• Hello, and thanks for joining! I’m looking forward to getting to know each of you. Please introduce yourself and share your background, areas of expertise/interest, or what you are most looking forward to in being apart of this discussion. I am professor of New Testament at Bethel Seminary, author various works on New Testament, hermeneutics and Bible translation, and a contributor to the logos.com Mobile Ed program.  I look forward to hearing your thoughts and insights as we explore the New Testament, the diverse realm of Bible study, dive into the content of resources I have written, and tackle challenging concepts together.

  • Hello, Dr Strauss. My name is James Haak. Currently I serve as Bishop of the NSW District of the Lutheran Church of Australia. My primary interests lie in Pauline studies and in the Synoptic Gospels.

    1.  — Edited

      Hello Dr. Strauss.  Thank you for your passion for teaching and desire for others to grow in their knowledge of the Bible.  I am currently taking your Bible Study Methods course from BiblicalTraining.org and I am on Lesson 6 - word studies.  When teaching about word study fallacies you point out 3 ways this can occur and you include anachronistic fallacies.  I just have a follow up question on this point.  I understand why they should not inform our understanding of the original text but do you still find them useful in understanding modern application of that word, or should we completely avoid that comparison?
      BiblicalTraining.org | Free online Bible and Seminary classes to study the Bible
      Free online Bible classes and Seminary classes to study the Bible
      biblicaltraining.org

      1. Dear Dr. Strauss I am the University Chaplain/Pastor and  lecturer of New Testament at the Adventist University of West Africa, located in Liberia, West Africa. I use your book Four Portraits, One Jesus as the primary text for the course Synoptic Gospels and John. My Students and I have found it very helpful. I was wondering if you could kindly share with us the powerpoint files and other course materials like the workbook and laminated sheet to enable me and my students have a great study of the Gospels. My email address is chaplain@auwa.edu.lr or  gettehgg@auwa.edu.lr or gggetteh7@gmail.com.  Thanks for your great contribution to the study of the Word of God, and thanks in advance for assisting us.

        1. Dr. Strauss, How imperative is it for Christians to obey the Romans 13 to submit to authority, assuming that authority isn't calling us to sin? Is this something that it is necessary to do, or good to do but not necessary? For example, is it a sin for me to speed when I drive because I am disobeying the government's posted law?

          1. Thanks for the invite to follow along on your blog. I am finishing my MA in Biblical Studies at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, working now on my thesis proposal, and expecting to graduate in December. I have been in ministry since the mid-80s, serving in the areas of Christian Education, Leadership Development, and specifically, Servant Leadership. I am a leadership coach and freelance writer. Much of my work is in conjunction with Lead Like Jesus, for whom I write leadership devotionals, and where I serve as a master trainer. My upcoming thesis is on Christ-based servant leadership. I look forward to continuing to follow along.

            1. My video course on the Gospel of Mark just went up on Logos Mobile Ed:
              Mobile Ed: NT315 Book Study: The Gospel of Mark
              www.logos.com

              1. In your book Four Portraits, you write "For new-covenant believers living in the kingdom age, God’s standards are discerned through the Spirit, who reveals God’s character and mediates his will, and through the life of Jesus, who lived in full submission to God’s purpose. " What role does the Law play in the life of a new-covenant believer? Thank you!

                1. Acts 21:21 and they have been told about you, that you are teaching all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Mosehs, telling them not to circumcise their children nor to walk according to the customs.  22 “What, then, is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come.  23 “Therefore do this that we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow;  24 take them and purify yourself along with them, and pay their expenses so that they may shave their heads; and all will know that there is nothing to the things which they have been told about you, but that you yourself also walk orderly, keeping the Law.  25 “But concerning the Gentiles who have believed, we wrote, having decided that they should abstain from meat sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled and from fornication.”

                2. Rom 2NLT 12 When the Gentiles sin, they will be destroyed, even though they never had God’s written law. And the Jews, who do have God’s law, will be judged by that law when they fail to obey it. 13 For merely listening to the law doesn’t make us right with God. It is obeying the law that makes us right in his sight.

                3. Good question!  I like Christopher Wright's assertion that the OT law is paradigmatic for Christians. By this I understand him to mean that we are not bound by the individual stipulations of it, since it was given to Israel not the church, and because it was fulfilled in Christ. But the law teaches us about God's nature and purpose and so provides a  model or paradigm for how to walk with him.

              2. I recently finished your book "Four Portraits." You referenced prophecies in Daniel on several occasions. Can you recommend a good commentary on Daniel that compliments your theology?

                1. Hi Rockwell, There are many good commentaries on Daniel.  Check out the top 10 or so on bestcommentaries.com/Daniel.  Depending on the depth you're interested in, I'd recommend Tremper Longman in the NIVAC, Goldingay (Word), Baldwin (Tyndale), Collins (Hermeneia) or Miller (NAC).
                  A list of the best commentaries on Daniel ranked by scholars, journal reviews, and site users....
                  The best commentaries on Daniel ranked by scholars, journal reviews, and site users. Find the best commentary on Daniel.
                  bestcommentaries.com

                2. Thank you and by the way your book was fantastic!

                3. Thanks!

              3.  — Edited

                The e-book edition of my book How to Read the Bible in Changing Times: Understanding and Applying God's Word Today  is on sale now through April 15 for $4.99 at Amazon and Barnes & Noble and $3.99 at CBD http://www.amazon.com/Read-Bible-Changing-Times-Understanding/dp/0801072832/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1459568261&sr=1-1&keywords=how+to+read+the+bible+in+changing+times http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/how-to-read-the-bible-in-changing-times-mark-l-strauss/1100278177?ean=9780801072833
                How to Read the Bible in Changing Times: Understanding and Applying God's Word Today
                How can we interpret God's Word in rapidly changing 21st-century life? Offering relevant illustrations, Strauss shows how to determine a biblical text's meaning in its original context; identify culturally relative features; understand what Scripture teaches about God, his will, and purposes; and ap…
                www.christianbook.com

                1. Thanks so much for the update: I've switched to Kindle for books, so this was a great notice... please keep 'em coming.

                2. Love this book Dr. Strauss! Super clear and entertaining!

              4. Hello to Dr Stauss and the group. I teach theology and some NT classes at the Baptist College of Florida, located in the Panhandle. We are a small Southern Baptist educational institution affiliated with the Florida Baptist Convention. I use "Four Portraits, One Jesus" as a textbook in my undergraduate Life of Jesus class I teach every fall.