Am I mistaken, or does the cover look like the Titanic? Gary: Interesting story: the book had its start back in 2012. I was asked to give a conference to missionaries working in Spain. I wanted to address: How do we process disappointment in our ministries? It happened to be the 100th anniversary of the Titanic sinking, and suddenly I... Continue Reading →
Does Christ come with his saints or his holy angels? 1 Thess 3:13
Some material adapted from my commentary on 1-2 Thessalonians in the ZECNT series. It can be purchased from Zondervan, Logos, Amazon. 1 and 2 Thessalonians (Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament | ZECNT) | Logos Bible Software The New Living Translation treats 1 Thess 3:13 as – “May he, as a result, make your... Continue Reading →
“Did some Thessalonians Tamper in God’s Domain?”
A paper read at the 2012 Conference of the Evangelical Theological Society, and published in JETS 63.4 (2020): 703–20. We give only a selection here (Intro, Conclusion). Click here for the full pdf copy. jets_63.4_703-20_shogrenDownload WERE THE THESSALONIANS “MEDDLING IN DIVINE MATTERS”? A REREADING OF 2 THESSALONIANS 3:11 Second Thessalonians 3:11 contains a play on... Continue Reading →
What did Paul mean by “possess your own vessel”?
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 →
Paul agrees: Christ is Immanuel, God with us
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 →
No-body knows when you will die or Jesus will come! And it’s a good thing
Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers and sisters, you do not need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 1 Thess 5:1-2 "And further, not to know when the end is, or when the... Continue Reading →
1-2 Thessalonians and the Olivet Discourse
To download the entire article with footnotes click here: Shogren_1 Thess 2 Thess and the Olivet Discourse How can we sketch out the outline of Christian eschatology from the years AD 40-50s and earlier? The Thessalonian epistles provide the clearest, datable data. The Thessalonians learned their eschatology from Paul; the apostle added to or further developed... Continue Reading →
** GARY commentary alert!
To my surprise, I just found out that Zondervan republished my Thessalonians commentary some months back! You can now buy three full commentaries in one eBook! Mine has a lot of Greek in it, but also much application and thoughts on how to preach the letters. The collection includes Holmes NIV Application Commentary (which I... Continue Reading →
Paul agrees: Christ is Immanuel, God with us
According to Matthew 1:23 (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 following... Continue Reading →
No Time for Bible Reading?
I just read through the prophet Habakkuk. It took 9 minutes to read aloud from beginning to end. I happen to know that you can read both 1 and 2 Thessalonians aloud in less than a half hour. Just did some work in Mark: it can be read aloud, beginning to end, in roughly 1... Continue Reading →