Recent Posts
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E10: Acts 2, Part 3: Psalm 16 and Psalm 110
In this episode, we talk through Peter’s use of Scripture in Acts 2. Rather than redefining or realizing Psalm 16 and Psalm 110, Peter employs an apocalyptic hermeneutic (i.e. approach to interpretation), which simply seeks to understand the Torah, Writings, and Prophets in light of their ultimate end. The Messiah was crucified, but God raised him up and seated him at his right hand, where he waits to execute the eschatological judgment of God’s enemies.
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E9: Acts 2, Part 2: Peter, Pentecost, and Joel 2
In this episode, we dive into the beginning of Peter’s explanation of the events of Acts 2. Rather than a redefinition of the ‘last days’, Peter affirms that their expectations were in accordance with the apocalyptic tradition. God promised, expressed in the citation of Joel 2, to pour out his Spirit before the coming Day of God and that all who repent will be saved from the wrath to come.
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E8: Acts 2, Part 1: The Gift of the Spirit and the Hope of Israel
Common ideas in the church today associate Acts 2 and the giving of the Spirit as “the birth of the church” or a break from legalistic Judaism, but the apostles viewed the events of the day of Pentecost as a strong affirmation of Jewish apocalyptic expectations. In this episode, we begin to look at Acts 2 and what it meant for the early followers of the Messiah.
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E7: Acts 1 and the Restoration of the Kingdom to Israel
In this episode, we discuss the Jewish apocalyptic context of Acts 1:1-11. Instead of correcting the apostles’ expectations concerning the restoration of the kingdom to Israel, Jesus simply corrects the timing. The witness to the nations in verse 8 is understood within the presupposed Jewish apocalyptic narrative. God is the one driving history, and God is the one who has fixed the day of its conclusion.
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Q&A #1 with Bill, John, and Josh
Bill, John, and Josh tackle your questions in this first of many Q&A episodes. Topics include Acts 15, how Calvinism and Arminianism relate to Jewish apocalypticism, understanding “all Israel will be saved” from Romans 11, and tips on practical day-to-day discipleship.
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E6: Paul’s Gospel and Jewish Election
In this episode, we discuss the issue of Jewish election in Paul’s thought. Continuing in his letter to the Romans, we look at a few passages that relate to Jewish priority and God’s enduring covenant with the Jewish people and how that relates to the discipleship of the Gentiles.
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E5: An Introduction to Paul’s Gospel
Romans 1:1-6 provides a unique glimpse into how Paul understood his own mission to the Gentiles. As discussed in last week’s episode on the Great Commission (Matt. 28:18-20), Paul understood his calling within the commonly presupposed Jewish apocalyptic narrative of redemptive history. Jesus’ resurrection confirmed his Davidic messiahship, and Paul sought to disciple the Gentiles into “the obedience of faith” (v. 5).
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E4: The Apocalyptic Context of the Great Commission
In this episode, we discuss the Jewish apocalyptic context of the Great Commission (Matt. 28:18-20). Messianic authority in Jewish literature is tied to divine judgment on the day of the Lord, and Jesus assumes the two-age framework of redemptive history in verse 20. In this light the discipleship of the Gentiles is into (rather than out of) the Jewish apocalyptic hope.
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E3: Acts 17: The Proclamation of Jewish Eschatological Expectation in a Pagan Setting
Acts 17 offers a unique picture into the Gospel that the Apostle to the Gentiles believed and proclaimed throughout the Jewish diaspora. In this episode, we see Paul offering a survey of history in order to explain the coming Day of the Lord as a means of calling Gentiles to repentance and faith. We survey the concept of the Day of the Lord briefly in the Jewish prophets and then follow the idea through later Jewish writings which laid the foundation for the proclamation of the Gospel and the coming day of judgment in the New Testament writings.
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E2: Looking at the “Gospel” through a first-century Jewish lens
As we briefly survey ‘the Gospel’ in the New Testament writings, we find that the phrase imports a body of pre-existing Jewish ideas. We touch on its origins in the prophetic writings and in later Jewish apocalyptic literature to highlight how a Jew in the first century would have heard John the Baptist, Jesus, or one of the Apostles using this Jewish term to refer to their own message.