Gary Shogren's Blog
This material adapted from 1-2 Thessalonians, Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, from pages 161-66. The book is available from Amazon and as a discount from Amazon, and also from Logos, in Korean and also in Spanish. 1 Thess 4:4 is the most complex verse in the Thessalonian correspondence because of the difficulty of... Continue Reading →
Never before in human history have so many people had such easy access to the Bible - or people of any faith to their sacred books, for that matter - than we have to the Scriptures. Reading through the entire Bible in a year is a terrific goal for any year. And my very favorite... Continue Reading →
According to Matthew 1:21, "Jesus" (in the form Iesous or Yeshua) means "he shall save." Matthew also states that Christ fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah 7:14 - "And you shall call his name Immanuel, which translated means, God with us." In 1-2 Thessalonians, Paul also reveals how Jesus is the personal manifestation of Yahweh. The... Continue Reading →
“Morpho-syntactical exegesis”: it all sounds so mysterious! It is not. In fact, I would go so far as to argue that there is no such thing as morpho-syntactical exegesis as such. Morpho-syntactical analysis, on the other hand, is a thing. Such analysis involves the identification and labeling of each word of a Greek sentence as... Continue Reading →
I almost never publish links to other articles, but this one is unique, and I won't be able to express it as clearly. The United States is currently overrun with theologians with good degrees, who are unemployed or underemployed. Here's some food for thought. Click "Are PhDs Necessary for Theological Education on the Mission Field?"... Continue Reading →
From the very beginning I was a reluctant blogger. Years ago, when my friend Mark suggested that I blog, my response was: “Isn’t that one of those things where I would go on and give random opinions and share vacation pictures?” Well, he answered, some blogs are like that, but listen, if it's your blog,... Continue Reading →
Remember that whole ‘invaders from Mars’ radio show that got Orson Wells into hot water, for panicking the cattle and stampeding the humans? In was back in '38, but you may have learned about it in school or seen it on the History channel. Well, on advice from the boys down in legal, let me... Continue Reading →
This was originally published in the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 40/4 (December, 1997): 609-626. TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE, CLICK HERE. Here is a summary of our conclusion: Many of today’s cessationists rely on Warfield’s decision to tie the end of prophecy to the completion of the canon (with or without the help... Continue Reading →
Does the book of Acts intend to tell us a historical narrative, or does Luke tell us how we should be living? In other terms, is it principally or simply descriptive, or is it also prescriptive? One approach is that we should follow what Acts says - or follow it more confidently - only when... Continue Reading →
In short, no, the evidence suggests that in the first century AD and beyond, it just meant "father". Here are the three uses of the term in the New Testament: For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry,... Continue Reading →
Open Our Eyes, Lord! 