There is a continuing and long-standing debate about the relationship between the gifts/persons of pastors and teachers in Eph. 4:11. In particular, grammatical arguments are sometimes put forward to the effect that they should be combined in the single gift/person… Read More ›
Interpretation
“Tongues as Languages Understood By the Speaker” – a Structural Analysis of 1 Cor. 14:1-19
This article is a structural analysis of 1 Corinthians 14:1-19 which pays particular attention to the chiastic structure in verses 6-19. The structure will be analysed from the perspective that the spiritual gift of languages or tongues refers to human… Read More ›
“Use a Little Wine for Thy Stomach’s Sake” (1 Tim. 5:23) – a Suggested Interpretation.
One of the frequent comments about this verse is that it doesn’t appear to fit very well in the context of the surrounding verses: it appears to be an intrusion into the flow of Paul’s thought in this part of… Read More ›
Chiastic Analysis of Jonah 1:16-2:10
Continuing the structural analysis of the book of Jonah, here is a chiastic analysis of Jonah 1:16-2:10, the famous passage where Jonah is swallowed by a great fish. The article is in the form of a Word document which can… Read More ›
Jonah and Nineveh
I recently attended a Biblical Hebrew workshop based on the text of the book of Jonah, and this reminded me of an article I prepared some time ago based on James Jordan’s most helpful insights into this book. The article originally appeared… Read More ›
The Tamar and Ruth Narratives Considered Intertextually
The account in Genesis Ch. 38 of the events leading up to and including the birth of Perez to Tamar and Judah has many intertextual connections with the events leading up to and including the birth of Obed to Ruth and Boaz… Read More ›
Is There a Pattern to the “Anotations” in Matthew’s Genealogy of Christ?
Most of Matthew’s Genealogy of Christ (Matt. 1:2-16) consists of statements of the form “X begat Y”. But there are some additions – called annotations in the literature. In this article, I suggest that these annotations are carefully located in the genealogical… Read More ›
Who is the Rider on the White Horse in Revelation 6:2?
The identity of the Rider on the white horse in Rev. 6:2 has, for almost all of the history of the church, not been a matter of doubt: He is the Lord Jesus Christ, or alternatively the Holy Spirit or… Read More ›
“There is Therefore Now no Condemnation . . “: The Chiastic Structure of Romans 8:1-4
In this post, I wish to present a proposed chiastic analysis of this famous passage of Scripture. This is actually a (slightly modified) chapter from my book Biblical Chiasms in the Interpretation of Scripture, and the page numbers are those of… Read More ›
Judah and Jechonias and Their Respective Brethren
We have been looking at Matthew’s Genealogy of Christ in Matt. 1:1-17 and in this post I want to put forward a suggestion about Matthew’s inclusion of two, somewhat surprising, references (verse 2 and 11) to “brethren” – those of Judah and… Read More ›
