Head Coverings in the Ancient Mediterranean: Research Clippings

Research clippings from Craig Keener's Dictionary of New Testament Background article on head coverings, with supplementary sources. Documents the cultural background of 1 Corinthians 11:2-16, showing that head coverings were tied to marital modesty, class status, and regional customs rather than a universal creation ordinance.

What Winger Presently Gets Wrong: Women Apostles

Response to Mike Winger's Women in Ministry Part 5 on whether women were apostles in the New Testament

What Winger Presently Gets Wrong: Women Leaders in the New Testament (PART A)

Response to Mike Winger's Women in Ministry Part 4 on women leaders in the New Testament (Part A)

Was John the Baptist predestined to be saved?

In the teaching of Calvinism, there is an election to salvation for some men while the rest of mankind are created without a hope of eternal life. In this understanding God has pre-determined from eternity past that all but the elect would remain in their sin and be lost forever.

How Many Men

Tradition has flavored a lot of things for us that causes us to see everything in terms of tradition instead of thinking outside the box

A Christmas Post Does The Star Of Bethlehem Belong To Satan Or God

While this post isn’t exactly a “Women in Ministry” post, I think it does highlight the importance of men and women working together in complementary ways for the benefit of the body of Christ and for ministry to the lost. God often uses women in ways that are different than he uses men simply becau

@DKR_independent @JustBibleTruth @CherylSchatz Jesus’ commission to His apostles was to go into Judea, Samaria and the rest of the nations. Paul always went to the Jews first in every area he went to, and only when they rejected his message did he th...

@DKR_independent @JustBibleTruth @CherylSchatz Jesus’ commission to His apostles was to go into Judea, Samaria and the rest of the nations. Paul always went to the Jews first in every area he went to,

@elemayohoh @HolyHomebody Wow, can’t say I’ve heard anyone argue this way before. Greek was the lingua franca of the Roman Empire, widely spoken by Jews in the diaspora and in Judea. The NT authors—being bilingual—wrote in Greek to reach a broader a...

@elemayohoh @HolyHomebody Wow, can’t say I’ve heard anyone argue this way before. Greek was the lingua franca of the Roman Empire, widely spoken by Jews in the diaspora and in Judea. The NT authors—b

Acts 8:1 — all believers scattered except the apostles, showing persecution targeted non-leaders

The persecution resulted in everyone fleeing Jerusalem except the apostles. If persecution targeted leaders, the non-leaders should have stayed.

Mark 13:14 — the abomination of desolation is the actual sign Jesus gives

The pivot point in Mark 13: Jesus shifts from describing the delay to identifying the one sign that signals his coming is truly near.

Some skeptics claimed Pontius Pilate was a Gospel fiction. The Pilate Stone (discovered 1961, dated AD 26-36) is a 2x3 foot inscription naming 'Pontius Pilate, Prefect of Judea,' providing secular confirmation of a key Gospel figure during the exact period of Jesus' ministry and crucifixion.

1 Timothy 6:13 — Paul references Jesus's testimony before Pontius Pilate

Paul's specific mention of Pontius Pilate ties Jesus's death to a named Roman governor, confirming his historical existence.

Tacitus (Annals, 109 AD) as non-Christian confirmation of early Christian persecution, crucifixion of Christ under Pontius Pilate, and the movement's origin in Judea

Mike quotes Tacitus as an external, non-Christian source confirming early persecution

Extra-biblical corroboration: Herod Archelaus and Matthew 2:22

McLatchie gives Josephus as extra-biblical corroboration explaining Matthew's otherwise puzzling reference to Herod Archelaus.

Acts 1:8 establishes the progressive geographic expansion of the gospel: Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, uttermost parts of the earth

Survey of Acts chapter 1

Acts 8:1 -- Saul's persecution scatters the church throughout Judea and Samaria, fulfilling the Acts 1:8 progression

Survey of Acts chapter 8

Acts 9:31 summary: the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria is at peace and growing -- still entirely Jewish in composition

Survey of Acts 9:31, state of the early church

Acts 15:1 -- men from Judea teach that circumcision according to Moses is required for salvation, triggering the Jerusalem Council

Survey of Acts 15:1-2, the Judaizers

Tacitus places Jesus's execution under Tiberius Caesar while Pontius Pilate was procurator; both Tacitus and Lucian are hostile to Christianity

Significance of hostile sources attesting to Jesus

Tacitus spells "Christos" correctly even while initially writing "Chrestus" — the full passage explicitly identifies Christ as executed under Pontius Pilate under Tiberius

Addressing the "different group" objection to Tacitus

Roman historians didn't mention Jesus more because he wasn't significant to Roman history — they didn't even mention Pontius Pilate, known only from Philo, Josephus, and NT sources

Explaining the relative silence of Roman sources about Jesus

Virtual scholarly consensus on historical facts about Jesus: lived in Palestine, believed special relationship with God, performed astonishing deeds, taught in parables, criticized Jewish leaders, crucified under Pilate

Summarizing the bedrock facts about Jesus accepted by virtually all historians including non-Christians

Acts 2 tongues were real human foreign languages — each person heard in their own native language, not a single universal language

Question from Joel Holberg about whether the apostles in Acts 2 spoke a language everyone understood or each spoke a different foreign language.

Pilate demonstrably cared about Jewish sensitivities — he removed Roman standards from Jerusalem when Jews protested, and Rome generally allowed subject peoples to maintain their customs (Josephus, Against Apion 2.73). The argument that Pilate would ignore Jewish burial customs for crucified victims contradicts the historical pattern of Roman governance in Judea.

Pilate's demonstrated sensitivity to Jewish customs undermines Ehrman's argument