongoing commitment to the Ultimate Miracle of the resurrection and glorification of Israel.
"'I’m not antisemitic; I’m anti-Zionist.' We hear that disclaimer from the progressive political left, the radical alt-right, Muslim apologists, Hollywood stars, mainstream politicians, and even Christian theologians and pastors. 'I’m not against Jews, it’s the political ideology of Zionism that I oppose.'"
Read and listen to, THE THREE FROGS: ANTISEMITISM, ANTI-ZIONISM, & ANTI-JUDAISM by @DanielL86751946 of @followffoz available now on our app, website, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. Links in thread.
If you were raised in a Protestant denomination, you likely received the tradition of a 66-book canon.
You received that canon by faith.
There is no inspired table of contents in Scripture. There is no verse that lists all 66 books. You inherited a tradition that identified those books as the authoritative Word of the God of Israel, and you accepted that tradition. I did too. It is the tradition I received and the one I continue to accept.
However, millions upon millions of your brothers and sisters in the faith received a different tradition.
Depending on the Christian tradition they inherited, they may recognize 73, 76, 77, 78, 79, 81, or even 89 books as Scripture.
That does not make them heretics. It does not make them enemies of the faith. It means they received a different canon tradition than you did.
You do not have to accept those additional books as the authoritative Word of God. I don't. Yet we should be careful about mocking or insulting fellow believers over a canon they inherited in the same way we inherited ours. All of us have history, tradition, lore, councils, scholars, and denominational authorities supporting our received traditions. Those traditions are what they are, and none of us will bring finality to such debates on this side of the Kingdom.
What's more, even if you do not regard these books as Scripture, they are still worthy and important reading.
If millions of Christians throughout history have considered a book sacred, perhaps it deserves more attention than the latest devotional, study guide, or bestselling pastoral commentary.
At the very least, books such as Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Maccabees, Enoch, and Jubilees should occupy a higher place in our reading lists than most modern Christian literature. They are part of the historical library of our faith and the world in which many of our brothers and sisters have encountered God for centuries.
Read them and consider their content. Notice the intersections and interplay with the Gospels and Epistles. The historical context they provide is immense and challenging. The theological conversations they preserve are illuminating. Even where you ultimately disagree, you will better understand the faith, the history of the faith, the People of the Book and the people who preserved it.
You don't have to accept every book as Scripture.
You should at least know what is in them before dismissing them.
“Rather than critiquing the sacrificial system, the author [of Hebrews] presents an argument regarding its design and its scope. The Levitical offerings are a part of an earthly system that addresses earthly matters, though put in place by God; the offering of Jesus is a part of a heavenly system that addresses ‘heavenly’ matters. Thus, while the author of Hebrews may present the offering of Jesus as ‘better’ in the sense that the scope and effects are more expansive, this is not a critique in itself. After enacting the first covenant maintained by the people, God both enacts and maintains the second covenant on their behalf but in the heavens—his own dwelling place ... I suspect the author writes to help the people conceive of how they might reconcile the work of Christ in conjunction with, not in opposition to, the work of the Levites.”
—Maddison N. Pierce, “Relapsing, Reverting, or Rejecting? The Purpose of Hebrews and Early Jewish Religion,” Journal for the Study of the New Testament (2026): 22–23.
Israel is God’s Vessel of Redemption
Jesus is Jewish for a reason.
Why do we struggle so much with the idea that God chose a particular people through whom He would bless all peoples?
From Abraham onward, God’s plan has always been universal blessing through a particular nation.
The covenants were given to Israel.
The Messiah came through Israel.
The gospel went out from Israel.
And the kingdom will be restored to Israel.
Gentiles are not blessed apart from God’s covenant purposes for the nation He chose. We are grafted into their promises, not the other way around.
Paul says that Israel’s rejection brought reconciliation to the world. What then will their acceptance be but life from the dead? (Romans 11:15)
Israel’s restoration is not a side issue. It is bound up with the resurrection hope of the nations.
Jesus is not ashamed of the people He elected.
He rejoices to be the Son of David, the King of Israel, and the head of the nation chosen to mediate blessing to the ends of the earth.
When He returns, Israel will finally fulfill her calling under His leadership, and all nations will be blessed through her.
Jesus lived, died, and rose again to make these things certain.
Believing in Jesus means believing He will fulfill the things He and His Father promised in the Law and Prophets.
Maranatha!
I wrote Gospel of Christ Crucified as an exhortation to the church to focus it's life, preaching, and teaching on the gospel--that Christ died for our sins so that we can live forever. This simple formulation finds incredible depth in the scriptures.
https://t.co/mj6GXQW9kw
“Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the benefit of circumcision? Great in every respect. First of all, that they were entrusted with the oracles of God.”
— Romans 3:1–2
My reasoning for standing with Israel is simple:
Israel, not the Gentile church, was entrusted with the oracles of God and the stewardship of those oracles.
That’s not being a “Zionist.”
That’s not sentimental nationalism.
That’s not even being anti-Palestinian.
And it certainly does not mean Israel has acted righteously in all that it has done as a nation.
It is simply a biblical stance toward honoring the ethnic people God entrusted His covenants, prophets, Scriptures, and promises to, along with the hope of those covenants being fulfilled.
It is also Gentile humility toward the Jewish root rather than the arrogant Gentile boasting Paul warned against.
This stance will matter greatly in the days ahead.
The pressure to curse, betray, abandon, or hand over the covenant people will increase, and many who loudly profess Christ will comply with that pressure while convincing themselves they are righteous for doing so.
But I believe the issue is far deeper than geopolitics.
To deny the covenant people whom God Himself entrusted with His oracles and promises is, in a very real sense, to deny the God of those covenants and ultimately the Jewish Messiah who came through them.
And I believe there will be people in the days ahead who will be forced to choose between preserving their own lives or standing with the covenant people in costly obedience to Christ.
Some will deny them to save themselves.
Others will lay down their lives.
And in that hour nearly upon us, truly it is here, the distinction will not merely be political, but spiritual.