Jesus blasted the scribes and Pharisees for their rank hypocrisy: “You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!” (Matt. 23:24). They punctiliously tithed mint, dill, and cumin, but “neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness” (Matt. 23:23). And they unwittingly demonstrated the truth of this charge when,…

I don’t mean to pick on Peter but something I read in one of my commentaries on John’s Gospel (namely, that by Herman Ridderbos – dense but wonderfully insightful) helped me see Peter’s denial of Jesus in a brand new light. We typically chalk up Peter’s dismal failure to confess Christ before his questioners to…

Jesus is sometimes called the Great I Am. This is because several times in John’s Gospel Jesus says the phrase “I am”, either by itself or as part of a longer statement. At least one time when Jesus says “I am”, he clearly alludes to the words that God spoke to Moses at the burning…