Restitutio

This is part 17 of the Read the Bible For Yourself . After reviewing the resources you can use to learn Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, we delve into the sources that translators use for their work. Next, we'll look at translation philosophies, including formal and dynamic equivalence. Lastly we'll cover the controversial issues of gender accuracy and translation bias. Over all, this episode should gi...

This is part 16 of the Read the Bible For Yourself . Revelation is a complicated book of the Bible. It contains some of the most incredible and awe-inspiring descriptions of God's throne room and the final paradise on earth. It also describes sinister mayhem, wanton destruction, and toe-curling persecution. How can we make sense of it? In today's episode we'll go over the basics of authorship, aud...

This is part 15 of the Read the Bible For Yourself . In previous episodes, we've looked at Paul's church epistles and pastoral epistles. Today we move into the third section of epistles in the New Testament--the general epistles. Instead of surveying each of the eight general epistles, we'll just focus on two: Hebrews and 1 John. We'll ask about author, audience, occasion, purpose, and mode for ea...

This is part 14 of the Read the Bible For Yourself . The Pastoral Epistles are letters to church leaders, instructing them how churches should function. Though they are not well read by most Christians today, they remain authoritative for pastors, elders, and deacons. Today we'll cover 1-2 Timothy, Titus, and Philemon. We'll explore the major theme of how the church should be a well-run household...

This is part 13 of the Read the Bible For Yourself . Before getting to the Church Epistles, we'll begin with an overview of how letters were written, read, and performed. Then we'll see how they are arranged in our Bibles. We'll spend a good deal of time talking about occasion. Why did Paul write each letter? What was going on that prompted him to initiate the expensive and elaborate process of wr...

This is part 12 of the Read the Bible For Yourself . Acts is an action-packed book full of excitement and wonder. We learn about the early expansion of the Church from a small group of ragged Christ-followers to dozens of house churches throughout major cities in the Mediterranean world. How did Christianity "go public"? The book of Acts tells that story. In this episode you'll learn four major em...

This is part 11 of the Read the Bible For Yourself . The Gospels are evangelistic biographies of Jesus. In today's episode you'll learn the basic storyline of the four biblical Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Then we'll go through them from shortest to longest to see how each brings a unique and helpful perspective in telling the life of Christ. We'll also hit some important concepts like...

This is part 10 of the Read the Bible For Yourself . We've taken our time working through the Old Testament, section by section. Before we tackle the New Testament and look at the Gospels, we need to talk about the time between the Old and New Testaments. In the gap of roughly four hundred years, massive political and cultural changes occurred. Nowhere in the Old Testament do we see anything about...

This is part 9 of the Read the Bible For Yourself . The 17 books of the prophets comprise 27% of the Old Testament. Although some parts can be difficult to comprehend, they reveal the heart of God with raw pathos and brutal honesty. To read the prophets, then, is to draw near to God. No other section of scripture so beautifully and tragically reveals God's feelings. In this episode you'll learn ab...

This is part 8 of the Read the Bible For Yourself . The Book of Psalms is an eclectic collection of poetry that you can use to connect to God. In today's episode you'll learn about the different kinds of psalms, who wrote them, and how Hebrew poetry works. The goal, as always, is to equip you to read and understand on your own. Whether you've been reading the Psalms for years or are brand new to t...

As the dust continues to settle from last week's debate between Dale Tuggy and James White, reviewers are coalescing on a rather exciting conclusion. Tuggy handedly won the debate! Rumor has it that James White has even requested a rematch! We'll have to wait and see if anything happens on that front, but requesting a rematch is not something the winner typically does. In today's episode, I bring...

We're taking a break this week from our class on Reading the Bible for Yourself. By the way, did you know that there's a separate podcast just for classes without any interruptions like this? You can find it if you search your podcast app for Restitutio Classes. Anyhow, I had an opportunity to speak with Dr. Dale Tuggy about his recent debate with Dr. James White and wanted to share that conversat...

This is part 7 of the Read the Bible For Yourself . The Bible contains a treasure trove of wisdom literature that can help you navigate the ups and downs of life. Today you'll learn how to read and understand the books of Proverbs, Song of Songs, Job, and Ecclesiastes. Proverbs and Song of Songs teach us how to handle ourselves when the world is working the way it should while Job and Ecclesiastes...

This is part 6 of the Read the Bible For Yourself . Tragically, many Christians skip over reading the Torah. They focus on the Gospels or Epistles of the New Testament. However, the first five books of the Bible contain many rich insights into God's heart and how he asked Israel to live. In fact, it's impossible to understand the rest of the Bible, or even Jesus, without first becoming familiar wi...

This is part 5 of the Read the Bible For Yourself . Now we begin the second main part of this class on reading the Bible for yourself. We'll be breaking the Bible into major sections so I can explain how each works. To start we'll consider the first 17 books of the Bible--the books of Old Testament historical narrative. You'll learn what to look for while reading, the major events covered, the var...

I've been putting out podcast episodes on Restitutio since 2015. I've interviewed many authors in that time. However, I've never been interviewed as an author. That changed a couple of days ago when Sam Tideman of Transfigured had me on his show to talk about my new book, Kingdom Journey .We discussed the biblical idea of God's kingdom coming to earth for well over an hour. It was an awesome chanc...

This is part 4 of the Read the Bible For Yourself . Exegesis and application take work. Today you’ll learn how to grasp the content of scripture by asking the question, “What did this text mean to the original audience?” Looking for a book’s author, audience, occasion, and purpose will help you answer that question. Next, we’ll consider application and answering the q...

This is part 3 of the Read the Bible For Yourself . Today is the first of two episodes on how to understand and apply the Bible. One of the greatest problems facing Bible readers today is the lifted verse. It's so common to see a verse or even half a verse posted on social media or on a sign somewhere. When most people read a random verse, they impose their own modern context and background inform...

This is part 2 of the Read the Bible For Yourself . As I endeavored to show last time, the Bible is one of a kind. It's the result of dozens of authors, working under God's inspiration to produce scrolls of text over centuries. This process resulted in sixty-six books, including histories, legal texts, poetry, prophetic oracles and much more. Today we'll spend some time just getting oriented. We'l...

This is part 1 of the Read the Bible For Yourself . Today we are beginning a new class called Read the Bible for Yourself . Whether you are new to scripture, or you’ve been reading it for years, this class will empower you to read and understand the bible like never before. You’ll gain key insights into the context, content, and application of scripture so you can take your reading and understandi...

Although most often defined as "peace," the Hebrew word "shalom" is much bigger than that. It refers to not only the absence of war, but also the presence of wholeness and safety. In this sermon you'll gain a better understanding of this important biblical word as well as what God's heart is for shalom in the world and in your life. At times we all go through periods of crisis in which we lose our...

Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts In Deuteronomy Moses famously taught the Jewish people the Shema --the heart of Judaism. He told them to repeat those words day in and day out: when they sit, when they walk, whey they lie down, and when they rise. In fact God built many mechanisms to remember him into the scriptures. What about us Christians? How can we build routines to likewis...

Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts Today my guest is Thomas Gaston who’s book is called Dynamic Monarchianism: the Earliest Christology? Dr. Gaston earned his Ph. D. from Oxford University and this book one of the fruits of that labor. In this interview we talk about the earliest Dynamic Monarchians, including Ebionites and Theodotus as well as how logos incarnational christ...

Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts Should Christians celebrate the birth of Christ? If so, where should we draw the line with respect to ancient pagan customs like bringing an evergreen tree into our houses or  giving presents to each other? How much pagan practice is too much? My guest today is philosopher Dale Tuggy, the host of the Trinities podcast and the chair of the board o...

Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts It's the holidays and many of us are seeing family members and coworkers and neighbors at parties. Sometimes the topic of Christianity comes up, and you may be having conversations about your beliefs. You may find yourself defending your belief in Jesus in general or even trying to convince trinitarian loved ones and friends to understand who he...