It’s 63 BC. You are a Roman citizen named Rabirius, and you’re on trial. Caesar himself has accused you of murdering a tribune of the people. Crucifixion was eventually ruled out during the trial, but for your lawyer, Cicero, the very idea of it being considered for a Roman citizen is unthinkable and, frankly, punishment enough. In his brilliant closing remarks, he says,

How grievous a thing it is to be disgraced by a public court; how grievous to suffer a fine, how grievous to suffer banishment; and yet in the midst of any such disaster we retain some degree of liberty. Even if we are threatened with death, we may die free men. But the executioner, the veiling of the head and the very word “cross” should be far removed not only from the person of a Roman citizen but from his thoughts, his eyes and his ears. For it is not only the actual occurrence of these things or the endurance of them, but liability to them, the expectation, indeed the very mention of them, that is unworthy of a Roman citizen and a free man.¹

Crucifixion is at the center of Christianity, but in light of Cicero’s words, it should not surprise us that Paul calls the cross of Jesus “a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to the Greeks” (1 Cor 1:23; see also 1 Cor 2:2; Gal 5:11).

The heart of the Christian message, which Paul described as the “word of the cross” … ran counter not only to Roman political thinking, but to the whole ethos of religion in ancient times and in particular to the ideas of God held by educated people.²

Yet the language of the cross is ubiquitous in Christianity, whether in the New Testament or the writings of the early church. The cross is central even though “Jesus’ cross was a sign of extreme ‘shame’ (Heb 12:2).”³

Removed as we are from that culture, we often miss just how shocking crucifixion was. We wear gold crosses as jewelry. We display beautiful, polished crucifixes in our sanctuaries. However, the reality of this Roman execution was unimaginably horrifying and shameful.

The horror of crucifixion

The Romans did not invent crucifixion, and evidence of its use is found in various other ancient cultures.⁴ But the Romans perfected it as a tool of terror. They used it primarily to punish slaves, pirates, and political rebels. Roman writers called it the summum supplicium, “the supreme penalty.”⁵

Quite a bit of popular (and even some scholarly) work focuses on the crucifixion of Jesus as an accurate description of the practice as a whole.⁶ This is at least partly because the Gospels provide the longest and most detailed account of a crucifixion in the whole of ancient literature. But given the brutality and indignity of the practice, this is no surprise, as “no ancient writer wanted to dwell too long on this cruel procedure.”⁷

It is important to note, however, that there was no standard practice for crucifixion.⁸ But one common thread was that the aim of crucifixion was “subjecting the victim to the utmost indignity.”⁹ Additionally, the physical ordeal began long before the actual cross. Put simply, crucifixion, including any preliminary abuse, gave “the caprice and sadism of the executioners … full rein.”¹⁰ While the process of crucifixion varied widely, there were some elements in Roman crucifixion that were common enough to establish a broad, four-part outline.

1. Scourging the victim

Prior to the act itself, victims were ruthlessly flogged and beaten (see Matt 27:26; Mark 15:15; John 19:1). This was usually done with a flagrum, a short Roman whip interlaced with heavy iron weights and sharp pieces of sheep bone. Some victims were also disfigured in various ways, like having their tongues ripped out or their eyes burnt out. In some cases, victims died from the scourging before ever reaching the cross.

2. Carrying the cross

After such a beating, the victim was expected to carry the crossbeam, known as the patibulum, to the execution site.¹¹ This heavy wooden beam could weigh up to a hundred pounds, physically exhausting the already weakened victim.¹² The heavy vertical pole was typically kept stationary in the ground at the execution site and reused for multiple executions.

3. Hanging on the cross

The form of the cross itself varied. It could be a vertical stake with no crossbeam, a vertical stake with a crossbeam, shaped like a capital T, or a vertical stake with an intersecting beam—the shape traditionally represented in Christian iconography.¹³

Positioning on the cross also varied, including hanging the victim upside down, having stakes driven through genitals, or outstretching the arms.¹⁴

Victims were affixed to the cross using ropes, heavy iron nails, or a combination of both. Nails measuring four to seven inches in length were commonly driven through the victim’s wrists (as the palms could not support the body’s weight) and through their heel bones.¹⁵

Rare archaeological evidence from a crucified man in Jerusalem is an iron nail hammered laterally through the heel bone, secured with an olive-wood plaque just under the nail head to prevent the victim from pulling the foot free.¹⁶

Crucifixion was designed to be as slow and agonizing as possible, with the victim dying “limb by limb.”¹⁷ Depending on the specific methods used, a victim could hang in agony for several days before finally expiring.

4. Dying on the cross

The final cause of death by asphyxiation has been assumed since Dr. Pierre Barbet put the theory forward in A Doctor at Calvary in 1950. The hanging position severely restricted the chest muscles and diaphragm. To exhale, the victim was forced to painfully push up on their nailed feet. Eventually, muscle fatigue and exhaustion would set in, leading to suffocation.¹⁸

However, a recent examination by a forensic pathologist has challenged these perspectives.¹⁹ Patrick Hansma strongly argues against the widely held theory that crucifixion victims died from asphyxiation. He explains that the asphyxiation hypothesis has zero scientific or historical evidence to support it. Furthermore, observations of modern, voluntary crucifixions in places like the Philippines show no signs of this rhythmic breathing struggle.

Instead, Hansma proposes several physiological mechanisms that are far more likely to have caused death during crucifixion.

• Heart failure: The extreme trauma could induce fatal strain on the heart. Right heart failure could result from pulmonary congestion, fluid buildup (edema), and acute pulmonary hypertension as the body tries to shunt blood in a low-oxygen state. Left heart failure could occur as the body loses fluid volume; blood vessels constrict to maintain blood pressure, drastically increasing the resistance (afterload) the heart must pump against until it fails.
• Embolic events (clots): Blunt force trauma from pre-crucifixion beatings or the Roman practice of breaking the victim’s legs could liquefy fat under the skin or release bone marrow. This can cause fatal fat and marrow embolisms that travel to the lungs or brain. Additionally, hanging completely static on the cross promotes deep vein thrombosis (blood clots), which could also travel to the lungs.
• Dehydration: Victims were exposed to the hot sun after extreme physical exertion and trauma. They lost massive amounts of fluid through bleeding and “third spacing” (fluid leaking out of blood vessels into surrounding tissues as edema), which thickened the blood and could lead to lethal dehydration.
• Exsanguination (bleeding to death): While the nail wounds alone might not cause a victim to bleed to death (unless major arteries in the palms were hit), the severe trauma, flogging, and blunt force injuries that routinely preceded crucifixion could cause massive, fatal blood loss.²⁰
  Rhabdomyolysis: If the victim was affixed to the cross in a way that severely hyperextended their arms backward (similar to a torture technique called strappado or reverse hanging), it could cause rapid, fatal muscle tissue breakdown.

Ultimately, Hansma concludes that instead of suffocation, a crucifixion victim likely succumbed to a combination of these cardiovascular and systemic failures brought on by severe dehydration, heart failure, embolic events, and the immense blunt and sharp force trauma they sustained.

If the Romans wanted to speed up the execution, they would shatter the victim’s lower legs with a heavy iron mallet. This violent practice further limited the movement of the victim, and thereby sped up their demise.

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The shame of crucifixion

While all of this is obviously horrific, crucifixion did more than just kill you. “In crucifixion, everything was done to humiliate and dishonor the victim in addition to torturing him or her to death.”²¹ For instance, victims were almost always executed without clothing, both to make them more susceptible to blows and to increase their shame. Crucified bodies were also regularly left up and denied burial.²² In fact, in some cases, even though execution had taken place by other means, a dead body was later crucified.²³ Thus, Horace refers to people on the cross as food for crows.²⁴

Shame in Greco-Roman society

This public degradation was part of the horror of crucifixion, and it is one that is easily missed in settings that aren’t steeped in the concepts of honor and shame. Social scientific scholars such as Richard Rohrbaugh call honor and shame “core values of the biblical world.”²⁵

Honor is not simply self-esteem. Rather, it’s more like publicly acknowledged self-esteem.²⁶ Conversely, shame is recognizing when your self-esteem is not acknowledged by the public.²⁷

If one has a higher opinion of oneself than society does, then an adjustment needs to be made, either by publicly proving one’s worth or by adjusting one’s self-perception. The ability to feel shame is understood as a good thing because it is an individual’s recognition that they have stepped outside the bounds of what their society will allow. They are ashamed, and this motivates them to return to conformity with societal expectations.

A shameless person, however, would disregard public expectations.²⁸ Put simply, if you break the societal convention, the expectation is that shame will return you to conformity. If it does not, then you are uncivilized, rude, and should be shunned.²⁹

Further, in a collectivist society, both honor and shame were shared. Neither honor nor shame was individual in nature. Both were applied broadly to families and other social associations. One was connected not only to family but also to any other significant relationships.

These values are deeply embedded in the Greco-Roman world.

• Plutarch says, “For the wise man takes pleasure in what is honourable, but the fool is not vexed by shamefulness.”³⁰
  Xenophon says that the love of honor is the only thing that separates us from animals.³¹
• Augustine, speaking of the Romans, says, “Glory was their most ardent love. They lived for honor, and for it they did not hesitate to die. This single measureless ambition crushed their lesser greeds. It was their glory to conquer and control others, and a dishonor for their fatherland not to be free.”³²

Nothing mattered more to a Roman than honor, collectively acknowledged and understood. And crucifixion ripped that to shreds.

Crucifixion as public shaming

Crucifixion was “an intentionally degrading death, fixing the criminal’s honor at the lowest end of the spectrum and serving as an effective deterrent to the observers, reminding them of the shameful end that awaits those who similarly deviate from the dominant culture’s values and scripts for subordinates.”³³ The violence and shame of the cross were used by the Romans as a preventative measure.³⁴ Josephus reports that mass crucifixions were intended to quell Jewish revolts:

The main reason why [Titus] did not forbid [crucifixion] was this, that he hoped the Jews might perhaps yield at that sight, out of fear lest they might themselves afterwards be liable to the same cruel treatment. So the soldiers…nailed those they caught, one after one way, and another after another, to the crosses, by way of jest; when their multitude was so great, that room was wanting for the crosses, and crosses wanting for the bodies.³⁵

This is also why crucifixion nearly always occurred on popular roads. As Quintilian puts it, “Whenever we crucify the guilty, the most crowded roads are chosen, where the most people can see and be moved by this fear. For penalties relate not so much to retribution as to their exemplary effect.”³⁶ They were visible reminders of what rebellion earned you. Crucifixion was essentially a terror tactic to keep provinces in order.³⁷

Crux eventually entered the vocabulary of lower classes as a vulgar taunt.³⁸ For Cicero, as we’ve seen, it’s an unthinkable punishment:

It is a crime to bind a Roman citizen; to scourge him is a wickedness; to put him to death is almost parricide. What shall I say of crucifying him? So guilty an action cannot by any possibility be adequately expressed by any name bad enough for it.³⁹

Cicero was not often speechless, but the concept of crucifying a Roman was sufficient to leave him without words. He was not alone. Crucifixion was deplorable on every level. One did not want to see, read, hear, or think about it, or be associated with it or its victims in any way.

The scandal of Christ’s cross

One can imagine then the absolute befuddlement of the Romans as they watched Christianity grow after the crucifixion of Jesus. What absurdity to worship a dead leader, but more than that, a crucified one. This foolishness of the gospel for the Greco-Roman world was the final and strongest attempt of the culture to shame you back into line. Yet not only did Christians lack the good sense to be ashamed of Jesus on the cross (Rom 1:16), they went so far as to celebrate it (1 Cor 1:18; Gal 6:14)! To be Roman is to love honor, but to be a Christian is to love the cross. These values were (and remain) at an impasse.

For a striking example of how a Greco-Roman mind saw crucifixion, one of the first depictions of Christian crucifixion is found in the Alexamenos Graffito.⁴⁰ It is a carving on a wall of a man worshipping a crucified donkey. For the average Roman, Christians were shameless. They lacked the ability to recognize their shame or attempt to remedy it.

Just as victims of crucifixion were irretrievably shamed, so are those who continue to willingly be associated with them. Christians were thus culturally equivalent to the lowest of society. This, as we have seen, would go beyond the corrective measures that a society could impose.

• Celsus points this out in the second century when criticizing Christianity, saying that Jesus was “was shamefully bound, and disgracefully punished, and very recently was most [insultingly] treated before the eyes of all men.”⁴¹
  Lucian of Samosata joins in, referring to Jesus as “that crucified sophist they worship and according to that one’s laws they live.”⁴²
• Jewish views of crucifixion were no better. Anyone who was crucified was cursed by God, based on Deuteronomy 21:23.⁴³ Crucifixion was viewed by the Jews as “the most dishonourable form of death penalty, which is specifically imposed for a political crime, treason against the people.”⁴⁴

Thus, any convert to Christianity had to reckon with the social fallout of Jesus’s death. Justin Martyr tells us, “For this they accuse us of madness, saying that we attribute to a crucified man a place second to the unchanging and eternal God, the Creator of all things.”⁴⁵ Madness: Jesus experienced the pinnacle of shame, but now he is in the position of highest honor.⁴⁶

For the outsider, the cross remained the most difficult barrier to conversion. The best way to overcome that barrier was to vindicate Jesus, and there is no better vindication than the resurrection.⁴⁷

Conclusion

Let us return to 63 BC and the trial of Rabirius. Now imagine those who acquitted him after Cicero’s speech. Imagine their disgust that a Roman citizen was threatened, even briefly, with something as grotesque as crucifixion.

It’s virtually impossible that any of them would have lived long enough to hear a presentation of the gospel, but for our sake, let’s imagine they did. Imagine that they are told that the one supreme God became man (Phil 2:6–7). Perhaps that would be taken as silliness. God would never deign to become mortal. But that this God who took on mortality proved it by dying (Phil 2:8a)? Now that is absurd. Laughable even. What God can truly die? And we’re to believe this is the greatest of all gods? But wait: His death was death on a cross (Phil 2:8b)?! Lactantius preserves an objection along these lines:

Why, if he was God and wanted to die, was he not at least executed by some other honest form of death? Why particularly by a cross? Why by an infamous form of punishment, which indeed appears unworthy of a free person in spite of the fact that he/she is guilty?⁴⁸

Now this is truly insane. This is not worthy of consideration. A good Roman shouldn’t even have to hear such things.

And yet, in less than three hundred years, all Romans would. So many would accept it that Christianity became the official religion of Rome. The empire that saw nothing but disdain, shame, and insanity in the cross eventually embraced that same symbol.

Share your thoughts

How does the nature of crucifixion shape how we read the New Testament’s message of the cross? Join us in Word by Word group to share your thoughts.

Ryan Lytton’s suggested resources for studying crucifixion

• Select Works of Cicero (36 vols.) by M. Tullius Cicero
• Cook, John Granger. Crucifixion in the Mediterranean World. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 327. Second edition. Mohr Siebeck, 2019.

The Jewish War, Vols. 1–3: Books 1–7

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Crucifixion: In the Ancient World and the Folly of the Message of the Cross

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Jesus: The Final Days

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In this episode of What in the Word?, Thomas H. McCall joins Kirk E. Miller to discuss one of the most emotionally arresting lines in the Gospels: Jesus’s cry of dereliction from the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matt 27:46; cf. Mark 15:34). These words have raised questions, like: Did the Father actually forsake the Son? Was the Trinity ruptured? And how should this utterance shape our understanding of the atonement, if at all? Tom surveys different historical interpretations on this passage and helps listeners navigate its exegesis and theological implications. He also gives suggestions on how to avoid important pitfalls.

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Episode guest: Thomas H. McCall

Thomas H. McCall is Timothy C. and Julie M. Tennent Professor of Theology at Asbury Theological Seminary. Previously, he pastored churches in Alaska and Michigan and was formerly Professor of Biblical and Systematic Theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and Professorial Fellow in Exegetical and Analytic Theology at the University of St. Andrews. He is the author and co-author of several articles and books in historical theology and systematic theology.

Episode synopsis

The cry in context: regal authority

Tom begins by situating the cry within the respective Gospel narratives.

This line is not a random emotional outburst placed on the periphery of the crucifixion story. In both Matthew and Mark, it’s one of Jesus’s final utterances, intentionally placed near the climax of the passion narrative. Yet, at the same time, the evangelists don’t pause to interpret it. They simply record the cry in transliterated Aramaic, translate it, and leave the statement to confront the reader without explanation. Tom argues that this “non-explained” quality is part of its effect, drawing attention to the intensity of Christ’s suffering.

But Matthew’s Gospel, in particular, adds another layer of tension because of how Matthew has been narratively developing the theme of Jesus’s sovereignty throughout. Tom briefly sketches this theme across Matthew’s Gospel:

• Matthew’s so-called infancy narrative highlights Jesus’s kingship. He opens with a genealogy framed to highlight Jesus’s royal identity, the magi asking for the location of one born “king of the Jews,” and Herod’s violent reaction.
• This theme continues into Jesus’s wilderness temptations, where a central issue is authority: Who rules, who has the right to command, and what kind of kingship will Jesus embody?
• By the time Matthew reaches the crucifixion, the regal theme has become a sharp paradox: Jesus is publicly labeled “king of the Jews,” yet he appears helpless, executed like a criminal under another ruler’s judgment.

Thus, powerful themes collide at this precise moment: the proclaimed kingship of Jesus and his apparent defeat. The cry—“Why have you forsaken me?”—emerges from the center of that collision. As such, in Matthew’s framing, the cry of dereliction does not merely express grief. It injects a seeming plot twist that throws Jesus’s entire identity into question—or at least confronts misconceptions about the nature of his rule.

In his book, Forsaken: The Trinity and the Cross, and Why It Matters, Tom expounds upon the shock value:

Such a question surely comes from someone who has been unfaithful—and who now blames God for their abandonment. … But this question, of course, does not come from someone who has been unfaithful. It does not come from a pious person who simply isn’t theologically astute enough to know better. It comes from the lips of none other than Jesus Christ. It comes from the one who has been utterly faithful. It comes from the one of whom the Father said, “This is my beloved Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:17). It comes from the one who is the eternal Logos (John 1:1), the second person of the Trinity. So these words ring out like a thunderbolt.²¹

Why this verse is so debated

This verse has become a battleground where rather different theological commitments often surface. In their book, Beholding the Triune God: The Inseparable Work of Father, Son, and Spirit, Matthew Y. Emerson and Brandon D. Smith introduce the issue as follows:

Did the Father turn his face away? Put another way, was there some sort of break or rupture between the persons of the Trinity on that fateful day on Golgotha? [Many see in] the cross … a moment of separation between the Father and the Son. The cry of dereliction … is Jesus’s cry of abandonment, meant to communicate an existential angst, a torment of soul rooted in some kind of spiritual distance between the incarnate Son and his heavenly Father due to the latter’s wrath being poured out. To say it a bit differently, many view the cross as a moment in which the Father pours out his personal wrath on the Son, and this is felt by the Son at a spiritual level and communicated via the cry of dereliction.³⁴

Interestingly, Tom observes that recent interpretations of this passage (especially in the last century) differ significantly from how earlier theologians (patristic, medieval, and early modern) tended to understand it. This shift itself raises questions: Why the change? What assumptions are driving it?

And a central reason such interpretations matter is the way they impinge upon one’s doctrine of God. According to Tom, certain modern readings arguably undermine core Christian claims about God’s unity, the Trinity, and Christ’s person. In other words, differences over this text involve not merely alternative interpretations of Christ’s cry, but alternative understandings of what can be said of God.

Additionally, many people resonate with this verse because it names a universal human experience: the feeling of abandonment—even abandonment by God. For some, the verse brings comfort: Jesus knows this experience. Yet for others, it’s destabilizing. If even one like Jesus experienced God’s abandonment, what hope is there for the rest of us? In this way, Jesus’s cry often becomes a “mirror text,” reflecting people’s own grief, doubt, trauma, or longing.

3 interpretive approaches

To help us sort through the theological issues, Tom outlines three general approaches to the text, admitting these are rather “broad strokes.”

1. Forsaken to death while maintaining the beatific vision

Tom begins by stating the dominant view among medieval theologians like Peter Lombard and Thomas Aquinas. On this account, the Father “forsakes” the Son in this specific sense: The Father hands the Son over to suffer death at the hands of sinful humans. The forsakenness is real, but it is not a loss of divine love or an internal conflict within God. It is God the Father permitting God the Son to be crucified.

Far from experiencing an interruption in the Father’s pleasure, Aquinas insists that Jesus would have even enjoyed the beatific vision—the uninterrupted communion with God that Christians hope to enjoy in the future—throughout his passion. Thus, this view maintains the reality of Christ’s suffering while also insisting that the Son never ceases to trust the Father, and the Father never ceases to love the Son.

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2. A “God against God” rupturing of the Trinity

A view like Aquinas’s can be sharply contrasted with a modern theologian like Jürgen Moltmann. Moltmann famously read Jesus’s cry as indicative of a kind of internal contradiction within God (“God against God”), a stasis or rupture within God’s own life—even an ontological break in the Trinity.

Tom strongly objects: This view doesn’t merely interpret the verse differently. It implies a fundamentally different doctrine of God. According to Tom, it sits far outside what classical Christian theology would even consider metaphysically possible.

Tom also argues that versions of this “rupture” interpretation can sometimes show up in some popular evangelical presentations, namely, those that describe the Father as disgusted with Jesus and turning away from him in revulsion, implying a divine hatred or intra-trinitarian fracture.

3. An experience of forsakenness apart from divine displeasure

According to a third family of interpretations, often associated with John Calvin and Reformed scholastic trajectories (e.g., Francis Turretin), Jesus genuinely experiences something like forsakenness at the level of human consciousness, an experience tied to his identification with sinners. Yet in these accounts, no actual break in the Trinity—or hostility of the Father toward the Son—occurs.

Kirk mentions Calvin, for instance, who maintains that Christ did indeed feel the weight of divine vengeance, what we might call the horrors of eternal death, and in this sense the abandonment of God.

Nothing had been done if Christ had only endured corporeal death. In order to interpose between us and God’s anger, and satisfy his righteous judgment, it was necessary that he should feel the weight of divine vengeance. Whence also it was necessary that he should engage, as it were, at close quarters with the powers of hell and the horrors of eternal death. … And certainly no abyss can be imagined more dreadful than to feel that you are abandoned and forsaken of God, and not heard when you invoke him, just as if he had conspired your destruction. To such a degree was Christ dejected. … And certainly had not his soul shared in the punishment, he would have been a Redeemer of bodies only.³⁷

But Calvin is careful to clarify that this in no way implies an ontological rupture in God or something like personal hatred or anger of the Father towards the Son.

We do not, however, insinuate that God was ever hostile to him or angry with him. How could he be angry with the beloved Son, with whom his soul was well pleased? Or how could he have appeased the Father by his intercession for others if He were hostile to himself? But this we say, that he bore the weight of the divine anger, that, smitten and afflicted, he experienced all the signs of an angry and avenging God.⁴⁹

An interpretive key: Psalm 22

Jesus’s cry does not consist of words invented on the spot. Rather, he is quoting Psalm 22. According to Tom, this is crucial for how we ought to interpret Jesus’s cry. We are meant to hear in it a reflection of the Psalm.

Observe, for instance, how the passion narratives are saturated with allusions to Psalm 22. As Craig Blomberg notes, Psalm 22

contains an astonishing number of close parallels to the events of Jesus’ crucifixion: a cry of abandonment (22:1–2), despising and mocking (22:6–7), the taunt that the Lord should deliver the one who trusts in him (22:8), a near-death experience described as being poured out like water with all his bones out of joint, his heart melted like wax, and his strength dissipated (22:14–15). Furthermore, he is surrounded by wicked onlookers (22:16a) who pierce his hands and feet (22:16b) and divide his garments by lot (22:18).⁵⁰

For the Gospel writers, then, the use of Psalm 22 is not an incidental footnote. It’s the interpretive framework they’re weaving into the story.

The trajectory of Psalm 22 becomes our guide to interpreting Matthew 27:46. Psalm 22 begins with anguish but moves toward vindication and confident trust. In fact, the psalm later affirms that God “did not hide his face” from the afflicted, but listened to his cry for help. That doesn’t erase the lament, but it does reframe it. The cry of forsakenness exists in a larger sequence leading to deliverance.

Use the Important Passages section in Logos’s Guides to locate
key quotations and cross references.

Christ’s solidarity with us

How then should we read the cry of dereliction? Tom offers a theological reading shaped by three lenses:

1. Context. Interpret the cry according to its specific use in Matthew and Mark, and in light of the original phrase in Psalm 22.
2. Canon. Read the cry alongside Jesus’s other passion sayings, such as his expression of trust, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46), and victory: “It is finished” (John 19:30). Such sayings would be difficult to reconcile with an idea of total despair or metaphysical rupture within God.
3. Creed. Interpret it in accord with and within the bounds of creedal trinitarianism and orthodox Christology.

Using these three lenses, Tom concludes that the cry expresses Christ’s solidarity with humanity. Jesus is not forsaken from being the Son. He is forsaken in the sense that he has entered the human condition, and in that moment takes up our cries and prays them as our representative (John of Damascus).

In no way does this involve an ontological separation within God. The Father does not hate the Son. He does not turn his face away. The Trinity is not broken. There is no interruption in the communion of love between Father and Son. The divine relationship is not abandoned.

Atonement without “God against God”

How, if at all, does the cry of dereliction relate to the atonement?

• Tom wants to affirm that Christ’s sufferings accomplish substitutionary atonement, which includes a penal dimension: Believers no longer bear the just penalty for their sins because of Christ.
• He also wants to affirm christus victor themes: Christ triumphs over sin, death, and the devil, bringing believers victory.
• He wants room for moral-exemplar dynamics: Christ’s faithful suffering is meaningful as a pattern for discipleship.

What Tom wants to resist are problematic articulations of atonement that pits the Father against the Son, as though one divine person could act against another. On the contrary, the divine will is unified. Father and Son are not in competition.

Applying carefully, but with hope

Tom counsels preachers and teachers to explain the text in its full narrative and canonical context, without speculative exaggeration. Don’t go beyond what Scripture teaches by claiming God’s inner life is fractured or that the Father is hostile to the Son.

Additionally, faithful believers can feel abandoned. Jesus himself gives voice to that anguish here. But we must remember, Psalm 22 does not end in abandonment, nor do the Gospels end at the cross. Matthew culminates with the risen Christ’s declaration of cosmic authority—“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matt 28:18)—which reframes the cross’s apparent defeat as the paradoxical path to victory. Thus, Jesus does not join us to “wallow in our grief.” Rather, he enters our darkness to bring us through it: God-with-us not only in suffering, but into redemption and triumph.

Logos values thoughtful and engaging discussions on important biblical topics. However, the views and interpretations presented in this episode are those of the individuals speaking and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Logos. We recognize that Christians may hold different perspectives on this passage, and we welcome diverse engagement and respectful dialogue.

Let us know what you think

How do you understand Jesus’s cry of dereliction? Join us in the Word by Word group to share your thoughts.

Pertinent resources from Thomas H. McCall

• Forsaken: The Trinity and the Cross, and Why It Matters.
• “Christology and the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus” in the forthcoming Cambridge Companion to Christology

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We often excel at understanding and teaching the meaning of Christ’s death—its significance for accomplishing our salvation. Sometimes, we are less adept at grasping the significance of Christ’s resurrection, at least beyond how it signals retrospectively the effectiveness of the cross. We may struggle to explain why Christ’s resurrection itself matters, what the resurrection specifically contributes to our salvation.

To fill that void, this article aims to survey the New Testament’s theology of Christ’s resurrection.

1. Christ’s resurrection demonstrates the remarkable power of God

In Acts 26:6–8, when Paul is on trial for preaching the resurrection, he equates this to being on trial for his hope in “the promise made by God to our fathers.” Paul contends, “For this hope [of resurrection] I am accused by Jews, O king!” He then asks rhetorically, “Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead?” The question implies it is not incredible that God would raise the dead. God, of course, is omnipotent, all-powerful, able to do as he pleases: even raising the dead.

Yet let’s not neglect how rather incredible it is to be able to say that it’s not incredible for God to raise the dead! Raising the dead is by every other account impossible. For instance, when God asks Ezekiel in the valley of dry bones, “Can these bones live?” (Ezek 37:3), the expected answer under any normal circumstances would be no. (But Ezekiel wisely punts, “O Lord God, you know,” since he knows ordinarily dead bones don’t live—but he also knows to whom he is speaking!)

God’s raising Jesus from the dead demonstrates his immense power to accomplish what seems impossible (cf. Matt 19:26; Rom 4:19–21). Raising the dead is an incredible thing. But what is even more incredible is that for God, it’s not incredible.

2. Christ’s resurrection serves as decisive proof of his ministry and claims

In Matthew 12:38–40, when the scribes and Pharisees demand a sign, Jesus responds, “No sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” Just as Jonah spent three days in the fish’s belly—something of a death for Jonah (see Jonah 2:2–7)—so “will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” But, of course, three days is a limited amount of time, implying eventual resurrection. The ultimate sign validating Jesus’s ministry, therefore, would be his death followed by resurrection.

Similarly, in John 2:18–22, when asked for a sign of his authority to cleanse the temple, Jesus responds, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” John clarifies that Jesus was speaking of “the temple of his body.”⁵¹ When Jesus was raised from the dead, his disciples “believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken” (John 2:22). The sign that Jesus will give to demonstrate his authority to do things like cleanse the temple is raising his temple (body) three days after his death. His resurrection validated his authority and claims.

3. God’s act of raising Christ expresses God’s approval and affirmation of Christ

As I looked across the New Testament, I found at least twenty-two times where it attributes the resurrection to God, often specifically to God the Father. God is the one who raised Jesus from the dead.⁵² For instance, 1 Peter 1:20–21 states that God “raised him from the dead and gave him glory.”

Although we might easily overlook this, such statements carry significant implications about God’s disposition toward Christ. Rather than signaling disapproval of Christ, which death by crucifixion could be taken to mean (see Mark 15:34), God’s resurrection of Christ vindicates him and implicitly communicates God’s approval of Christ. In this way, God contradicts the verdict that humans had placed on his Christ: that Jesus was nothing more than a criminal. God’s resurrection of him definitively declares otherwise.

In Acts 5:30–31, Peter declares, “The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree.” Notably, Peter describes Jesus’s death as being hung “on a tree.” This language evokes Deuteronomy 21:23, which states that anyone hung on a tree is cursed by God. We might expect the apostles to be embarrassed by this fact: How could Jesus be God’s Messiah, the one in whom God delights, if he was cursed by God? Instead, they intentionally draw attention to this, since it underscores the significance of Christ’s death: He bore our curse (Gal 3:13). Yet Christ’s resurrection by the Father reverses that verdict: The one who was cursed by God has now been raised by that same God, signaling that punishment for sin has been absorbed and that sentence of condemnation overturned, i.e., justifying him.

So 1 Timothy 3:16 also refers to Christ being “vindicated [or justified] by the Spirit,” likely a reference to his resurrection by means of the Spirit (the New Testament elsewhere specifies the Spirit as the agent of Christ’s resurrection, e.g., Rom 1:4; 8:11; cf. 1 Pet 3:18).⁵³ God’s act of raising Christ vindicates (or justifies) him.

4. Christ’s resurrection fulfills the enthronement of a king from David’s line

In his Pentecost sermon, Peter argues that Christ has been exalted to God’s right hand, enthroned as the promised Davidic king (Acts 2:14–36). Peter observes that the tongues-speaking, which had just occurred, evidences that the Spirit has been poured out in fulfillment of Joel 2 (Acts 2:14–21; cf. Joel 2:28–32). And this, Peter concludes, evidences that Christ has been exalted with authority to pour out that Spirit (Acts 2:22–36).

Peter cites Psalm 16:8–11, where David, speaking of himself, confidently asserts that God will not abandon his anointed to death but will preserve him from his enemies. Yet Peter notes that David himself did eventually die and see corruption, and so Peter sees this psalm as anticipating a greater David and a greater act of preserving his Davidic king from corruption. According to Peter, Psalm 16 ultimately looks beyond David to his descendant whom God swore to put on his throne (Acts 2:22–30; see 1 Sam 7; Ps 89:3, 34; 132:11–12; Isa 55:3), and he identifies Christ as that descendent and Christ’s resurrection as that enthronement (Acts 2:31–33). Christ’s resurrection enables his exaltation to the Father’s right hand (Acts 2:34–36; Ps 110:1; see also Acts 5:30–31; Rom 8:34; Col 3:1; Eph 1:20–22; 1 Pet 3:22), from where he is granted authority to pour out God’s Spirit.

Moving to Acts 13:16–41, specifically 13:30–37, we find Paul making the same type of argument. Paul cites Psalm 2:7’s enthronement language: “You are my Son, today I have begotten you,” concluding that God appointed his messianic king “by raising Jesus” (Acts 13:33).

Romans 1:3–4 describes Jesus as “descended from David according to the flesh” but “declared to be [or appointed] the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead.” His resurrection signals his appointment to the Father’s right hand as the “Son of God,” i.e., the Davidic king.

5. Christ’s resurrection grants him universal authority

Matthew 28:18–20 also testifies to Christ’s post-resurrection kingship, namely, his regal authority. Following his resurrection, Jesus declares, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” Here he alludes to Daniel’s Son of Man receiving everlasting dominion over all nations (Dan 7:13–14).

As the resurrected Son of Man, Jesus now possesses all authority, commissioning his disciples to make disciples from all nations and teaching them to observe all he has commanded. In other words, because Christ possesses universal authority, they are to see that authority realized by making disciples from among all those nations (ἔθνος) over which Christ has authority. They are to bring them under Christ’s rule specifically by naturalizing them as citizens of his kingdom.

He is the “Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David” who has “conquered, so that he can open the scroll” in which is written God’s purposes to bring history to its redemptive end (Rev 5:1–5). But how has he acquired this authority? Instead of seeing a lion, when John looks he sees a Lamb who, despite having been slaughtered, now stands (Rev 5:6). In other words, it is through Jesus’s death and resurrection that he wins the authority to break this scroll’s wax seals thereby executing its contents (Rev 5:7–14): the enactment of God’s kingdom in the form of both judgment (Rev 6:1–17) and salvation (Rev 5:9–10; see also 7:1–8:1).

6. Christ’s resurrection vindicates him as the messiah by fulfilling the Scriptures

In Acts 26:22–23, as Paul testifies to the resurrection of Christ, he describes this as “nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would come to pass.” Christ’s resurrection, in other words, fulfills what the Old Testament Scripture’s anticipated (see also Acts 2:22–36; 13:30–37). In this way, Christ’s resurrection vindicates him as the messiah precisely because it fulfills Scripture’s testimony about the messiah.

Likewise in Acts 17:2–3, Paul reasons “from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead.” Having established this profile of the messiah, Paul concludes that Jesus, who fits that profile, must therefore be that very Messiah.

7. Christ’s resurrection confirms his appointment as judge

According to Acts 17:30–31, God requires all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world. But notice how this judgment will be conducted: by the agency of a man whom he has now appointed. Paul explains: “Of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

Jesus’s resurrection confirms that he is the one whom God has appointed to eventually judge all people (see also Matt 16:27; John 5:22, 27; Acts 10:42; 2 Cor 5:10).

8. Through his resurrection, Christ triumphed over demonic forces

First Peter 3:18–22, though a notoriously difficult text, reveals Christ’s victory over spiritual powers through his resurrection. Having died for the sins of the unrighteous (1 Pet 3:18), Jesus was “made alive,” i.e, resurrected, by the Spirit, after which he ascended into heaven and proclaimed his triumph over demonic spirits (1 Pet 3:19).⁵⁴ In other words, his resurrection enables him to claim victory over demonic spirits; it is his triumph over the forces of darkness. By his resurrection, he is seated at the right hand of God with “angels, authorities, and powers” subjected to him (1 Pet 3:22; see also Eph 1:20–21).

Hebrews 2:14–15 explains that God the Son took on human nature so that he might experience death and, through that death (and resurrection), destroy death itself. In this way, he defeats not only death but the one who held the power of death, that is, the devil. By releasing us from the fear of death, he releases us from the stronghold of the devil who wielded death over us.

So too, Paul declares that Christ disarmed “rulers and authorities,” publicly shaming them, by triumphing over them through his cross and resurrection (Col 2:11–15; see also 1 John 3:8). He knocks the weapon out of their hand, we might say, by ridding them of their ability to accuse us of sin.

9. Christ’s resurrection shows he successfully dealt with sin

In Romans 6:23, Paul states, “the wages of sin is death.” Death is the punishment for our sin. It is what our sins deserve, the “paycheck” sin earns for us. So for Christ to truly cancel sin, he must fully nullify its payment: death (Rom 6:23). Christ’s resurrection shows that he successfully paid our sin’s full debt. As we might say, it proves the check he paid for our sins didn’t bounce, but cleared.

Conversely, Paul reasons, if Christ hadn’t been raised, our faith wouldn’t save: We’d still be in our sins (1 Cor 15:17). For Christ not to have been raised from the dead would signal that sin had still not been dealt with. As Paul says later in this chapter, sin is the venom that brings death (1 Cor 15:55). Thus, for death not to be defeated would mean sin still stings.

Explore the significance of Jesus’s resurrection with Logos’s Study Assistant. Start your free trial!

10. Christ’s resurrection was his own justification and, by extension, ours

In Romans 4:25, Paul confesses that Jesus “was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.” He parallels Christ’s death for our trespasses with his resurrection for our justification.

Justification, receiving the verdict of “righteous” in God’s judgment, has both negative and positive dimensions. Christ’s death here addresses the negative: In it he bears the consequences of our crimes against God’s law. Conversely, in his resurrection, that verdict of condemnation is reversed: Christ is declared justified (see also 1 Tim 3:16). Inasmuch as Christ’s death is God condemning Christ (Rom 8:3), so his resurrection is God justifying Christ.

This makes sense when we consider Scripture’s teaching on resurrection. Resurrection was associated with the final judgment, when God would vindicate the righteous by raising them to glory and honor (Dan 12:1–3). Those who are raised to eternal life are the righteous (Rom 2:7; John 5:29). So to be raised by God in this sense is in effect to receive his verdict of “righteous.” Resurrection is proof of a righteous standing.

But, of course, we lack this standing on our own. Thus, as Paul says, Christ was raised for our justification. Christ’s own justification is the justification for all united to Christ who thereby share in his justified status. In him, we’ve already passed through the final judgment and received God’s verdict of “righteous.” As Christ identified with our sin (2 Cor 5:21), so we are identified with Christ in his justification. We are only forgiven of our trespasses inasmuch as we pass through Jesus’s death with him, and we are only justified inasmuch as we are united with him in his justification, that is, his resurrection.

11. Christ’s resurrection enables us to appeal to God for a clean conscience

According to 1 Peter 3:21, baptism saves us “not as a removal of dirt from the body,” but inasmuch as baptism embodies an appeal to God for a good conscience.

But how can we make this appeal to God for a clean conscience? Of course, in our sin we do not have clean consciences. So we cannot make this appeal based on our own record. Rather, the grounds for our clean consciences is Christ’s resurrection, “through the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (1 Pet 3:21). Christ’s resurrection signals sin has been dealt with and our justification is secured, which secures for us a clean conscience.

12. Having been raised to indestructible life, Christ makes permanent intercession for believers

Hebrews 7 argues that Jesus is a superior priest compared to the Levitical priesthood. The Levitical priests served on the basis of the law’s requirement that priests be descendent from Aaron. In contrast, Christ’s Melchizedekian priesthood is established by his “indestructible life”; that is, Christ’s resurrection (Heb 7:15–16). The author of Hebrews makes his case from Psalm 110, which foretold of a future priest-king from Melchizedek’s order who will be a priest “forever” (Heb 7:17, 20; cf. “forever” in Heb 6:20; 7:24, 28).

Thus, one of the ways Jesus’s priesthood is better is that, unlike the Aaronic priests who died and so could only serve temporarily, Christ is “able to save to the uttermost,” since his resurrection-life enables his constant intercession, “forever” applying his finished work before the Father on our behalf (Heb 7:23–25).

Likewise, in Romans 8:34, Paul asserts that no one can condemn us since Jesus’s resurrection means he now intercedes for us at God’s right hand (see also 1 John 2:1).

13. Through his resurrection, Christ annihilated death and obtained immortality

Second Timothy 1:10 declares that through the gospel, i.e., Christ’s incarnation, death, and resurrection, he “abolished death.” Jesus absorbed our death, fully experiencing it on our behalf (see also Heb 2:9), and, having vanquished death, achieved immortality, that is, eternal resurrected life (1 Cor 15:50–57). Christ’s resurrection wasn’t mere resuscitation. Christ passed through death and emerged completely free from its claims on the other side. Through Christ’s death and resurrection, death itself has died.

Jesus overcame death and escaped its grip, so that we who are in Christ would share in his victory over death. We do not yet experience that victory. We still die. But we die knowing that death does not have a permanent grip on us. Eventually, at Christ’s return, Christ’s defeat of death will be applied to us as well, when this “last enemy” is to be destroyed (1 Cor 15:26).

Nonetheless, Hebrews 2:9 and 2 Timothy 1:10 make clear that this victory is already achieved in principle in Christ’s death and resurrection. It’s already been won. We are yet to experience it, but Christ has already defeated death for us. It’s a done deal.

So in Revelation 1:9-20, John records a vision he had of the Son of Man. In it, Jesus declares, “I am … the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades” (Rev 1:17–18). Keys represent authority, the power to lock and unlock. Jesus announces his dominion over death itself and over Hades, the place of the dead. The basis of that authority is his resurrection. Because he personally conquered death, he now has authority over it. This is meant to assure us as we face death: He has won the authority to release us from it. Through his resurrection, Christ holds authority over death.

14. Christ’s resurrection inaugurates the end-time resurrection of the dead

From the Old Testament’s perspective, God’s people looked forward to the day when he would intervene at the end of history to judge all of humanity, raise the dead, and decisively establish his kingdom. Resurrection belongs to this “end-times” category: It’s inherently eschatological.

Yet Christ’s resurrection has occurred in the middle of history, injecting the end into the present age. Jesus’s resurrection inaugurates that broader end-time resurrection. He is the first to rise, launching new creation in the midst of the old, fallen order.

For instance, Colossians 1:15–18 declares that not only is Christ preeminent (the “firstborn”) over creation (Col 1:15), since he himself is its Creator (Col 1:16–17), but now he is also preeminent over the new creation, since he is its source. “He is the beginning,” that is, he is the origin of this new creation, since he has launched it as “the firstborn from the dead” (Col 1:18).

Likewise, Acts 26:23 identifies Christ as “the first to rise from the dead,” signaling that his resurrection is representative of a larger resurrection. “First,” of course, assumes more to come. There is a broader group to which the first belongs. Christ’s resurrection belongs to, and is the first of, the general resurrection anticipated at the end of history. He is the first to embark into resurrection existence.

Other passages in Acts confirm this. For instance, in Acts 4:2, we see the apostles “proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead [pl.].” Notice, they do not merely proclaim that Jesus rose from the dead, but that “in Jesus” is resurrection from the dead (pl.). Jesus’s resurrection launches that broader resurrection from the dead, so it is in Jesus that the hope of that future resurrection is found.

Again, in Acts 17:18, Luke does not record Paul merely preaching Jesus’s resurrection, but “preaching Jesus and the resurrection” (emphasis added). According to Luke, for Paul to preach Jesus’s resurrection is also for him to preach the general hope of resurrection (see also Acts 17:32).

In Acts 23:6, when Paul describes why he is on trial, he does not merely say, It is because I preach that Jesus was resurrected. He assumes that to preach that Jesus is resurrected is to preach “the hope and the resurrection of the dead.” Jesus’s resurrection fulfills the Old Testament’s hope of resurrection and is the reason for our hope in resurrection. As Paul says later in Acts 24:14–15, 20–21, to be on trial for Jesus’s resurrection is to be on trial for “a hope … that there will be a resurrection” (see also Acts 26:6–8).

John 11:25–26, though predating Jesus’s resurrection, assumes it. When Jesus tells Martha her brother Lazarus will rise, she responds, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” She expresses the traditional hope in resurrection on the last day, stating that she knows her brother Lazarus will participate in that resurrection. Yet Jesus responds quite shockingly, “I am the resurrection and the life.” Jesus identifies himself with the very hope of resurrection life. It’s as if he says, You want to participate in that resurrection? You want to experience resurrection life? That is to be found in me. I embody that hope. Jesus is the source of our hope for resurrection, which he ultimately accomplishes by means of his own resurrection.

If you are familiar with John’s Gospel, you know that the beginning of John’s Gospel is structured by various signs. So here, Jesus claims, “I am the resurrection,” and then he signifies this by demonstrating his power to raise Lazarus from the dead.

15. Christ represents us in his resurrection, securing our future resurrection

In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul addresses some in the Church of Corinth who denied a future bodily resurrection while accepting Christ’s resurrection. Yet Paul argues these are inseparable: If there were no resurrection, then not even Christ has been raised.

Underlying Paul’s argument in 1 Corinthians 15:12–19, his presupposition, is the link between Christ’s resurrection and ours. His entire argument assumes that for Christ to be raised necessarily means that believers, those who belong to Christ, will be raised with him. Christ’s resurrection secures our future resurrection, such that for Christ to rise from the dead means we will be raised from the dead with him (see also 1 Thess 4:14). This means that to deny the future resurrection of the body—to deny our own resurrection—is implicitly to deny the gospel (1 Cor 15:1–11); namely, that Christ rose from the dead.

In 1 Corinthians 15:20–23, Paul uses two illustrations to describe the relationship of Christ’s resurrection to ours. First, he describes Jesus as the “firstfruits” of those who will be raised. This is agricultural imagery: When a farmer grew wheat or barley, the firstfruits were the first portion of the crop to ripen. As the first, they signaled that there was more to come. They represented the full harvest that would follow. In other words, Christ’s resurrection is the first of a larger resurrection harvest (see similar eschatological harvest imagery in Matt 13:36–43; Rev 14:14–20). His resurrection comes first, anticipating and guaranteeing the future resurrection for all those united to him by faith.

Second, Paul describes Christ as a “Second Adam.” Adam was what we might call a “public person.” He represented all of humanity, such that when he sinned, his sin affected us all. We all experience the consequences of his rebellion, namely, death came through him to us all. But Christ is a new “public person.” He represents a new humanity, acting on behalf of all those united to him. What the first Adam did, the Second Adam has come to undo (see also Rom 5:12–21). Where the first Adam brought death, the Second Adam brings resurrection-life. So at his coming, all “in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Cor 15:22). His resurrection includes and so guarantees ours.

Scripture will speak of believers being raised “with Christ” (Rom 6:5, 8; 2 Cor 4:14; 1 Thess 4:14; 5:10; 2 Tim 2:11)—not merely that Christ is raised and then we will be raised, as if those were two isolated things. Rather we are raised with him. In other words, our eventual resurrection is a participation in his resurrection, even though they may be separated by however many thousands of years. Our resurrection rides on the coattails of his. They belong to the same resurrection harvest.

According to Philippians 3:21, when Christ comes again, he will transform our current bodies to be like his resurrected body. We may be familiar with the idea that salvation involves being made like Christ. This happens progressively in sanctification as we are conformed to the image of Christ. But eventually, we will be made like Christ even in terms of our physical bodies: We will be raised from the dead (1 Cor 6:14). Salvation involves the entire person, including our physical selves.

In summary, Christ represents us in his resurrection. He resurrects on our behalf, thereby securing our future resurrection.

16. Believers already experience resurrection with Christ inwardly (spiritually)

Resurrection involves the renewal of the whole person. Yet, as we arrive at the New Testament, we discover that this promised end-time resurrection unfolds in two stages: one resurrection with two installments.

When Christ returns, those found in him will be raised physically (i.e., bodily). Yet even now believers experience resurrection with Christ inwardly or spiritually. In this latter sense, believers already participate with Christ in his resurrection-life. They have been regenerated—brought from death to life (John 5:21–24), born again (John 3:1–15), granted eternal life (John 3:16)—and so undergo a decisive moral transformation.

In Romans 6:1, Paul asks the rhetorical question, Should believers continue to sin since we’re saved by grace? His answer is an emphatic, “No!” since believers have undergone a death and resurrection in Christ. We have died with respect to sin’s tyranny and now, “just as Christ was raised from the dead,” so we too live new resurrected lives by the Spirit (Rom 6:1–7:6).

In other words, our justification, far from giving us a license to sin, necessarily involves our sanctification. God’s saving grace that forgives also transforms. The same union with Christ that results in our justification (Rom 5) also produces our sanctification (Rom 6). The two cannot be separated anymore than Christ can be divided: both are received in union with him. Not only have we died with respect to the penalty of sin, we have also died to the power of sin—and been raised to new life.

Likewise, in Ephesians 2 Paul describes believers as formerly “dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph 2:1). “But God,” by his grace, “made us alive [i.e., resurrected us] with Christ” (Eph 2:5–6; see also Col 2:12–13; 3:1).

Already, through Christ, we undergo the end-time resurrection. We experience the power of the age to come. We are part of that new creation. Inwardly, we are being renewed (2 Cor 4:16), even as we await the day when outwardly we will be raised. At that time, our bodies will catch up with what is already spiritually true of us (John 6:40)

17. Christ’s resurrection ushers in the renewal of creation

Resurrection belongs to the anticipated end-time renewal. At the very end of history, God was expected to raise the dead, bring about his new creation, and establish his kingdom in full. But, of course, Christ has already risen from the dead, launching that new creation in the midst of the present, fallen, created order.

Thus, those united to Christ already participate in the salvation and restoration that belongs to the end. Christ’s resurrection is a new creation reality, so those raised with him partake in this new creation. As ones raised with him, they too are a “new creation” (2 Cor 5:17).

This new creation involves a resurrected humanity characterized by the new covenant’s promised Spirit. So Paul teaches in 1 Corinthians 15:45–49: As we have born the “image” of Adam, a man created from dust (hear allusions to Gen 1:26–28; 2:7; 3:19), so we will bear the “image” of the Second Adam (Jesus) when we are raised with him (1 Cor 15:46–49). Where the first Adam received life, the Second Adam gives life through his Spirit (1 Cor 15:45), who animates life in the new creation (Rom 7:4–6).⁵⁵ The new Adam creates a new, resurrected humanity, conforming it to his image, thereby restoring it to the image of God.

We see this as well in Colossians 2:16–3:17. Because believers have died with Christ (Col 2:20; 3:3), they have stripped themselves of the “old self” (Col 3:9), better translated, “old humanity” (ἄνθρωπος). This old humanity is fallen humanity as it exists in connection to Adam. Because believers have been raised with Christ (Col 3:1), they have instead clothed themselves with “new humanity” (Col 3:10).⁵⁶ In short, death and resurrection with Christ transitions believers from old humanity to new humanity.

This new humanity recreated by Christ is “being renewed … after the image of its Creator” (Col 3:10; emphasis added), evoking the creation account (Gen 1:26–28).⁵⁷ Again, as believers are resurrected with Christ, they are renewed according to his image, thereby making us into a new creation that reflects the true image of God: Jesus.

18. Christ’s resurrection means our labor is not in vain

Seven times in 1 Corinthians 15, Paul uses words like “vain” and “futile” (ὄφελος, εἰκῇ, κενός, μάταιος) to describe how things would be if Christ were not raised—nor we with him. Our faith would be worthless. It would not save (1 Cor 15:17). So too, our preaching of Christ would be pointless (1 Cor 15:14). Paul would have endangered himself for nothing (1 Cor 15:30–32). In fact, Christians would deserve more pity than anyone else (1 Cor 15:19).⁵⁸

Consider Ecclesiastes, which issues its resounding refrain: “Vanity!” No matter what the Preacher searches out, it proves to be vanity. And the backstop, the ultimate reason for the vanity of all these things, is the reality of death. Even if you accumulate a bunch of wealth in this life, eventually you are going to die, and what will you have to show for it? Or even if you experience a lot of pleasure in this life, eventually it comes to an end. It is fleeting, and you will die. Or even if you accumulate something good like wisdom, the wise die just like the fool. Death is this ultimate “vanitizer.” No matter what you achieve or experience in this life, at the end of the day, death will always render it “vanity” (e.g., Eccl 2:12–17; 3:19–20; 9:1–6).

That is, unless death can be undone. So Paul concludes his instructions on the resurrection this way: “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain” (1 Cor 15:58; emphasis added). Because of the resurrection, our labor is no longer “vanity.” By defeating death, Christ removes its verdict of vanity.⁵⁹ Our present labor matters because we labor for something that survives this present life. Death is no longer the final word. Resurrection is.

19. Christ’s resurrection is the reason for our hope

As we’ve seen, Christ’s resurrection is regularly associated with the theme of hope. Jesus’s resurrection is the fulfillment of Old Testament Scripture, the very “hope of Israel” (Acts 28:20; see also Acts 23:6; 24:15; 26:6–8). It is the climatic resolution to God’s covenants with Israel, the concluding chapter in a story whose hopes aimed at the reestablishment of God’s kingdom and the restoration of creation.

But Christ’s resurrection is not only the object of our hope, but also its basis. Peter reflects this in his opening doxology, where he blesses God who “caused us to be born again to a living hope” (1 Pet 1:3). Having been made alive now (“born again”), we become recipients of an even greater hope in the future. What is the grounds for this hope? Peter specifies: This hope is based on “the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Pet 1:3). Our hope is a “living hope” because Jesus is living. He is our hope.

In 1 Thessalonians 4, Paul explains the hope of believers who have died. He describes them as “asleep” (1 Thess 4:13).⁶⁰ In addition to being a polite euphemism for death (similar to how we speak of people “passing away”), this imagery of sleep also likely signals that death is temporary for the believer. Implied by “sleep” is the idea that they will eventually “awake” (so Dan 12:2). The picture is pregnant with hope, implicitly anticipating resurrection.

So Paul confirms that although believers grieve when our fellow Christians die, we do not grieve as those who lack the hope of resurrection (1 Thess 4:13). We grieve knowing that death is only temporary. Because Jesus rose from the dead, believers who have died in him will be raised with him when he returns (1 Thess 4:14–17; see also 1 Thess 5:10).⁶¹

Our ultimate hope in the face of death is resurrection with Christ. When he returns, we will mock that which once mocked us all: “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (1 Cor 15:54–57). On that day, we will taunt the very thing that once held us in terror (Heb 2:15).

20. Having been raised to life, Christ continues to work and reign today

Dead men don’t reign. But Christ is not dead. He is alive and actively at work among his people by his Spirit.

For instance, after Peter healed the lame beggar, he repeatedly clarifies that he did not do so by his own power. It is through Christ—who by implication is very much alive!—that Peter heals this man. It is actually Christ who has worked through Peter to enable this man to walk (Acts 3:6; 12–16; 4:10). Peter explains that Jesus, who has died, risen, and is now ascended into heaven, continues to work through his church.

So likewise, in Matthew 28:20, the resurrected Jesus promises, “Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” The risen Jesus is present with his church, working and walking among the lampstands (Rev 1–3). He is not dead or distant, but present and involved in our lives.

In that, we take much encouragement.

Share your thoughts

How would you explain the significance of Christ’s resurrection? Join us in Word by Word group to share your thoughts.

Kirk E. Miller’s recommended books for studying the resurrection

The Resurrection of the Son of God

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Union with the Resurrected Christ: Eschatological New Creation and New Testament Biblical Theology

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Resurrection and Redemption: A Study in Paul’s Soteriology

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The Pauline Eschatology

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The Acts of the Risen Lord Jesus: Luke’s Account of God’s Unfolding Plan (New Studies in Biblical Theology | NSBT)

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The Hope of Israel: The Resurrection of Christ in the Acts of the Apostles

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The Hope of Life after Death: A Biblical Theology of Resurrection (Essential Studies in Biblical Theology | ESBT)

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Resurrection Hope and the Death of Death (Short Studies in Biblical Theology)

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Related content

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• Dead Men Don’t Reign: The Role of the Resurrection in Acts
• The Afterlife & Intermediate State | Author & Bible Teacher Nancy Guthrie
• Can We Trust the Bible? The Resurrection Says Yes

The scene unfolds with stark irony: The innocent is condemned. The inscription nailed above his head declares a charge that belongs to the guilty who goes free.

Mark intends for us to feel the perversion of justice. But he also intends for us to see, beneath the injustice, something more profound. Mark tells us this story not merely as background to the crucifixion, but as a window into its meaning. And the longer we look through that window, the more we recognize ourselves in it.

Table of contents

The scene
The significance
1. The king who reigns by dying
2. The innocent who dies in place of the guilty

The scene

The Jewish religious establishment has delivered Jesus to Pilate for trial (Mark 15:1). Pilate realizes Jesus is innocent and that the religious leaders have handed Jesus over not out of genuine concern for Roman law but out of envy (15:10). Jesus’s popularity with the people had become a threat to their authority and influence (see 11:18; cf. 3:6; 12:2; 14:1–2).

So Pilate invokes Passover’s annual amnesty tradition as a convenient pretext to release Jesus. Every year at Passover, the Roman governor, as a means of pacifying his subjects, would let a single prisoner go free (Mark 15:6)—a fitting tradition, given that Passover itself celebrated Israel’s emancipation from slavery in Egypt. Pilate is hoping the crowd will pick Jesus. That way, he won’t have to condemn an innocent man and, at the same time, can avoid upsetting the Jerusalem establishment by declaring him guiltless.

Enter Barabbas. The text describes him as an insurrectionist and murderer (Mark 15:7). Judea had been seething with anti-Roman sentiment for decades. This one called Barabbas was likely a Jewish nationalist, a freedom fighter, who had taken up arms against the Roman overlords.

According to Matthew’s account, Pilate has the crowd choose between Jesus of Nazareth and another Jesus, called Barabbas (see Matt 27:16–17; cf. Mark 15:8–9). In other words, Pilate asks, Which Jesus will you choose,⁶² Barabbas, meaning “son of father,” or Jesus of Nazareth, who the reader knows is the true Son of the Father?

Pilate’s plan backfires, though, when the chief priests stir up the crowd to call for Barabbas instead (Mark 15:11). Asking what then should be done with this Jesus, called “king of the Jews,” the crowd demands his crucifixion (15:12–13). Pilate knows Jesus is innocent: “Why? What evil has this man done?” he asks (15:14). Yet he goes along with it. “Wishing to satisfy the crowds” (15:15), he caves to the pressure. He has Jesus scourged and then delivers him over to be crucified (15:15).

Pilate makes the cowardly but politically pragmatic choice. He would rather crucify an innocent man than risk causing disruption, a disruption that could threaten his governorship. He’s as spineless as he is selfish. For Pilate, this perversion of justice is a small price to pay in order to keep the peace and placate the influential leaders of Jerusalem. What is one eccentric Jewish teacher? He washes his hands to rid himself of guilt, as if he can (Matt 27:24).

The significance

Two interlocking themes emerge in this scene that together reveal the meaning of Christ’s death.

1. The king who reigns by dying

Pilate distinguishes Jesus as one called “king of the Jews” (Mark 15:9, 12). In fact, in the span of just thirty-two verses, this epithet appears a total of six times:

• On the lips of Pilate (15:2, 9, 12)
• In the soldiers’ mockery (15:18)
• In the inscription of his charge nailed above his head on the cross (15:26)
• By the sneering religious leaders as he hangs dying (15:32)

This title, of course, is given disingenuously. It specifies Jesus’s alleged charge as a failed revolutionary. The soldiers and religious leaders mock him with it, and yet Mark intends for his audience to see the irony: They are all, despite their intentions, telling the truth.

Incidentally, the crowd’s preference for Barabbas over Jesus reflects the type of messiah they were looking for. They wanted someone who would answer Roman occupation with violent resistance, who would take the kingdom by force. Barabbas was that kind of man.

Jesus represents a different type of Messiah. He is Israel’s true Messiah, the one the prophets said would establish an eternal throne, crushing every opposing kingdom under his feet (Ps 2:1–9; Isa 11:4–5; Dan 2:44–46). Yet he does not achieve that kingdom the way Barabbas tried to seize it. Rather, he comes to suffer for his people. The crowd chose the wrong messiah, not because Jesus wasn’t a king, but because they couldn’t imagine a king who reigns by dying (so too Peter: Mark 8:31–33; 14:47–48).

The cross, therefore, is not where Jesus’s kingdom–mission comes to its tragic end, but where his kingship is most revealed. Though they meant to mock him, calling him a “king” as he hung on a cross, Mark’s readers know it’s actually true: Jesus reigns from the cross. It is precisely in being crucified that Jesus is enthroned. On Calvary, he establishes his kingdom.

2. The innocent who dies in place of the guilty

And this king is a king who dies in place of the guilty.

Observe the irony. Jesus is charged with challenging Caesar’s rule by setting himself up as “king of the Jews” (John 19:15). Whereas Jesus is falsely accused of insurrection, crucified with two would-be revolutionaries on his left and his right (Mark 15:27), Barabbas, who goes free, is actually guilty of that very thing. Jesus is condemned for crimes in the place of one who is actually guilty of them.

Manifestly guilty, Barabbas deserves to die. In contrast, the passage stresses Jesus’s innocence. When Pilate asks, “Why [crucify him]? What evil has he done?” (Mark 15:14), the crowds are unable to provide an answer, because Jesus has done no evil. He does not deserve to be crucified. Jesus quite literally dies as the innocent in place of the guilty.

Added to this, Mark may in fact include allusions to Isaiah’s suffering servant, who suffers on behalf of God’s people, bearing their guilt.

• Jesus’s blood is “poured out for many” (Mark 14:24; cf. Isa 53:12).
• As he stood before Pilate, he made no answer (Mark 15:4–5; see also 14:61). As Isaiah 53:7 says, “He opened not his mouth.”
• Repeatedly across his Gospel, including this passage, Mark says Jesus was delivered to die (3:19; 9:31; 10:33; 14:10, 11, 18, 21, 41, 42, 44; 15:1, 10, 15), the same word used in Isaiah 53:6, 12 (LXX).
• Jesus repeatedly foretold that he would suffer many things (Mark 8:31; 9:12; cf. Isa 53:10), be rejected (Mark 9:12; cf. Isa 53:3), and give his life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45; cf. Isa 53:10).
• He is crucified between two criminals (Mark 15:27), “numbered with the transgressors” (Isa 53:12).⁶³

In other words, even before we arrive at this scene, Mark has prepared us to understand Jesus’s forthcoming death as guilt-bearing and on behalf of others (see esp. Mark 10:45). The passion narrative is not where these themes first emerge—it’s where they lead.

In this way, Barabbas’s release becomes an exemplification of the effects of Christ’s forthcoming substitutionary death. As David Mathis explains, Barabbas

embodies our plight as rebels deserving death, in need of saving. Jesus, the innocent, is delivered over to the punishment of death; while [Barabbas] the guilty one, deserving of death, is released and given new life. This was a foretaste of the grace that will be unleashed at the cross. … As Pilate releases Barabbas, the guilty, and delivers over to death Jesus, the innocent, we have a picture of our own release effected by the cross through faith. In Barabbas, we have a glimpse of our death-deserving guilt and a preview of the astonishing grace of Jesus and his embrace of the cross, through which we are set free. Here, as Jesus is delivered to death and Barabbas goes free, we have the first substitution of the cross. The innocent Jesus is condemned as a sinner, while the guilty sinner is released as if innocent.⁶⁴

Thus, Barabbas represents each of us. We are all Barabbas, deserving of death, yet the innocent Jesus dies in our place that we may have life. As the Reformer Benedictus Aretius put it,

Christ must die so that the robber may live; and so he lives by Christ’s gift, and rightly so. For we are the image of that robber—children of wrath, children of Adam, ministers of sin, instruments of Satan—and we could not be released if the innocent Son of God had not been made a sacrifice for us. Thus he is handed over for our great good.⁶⁵

The story of Barabbas invites us to see in Christ’s death a deeply personal exchange, his taking our place. Jesus is a king who reigns by dying—and that on behalf of his people.

Share your thoughts

How do you understand the inclusion of Barabbas in the Passion Narratives? Join us in Word by Word group to share your thoughts.

Resources for further reflection

Rich Wounds: The Countless Treasures of the Life, Death, and Triumph of Jesus

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The Final Days of Jesus: The Most Important Week of the Most Important Person Who Ever Lived

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Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die

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Scandalous: The Cross and Resurrection of Jesus

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It Is Well: Expositions on Substitutionary Atonement

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The Cross of Christ (20th Anniversary Edition)

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In this episode of Logos Live, Kirk E. Miller talks with Bible teacher and author Nancy Guthrie about one of the most tender but often misunderstood subjects in Christian theology: What happens to the believer after death? Together, they discuss what the Bible has to say about the so-called intermediate state in distinction from the promise of the resurrection and the new heavens and new earth. In so doing, they tackle popular misconceptions about “going to heaven” and explore how these profound truths bring comfort to those who are grieving.

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Episode guest: Nancy Guthrie

Nancy Guthrie (MATS, Reformed Theological Seminary) teaches the Bible at her home church, Cornerstone Presbyterian Church, in Franklin, TN, as well as at conferences around the country and internationally, including through her Biblical Theology Workshop for Women. She is the author of numerous books and the host of the Help Me Teach the Bible podcast from The Gospel Coalition. She and her husband founded Respite Retreats for couples who have faced the death of a child, and they’re co-hosts of the GriefShare video series.

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Episode synopsis

Nancy’s personal investment in this topic: the loss of two children

Guthrie begins by explaining why the topics of death, heaven, and resurrection matter so much to her. She approaches these subjects not merely as a Bible teacher, but as a mother who has buried two children. She and her husband have one living son, but they also had two children born with Zellweger syndrome, a rare metabolic disorder. Both children lived only about six months.

Those losses brought her face to face with death in a way that made theological questions intensely personal. She has developed a deep concern for comforting grieving people with what is actually true, not merely with sentimental, but false, ideas that often circulate among Christians and culture at large.

What actually is the Christian’s hope—and how does it shape the Christian life?

For instance, in her own journey, Nancy at one point realized she had never sorted out the difference between what happens to believers immediately after death and what happens at the final resurrection. Although many Christians instinctively speak of our hope as “going to heaven when we die,” the Bible identifies our hope as the return of Christ. Only then will he resurrect our bodies and usher in a new creation.

For much of her life, Nancy says she would have summarized Christianity this way: I made a decision for Christ, I should try to live for him, and then I will go to heaven when I die. Of course, this is all true. But it’s not the whole story. It’s a far narrower and more self-focused vision than the story that Scripture tells.

Rather, Scripture provides believers a much grander vision, one tied to God’s intention for all of creation and rooted in the believer’s union with Christ.

• Before the foundation of the world, believers were chosen in Christ for a destiny: to be holy and blameless before God (Eph 1:3–14; 2 Thess 2:13; 1 Pet 1:2; Rom 8:29–30; 2 Tim 1:9).
• In time, the Spirit brings them to life through the gospel, seals them to Christ (Eph 1:13–14; 4:30; 2 Cor 1:21–22; John 3:5–8), and begins the long work of sanctification (Eph 4:17–5:21; 2 Cor 3:18).
• At death, body and soul are separated. The body returns to the dust, while the soul goes to be with Christ (2 Cor 5:6–8; Phil 1:23; Eccl 12:7; Gen 3:19; Acts 7:59; Rev 6:9; Heb 12:23).
• But that is not the end. When Christ returns, he will bring with him those who have died in him. He will raise their bodies from the dust and reunite body and soul in a glorified existence fit for life in the renewed creation forever (1 Thess 4:13–17; 1 Cor 6:14; 15:20–23; Phil 3:20–21; Rom 8:23; Dan 12:2; Isa 26:19; 2 Cor 4:14).

This framework enlarges the Christian imagination, reshaping our understanding of the Christian life. The goal is not to escape this world, i.e., to go to heaven when we die. It is to be conformed to Christ within the context of God’s grand redemptive purpose. In this way, the Christian life is defined by Christ’s. The Christian life is union with Christ in his death and resurrection.

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The intermediate state: What happens to believers when they die?

The term “intermediate state” refers to one’s condition between death and the final resurrection.

While Scripture reveals some basic things about the intermediate state, it doesn’t say a whole lot—certainly far less than we might wish, given our curiosity to know what happens to loved ones. Scripture focuses much more on the final resurrection. Nonetheless, Nancy identifies at least four things Scripture teaches about the intermediate state.

1. Believers who die are with Christ

Consider Jesus’s words to the thief on the cross: “Today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43; emphasis added). Notice, Jesus does not promise that at the end of history (i.e., in the resurrection), this thief would experience paradise, but today, i.e., at the moment of his impending death. Or observe Paul in Philippians 1:23, where he says his desire is to depart (i.e., die) and be with Christ.

The person who dies in Christ does not disappear into oblivion or drift into an impersonal afterlife. Rather, the believer experiences conscious fellowship with Christ after death. When a believer passes through death, Jesus is on the other side of that door.

2. Believers who die experience something far better than life in this fallen world

Paul says in Philippians 1:12 that to depart (die) and be with Christ is “far better.” Or also in 2 Corinthians 5:8: “We would rather be away from the body [dead, our spirits separated from our bodies] and at home with the Lord.” According to Paul, although we do not wish to be “naked” (disembodied), it is nonetheless preferable to be absent from the body (dead) but present with Christ.

Nancy reflects: Grieving people often ache to know what life is like now for the person they’ve lost. While Scripture does not answer every question, it does say this much: it is by far better.

3. Believers who die are presently disembodied

In 2 Corinthians 5:1–10, Paul describes our present bodies as “tents” or “tabernacles,” i.e., temporary lodging as opposed to a permanent structure. Our current bodies will not last forever. They are perishable, mortal, and will eventually die. Yet at the resurrection, believers will receive their permanent “building” or “house” (see also 1 Cor 15:42–57, where Paul contrasts our present mortal/perishable bodies with our future resurrected, immortal/imperishable bodies).

Similarly, when believers die, he says they will be “naked” and “unclothed,” i.e., without a body. Our ultimate desire, though, is not to die and be “unclothed” but to be “further clothed,” i.e., to receive our resurrection bodies.

To summarize, in 2 Corinthians 5:8, Paul speaks of the intermediate state as being “away from the body” (2 Cor 5:8). In other words, believers who have died are currently disembodied. They have not yet received their resurrected bodies. While they are with Christ, they are not yet in their final embodied state. Their bodies remain in the grave.

This challenges the familiar idea that loved ones in heaven are now enjoying all the bodily pleasures they once loved on earth, only in perfected form. As comforting as such imagery may seem, it skips ahead to resurrection realities that belong to the future.

4. Believers who die are made perfectly holy

Hebrews 12:23 speaks of “the spirits of the righteous made perfect.” Even though deceased believers do not yet have resurrected bodies, they are no longer struggling with sin as we do in this life.

This is one of the most beautiful truths about heaven in its present sense: to be “saved to sin no more” as we sing in the hymn, “There Is a Fountain.” The inward struggle with sin and all of sin’s horrid effects will be gone.

Logos’s Study Assistant providing citations and a summarization of resources on the intermediate state.

The resurrection of the body: our hope beyond death

Sometimes we wrongly treat a believer’s death as their hope, the final terminal in their experience of salvation. Many a funeral message speaks of the deceased as having entered their ultimate victory, as having experienced victory over death.

Now certainly, as we’ve seen, the Bible speaks quite positively of the believer’s experience after death. It is described as “paradise” (Luke 23:43) and “far better” (Phil 1:23). To die in Christ really is gain (Phil 1:21). Yet the New Testament never locates the believer’s hope in what happens to the believer upon death. The Bible never describes the believer’s experience of death as a victory over death. In fact, Scripture describes death not as our hope but as an “enemy” still awaiting defeat at Christ’s second coming (1 Cor 15:26).

Instead, the New Testament consistently identifies the believer’s hope as the return of Christ and our bodily resurrection with him. According to the New Testament, our hope is not “going to heaven” when we die, but resurrection. Yes, believers are safe with Christ when they die, but death itself is still unnatural and grievous. The Christian hope, then, is not merely existing beyond death into the intermediate state, but seeing death itself undone through resurrection.

Believers are not just promised life after death, but life after life after death. That is, we will be raised from our state of life-after-death (the intermediate state). We will experience resurrection from death.

This is why, for instance, Scripture speaks of believers who have died as “fallen asleep” (e.g., Ps 13:3; 1 Thess 4:13–14; 1 Cor 15:6, 51; Dan 12:2; Acts 7:60; 13:36; 1 Kgs 2:10; 2 Pet 3:4) It is likely a polite euphemism for death (similar to how we speak of people as having “passed away”). Yet “sleep” also signals something temporary. It implies that they will eventually “awake”: They will come back to life! For the believer, death is a relatively short “nap” on the way to resurrection.

And according to 1 Corinthians 15, this resurrection of the body is not a mere secondary doctrine. It is central to the gospel (1 Cor 15:1–2, 12–16). As Paul makes clear, if there is no resurrection, all Christian hope collapses. Our faith is vain and our labor for Christ is vain (1 Cor 15:17–19, 29–34, 58).

Likewise, in Philippians 3:20–21 Paul says that Christ “will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body.” Importantly, Jesus remains human. He did not cease to be human after his resurrection and ascension. So his resurrected body is the pattern and promise of what believers will one day become. We will be made like him. Salvation is being conformed into the image of Christ, including conformity to his glorified and resurrected body.

The hope of the gospel, then, is not the shedding of our embodied creatureliness. It is the redemption and glorification of embodied human life. The gospel promises not only the forgiveness of sin but the eradication of sin and all of its consequences. This includes physical death.

A new heavens and new earth: the restoration of creation

We sometimes conceive of salvation as departure from earth to heaven. Yet Scripture presents the eternal state as a renewed creation.

Romans 8:18–25 describes creation groaning, longing for the day when the curse (Gen 3) will finally be removed. It waits for “the revealing of the sons of God,” that is, “the redemption of our bodies.” The liberation of God’s people and the liberation of creation will coincide. When Christ returns and resurrects his people, the physical creation will undergo a sort of “resurrection” as well, following the pattern of God’s people (see Rev 21–22). In this new creation, there will no longer “be anything accursed” (Rev 22:3; Isa 65:17–25; 2 Pet 3:10–13).

Contrary to gnosticism, Christianity does not teach that the physical world is evil and must be escaped. God made the material world and called it good. Christ took on human flesh. He rose bodily. His incarnation and resurrection, among other things, affirm the goodness of our bodies. His work of redemption includes our bodies and creation, not just our souls.

Thus, although the present conditions of this world are not that of our final home, this created order is our God-given home. Contrary to the hymn which sings, “This world is not my home, I’m just a passing through,” this world is very much our home. If anything, these lyrics more accurately apply to the intermediate state: “Heaven is not my home, I’ll just be passing through.”

Addressing some common misunderstandings

Nancy debunks some common misconceptions about the afterlife.

1. Do the deceased become angels?

Nancy corrects the idea that dead loved ones become angels. Humans and angels are distinct created orders, and Scripture never suggests that redeemed people turn into angels after death.

2. Are the deceased looking down from heaven watching over us?

Nancy also challenges the common assumption that people in heaven are now actively watching over loved ones on earth. While she does not claim more certainty than Scripture allows, she notes that the Bible does not actually teach that departed saints are monitoring earthly events in that way.

She addresses the common misuse of Hebrews 12:1’s “great cloud of witnesses” to this effect. “Witnesses” here likely does not mean that these saints are watching believers, like spectators in a stadium watching a race. Rather, witness (μάρτυς) here refers to someone who gives testimony, like a courtroom witness. Their lives provide testimony to God’s faithfulness.

3. Should we look to near-death experiences for information about the afterlife?

Nancy is especially wary of extrabiblical stories about people who supposedly died, visited heaven, and returned to describe it (“heaven tourism”). She understands why grieving people are drawn to such accounts. They want details. They want reassurance. But she urges believers not to build their hope on speculative stories or sentimental images. True comfort, she insists, comes from what Scripture actually says.

Scripture must shape Christian hope. The Bible may not answer every curiosity, but it tells believers what they most need to know. Christ is with his people in death. Christ will raise his people at his return. And Christ will dwell with them forever in a world where the curse is gone.

Why this matters for grieving people

Nancy observes that false beliefs may seem comforting. But because they are not true they cannot provide actual hope. This is why clarity on the Bible’s teaching on the afterlife matters.

For those who mourn, Scripture offers real comfort: the believer who dies is with Christ. That person is in a condition far better than this fallen life. He or she is free from sin and safely held in the presence of the Savior. And yet there is more to come. The body laid in the ground is not forgotten. The story is not over. Christ will return, the dead will be raised, and all things will be made new.

Death is not insignificant. It is an enemy. It stings. It separates. But it is a defeated enemy, and its defeat will be made fully visible when Christ raises his people bodily and renews creation.

Share your thoughts

Is “going to heaven when you die” the whole story? Join us in the Word by Word group to share your thoughts.

Nancy Guthrie’s recommended resources for further study

Even Better than Eden: Nine Ways the Bible’s Story Changes Everything about Your Story

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What Grieving People Wish You Knew about What Really Helps: and What Really Hurts

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The Bible and the Future

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Additional books by Nancy Guthrie

God Does His Best Work with Empty

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Saved: Experiencing the Promise of the Book of Acts

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Blessed: Experiencing the Promise of the Book of Revelation

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Saints and Scoundrels in the Story of Jesus

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Seeing Jesus: Seeking and Finding Him in the Scriptures

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The Promised One: Seeing Jesus in Genesis

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The Lamb of God: Seeing Jesus in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy

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The Wisdom of God: Seeing Jesus in the Psalms and Wisdom Books

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The Word of the Lord: Seeing Jesus in the Prophets

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Hearing Jesus Speak into Your Sorrow

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Holding On to Hope: A Pathway through Suffering to the Heart of God

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• 1 Thessalonians 4 & the Truth about the “Secret” Rapture

For Catholics, Orthodox, and many Protestants, Holy Week is the most sacred time of the year. Traditionally, it is more important than Christmas, as it focuses on the central event of the gospel: the death and resurrection of Jesus. In the way it walks Christians as a believing community through the sequence of events leading up to the crucifixion, Holy Week is one of the most effective methods of spiritual–theological formation ever devised in the Christian tradition.

Contents

• The paschal mystery
• Holy Week: A journey through the Passion Narrative
  • 1. Palm Sunday
  • 2. Maundy Thursday
  • 3. Good Friday
  • 4. Holy Saturday
  • 5. Easter Sunday & Eastertide
• Conclusion

The paschal mystery

Holy Week is an anticipation of the Lord’s paschal mystery. Pascha is an ancient way to speak of the events of Christ’s passion, death, and resurrection. It is a Greek word that corresponds to the Hebrew pesah, which means “pass over.” In the Jewish tradition, this word refers to the angel of death passing over the homes in Egypt that are marked with the blood of a spotless lamb, and also to God’s people passing through the Red Sea to escape Pharaoh’s army.

Both meanings are present in Holy Week: Christ is the Lamb of God who causes death to pass over those marked with his blood, and he passes through the “Red Sea” (i.e., the grave) to deliver us from death, thereby defeating death by death. We celebrate Easter on the Sunday after the Jewish Passover.

Holy Week: A journey through the Passion Narrative

Each day of Holy Week is significant. The Four Gospels, taken together, cover a period of about three decades. However, most of the text in each Gospel—up to a third—is focused on just a three-day period recounting the events immediately surrounding the crucifixion of Jesus. This series of events so preoccupies the Gospel accounts because they are the most significant events of Jesus’s entire life and ministry.

This season is about commemorating these key events which preoccupied the Gospel writers. Holy Week is also sometimes called “Passion Week” to refer to the suffering Jesus endured on our behalf. The English word passion comes from the Latin passio, “to suffer.”

Holy Week is also the last week of Lent, the penitential season comprising forty days of fasting. In the early church, Lent was the season set aside for catechumens to prepare for their baptism on Easter. Their preparation was seen as a communal responsibility, however—so everyone in the church, even those already baptized, participated in the fast. Just as it prepared the to-be-baptized for baptism, so it helped the already-baptized renew their baptism.

Holy Week starts on Palm Sunday and ends on Holy Saturday. So it begins at the high point of Christ’s earthly ministry and ends at the lowest point. Holy Week is followed directly by Easter (also called Resurrection Sunday), marking the beginning of Eastertide, which will continue until Pentecost Sunday.

1. Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday (also known as the Triumphal Entry) is the first day of Holy Week. It commemorates the day Jesus entered Jerusalem. He is astride a donkey. He is received with shouts and songs of joy. Cloaks and the branches of palm trees are spread in his path. This is a fulfillment of Zechariah 9:9, prophesied centuries beforehand: “Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey.”

It was practiced throughout the cultures of the ancient Near East to cover the path of someone as a sign of honor. At least one king from the Old Testament is reported to have been given this treatment (2 Kgs 9:13).

But why palm trees, specifically?

Palm trees frequently appear in the religious symbolism of ancient Near Eastern cultures, but to Roman onlookers, the use of palm branches were connected to notions of imperial authority. In Rome, the palm branch was a symbol of triumph and mighty deeds. During Roman victory processions, representations of palm branches were prominent. So by “triumphing” (Col 2:15) in this manner, Jesus makes his ministry something the Roman authorities can no longer ignore: Jesus is presenting himself no longer as a mere teacher or prophet, but as an heir of David. In short, by entering Jerusalem in this fashion, Jesus was declaring himself the king of Israel.

This moment is the height of his earthly ministry. The size and enthusiasm of his following is at its peak, and so he is positioned, from the perspective of the Romans, as a potential challenger of the Roman occupation of Palestine. So this day is also called Passion Sunday because it is the catalyst for the chain of events that lead to Golgotha. In fact, only shortly before mounting the donkey, Jesus had predicted his own death (see Matt 20:17–19).

On this day, you’ll find churches opening the service with a long procession—sometimes parading through nearby neighborhoods and towns—singing and waving palm branches. Children may weave these palms into the shape of a cross: A physical reminder that Christ’s ultimate triumph was over death upon the cross.

Many churches will later collect these palms to burn the following year the day before Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. (The day before Ash Wednesday is also called Shrove Tuesday, Fat Tuesday, or Pancake Day, because it is a last chance to stuff your face before the Lenten fast begins—but Shrove Tuesday is technically a popular holiday: It is not a liturgical holiday recognized in any official church calendar. No church calendar commends the observance of Fat Tuesday.) Those ashes will then be used to draw (or “impose”) the sign of the cross on the forehead of any attending the Ash Wednesday service with the reminder, “You are dust, and to dust you will return” (Gen 3:19). Many other customs and observances surround the holiday.

2. Maundy Thursday

On Maundy Thursday, Jesus instituted the Last Supper with his apostles. During the meal, Jesus took a towel and a basin of water and washed their feet, saying, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another” (John 13:34). The Latin word for commandment is mandatum, from which we get “maundy.”

So the Maundy, represented by foot washing, is the command to love one another as Christ loves us.

Christians believe in the priesthood of all believers. Through the gospel preached by the church, the world meets Christ and gains an audience with the Father. Thus in foot washing, which is a sort of “chrism” or “anointing,” we most visibly exercise our vocation to be “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exod 19:6). For this reason, many traditional churches will have a special service on this day where members of the assembly wash one another’s feet.

The new command is to do as Christ does. So it follows this does not end with literal foot washing, but extends to the cross itself. As Jesus says: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Matt 16:24).

Maundy Thursday is the last day of Lent. What follows is actually its own three-day “season”: the Triduum, which forms a sort of bridge crossing over from Holy Week to Eastertide.

3. Good Friday

Good Friday is the day of Jesus’s agony in the garden, betrayal by Judas, trial, crucifixion, and death. It is the first day of the paschal Triduum, comprising Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday. While we today tend to treat these as three discrete days, for most of church history the’ve been seen as a single unit. Hence, they are referred to collectively as the Triduum (Latin, “three days”).

In the Old Covenant, the high priest would offer a lamb, kill it, and finally God would accept (or reject) it. In the New Covenant, Christ is acting as both high priest and sacrificial lamb simultaneously. He offers himself up to his captors on Good Friday, is sealed in the tomb on Black Saturday, and the Father shows his acceptance of the Son’s sacrifice by raising him from the dead on Easter Sunday.

Just as Christians commemorate the resurrection of Jesus every Sunday by gathering to worship (this is why Christians gather to worship on a Sunday instead of on the Jewish Sabbath, which is Saturday: It is because Christ rose on a Sunday, that is, the “first day of the week” [Luke 24:1; John 20:1; Matt 28:1; Mark 16:9–20; John 20:19]), many traditions since ancient times commemorate the betrayal and death of Jesus every Friday by setting aside that day of the week for fasting.

Significantly, the Gospel writers construe Christ’s crucifixion as a coronation. Christ is crowned with thorns, robed in purple, and elevated between heaven and earth on the cross (Matt 27:27–31; Mark 15:16–20; John 18:1–7). Pontius Pilate has written on a plaque above him: “The King of the Jews.” So the premise of Palm Sunday is strangely fulfilled: Christ is declared king and his throne is a cross. The worshippers throwing palms before his path weren’t expecting this sort of king, a king whose triumph is his own crucifixion!

From the cross, the Son of Man quotes the opening of Psalm 22: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” We are tempted to interpret this as a cry of despair, but it is not. His Jewish hearers know, even if they do not understand (not yet, anyhow), for they memorized this psalm as children and they know how it ends:

All the ends of the earth shall remember
and turn to the Lord,
and all the families of the nations
shall worship before you.
For kingship belongs to the Lord,
and he rules over the nations.
…
Posterity shall serve him;
it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation;
they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn,
that he has done it. (Ps 22:27–31)

Far from the cry of one abandoned by God, Jesus is declaring from the cross his future triumph. He will overcome both death and the world.

Many churches observe this day with a Tenebrae service focusing on the stations of the cross. During the service, the room slowly darkens. Often a loud noise will represent Christ’s death like a great beating heart going still. At the end of the service, the sanctuary is left in darkness and the worshippers stream out in silence. The dark night of the week has begun.

4. Holy Saturday

Holy Saturday (also called Black Saturday) marks the time that Jesus was in the tomb. He died yesterday and will rise tomorrow, but the interim is a time of uncertainty and agitated waiting. Most traditions that hold services for this day of Holy Week usually abstain from the Communion meal. Other churches have no service at all: A fitting response in its own way, since the One we worship (by appearances) isn’t there to be worshipped—he’s in a tomb! Holy Saturday is a seemingly endless night, for Hope has died.

Christ was buried just before sunset on Good Friday. On Black Saturday, at the request of Jewish leaders, Pontius Pilate grants a seal be set on the door of the tomb and a guard stationed. Meanwhile, the apostles tremble in their homes, bewildered by yesterday’s events.

As shame, fear, and confusion are the themes of Black Saturday, so the counter-lesson is the last lesson Jesus gave his disciples before his betrayal: “Watch and pray” (cf. Matt 26:41). Accordingly, many churches appoint all-night vigils to pray on Black Saturday until dawn. In a way, this imitates the restlessness of the disciples who, no doubt, were questioning if they had placed their faith in a false messiah.

5. Easter Sunday & Eastertide

Though not technically part of Holy Week, it’s important to mention Resurrection Sunday here, as it marks the final day of the paschal Triduum—the day Jesus rose from the dead.

Churches commonly begin this Sunday in responsive celebration, throwing back the cobwebbed curtains from the night before and letting in the dawn light. The pastor or priest declares, “The Lord is risen!” The congregation joyously responds, “He has risen, indeed!” Some congregations raise a “holy noise” by clanging bells and noisemakers, shouting and singing—and even dancing!

However, Easter Sunday is not a single holiday. It is the first day of Eastertide! This ends on Pentecost, which is the day the Holy Spirit descended on Christ’s disciples, appearing like many tongues of fire.

The first forty days of Eastertide commemorate the forty days between Jesus’s resurrection and his ascension. The number forty recurs in Scripture: It rained forty days and forty nights in Noah’s day; Moses spent forty years in the wilderness before he was commissioned by God to lead the Hebrews out of Egypt; he also spent forty days on the mountain with God; the Hebrews wandered in the wilderness for forty years before arriving in the Promised Land; the city of Nineveh was given forty days to repent in Jonah’s day; for forty days, the giant Goliath of Gath taunted Saul’s army until the young David accepted his challenge; the list goes on. This number seems to represent a time of testing or judgment followed by a great act of divine deliverance. It is a penitential number. So the fact that it is avoided during Eastertide is significant: The church is saying this is not a penitential season. This is a season for celebrating! Not to be outdone by the forty days of Lenten fasting, Easter Sunday commissions its own fifty-day season ofpaschal feasting!

Conclusion

Holy Week is a time to re-live the most important events of Christ’s earthly life, but to do so together as a church, not simply as a private study or exercise. Christ’s life is the most important story ever told, and the most important story of Christ’s life is his crucifixion. We cannot tell it too often, not even to ourselves. While it ought to be told every Sunday to some extent, it is beneficial to walk through its full breadth and contemplate every character, word, and turning point. Knowing this story and our place in it is essential to our formation as Christ’s followers.

The cycle of the liturgical year provides such a formation opportunity. With Holy Week, the passion of Christ is guaranteed a place of prominence where we can walk through the sequence of events, step by painful step, as a believing assembly that prays, fasts, and worships together. Holy Week is the ideal way to experience the Passion Narrative in its fullness, as it casts the whole church in the role of Simon the Cyrene, as it were: carrying the cross alongside Christ on the road to Golgotha.

Share your thoughts

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• What Is Maundy Thursday? 8 Facts about This Christian Holiday
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In his commentary on Romans, Emil Brunner asserts,

The entire message of the apostle, one might almost say, is the message of the resurrection. … [O]n the resurrection everything else depends.⁶⁶

If Jesus’s resurrection happened, everything changes. If not, our faith is, as Paul says, worthless: Our faith doesn’t save (1 Cor 15:17–18) and our lives of faith are a waste (15:19, 30–32). Moreover, we are found to be lying about God, claiming that he raised Jesus when he did not (15:14–16)! But, in fact, Christ has been raised (15:20), meaning our faith saves and our labor for him is not in vain (15:58).

Jesus’s resurrection is more than a mere historical fact. It transforms the believer’s present and future existence. It secures our justification (Rom 4:25). Union with the resurrected Christ grants believers new life, freeing us from slavery to sin (Rom 6). And it forms the basis of our hope (1 Thess 4:13–18), the defeat of the last enemy, death (1 Cor 15:50–57). As commentator David Garland states, “[T]he victory of sin and death is only temporary. God will defeat the last enemy. While graveyards may remind one of the brevity of life, the resurrection ensures the brevity of death.”⁶⁷

As we approach Easter, maybe you will consider studying the resurrection in more depth. To aid you, what follows is a list of recommended books from our Logos community.

You will generally find two types of books on the resurrection: apologetic cases for its historicity (did it happen?) and biblical–theological treatments on its significance and implications (what does it mean?)—though some books merge the two (notably the titles by N. T. Wright and George Ladd below). For our purposes, we’ll begin with those that focus primarily on apologetics and increasingly work our way down towards those that address theology.

Did it happen? Historical–apologetic defenses

Let’s begin with those books that primarily tackle the historicity of the resurrection.

1. Gary Habermas, On the Resurrection

These volumes, Habermas’s magnum opus, offer perhaps the most exhaustive philosophical and historical defense of the resurrection. He provides a comprehensive look at the historical evidence and engages the full range of scholarly objections.

Rather than resting his defense on theological presuppositions, Habermas builds his case on historical data that even skeptical scholars broadly acknowledge: Jesus’s death, the disciples’ post-resurrection experiences, the earliest gospel proclamation, the disciples’ transformation, etc. The result is a magisterial work demonstrating that the resurrection is not merely a matter of faith assertion but a claim with serious historical warrant.

For scholars, apologists, and pastors seeking the most rigorous grounding for the veracity of the resurrection, these volumes are indispensable.

   

   

   

               

On the Resurrection (3 vols.)

   

       

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2. Michael Licona, The Resurrection of Jesus: A New Historiographical Approach

Before examining the resurrection evidence, Licona devotes substantial attention to historiographical theory. He develops rigorous criteria for evaluating historical hypotheses, and then applies them meticulously to the resurrection. The result is a serious, intellectually honest case that the resurrection is accessible to genuine historical investigation.

The work did generate controversy: Licona’s suggestion that the saints rising from tombs in Matthew 27 may reflect apocalyptic symbolism rather than literal history drew sharp criticism from some quarters. Still, the book remains essential reading for anyone who wants to understand how a trained historian approaches the resurrection.

   

   

   

               

The Resurrection of Jesus: A New Historiographical Approach

   

       

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3. Gary Habermas and Michael R. Licona, The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus

Where the volumes above are written for scholars, this collaboration between Habermas and Licona is designed for everyone else, believers who want to be able to articulate and defend the resurrection in everyday conversations with skeptics. They also offer practical wisdom about how to actually have these conversations.

For lay readers who want a solid grounding in resurrection apologetics and the tools to share it, this is an excellent place to start.

   

   

   

               

The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus

   

       

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4. Frank Morison, Who Moved the Stone?

Morison set out to write a paper disproving the resurrection. What he got instead was a changed mind. His book examines the final days of Jesus’s life through Scripture, history, and archaeology, with particular attention to the empty tomb narratives, and concludes—against his own intentions—that there is a profoundly historical basis for the Apostles’ Creed’s claim that Christ rose on the third day.

What makes this book distinctive is its character: a skeptic’s honest investigation.

   

   

   

               

Who Moved the Stone?

   

       

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What does it mean? Biblical–theological treatments

Now let’s move to those books that increasingly concern themselves with the resurrection’s biblical–theological significance.

5. N. T. Wright, The Resurrection of the Son of God

The most frequently recommended book from our Logos community was N. T. Wright’s The Resurrection of the Son of God.

Arguably, Wright’s book could be placed in the above list, since he provides thorough treatment of the resurrection’s historicity. Yet, for Wright, defense of the resurrection’s historicity is inseparable from its theological significance, since assessing the historical case for the resurrection requires understanding what the resurrection meant to early Christians: their worldview and expectations, their theology and proclamation.

Wright situates the resurrection within its Jewish context. He demonstrates that the early Christians understood it as the vindication of Jesus’s messianic identity, the renewal of Israel, and the dawning of God’s kingdom.

The announcement [of Jesus’s resurrection] meant the inauguration of the new covenant. Jesus’ followers really did believe that Israel was being renewed through Jesus, and that his resurrection, marking him out as Messiah, was a call to Israel to find a new identity in following him and establishing his kingdom.⁶⁸

The announcement of Jesus’s resurrection carried with it the claim that the God of Israel had acted decisively in history through this man. Creation itself was being renewed.

   

   

   

               

The Resurrection of the Son of God

   

       

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6. George Eldon Ladd, I Believe in the Resurrection of Jesus

Ladd serves in some ways as a predecessor to Wright’s work, dealing with the historicity of the resurrection in view of its theological significance. According to Ladd, the resurrection transcends normal historical categories, because Jesus’s resurrection body belonged to the age to come. It was no longer subject to the natural laws of time and space. Thus, no historian can trace a prior historical cause for it. The only adequate explanation is theological, a belief in the God who acts in history.

Ladd concludes that the best explanation for the historical evidence is that God actually raised Jesus bodily, and that Jesus appeared to his disciples. Yet history alone cannot explain the resurrection—only the theological premise of a God who intervenes in history can. Thus, in the end, Ladd’s acceptance of the resurrection rests on faith in the God who acts in history rather than faith in history itself.

Christianity is a religion of miracles, in other words. Yet God’s resurrection of Christ is the miracle that gives final meaning to the rest.

   

   

   

               

I Believe in the Resurrection of Jesus

   

       

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7. Richard B. Gaffin Jr., Resurrection and Redemption: A Study in Paul’s Soteriology

Working through Paul’s letters with exegetical precision, Gaffin contends that Paul’s entire soteriological framework is governed by a redemptive–historical perspective in which the resurrection inaugurates the new age. Justification, adoption, sanctification, glorification—these are not separate acts in a sequence but different facets of a single reality: being united to the resurrected Christ. Paul’s language of being “raised with Christ,” then, functions not as a metaphor but as a definite theological description of Christian existence. Christ’s resurrection is not an epilogue to Paul’s doctrine of salvation but its very center.

For anyone who has thought of the resurrection mostly as the validation of Christ’s successful sacrifice, this book serves to expand your soteriology.

   

   

   

               

Resurrection and Redemption: A Study in Paul’s Soteriology

   

       

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8. G. K. Beale, Union with the Resurrected Christ: Eschatological New Creation and New Testament Biblical Theology

Like Gaffin before him, Beale argues that Christ’s death and resurrection by the Spirit launched the fulfillment of an inaugurated eschatological new creation, and believers enter that new creation through union with the resurrected Christ. Christ achieved consummate righteousness at his resurrection, so those who trust him come to be identified with the resurrected Christ’s righteousness. Yet believers don’t merely receive forensic benefits from Christ’s resurrection. They participate in his transformed, Spirit-empowered existence. At Christ’s resurrection, the Spirit so transformed him that he became identified with the Spirit’s life-giving function.

What makes the book distinctive is how comprehensively Beale unpacks what that union means. Rather than treating the resurrection as one doctrine among others, Beale shows how each major Christian doctrine—justification, sanctification, reconciliation, the indwelling of the Spirit, the temple—represents a distinct facet of that single resurrection reality. For those who want to understand how the resurrection functions as the hinge of the entire New Testament storyline, Beale provides a rich and rewarding study.

   

   

   

               

Union with the Resurrected Christ: Eschatological New Creation and New Testament Biblical Theology

   

       

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9. Athanasius, On the Incarnation

As the title suggests, Athanasius takes as his subject the incarnation. Yet for Athanasius, the incarnation reaches its terminus in the resurrection. Athanasius argues that through Christ’s incarnation, death, and resurrection, he conquers death and restores human nature, achieving incorruptible life for all united to him. The resurrection functions as the decisive demonstration that death—humanity’s fundamental problem—has been overcome.

For Athanasius, salvation is less about forensic pardon than about ontological transformation: Humanity faced the irreversible consequence of corruptibility and death following transgression. Yet the Son of God took on human nature so that humanity might participate in Christ’s divine life.

Athanasius’s work remains a classic that every Christian should read.

   

   

   

               

On the Incarnation (Popular Patristics Series)

   

       

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10. Oliver O’Donovan, Resurrection and Moral Order: An Outline Of Evangelical Ethics

What does the resurrection mean for how we live? O’Donovan contends that the resurrection is the foundation of Christian ethics.

O’Donovan’s aim is to overcome the longstanding tension between “creation ethics” and “kingdom ethics.” The resurrection is not merely the validation of Jesus’s individual identity: It is God’s public and cosmic vindication of the moral order he built into creation. By raising Christ, God publicly vindicated the moral order built into creation and inaugurated his kingdom at the same moment.

For readers who want to understand the resurrection’s broader implications, O’Donovan opens territory that few other books on this list explore.

   

   

   

               

Resurrection and Moral Order: An Outline Of Evangelical Ethics

   

       

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Share your thoughts

What books might you add to this list? Join us in Word by Word group to share your thoughts.

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Did the apostle Paul allow for divorce and remarriage? In this episode of What in the Word?, Kirk E. Miller sits down with renowned New Testament scholar Craig Keener to navigate a challenging and hotly debated passage, 1 Corinthians 7:12–16. Together they explore its historical context, dissect key Greek terms like “leave” and “not bound,” and survey the different interpretive viewpoints on what Paul’s words mean for believers in religiously mixed marriages.

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Episode guest: Craig Keener

Craig S. Keener (PhD, Duke) is F. M. and Ada Thompson Professor of biblical studies at Asbury Theological Seminary. He is author of roughly 40 books, with some 1.4 million copies in circulation. In 2020, Craig was President of the Evangelical Theological Society. He is married to Dr. Médine Moussounga Keener.

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Episode synopsis

Setting the tone: charity and care

Kirk frames the conversation with two cautions to set the tone.

First, this is a passage where faithful, well-meaning, and serious Christians disagree. So we want to avoid speaking dogmatically on matters where so many Christians hold reasonable alternative viewpoints.

Second, the topic of divorce and remarriage isn’t some merely academic exegetical question. It’s immensely pastoral, practical, and personal for many, and often in deeply painful ways. Many people’s lives have been deeply affected by marital breakdown. So we want to avoid discussing it in ways that are abstract, distant, and cold, as though this subject were merely an intellectual curiosity. We should speak with conviction and interpretive clarity while refusing to speak carelessly or insensitively.

Why 1 Corinthians 7:15 proves difficult

Craig explains that the difficulty is partly synthetic: How do we harmonize the Bible’s collective teaching (e.g., Paul’s statements with Jesus’s teaching in the Gospels)? Some Gospel texts appear to allow no exceptions, while Matthew includes the well-known “exception clause” (often translated as “sexual immorality”; Matt 5:32; 19:9). Then Paul seems to add another scenario: What happens when a believer is married to an unbeliever and the unbeliever walks away?

Another difficulty is historical. Craig observes that Christian interpretation has varied widely across the centuries. Some early church voices advocated no divorce and no remarriage, while later traditions, especially in the Reformation era, emphasized certain New Testament exceptions.

Finally, we face practical and pastoral difficulties. In many modern contexts, divorce is widespread. We know many who have suffered it, which makes these texts deeply personal. Discussions aren’t happening in a vacuum, but among people who have experienced betrayal, abandonment, abuse, or the long grief of a dying marriage.

Use Factbook to launch your study of topics like divorce and marriage. Start your free trial!

The background issue in 1 Corinthians 7

The Church of Corinth is young in the faith, and Paul encounters many issues that need to be dealt with.

In 1 Corinthians 7, Paul responds to a letter from the Church in Corinth (7:1). We discover those in this fledgling assembly apparently believed abstinence, even within marriage, made for superior holiness. Paul corrects this misunderstanding by affirming marital obligations and warning against naive “spirituality” that ignores real temptations and moral dangers (1 Cor 7:1–9; cf. 6:12–20).

In Corinthians 7:12–16 in particular, Paul addresses another very practical scenario: Many believers in Corinth became Christians after they were already married. So some were now in religiously “mixed” marriages where one spouse believes and the other does not (1 Cor 7:12–16). The question arises: If we’re religiously mismatched, should we separate?

“I say (I, not the Lord)”

In 1 Corinthians 7:10–11, Paul introduces his instructions to married couples with, “I give this command (not I, but the Lord).” He is relaying what Christ (the “Lord”) instructed on this particular matter: Do not leave one’s spouse merely because he or she is an unbeliever (1 Cor 7:10–11; cf. Matt 5:31–32; 19:3–9; Mark 10:2–12; Luke 16:18).

Following this, Paul introduces his next set of instructions as, “I say (I, not the Lord)” (1 Cor 7:12). Paul is not denying that what he says is divinely inspired. That’s not the meaning of “not the Lord” here. Rather, Paul is clarifying that in earlier instruction, he was citing a saying of Jesus; in this latter instruction, he is applying Jesus’s teaching to a situation that Jesus did not explicitly address in his earthly ministry. Paul is doing pastoral theology: honoring Jesus’s standard while reasoning through new cases the early church was facing.

The Roman legal backdrop: “leaving” was divorce

So believers are not to break up such marriages. But what if their unbelieving spouse walks out on the marriage (1 Cor 7:12–16)?

As Craig points out, in the Greco-Roman world, especially in a Roman colony like Corinth, marriage was sustained by mutual consent. If either party walked out, the marriage was considered over.

This matters for interpreting Paul’s instruction, “If the unbelieving one is leaving, let him leave.” Some readers want to interpret this as only physical separation, not legal divorce. But, as Craig argues, in Corinth’s social–legal world, the act of leaving was not a temporary arrangement: It functioned as a dissolution of marriage. So Paul isn’t describing a neat modern category like “separated, but not divorced.” He’s dealing with a reality where abandonment effects marital termination, and the believer cannot control that outcome. Paul is saying, “If that happens, that’s not on you. You can’t do anything about that.”

“Sanctified” spouses and “holy” children?

What does Paul mean in 1 Corinthians 7:14 that the unbelieving spouse and their children are made holy because of the believing spouse?

Presumably, it does not mean they are automatically saved, since 1 Peter 3:1–7 speaks of believing wives winning their unbelieving husbands to the gospel. Instead, Craig suggests this refers to the degree of influence. For instance, in antiquity, the husband would normally get the children in a divorce, meaning the believing wife would lose her religious influence on the children.

Paul’s statement, on this reading, highlights why maintaining the marriage, when possible, maintains the Christian spouse’s influence on their family.

3 views on divorce and remarriage

Most of the debate over divorce and remarriage in 1 Corinthians concentrates on 1 Corinthians 7:15: “Yet if the unbelieving one is leaving, let him leave; the brother or the sister is not under bondage in such cases” (emphasis added).

All interpreters agree that the believing spouse cannot be blamed for the unbelieving spouse’s departure. The question, however, is whether Paul is merely saying, You’re not responsible for their actions; you can’t stop them, or whether he is also saying, You are not bound to this marriage anymore; meaning,

1. one has warrant for divorce, and potentially even
2. freedom to remarry.

Kirk walks through three primary positions that show up in Christian interpretation:

Additionally, within positions 2 and 3, debate exists over what the warranted grounds are for divorce (and, for view 3, remarriage). All recognize sexual immorality (per Matt 5:32; 19:9) and abandonment (per 1 Cor 7:15). Debate, however, exists over what constitutes “sexual immorality” (just adultery?) and abandonment (just physical desertion?) and whether there are additional grounds, like other covenant-shattering actions (e.g., abuse).

Under the vast majority of traditional Christian views though, Christians are not free to divorce (or remarry) for trivial reasons. Among those views that allow for divorce (and remarriage), this freedom comes only when their marriage is broken against their will.

The meaning of “not under bondage”

Craig contends that the language of being “bound” or “not bound” should be read in light of how such terms functioned in ancient divorce and remarriage contexts. In Jewish divorce contexts, this language explicitly meant one was free from marriage so as to marry another.

Additionally, he points to 1 Corinthians 7:27–28, where Paul contrasts being “bound to a wife” with being “released from a wife.” Many English translations blur the force of this by using general language like “unmarried,” but Craig insists Paul is describing someone who has been released (not just “free” but “freed”) from a marriage (7:27), presumably either through divorce or death. Notably, Paul comments that if such a person marries, they have not sinned (7:28). For Craig, this suggests Paul can envision a situation where remarriage after divorce is permissible.

Kirk also points to the end of the chapter, 1 Corinthians 7:39, where Paul uses comparable language (from “bound” to “free”) to speak about the freedom to remarry after one’s spouse has died. This suggests this type of language used elsewhere in this chapter (like in 1 Cor 7:15) generally involved the freedom to remarry.

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“Such cases” and the question of additional exceptions

Kirk points out that some interpreter’s maintain that Paul’s phrase “in such cases” (1 Cor 7:15) indicates that Paul’s specific exception here is not meant to be exhaustive. Instead, the logic of Paul and Jesus’s permissions for divorce and remarriage can be applied to include analogous situations. Craig agrees, observing that Paul uses similar language (“things like these”; Gal 5:21) elsewhere.

Nonetheless, we need a careful controlling principle, lest we adopt overly permissive divorce standards, like some in Jesus’s day (e.g., burning toast). The ethical gravity of marriage must shape the ethical gravity of any exception.

Craig proposes that the New Testament exceptions all involve scenarios where at least one party is functionally rupturing the marriage. The believer is called to pursue faithfulness and peace, but a marriage can be shattered unilaterally through abandonment, sexual betrayal, or other severe violations. Craig points to abuse as one such example of something that amounts to abandoning the marital covenant, even if the abuser never physically leaves the home.

Jesus’s adultery sayings: literal or hyperbole?

As mentioned at the outset, one of the main difficulties when it comes to the Bible’s teaching on divorce and remarriage is how we synthesize it all. Thus, Kirk asks Craig how he reconciles Jesus’s various statements to the effect of, “Whoever divorces and remarries commits adultery” (see Matt 5:32; 19:9; Mark 10:11–12; Luke 16:18) with the apparent existence of exceptions in Matthew 5:32, 19:9, and in 1 Corinthians 7:15.

Craig observes that if Jesus’s words are taken in an unqualifiedly literal way, the pastoral consequences would be severe: It would imply many second or third marriages are ongoing adultery, requiring we break up those marriages. This misunderstands how Jesus uses hyperbole elsewhere in the same context, e.g., Jesus’s dramatic statements about tearing out an eye or cutting off a hand (Matt 5:27–30), language most Christians recognize as forceful rhetoric rather than literal commands.

The presence of recognized exceptions (e.g., sexual immorality, abandonment) in these “adultery” sayings indicates that Jesus is not denying that divorce genuinely dissolves a marriage (cf. John 4:17–18 and Mark 10:9, which assume divorce is a real possibility). Rather, on this reading, Jesus’s adultery language is a graphic warning: Divorce is a serious violation of God’s creational intention for marriage, and pursuing divorce lightly places someone in the moral territory of adultery.

How to preach or teach on divorce and remarriage

Craig’s advice for preachers and teachers aims at a dual responsibility:

1. Uphold fidelity to marriage as the Bible’s clear ideal.
2. Avoid condemning people whose marriage ended against their will or under coercive, dangerous, or betraying circumstances.

Craig warns against using divorced people as cautionary tales or treating every divorce as automatically suspect. If Scripture contains permissions, those permissions exist for real human evil and real human vulnerability. You don’t punish a victim to demonstrate that you oppose the crime. In the same way, you don’t heap shame on someone victimized by abandonment or betrayal simply to signal that you take marriage seriously.

At the same time, emphasize accountability where it belongs. If someone is responsible for breaking a marriage unjustly, the appropriate response is not denial or rationalization but repentance, ownership, and, where possible, seeking to make things right with God, one’s former spouse, and any children involved.

Logos values thoughtful and engaging discussions on important biblical topics. However, the views and interpretations presented in this episode are those of the individuals speaking and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Logos. We recognize that Christians may hold different perspectives on this passage, and we welcome diverse engagement and respectful dialogue.

Let us know what you think

How do you interpret 1 Corinthians 7:15? Join us in the Word by Word group to share your thoughts.

Craig Keener’s recommended resources on divorce and remarriage

. . . And Marries Another: Divorce and Remarriage in the Teaching of the New Testament

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Remarriage After Divorce in Today’s Church: 3 Views (Counterpoints)

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Divorce and Remarriage in the Bible: The Social and Literary Context

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Other resources for further study

Divorce and Remarriage: Four Christian Views (Spectrum Multiview Books)

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Marriage, Divorce, and Remarriage in the Bible: A Fresh Look at What Scripture Teaches

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Divorce and Remarriage in the Church: Biblical Solutions for Pastoral Realities

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Mobile Ed: Sex and Marriage Bundle (3 courses)

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Jesus, Divorce, and Remarriage: In Their Historical Setting

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What the Bible Says about Divorce and Remarriage

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Marriage, Divorce, and Remarriage: Critical Questions and Answers

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Remarriage in Early Christianity

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In 2 Samuel 7, God makes a covenant with David. Along with the other major covenants in the Bible, the Davidic covenant furthers God’s redemptive plan to bless the world through a coming offspring.

Interestingly, David himself comments on the significance of this covenant by saying, “this is instruction for mankind” (2 Sam 7:19). He knew that God’s promise to him had universal significance. Like other covenants of promise, the Davidic covenant is both specific and universal. It has a specific object (David’s household, in this case) and its gracious purpose extends to all peoples.

The Davidic covenant also stands as the key promissory covenant that God makes after the Mosaic era and before Jesus brings the new covenant. It bridges the Abrahamic promise and the new covenant blessings by singling out the individual household that would bring blessing to the nations, since sin had deprived humanity of life.

The rest of this article seeks to explain the meaning and significance of this covenant within Scripture and the history of redemption.

What is the Davidic covenant?

The Davidic covenant is God’s promise to build David a house (בַּיִת, “dynasty”) by giving his offspring an eternal kingdom (2 Sam 7:11–16). It follows David’s request to build God a house (בַּיִת, “temple”), a request that God ultimately rejects (2 Sam 7:1–7). Instead, God promises to build David a household (7:11).

Is it actually a covenant?

While Christians speak regularly about the Davidic covenant, there is some debate over whether the Bible actually describes it. No passage records an elaborate covenant ceremony comparable to those described in Exodus 24 or Genesis 15:9–21. So John Goldingay affirms that God made a covenant with David but denies that 2 Samuel narrates it, noting that David only uses the expression once, in 2 Samuel 23:5.⁶⁹

Yet is his judgment accurate? Bruce Waltke disagrees. While 2 Samuel does not present a fully orbed covenantal ceremony, Waltke points out that David is identified as the beneficiary of the blessings in 2 Samuel 7, which recounts ten specific promises indicating a covenantal relationship.⁷⁰ David himself describes God making “an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and secure” (2 Sam 23:5), using language that closely matches the promises of an enduring house, dynasty, and throne in 2 Samuel 7:8–16. This suggests David understood the divine speech in 2 Samuel 7 to be covenantal in character, even though the chapter does not use the word covenant (בְּרִית).

This reading is confirmed elsewhere. Psalm 89 explicitly describes God’s promise to David as a covenant, echoing 2 Samuel 7: “I have made a covenant with my chosen one; I have sworn to David my servant: ‘I will establish your offspring forever, and build your throne for all generations’” (Ps 89:3–4; cf. vv. 19–37). Taken together, these passages indicate that 2 Samuel 7 names covenantal stipulations, even if it does not follow patterns of other covenantal passages in Scripture.

What are the main promises of the Davidic covenant?

Bruce Waltke identifies ten blessings of the Davidic covenant: three occur during David’s own lifetime, the next four apply to his son Solomon, and the last three happen in the remote future.⁷¹

1. During David’s lifetime

First, in 2 Samuel 7:9–11, God promises to give David

1. a great name,
2. a secure place, and
3. rest from his enemies.

This first set of three promises applies to David directly, and 2 Samuel 8 narrates the fulfillment of these promises.

2. For David’s immediate son

Second, in 2 Samuel 7:11–16, God promises

1. to raise an offspring from David’s body,
2. to establish his kingdom,
3. to make secure his throne, and
4. to be a father to him (i.e., David’s son).

Waltke points out that these promises are fulfilled in Solomon’s lifetime after David’s death.⁷²

3. In the remote future

Third, in 2 Samuel 7:16, God promises that

1. David’s house will endure,
2. his kingdom will have no end, and
3. his throne will be established.

Of these promises, Waltke points out that they are fulfilled in the remote future.⁷³ It is worth quoting the verse in whole here to see how it signifies remote future realities: “And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever” (2 Sam 7:16; emphasis added). Certainly, the language of “forever” implies a long-term fulfillment.

How does Psalm 89 contribute to the Davidic covenant?

Psalm 89:4 contributes to this messianic reading of the Davidic promise by adding that God swore to fulfill his covenant to David by an oath (Ps 89:3). In that verse, God swears, “I will establish your offspring forever, and build your throne for all generations.” This oath could refer to Solomon, not a remote future messiah. Yet even if Psalm 89:4 points to Solomon, the point remains that through David’s offspring, in a long line through Solomon, God will establish his offspring forever.

Interestingly, the oath that God swears to David in Psalm 89 probably refers to an oath not recorded in 2 Samuel itself. Psalm 89 speaks of God swearing to David, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one; I have sworn to David my servant” (Ps 89:3, 35); whereas 2 Samuel 7 records the promise but not the act of oath-swearing. Psalm 89 thus clarifies something implied in the covenantal promises of 2 Samuel 7:8–16, while differing from them in the time and mode of delivery.

This pattern approximates how God deals with Abraham. In Genesis 12:1–3, God promises blessing to Abraham and his offspring. Later, in Genesis 22:16–18, God swears an oath explicitly intensifying and specifying that earlier promise. There, God notes that the blessing would come through a singular offspring who would “possess the gate of his enemies” (Gen 22:17).

Paul follows this interpretive logic in Galatians 3:16, where he argues that Scripture does not speak of “offsprings,” as of many, but only of one offspring, who is Christ. The same logic appears to apply to the promise of 2 Samuel 7 and its corresponding oath in Psalm 89. The oath specifies what is already implied in the promise: that a Davidic offspring would sit on the throne of God’s eternal kingdom (2 Sam 7:13, 16; Ps 89:36–37). This offspring the New Testament identifies with Jesus.

Is the Davidic covenant eternal and unconditional?

God promises to build David a household (2 Sam 7:11), indicating that the covenant God made with David is unconditional in its final fulfillment (2 Sam 7:14–16; Ps 89:3–4, 28–37), although the covenant also has conditional elements within it (2 Sam 7:14).

Contextually, the emphasis on the Davidic covenant falls on its eternality or its unconditional nature. As Craig Morrison explains, “the word ‘forever,’ ʿôlām (v. 13), appears seven times, reiterating that God’s plan for David is eternal.”⁷⁴ This repetition serves to show God’s immutable promise to establish an eternal kingdom through David.

Based on this language of eternality, Brevard Childs concludes that 2 Samuel 7 takes on a messianic tone.⁷⁵ And within the context of 1–2 Samuel, 2 Samuel 7 integrates language and ideas from both Hannah’s prayer in 1 Samuel 2 and David’s final words (2 Sam 23). The chapter thus stands at a pivotal place within the argument of 1–2 Samuel, so its messianic implications play a key role in the narrative. This messianic context explains why Ethan the Ezrahite, known as a man of great wisdom (1 Kgs 4:31; 1 Chron 2:6), associated the covenant with the coming messiah (Ps 89:3–4, 27–29, 36–37).

How does the Davidic covenant apply to David, Solomon, and Jesus?

1. To David

Contextually, 2 Samuel 8 illustrates the ways that God fulfills his promises to David directly. In that chapter, David conquers his enemies and thus gains security and rest from their attacks. The text makes this clear by the refrain, “And the Lord gave victory to David wherever he went” (2 Sam 8:6, 14).

The chapter emphasizes God’s grace to David. So much so that we learn, strangely, that not only does David offer sacrifices before the Lord and wear the linen ephod (2 Sam 6:14, 17–18) but apparently so do his sons, who are called priests (8:15–18). This makes little sense, as David belongs to the tribe of Judah, not Levi. Further, Saul is critiqued for sacrificing before the Lord and not waiting for Samuel to do so (1 Sam 13:8–14). Hence, we might be tempted to think that David serves outside of the Levitical priesthood, perhaps in ways analogous to Melchizedek (Gen 14:18–20; Ps 110:4). In this way, David is showing something that will be true of the Messiah.

2. To Solomon

God certainly raised up an offspring from David’s body through Bathsheba (2 Sam 12:24–25). 2 Samuel 7:12 particularly refers to Solomon, since the text says

1. he will “come from your body” and
2. will do iniquity (7:14).

However, it is through Solomon (and thus David’s) line of kings that God will establish his everlasting kingdom. Solomon’s kingdom was established, possessing the fullest borders and prosperity of any Israelite kingdom (1 Kgs 4:20–21).

Further, not only was Solomon’s throne secure, but God acted as a father to him, chastising and correcting him for his sin (2 Sam 7:14; 1 Kgs 11:9–13). In fact, Solomon broke nearly every rule that Deuteronomy gives for kings (Deut 17:14–20). So much so that 1 Kings 11 presents him as an evil king (1 Kgs 11:6). While God still favors him for David’s sake, he takes away the kingdom from Solomon’s son (11:11–13). From that time forward, the kingdom would not unite again in the history of the Old Testament (12:16–24).

3. To Jesus

The last promises apply to Jesus, the anointed Davidic king, who came for us and for our salvation to be our redeemer and king (more on this below). With Christ comes the eternal kingdom that has no end, and whose Sonship to the Father excels God’s fatherhood to Solomon.

Of this Jesus, Gabriel tells Mary, the mother of the Lord,

He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end. (Luke 1:32–33)

And not only Luke, but the New Testament as a whole demonstrates how Jesus fulfills the remote promises God made to David in 2 Samuel 7:16. As Paul declares, he

was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus [the Messiah] our Lord. (Rom 1:3–4)

This threefold fulfillment of the Davidic covenant clarifies why its promises seem appropriate for both David’s son Solomon and for God’s future king, whose kingdom will have no end. Christians identify the referent of these remote promises to be Jesus. Yet 2 Samuel 7:14 would specifically apply to David’s son Solomon and not to Jesus: “I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men.” This interpretation of the Davidic covenant exempts Christians from having to explain how this anticipated son of David “commits iniquity.” Solomon committed much iniquity, but Jesus did not.

Does the Davidic covenant have significance for all mankind?

David himself interprets God’s promises to him as instruction for all humanity (2 Sam 7:19), showing that he sees this promise as one that relates to the whole of God’s creation.

“Instruction for all mankind” (2 Sam 7:19)

Before interpreting 2 Samuel 7:19 directly, we should note the translation possibilities for this verse. First of all, the NRSV oddly translates 2 Samuel 7:19 as “instruction for the people.” Had David meant the people of Israel, he could have used any of the normal and well-attested expressions found throughout Samuel: “the people of Israel” (e.g., 2 Sam 2:17), “the house of Israel” (e.g., 1 Sam 7:3; 2 Sam 1:12), “the sons of Israel” (e.g., 1 Sam 14:21), or even the simpler “the people” when the referent is clear (e.g., 1 Sam 11:11; 2 Sam 5:12). Instead, he speaks of humanity by his use of the Hebrew word אָדָם. David, then, does not see this covenant merely as instruction for Israel, but as instruction for humanity. An accurate rendering of the underlying Hebrew text is “this is instruction for mankind” (ESV).

What David means is tougher to decide. Craig Morrison comments, “Perhaps David supposes that God’s covenant with him is to be an ‘instruction’ for future generations.”⁷⁶ Well, yes. But Morrison finds himself limited because he agrees with the NRSV’s translation and thus restricts David’s words to the people of Israel.

By contrast, Walter Kaiser has proposed the intriguing translation, “And this is the charter/instruction for mankind,” and connects it to a universal blessing for all people.⁷⁷ Interestingly, he points out David’s address is to Adonai Yahweh, a naming convention for God used five times in 2 Samuel 7. While uncommon as a form of address to God in the Bible, it does occur in Genesis 15:2 and 8, where God makes a covenant with Abraham to bless the world. Kaiser concludes, “The two covenants were thereby drawn into the closest of relationships: the Abrahamic covenant and the Davidic covenant.”⁷⁸

The everlasting covenant of Isaiah 55:3–4

Kaiser’s reading here seems to be how Isaiah interprets the Davidic covenant. Isaiah 55:3–4 reads, “I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David. Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples.” Significantly, Isaiah ties together David’s “everlasting covenant” with his being a witness and leader “for the peoples,” that is, the nations.

Gerhard von Rad believes Isaiah democratizes the Davidic covenant here in Isaiah because of its universal scope.⁷⁹ Rad rightly interprets Isaiah’s note that David’s covenant has cosmic implications, but he wrongly believes that Isaiah modifies the original context of the Davidic covenant to make it so. Instead, David himself knew that God’s eternal kingdom had a universal implication, which is why he calls it instruction for all mankind (2 Sam 7:19).

Continuity with the Abrahamic covenant

David may have understood the promise made to him as standing in continuity with God’s earlier promises.

Even after humanity’s fall into sin (Gen 2–3), persistent sin (Gen 6–8), and pride (Gen 11), God promised that through Abraham’s offspring, blessing would come to the nations (Gen 12:3; 22:18). Jacob later spoke of royal rule arising from Judah (“the scepter shall not depart from Judah”), a theme also taken up again in Balaam’s oracles, where a future ruler from Israel is said to exercise dominion over the nations (Gen 49:10; Num 24:7, 17–19). Additionally, the covenantal language of 2 Samuel 7 itself echoes the Abrahamic promise. Morrison explains, “God will make David’s name great (2 Sam 7:9), echoing the language of the covenantal promise to Abraham in Genesis 12:2.”⁸⁰ When God swore with an oath that Abraham’s offspring would possess the gate of his enemies (Gen 22:17) or that kings would come from him (Gen 17:4–6; also to Jacob: Gen 35:11), he implied that the offspring of Abraham would be royal.

It is therefore reasonable that David, a man after God’s own heart who delighted in and meditated on the Torah (1 Sam 13:14; Ps 1:1–2; Ps 119), would have perceived God’s promise of worldwide blessing through Abraham’s offspring as arriving through a king from Judah, whether in himself or in his royal descendants. He would have understood the Davidic covenant as specifying the kind of offspring who would restore blessing to humanity (Gen 12:1–3).

The kingdom of Psalm 110

This interpretation seems certain when we arrive at Psalm 110, which Jesus interprets as David overhearing the Lord speak to David’s other Lord concerning his messianic kingdom (Ps 110:1; Matt 22:41–46; Mark 12:35–37; Luke 20:41–44). David, in writing Psalm 110, likely meditated on God’s promises to him as well as the Melchizedek narrative (Gen 14). That, along with his prophetic inspiration (2 Sam 23:2), allowed him to overhear the Father speaking to the Son about the everlasting messianic kingdom to come.

The new covenant’s universal blessing

The universal significance of the Davidic covenant is finally confirmed by its fulfillment in Jesus who, as the offspring of David, ratifies the new covenant in his blood (Luke 22:20; 1 Cor 11:25) and offers salvation to the entire world.

David rightly therefore calls this covenant “instruction for all mankind” (2 Sam 7:19), since it explains the very means by which God would return blessing to the cosmos: through a Davidic king whose kingdom will have no end.

How does Christ fulfill the Davidic covenant?

Christ fulfills the Davidic covenant by being the Davidic offspring and by fulfilling specific Davidic promises.

1. By being the Davidic offspring

Both the genealogies of Matthew and Luke emphasize Jesus’s descent from David. While some differences arise in how they present Jesus’s genealogical descent, the point is that they emphasize his royal descent in order to show how he is in the line of David and thus in the line of kingship.

The first verse of Matthew, for example, reads, “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham” (Matt 1:1). Preceding the genealogy in Luke but obviously related to it, Luke 1:33 says, “The Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David … and of his kingdom there will be no end.” This relationship becomes clear in the genealogy in Luke 3:31–32.

That Jesus is the offspring of David helps to make sense of Jesus’s life, not just his origin. It may not be obvious, but the term Christ means “anointed,” and it comes from the Hebrew word messiah. In the Old Testament, kings were anointed to rule. For example, Samuel anointed David to be king (1 Sam 16:1, 12–13). Later, David ascended to the throne after Saul’s death (2 Sam 2:4; 5:1–5). This pattern also exists in the Gospel accounts, where the Holy Spirit anoints Jesus at his baptism (Matt 3:16–17; Mark 1:9–11; Luke 3:21–22), and Jesus later ascends to his throne in the ascension (Luke 24:50–53; Acts 1:9–11).

2. By fulfilling specific Davidic promises

Christ is our redeemer and king, whose Davidic lineage points to him as the promised offspring and whose resurrection and ascension precede his session as the Davidic king who sits upon his throne (2 Sam 7:12–16; Ps 110:1; Acts 2:29–36; Rom 1:3–4; Eph 1:20–23; Heb 1:3).

Citing Hannah’s words in 1 Samuel 2 concerning God’s messiah, Luke writes: “God has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David” (1 Sam 2:10; Luke 1:69). David himself later speaks of the Lord as the one who raises a saving horn in connection with his own kingship: “The Lord … the horn of my salvation” (2 Sam 22:3). This kingly horn, a regal term, ultimately points to Jesus. Hence, we must “remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel” (2 Tim 2:8). We remember his resurrection particularly as the moment that precedes his ascension and session at the right hand of God, when he receives the kingdom and pours it out to his people through the Holy Spirit (Ps 110:1; Acts 2:29–36, 33; Eph 1:20–23; Heb 1:3).

And the resurrected Jesus shows himself in Revelation to be the one who sits on David’s throne. For example, he claims to have “the key of David” (Rev 3:7), an allusion to Isaiah 22:22 in which Eliakim is said to have the key to the household of David. As Eliakim could open and shut the door of the household (Isa 22:22), so Jesus has the key by way of eminence. And thus Jesus, “the root of David” (Rev 5:5), can establish his eternal kingdom (Rev 11:5). This kingdom brings blessing to the saints who rule with Christ (Rev 20:4–6; 22:3–5).

In one of the most powerful passages in Revelation, the resurrected Jesus claims, “I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star” (Rev 22:16). So Jesus claims that he is both the root and descendant, before and after David. In other words, Jesus claims to be both pre-existent to David and his descendant (offspring). This makes sense if Jesus is the eternal Word from the Father made flesh for us and for our salvation. It also explains why he is the particular Davidic offspring who could truly redeem us and be our eternal king. He is divine, and so he can.

In short, Jesus, as the promised Davidic offspring, is king over his kingdom. We are that kingdom; God “made us a kingdom” (Rev 1:6). And as king, Jesus reigns through his Spirit, given to us at Pentecost (Acts 2:38).

What does the Davidic covenant teach us?

The Davidic covenant tells us about who Christ is. So we should want to understand it, even if there is no immediate practical takeaway beyond that.

Nonetheless, the Davidic covenant teaches us several things.

First, it teaches us that God represents his people through rulers. Jesus is our king, the one who leads us. We are his sheep and belong to his pasture (Ps 23:1; Ezek 34:23–24; John 10:11).

Second, the Davidic covenant shows us how God concludes a key promise in his program of redemption. It shows that what God promised to Abraham and to David has come to pass in Jesus, our Messiah, the king (Gen 12:1–3; 2 Sam 7:12–16). This is why Matthew emphasizes Jesus’s descent from both Abraham and David in the first verse of his Gospel: “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.”

Last of all, it informs us of Jesus’s identity. It reminds us that Christ is not Jesus’s last name. Rather, it is a title that means “anointed one.” Jesus is an anointed Davidic king.

This anointed king was born for us, to reign “on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore” (Isa 9:7). Of him, God says, “I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land” (Jer 23:5).

He is born of God before all time, yet born in the line of David within time (Rom 1:3; Gal 4:4). He came from the house of David, from Bethlehem, as man (Mic 5:2). He is the “shoot from the stump of Jesse” (Isa 11:1), both the root and descendant of David (Rev 22:16).

Share your thoughts

How do you understand the Davidic covenant? Join us in Word by Word group to share your thoughts.

Wyatt Graham’s recommended resources

Dominion and Dynasty: A Biblical Theology of the Hebrew Bible (New Studies in Biblical Theology, vol. 15 | NSBT)

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Mission in the Old Testament: Israel as a Light to the Nations, 2nd ed.

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Covenant: The Framework of God’s Grand Plan of Redemption

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Covenant and God’s Purpose for the World (Short Studies in Biblical Theology)

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Kingdom through Covenant: A Biblical-Theological Understanding of the Covenants, 2nd ed.

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When I was first asked to teach a seminary course on the New Testament Gospels (over thirty years ago now!), I was immediately confronted with a difficult decision. The Gospels—and especially the three Synoptic Gospels: Matthew, Mark, and Luke—have many of the same stories, some in nearly identical language. I had to decide whether I would teach each Gospel individually, or whether I would teach the four together, combining them into a single “life of Christ” or “harmony of the Gospels.”

I looked to see what other professors were doing and found that both approaches are quite common. Both also have a long history in the church. The most important early attempt to bring the four together into one story was the Diatessaron (meaning “through the four”), a harmony of the Gospels produced by the early Church Father Tatian around AD 170. Tatian’s work was very popular in its day and became the primary text of the Gospels in the Syrian church until around 400.⁷²

In the end, however, the church chose to retain the four individual Gospels. This was the right decision both theologically and literarily. Theologically, the Holy Spirit inspired four Gospels, not one. So the four individual accounts—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—are God’s Word to us. A single “cut-and-paste” harmony of the four is not. Literarily, each Gospel is a narrative masterpiece that provides a unique perspective on Jesus and develops particular theological themes through the use of narrative features like characters, settings, and plot. If we harmonize their accounts by bringing details from one into another, we risk obscuring each author’s Spirit-inspired message.

Let me illustrate this by pointing to some distinct theological contributions by each of the four Gospels.

4 unique portraits of Jesus

There is certainly a great deal of overlap in the presentation of Jesus found in the four Gospels. All four present Jesus as the promised Messiah who establishes the kingdom of God and brings salvation to the world. Each identifies him as the Son of God and the Son of Man. Yet there are important differences in emphasis.⁷³

Matthew has the greatest focus on Jesus as the Jewish Messiah who fulfills Old Testament prophecy. Matthew has a dozen or so fulfillment quotations, using a formula like, “This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet …” to identify events in Jesus’s life as the fulfillment of the Hebrew Scriptures (for the fulfillment formulas, see Matt 1:22–23; 2:15, 17–18, 23; 4:14–16; 8:17; 12:17–21; 13:35; 21:4–5; 27:9–10; for other fulfillment passages without the formula, see Matt 2:5–6; 3:3; 10:34–35; 11:2–6; 11:10; 13:14–15; 15:7–9; 21:16; 21:42; 26:11).

Mark also affirms that Jesus is the Messiah and that his coming is the fulfillment of God’s promises, but he places a greater emphasis than the other Gospels on Jesus as the suffering Servant of the Lord who gives up his life as an atoning sacrifice for sin. Those who wish to be his disciples must take up their cross and follow his example of self-sacrifice and service (Mark 8:31–34; 9:30–35; 10:32–45).

Luke, too, reflects many of these same themes, but has an even greater emphasis onJesus as the Savior for lost people everywhere. In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus shows repeated concern for outsiders and those of lower status—the poor and oppressed, sinners and tax collectors, women and children, Samaritans and gentiles. This theme of the Gospel for outsiders sets the stage for Luke’s second volume, the book of Acts, where the gospel message goes forth from its original Jewish audience to all people everywhere, to the “ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

While John, like the other Gospel writers, presents Jesus as the Jewish Messiah who fulfills God’s promises to Israel, he places greater stress than the others on Jesus’s full humanity and true deity. Jesus is the divine Son of God who came to bring eternal life to all who believe in him (John 3:16).

If we bring the Gospels together into one story, we risk missing the richness of these four portraits.

4 unique introductions

Each of the four Gospel writers introduces his story in a way that highlights its main themes.

Matthew, for example, begins with a genealogy tracing Jesus’s lineage from Abraham, the father of the Jewish nation, through David, Israel’s greatest king (Matt 1:1–17). This genealogy confirms that Jesus is the Messiah: the fulfillment of God’s Old Testament covenants and the legitimate heir to the throne of David.

While Mark’s Gospel also begins by identifying Jesus as the Messiah whose coming fulfills Scripture (Mark 1:1–8), Mark skips any description of Jesus’s birth or ancestry and instead plunges immediately into his public ministry (“immediately” [Greek euthys] is one of his favorite words!). For Mark, Jesus’s divine authority in healing the sick, casting out demons, forgiving sins, raising the dead, and commanding nature confirm his messianic identity (1:14–8:29).

Luke begins his Gospel with a prologue that confirms his careful historical research and use of eyewitness testimony (Luke 1:1–4). This fits well with Luke’s strong historical and apologetic focus throughout Luke and Acts. Like Matthew, Luke provides a genealogy, but he traces Jesus’s ancestry not just to Abraham, but all the way back to Adam, the father of the human race (3:23–38). This fits Luke’s theme that God’s salvation is for all humanity, not just for Israel.

Finally, John introduces his Gospel with a magnificent prologue that identifies Jesus as the “Word” (Greek Logos) of God, the fully divine Creator of all things, who “became flesh” in order to reveal the Father and bring light and eternal life to all who believe in him (John 1:1–18).

Each of these serves as an appropriate introduction to its respective Gospel, highlighting the portrait of Jesus found there and the narrative themes unique to each author.

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4 unique selections and orderings

Near the end of his Gospel, John notes that Jesus performed many other signs that are not recorded in his Gospel and (with some hyperbole) that all the books in the world could not contain these wonderful things (John 20:30; 21:25). This confirms that the Gospel authors were selective in their choice of material, drawing stories and teaching from a much larger body of Jesus tradition to develop their particular portraits of Jesus.

We could look at dozens of examples of this, but let me mention just a couple.

The temptation of Jesus

The first is Jesus’s temptation in the wilderness, an event referred to in the three Synoptic Gospels (Mark 1:12–13; Matt 4:1–11; Luke 4:1–13). Mark merely states that Jesus was tempted by Satan for forty days in the wilderness, without describing individual temptations. The scene recalls both the testing of Adam and Eve in the garden as well as Israel’s testing in the wilderness. Jesus remains faithful and succeeds where Adam and Israel were rebellious and failed.

Matthew and Luke have fuller accounts, describing three specific temptations. The Israel-in-the-wilderness motif is even stronger here, as Jesus responds to Satan’s temptations by quoting Scripture passages recalling Israel’s experience in the wilderness (Deut 8:3; 6:13, 16).

What is interesting, however, is that the last two temptations are reversed in Matthew and Luke. In Matthew, the third temptation is Satan’s offer of the kingdoms of the world. This takes place on a high mountain. In Luke, that is the second temptation. The third is Satan’s challenge to jump off the pinnacle of the temple in Jerusalem. The final and climactic temptation in each case is significant. Matthew has a special emphasis throughout his Gospel on mountaintop revelations (Matt 5:1; 15:29; 17:1; 24:3; 28:16), developing a Moses/Israel typology with reference to Jesus.

Luke has a special emphasis on Jerusalem and the temple (Luke 9:51, 53; 13:22, 33, 34; 17:11; 18:31; 19:11, 28, 41; Acts 1:4, 8). His Gospel begins and ends at the temple in Jerusalem (Luke 1:5–22; 24:53); Jesus’s extended journey to Jerusalem represents a unique and important central section of Luke’s Gospel (Luke 9:51, 53; 13:22, 33; 17:11; 18:31; 19:11, 28, 41); and all of Luke’s resurrection appearances and even the ascension of Jesus occur in the vicinity of Jerusalem. In the book of Acts, then, the gospel goes out from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8; cf. Luke 24:47). Jerusalem thus plays an important and ambivalent role in Luke–Acts as the place of God’s salvation but also a symbol of Israel’s rejection of their Messiah (Luke 13:33, 34; 19:41–44).

Jesus’s rejection in Nazareth

Another example of reordering for theological impact occurs immediately after the temptation in Luke’s Gospel. It is the account of Jesus’s rejection in his hometown of Nazareth. Matthew and Mark place this episode chronologically much later in Jesus’s Galilean ministry (Matt 13:53–58; Mark 6:1–6). In both, the emphasis is on Nazareth’s loss of blessing because of the townspeople’s lack of faith.

Luke, however, brings this episode forward to the beginning of Jesus’s ministry (Luke 4:14–30). It is the first thing Jesus does after his baptism and testing in the wilderness. Luke’s account is much longer than the others and recounts the sermon Jesus preached on this occasion. He reads from Isaiah 61:1–2 (and 58:6), identifying himself as the Anointed One who has come to set the poor and the oppressed free and to bring sight to the blind (Luke 4:17–21).

The people respond favorably (Luke 4:22) until Jesus illustrates his point with examples from the Old Testament where God blessed gentiles! The people are outraged over Jesus’s claim that God’s grace is for gentiles as well as Jews, and they try to murder him (4:22–30). The episode thus becomes programmatic foreshadowing for the whole of Luke and Acts, where the gospel will be rejected by many in Israel but will bring blessings to the gentiles (cf. Luke 2:30–32; Acts 13:46–48; 28:26–28).

This is narrative theology: The story is told in such a way as to bring out key theological truths.

4 unique perspectives on the crucifixion

For all four Gospels, the crucifixion is the climax of the narrative. Yet each Gospel writer has his own unique perspective.

For example, the four Gospels together record seven sayings of Jesus from the cross. A number of these statements have profound theological significance. Sermons—especially during Good Friday services—are often preached on these seven “words” of Jesus from the cross. Here are the seven (in likely chronological order). Can you identify which appear in each Gospel?

1. “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”
2. To his mother: “Woman, here is your son.” To the Beloved Disciple: “Here is your mother.”
3. To one of the criminals: “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
4. “I am thirsty.”
5. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
6. “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”
7. “It is finished.”

In fact, sayings 1, 3, and 6 appear only in Luke. These all fit well with Luke’s narrative theology. As we have noted, throughout Luke’s Gospel, Jesus reveals God’s grace and forgiveness to sinners and outsiders. It is appropriate, then, that here Jesus offers forgiveness to sinners from the cross (“Father, forgive them …”; “Today you will be with me in paradise”). Jesus’s prayer life and intimacy with the Father are also important themes in Luke (3:21; 5:16; 6:12; 9:18, 28; 11:1–4, 5–13; 18:1–8; 21:36; 22:32, 40; 23:34, 46). So from the cross, Jesus expresses his dependence on the Father (“Father, into your hands I commit my spirit”).

Sayings 2, 4, and 7 appear only in John. These, too, fit John’s narrative theology, highlighting the role of the “disciple whom Jesus loved,” emphasizing Jesus’s true humanity (“I am thirsty”), and identifying Jesus’s death as the accomplishment of God’s plan of salvation (“It is finished”).

Finally, notice that in Mark (15:34; cf. Matt 27:46),⁸¹ Jesus says only one thing from the cross: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (quoting Ps 22:1). This, too, fits well with Mark’s narrative theology, which places great emphasis on the Messiah’s suffering role. The narrator draws the reader into Jesus’s isolation and despair, as he experiences God’s judgment as an atoning sacrifice for sin (see Mark 10:45). It is important at this point to hear Mark’s narrative on its own terms. Interjecting Luke’s reassuring “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit” or John’s triumphant “It is finished” would diminish the impact of Mark’s point.

Conclusion

In the past, it has often been more liberal scholars who have emphasized the theological nature of the Gospels. It is sometimes said that the Gospels are theological—written to promote a particular perspective—rather than historical. Conservatives and evangelicals, by contrast, have been inclined to emphasize the historical, sometimes to the point of disregarding the theological. The Gospels are sometimes harmonized into a single story to create a chronological “life of Christ” and to demonstrate “what actually happened.”

I suggest we need a both/and approach. The Gospels are certainly historical narratives. The Gospel writers believed these events took place in space and time. Yet the Gospels are also theological narratives. The stories are told in such a way as to bring out certain theological truths.

In this regard, each Gospel has a story to tell, and that story needs to be heard on its own terms. To merge the Gospels together into a single account or to fill in details taken from one Gospel into another risks distorting each author’s unique (and Spirit-inspired) contribution.

So while a “harmony” of the Gospels may be useful for historical and apologetic purposes (for example, to resolve apparent contradictions), it is not the best way to preach and teach the Gospels. This is true whether you are preaching a series of messages through one Gospel or whether you are preaching a single passage found in a particular Gospel. As you read through each Gospel, listen for its narrative theology, the theological truths the Spirit-inspired author is seeking to convey.

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We have four Gospels rather than one. How should this shape how we read them?

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Resources for studying the Gospels as narratives

Four Portraits, One Jesus: A Survey of Jesus and the Gospels, 2nd ed.

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The Gospels as Stories: A Narrative Approach to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John

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Reading the Gospels Wisely: A Narrative and Theological Introduction

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Narrative Criticism of the New Testament: An Introduction

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Mark as Story: An Introduction to the Narrative of a Gospel, 3rd ed.

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Matthew as Story, 2nd ed.

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The Narrative Unity of Luke-Acts: A Literary Interpretation, vol. 1: The Gospel according to Luke

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Anatomy of the Fourth Gospel: A Study in Literary Design

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Explore the unique theological contributions of each Gospel

A Theology of Matthew’s Gospel: Jesus Immanuel: Messiah of the Kingdom of Heaven, Israel, and the Church (Biblical Theology of the New Testament | BTNT)

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A Theology of Mark’s Gospel: Good News about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God (Biblical Theology of the New Testament | BTNT)

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A Theology of Luke and Acts: God’s Promised Program, Realized for All Nations (Biblical Theology of the New Testament | BTNT)

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A Theology of John’s Gospel and Letters: The Word, the Christ, the Son of God (Biblical Theology of the New Testament | BTNT)

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Preachers and teachers of God’s Word carry an immense responsibility. We must handle Scripture faithfully with the goal of pointing our listeners always to Jesus, the true hero of the entire Bible.

This goal feels particularly challenging when we open a seemingly dark book like Ecclesiastes. Major themes of Ecclesiastes are futility, meaninglessness, absurdity, and brevity. How then do we faithfully preach Christ from a book that often feels so perplexing?

The New Testament tells us that the Spirit carried men along to give us the Old Testament Scriptures (2 Pet 1:21). So, Ecclesiastes was given for a clear purpose. The book exposes the meaninglessness and confusion of life if this cursed world is all there is. It creates a deep hunger within us for something better, something lasting. Ecclesiastes acts like a goad, a cattle prod (see Eccl 12:11). It pokes and prods the reader to move in the right direction: to walk in wisdom. This wisdom, ultimately, leads us to salvation through Jesus Christ.

We must clearly show our listeners the futility of life without the Messiah. We expose human vanity to push people toward faith. We push them toward the contentment found only in God.

Setting the stage

Before considering how to preach Christ from Ecclesiastes, we must first understand some foundational matters.

Authorship: Solomon

The book begins by identifying the writer as the “Teacher” or “Preacher” (קֹהֶלֶת, Qoheleth). He says that he is the “Son of David, King in Jerusalem” (Eccl 1:1). While there is much debate among scholars, this description points definitively to Solomon.

Solomon’s extensive life experience matches the author’s search for meaning in the book. Solomon was known as the wisest man in the ancient world (1 Kgs 4:29–30). Yet he became a greedy, lustful, idolatrous fool who violated kingly commands (1 Kgs 11; cf. Deut 17:14–20). He indulged every desire. He amassed incredible wealth, married hundreds of wives, and also kept concubines.

Tradition suggests Ecclesiastes is an older, repentant Solomon reflecting on his mistakes. His authority is massive because he truly “had it all and tried everything.”

Genre: wisdom literature

Ecclesiastes fits squarely into the wisdom literature of the Old Testament. The book’s conclusion to fear God and keep his commands (Eccl 12:9–14) echoes Proverbs. Wisdom is living according to God’s design, and Solomon demonstrates that wisdom is better than folly because it protects life (e.g., Eccl 7:11–12).

However, the book does push back on any simplistic view of wisdom, showing that gaining wisdom is only relative. The wise and the fool share the same fate: death (Eccl 2:12–17).

Structure: frame-narrative

Finally, we must grasp something of the book’s structure.

In Ecclesiastes, we find a series of first-person observations made by the Preacher (1:12–12:7) that are framed by the thoughts of a narrator in the conclusion who speaks in the third person. (There is no reason to conclude that it is anyone other than Solomon using a rhetorical device.)

The bleak conclusions found throughout the book will only be understood correctly when wrapped up in this hopeful conclusion (Eccl 12:8–14).

Ecclesiastes’s purposeful pessimism

Is Ecclesiastes pessimistic or is it realistic? The book certainly delivers a very bleak outlook on life. It offers realism about existence in a cursed world.

However, this realism is purposefully given by God. We live east of Eden in a futile, meaningless world. The book’s seeming pessimism aims to drive us toward the only meaningful conclusion: finding satisfaction and contentment in God.

Core diagnosis: “all is vanity”

The main message of Ecclesiastes is stark: Everything is meaningless without Jesus. Solomon uses the Hebrew superlative form (stacking words) to say life is “hevel of hevels” (Eccl 1:2; 12:8). Life is “as meaningless as possible.”

We need to understand what הֶבֶל (hevel) means, since it is used thirty-eight times in the book. It literally means “breath” or “vapor,” which can imply that life is frail or fleeting. Metaphorically, hevel can convey the ideas that life is vain, futile, pointless, confusing, or meaningless.

Curtailed perspective: “under the sun”

The Preacher reached this painful conclusion by examining life “under the sun” (Eccl 1:3, 9, 14, etc.). This means he limits his observations to an earthly perspective.

If this cursed world is all there is—no God, no afterlife, no final judgment—then everything we do is meaningless. In so doing, the book exposes the limits of life without Christ.

Ecclesiastes’s major themes—see directly below—then flow from this diagnosis.

Tune into Bobby Jamieson’s interview on the meaning and message of Ecclesiastes.

How Ecclesiastes cries out for Christ

So does Ecclesiastes point to Jesus? Yes, it is fundamentally a messianic book.

Ecclesiastes anticipates the gospel by diagnosing a problem only the gospel can solve. We are morally broken. What is crooked cannot be made straight by us. Our toil yields no profit. We are stuck in a relentless cycle. Then we die. This reveals our acute need for Christ.

Let’s examine some of Ecclesiastes’s major themes—or tensions—and how they resolve in Christ.

1. Life under the curse

Life is characterized by burdened toil. Although Ecclesiastes is never directly quoted in the New Testament, Romans 8:20, which speaks of creation being subjected to futility (Greek ματαιότης), seems to be an allusion to the hevel of Ecclesiastes. Creation itself was subjected to futility because of human sin.

In this way, Ecclesiastes relates to the New Testament by preparing the way for the gospel. It shows the human condition apart from the Redeemer. The New Testament confirms Ecclesiastes’s backdrop of a broken world groaning for rescue in Christ.

2. Trapped between time and eternity

The themes of time and eternity significantly shape the message of Ecclesiastes.

We are haunted by the fleeting nature of time. Time frustrates all of us. Solomon describes the inevitable cycles of life: a time to be born and a time to die (Eccl 3). Every action has an appointed time. The fourteen pairs of opposites (weep/laugh, kill/heal, etc.) in this chapter describe the full scope of human experience.

In this cursed world, this is all there is: These cyclical actions cancel each other out. Nothing is gained. Every birth ends in death, and all our accomplishments eventually dissolve. Life is a rut. Like the movie Groundhog Day, we are trapped in repetitive cycles of monotony and redundancy. Our activity yields no lasting profit or “net gain” (cf. Eccl 1:3).

Yet, God has placed eternity into man’s heart (Eccl 3:11). We know that this life is not all there is. We long for more. We are suspended between time and eternity. The problem is that man cannot find out God’s full plan from beginning to end. Our knowledge is limited.

God uses this tension, frustration, and burden to drive us to him. Jesus entered this miserable world, suffered rejection, and took the curse on himself. This gives us hope even when we suffer uncertainty and disappointment.

Because God is in control and works all things together for our good (Rom 8:28), we can be confident even amidst the futility and confusion. God works both prosperity and adversity into his plan. God mixes joy and pain to conform us into the image of Christ. We trust him because he is sovereign.

3. From mortality to resurrection

Ecclesiastes repeatedly reminds us that death cancels all our labor. Whatever we achieve or accumulate in this life, death renders it vanity (2:18–23; 3:19–20; 9:2–3).

Yet, because of Christ, the final word is not returning to the dust (Eccl 12:7; cf. Gen 3:17–20). Jesus delivered us from death and did not decay. He promises us eternal life and life to the full right now. Our ultimate hope is now resurrection. Thus, in Christ, our daily tasks (scrubbing dishes, changing diapers) become meaningful, as acts of faithfulness in his kingdom (1 Cor 15:58; cf. Matt 25:14–30).

Yet our current mortality still urges us to remember our Creator in the days of our youth (Eccl 12:1). We must avoid postponing enjoyment or repentance. We should contemplate death because it makes life precious and drives us to live wisely. We only have a set number of days. We must seize them (see Eccl 2:24–26; 3:12–13; 5:18–20; 8:15; 9:7–10; 11:9–10).

4. The futility of idolatry

People seek fulfillment in created things rather than the Creator. Good things (pleasure, success, money) turn into bad things when they become ultimate things. We long for satisfaction that money, pleasure, success, learning, and politics cannot give. Solomon proved that hedonism, greed, and knowledge cannot satisfy (Eccl 2). They always disappoint and enslave us.

We can expose the emptiness of these pursuits—the hollowness of the American Dream itself. Scripture reveals that those who chase wealth will never have enough, will attract parasites, and will lose their sleep and security (Eccl 5:10–14).

Instead, fulfillment is found only in being united to Christ by faith. People pursue money, pleasure, and possessions, yet their hearts are still restless. Augustine captured this: “Thou hast made us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee.”⁸² Fully satisfied in our Creator, we find life everlasting and life to the full.

5. Oppression and injustice

Solomon repeatedly observes oppression throughout the book (e.g., Eccl 3:16; 4:1). The wicked prosper while the righteous suffer (7:15; 8:14). This reality of injustice feels unbearable—an agonizing absurdity of human existence “under the sun.”

Our longing for justice cries out for King Jesus. He will set all things right at the final judgment.

6. The final judgment

And that final judgment is our motivation to trust and obey God (Eccl 12:14).

The reality of judgment is meant to crush us. The Preacher makes it clear that we have all sinned and failed to keep God’s commands (Eccl 7:20; cf. 12:13). We are exposed sinners, and even our secret things will be brought to light (12:14; cf. Mark 4:21–23). Since the wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23), death comes to us all (Eccl 9:2). We face God’s disapproval.

But Christ rescues us by living the perfectly obedient life we failed to live. He took the curse of sin, futility, and death upon himself (Gal 3:13).

7. The fear of God

The true theological bridge from Ecclesiastes to Christ is found in the final instruction: “Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man” (Eccl 12:13). This fear of God relates directly to following Christ.

We approach God, not with manipulation or rote ritual, but with confident reverence (Eccl 5:1–7). Jesus, the better Priest and Sacrifice, tore the veil, giving us boldness to enter God’s presence. We must draw near, clinging to grace, serving God with reverence and awe (Heb 12:28–29). We obey, not to be accepted, but because we are already accepted in Christ.

8. The greater Solomon, true wisdom

Ecclesiastes looks forward to Jesus, who is the true and better Solomon (Matt 12:42). He perfectly embodies wisdom. The book cries out for a better King who can redeem creation from the curse.

Solomon himself is a negative type. He failed to establish the Davidic kingdom due to his idolatry and rebellion against the law. This failure points forward to the wise King promised in Isaiah 11—Jesus—who establishes his kingdom with wisdom.

Jesus is typified by the “poor wise man” who delivered the city by his wisdom but was despised and forgotten (Eccl 9:13–16). Jesus is the rejected Savior we scorn, the wisdom of God made foolishness to the world.

Likewise, the conclusion mentions that the words of the wise are given by the “One Shepherd” (Eccl 12:11). This title is used exclusively for the Messiah elsewhere in Scripture (Ezek 34:23).

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Practical advice for preaching Christ from Ecclesiastes

So how can we adopt a Christ-centered approach to preaching and teaching Ecclesiastes?

1. Exegetical: A faithful approach must be rooted in exposition. We must accurately teach the text.
2. Theological: We must ask key questions of every text: What does this teach about God? What does this teach about fallen man? How does this text point to Jesus?
3. Canonical: We must faithfully connect the themes of vanity (see above) to the gospel without forcing it. We show that where the Preacher finds failure and longing, Christ provides fulfillment.

Although we prioritize content—imparting knowledge and truth (Eccl 12:9–10)—delivery is also important. Preachers should avoid the following mistakes:

1. Dullness: Do not bore people with the Bible. Preaching should be “logic on fire”—eloquent reason combined with spiritual passion.
2. Self-help: Do not offer mere “moral or psychological pep talks.” Do not linger too long at the “Vanity Fair of Knowledge”; the goal is spiritual action leading to Christlikeness.
3. Legalism: Do not teach that pleasure should be avoided. God is not a “cosmic killjoy.” He created sex, food, and drink to be enjoyed as gifts. We must teach people to enjoy these gifts rightly (without turning them into idols), satisfied in Christ alone (e.g., Eccl 2:24–25). In Christ, we are satisfied and enjoy God’s gifts. This joy is a gift of grace.

Conclusion

Ecclesiastes teaches us that we must turn from our vanity and find our rest and meaning in the One Shepherd, Jesus Christ, who came to “make his blessings flow far as the curse is found,” as Isaac Watts’s hymn put it. In this way, by directing us to Christ, Ecclesiastes shapes Christian worship, gratitude, and hope.

Share your thoughts

How would you preach Christ from Ecclesiastes? Join us in Word by Word group to share your thoughts.

Resources for preaching Christ from Ecclesiastes

Exalting Jesus in Ecclesiastes (Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary | CCE)

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Preaching Christ from Ecclesiastes: Foundations for Expository Sermons

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The Christ of Wisdom: A Redemptive-Historical Exploration of the Wisdom Books of the Old Testament

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Hearing the Message of Ecclesiastes: Questioning Faith in a Baffling World

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Proverbs & Ecclesiastes (Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible | BTC)

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Recovering Eden: The Gospel according to Ecclesiastes (Gospel according to the Old Testament)

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Living Life Backward: How Ecclesiastes Teaches Us to Live in Light of the End

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Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs Expository Preaching Kit, S

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• What Is the Meaning of “Vanity” in Ecclesiastes?
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• Top Preaching Tools & Resources That Belong in a Pastor’s Library

Christianity would not exist without the belief of the earliest Christians that God raised Jesus from the dead. As the Apostle Paul famously declared: “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins” (1 Cor 15:17 NRSV).

But for many Christians, the importance of the resurrection seems simply to be that it validates the more fundamental saving work of Christ, namely, his atoning death on the cross. While the cross is indeed absolutely central to how Christ saves, the earliest apostolic teaching in the book of Acts gives Jesus’s resurrection pride of place in how God accomplishes salvation.

What follows are four reasons—drawn from the apostolic sermons in Acts—why the resurrection is foundational to the Christian faith.

Table of contents

1. The confirmation of Jesus
2. The enthronement of Christ
3. The outpouring of the Spirit
4. The reign of the king
Conclusion

1. The confirmation of Jesus

Acts teaches that Jesus’s resurrection confirms his identity, life, and ministry as truthful revelation from God.

One of the constant refrains in the apostolic speeches is that “you crucified Jesus of Nazareth” but “God has raised him up.” As Peter says to the Sanhedrin, “The God of our ancestors raised up Jesus, whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree” (Acts 5:30). The Jewish leaders made a deeply inaccurate assessment of Jesus’s identity when they handed him over to the Romans to be “killed by the hands of those outside the law” (2:23). They not only allowed an innocent man to be crucified, they also rejected “a man attested to you by God with deeds of power, wonders, and signs that God did through him among you” (2:22).

The fact that it is the God of Israel—or as Peter says, “The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our ancestors” (Acts 3:13)—who has resurrected Jesus from the dead means that to speak of God is now forever to speak of him as the one who raised Jesus. In other words, Jesus’s teachings and actions are not simply those of a righteous man or a prophet. Rather, they are the truthful revelation of God himself.

This is why the apostolic speeches always include a call to repentance—a repentance grounded in a new assessment of Jesus’s identity. The apostolic speeches often acknowledge that the Jewish leaders rejected Jesus in ignorance (e.g., Acts 3:17), but now that God’s resurrection has provided public testimony that Jesus is indeed the Messiah and Son of God, there is no excuse for refusing to embrace Jesus as the “author of life, whom God raised from the dead” (3:15).

2. The enthronement of Christ

Second, in Acts, the resurrection is the event whereby Jesus takes his seat in heaven next to the Father as the eternal Davidic and messianic king.

Recall the promise the angel Gabriel made to Mary in the Gospel of Luke: Her child would be the Son of God who would receive authority to rule over Israel, seated forever on “the throne of his ancestor David”; he would “reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end” (Luke 1:32–33). Acts, Luke’s second volume, explains how God gives Jesus the throne of David.

Jesus commissions his disciples to stay in Jerusalem in order to receive the Holy Spirit who will empower their mission. Immediately after, he ascends into heaven. In fact, in a span of just a few verses, Acts repeats four times that Jesus is now “in heaven” (Acts 1:9–11).

What does this mean? Is Jesus’s physical absence from earth bad news for the disciples? To the contrary. In the first major apostolic speech, Peter explains the meaning of Jesus’s resurrection and ascension into heaven: It is indeed good news for the disciples and for the world, for this is the event whereby Jesus is established as the eternal messianic king.

In Acts 2:22–36, Peter engages in a fairly complex interpretation of the Old Testament, specifically the Psalter, to show how Jesus’s resurrection and ascension are the means whereby God installs Jesus as the messianic king in heaven. First, Peter interprets Psalm 16 as the words of David about the coming Davidic Messiah. Before quoting the psalm at length, Peter notes, “For David says concerning him” (Acts 2:25). He then quotes Psalm 16:8–11:

I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand so that I will not be shaken; therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; moreover my flesh will live in hope. For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One experience corruption. You have made known to me the way of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence. (Acts 2:25–28)

Peter emphasizes that David is not speaking about himself. Why? Because David’s tomb is public knowledge to all in Jerusalem (Acts 2:29). David’s body has experienced the corruption of death! So Peter declares David must be speaking prophetically of someone else.

Moreover, David knew that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would put one of his “descendants on the throne” (Acts 2:30). It is not David but David’s descendant—Jesus the resurrected Messiah—who has not been abandoned to Hades or experienced corruption (2:31). The resurrection and heavenly ascension is how God makes good on his promise to David in 2 Samuel 7:12: “I will raise up after you your seed, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.”

Jesus’s resurrection is not a resuscitation or a mere return to mortal existence, then, but the event whereby Jesus reigns over God’s kingdom and shares God’s throne. And this is exactly what Peter declares when he draws upon the words of David once more:

For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, “The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.’” (Acts 2:34–35, quoting Ps 110:1)

David spoke, looking forward to a day when his own descendant, Jesus the Messiah, would be resurrected and exalted at the right hand of the Father as “Lord and Messiah” over his people (Acts 2:36).

In sum, David prophesies of a descendant who will live in God’s presence forever, never experiencing death. God’s resurrection of Jesus the Messiah is that event whereby God exalts the son of David to the right hand of the Father in heaven.

3. The outpouring of the Spirit

Third, according to Acts, the resurrection was necessary for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

The complexity of Peter’s speech in Acts 2:22–36 could distract us from why he began it in the first place: what had just taken place at Pentecost. As the believers are gathered together, a remarkable event transpires: “Suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind” (2:2), a theophany, whereby the Holy Spirit is poured out upon the people, enabling them to speak about the mighty acts of God in other languages (2:3–4). Jews from every corner of the diaspora are present in Jerusalem to hear these Galileans testify to God’s work in their own languages (2:9–11). Recall that Jesus had twice reminded his disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the promise from the Father, namely, the Holy Spirit (1:4, 8). Jesus had reminded them of the words of John the Baptist, spoken in the Gospel of Luke, that “you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now” (1:5; Luke 3:16; cf. Mark 1:8).

Yet this event required interpretation. “All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, ‘What does this mean?’ But others sneered and said, ‘They are filled with new wine’” (Acts 2:12–13). So Peter explains that the very first act of the risen Messiah, now enthroned in heaven, was this outpouring of the Holy Spirit. At the high point of his sermon, he declares,

Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he [Jesus] has poured out this that you both see and hear. (Acts 2:33)

In this we see the close connection between the resurrection of Jesus and the work of the Spirit. For example, later when Peter and John heal the lame man sitting at the gate of the temple, Peter declares that this healing occurred in “the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth” (Acts 3:6). Peter explains that the exalted Jesus has enabled him to heal the lame man (3:13). The right response from those who hear is to turn to God so that they too might experience “times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord” (3:20). These “times of refreshing” almost certainly refer to the risen Messiah’s ability to share saving blessings with his people through the work of the Spirit.

4. The reign of the king

Fourth, the Acts narrative shows that Jesus’s resurrection means that he is alive and active to accomplish his kingdom work.

Since Jesus is resurrected and ascended to heaven, he is physically absent from his people who await his return (Acts 1:9–11). But Acts is emphatic: Jesus is alive and powerfully present in the world to establish his kingdom.

• We have just seen that the risen Jesus has sent the Spirit upon his people to empower their mission (Acts 1:4–8; 2:1–21, 33). Likewise, when the disciples pray for strength in the face of great suffering, Jesus sends the Spirit to empower them with boldness and great signs “in the name of his holy servant Jesus” (Acts 4:30; emphasis added).
• As Stephen is put to death, he receives a vision of Jesus standing at the right hand of God, indicating that even in the face of suffering, Jesus is present with and vindicates his faithful witnesses (Acts 7:55–60).
• The church’s sense of awe and wonder, incredible unity, and hospitality toward one another come from the powerful presence of Jesus (Acts 2:42–47; 4:32–35; 5:12–16).
• The risen Jesus accomplishes his kingdom work by calling and commissioning his witnesses to move into new geographical territories. Both Paul and Peter receive visions from the risen Christ that call them to share the gospel with new peoples and in new territories (Acts 9:1–16). When Acts notes that Peter has a vision “from heaven” (10:9–16), we know that this is a Christophany, given the emphasis on Jesus’s heavenly location. Peter’s vision of the risen Christ results in the salvation of Cornelius’s household and marks the start of the mission to the gentiles.
• Finally, having raised him from the dead, God appointed Jesus the judge of the world (Acts 17:31).

Conclusion

We understand now why the apostles are to be witnesses of what God has done in Jesus (Acts 1:8), especially in raising him from the dead (1:21–25). Throughout Acts, the Spirit of the risen Jesus enables them to proclaim “God’s deeds of power” to people in every language under heaven (2:11).

More than two thousand years later, the identity and task of the church remains the same. As those who worship the risen and ascended messianic king, we—with the apostles—continue to testify to what God has done and what God continues to do through the Spirit of the risen Christ.

Share your thoughts

Why do you think the apostles in Acts gave so much attention to the resurrection and enthronement of Christ? Join us in Word by Word group to share your thoughts.

Joshua Jipp’s suggested resources for further study

• Pao, David W. Acts and the Isaianic New Exodus. WUNT 2.130. Mohr Siebeck, 2000.

The Acts of the Risen Lord Jesus: Luke’s Account of God’s Unfolding Plan (New Studies in Biblical Theology | NSBT)

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Genesis 6:6–7 says that God “regretted” making humanity. This seems to imply divine change, sorrow, or even error. But how can God regret anything if he is all-knowing, unchanging, and perfectly wise?

In this episode of What in the Word?, Kirk E. Miller is joined by Wyatt Graham to unpack the theological and interpretive challenges of Genesis 6:5–8. Together, they explore the role of anthropopathism in Scripture and answer questions like, Does God experience emotion? Can he change his mind? And how should pastors faithfully teach such texts?

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Episode guest: Wyatt Graham

Wyatt Graham (PhD) serves as the Academic Dean of Carey Theological College. You can follow him at www.wyattgraham.com.

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Episode synopsis

Kirk E. Miller welcomes Wyatt Graham to address one of Scripture’s more jarring moments: Genesis 6:6–7 describes God as “regretting” that he made humanity and being “grieved” in his heart. This language appears to ascribe human-like emotional disturbance in God, possible changes in his intentions or inner state, and an implicit admission that God had made a “mistake.” The passage raises theological questions:

• Does divine “repentance” conflict with the doctrine of immutability (God does not change)?
• Does regret imply God made an error?
• How can an all-knowing God regret an action he knew he would take?
• Does God’s grief conflict with the doctrine of divine impassibility (God is not subject to fluctuating emotional states)?

A tension presented by Scripture itself

Genesis 6:6–7 confronts us with two intense verbs to describe God’s action: regret (נחם) and grieve (עצב).

A tension emerges as we examine Scripture’s testimony. Some passages, like Genesis 6:6–7, seem to state that God changes in some respect (e.g., Exod 32:14). Yet others assert God’s stability:

• “I the LORD do not change” (Mal 3:6)
• “God is not man … that he should change his mind” (Num 23:19)
• God is “the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change” (Jas 1:17)
• The heavens and earth change, but “you [God] are the same” (Ps 102:27)

In fact, within 1 Samuel 15 itself, the same Hebrew word for regret (נחם) is used in two different ways:

• God “regrets” making Saul king (v. 11)
• Yet God “will not … have regret” (v. 29)

Thus, the Bible itself pushes us to ask: How should we read these two kinds of statements in light of each other? Are they contradictory, or is something else happening?

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The connection between promise and judgment (Gen 5–6)

Before resolving this theological tension, Wyatt highlights the literary context, particularly some lexical repetition in the Hebrew text of Genesis that proves foundational for properly understanding Genesis 6.

Genesis 5:29 records Lamech naming his son Noah (נֹחַ) and explaining the name with a promise: this child “shall bring us relief (נחם)⁸³ from our work (מַעֲשֶׂה) and from the painful toil (עִצָּבוֹן) of our hands” because God had cursed “the ground (אֲדָמָה).” This language then reappears—carefully and intentionally—in Genesis 6:6–7, where God regretted (נחם) and was grieved (עצב) that he had made (עשׂה) humanity (אָדָם).⁸⁴ (Additionally, Noah’s name in Genesis 6:8 [נֹחַ] visually mirrors the Hebrew word for “favor” [חֵן], also found in Gen 6:8, creating another possible wordplay.)

The deliberate replay of all this vocabulary signals that Genesis 6 is narratively connected to the promise about Noah in Genesis 5:29. Genesis 6 explains the fulfillment of the promise that God would bring relief and rest through Noah. But that “relief” comes in a surprising way: through the flood. God’s judgment removes persistent evil and creates a fresh beginning through Noah. Yet there’s an element of substitution here: If God promises relief from pain (עִצָּבוֹן), it’s interesting that God himself feels that pain (עצב).

This in part helps explain the shocking vocabulary used in Genesis 6:6–7. The intentional parallels with Genesis 5:29 demonstrate that the choice of verbs in Genesis 6:6–7 is not owing to a standalone theological statement about God’s emotional life. It is part of a larger literary strategy to connect these adjacent passages.

The flood as relief through God’s patient judgment

It’s also important to observe that the world of Genesis 6 is not a place of minor misbehavior. It is the climax of generations of escalating wickedness (Gen 4–5). Human violence and corruption saturate the earth. See especially the sin of the “daughters of men” with the “sons of God” immediately preceding the flood event. As Wyatt emphasizes, God is not portrayed as having a short fuse (see also Exod 34:6–7; 2 Pet 3:4–9). The genealogy of chapter 5 shows centuries of patient restraint. This is not a portrait of an impulsive deity but of a morally serious God responding consistently to the entrenched evil of humanity.

Likewise, in this context, we see that Noah “found favor [grace]” in God’s eyes (Gen 6:8). God’s act of judgment—the flood—becomes simultaneously an act of salvation, a theme echoed later in 1 Peter 3:18–22. God judges evil in order to deliver. Noah becomes God’s instrument through whom the promised “rest” arrives, but not by God ignoring evil. Instead, by decisively addressing it. Additionally, 2 Peter 2:5 may indicate that God, through Noah, actually offered salvation to others.

Thus, the flood reveals both the severity of God’s opposition to evil and the surprising way God brings relief (salvation) through judgment.

Scripture speaks of God in different modes

God is spirit (John 4:24). God is invisible (John 1:18; Rom 1:20; Col 1:15; 1 Tim 1:17; 6:16). Thus, according to classical Christian theism, Christians have historically affirmed that God is “simple,” not composed of parts. He is unchanging (Mal 3:6; Jas 1:17), outside of the order of creation and change. So he is impassible, meaning he is not internally disquieted or disordered by forces acting upon him. As Wyatt explains elsewhere,

Historically, Christians affirmed impassibility to show how the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob differed from the Greek gods like Zeus, Hermes, and Poseidon. Our God does not follow his lusts and passions due to his created flesh. He cannot because he is the Creator, not the creature.⁸⁵

Yet other Scriptures speak of God having nostrils (e.g., Exod 15:8), that he is “long of nose” (Exod 34:6), his “arm” saves (Isa 59:1), his “eyes” examine the world (2 Chron 16:9), his “feet” are on earth (Isa 66:1), etc.

As Wyatt explains, comparing these types of passages, we see that Scripture speaks of God in two modes:

1. Passages describing God’s nature as he is
2. Passages describing God’s actions as if he were human and creaturely

These former descriptions should be given theological priority in the sense of speaking more directly about God as he exists in himself. The latter passages should be interpreted as figural, since they result in absurdity and contradict the former set of passages if taken literally. We do not actually think God possesses literal fleshly organs.

That said, these latter passages communicate true things about God, so we should not discard them as if they were untrue. The figural language accurately communicates what God intends us to know (e.g., he really opposes evil). But we must interpret it through the lens of divine accommodation: God describes himself in ways that are very human-like so that we can better understand him. Historically, Christians have not treated these two sets of passages as competing but as complementary, each revealing truths about God in different ways.

These interpretive sensibilities apply to passages that speak of divine regret. This “regret” tells us how God relates to sinful humanity, not how God’s inner emotional life shifts.

Scripture’s use of anthropopathism

For instance, Scripture often describes God in ways that are:

• Anthropomorphic: Passages speak of God with human bodily features (eyes, nose, arm)
• Anthropopathic: Passages speak of God with human emotional experiences (regret, grief)

So John Calvin explains Genesis 6:6–7 as an instance of anthropopathism:

The repentance which is here ascribed to God does not properly belong to him, but has reference to our understanding of him. For since we cannot comprehend him as he is, it is necessary that, for our sake, he should, in a certain sense, transform himself. That repentance cannot take place in God, easily appears from this single consideration, that nothing happens which is by him unexpected or unforeseen.

The same reasoning, and remark, applies to what follows, that God was affected with grief. Certainly God is not sorrowful or sad; but remains forever like himself in his celestial and happy repose: yet, because it could not otherwise be known how great is God’s hatred and detestation of sin, therefore the Spirit accommodates himself to our capacity.

Wherefore … it is obvious to what end these words of repentance and grief are applied; namely, to teach us … that God was so offended by the atrocious wickedness of men, as if they had wounded his heart with mortal grief. … God, in order more effectually to pierce our hearts, clothes himself with our affections.⁸⁶

God “clothes himself with our affections” so that we might understand the incomprehensible: God.

The grief and regret language in Genesis 6 thus expresses something real: God’s moral opposition to sin and his deep commitment to righteousness. But it does not suggest inner turmoil or divine instability. Rather, this “grief” is an accommodated expression of God’s consistent holiness, justice, and committed love for his creation.

The change occurs in humanity, not God

Consider those passages that state that God relents of judgment (e.g., Jer 18:7–10; see also Jonah 3). The point of these passages is not that God internally changes. God is always (unchangingly) just. What changes is the people.

God speaks conditionally about judgment and blessing:

• When a people rebels, God issues judgment.
• But if a people repents, God relents from the disaster he otherwise intended to bring upon them.

God is always just. God is always merciful. Humans move toward or away from these fixed aspects of God’s character. Thus, the same God appears differently depending on human behavior, just as the same sun both hardens clay and melts wax.

Modern alternatives: open theism and softened immutability

Wyatt briefly outlines modern proposals that diverge from classical theism.

First, open theism maintains that God genuinely undergoes emotional changes and does not possess exhaustive knowledge of future free actions. Divine regret is real-time disappointment. This view aims to preserve genuine human freedom, a divine love that is risk-taking, and theodicy—that man, and not God, is fully to blame for evil.

Second, some evangelicals maintain that God’s being and purposes are unchanging, but his “emotional life” can fluctuate in real-time relational response. These are honest attempts to take seriously those parts of Scripture that speak of God in terms of emotions or change.

The pastoral importance of God’s immutability and impassibility

Wyatt offers two critiques to these views. First, historically, these views stand in stark contrast to the unanimous teaching of the early church through the Reformation.

But second, and more pastorally, according to Wyatt, the above models risk undermining the believer’s confidence that God is a stable refuge—always loving, always good, and never destabilized by shifting moods. According to Wyatt, God’s impassibility and immutability are vital for Christian comfort. If God were passible in the human sense, he might react impulsively; his love could waver with our failures; his mercy could dry up under emotional strain; his patience might wear thin. But because God is unchanging, believers have a rock-solid assurance:

• God’s love is unwavering.
• God’s mercy is not fragile.
• God’s patience is not depleted by our sin.
• God is never moody, erratic, or unpredictable.
• God is always who he is, eternally and perfectly.

Launch a tailored study on doctrines like God’s unchangingness with Logos’s Factbook. Start your free trial!

Immutability and Christ’s incarnation

But does God change in the incarnation, wherein God becomes what he was not: human?

No. Orthodox Christology confesses that God the Son, even as he takes on human nature, remains truly God, i.e., unchanged with respect to his divine nature. In fact, if God’s divine essence were to change, such as a mixing of the human and divine natures, the incarnation would collapse into heresy and a Christ who could not save. Only one who is both truly God and truly man can save. Thus, only an immutable God who takes on human nature without ceasing to be God can save.

This reinforces why immutability and impassibility are not abstract philosophical ideas. They protect the truth that Jesus Christ is both truly God and truly man—and with it our salvation.

How to preach and teach Genesis 6:6–7 responsibly

When Kirk asks how to preach this passage, Wyatt gives what might be a surprising answer: Preach it the way Scripture presents it. Let the text speak with its full emotional force. Genesis 6 is meant to “pierce our hearts,” as Calvin says. Do not soften the language of “grieve” and “regret” so much that it loses its application. We don’t want to so explain away a text that we “defang” it from being able to reach people’s hearts. Sometimes we can so qualify a difficult part of Scripture that our listeners walk away knowing what it doesn’t mean but unsure of what it does mean. We don’t want to be so “theological” that we can no longer teach the Bible!

That said, pastors should in their full teaching ministry teach on doctrines that safeguard God’s unchanging goodness. This may not be necessary in every sermon on the passage, but it is important over one’s ministry to teach the church important doctrines like immutability and impassibility so that they are not prone to misunderstand a text like Genesis 6:6–7.

Finally, show the flow of the narrative: generations of evil prompt divine judgment, yet God also preserves Noah and extends grace.

Logos values thoughtful and engaging discussions on important biblical topics. However, the views and interpretations presented in this episode are those of the individuals speaking and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Logos. We recognize that Christians may hold different perspectives on this passage, and we welcome diverse engagement and respectful dialogue.

Let us know what you think

What do you make of Genesis 6:5–8? Join us in the Word by Word group to share your thoughts.

Wyatt Graham’s recommended books

• Weinandy, Thomas. Does God Change? Studies in Historical Theology. St. Bede’s Press, 2002.
• Gavrilyuk, Paul L. The Suffering of the Impassible God: The Dialectics of Patristic Thought. Oxford Early Christian Studies. Oxford University Press, 2004. 

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Women are crucial to the mission of God. From the beginning, women were created by God as co-image bearers with men to carry the reign of God to the ends of the earth (Gen 1:26–28).⁸⁷

While women represent a relatively small percentage of named people in Scripture,⁸⁸ their stories and presence are strategic to its plot structure and in advancing redemption history. Many of the women have been overlooked and some have been wrongfully vilified. Yet the Bible provides a cohesive narrative that includes women, in addition to men, as essential to God’s mission from creation and Eden onward. As we evaluate the accounts of women in the Bible, three theological themes emerge:

1. Women are strategically placed in Scripture to initiate or advance key movements in redemption history.⁸⁹
2. God overturns humanity’s false perceptions of power through the reversal of expectations.
3. The treatment of women serves as a barometer reflecting the moral character of a man or society, signaling the rise or decline of a leader, community, or nation.⁹⁰

Across generations and through a diverse cast of characters, we are led unflinchingly from God’s “very good” creation through the realities of human brokenness. The stories in the Bible, especially those of women, include beauty and triumph, as well as pain and trauma. Yet even these point us toward a beautiful hope, the restoration of harmony and the ultimate promise of shalom between God and his creation and between one another.

Within this unfolding drama, women are purposefully placed in Scripture to teach us, lead us, and guide us toward God’s grace and love for all humanity. Their stories are not incidental. They are revelatory. When humans, men and women, collaborate with God and each other for the good of an individual and society, blessings flow. When women are silenced or demeaned, the lives of those responsible begin to unravel.

Many more stories of women and girls, named and unnamed, prominent and overlooked, reveal their importance in God’s mission through the Old Testament and into the New. In this article, we’ll highlight some of the key women in Scripture and the themes that emerge from their stories.⁹¹

God’s original design for men and women

The way a book begins sets the stage for how to read the rest of the book.

The Bible opens with creation through God, who acts alone for the good and blessing of all his creation. The creation account shapes Scripture’s view of women. God creates humanity as his image (צֶלֶם) and likeness (דְּמוּת), as male and female, so that they may rule over the living creatures (Gen 1:26–28). Everything that God makes in creation is good, and in the end result, “very good.” The sevenfold repetition of “good” underscores goodness as the essence of God’s being (Gen 1:31).

The image of God as male and female (Gen 1)

The divine purpose of men and women created as God’s image establishes them as co-heirs, “vice-regents,” assigned to spread God’s goodness and blessings throughout his creation (Gen 1:26–28).⁹² The biblical understanding of what it means to be created in the image of God starkly contrasts the importance of humanity with the rituals and practices of the ancient Near East (ANE).

Outside ancient Israel, from Egypt to Mesopotamia, images (idols or statues) were predominantly made of two kinds of beings: gods or kings/rulers. These surrounding cultures crafted idols of bronze, stone, clay, or precious metals. The idol was considered the very image of the god it represented. After an idol was formed, it was frequently brought into a garden or to a stream to conduct rituals to bring it to life, beginning with the “washing of the mouth” and “opening of the mouth” ceremony so it could eat and speak.⁹³ A final ritual was the “opening of the eyes” vivification ceremony, in which the idol was inhabited by the spiritual entity, thereby becoming a god. In Genesis 3:5, we recognize the serpent’s language of “your eyes will be open” as he tempts the woman and man to no longer worship or obey Yahweh as God, but rather to be gods themselves.

The second kind of being that had an image (idol or statue) made of themselves were kings or rulers. Kings were often considered gods, representatives of a chosen national deity. The statues of these kings (think, for example, of the statues you’ve seen of Ramses II) represented the king himself, the deity behind that ruler, and the government of the king. The way a person treated the statue was understood as treating the king in the same way.⁹⁴ Caring for the statue well and bringing it gifts were taken as acts of treating the king well. Mistreatment of the statue was taken as abusing the king himself! Daniel Fleming helpfully points out, “Read in light of the Bible’s abhorrence of images, Gen 1:26 proposes that humanity itself, male and female, represent the only acceptable statues of God. The only legitimate representation of the Creator has been made by himself.”⁹⁵ In other words, God takes personally the way we treat every person, and the way we are treated by others!

Humanity did not lose our image-bearing of God after the first rebellion or after the flood. God sees every human being as bearing the dignity and value of himself. Mistreatment of a fellow human is a personal affront against God. Jesus expresses the same understanding, that he takes personally the way we treat every other human being: “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me. … just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me” (Matt 25:40, 45). Any reading of Scripture that ignores this foundational understanding corrupts God’s missional purpose.

The sacred partnership between man and woman (Gen 2)

Genesis 2 expands upon the directive for humanity to image God as his royal children, together as male and female. After installing humanity as priests in God’s first earthly sanctuary in Eden, two sets of words provide imagery to help us understand God’s vision for how they are to function together as his vice-regents.

The first word-picture for God’s intended relationship between man and woman occurs in Genesis 2:18–20. After God tells the man it is “not good” to be alone, he says he will make an עֵ֖זֶר כְּנֶגְדֹּֽו, generally translated something like, “helper, counterpart.” Although עֵזֶר is almost always translated as helper or help, this misleads most readers into thinking the woman is subsidiary, an assistant, less important than the man. However, עֵזֶר occurs twenty-one times in the Hebrew Bible: sixteen of those instances, עֵזֶר refers to God, the Lord, as our help. The other three times, outside of Genesis 2:18, 20, עֵזֶר refers to combatants in a military conflict. עֵזֶר could more fittingly be translated as “powerful partners standing side by side,” a strong ally who has come alongside someone in need. The provision of woman was no inferior or subordinate action.

The second word-picture provided to instruct us regarding God’s intention for the relationship between man and woman occurs in Genesis 2:21–22, when Yahweh God built the woman from the side (צֵלָע) of the man. This word, צֵלָע, occurs forty times in the Hebrew Bible. Only in Genesis 2:21–22 is צֵלָע rendered as rib in most English translations. In the rest of the Hebrew Bible, צֵלָע is generally translated as side, and not just any word for side. צֵלָע is a special architectural term. Interestingly, even Genesis 2:22 uses the verb בנה, meaning “to build,” which is also an architectural term.

So, what is the Bible getting at here? Genesis 2 describes the woman as a צֵלָע: built as the side of the man. Of the forty times צֵלָע occurs in the Hebrew Bible, thirty-six times it refers to the sides of sacred structures:

• The side supporting walls of the temple walls and entrance (1 Kgs 6:5, 8, 15 [2x], 34; Ezek 41:5, 6 [4x], 7, 8, 9 [2x], 11, 26)
• The side structures of the tabernacle (Exod 26:20, 26, 27 [2x]; 36:25, 31, 32)
• The sides of the holy of holies (1 Kgs 6:16)
• The sides of the ark of the covenant (Exod 25:12 [2x], 14; 26:35 [2x]; 37:3 [2x], 5)
• The sides of the altar of incense (Exod 30:4; 37:27)
• The sides of the altar of burnt offerings (Exod 27:7; 38:7)

What do these have in common? Each of these is a holy place where God makes his presence known. The sides of each of these are crafted to fit together for God’s sacred purposes. Likewise, God crafted man and woman to work side-by-side as powerful partners, manifesting God’s presence and fulfilling God’s purposes in the earth.

The rebellion that arose in Genesis 3 separated man from woman and broke down their relationship as sacred space representing God as co-heirs. This breaking ushered in conflict, chaos, and grief, obscuring the mission God intended for humanity. Yet the plans of God since creation to accomplish his will through men and women working together to bring God’s goodness and blessing to the world remain unchanged. The coming of Christ brought a new chance, a new hope: reconciliation to God and with one another.

Women in the Old Testament

Eve

The first woman in the Bible, Eve (meaning “life,” see Gen 3:20), received her name after she and Adam (meaning “human”) chose to believe the serpent’s words over God’s (Gen 3:1–6). When they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they disobeyed Yahweh’s command to eat from all the trees of the garden, except for that tree. God had warned that if they took from that tree, they would cut themselves off from the life of God. Disobedience meant choosing to be their own gods, making decisions independently from Yahweh.

Although the consequences of disobedience meant exile from the garden of Eden, God gave them a promise. Their actions appointed enmity between the serpent and the woman, and between its “seed” (offspring) and her “seed.” Yet one day the seed of woman would crush the serpent’s head (Gen 3:15).

Although Eve was the first woman to fail, she was also the first woman of faith, advancing the movement of redemption history. In exile from Eden, after her first son Cain killed his brother Abel, Eve later bore another son and named him Seth, meaning “appointed.” She said, “God has appointed to me another child [seed] in the place of Abel, because Cain killed him” (Gen 4:25). Eve remembered God’s promise and believed that through this child God would continue his plan. From Seth’s line would eventually come the Messiah.⁹⁶

Sarah and Hagar

The next key woman, Sarah, also demonstrated failure and faith, as did Abraham. She initially took matters into her own hands by trying to obtain a son through her servant Hagar (Gen 16), and then oppressed Hagar once she was pregnant (Gen 21:8–21).

Later, however, she believed God for the impossible. When Sarah was ninety years old, she had been barren all her life and was long past childbearing; now her womb was dead. Yet, God promised that she herself would bear a son with Abraham, saying, “Is anything too difficult for Yahweh?” (Gen 18:14). Sarah believed God’s word, realizing that having a child of her own meant bringing life from death, moving another step closer to the one who would crush the head of the serpent.

Rebekah, Leah, and Rachel

Sarah’s son Isaac married Rebekah, who began in faith. She willingly left her father’s household to go to a land she did not know in order to marry a man she had never met (Gen 24). Rebekah, like Sarah, experienced barrenness. After Isaac prayed for her, she gave birth to twins, Esau and Jacob (Gen 25:21–26).

Although she believed God’s word that the younger twin, Jacob, would carry on the family line, she used deception to make it happen and taught her son to deceive (Gen 27). But Jacob later met his match in his father-in-law, Laban, father of Leah and Rachel. Through deception, Laban forced Jacob to marry both of his daughters, even though Jacob loved Rachel (Gen 29).

Rachel remained barren for many years, but eventually bore two sons, Joseph (Gen 30:22–24) and Benjamin (Gen 35:16–18). Leah bore six sons before Rachel had her children (Gen 29:31–30:21). With the birth of her first three sons, Leah hoped that each one would draw Jacob’s love toward her (Gen 29:31–34). But when her fourth son, Judah, was born, she simply said, “This time I will praise Yahweh” (Gen 29:35). Through Judah, the lineage of the Messiah continued.

Dinah

Genesis speaks of only one daughter of Jacob, named Dinah, through Leah. After Jacob returned to Canaan with his family, they settled outside of a city called Shechem, where Abraham had once built an altar to Yahweh, and bought a piece of land from Hamor, the ruler of the region (Gen 12:1–7; 33:18–20). Dinah went to the city to try to meet other young women there (Gen 34:1). Tragically, the son of Hamor, also named Shechem, saw Dinah, took her, and sexually debased her. He then wanted desperately to marry her. Hamor and Shechem went to Jacob to make this request and offer whatever Jacob demanded (Gen 34:2–13).

Jacob’s sons Simeon and Levi got involved, and through deception, murdered all the men of the city in revenge and plundered the city, taking the city’s wealth, women, and children. The return of evil for evil by Simeon and Levi brings greater shame and fear, as the family flees to escape reprisal from the surrounding towns. Tragically, through all the many conversations, Dinah’s voice is never heard. She is silenced.

Although Dinah’s name means “judged,” or “vindicated,” she was never vindicated. Her story exposed the ugly side of her father’s lack of care toward her. We never hear of Dinah again, except in the genealogy of Leah. Dinah lived and died alone and childless. Never once did the men of her family seek her thoughts or voice. The divisiveness festers in Jacob’s family and nearly destroys them (Gen 37–50). The hope for a messiah through the line of Abraham lay in the balance.

Tamar

Judah, however, is portrayed as a scoundrel in the earlier part of his life. After helping orchestrate the betrayal of his half-brother Joseph and selling him into slavery, Judah and the other brothers deceived their father Jacob by presenting Joseph’s robe covered in goat’s blood as evidence of his death (Gen 37). When Jacob cried out saying that he would go to his death in grief, Judah left the family and lived among the Canaanites.

However, God had other plans for him. God worked through Judah’s Canaanite daughter-in-law Tamar, to confront Judah with his sins (Gen 38). Afterward, he returned to his family with Tamar and the twin sons. Tamar risked her life to pursue justice. Her bold actions prompted Judah’s transformation from abuser to protector (Gen 43). Judah’s acknowledgement of his failure when confronted by Tamar, and his change of behavior, signaled the rise of his character to prominence.⁹⁷ The youngest twin, Perez, continued the line that would lead to David and ultimately to the Messiah (Ruth 4:18–22; cf. 4:12; Matt 1:3).

Shiphrah, Puah, Jochebed, Miriam, and Pharaoh’s daughter

In the book of Exodus, women play a central role in the opening chapters. The Israelites were in grave danger after living many generations in Egypt. Pharaoh saw their rapidly growing population as a threat to Egyptian national security and sought to suppress them through slavery and the killing of their newborn boys. Yet it was women who first thwarted his plans. Two midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, refused to obey the Pharaoh’s command and spared the baby boys at great risk to their own lives. God honored their courage (Exod 1:15–22).

The exodus story continues with a Levite woman who sought to save her baby boy. She, her daughter, and Pharaoh’s daughter, whose names are not initially given, each risked their lives to save the slave baby (Exod 2:1–10). Later, we learn their names, except for Pharaoh’s daughter: the mother was Jochebed (6:20), the daughter was Miriam (e.g., 15:20; Num 26:59), and the baby was Moses. These women of different ages and social positions collaborated to rescue this baby. The Pharaoh’s perception of his power over the lives of the Israelite slaves is overturned through the reversal of expectations: the women were the first “freedom fighters” of the exodus.⁹⁸

Before Moses began his divine assignment to deliver the Israelites, his Midianite wife Zipporah also saved his life by fulfilling the covenant requirement of circumcision for their son, which Moses had neglected (Exod 4:24–26). Without the courage of these six women, Moses would not have survived to deliver the Israelites.

Much later, Miriam, now a prophetess and about ninety years old, led the Israelite women in a victory song and dance after their deliverance through the Sea of Reeds (Exod 15:20–21).

Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah

Another remarkable group appears in the five daughters of Zelophehad: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. Their father had died, and they had no brothers. Being unmarried, they were probably all under the age of sixteen. Realizing that the current law would leave them without an inheritance and erase their father’s name, they approached Moses, the high priest, and the leaders of the community at the entrance of the tent of meeting. They appealed to have the law changed so they could receive their father’s land. Moses took the case of these girls seriously and brought the matter before Yahweh. Yahweh declared that the daughters were right. Their father’s inheritance was to be given to them. The boldness of these girls changed the Torah for all Israel (Num 27:1–11; 36:1–13; Josh 17:3–6).

Rahab

After the death of Moses, Joshua was anointed to lead the Israelites into the promised land (Deut 34:5–8). Before entering, he sent two men to spy out the land. They were protected by Rahab, a Canaanite prostitute who demonstrated extraordinary faith by hiding the spies and helping them escape. Her courageous faith played a key role in Israel’s early victory and challenged common interpretations of the conquest narrative, overturning expectations that God has ethnic or national favorites. Rahab openly declared her faith in Yahweh and backed it with life-risking action. Her faith stands in stark contrast to Achan’s disobedience, an Israelite from the tribe of Judah. Rahab and her family were saved, while Achan and his family were buried (Josh 2, 7; see also 5:13–15). Rahab assimilated into the people of Israel, married Salmon, and became the mother of Boaz, the future husband of Ruth (Matt 1:5).

Deborah and Jael

The book of Judges follows Joshua’s death. During this era, the Israelites were led by judges who were responsible for resolving disputes according to the Torah and protecting the people from their enemies. The first judges were generally faithful, but the rest declined into increasing corruption.

One judge, however, stands out as exemplary: Deborah. She is only one of three people in the Old Testament called both a prophet and a judge, the others being Moses and Samuel (Deut 34:10; Exod 18:13–18; Judg 4:4; 1 Sam 3:20; 7:6, 15–17). Deborah, along with Jael, the Kenite, and General Barak, led Israel to victory and brought years of peace (Judg 4–5).

Jael also overturned the expectation in ancient war that women were victims of soldiers. Instead, the Canaanite general fell in defeat at the hands of Jael, who is praised in song (Judg 5:24–30). Deborah’s song of victory sets the theological trajectory for the rest of the book of Judges (see 5:1–31).⁹⁹

The Levite’s secondary wife

The book of Judges spirals downward into a moral morass as the Israelites move further and further away from Yahweh and the Torah. The final section is framed by these words, “In those days there was no king in Israel, and each one did what was right in his own eyes” (Judg 17:6; 21:25). Levitical priests were reduced to idolatry and forsook the Torah of God (Judg 17:7–18:31).

One particular Levite (Judg 19–21) mistreated his secondary wife, who tried to run back to her father. She was later collected by this Levite to bring her back to his home. On the way, they stopped in the town of Gibeah, in Benjamin. The horrific story echoes the language of abuse, informing the listener that Israel has become like Sodom and Gomorrah.¹⁰⁰ The Levite heartlessly throws his newly collected secondary wife out at night to a gang who abuse her all night.

In the morning, we hear the only recorded words the Levite spoke to her, “Get up, let us go!” but she was dead on the doorstep (Judg 19:28). The Levite cut her up and sent her body parts to the twelve tribes of Israel, and lied, seeking to make himself appear righteous and calling for holy war against the Benjaminites. This leads to civil war, the death of most of the Benjaminites and many others. To make matters still worse, the tribal leaders of Israel then sanctioned the kidnapping of young women in the town of Shiloh, all using the name of Yahweh to justify their horrific behaviors.

From the unwarranted sacrifice of Jephthah’s daughter to the close of the book of Judges, the egregious treatment of women signals that the leaders and the nation have abandoned God.

Naomi, Orpah, and Ruth

The book of Ruth is only one of two books in the Bible named after a woman. Its story takes place during the time of the judges. Naomi and her husband leave their hometown in Bethlehem during a famine and move to Moab, where their sons marry Moabite women, Ruth and Orpah. After the deaths of their husbands, the three women are left widowed and childless (Ruth 1:1–5).

Naomi hears that the famine in Bethlehem ended and decides to return home (Ruth 1:6–7). In one of the most moving speeches in Scripture, Ruth pledges her loyalty to Naomi, to her God, and to her people (1:8–18). Ruth is portrayed as a woman of covenant loyalty (חֶסֶד, hesed), mirroring God’s own character, and she is described as a woman of valor (Ruth 3:10–11; cf. Prov 31:10).

Her initiative becomes the turning point in the plot, subverting the social order by lecturing Boaz, who essentially responds that “he was the servant of Ruth, the destitute Moabite widow” (Ruth 3).¹⁰¹ Boaz, a relative of Naomi, marries Ruth as a kinsman-redeemer (Ruth 4). Their son, Obed, becomes the grandfather of King David, further advancing redemption history (4:17).

Hannah

First Samuel opens with the story of Hannah. After years of barrenness, her impassioned prayer and vow led God to grant her a son, Samuel, who became the crucial leader in Israel’s transition to a monarchy. Hannah’s prayer resonates throughout that God overturns human pride and power, lifts up the humble and works his ways through the overlooked (1 Sam 2:1–10). It anticipates themes later echoed in Mary’s Magnificat (Luke 1:46–55).

Michal, Abigail, and Bathsheba

Second Samuel begins with the death of Saul and the rise of David as king (2 Sam 1:1–2:7). Among David’s wives, three are particularly well known: Michal, Saul’s daughter (1 Sam 18:20–29; 19:11–17; 2 Sam 3:13–16; 6:16–23); Abigail, the wise widow of Nabal (1 Sam 25:2–42; 2 Sam 2:2; 3:3); and Bathsheba, the mother of Solomon.

Bathsheba is often wrongfully vilified and sexualized, yet the biblical narrative portrays Bathsheba as a woman of innocence and honor (2 Sam 11:2–5; 26–27; 12:24; 1 Kgs 1:11–31; 2:13–25).¹⁰² David’s abuse of Bathsheba and his killing of her husband to hide his offense marks the decline of his reign and sparks the division of the monarchy.

Jezebel and Athaliah

In contrast stands Jezebel, the Phoenician wife of King Ahab of Israel. She promoted Baal worship, persecuted Yahweh’s prophets, arranged the death of Naboth to seize his land, and threatened the life of Elijah. She ultimately died a violent death (1 Kgs 16:31; 18:4–13; 19:1–2; 21:5–15).

Athaliah, a daughter of Ahab and probably Jezebel, married Jehoram of Judah and introduced Baal worship there, as well. After her son Ahaziah died, she attempted to kill all the royal heirs and seize the throne (2 Kgs 8:18, 25–28; 11:1–20). Yet Jehosheba, Ahaziah’s sister and the wife of the high priest Jehoida, rescued the infant Joash and his nursemaid and hid them in the temple for six years before orchestrating Athaliah’s overthrow (2 Kgs 11:2–3; 2 Chron 22:10–12).

Huldah

Later, during the reign of King Josiah of Judah, when the book of the law was discovered in the temple, Josiah sent his officials to consult the prophetess Huldah. She delivered Yahweh’s message of judgment and mercy, which led to Judah’s final national revivals (2 Kgs 22:14–20).

Esther (Hadassah) and Vashti

Finally, the story of Esther takes place during the Persian period under King Ahasuerus (or Xerxes). The book of Esther is the second of two books of the Bible named after a woman. Her Hebrew name is Hadassah.

Esther was an orphan raised by her cousin Mordecai. After Queen Vashti was deposed, Esther was chosen as the new queen. When a decree was issued to destroy the Jewish people throughout all the provinces of Persia, Esther risked her life to intervene. Mordecai’s famous words to Esther ring throughout history, “Who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” Esther responded with courage, “If I perish, I perish” (Esth 4:14–15).

Women in the New Testament

Throughout the Gospels, women are treated with dignity and purpose. Jesus raised the bar in his culture, participating in lengthy discussions with women. He protected and honored women, to the surprise of his disciples. Jesus chose women to be the first to give testimony to his resurrection, contrary to Greco-Roman acceptability. The rest of the New Testament follows suit, acknowledging the wide range of ministries that women fulfill. Here are a few examples.

Mary, Elizabeth, and Anna

The Gospel of Matthew opens with a genealogy of Jesus Christ, which includes four women from the Old Testament—Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba—and concludes with Mary, the mother of Jesus (Matt 1:3–6, 16, 18). Mary’s relative, Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, appears only in Luke 1:5–80.

Luke is also the only Gospel to mention the prophetess Anna, an elderly widow who had served in the temple for about eighty years with prayer and fasting. She recognized the infant Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah and spread the news about him to others (Luke 2:36–38).

Mary Magdalene, the Samaritan Woman, and others

During Jesus’s earthly ministry, he engaged many women through conversation, healing, and deliverance, though most of them are unnamed. He healed Peter’s mother-in-law (Matt 8:14–15), raised the daughter of a synagogue leader from the dead, healed a woman who suffered from bleeding for twelve years (9:18–26), and cast a demon out of the daughter of a Canaanite woman (15:21–28), among many others.

Some of Jesus’s longest recorded conversations were with women, such as the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well (John 4:7–42). She became the first evangelist in John’s Gospel, as many in her town came to believe through her testimony (4:39). Other significant conversations took place with Martha and Mary, sisters of Lazarus (11:20–40). Martha was among the first to declare, “Yes, Lord, I have believed that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who comes into the world” (11:27; see also Peter’s declaration in Matt 16:16).

Women who stood with Jesus at the cross include Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph (generally considered Mary the wife of Clopas), Salome (probably the mother of Zebedee’s sons), and “many other women” who had followed and supported him (Matt 27:55–56; Mark 15:40–41; 16:1; Luke 8:2–3; John 19:25–27).

The women who came to the tomb included Mary Magdalene, Salome, Joanna, Mary the mother of Jesus, and the others who were with them (Luke 24:1–12; Matt 28:1; Mark 16:1). John gives special attention to Mary Magdalene, who plays the central role in his resurrection account (John 20:1–18). Her story has often been wrongfully conflated with those of other women named Mary.¹⁰³ Yet Mary Magdalene was the first to see and speak with the risen Christ, and Jesus himself sent her to announce his resurrection to the apostles. For this reason, she has rightly been called “the apostle to the apostles” (John 20:17–18).

Phoebe, Priscilla, Junia, and beyond

Other women are named in the New Testament beyond the Gospels. Romans 16 alone mentions several:

• Phoebe, a “deacon” (διάκονος) of the church of Cenchreae and a patron or benefactor (προστάτις) to Paul and many others (v. 1)
• Priscilla (or Prisca), a co-worker (συνεργός) in Christ (v. 3; cf. Acts 18:2)
• Mary, who labored greatly (v. 6)
• Junia, who had been a fellow prisoner and is understood by many to be called an apostle (ἀπόστολος) (v. 7)
• Tryphaena and Tryphosa, who worked in the Lord (v. 12)
• Persis, who “worked hard” in the Lord (v. 12)
• Rufus’s mother, who was a spiritual mother to Paul (v. 13)
• Julia and Nereus’s sister, who are greeted but not given specific titles (v. 15)

Conclusion

Taken together, the stories of women in Scripture reveal a consistent theological pattern. From Eve to Mary Magdalene, from Tamar to Esther, from Deborah to Phoebe, women appear not as marginal figures but as participants in God’s unfolding mission. Sometimes they act quietly, preserving life or sustaining faith. At other times they act boldly, confronting injustice, speaking prophetic truth, or initiating decisive turns in redemption history.

Their lives show that God’s work in the world has never been confined to one gender, one social status, or one sphere of influence. Rather, the biblical narrative repeatedly demonstrates that God calls and works through those who trust him, often overturning human expectations about where authority, courage, and faithfulness will appear.

These stories also expose a deeper moral truth: The way women are treated in Scripture often signals the spiritual health of individuals and societies. When women are honored, protected, and allowed to exercise the gifts God has given them, communities flourish, and God’s purposes move forward. When women are abused, silenced, or disregarded, the narrative frequently reveals a corresponding decline in the moral character of leaders and nations. In this way, the biblical text itself becomes a witness to God’s concern for the dignity of all who bear his image.

Ultimately, the witness of Scripture returns us to the vision of Genesis: men and women together reflecting God’s image and carrying his blessing into the world. Though the fall fractured this partnership, the story of redemption moves steadily toward its restoration. In Christ, reconciliation with God opens the possibility for renewed relationships between men and women, once again working side by side as faithful stewards of God’s creation. The many women whose lives appear across the pages of Scripture remind us that God’s mission has always advanced through the faithful courage of both women and men—partners in bearing God’s image and agents of his redeeming work in the world.

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Resources mentioned in this article

• Lapsley, Jacqueline E. Whispering the Word: Hearing Women’s Stories in the Old Testament. Westminster John Knox Press, 2005.

Redeeming Eden: How Women in the Bible Advance the Story of Salvation

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Women in Scripture: A Dictionary of Named and Unnamed Women in the Hebrew Bible, the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books and the New Testament

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The Ministry of Women in the New Testament: Reclaiming the Biblical Vision for Church Leadership

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Tell Her Story: How Women Led, Taught, and Ministered in the Early Church

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The Mary We Forgot: What the Apostle to the Apostles Teaches the Church Today

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It was the week before my wedding, and I was excited! All of my thoughts were on that coming day, my wedding day, when my life would be forever changed. Excited, happy, and afraid, my head was full of all the aspects of the wedding: Would the recorded music work? Would people dance at our swing music reception? But I was also thinking about what would come after that coming day. Would I be a good wife? How would marriage change our relationship?

The concept of the day of the Lord in Scripture functions similarly. Like a bride waiting for her wedding day, God’s people anticipate the day of the Lord with both hope and fear. It is the day when God will act decisively to judge good and evil, rightly responding to both.

Simply put, the day of the Lord is a day in which the Lord intervenes. This intervention may be perceived as positive, characterized by blessings, or negative, characterized by punishment. In either case, when Scripture announces the coming day of the Lord, its purpose is to call people to heed God: Listen when he speaks, respond when he calls, and anticipate his future intervention.

On that day, everything will be transformed. The only question that remains is whether someone will be on the side of destruction or restoration—and what will come next.

The day of the Lord and the judgment of the Lord

The day of the Lord is associated with God’s intervention in judgment. It simultaneously pictures right judgments rendered for both the righteous and the wicked.

In the Old Testament, justice is rooted in right judgment, and God specifically stands as the Judge who will judge rightly, as we see in the Psalms (e.g., Ps 96:13). God will correctly judge wrongs. These wrongs create injustice that need correction through right judgment.

In Hebrew, the terms “justice,” “judgment,” and “judge” all share a common root. We still see remnants of this in English when we talk about the justice system where judges are to make right judgments. This helps us avoid thinking that “judgment” speaks only of something negative to avoid. Right judgment both rewards and punishes and, at its best, positively transforms lives.

We can imagine modern situations where the same judgment feels positive for one person and negative for another. A mother rejoices in court when her child’s murderer receives deserved punishment. A worker celebrates when his employer must pay wages unjustly withheld for years. If we focus only on the negative judgment—the murderer’s sentence, the unjust employer’s penalty—we miss how the mother and worker experience this same judgment as hope.

Thus, when we see “the day of judgment” and “the day of the Lord,” we must remember: For the oppressed righteous, that day is good news. The hope of right judgment means everything wrong will be made right by a God who is good, holy, and just. When we hear of “a day of darkness,” we should ask: “Who experiences that day as ‘dark’?”

The day of the Lord in the Old Testament

While God’s future activity is a theme throughout the Old Testament, the phrase “day of the Lord” appears specifically in prophetic literature. The idea of a “day” in the Old Testament does not necessarily refer to a twenty-four hour period, but rather to a designated period of time. Thus, the “day” of the Lord could begin on a specific day and last for a period of special time that God designates.

Pre-exilic: darkness and terror

The earliest examples of the day of the Lord in the pre-exilic period—Amos, Isaiah, and Zephaniah—tend to emphasize the day’s darkness and terror.

Amos

Amos likely provides the Old Testament’s earliest use of the phrase “day of the Lord.” Amos 5:18–20 introduces the day by asking why the Northern Kingdom longs for a day that will be for them “darkness, not light.” This suggests that the idea of the day of the Lord was already present among the people before Amos describes it, but their expectations of it were wrong. Amos 5:12 shows that the Northern Kingdom had sinned greatly, oppressing the innocent. They loved evil and hated good. Yet they think God will still take their side (v. 14). Amos’s description in verses 18–20 makes clear that God will judge their wickedness alongside the wickedness of the nations.

Isaiah

Whereas Amos emphasizes that all wickedness will be judged on the day of the Lord, Isaiah’s description focuses on how it will be a day of reversals. Isaiah 2 speaks of “days to come” (v. 2) and a “day” belonging to the Lord of Hosts (v. 12) when the Lord will judge between nations and peoples. He will turn their weapons into gardening tools (v. 4). On the Lord’s day, God will humble the arrogant and powerful (vv. 11–18). Isaiah 13 and 14 describe the two sides of the day of the Lord. The day will be a terrifying event for everyone (13:6–7) with cosmic-level effects (vv. 10, 13). The Lord will judge “the world for its evil and the wicked for their iniquity” (v. 11). Isaiah associates this day with the Lord’s wrath and anger (vv. 9, 13). Yet the Lord will show compassion on Judah and Israel. He will return them to their land and give them power over their enemies (14:1–2).

Zephaniah

Like Isaiah, Zephaniah emphasizes the universal nature of the day (Zeph 1:2) and connects it with the Lord’s wrath (vv. 14–15). Building on Amos, Zephaniah piles words describing the day as dark and upsetting. In just one verse, he includes: wrath, distress, anguish, ruin, devastation, darkness, gloom, clouds, and thick darkness (v. 15). In Zephaniah 2:1–3, only the humble who seek the Lord will be preserved. Because Isaiah and Zephaniah’s day is universal in judgment, it may be eschatological, pointing to expectations of the “end times.”

Exilic: judgment yet hope

When Babylon took the Israelites captive (the exilic period), the day continued to point to fear and doom. But it also offered hope for the faithful.

Ezekiel

While Ezekiel does not use the phrase “day of the Lord,” he does use terms and imagery similar to the day of the Lord elsewhere in the OT. Ezekiel 7 describes how “the end has come” (v. 2). Ezekiel repeatedly refers to this “end” as “the day” (v. 10) or “the day of the Lord’s wrath” (v. 19). The imagery of fear and doom (vv. 5–9, 17–18), reversal of fortunes (vv. 19–21), and judgment on sin (vv. 8–9) sound similar to earlier prophets like Amos, Isaiah, and Zephaniah. Yet whether “the end” in Ezekiel refers to a future eschatological event coming at “the end” or to Babylonian devastation during Ezekiel’s time remains unclear.

Obadiah

Obadiah focuses entirely on the day of the Lord from start to finish. Instead of universal judgment, Obadiah narrowly focuses on Edom’s judgment, Israel’s traitorous neighbor and cousin. Like Zephaniah, Obadiah layers descriptions of the day: misfortune, destruction, disaster, trouble (vv. 8–14). The Lord will judge Edom for its sins (v. 15). Yet like Isaiah 14, the Lord will remain faithful to his covenant promises to the Israelites (v. 17).

Postexilic: restoration and inclusion

When the Persians conquered the Babylonians, they allowed the Israelites to return to their land. Day imagery during this time becomes extensive, focusing not only on God’s judgment but also his promises for the faithful—and (shockingly) even for the nations!

Joel

While Amos likely provides the earliest reference to the day of the Lord, Joel contains the highest density of references to it. Joel’s day is one of both great destruction and salvation with transformation. Joel begins with a locust plague’s devastation (possibly a metaphor for overwhelming armies; 1:2–12). But something worse is approaching: “the day of the Lord is near” (1:15). Though fear of the day’s destruction pervades (2:11), a call for repentance offers hope that the Lord will restore the land and be present with his people (vv. 18–27). After cosmic disturbances lead up to the day (vv. 28–31), the Lord will bring salvation to those who turn to him (v. 32). He will pour out his Spirit on people regardless of gender, age, or social class (vv. 28–29). The day results in universal knowledge of God’s sole rule (3:17), restoration of the land’s fertility (vv. 17–18), and the people’s return to Judah (v. 20). In Joel, the day offers hope for repentance, salvation, and restoration, and these become the foundations for the New Testament’s understanding of the day.

Zechariah

Like Joel, Zechariah speaks of the day not exclusively as judgment but as restoration. The first thirteen chapters of Zechariah make frequent use the phrase “on that day” to indicate future acts of restoration (2:15; 3:10; 9:16; 12:3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 11; 13:1, 2, 4; cf. “those days” in 8:23). Zechariah 14 describes the day’s effects, including:

• the Lord’s aid and protection for his people (vv. 1–5),
• his kingship over the entire earth (vv. 7–9),
• his defeat of Judah’s enemies (vv. 12–15), and
• survivors from all nations coming to worship God (vv. 16–21).

Thus, in Zechariah, God is the King who restores and saves his people. The New Testament repeatedly uses this day/kingdom imagery.

Malachi

While Malachi’s day imagery is less extensive than Zechariah’s, it emphasizes the people’s response to God’s prophetic calls and their purification. On that day, God will purify his people like a refiner’s fire (3:2). Fire imagery recurs when Malachi 4:1 compares the day to a burning oven, turning the arrogant and evildoers to stubble. The righteous will not only escape this punishment (v. 2) but will help enact judgment against their enemies, who become ashes under their feet (v. 3). Malachi also anticipates Elijah’s coming as part of the approaching day (v. 6).

A call to repentance and perseverance

Throughout these examples, descriptions of the day serve not merely to inform the people but to motivate them. The judgment of the day calls people to repent, while the hope of the day encourages perseverance through present difficulties.

In this way, the day interweaves with the prophets’ other themes. It emphasizes that evil requires judgment and God is faithful to judge correctly. The day frequently calls people to repent with the hope of being restored to God and their land. It often shows how God, the Great King, stands present in the midst of suffering and offers them hope for future transformation.

Each aspect of the Old Testament day sets up expectations present in the New Testament.

The day of the Lord in the New Testament

The New Testament builds on the Old Testament picture of the day of the Lord. Rather than using the exact phrase, “the day of the Lord,” the New Testament uses language such as “on that day,” “day of God’s wrath,” “day of judgment,” and “the day of Christ Jesus.”

While some of the imagery about this coming day remains quite similar to the Old Testament, the New Testament develops the concept in new ways in light of Jesus. Beth Stovell and David Fuller summarize New Testament usage well:

In many places in the New Testament, the “Day of the Lord” is an event that will come in the future (Phil 1:6). It includes judgement of the righteous and the wicked (Rom 2:5, 16; 1 Cor 1:8; 5:5; 2 Cor 1:14; 2 Tim 4:8; 2 Pet 2:9) and destruction of the physical creation (2 Pet 3:10). It will come suddenly in a time of apparent peace (1 Thess 5:2–3), but is also preceded by rebellion (2 Thess 2:2–3).¹⁰⁴

Let’s survey a few particularly illuminating examples.

The Gospels: from one day to two

In the Gospels, Jesus’s parables and preaching speak about the coming day of God’s judgment, frequently associating the day with God’s kingdom. Yet as Jesus explains what will happen, he starts to transition expectations from those developed in the Old Testament. On one hand, the day will include aspects of previous expectations: judgment on wickedness, reversal of fortunes, cosmic disturbances, salvation, and transformation. On the other hand, the day is not a single decisive future moment as the Old Testament pictured. Instead, one day has become two.

The first day has already begun. It began when Jesus came. Its effects are already underway as Jesus judges oppressors, brings salvation, and his kingdom reverses fortunes. This explains why the Gospels repeatedly speak of Jesus fulfilling Old Testament anticipations. Jesus’s first coming marks how God is present with people in their struggles.

Yet Jesus’s arrival, death, and resurrection have not fulfilled all Old Testament expectations for the day. The climactic events when everything is judged and is set right is yet to occur. Jesus’s parables and preaching point to another future day when this will happen: Jesus’s return, his second coming. So Jesus addresses what it means to live in God’s kingdom in the space between his first and second coming.

Acts: The day has arrived

Acts provides a striking example of this present sense of the day. Peter quotes Joel 2 to explain what’s happened at Pentecost: The Lord has poured his Spirit on people, regardless of gender, age, and social class! The day of the Lord has come! Peter explains that the day has arrived because of Jesus (Acts 2:22–36). Through Jesus, God worked miracles and wonders (v. 22) expected in “the last days” (v. 17). Jesus died and was resurrected (vv. 23–24).

As with other Old and New Testament passages about the day of the Lord, Peter’s purpose is not merely to inform. He calls for a response from the people: Repent and be baptized. The Old Testament themes of repentance and purification re-emerge, but are now associated with Jesus’s forgiveness and the Holy Spirit (vv. 38–39).

Revelation: the day as past, present, future

As we’ve seen, the New Testament transforms the single day of the Lord into two, corresponding to Jesus’s first and second comings. But this raises an important question: Is the day the same as “the end times”?

Rather than equating the day with the end times, it’s more accurate to say Jesus has expanded the day’s meaning to begin and end with him. Jesus’s first coming initiated the day of the Lord. We continue experiencing those aspects of the day. Yet we anticipate the coming day in the end times when Jesus Christ will return and finish what he started. In this way, the day of the Lord directly correlates to the realization of God’s kingdom, which is also fulfilled in two installments (“already/not yet”).

Revelation offers insights into the past, present, and future aspects of the day of the Lord while offering an end-times depiction of Jesus’s second coming. As Revelation begins, the Lord calls John to write Revelation on “the Lord’s day” when he is “in the Spirit” (1:10). Then Revelation introduces Jesus, the Great King to be worshiped, as “the Alpha and Omega … who is, and who was, and who is to come” (v. 8) and “the first and the last” (v. 17). The day of the Lord begins and ends with God. Our experience of the kingdom of God and the effects of the day are past (“who was”), present (“who is”), and anticipated in the future (“who is to come”).

Elsewhere, Revelation describes God’s judgment on the persecutors of God’s people with phrases such as “the wrath of the Lamb,” followed by “the great day of his/their wrath” (Rev 6:16–17), and “the great day of God Almighty” (16:17). Building on Old Testament expectations of the day of the Lord, Revelation demonstrates God’s presence amidst people’s sufferings. John describes himself as “your brother and companion in suffering and kingdom and patient endurance” (1:9). Revelation also points to how Jesus’s suffering offers hope for the future day of his return. In Revelation 5, only the slain Lamb proves worthy to open the scrolls that reveal the day, salvation, and final judgment.

The day of the Lord in our lives

If God’s kingdom is past, present, and future, then we can experience the day this way, too.

1. A day of humble sacrifice

The nature of Jesus’s first and second comings reveals something powerful about the day and God’s kingdom. In his first coming, Jesus came with humility, willing to suffer and die for others. As Revelation shows, this made him worthy to enact the day’s final stages in his second coming.

Jesus’s humility and sacrificial love offer us a model for our own lives.

2. A day without fear

At times, Christians have lived in fear of the coming “day of judgment” or “day of the Lord” because of the potential negative implications that they are the ones to be judged for their actions.

However, Jesus removes fear and reshapes the day of judgment as good news, focusing our attention on how we can live in God’s kingdom now.

3. A day for the poor in spirit

As Joel calls people to mourn and weep in response to the day of the Lord, the Beatitudes in Matthew 5 remind us that God blesses those who mourn for a hurting world.

The Beatitudes reveal what kingdom people look like. They are hearts turned toward God. They acknowledge their weakness, hunger, and thirst for him, seeking transformation by Christ’s holiness.

4. A day whose future shapes the present

Living in light of these Beatitudes helps us live with “the end” in mind. Focusing on the day of the Lord reminds us of what we know. We know what God will do—and what we will do—at the end of time.

So we can live with this end in mind as we live in the present. We can seek the hope of all nations worshiping together, sharing resources with others so no one remains empty, and doing so empowered by the Spirit.

5. A day that informs our suffering

When we believe in God’s already-and-not-yet kingdom, we grow in our understanding of how to respond to suffering.

Depictions of the day remind us that God is present in the midst of deep despair and suffering. Revelation reminds us Jesus, the slain Lamb, knows our pain.

6. A day of making right

Finally, remembering the day encourages us to believe in God’s ultimate judgment of evil, violence, death, and their effects.

God is actively at work now to judge evil and transform the world for good, but we believe he will complete this work fully in Jesus’s second coming. We can live confident that God will make all things right—and that even now we can participate in working toward that vision.

Share your thoughts

How do you understand the day of the Lord in Scripture? Join us in Word by Word group to share your thoughts.

Beth Stovell’s recommended resources for further study

Paul and the Hope of Glory: An Exegetical and Theological Study

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Forensic Language and the Day of the Lord Motif in Second Thessalonians 1 and the Effects on the Meaning of the Text: WEST Theological Monograph Series

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The Return of the Kingdom: A Biblical Theology of God’s Reign (Essential Studies in Biblical Theology | ESBT)

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The Presence of the Future: The Eschatology of Biblical Realism

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Making All Things New: Inaugurated Eschatology for the Life of the Church

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Introduction to the Hebrew Prophets

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The Books of Joel, Obadiah, and Jonah (The New International Commentary on the Old Testament | NICOT)

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What if the very discipline Scripture commands us to practice “without ceasing” (1 Thess 5:17) is the one many Christians find hardest to sustain?

Prayer is an integral part of Christian life and ministry. Yet, especially for new believers, it is often accompanied with awkwardness: “What words do I use? Is there a formula? Am I doing this right?” Even seasoned believers often struggle to prioritize it, and some are plagued by disappointment from the many prayers that seem to go unanswered.

While churches focus on various ministries to fulfill their mission, one that often needs bolstering is prayer. So how can we lead our congregations in a more habitual and effective prayer life? How can we better support this vital lifeline?

What is a prayer ministry?

Prayer ministries can be multifaceted. They may look different across church contexts, denominations, and cultures. Yet at their core, all prayer ministries mobilize the church to confidently accept the Bible’s invitation to “draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb 4:16). Prayer ministries seek to cultivate deep communication with God where we offer submissive hearts, confess sin, exercise confident faith in his sovereign power, and respond with thankful service and worship.

Structurally, a prayer ministry involves a committed group of individuals who intercede for the church’s various ministries while equipping and mobilizing the broader congregation to do the same. The goal is that the church should grow in the fullness of God to the glory of God (Eph 3:14–21).

What is the basis for a prayer ministry?

The heart of prayer is God’s desire to have a personal relationship with his people. We see this in the beginning—with God “walking in the garden,” seeking Adam and Eve (Gen 3:8–9)—and its end: a majestic vision of God once again dwelling in unbroken relationship with his people in a new creation (Rev 21–22).

Throughout the Old Testament, we see that prayer primarily involves petition.¹⁰⁵ As E. M. Bounds explains, prayer is faith directed at God:

In any study of the principles, and procedure of prayer, of its activities and enterprises, first place, must, of necessity, be given to faith. … [P]rayer is simply faith, claiming its natural yet marvelous prerogatives—faith taking possession of its illimitable inheritance. … [W]hen faith ceases to pray, it ceases to live.¹⁰⁶

In the New Testament, Jesus modeled this dependence on the Father throughout his earthly ministry, displaying fellowship with God as essential to his ministry and mission (Mark 1:35). He interceded specifically for his disciples (Luke 22:32), establishing a pattern for his church.

Following Jesus’s example, prayer empowered and multiplied the early church (Acts 2:42). Paul constantly affirmed the necessity of prayer, relying on the intercession of others to fuel his gospel ministry (2 Cor 1:11; Eph 6:18–20) and requesting deliverance from evil (2 Thess 3:1–2). In turn, Paul faithfully interceded for those to whom he ministered (1 Thess 1:2), demonstrating the reciprocal nature of prayer within the body of Christ.

This biblical material testifies to the centrality of prayer, both in our communion with God and ministry as his people, providing a theological basis for prayer ministries today.

What should a prayer ministry pray for?

The scope of prayer ministry should be comprehensive. For instance, a thriving prayer ministry would likely pray for:

• Spiritual growth: Pray that fellow believers would experience encouragement and growth in the Lord (Col 1:9–12).
• Spiritual warfare: Pray that believers would experience freedom from spiritual bondage leading to fuller fellowship with the Father (Jas 4:7–8).
• Healing: Pray for physical healing, remembering that God’s eternal healing comes through Christ (Matt 9:2–6).
• Children: Pray that they would know the Father’s love and remain in it throughout their lives (Mark 10:13–16).
• Local evangelism: Pray that God’s love would extend to neighbors and spark revival (Acts 1:8).
• Pastor(s) and church staff: Pray regularly for their needs, their calling, and their walk with God (1 Thess 5:12–13).
• Church growth: Pray that God would grow your local church by saving souls (Matt 9:37–38).
• Global missions: Pray for missionaries and that those in distant places would see the Light and walk in its fullness (Matt 5:16).

Nonetheless, the ultimate aim of prayer is deepened intimacy with the Lord, both as we pray for others and in what we pray for others, that they would be drawn into deeper faith, worship, and union with Christ (John 17:3; Eph 3:14–21).

Make use of Logos’s Prayer Lists to track prayers for yourself and others.
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How can one start a prayer ministry? 5 steps

With these foundations in place, it’s now time to consider how we can practically implement and conduct prayer ministries in our own local churches.

Keep in mind that the structure of your prayer ministry will likely depend to some extent on the denomination or traditions held by your specific church. In some settings, a more formal or liturgical approach might suit. In others, your prayer team may desire more spontaneity, sensing for the movement of the Spirit. Meet people where they are, then expand beyond their comfort zones with guidance and training, as needed.

1. Begin with prayer

Hopefully it’s obvious, but we ought not to overlook it: Developing a prayer ministry should begin with prayer. In a culture that is fast-paced and where strategy seems to be the best tool, leaders can forget that a church’s prayer life must begin with them. E. M. Bounds reminds us, “Study how to pray, O preacher, but not by studying the forms of prayer, but by attending the school of prayer on your knees before God.”¹⁰⁷

If you decide that developing an organized prayer ministry is needed for your congregation, start with your own prayer life, and then the prayer lives of other leaders in your church. Ask that a culture of prayer would flourish into a powerful ministry throughout the body. Pray that members would grow in their hunger and thirst for God, and that this would unleash a movement of the Spirit across the church.

2. Prepare the church with teaching

Because prayer remains elusive for both new and seasoned Christians, consider providing teaching on prayer. Scripture provides ample passages:

• Acts provides examples of the early church coming together in prayer for God to expand his kingdom (e.g., Acts 4:23–31).
• In the Psalms, human frailty meets divine sovereignty as heartfelt pleas rise to a God whose power and love know no end.
• In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus reveals communion with the Father (Matt 7:7–11) and offers the Lord’s Prayer as an enduring model of prayer for his people (Matt 6:5–15).
• In his epistles, Paul offers examples of Christ-centered prayer, characterized by gratitude, reliance on God, intercession, and a sustained pursuit of spiritual insight, maturing faith, and increasing love (e.g., Phil 1:9–11; Eph 1:15–23; 3:16–19; Col 1:3–14; 2 Thess 1:3–5).

Whether you take a topical or expository approach, aim for your sermons to cultivate an exalted view of God and deeper faith. Seek to draw believers into worship and humble submission to God, as these serve as fundamental postures in prayer. In prayer, we offer our deepest gratitude and make confident appeals. Further, the more worship and submission define our prayers, the more our prayers will align with God’s will.

3. Form a team and provide training

Begin identifying potential leaders who already demonstrate a fruitful prayer life, a passion for intercession, and leadership abilities. Your teaching series on prayer may naturally surface individuals eager to serve in this way. Use pulpit time to raise awareness of the developing prayer ministry. Invite congregants to prayerfully consider getting involved. Meet with prospective leaders to gauge their interest and ability to participate.

From these prospective leaders, assign a prayer ministry director. This person will be responsible for developing a plan, advocating for the priority of prayer, casting a vision for the ministry, and forming a team. Developing the remaining team will become the primary responsibility of the prayer ministry director. Yet it will be important to come alongside this person to help identify other known intercessors.

Once the prayer team is formed, provide them any needed teaching or instructions on the emerging prayer ministry, including clear guidelines on confidentiality for prayer requests.

4. Explore different ministry formats

Encourage the ministry team to discern between different forms of prayer ministry and where they will focus their attention. Start with one or two areas, depending on the size of your church and team. Expand as the ministry grows.

Teams should consider the following options:

• Prayer request submissions: Create a way for congregants to submit prayer requests and form a group committed to praying faithfully over each one.
• Prayer chains: Establish a network for circulating urgent prayer requests quickly among committed intercessors.
• “Boiler room” prayer:¹⁰⁸ Create a rotation of volunteers to pray while the service is happening for the church’s various ministries (e.g., nursery workers, children’s classes). Have them pray for the Holy Spirit to speak through the preaching, to encourage believers, and to draw unbelievers to salvation.
• Bible studies on prayer: Offer an in-depth study on prayer. See the resources at the end of this article for specific resource recommendations.
• Prayer rooms: If your facility allows, a dedicated, quiet, secluded space can encourage more intimate prayer, meditation, and worship.
• Deliverance ministry: Many believers are walking in bondage to sin, addiction, and past wounds. Consider teaching on the topic of spiritual warfare (e.g., the reality of demons, powers, and principalities; what we can learn from Jesus’s exorcisms) followed by intensive training for those called to serve in this area.
• Prayer retreats: Retreats offer a concentrated opportunity for spiritual formation. Begin by exploring how silence and solitude deepen prayer and communion with God, ideally through getaways of a day or longer, free from everyday distractions.
• Prayer conferences: Consider inviting a keynote speaker to your church or registering for an off-campus conference such as the Evangelical Institute’s annual prayer conference.

5. Equip and empower

Intercessors give a great deal of themselves. For this reason, be deliberate about investing in them through ongoing teaching, resources, and training. Find ways to encourage their personal communion with God and their growth as intercessors for others.

Draw on the recommended resources at the end of this article. Stay attentive to relevant seminars and conferences. Above all, cultivate a community in which Christ’s love and power undergirds every aspect of your ministry.

Conclusion

Whether you are building a prayer ministry from the ground up or seeking to strengthen one already underway, may you see your congregation’s faith flourish as it is directed to God in prayer!

Share your thoughts

What practical steps have you found helpful in starting a prayer ministry? Join us in the Word by Word group to share your thoughts.

Jeanette Hagen Pifer’s suggested resources on prayer

• “John Wesley’s Spirituality: A Collection Of Forms Of Prayer For Every Day In The Week” in John Wesley and Charles Wesley, John and Charles Wesley: Selected Prayers, Hymns, Journal Notes, Sermons, Letters and Treatises, ed. Richard J. Payne and Frank Whaling, The Classics of Western Spirituality (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1981), 78.
• John Wesley and Charles Wesley, John and Charles Wesley: Selected Prayers, Hymns, Journal Notes, Sermons, Letters and Treatises, ed. Richard J. Payne and Frank Whaling, The Classics of Western Spirituality (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1981), 77.

Complete Works of E. M. Bounds on Prayer: Eight Volumes

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How to Pray and How to Study the Bible

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The Practice of the Presence of God

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Spurgeon on the Priority of Prayer (Spurgeon Speaks Series)

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Praying: Finding Our Way through Duty to Delight

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Understanding Prayer: Biblical Foundations and Practical Guidance for Seeking God

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Jude 14–15 contains one of the New Testament’s more eyebrow-raising lines. Jude delivers a prophecy with wording that closely resembles 1 Enoch, a book that isn’t in the Bible. What are we to make of this?

In this episode of What in the Word?, Kirk E. Miller welcomes Wes Huff to unpack why Jude’s Enoch quotation matters, what we can responsibly say about its origins, and how understanding Second Temple Jewish literature can actually clarify Jude’s pastoral point rather than distract from it.

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Episode guest: Wesley Huff

Wesley Huff was born in Multan, Pakistan, and spent a portion of his childhood in the Middle East. He is currently the Vice President for Apologetics Canada and has been a guest on a variety of the world’s top public platforms. He has participated in numerous public dialogues, debates, and interfaith events on issues of belief and religion across the globe.

He holds a BA in sociology from York University, a masters of theological studies from Tyndale University, and is currently doing a PhD in New Testament at the University of Toronto’s Wycliffe College.

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Episode synopsis

Jude’s use of 1 Enoch & why it’s puzzling

Jude’s wording appears to be a direct reference to 1 Enoch, a collection of Jewish writings attributed to Enoch but widely understood to not have been written by the pre-flood Enoch (Gen 5:21–24). In fact, Wes notes that Jude’s reference is the only “arguably unambiguous” quotation in his letter: not just a thematic echo or allusion, but a clear representation of a recognizable source.

This prompts a chain of questions:

• Is Jude quoting 1 Enoch or just alluding to an Enochian tradition?
• How did first-century Jews and early Christians view Enochian literature, and how might this inform Jude’s appeal to it here?
• If he’s quoting it, is Jude treating 1 Enoch as Scripture? In other words, does this imply that Jude thinks 1 Enoch is inspired or even canonical?
• And if 1 Enoch isn’t canonical, does Jude’s use of it create problems for Jude’s own authority and canonicity?
• Further, did Jude believe the historical Enoch actually spoke these words, when in fact we know them to be pseudepigraphal? And, if so, does this mean Jude was in error here?

What do we know about the book of 1 Enoch?

What we call 1 Enoch is actually a compiled volume of different pieces of literature that likely circulated independently and were later gathered into a single document. Wes outlines its major sections and their commonly proposed dates, emphasizing that the collection spans centuries and reflects themes typical of the intertestamental period (the time between the Old and New Testaments).

Importantly, the only complete surviving copy of 1 Enoch exists in a later Ethiopic (Geʽez) manuscript tradition, while fragments appear in Greek, Coptic, Latin, and Aramaic, including some from the Dead Sea Scrolls. This underscores that Enochian material wasn’t obscure. It circulated widely enough to leave manuscript traces in multiple contexts.

Understanding pseudepigraphical writings

To make sense of why Jude might reference this kind of source, we need to understand some basics of pseudepigraphical writings.

These were writings attributed to famous biblical figures (like Adam, Abraham, Moses, Baruch, Ezra, Enoch, etc.), although not written by them and composed much later. These texts flourished during the intertestamental period and often belong to the genre of apocalyptic literature, which is characterized by symbolic visions, cosmic conflict, decisive divine intervention, and judgment with end-time hopes. In short, apocalyptic literature was frequently about God making all things right in the end. The Essenes, a group of sectarian Jews in Qumran who broke away from the religious establishment of Jerusalem and are responsible for many of the Dead Sea Scrolls, produced many of these writings.

First Enoch fits within this body of literature as a pseudepigraphical work with many apocalyptic themes.

Is Jude actually quoting 1 Enoch?

The mainstream scholarly view is that Jude is quoting 1 Enoch, specifically 1:9.

However, Jude is writing in Greek, and this particular section of 1 Enoch is Aramaic. So either Jude would have used a Greek translation of this portion of 1 Enoch, which we no longer possess, or he translated the Aramaic into Greek for his audience. So there are some minor differences between Jude’s wording and the version of 1 Enoch 1:9 that we possess.

Thus, some scholars contend Jude is most likely not quoting the textual form of 1 Enoch 1:9 that we possess today. Instead, Jude may be drawing from a broader Enochian tradition, possibly an oral or literary stream that sits behind both Jude’s phrasing and a later compiled form of 1 Enoch.

Was 1 Enoch considered canonical?

How would those in Jude’s day have viewed 1 Enoch? Specifically, did they believe it derived from the historical Enoch of Genesis, and did they revere it as Scripture?

According to Wes, there wasn’t a hegemony among Jewish groups, but the normative Jewish position was that Enoch was not Scripture. Likewise, early Christian canon lists do not include Enoch, although many commend it as “useful.” The recognized books among Jews belonged to the Tanakh: the Torah (the five books of Moses), the Nevi’im (the Prophets), and the Ketuvim (the Writings), which equate to the thirty-nine books of the Protestant Old Testament. However, some Jewish religious groups held to a hierarchy, seeing the later writings as valuable but the Torah as superior.

Nonetheless, some communities—especially the Qumran community associated with the Dead Sea Scrolls—seem to have valued certain non-canonical texts highly. Thus, for some, books like 1 Enoch held some status as valuable and helpful even when that status didn’t equal canonical Scripture.

“Apocrypha” has become a catch-all term for those writings outside of accepted canon. This, of course, does not mean such works are necessarily bad or heretical. Rather, we should approach such as books historically informative. They give us a window into what different Jewish communities debated, expected, feared, and hoped for in the centuries leading up to Jesus and the apostles.

Does Jude’s attribution of prophecy to Enoch challenge inerrancy?

If Jude calls this “prophecy” and attributes it to Enoch, when we know the book of 1 Enoch wasn’t actually written by Enoch, does that expose a mistake or error in Jude’s writings? To the contrary, Wes counters that we should let the evidence of Scripture inform our doctrine of Scripture.

Wes observes that the New Testament occasionally references outside sources to communicate effectively within their cultural moment without thereby canonizing those sources. For example, Paul uses non-biblical writers, such as wider Greco-Roman sources. These citations can be rhetorical and pastoral without implying an endorsement of the entire worldview or corpus behind the quotation. Likewise, Jude can treat a specific statement from 1 Enoch as true and useful for his argument without thereby implying the entire Enochian corpus is authentic or inspired Scripture.

Jude was among a group of New Testament writings that had questions about its canonicity, whether it should be considered authentic Scripture. But as far as Wes is aware, discussion around Jude’s canonicity was not due to its Enochian reference. Rather, it was largely due to the church’s desire to establish its chain of custody so that it could be authentically traced back to Jude.

Why does Jude use Enochian material in the first place?

So why does Jude use 1 Enoch, anyway?

According to Wes, Jude’s appeal to Enochian tradition functions inside his larger polemic against ungodliness, false teaching, and speculative distractions. Wes observes Jude’s repeated emphasis on ungodliness and judgment and the wider New Testament warnings against “myths and endless genealogies” (e.g., 1 Tim 1:4; Titus 3:9). Wes maintains that Jude addresses a community environment where speculative traditions—especially around angels, cosmic conflict, and Genesis 6—were leveraged in ways that minimized human responsibility.

Thus, Jude’s use of 1 Enoch is strategic: He deploys a tradition his audience knows and respects, using it to sharpen the warning that the real crisis is not due to angelic impurity, which would place it outside of human accountability. Rather, sin and evil stem from human rebellion.

Practical guidance for teachers & preachers

Finally, how should someone teach Jude 14–15 without either ignoring questions related to its use of 1 Enoch or letting those issues eclipse Jude’s actual point?

Scripture was written for you, but not to you. So here, as we understand who Jude is writing to, we are better able to understand why this is written for us. Namely, understanding Jude’s first-century context, especially the literature of Second Temple Judaism, helps us interpret what Jude is doing and how it would land with his first audience, and by extension, what it means for us today. And when teaching this passage to others, we can help them see the value of this background context, as well.

Wes explains, “The Jewish tradition in 1 Enoch, and particularly in the book of the Watchers, which is the section that’s being referenced, are precisely these endless genealogies of angels, which could not be proven and involved speculating about Genesis 6:1–4.” So we, likewise, should “avoid endless myths, conspiracies that are unhelpful” and, instead, focus on what matters: “building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life” (Jude 20–21).

As Kirk explains, when teaching it can be important to address issues your audience may be confused about, like Jude’s use of 1 Enoch. At the same time, it’s important not to get derailed and let such matters eclipse the actual message of the text, in this case Jude’s exhortation. Ideally, teachers will want to pull in background matters to the extent that they illuminate one’s exegesis and exposition without getting so hung up on them that they overshadow the burden of a passage.

Logos values thoughtful and engaging discussions on important biblical topics. However, the views and interpretations presented in this episode are those of the individuals speaking and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Logos. We recognize that Christians may hold different perspectives on this passage, and we welcome diverse engagement and respectful dialogue.

Let us know what you think

What do you make of Jude’s use of 1 Enoch? Join us in the Word by Word group to share your thoughts.

Wes Huff’s recommended resources for further study

• Peter Gentry & Andrew Fountain, “Reassessing Jude’s Use of Enoch Traditions,” Tyndale Bulletin 68.2.

The Book of Enoch

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Hermeneia: 1 Enoch 1: A Commentary on the Book of 1 Enoch, Chapters 1–36; 81–108 (Herm)

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Hermeneia: 1 Enoch 2: A Commentary on the Book of 1 Enoch, Chapters 37–82 (Herm)

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Wesley Huff Study Bundle

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Resources on Jude

Jude, 2 Peter (Word Biblical Commentary, Volume 50 | WBC)

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2 Peter, Jude (NIV Application Commentary | NIVAC)

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1-2 Peter and Jude (Christian Standard Commentary | CSC)

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Jude: Evangelical Exegetical Commentary (EEC)

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Related content

• Who Are the “Sons of God” and Nephilim? | James Hamilton on Genesis 6
• When Did Jesus Preach to Spirits in Prison? | Thomas Schreiner on 1 Peter 3:18–22
• How the Dead Sea Scrolls Changed Our Bibles: 3 Exciting Examples
• Do the Dead Sea Scrolls Answer the Canon Question?
• Why You Should Read the Apocrypha

Bible study changes us. But through us, it also changes others.

Whether you want to conduct your research within a specific theological tradition, pass along a profound “Aha!” moment to a friend, or track down a sermon you preached years ago, you’ll find something here for you.

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Prefer a video walkthrough? Product manager and longtime Logos user Mark Barnes will share everything you need to know about this update in a live session. There’s even time for Q&A at the end, so stick around with your burning questions.

Sign up for the video walkthrough on March 12 or catch the replay.

Highlights at a glance

1. Collection Picker in Study Assistant
2. Conversation Sharing in Study Assistant
3. Sermon & Bible Study markers on Android

1. Fine-tune your study with the Collection Picker

Logos’s Study Assistant gives you the benefits of AI-enhanced search without the downsides of other AIs. It searches your Logos library or Bible—not the internet at large—and brings back what it finds.

No making things up.

No telling you what it thinks you want to hear.

Results are cited to the exact source, so you can check things for yourself.

You can now refine things even further: Choose exactly which books or collections you want Study Assistant to search. For example, want to know what C. S. Lewis said about Jesus in Mere Christianity? If you own Mere Christianity in Logos, the answer is moments away:

• Type your question: “What did C. S. Lewis say about Jesus?”
• Select All Books in the bottom-left of the Study Assistant panel to change your selection.
• Type Mere Christianity and select it from the results.
• Now run your search.

Voila! Your answer comes only from Mere Christianity.

Whether you want to search a specific commentary, a custom theological collection you built, or a favorite author, the picker lets you easily choose from your saved collections or available resources. Once you make a choice, Study Assistant remembers it throughout your conversation, keeping your results consistent and relevant. For instance:

• Ask “What is the chief end of man?” and select a book you own to see the answer it presents.
• Expand “Type” and select “Systematic Theology” (or “Sermons” or “Grammar” or any other type of resource) to search within just your systematic theologies. “What is the hypostatic union?”
• Enter “Subject:Mark” (or any other subject tags) to search just resources on the Gospel of Mark. “What is the meaning of the cross in Mark?”
• Or expand “Collection” and select one of your own custom collections to search just within that collection.

If you’ve never created a custom collection before, follow these instructions. (You’ll need to have the desktop app installed.) If you run into any issues, ask our community! We’d love to help. For instance:

• Are you preaching or studying through Romans? Build a custom collection of all your favorite commentaries and resources on Romans. Then ask Study Assistant whenever you have a specific question on a passage in Romans. “How do interpreters understand ‘works of the law’ in Paul?”
• Looking for help in counseling? Create a custom collection of your counseling resources (e.g., use “subject:counseling OR tag:counseling”). “Is anxiety always sinful?”
• Need illustrations? Create an illustrations collection (e.g., use “subject:illustration OR tag:illustrations OR tag:quotes OR tag:quotations”). “What is a good illustration for trusting God amidst doubt?”

Once you set up collections, you’ll be able to use them as often as you want without needing to fiddle with them again.

Those not subscribed will get a limited number of Study Assistant uses per month.

2. Share your “Aha!” moments using Conversation Sharing

Have you ever had a breakthrough moment in Study Assistant that you immediately wanted to send to a friend, co-pastor, or study group? Now you can. This addition allows you to easily share any conversation thread, even with someone who’s never heard of Logos before.

Let’s say your friend is struggling. Feeling worthless. You only have two minutes before you leave to pick up your kids.

• You ask Study Assistant. “How is every single Christian of utmost worth to the Creator? How does God view his children?”
• Click the “Copy link” button.
• Share that link with confidence that the answer comes from reliable resources.
• And still have time to pray for them.

By clicking the “Copy link” button, you create a secure link that acts as a static snapshot of the conversation at that moment. When your friend opens the link, they will see the conversation exactly as it was at that moment. They don’t need to be a Logos user or have the app downloaded.

The best part? They can continue the conversation from their end, asking follow-up questions that draw them deeper into God’s Word.

Subscribe to any plan to get Study Assistant.

Those not subscribed will get a limited number of Study Assistant uses per month.

3. Bring past insights to your current reading (now on Android)

You put a lot of thought and prayer into what you study and teach. Now you can reap the benefits of that hard work right from your phone. Sermon & Bible study markers have come to the Android app.

This feature adds clickable icons and margin ribbons in your Bible wherever your existing Sermons or Bible Study documents are tagged to a passage. Say you’re reading through John 3 on your phone. You happen to have preached on it five years ago. An icon appears—simply tap it to open the full sermon. Your past work, right there in the text, exactly when it’s relevant.

More updates

You can now reach Study Assistant more simply from the mobile app. It will appear with an Ask label at the bottom of your screen when you’re in a tab. Of course, you can still find it on the Dashboard, too.

And we’re constantly expanding the rich data available in Logos. For our Logos Max and Verbum Pro and Max users, version 49 introduces three powerful new dataset expansions for the Greek Deuterocanon:

• Commands: Find every type of command in the Greek Deuterocanon along with an analysis of its verb class.
• Promises: Find all the recorded promises, each annotated with a theme, a verb class, and an event that fulfills the promise.
• Questions: Discover every type of question along with an analysis of each question’s rhetorical nature.

Want to see all the under-the-hood updates and bug fixes? Take a look at the technical release notes.

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As dean of Talbot School of Theology, I look forward every year to the annual report from the Association of Theological Schools (ATS). This report shares a range of data about seminaries and theological schools in North America.

Today, the newest data was officially published, and it shows some encouraging things about theological education in general and Talbot School of Theology in particular. Other things are less encouraging. There are a few prominent trends. These matter not just for academics, but for all church leaders (and Christians), because they will have an impact on ministries and churches for years to come.

Let’s look at three trends taking place specifically among US schools.¹⁰⁹

Table of contents

1. The great consolidation
2. The part-time pivot
3. The regional shift
The future of theological education

1. The great consolidation

Let’s start by observing the ten largest institutions by headcount and Full Time Equivalency (FTE).¹¹⁰

The landscape is dominated by a handful of schools, and some of them are getting bigger year after year. It’s hard to overstate just how much seminary training is done by only ten schools. Actually, it’s hard to overstate how much is done by just three schools.

So, first, one of the most defining trends we see in this data is a continual shift involving the consolidation of theological education. Larger schools tend to be thriving and consolidating (or sometimes growing) while smaller, nimbler schools are carving out specific niches in the market. In between, it’s often a different story, as mid-sized schools struggle.

The thriving, consolidating schools include Talbot, several SBC schools, Liberty, and Dallas, along with a relative newcomer in Kairos. (It’s important to note that Kairos is a very different, competency-based model of theological education compared to the others.) At Talbot, we’re grateful for our growth and working to steward it well, as well as cheering on our sister schools around the nation.

It’s also hard to ignore the fact that the fastest-growing and largest schools hold historic and conservative theological convictions. Look at all of these schools and you will see a clear correlation between growth and a high view of the authority of Scripture, as well as other historic patterns of faith and practice. For example, Talbot is a conservative evangelical seminary, embedded in one of the most comprehensively Christian universities in the nation, Biola. These numbers reflect the desire of students for clarity, not just at Talbot but across the theological education landscape. Everyone in the top ten uses the word evangelical to describe themselves, and most (like Talbot) use the words “conservative evangelical.”

On the flip side, when you look at schools with more “broad” or progressive leanings, you mostly see a steady, undeniable reverse trend. Mainline Protestants know that their seminaries—along with their denominations—are in ongoing decline. This decline isn’t necessarily a surprise. Mainline Protestant seminaries have been in a downward spiral for a long time. Yet seeing it reflected so clearly across the entire sector is a bracing reminder of the future of theological education.

So, large seminaries are getting larger, small seminaries are nimbler and better connected to local churches, and middle-sized seminaries are working to find sustainable business models. All three can thrive, I believe, but it will require a close partnership with churches and a commitment to a clearly articulated mission.

Join Ed Stetzer for an upcoming series presented by Logos on trends in theological education. Get access to exclusive interviews with institutional leaders to learn how to “future-proof” Christian higher ed.

2. The part-time pivot

Second, we are seeing a consistent pace of growth between part-time enrollments and full-time enrollments, seen in total headcount and full-time equivalency (FTE). Both headcount and FTE have grown by about 13 percent over the past decade, even as some schools have dramatically increased their part-time headcount compared to FTE. Some schools are leaning into a “part-time pivot” and seeing the numbers to match.

You can see this as it varies by school. Some have larger headcounts and lower FTE, which means they have more part time students.

I rejoice to see the total number of enrollments increase, with both headcount and FTE growing. More and more students are pursuing theological education, and that’s a good thing! Schools that have successfully navigated the “part-time pivot” have thrived.

But I also want to maintain a focus on “quality” and not just “quantity.” We love all of our students at Talbot, and I’m also glad that our FTE is growing faster than our headcount by a significant margin (8.6 percent to 5.3 percent year over year). This points toward students who aren’t just signing up but diving deep, with heavier course loads.

3. The regional shift

Third, there is a regional shift that we can’t ignore. For a long time, the Northeast, the Midwest, and even California were centers of gravity for theological education, with legacy institutions like Gordon–Conwell, Fuller, and Trinity (TEDS) leading the way for evangelicals.

But things have changed, as Gordon–Conwell and Fuller have declined over the past decade, while the Southern Baptists (and Dallas and Asbury) have grown in their centers of influence. The data shows a decadal decline in FTE of 28 percent for Gordon–Conwell and 57 percent for Fuller, even as these numbers have stabilized somewhat in recent years. We also saw a watershed moment when TEDS sold its campus in Illinois, integrating into Trinity Western University in Canada. These are significant changes in the landscape of evangelical theological education.

The largest and fastest-growing schools have consolidated into the Southern “Bible Belt” states, with only a few exceptions. Kairos, as I said, is quite a different model, based not on a geographic location but an online and mentorship-based approach, and Midwestern is in Missouri, drawing from and somewhat adjacent to the South. Southern California has four larger schools—Talbot, Gateway, Fuller, and Master’s—making it the regional exception to the Southern dominance of theological education.

I am pleased to report that Talbot is thriving in Southern California. We have become the largest seminary in the West judging by FTE—a true bulwark for theological education, supported by nearly sixty full-time faculty and hundreds of adjuncts across our graduate and undergraduate programs.

The future of theological education

I’ve often said that I’m not a prophet, or the son of a prophet, and I work for a nonprofit organization. So I’m not claiming to know the future. But I also see trends that would be foolish to ignore.

As we look at pivots in theological education, we see a clear consolidation around thriving schools with orthodox clarity, a movement toward part-time education, and regionalization. We need to pay attention to these things. The future of the church will be significantly influenced by the quality of its leaders. And these leaders will largely be shaped in, through, and by the theological institutions we are called to steward.

For us at Talbot, we believe that we can maintain a world-class faculty of scholars while remaining deeply connected to the church. We’ve learned from schools like Asbury and Dallas as they have done so, launching Talbot Embedded all around the country.

Other schools will take different approaches, but all schools will have to navigate change as they seek to raise up a new generation of pastors, leaders, and missionaries.

Share your thoughts

How do you think these trends will impact seminaries? Join us in the Word by Word group to share your thoughts.

Resources for further study

The History of Theological Education

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Beyond Profession: The Next Future of Theological Education (Theological Education between the Times)

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The Hope of the Gospel: Theological Education and the Next Evangelicalism (Theological Education between the Times)

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Looking Forward with Hope: Reflections on the Present State and Future of Theological Education

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Romans 8:28 is perhaps the most powerful promise in all of Scripture: “And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”¹¹¹

But it’s also perhaps the verse most easily misapplied to hurting people. Despite good-intentions, it has been used to dismiss pain, rush the broken toward a “silver lining,” or suggest that if you’re still hurting, you must not be trusting God enough.¹¹² Depending on how we understand this verse, it can feel like either a lifeline or a slap in the face. The difference isn’t abstract or merely intellectual. It’s the difference between hope that sustains and a theology that crushes.

We need to grasp the truth of Romans 8:28 because we live in a cursed world marked by suffering. It is not a matter of if we will experience suffering—only when. And it’s important that we have our theology in place before we need it. You don’t want to wait to patch up your boat until you’re in the middle of a storm. So too, we need our theological convictions in place before the storms of life hit, especially as suffering often tempts us to doubt and despair.

But we also need to rightly understand this verse in order to rightly apply it to others. Bad theology produces bad counsel. In the hands of a well-intentioned but shallow, unskilled, or reductionistic counselor, this verse can aggravate wounds rather than heal them.¹¹³ We must always handle God’s word carefully, but especially in cases of deep suffering when the stakes are higher.

To rightfully clarify what Romans 8:28 does mean, we can consider six things it doesn’t mean.

Table of contents

1. It does not promise material prosperity
2. It does not mean that all things that happen are good
3. It does not automatically resolve our sorrow and hurt
4. It does not mean that only some things work for our good
5. It does not mean we will understand how things were for our good
6. It is not a promise that is given to everyone
Hope as a virtue

1. It does not promise material prosperity

First, this verse does not promise our material prosperity.

This verse says that “all things work together for good.” The question arises, What exactly is that good? We might fill in the gaps with our own ideas of what we consider “good”: health, wealth, material success, etc. When we import our own definitions of “good,” it becomes easy to assume God is promising to work all things for our material or earthly prosperity.

Yet just verses later in Romans 8:35–39, Paul mentions “tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, sword … death” and demonic antagonism¹¹⁴ as anticipated features of the Christian life. This is hardly a description of physical well-being and material prosperity. These are among the “all things” that God promises to work for our good. Thus, Romans 8:28 is not promising the absence of or escape from such things. It promises our good despite such things.¹¹⁵

Rather, the “good” that God promises here is our salvation. Paul qualifies this “working” as being “for those who are called according to [God’s] purpose.” And that purpose is God’s saving purpose to make us like Christ, that we be “conformed to the image of his Son” (Rom 8:29).

In fact, far from saving us from distress and harm, this verse is promising that God will work all of these things for our good. God uses our afflictions to make us more like Christ (see Rom 5:3–4; Jas 1:2–4; 1 Pet 1:6–7).

Just as we are to share with Christ in glorification, so too, at present, we share with him in his sufferings (Rom 8:17; see also Phil 3:10; 2 Cor 1:5; 1 Pet 2:21; 4:13). As Christ’s path to glory was paved by suffering (Mark 8:31), so our path to glorification with Christ is to be marked by suffering (8:34).

2. It does not mean that all things that happen are good

Second, this verse does not mean that all things that happen are in themselves good.

We can subtly make this mistake, confusing the fact that God works all things for good with the idea that all things God works are in themselves good: “If God works all things for good, then all things that happen are good.”

But this is not what Paul says. Consider those things Paul lists in verses 35–39, the “all things” that God works for good: tribulation, persecution, famine, nakedness, violence, etc.¹¹⁶ These things are evil and tragic. The fact that God uses them for our good does not make those things good in themselves.¹¹⁷

And this distinction matters immensely—especially for those who have suffered abuse or horrific loss. We ought not to call evil good (Isa 5:20–21), lest we give the impression that the abuse done to them or the calamity suffered was itself good.

This is why Scripture includes lament. The Psalter rings with cries of anguish. Its scripts show that we are right to name evil as evil, to grieve what is grievous.

In 1 Peter 1:6–7, Peter uses the illustration of gold purified in fire to describe the purification of our faith through trials. Gold is placed in fire to burn away any impurities. Although the result is our purification, the fire remains what it is: a destructive heat.

So Romans 8:28 does not mean that all things that happen to us are in themselves good. But what it does mean is that, no matter how horrific or evil, God still works these things for our good, for our ultimate conformity to Christ.¹¹⁸

Consider all that Joseph endured: sold into slavery by his brothers, falsely accused of sexual assault, wrongfully imprisoned. Yet, although his brothers intended evil against him, he proclaims that God intended it for good—to save people from famine (Gen 50:20).¹¹⁹

3. It does not automatically resolve our sorrow and hurt

Third, this promise does not automatically resolve our sorrow and hurt.

Of course, its assurance provides immense relief and hope in our suffering—and we shouldn’t downplay this! Yet, notwithstanding this promise, our anguish doesn’t necessarily disappear.

And it’s fine if it doesn’t. If we’re still hurting, it doesn’t mean that we’ve failed to believe God’s promises. Continued pain is not a referendum on the strength of your faith.

This passage can unfortunately be misused to condemn those who are hurting and in pain. We apply this verse to those in suffering, and when they don’t immediately cheer up, we interpret their ongoing anguish as a failure to trust God’s promise. This adds condemnation and guilt on top of what they’re already suffering.

But consider again the lament psalms. The psalmists express their anguish and bring their complaints to God. Rather than an absence of faith, these complaints are an expression of faith and hope. The psalmists bring their pain to God precisely because they believe he’s sovereign over it, able and willing to do something about their situation. Their lament is faith crying out, not faith giving up.

Or consider 1 Thessalonians 4:13–14, where Paul says believers are unique in that we mourn with hope. We don’t mourn like others do. We have the hope of resurrection. Yet notice: We still mourn. Apparently, mourning is not an absence of hope. Hope doesn’t eliminate our mourning.

Nor does this promise mean that—in this life—we won’t forever carry the scars from what we’ve endured,¹²⁰ as if this promise simply undoes what’s happened to us. God’s grace was sufficient for Paul (2 Cor 12:9), but he forever carried his thorn in the flesh (2 Cor 12:7).

But it does mean we have a hope greater than our present pain. As Romans 8:18 says, our present suffering isn’t even worth comparing to this future glory, this “good” that is ours (see also 2 Cor 4:17). Notice: This doesn’t deny our suffering. It’s real. It’s hard. But as the moon eclipses the sun, so our future glory eclipses our present suffering. As Frederick Buechner says, “Resurrection means the worst thing is never the last thing.”¹²¹

4. It does not mean that only some things work for our good

Fourth, Paul says that “all things work together for [our] good” (emphasis added), not merely some things.¹²²

Scripture testifies to God’s “meticulous providence” (e.g., Ps 139:16; Prov 16:33; Lam 3:37–38; Matt 10:29). Ephesians 1:11 says God “works all things”—not just some things—“according to the counsel of his will.” R. C. Sproul has famously described God’s absolute sovereignty by saying there’s not “a single maverick molecule” that operates outside his control and determination.¹²³ All things: not only the macro level but also the micro level.

Some find comfort in the idea that God doesn’t control everything. “He’d stop it if he could,” they say. This allows them to distance God from their pain and from evil. But arguably more comfort is found in the fact that no suffering, abuse, or tragedy we experience roams free, off the leash of God’s control and intent to work it for our good.

What’s more comforting: That our suffering exists as an accident outside of God’s purposes, or knowing that “all things”—especially our suffering—has been destined to serve God’s good ends?

In other words, God’s absolute sovereignty, even over our suffering, means that none of it is meaningless. God will not waste an ounce of our suffering. We can take confidence, knowing that whatever we’ve suffered, we did not suffer for naught. All of it—no matter how horrific, no matter how senseless it seems—God will bend in the direction of our good.¹²⁴

Even our own sin and mistakes cannot derail God’s purposes for us.¹²⁵ Of course, sin is always destructive, and we often live with its painful consequences. But God is so sovereign that he weaves even our failures into our ultimate good. We cannot ruin what God intends to accomplish in us (Phil 1:6).

5. It does not mean we will understand how things were for our good

Fifth, that God “works all things together for good” is not a promise that we will understand how all things we’ve experienced were for our good. It does not mean that we will always be able to look back and discern how God used some particular thing.

We often say that “hindsight is 20/20,” but for many of us, life’s rearview mirror is still clouded by tears and unanswered questions. If you’ve ever looked at the back side of an embroidery, all you see is a chaotic mess of threads: knots, loose ends, and colors. You can’t make sense of it. Yet from the front, the picture is clear. We are like those looking at the back side of an embroidery. We are promised that God is working all things for our good. But we aren’t promised an explanation or insight into God’s own perspective. Often, we can only see the tangled threads.

Consider Job, who at the end of the book, doesn’t get an actual answer for all his suffering. He is not given a “why” for what he went through. Instead he is pointed to the “who” who stands behind it: God and his unparalleled wisdom. The book ends not with explanations but with Job’s worship of a God whose understanding isn’t just greater than ours, it’s not even in the same category as ours.

So the promise that God works all things together for our good doesn’t come with a guarantee that we’ll understand how everything we’ve endured is for our good. But there’s good news in this: This promise doesn’t depend on our ability to grasp it. Our hope does not depend on having complete understanding. We can hope even when we don’t understand.

In fact, if we believe that all things work together to conform us to Christ, then that “all things” includes even our ignorance. Our lack of understanding may provide the very conditions for us to grow in faith, a deeper reliance on God.

In light of Romans 8:28, we might expect people to be able to talk very clearly about how God used their suffering for their good, giving specific testimony to what God did through it. But many may not have that clarity. They may never have it, and that’s fine. Their inability to explain doesn’t indicate a failure to trust. Sometimes faith looks less like confident explanations and more like clinging to God’s promise even when we don’t understand.

6. It is not a promise that is given to everyone

Finally, Romans 8:28 is not a blanket promise that is given to everyone.

Observe the qualifiers in verse 28: “For those who love God … for those who are called according to his purpose.” This promise is for those who love God because they themselves have experienced his saving love and responded with faith.¹²⁶ 

This promise is specifically for those who are united to Christ by faith, who are, as Paul says, being conformed into his image. Christ became a human being, died for our wrongdoings, and rose to life so that we could be made like him and participate in what he accomplished. This is the “good” that God has predestined for his people—to be united to Christ, sharing in his death to our sin and resurrection to new life.¹²⁷

But like a doctor’s prescription, the medicine is for those whose name is on the bottle. So consider, is this promise yours? And if not, what hope do you have in this life wrecked by evil, suffering, and tragedy? What anchor holds when the storm hits?

God is working in Christ to make all things new—this cursed world, but also you, if only you would put your trust in him. The promise of Romans 8:28 becomes ours through faith in Christ.

Hope as a virtue

As many commentators have pointed out, Romans 5–8 are bookended by the theme of hope. Paul mentions it at the beginning of chapter 5 (vv. 2, 4–5) and returns to it in chapter 8 (vv. 20, 24). Everything in between—including the promise of Romans 8:28—aims to give us hope.

Sometimes we think of hope as simply a condition we find ourselves in if our circumstances happen to be favorable. We are hopeful if things seem hopeful. Hope is something passive. We’re recipients of it, merely responding to our external conditions.

Yet according to Scripture, hope is a virtue. In 1 Corinthians 13:13 it stands alongside faith and love as things we’re called to do.¹²⁸ Just as we are called to believe and to love, we are called to hope. It is something we must exercise. And if hope is a virtue, its alternative vice, its sin of omission, is cynicism or despair—a refusal to hope.

Hope is not something we just happen to experience if we’re lucky enough. No, we must fight for it and strive to cultivate it.

And here’s what sustains that hope: That no matter what is taken from us, God himself cannot be. Look at how Paul concludes this section. In Romans 8:35–39, nothing can separate us from God and his saving love for us.

Not a cancer diagnosis.

Not a painful divorce.

Not the death of a loved one.

Not a wayward child.

Not betrayal from friends.

Not horrific abuse.

Not the destruction of your good reputation.

Nothing.

No matter what you’ve suffered or may suffer—no matter the loss—you can never lose God’s saving love. And if you have that, you have everything.

Share your thoughts

How do you think we should apply Romans 8:28? Join us in the Word by Word group to share your thoughts.

Resources for further reflection

Suffering and the Sovereignty of God

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Suffering and the Goodness of God (Theology in Community)

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Why Do I Suffer? Suffering and the Sovereignty of God

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Surprised by Suffering: The Role of Pain and Death in the Christian Life

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Is God Really in Control? Trusting God in a World of Hurt

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Suffering: Gospel Hope When Life Doesn’t Make Sense

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Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy: Discovering the Grace of Lament

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When God Weeps: Why Our Sufferings Matter to the Almighty

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• On Spiritual Abuse | Michael Kruger

In the book of Psalms, we encounter Scripture in a distinctive form. It is written in order that we might sing it and that, through song, its words might become our own.

Introducing his lectures on the Psalms, Martin Luther described the book as “a little Bible,” on account that “in it is comprehended most beautifully and briefly everything that is in the entire Bible.”¹²⁹

• Psalms 104 to 106 recount both God’s acts of creation and his dealings with Israel.
• Psalms 19 and 119 discuss the law of the Lord.
• Wisdom themes are found in places like Psalms 73 or 127.
• Elsewhere, the Psalms are nearer in character to prophecy: Psalm 22, for instance, is related to the sufferings of Christ.¹³⁰

Like a prism in which a white beam of light is refracted, Psalms is a book in which we encounter both the unity and diversity of the scriptural text.

Why sing the Psalms: 4 key benefits

The most notable feature of the Psalter is that it is a songbook. Although there is much benefit to be found in reading the Psalter as we might other biblical books, our principal encounter with psalms should be singing, ideally in an assembly of God’s people.

Song glorifies speech. Habitually singing the Word of God teaches us better to treasure it. The form of the psalms themselves helps us to recognize that Scripture is not merely some prosaic thing, but the living, active, delightful, and glorious Word of God.

1. They engage our affections

By its very nature, song encourages and facilitates certain forms of engagement with texts. Placing words to music and singing them is one way emotionally to attune people to a text. We sing the words of the psalmist so as better to inhabit his lamentation, praise, or petition. Music and song stir and conscript our affections and desires. Whereas the words of the law are largely external, second-person imperatives, with little in themselves to encourage hearers emotionally to resonate with them, it is in the Psalms that we most powerfully encounter the answering love and the internalization of the Word for which the law always called (Deut 6:4–9).

2. They aid memorization

Music and song also help words to stick. Which of us has never struggled to dislodge an earworm, perhaps a theme for a commercial! By singing psalms, their words start to lodge themselves in our memories and, over time, become part of us.

A central promise of the new covenant is that God’s law would be placed in the hearts of his people. The treasuring of the words of Scripture encouraged by memorizing psalms is a form that this takes, and its results were described by David in Psalm 40:8: “I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.” Scriptural memorization is a very neglected practice, but the best place to start is with the Psalms. Having memorized several psalms in my early childhood, their words now come unbidden to my lips as calls for aid amidst struggles or expressions of praise amidst joys.

3. They encourage meditation

Closely related to both emotional engagement and memorization, music and song also encourage repetition. As words become both familiar and delightful or engaging for us as they are set to music, we will naturally repeat them. This, in turn, encourages meditation: As we repeat psalms, whether in our minds or singing them aloud, we will likely find ourselves chewing over their meaning. Through such repetition and meditation, we metabolize the Word.

4. They unify God’s people

Music also allows for the bringing together of many voices in a united song. In Psalm 148, the psalmist summons both the hosts of heaven and the manifold creatures of the earth to join like antiphonal choirs in a common declaration of the Lord’s praise. On a more modest level, whenever we sing psalms in a congregation of God’s people, they serve to unify us in a single expression of praise, our individual voices being caught up in that of the whole gathered assembly.

Psalm-singing, then, helps us to develop a new form of engagement with Scripture, one that exceeds bare “reading.” Through repeated emotional engagement, memory, meditation, and singing in unison, the Psalms work the Word of God into us. Colossians 3:16 describes psalm-singing as a way in which Christ’s Word can dwell in us richly, much as the parallel text of Ephesians 5:18–19 describes it as a means of the Spirit’s indwelling.

How to read the Psalms: 7 guiding principles

The above are strong claims on the benefits of meditating upon and singing the psalms. How might we best engage in such reading and singing, so as to gain the most from the practice?

1. Interpret Christologically

First, the Psalms need to be read in relation to Christ, as it is in him that they are fulfilled.

The Psalms have historically been identified as the psalms of David, as he is the author of the core body of them and, as several of their superscriptions suggest, many of them have traditionally been read in relation to specific and non-specific events of David’s life. Yet David and his life point beyond themselves to something—to Someone—more glorious. As David’s Greater Son, Jesus is both the one spoken of in the Psalms—the righteous man who delights in the law, the king exalted by God, the faithful sufferer, the true worshipper—and the one whose voice we hear in them. When we sing the Psalms, it is, as Paul recognized, the Word of Christ that is dwelling in us.

The Psalms were evidently of immense importance in the earliest Church’s consciousness and practice. Jesus had taught them to seek him in the Psalms (Luke 24:44) and, in the opening chapters of the book of Acts, the apostles saw the experiences of the church within it, too. In Acts 1:20, Peter relates the removal of Judas from the apostolic company to Psalms 69:25 and 109:8. In his Pentecost sermon, he refers Psalm 16:8–11 to Jesus’s resurrection (2:25–28) and quotes Psalm 110:1 in relation to Christ’s ascension (2:34–35). The apostles used Psalm 2:1–2 to explain the opposition they faced in Acts 4:25–26. Such reading practice is instructive for us.

2. Appropriate personally

Second, and connected with the first point, psalm-singing is a form of our union with and a means of our being conformed to Christ.

We can imaginatively figure our own experiences—our loves, our struggles, our joys—into the lyrics of popular songs. Young people especially can be obsessed with their favorite singers and songwriters, feeling an intense emotional connection with them, not merely on account of musical skill, but because theirs are the voices that give expression to their most profound and otherwise inarticulate feelings. We should do something similar with the Psalms, yet in a way that is more warranted by the reality. When we sing the Psalms, we should not merely parrot them as the words of the psalmist or look for parallels, but make them our own, “borrowing” their inspired words to sanctify our hearts and their longings.

We encounter the voice of Christ in the Psalms, and he sings forth the deepest realities of the lives of the people of God. It is in the Psalms that we can experience something of the truth that Christ is our older brother. Here we might observe the way in which the author of Hebrews uses Psalm 22:22 in 2:12 of his epistle, presenting Christ as the psalmist and chief singer, leading his brothers and sisters in praise. We do not merely find Christ in the Psalms, but find our relationship to Christ in them.

3. Read meditatively

Third, singing the Psalms is a form of spiritual reading of Scripture. The book of Psalms opens by speaking of the blessedness of the man whose “delight is in the law of the Lord,” constantly meditating upon it (Ps 1:2). The Psalms also contain some of the most famous declarations of and meditations upon the goodness of the Word of God. Psalm 19:7–10, for instance:

The law of the LORD is perfect,
reviving the soul;
the testimony of the LORD is sure,
making wise the simple;
the precepts of the LORD are right,
rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the LORD is pure,
enlightening the eyes;
the fear of the LORD is clean,
enduring forever;
the rules of the LORD are true,
and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold,
even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey
and drippings of the honeycomb.

Psalm 119 is another extended meditation upon the goodness of God’s words.

By its nature, the book of Psalms encourages repeated chewing over of and delight in Scripture. If we are to enjoy its richness, we must commit ourselves to the savoring of the Word of God that the singing of the Psalms encourages.

4. Inhabit performatively

Fourth, as Gordon Wenham has argued, singing the Psalms is a performative act and consequently of great ethical importance. When I sing, “You are my God,” I am not merely making a statement of some detached fact: I am expressing a deep commitment that requires and propels the transformation of my life. Such statements, which pervade the Psalms, are not merely objective statements about God, but self-implicating statements about us in relation to him.

It is easy to sing unthinkingly, yet true singing of the Psalms conscripts our minds, our hearts, and our undivided attention and energies. We should reflect upon the words of the Psalms that we sing and, when we sing them, sing them prayerfully with our whole hearts.

5. Teach your heart to sing

Fifth, the Psalms furnish us with a rich repertoire of itineraries of the soul that we can follow. They assure us that, wherever we find ourselves in the realm of life, it is not uncharted by the grace of God, a place we are without faithful companions, nor lacking in a trustworthy way that we can follow back to him.

• There are psalms, for instance, that present movements from crisis, to trust, to deliverance, and then to answering praise.
• There are other psalms that lack deliverance, but by which the psalmist transposes despair in or complaint about crisis into trusting cry for aid.
• In others, the psalmist addresses his wavering soul with the trustworthy truth of God, enabling him to face trials with confidence.
• When alienated from God through sin, the psalms provide us with songs of penitence like Psalm 51 and subsequent joy at forgiveness, such as Psalm 32.
• When we are experiencing blessings, the Psalms will also give us fitting words of praise by which we can render thanksgiving to God.

As a devotional practice, Psalms equips us to relate the diverse experiences and feelings of life to God and his Word and to articulate them faithfully. If we desire hearts that are freed and equipped to express their deepest longings to God, meditation upon and singing of the Psalms should be part of our daily time in Scripture.

Use the Psalms Explorer in Logos to browse, sort, and group the Psalms.
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6. Connect historically

Sixth, the Psalter is a means by which we are united to the people of God across history, who have been singing them for nearly three thousand years. When we take up their words to relate our hearts to God, we are doing so as members of a vast company of the faithful who have done the same over the centuries, something that, irrespective of their lyrical value, is not the case for modern compositions.

We should sing the Psalms alongside study of the history of the people of God in Scripture, discovering within psalm-singing something of the unity of the people of God in Christ across the centuries.

7. Sing communally

Our engagement with the Scriptures can often be narrowly focused upon private and silent reading. The public reading of Scripture, the significance of which is greatly downplayed, is a more primary form of encounter. Yet there is something distinctive about the singing of psalms: We do not merely silently take the Word in with our eyes, but proclaim it forth with raised voices.

Likewise, the words are sung in unison with others, uniting us in a company of song. In singing the Psalms, we do not merely address God, but we address our brothers and sisters in Christ. As the Apostle Paul writes in Ephesians 5:19, part of what being filled with the Spirit entails is “addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.” Singing together builds up the body of Christ, deepening our unity and encouraging struggling members, as profound and faith-eliciting truths of God’s Word are presented to our hearts in the confident song of fellow believers.

Psalm-singing should not be restricted to private devotions, but should be at the heart of our gathered worship.

Conclusion

How, then, should we read the Psalms?

Different types of books call for different modes of engagement. One does not “read” a work of history in the same way as a novel, a recipe book, the script of a play, or a computer manual. Engaging with the book of Psalms on its own terms invites us to the habitual, and frequently communal, singing of God’s Word. It establishes a form of engagement with Scripture that foregrounds the internalization of that Word in memory, meditation, and conscription of our affections and desires, and the beautiful external expression of that Word in the upraised voice of song. It equips us to respond to God’s address of his truth to us in answering praise, habitually to address God’s truth to our own faltering hearts, and to buoy up our struggling neighbors with an inspiring song of praise.

Alastair Roberts’s recommended resources on the Psalms

• Laurence, Trevor. Cursing with God: The Imprecatory Psalms and the Ethics of Christian Prayer. Baylor University Press, 2023.

The Psalter Reclaimed: Praying and Praising with the Psalms

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Psalms: Evangelical Biblical Theology Commentary (2 vols.) (EBTC)

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Psalms as Torah: Reading Biblical Song Ethically (Studies in Theological Interpretation)

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The Psalms: A Christ-Centered Commentary (4 vols.)

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How to Read and Understand the Psalms

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What can a Christian do when facing modern-day moral issues that the Bible does not directly address? Furthermore, how can Christians engage in current public moral debates with those who do not share our conviction in the authority of the Bible? The natural law theory of ethics provides a solution.

Although natural law theory offers immense insight for Christian moral reasoning, many Christians are unfamiliar with it. In this article, I explain why every Christian should know the natural law theory of ethics. In short, I contend that Christians who adopt natural law ethical reasoning will be more effective at applying the Bible’s principles to moral issues and questions.

What is natural law theory?

Natural law

Before considering natural law theory, let us first attend to what is meant by natural law.

David VanDrunen defines the natural law as “the law of God made known in the created order, which all human beings know through their physical senses, intellect, and conscience, although they sinfully resist this knowledge to various degrees.”¹³¹

Through the natural law, people can discern basic moral goods, also called the basic human goods. They are basic because they are intrinsically valuable and self-evident. They are good because they secure human flourishing. Natural law philosopher John Finnis identifies seven basic human goods:

1. Life
2. Knowledge
3. Play
4. Aesthetic experience
5. Sociability (friendship)
6. Practical reasonableness
7. Religion¹³²

Though not moral obligations themselves, they serve as foundations for moral duties because pursuing them leads to human flourishing.

Natural law theory

Natural law theory then aims to systematize God’s natural law into an ethical framework.

According to natural law theory, we derive moral precepts from the above basic human goods. Actions and virtues that promote and preserve the basic human goods are morally right, whereas actions that negate them are immoral.

For example, murder is immoral because it violates the basic good of life. Even without the Bible, people recognize murder is immoral. It violates the natural moral order, wounds the conscience, is against reason, and negates human flourishing. A Christian can condemn murder both because Scripture condemns it and because it violates the natural law written on every heart.

Genesis 1:26–27 reveals that God created people in his own image. God also created human nature to function in ways specifically good for humans. Natural law theory argues that what is moral aligns with what fulfills human nature’s good ends and purposes as God intended them.

Additionally, according to Romans 2:14–15, God gave every human a conscience to perceive his moral truth. The conscience functions as a type of moral sensor in partnership with reason that affirms or condemns these actions.

Thus, natural law theory is an ethical framework that affirms:

• Objective moral laws exist.
• God has encoded them within the natural order, forming a natural law.
• Humans have the rational capacities to discern these natural laws.
• God designed human nature so that aiming at these laws secures human good.
• All people are accountable to God for obeying these universally knowable moral laws.

Types of law in natural law theory

Finally, classical natural law theory distinguishes four kinds of moral law (see Aquinas, Summa Theologiae I–II, Q. 91, A. 1–6).

1. Eternal law: God’s secret will and counsel for his divine governance (cf. Eph 1:11).
2. Divine law: The revealed portion of God’s eternal law made known through Scripture (cf. Deut 29:29).
3. Natural law: The revealed portion of God’s eternal law made known through the natural order of the universe, discernable through reason and conscience. It is the moral law written on the heart (cf. Rom 2:15).
4. Human law: Societal laws derived from the natural law (and sometimes divine law) to promote civil order and flourishing.

Positive law refers to the legal codes enacted by human governments. Natural law theory holds that positive laws are legitimate when derived from the natural law.¹³³

Natural law reasoning undergirds human legislation, even when lawmakers are unaware of it (Summa I–II, Q. 95, A. 2). For example, setting speed limit laws reflects the intuitive effort to protect the basic good, life.

What is the history of natural law theory?

From Aristotle to Aquinas

Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) is the father of natural law theory, but the theory’s philosophical roots trace back to Aristotle (384–322 BC). Aristotle taught in his Nicomachean Ethics that every creature has a distinct nature with a corresponding ultimate purpose (telos). Aristotle believed human telos to be happiness (eudaimonia), which is achieved through virtuous actions consistent with human nature.

Aquinas integrated Aristotle’s philosophical teleology with Christian theology in his Summa Theologiae and developed the natural law theory. He affirmed that humans, made in God’s image (cf. Gen 1:26, 27), are rational creatures. Therefore, people can discern moral norms that align with human nature’s divinely given telos.

Aquinas surmised that moral norms flow from God’s good nature and are encoded in creation. God has given people synderesis (συνείδησις, “conscience”), a divinely implanted character disposition that enables people to discern good and evil (Summa I, Q. 79, A. 12). Aquinas also first articulated the four categories of moral law, listed above.

Aquinas theorized that through the exercise of reason, people instinctively know we should do good and avoid evil (Summa I–II, Q. 94, A. 2). He called this the first principle of practical reason, even though the effects of sin cause inconsistent adherence. From the first principle, people discern that to do good, they must uphold the basic human goods.

Aquinas identified five basic human goods (Summa I–II, Q. 94, A.2–4).

1. God, directing human reason towards our Creator, finding fulfillment in him
2. Life, preservation, protection, and flourishing of human life
3. Family, encompassing marriage, sexual union, procreation, and child-rearing
4. Truth, valuing truth over falsehood and pursuing knowledge over ignorance
5. Reason, properly exercising rational faculties

Protestantism and natural law theory

Roman Catholicism has embraced natural law theory for centuries. Up until the twentieth century, Protestantism also broadly accepted natural law reasoning. Reformers like John Calvin and Martin Luther affirmed the principles of natural law,¹³⁴ which were later re-articulated within Neo-Calvinism’s concept of common grace.

Modern Protestants grew skeptical, believing natural law theory undermines biblical authority and underestimates the noetic effects of the fall.¹³⁵ They perceive sola scriptura and total depravity as inconsistent with the natural law.

Despite these modern concerns, Protestants—such as G. C. Berkouwer—point out that the Reformers largely agreed with natural law reasoning.¹³⁶ Aquinas himself even argued that the natural law is limited, and that special revelation is required to teach all of God’s law (Summa I–II, Q. 91, A.4). Thus, natural law and special revelation work in harmony, not in competition.

Natural law theory today

How do we see natural law theory being received in contemporary times?

As we saw, Aquinas’s classical natural law version rooted morality in God and his creation of human nature. The current new natural law theorists, such as John Finnis, Robert P. George, and Francis Beckwith, recast natural law in philosophical ways that stretch beyond theological commitments. They attempt to maintain the rational credibility of natural law theory among secular thinkers while affirming moral realism.

Natural law theory is also currently undergoing a revival in Protestant scholarship, most notably in evangelicalism. Scholars such as David VanDrunen, Andrew T. Walker, and J. Daryl Charles are examples.

Finally, we should note that natural law tradition gave rise to the modern idea of natural rights. Natural law thinkers reason that rights derive from the basic human goods. Rights are meant to protect these goods. Natural law reasoning then is an influential voice in the debate over the origin and nature of human rights.

Does natural law theory accord with Scripture?

While the Bible never mentions natural law theory, it clearly teaches the existence of moral law encoded in creation and human conscience.

We find the natural law either taught or implied in the following ways.

1. The gentile law-keepers (Rom 1–2)

Paul gives the clearest case in Scripture for natural law in the first two chapters of Romans. In Romans 1:18–20, he says that ungodly gentiles actively “suppress [κατέχω] the truth” they already know. They know God’s moral standards through the created order (natural revelation), thus leaving them “without excuse” for their unrighteousness. In Romans 1:32, Paul adds that they intuitively recognize God’s righteous standards yet willingly rebel against them.

In Romans 2:12–15, Paul explains that even gentiles who never knew the Mosaic law (divine law) still perish according to its condemnation. They instinctively, “by nature [φύσις],” know God’s moral demands. Though lacking the clarity of the written Mosaic law, these gentiles have its moral essence “written on their hearts.” God gave all people a conscience (συνείδησις) that testifies to their hearts, either accusing or excusing their actions.

God can hold all people accountable because the natural law teaches the essence of the divine law externally through creation and internally through conscience.

2. Creation ordered towards the good

Genesis 1 reveals that God created the world with a natural orderliness toward goodness. After each creative act, God declared that it was “good” (טוֹב). The Hebrew word טוֹב suggests that what God made was not only pleasant but properly ordered to its intended function.

In Genesis 2:18, God declared Adam’s lack of a helpmate “not good” (לֹא־טֹ֛וב). God created Eve and established marriage, sexual union, and procreation as parts of his naturally good order. These actions reveal that creation possesses built-in orderliness toward goodness—a natural law.

3. Pre-Mosaic moral accountability

After humanity’s fall into sin, God held people morally accountable before he gave the Mosaic law (see Rom 5:12–14; cf. Rom 5:20–21; Gal 3:19). Therefore, a natural law of morality existed that contained enough moral knowledge to hold violators culpable before God.

In Genesis 15:16, God says he will judge the Amorites for their iniquity. Thus, God judged pagan nations according to a moral standard they could naturally know. Likewise, Sodom and Gomorrah’s “very grave” sins (Gen 18:20) brought about God’s judgment. Their sexually deviant, violent sins reflected an “unnatural” desire (cf. Jude 7), suggesting they intuitively knew it was immoral.

These examples demonstrate that God expected pagans to live morally because God had revealed sufficient moral truth to them through nature and conscience.

4. The morality of the Ten Commandments

The Ten Commandments (Exod 20:1–17) are an instance of the divine law articulating natural law moral precepts. The moral precepts undergirding the Ten Commandments were already moral precepts before they became part of special revelation. Acts like murder, theft, adultery, and lying were already immoral before God codified them in writing.

Further, the Ten Commandments aim to protect the basic human goods, such as:

• God (no other gods, no idols, do not take God’s name vainly, keep sabbath)
• Family (honor one’s parents and one’s marriage)
• Life (don’t murder)
• Community (no stealing, false testimony, or coveting)
• Truth (same as above)

In sum, the Bible presents a case for the existence of natural law. It maintains God’s good order in nature and that this is knowable by all. It contains enough moral data to hold all people morally accountable to God.

FAQs about natural law theory

1. Does sin render the natural law theory ineffective?

Sin causes people to ignore the natural law’s demands intentionally, but sin does not make people ignorant of them.

Romans 2:14–15 makes clear that in our post-fall era, God holds all people accountable for violating the natural law revealed through conscience.

2. If natural law theory is true, why are people not more moral?

Although sin leads people to suppress the moral truth they know, humanity still evidences moral awareness. Societies often establish governments and laws based on the moral commitment to promote the common good.

I believe that if not for God’s natural law bestowing a moral common grace, no stable society could have ever formed.

3. If natural law theory is true, why is there disagreement over the basic human goods?

While natural law theorists may differ in their lists of basic human goods, they all agree that they exist. Debates arise over the categorization of certain moral goods. For instance, all theorists agree that justice is an essential moral good. But there is disagreement over whether justice is a primary moral good or a secondary good dependent on another, primary one.

Why does natural law theory matter?

There are several key applications of natural law theory for Christians.

1. Natural law theory enhances Christian ethics

Natural law theory enhances Christian ethics by demonstrating how the Bible’s moral principles apply to extrabiblical issues. Natural law reasoning shows that Christian morality rests on rational, universally knowable moral truths, not merely on faith-based commitments. It shows the world that Christian ethics apply to everyone, not just Christians.

2. Natural law theory equips Christians to engage the public square

Western societies have in many respects abandoned a shared morality that the Bible informed. Natural law theory helps meet this state of affairs. It equips Christians to address moral issues in the public square among those with secular minds who deny the Bible’s authority.

Natural law reasoning shows Christians how to argue for morality in the public square rationally and intelligently, not just theologically.

3. Natural law informs our moral reasoning

Consider the issue of lying. Natural law reasoning asserts that lying is immoral because it denies truth, a basic human good. Truth is essential for human relationships and communities to flourish. Human reasoning and our conscience instruct us that lying is contrary to morally sound behavior.

Gene editing, though not directly addressed in the Bible, can be evaluated with natural law reasoning. Its morality depends on intention, process, and outcome. Gene editing technology can be used to treat genetic diseases. This intention upholds the basic human good of life and is therefore moral.

However, gene editing technology also permits the preferential genetic design of babies during embryonic development. The intention behind designing babies’ traits violates the basic goods of God and life. It usurps God’s sovereign place as the one who makes people in his image. It violates life because it reduces people to a customizable commodity. A case can also be made that it violates human rights by undermining natural human dignity and equality.

Conclusion

Natural law theory is an ethical theory that uses the natural law of God to inform moral reasoning. It posits the existence of objective moral principles knowable to every person since God has encoded them in his creation. God has designed human nature in such a way that people intuitively know the moral norms necessary for human goodness. Therefore, natural law theory posits that through reasoning and conscience, every person knows what they morally ought to do.

Natural law theory has biblical warrant and justification. The reality of a natural moral law that God expects all people to obey is illustrated throughout Scripture. Most notably, Paul argued that the basis upon which God judges gentile pagans is that they deny his natural law of morality that they knew through conscience.

Proponents of natural law theory stand in good company with many luminaries from church history. Aquinas was its father, but it has been carried forward in both Catholic and Protestant streams of Christianity. To this day, natural law theory is an influential voice in Christian ethics, moral reasoning, and human rights debates.

Natural law theory matters for believers today because it:

• Effectively applies biblical principles to complex issues
• Strengthens our moral witness for Christ
• Shows secular listeners that Christian values are rational and intuitive
• Gives us a compelling moral voice in the public square

Dustin Burdin’s recommended books for further study

• George, Robert P. In Defense of Natural Law. Oxford University Press, 2004.

Natural Law: A Short Companion (Essentials in Christian Ethics)

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Faithful Reason: Natural Law Ethics for God’s Glory and Our Good

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Additional resources on natural law

Natural Law: A Brief Introduction and Biblical Defense

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Natural Law: Five Views (Critical Points)

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Natural Law and the Two Kingdoms: A Study in the Development of Reformed Social Thought

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Divine Covenants and Moral Order: A Biblical Theology of Natural Law

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Rediscovering the Natural Law in Reformed Theological Ethics

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Nature as Reason: A Thomistic Theory of the Natural Law

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The Natural Law According to Aquinas and Suárez

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A Shared Morality: A Narrative Defense of Natural Law Ethics

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After the age of the apostles, Christians wrestled with questions about what the faithful should believe and how they should practice the new religion. Many great thinkers from ancient Christian communities wrote to address such issues. These men are called the church fathers, and the study of the texts they wrote is called patristics (from pater, the Latin word for “father”). The patristic era extends from about the second through the eighth centuries, a time when many ideas of Christian belief and worship were formed.

What the traditional study of patristics often omits, however, is the influence of religious women from the same period. These church mothers were equally important in shaping doctrine, and believers can thank them for their contributions to the spiritual lives of congregations today.

In this essay, I will describe four women from the patristic age whose lives, writings, and accomplishments shaped the early church. The first woman shaped doctrine in the same way as many other church fathers: through writings. The other three women, however, transformed thinking in a different way: through buildings. This shows that there is not just one way to change people’s ideas. By looking at the past through these different lenses, the mothers of the church can come into clear focus.

Table of contents

1. Perpetua the Martyr (182–c. 203) envisions heaven
2. Helena of Constantinople
3. Pulcheria the Empress
4. Radegund the Prioress
Conclusion

1. Perpetua the Martyr (182–c. 203) envisions heaven

In AD 203, the cosmopolitan city of Carthage in North Africa witnessed the confrontation between the power of the Roman Empire and the strength of the growing Christian community. In that year, the city had decided to celebrate the birthday of the son of Emperor Septimius Severus by hosting games in their great arena. A central attraction of the games was the execution of criminals, and people who converted to Christianity and refused to worship the traditional gods or the emperor were considered criminals. Among those arrested for the birthday party was a young, prosperous matron named Perpetua, along with five companions.

Through these early centuries of the Christian era, there were many martyrs who died for the faith. Most of those we remember were memorialized by the people who watched them die. Perpetua was different because she recounted her own experience. While she was in jail awaiting execution, she kept a diary of her experiences, today entitled The Passion of Perpetua. She recorded her feelings about her family, her son, and her faith. Most importantly for her impact on Christian theology, she also recorded four dreams she had in prison. After her death, the faithful read her dreams as visions from God.

Perpetua’s first vision in prison reshaped Christian views of heaven. She dreamed that she saw a tall ladder that she climbed after treading on the head of a dragon that guarded it. “Next to the ladder I also saw a huge, beautiful, and most copious garden, and in the middle of the garden an old man, sitting in the habit of a shepherd and milking sheep, and in a circle around him many stood of glimmering whiteness.” This white-haired man welcomed her and offered her a mouthful of milk. As she drank it “all those who stood around said: ‘Amen,’” and she awoke.¹³⁷

Perpetua saw heaven as a garden, but this was not the universal afterlife expectation in the early church. Many looked to a golden heavenly Jerusalem—a great city for the faithful. This was not surprising, since many of the first Christian communities were founded in urban communities. Even the most famous vision of heaven, that of John in Revelation, saw heaven as a golden synagogue or basilica (Rev 4). There was one other vision of a garden heaven: the mid-second century Apocalypse of Peter, in which he saw heaven as a great garden. However, the Apocalypse was never as popular as Perpetua’s text.

Perpetua’s text was read every year on her feast day (traditionally, March 7). Two hundred years later, church fathers like Augustine warned people not to take the popular text as Scripture, but by then, Perpetua’s visions had become part of the faithful’s understanding. From then on, heaven was more often seen as a garden than a golden city. The influence of this church mother was lasting.

2. Helena of Constantinople (c. 246/248–330) founds a Christian holy land (c. 315)

When Constantine became emperor in 313, everything changed for the communities of Christians. His predecessor, Emperor Gelerius, issued the Edict of Toleration in 311 that brought an end to Rome’s persecution of Christians, but Constantine with further. He actively supported Christians and built them churches and presided over their councils.

Many historians have credited his mother, Helena, with influencing Constantine’s support of Christians. In 324, Constantine gave his mother the title augusta, or “empress,” raising her status. Helena’s influence over her son alone may have made her a mother of the church, but there were many Christian women who influenced their husbands and sons to adopt Christianity. These anonymous women were influential, but scholars do not place them in the same category as church fathers who established doctrine. Helena, however, independently did change the direction of Christianity: She believed God needed some earthly real estate.

Helena was a good Roman in that she inherited a belief that spaces were connected with deities. In traditional Roman paganism, each grove, each hill, each city, each home, and even each part of a home was the locality of some god who required some sign of veneration. The early Christians believed the world was coming to an imminent end, so they did not locate spaces for the Christian God; they looked to a future heavenly Jerusalem. Helena changed that.

Helena traveled to Jerusalem to locate the spaces where Jesus had walked. By the fourth century, Jerusalem was a Roman pagan city. Jewish Jerusalem had fallen in AD 70, and the city itself was given the Roman name Aelia Capitolina. The venerable Temple Mount now sported a sanctuary to Jupiter. Helena first organized an archeological search for the sepulcher of Christ from which he rose from the dead, and she believed she found it. She ordered the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to be built over the site, and it has drawn pilgrims for over a thousand years. Some believers today favor a site outside the old city walls called the Garden Tomb as the actual site of the resurrection, but either way, Jerusalem had become the spiritual homeland for Christianity.

Helena also built churches over a cave in Bethlehem where Christ was purportedly born, and she erected another on the Mount of Olives from where Christ was said to have ascended to heaven. Reportedly, Helena had a ship loaded with earth from Jerusalem and sent it to Rome, where she had it placed under a church called the Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem. Here, pilgrims could literally stand on the land of Jerusalem while in Rome.

Under the influence of Helena, mother of the church, Christianity gained a holy land, and with that, a more historically-conscious faith. Ever since, pilgrims traveled to these Christian spaces, and Jerusalem became one of the most contested pieces of land in the world.

3. Pulcheria the Empress (399–453) exalts the Virgin Mary (c. 431)

In 412, a young thirteen-year-old girl named Pulcheria took over the Byzantine Empire and ruled as regent for her younger brother, Theodosius—until he turned fifteen. She had the title of empress, and even after her brother became officially emperor, she continued to exert a great deal of influence over the growing Christian church.

Her greatest impact was over the status of the Virgin Mary. At the beginning of the fifth century, there was only one church dedicated to Mary, and that was in Ephesus, a city sacred to the virgin Artemis. Ephesian Christians simply changed their allegiance from one virgin to another,¹³⁸ but not everyone agreed that the modest Jewish peasant girl who bore Jesus deserved exaltation.

The problem arose when a new archbishop named Nestorius attacked the empress in particular (and women in general). Not only did Nestorius ban Pulcheria from the church sanctuary, but he went further. He said, “Let no one call Mary the Mother of God. She was a human being, and it was impossible that God was born of a human.”¹³⁹ Nestorius argued that God’s divinity entered Jesus after his birth.

Emperor Theodosius called a council—the Third Ecumenical Council—in 431 to settle the question of whether the Word became incarnate while still inside Mary’s womb. If so, then that would mean Mary had given birth to God and deserved the title Theotokos (“God-bearer”). He scheduled the council in Ephesus, the one city that venerated the Virgin Mary. Violence broke out in the street in support of Mary as the mother of God, and in this council, the anti-Nestorians were vindicated. Christians gave Pulcheria credit for her influential stand, and from this time forward, Christians believed Mary gave birth to God, who had taken on her flesh in her womb.

Pulcheria followed up this conciliar victory with visible markers of the newly confirmed decision. She built three churches dedicated to the Mother of God in Constantinople, and the decision spread throughout Christendom. In Rome in 432, a newly built church was dedicated to Mary, the first basilica dedicated to Mary in the West: Santa Maria Maggiore.

Pulcheria’s influence continued long into the future. By the twelfth century, all the cathedrals in the West were dedicated to the Virgin Mary. A thirteenth-century mosaic built in Santa Maria Maggiore shows Mary as the Queen of Heaven, ruling next to her son in as much splendor as Pulcheria ruled from her imperial throne.

4. Radegund the Prioress (c. 520–587) establishes monasticism in Gaul (ca. 546)

By the sixth century, church fathers like Gregory of Tours were writing texts that helped move Christian worship from the Mediterranean basin north to the Germanic tribes who had settled there. Radegund was a mother of the church who had a religious impact in the north.

Radegund was the daughter of the king of the Thuringi, a kingdom in modern central Germany. When she was young, she had read writings of church fathers urging women to remain chaste and stories of female martyrs like Perpetua whose brave sufferings she admired. When she was eighteen, she was forced to become one of the wives of the Frankish king, Clothar. They married in 540, but she never renounced her religious practices.

Everything changed for Radegund in about 546, when Clothar killed her brother. Radegund’s poetry reveals her feelings of guilt for her brother’s death. She fled the court. She ran to the bishop of Noyon, whom she asked him to consecrate her as a nun. The bishop feared two things: The law that said a married woman couldn’t be consecrated, and the armed noblemen from the king who came to return Radegund to his bed. Radegund took matters into her own hands. She donned monastic robes and consecrated herself.

Her fascinating personal story wouldn’t have qualified Radegund as a mother of the church, but she used her power and money to facilitate a religious life for other women. She established a monastery for women in Poitiers. Two hundred women entered into the convent, and Radegund defined the politeia (or “rule”) that guided their lives. Her convent was a model for the monastic life, and many other houses were founded following her example. Radegund died in 587, and her burial space quickly became a pilgrimage site that still draws visitors.

Monasteries were essential in claiming the northern lands for Christian practice, and Radegund’s foundation would be enough to qualify her as a mother of the church. However, there was more. A large body of her writings survive that include poetry and letters. Her friend Venantius Fortunatus wrote her biography celebrating her life. Her biography and writings circulated widely, inspiring others to pursue the Christian life.

Conclusion

The lives of these four women show that Christian history, thought, and practice have been shaped by more people than the church fathers who recorded their thoughts on parchment as they sat in their libraries. These mothers of the church might encourage us to look more deeply into the women and men (and ascetics and peasants) who contributed to our rich religious tradition.

Salisbury’s recommended resources for further study

• Cobb, L. Stephanie, ed. The Passion of Perpetua and Felicitas in Late Antiquity. University of California Press, 2021.
• Dailey, E.T. Radegund: The Trials and Triumphs of a Merovingian Queen. Oxford University Press, 1982.
• Herrin, Judith. Unrivaled Influence: Women and Empire in Byzantium. Princeton University Press, 2013.
• Hillman, Julia. Helena Augusta: Mother of the Empire. Oxford University Press, 2022.
• Holum, Kenneth G. Theodosian Empresses: Women and Imperial Dominion in Late Antiquity. University of California Press, 1982.
• Kraemer, Ross Shepard, and Mary Rose D’Angelo, eds. Women and Christian Origins. Oxford University Press, 1999.
• Salisbury, Joyce E. Perpetua’s Passion: The Death and Memory of a Young Roman Woman. Routledge, 1997.

Constantine’s Sword: The Church and the Jews, A History

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What have I gotten myself into?

Most of us who lead small groups have had that moment. Leading people is a bit like parenting: It doesn’t come with an instruction manual. It’s rife with unforeseen scenarios that are as unique as the people who make up the group. Some situations are garden variety that become second nature to a seasoned small group leader. Others are so complex that they vex even the most grizzled leaders.

People are complicated. And a small group puts all of that complication in a room together, week after week. So how do we lead them well?

13 principles for leading a small group with challenging personalities

Before we address specific types of people you may encounter, let’s look at some foundational principles that enable you to better handle the more complex people God brings your way.

1. Stay spiritually healthy

The health of your own soul will impact the health of your group. Good technique and best practices are no replacement for staying connected to the Vine (John 15:4–8).

Moreover, the group will see itself through your eyes. So see the group the way God sees it. While remaining honest about its shortcomings, see the God-given potential it has. Lead with contagious faith, hope, and love, even when frustrated by hard dynamics.

2. Be a fellow member

The goal of a small group is to help one another grow more like Jesus. You need the same gospel as your small group. You, like them, need to grow. Model humility and candor. Pursue growth with them.

This posture makes a significant difference when dealing with difficult people. Your humble example of an authentic relationship with Jesus will prove contagious.

3. Foster a strong culture

A healthy culture is one of your greatest assets when leading complicated people. A healthy small group culture will naturally absorb and mitigate a difficult personality without being derailed by it, while that same person would rattle a group with a less healthy culture.

So how do you shape culture? It’s more art than science, but a few practices go a long way. Leaders help shape culture by deciding who to platform and what to elevate. Look for spiritually healthy members and gradually increase their ownership of the group while ensuring all are welcome and encouraged. (But be careful here: Spiritual health is easily confused with being intelligent, articulate, or outgoing. They’re not the same thing.) Linger over fruitful questions or insights that contribute to health. Graciously move past less helpful questions or comments. Privately, and at times publicly, affirm health-breeding contributions. People naturally move toward what gets noticed and celebrated.

4. Communicate expectations up front

Letting members know up front what to expect makes it feel far less personal when you need to direct the group later. If you tell people, “In the first fifteen minutes of the Bible study, we will be laser-focused on making sure we all understand the passage. It’ll be my job to cut off any discussion that isn’t helping us do that”—the group will be more apt to understand when you’re strict during those first fifteen minutes. Let them know the expectation, the reason for it, and how you plan to enforce it. Sometimes it’s helpful to assign an “enforcer” for a particular rule at the outset of each meeting, making it a bit fun.

5. Actively lead

There’s only one person who’s charged with leading the group: you. Spirit-filled Christians will generally act graciously toward difficult people. Yet if you are unwilling to direct, correct, and shape the group, it will likely remain captive to those difficult people and their unhelpful behaviors.

Though it takes courage, you must act. Act humbly, prayerfully, and lovingly. But act.

6. Use your own insights judiciously

Since you’ve been tasked with leading the group, there’s a decent chance that you’re one of its more insightful or spiritually mature members. It may be tempting to give the right answer or share your insights frequently and at length. You might be inclined to answer questions quickly or resolve tensions immediately. However, this can stifle conversation.

Yet there are times when you will need to resolve an issue quickly or give needed direction, lest the group gets derailed. Know when to use your voice and how to use it judiciously. Using your insights judiciously will allow you to be more assertive when needing to curtail unhealthy directions.

7. Cultivate love for your group members

Remember that each member of your small group, no matter how difficult, is made in God’s image. If they are believers, they are God’s children. They are beloved. So cultivate love for them. Ask God to give you his heart for them. Show interest in their lives. Treat them as individuals, not as personality types. Most people will let you lead them (even imperfectly) if they know you care for them.

8. Work to understand your group members

Proverbs teaches us that the purposes in a man’s heart are deep and complex, but a wise person draws that out (Prov 20:5). Whenever you see actions, be they beautiful or prickly, look for the “why” behind the actions. Ask questions. Listen well. One person’s prickly behavior might arise from a marriage that’s falling apart, while another’s might arise from self-righteousness. A wise leader will respond to the situations in light of the why.

9. Connect individually when possible

When a certain group member consistently acts in ways that are detrimental to the group, it’s usually best to address it privately.

Approach them as an ally, asking for their help. Share your vision for where you want the group to go, and ask them to be part of the solution.

Outline your small group questions with Logos’s Bible Study Builder. Start your free trial!

10. Maintain a Later List

Sometimes topics or questions arise that cannot be resolved quickly and would sidetrack conversation if pursued. Ask someone in your group to keep an official list of important conversations for another time (the “Later List”). Readily put things on the list, and then encourage people to discuss those topics later or offline. Circulate an article or blog post related to the topic, or engage privately with the person who brought it up.

11. Create space for silent reflection

Small groups are great for those who process verbally, but the same groups can be harder for internal processors. One help for this is providing a time of quiet reflection before anyone answers a particular question. This can help balance out a group that has a few over-talkers with others who stay silent.

12. Ask for help

If you have a particularly complex situation or person, ask for help from the pastor or leader over your church’s small group ministry. You can also seek advice from another seasoned small group leader.

13. Remember, you are not God

Why does one person grow in leaps and bounds while another stays in the same rut? In the end, it is the work of the Holy Spirit to bring change. He works through means: his people lovingly and prayerfully speaking gospel truth to one another in the context of a local church.

God brings the transformation and growth, not us. You may not be able to “fix” certain difficult people, nor may you be able to relieve certain burdens. Instead, employ the means God has given, then entrust the matter to God.

7 challenging personalities and how to lead them

With these foundations in place, let’s explore some common types of complicated people we might encounter and how to lead them.

1. The smartest person in the room

Accurately or not, this person perceives themselves as the smartest person in the room. They may be overly assertive or condescending in their comments.

If they are noble-hearted, appeal to them privately to use their knowledge to serve the group by using their voice and insights judiciously, not in a way that neuters others. If they are less noble-hearted, you must push back hard enough to create space for others to contribute meaningfully. You cannot allow them to become the de facto leader of the group.

2. The man on a soapbox

This person has a theological or political hobbyhorse they love discussing. Every passage or conversation leads back to their favorite issue. They have such intricate knowledge of their pet topic, it’s hard to have a fair conversation about it.

If their pet topic isn’t central to that week’s passage, don’t be afraid to table their discussion (perhaps adding it to the Later List) and return to the passage. If they bring it up week after week, remind them that the issue was discussed previously. It might be helpful to ask them to prepare a paper on the topic and share it with you personally. However you handle it, don’t allow the group to become a weekly platform for them.

3. The underprepared

Each small group has its own expectations in terms of preparation. This person is consistently falling short of those expectations.

If the group has strict expectations, a private conversation is advisable. Show care. Life circumstances often play a factor. If the group is less strict in expectations, take steps to help bring the less prepared up to speed (e.g., read the passage together as a group, ask a few simple observation questions, create space for silent reflection).

4. The meanderer

Some people are less articulate and take more time to convey their point. They circle around an idea, adding details and tangents, sometimes losing the thread themselves. Their contributions can be valuable, but the journey to get there can be lengthy.

If it’s not excessive and they don’t regularly dominate conversation, it’s fine to let them meander a bit. It might be helpful to summarize their point or question afterwards. However, if their meandering is frequent or a certain comment becomes excessively long, you should gently intervene. You can blame the group’s time restraints. You can also interrupt early on and allow them a set amount of time to articulate their point (e.g., “I’m intrigued where you’re going. Could you land in the next minute so we have time to engage with your thought?”).

5. The quiet

Quiet people are often internal processors. They may have rich insights but need time and space to formulate them.

If you perceive they have something to say, draw them out. Create space for them to speak. They also may do well if you give them a specific task (e.g., read the passage, record items on the Later List). Or you might look ahead and ask them in advance to share on a specific question the following week.

6. The emotional sinkhole

At times, someone in your small group will experience something awful, and the group will need to rally around them. This is right and beautiful. Do not confuse this with the emotional sinkhole. The emotional sinkhole has learned how to manipulate other people to elicit Christian sympathy and attention. They thrive on the attention they receive but don’t make progress in light of the help given.

We love such people by including them, giving them an appropriate level of attention (e.g., praying for them, occasionally checking in on them, taking turns being a listening ear) and not getting caught up in their web. Protect others in the group from being caught up in the web, too. Assure others that the person is receiving the care needed. Give group members tangible but bounded steps they can take as the group collectively walks with the needy person.

7. The toxic

Some people are truly toxic to the health of a group. Perhaps they gossip or betray confidence. Maybe they spread heresy despite knowing better. Their presence actively harms other group members’ well-being and ability to grow.

When clear sin like this is in question, let Matthew 18:15–20 guide your actions. Address it privately and directly. If that fails, bring in a church leader to help you. If the sin persists even after that, it should typically result in removal from the group (though work closely with the pastor over small groups in this situation).

Conclusion

God designed the local church as an incubator for our spiritual growth (Eph 4:11–16). As the family loves one another and pursues Christ together, we collectively grow. Not everyone will progress at the same pace. Some unique or prickly personalities will persist. But together, we’ll grow. Your small group is one component of the local church. But it is only one component. Trust God’s plan and rest, even as you lead your imperfect small group.

Helping people grow spiritually is one of our noblest callings (Matt 28:18–20), even when leading is fraught with challenges. At the end of the day, we all say with the apostle, “Who is sufficient for these things?” (2 Cor 2:16). And we thus press forward, with humble dependence upon a God who is able to take even our feeble efforts and bring good (Ps 90:17).

You are doing vital, eternal work. Press on in hope. Depend upon God. Look to his word. Pray much. Let him shape you and use you.

Further resources for leading small groups well

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Building a Life-Changing Small Group Ministry: A Strategic Guide for Leading Group Life in Your Church

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Becoming Small Group Leaders (Becoming a Disciple)

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Leading Small Groups with Purpose: Everything You Need to Lead a Healthy Group

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Simple Small Groups: A User-Friendly Guide for Small Group Leaders

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Planning Small Groups with Purpose: A Field-Tested Guide to Design and Grow Your Ministry

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Small Group Idea Book

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The Bible doesn’t command Christians to follow an annual cycle of religious observances. And as best we can tell from the historical record, in the decades immediately following Jesus’s ascension into heaven, they didn’t. Yet, within a few centuries those early Christians were observing an organized rotation of festivals and seasons. And ever since, that churchly calendar has shaped the religious practices of untold millions of believers.

Why is this the case—why do so many Christians, for example, celebrate Lent?

How did the Christian calendar come to be?

For those first Christians, who clung tenaciously to the angels’ word that the Lord would return in like manner (Acts 1:11), the focus was not on any annual celebrations. Rather, it was on the weekly observance of the Lord’s Day—Sunday. This was the first day of the week, the day on which God had created the heavens and the earth (Gen 1:1–5). It was also the day of God’s new creation, the day on which Jesus rose from the dead. It’s not a coincidence that all four Gospel writers make note of that fact (Matt 28:1; Mark 16:2; Luke 24:1; John 20:1). Everything revolved around this weekly observance as those Christians heeded Jesus’s promise that he would be with them always (Matt 28:20). And what better way could they be certain that he was keeping that promise than by gathering together as the body of Christ each Lord’s Day? That’s where they heard his life-giving Word and received Jesus himself as he came to them in the breaking of bread (Luke 24:35; Acts 2:42; 20:7).

But as the years turned into decades, and the decades began to add up, it was probably inevitable that the church would adopt a longer view. Building on the Old Testament practice of annual celebrations—think Passover and Day of Atonement—the church turned to an annual observance of the significant events in the life of Christ as a way teaching the faith. Dedicating time each year to focus on such events as Jesus’s baptism, temptation in the wilderness, transfiguration, or ascension can help believers remember to bring them up and consider their significance.

This move toward a series of annual celebrations evolved slowly. While it may have started earlier, we have clear indications that by the end of the second century some churches were observing an annual celebration of Jesus’s death and resurrection. A regular observance of his birth developed much more slowly, not really becoming an established practice until the mid-fourth century.

When and how did Lent emerge as a distinct season?

As for Lent, the historical details are not only few but sometimes conflicting. For a long time, scholars believed that Lent developed in relation to Easter. If the resurrection of Jesus was the ultimate celebration of victory, then it made sense that the days preceding it should be treated with great solemnity. A hallmark of that solemnity was fasting, a sign of forsaking the pleasures of this world. Gradually, the theory goes, the number of days of fasting was extended—first to a week, then to three. Eventually Lent became a forty-day period of preparation before the great celebration of Easter.

In the last century, this theory has been challenged by church historians, or at least refined. There is evidence, for example, that long before the Western church, centered in Rome, had settled on a forty-day Lent, there already existed a forty-day observance in Egypt. Rather than being connected to Easter, however, this observance occurred in the days after the Eastern church’s celebration of the baptism of Jesus. You will remember how the Gospel writers report that following Jesus’ baptism the Spirit led him into the wilderness for 40 days of temptation (Matt 4:1–11; Mark 1:12–13; Luke 4:1–13). The baptism of Jesus was typically observed by the Eastern church on January 6. The subsequent forty days served as a time of intense instruction for the church’s “catechumens,” those hearers of the Word who were preparing to be baptized. As the theory goes, this period of baptismal preparation was eventually transferred a month or so later. In its new location it now served as a time of preparation for the baptism of catechumens at Easter.

Are you confused yet? As I indicated, the historical record is sparse and even conflicted, with different practices sprouting up at various times and places. What’s more, the catechetical emphasis that typically characterized the early observance of Lent would eventually change, as you will read below. At this point, however, we must explore the relationship of Lent to baptism in order to get a better picture of the earliest practice.

The connection to baptism

As the annual celebration of Jesus’s resurrection gained a foothold, a central feature of that observance was the baptism of new Christians. Baptism, after all, is a participation in the death and resurrection of Jesus (Rom 6:3–4). What better time could there be to baptize new Christians than on the same occasion when the whole church commemorates the Lord’s death and resurrection?

So how did Lent come to be associated with baptism and Easter? As Christianity spread among the Gentile population, a lengthy period of instruction came to precede baptism. There was much for these new believers to learn. Unlike Jewish converts to Christianity, Gentile converts started from scratch. They didn’t know the creation and Exodus accounts. And the stories of all the major figures of the Old Testament—Abraham, Moses, David, Elijah—were alien to them. Their time of instruction was lengthy, often up to three years as they attended the preaching of God’s Word each Sunday. Once a group of catechumens was considered ready for baptism, they were enrolled in a final period of intense instruction—forty days—that occurred during the weeks before Easter. The whole congregation became involved as they joined with these catechumens through their prayers and support. This intensive process reached its zenith in the fourth and fifth centuries. This was the very time when the church year reached its height of development.

Over time, this period of preparation would morph into something different. After several centuries of rapid expansion following the legalization of Christianity under emperor Constantine (AD 313), most everyone in the Western world was baptized. Since the need for a final, Lenten push toward baptism was no longer essential, a catechetically oriented season such as Lent began to lose its significance. That did not mean, however, that the season would be abandoned.

The relationship between Lent and contrition

Other forces were also at work in those early centuries of the church. In addition to newly minted Christians whose entrance into the church was ushered in by the forty-day Lenten preparation, there were others who were in need of re-admittance into the church. These were the penitents, those who through some grievous sin had been placed under church discipline. They were, in effect, banned from the congregation and not permitted to join fellow believers in any churchly activity. The church chose to use this same forty-day period for these penitents to prepare for their reconciliation. Once complete, they could again participate fully with the whole church.

For these penitents, their Lenten observance, while to some degree catechetical, was much more focused on cultivating a spirit of repentance. As the countdown for the forty-days of Lent was ironed out, the first day eventually landed on a Wednesday (see below). This day, known as Ash Wednesday, became distinguished by placing ashes on the heads of the penitents as a sign of mortality and contrition. Gradually, all Christians began to join in this practice as the Lenten season took on an increasingly penitential flavor. As adult baptisms began to decrease, the catechetical emphasis also receded. By the beginning of the Middle Ages, the penitential character of Lent had taken firm hold. In time, this emphasis would be linked to an intense focus on the suffering and death of Jesus. The passion accounts in the four Gospels, or a combination of all four into one account, served as the primary texts for contemplation during the season.

As adult baptisms began to decrease, the catechetical emphasis also receded. By the beginning of the Middle Ages, the penitential character of Lent had taken firm hold.

Why are there 40 days in Lent?

Because no one was keeping historical records in the early centuries, there is a considerable lack of detail regarding how the length of the Lenten season was determined. As mentioned above, the observance may have only lasted a few weeks in the earliest times. But soon enough the number forty became a defining characteristic of Lent. That number, of course, is rich in meaning, with the account of Jesus’s forty-day temptation in the wilderness serving as the template. Just as the Lord spent forty days intently focused on the Word of God as he resisted temptation, so would the church use this season to guide Christians in learning from Jesus how to resist temptation. Other occurrences of the number forty in the Scriptures also add depth to the season: Elijah’s forty days of fasting while on the run (1 Kgs 19:8); forty years of wandering in the wilderness by the children of Israel (Exod 16:35); etc.

There are, however, some quirks in how the forty days have been counted. Because of various developments, Sundays came to be omitted from the count. The reason was because Sunday—the Lord’s Day—was never considered a day for fasting (see below). Because six weeks of only six days yields a total of thirty-six, four days were tacked on at the beginning of the season in order to reach the forty-day count. It was thus around the seventh century that Ash Wednesday was established as the first day in Lent in the Western church. This, it turns out, was also the time when the season moved toward an exclusively penitential focus.

How does Ash Wednesday shape the season?

In the Old Testament, ashes figure prominently as a sign of contrition, penitence, and mourning (Esth 4:1; Job 2:8; 42:1; Isa 58:5; Jer 6:26; Lam 3:16; Ezek 27:30; Dan 9:3; Jonah 3:6). The example of Jonah is familiar to many and is most instructive. After hearing the preaching of Jonah, who proclaimed that God’s judgment was at hand, the king of Nineveh himself exchanged his royal robes for itchy sackcloth, and he sat in ashes. Aware of God’s judgment, ashes served as a reminder that apart from God, mortal man is nothing but dust of the ground. That’s exactly what God told Adam after the fall into sin. He had been formed from the dust of the ground, and one day it was to the ground that he would return (Gen 3:19).

As the penitential nature of the Lenten season took hold, the imposition of ashes became a physical reminder of our mortality. With the ashes typically came the words, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” The ashes, however, were not randomly applied; they are fashioned in the shape of the cross on the forehead. It was also on the forehead, you see, where the church traditionally traced the cross at baptism. While the theme of mortality is powerfully symbolized by the ashes, a more significant picture shines through. That ashen cross indicates that this sinner is marked with the sign of our redemption, the cross of Jesus.

At the time of the Reformation, many churches that broke away from the Roman Catholic Church dispensed with the imposition of ashes. In more recent times, however, the practice has reemerged among those same churches. Perhaps you’ve even seen Christians show up at work on Ash Wednesday with the ashen cross on their foreheads.

What is unique about the last week of Lent?

Some of the most significant observances in Lent occur during its final week, which is called Holy Week. During this week, the church observes specific events that occurred in the days leading up to Jesus’s crucifixion:

• On the Sunday prior to Easter, the church observes the Lord’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem.
• On Thursday, it’s to the upper room where Jesus joined his disciples for their final Passover together—and where he instituted Holy Communion. The day is often called Maundy Thursday. That rather uncommon name comes from the Latin mandatum, which means “commandment.” It was drawn from Jesus’s words on that night: “A new commandment I give to you” (John 13:34).
• On Friday it’s to the cross, where the salvation of mankind was procured. Though it goes by many names, it is best known as Good Friday. While the word good hardly seems fitting, Christians have always understood the ultimate good that God accomplished on that day as the sinless Son of God gave his life for the world.

Over the centuries, a rich feast of liturgical texts developed for Good Friday that are still used in many places. These include the Reproaches, a series of Old Testament texts that are spoken by Jesus himself as an indictment against his people. Each reproach is followed by an intense prayer of penitence for Jesus to have mercy and save us. Also on this day the entire account of Jesus’s suffering and death as told by the evangelist John is read (John 18–19). In fact, the practice in some churches is to read the full passion account from each of the Gospels during Holy Week. It’s difficult to think of anything more impactful than to be immersed in all the details of what is unquestionably the most significant part of the Gospel accounts. Why else would each of the four Gospel writers devote two whole chapters to report on events that covered less than a day in Jesus’s ministry? Clearly, the suffering and death of our Lord was central to their proclamation!

What are some unique customs of the season?

While the placing of ashes on the forehead is perhaps the most recognizable custom of the season, there are others. The intensified devotion of the season of Lent, for example, is often characterized by three disciplines: almsgiving, prayer, and fasting. These disciplines draw inspiration from Jesus’s teaching in the Sermon on the Mount. For centuries, a portion of that sermon was read as the season was newly launched each year on Ash Wednesday. “When you give to the needy,” Jesus says, “don’t be like the hypocrites” (Matt 6:1–18). The same goes when we pray and fast. Our righteousness is not one of outward show, but in humbleness of heart, which the Father alone can see.

Among these traditional Lenten disciplines, there is little question regarding the second of the three: prayer. Of course Christians are going to pray! And most Christians agree that it is good to give to those in need. The practice of fasting, however, is not as universally practiced. While the expectation to fast exists in some Christian traditions, there is resistance in others, often out of a fear that the practice might lead to works righteousness. But even if the practice has been abused in the past, that does not negate the fact that intentional fasting can be fine training. Fasting can be a helpful reminder that “man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matt 4:4).

Another custom of the Lenten season is the silencing of the word “alleluia” from the church’s worship. While that exuberant Hebrew cry, “Praise the Lord,” ever resounds before the heavenly throne, the subdued nature of Lent invites a temporary muting of that praise. After forty days of holding back, the resounding alleluias on Easter morning signal that the Lenten fast has clearly ended.

But do we really need to tie ourselves to a calendar in order to observe all of this?

We don’t need the traditional church calendar to fast and pray. But this brings us back to the question we considered at the beginning: What benefit is there in following the church year?

Think of it this way: each of the major seasons of the year—Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, and Easter—has its own character. As we make our way through each of these seasons, we are surrounded by a host of biblical texts, prayers, and hymns that work together to shape our understanding of the merciful work of God on our behalf. While each season has various themes at play, there is usually one that is more prominent that the rest.

Consider the season of Advent, which is all about expectation. Yes, there are overtones of penitence as the church is called to be ready for the Lord’s final return. But above all else, this is the time to join with the ancient Israelites who waited centuries for the Lord to send his promised Son. Nothing encapsulates the season better than the opening line of Charles Wesley’s hymn, “Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus.”

Other seasons bring other emphases. Christmas is the celebration of peace on earth. Epiphany invites us to contemplate the incomprehensible revelation that this man from Nazareth is truly God. During Easter we join in the ultimate celebration that death has been swallowed up by Christ’s death, now proclaimed in the good news that he is risen from the dead.

The theme for Lent? This is the call to repentance, the acknowledgement that there is nothing good that dwells in us. Were it not for the sake of the innocent suffering and death of the Son of God, there would be no hope. Thus, Christians are invited to repent, even to lament over our sinful condition.

Is this the only time of the year when we show contrition? Of course not! Every day must be one of repentance. But in Lent it’s as though we go into the classroom where we will be taught the ins and outs of penitence. It’s our annual masterclass that schools us in the art of penitence. And so the catechetical emphasis of the early church continues. But soon enough, a mere forty days, the Lenten masterclass is ended and it’s on to the next one, the great celebration of the Lord’s resurrection.

And thus, year after year, we are reminded again and again of the wondrous deeds of our Savior who gave his life for our salvation.

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