Rethinking Scripture

Rethinking Scripture Podcast -  Episode 24: My God, My God... (John 19) November 25, 2021 - Host: Dr. Gregory Hall  John 19 includes John’s account of Jesus’ time on the cross. And it includes a cryptic aside that helps us understand what Jesus may have meant when He said, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” Did you know he was quoting scripture when He said that? Referenced Resources: The...

Rethinking Scripture Podcast -  Episode 23: God in a Garden (John 18) November 19, 2021 - Host: Dr. Gregory Hall  In John 18, we get to see God in a garden. It’s the night of Jesus’ betrayal and arrest. During all the commotion Jesus makes a request of those arresting him that you may not have noticed. He asks the Roman cohort to let his disciples go their way. Surprisingly, this request gives us...

Rethinking Scripture Podcast -  Episode 22: The Tabernacle of God (John 17) November 11, 2021 - Host: Dr. Gregory Hall  In his gospel, John the disciple introduces several themes that run the entire length of the story. There’s wedding theme, a water theme, light and dark motif. But you may not have noticed how John also weaved a temple theme into the good news. He did this because, Behold… the ta...

Rethinking Scripture Podcast -  Episode 21: The World’s Hour vs. the Day of the Lord (John 16) November 4, 2021 - Host: Dr. Gregory Hall  John chapter 15 has a unique distinction... it is entirely red letters. The entire chapter is Jesus’ dialogue with his disciples. No other chapter in this gospel has that distinction. So what does Jesus talk about in all those red letters? Well, among other thin...

Rethinking Scripture Podcast -  Episode 20: Di Vine... and Da Branches (John 15) October 28, 2021 - Host: Dr. Gregory Hall  John chapter 15 has a unique distinction... it is entirely red letters. The entire chapter is Jesus’ dialogue with his disciples. No other chapter in this gospel has that distinction. So what does Jesus talk about in all those red letters? Well, among other things… he gives a...

Rethinking Scripture Podcast -  Episode 19: My Father's House (John 14) October 21, 2021 - Host: Dr. Gregory Hall  John chapter 14 is often referred to as Jesus’ farewell discourse. In it, He talks of his coming and going and his intent to prepare a mansion for each and every believer. But, as much as I hate to say it, we’ve likely come to a bit of a misunderstanding about that. As it turns out, t...

Rethinking Scripture Podcast -  Episode 18: Washing Up Before Dinner (John 13) October 14, 2021 - Host: Dr. Gregory Hall  In this episode, we begin looking at a series of chapters in John’s gospel where Jesus and the disciples share a meal in the upper room. Much of the content is in red letters, and its confusing material for the disciples to process. We’ll examine that context in a little more d...

Rethinking Scripture Podcast -  Episode 17: A Voice from Heaven (John 12) October 7, 2021 - Host: Dr. Gregory Hall  Chapter 12 is a turning point in the gospel of John. It’s in this chapter that the author describes the end of Jesus’ public ministry. But before Jesus ducts out of the public eye, John ties together several of the themes he’s developed thus far in his gospel. It’s a continuation of...

Rethinking Scripture Podcast -  Episode 16: The Resuscitation of Lazarus (John 11) September 27, 2021 - Host: Dr. Gregory Hall In John chapter 11, several questions arise out of how Jesus handles the death of his good friend, Lazarus. But a logical look at the assumptions we have, about this chapter, may cause us to rethink what we thought we already knew about  Lazarus’ new lease on life. Referen...

Rethinking Scripture Podcast -  Episode 15: The Good Shepherd (John 10) September 20, 2021 - Host: Dr. Gregory Hall John 10 is all about sheep and shepherds… and recently the church has tried to make this passage all about our modern-day context. But what if John 10 isn’t speaking about the 21st-century at all? What if Jesus was just describing His ministry within the religious context of His day?...

Rethinking Scripture Podcast -  Episode 14: A... Problem, of Punctuation? (John 9) September 13, 2021 - Host: Dr. Gregory Hall  Before Jesus heals a blind man, in John 9, the disciples ask Him a very strange question. “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?” Unfortunately, our English translations may be misguiding us in regards to Jesus’ response. So let’s move s...

Rethinking Scripture Podcast -  Episode 13: The Adulterous Variant September 1, 2021 - Host: Dr. Gregory Hall  You may have heard a someone say, “The Bible says it, I believe it, and that settles it”... implying, at least in part, that every word in their version of the Bible came directly from of the original text. But nothing could be further from the truth, and today we’ll look at a popular pas...

Rethinking Scripture Podcast -  Episode 12: Was Jesus a Jew? Aug 23, 2021 - Host: Dr. Gregory Hall  In John’s gospel, there’s one group of people that keeps popping up. And we find them in the very first verse of Chapter 7. which says “the Jews” were seeking to kill Jesus. But wasn’t Jesus a Jew? Well… in one sense He was certainly Jewish… but according to the gospels, He definitely didn’t fit int...

Rethinking Scripture Podcast -  Episode 11: All That the Father Gives Aug 16, 2021 - Host: Dr. Gregory Hall  Modern discussions about the last part of John 6 have become a hotbed of controversy. Those who self-describe as Calvinists and Arminians have been at battle over this passage for decades. And I, unknowingly, jumped into the middle of that mess back in the fall of 2003. I was in my masters...

Rethinking Scripture Podcast -  Episode 10: Barley Loaves, Wind and Waves Aug 9, 2021 - Host: Dr. Gregory Hall  Only about 8% of the book of John repeats events from the other three gospels. That means most of John’s gospel is new material. But in John 6, there are two events that are included in that 8%. The Feeding of the 5000 is found in all four gospels… Jesus walking on water is found in Matt...

Rethinking Scripture Podcast - Episode 9: The Healing Waters (John 5) Aug 2, 2021 - Host: Dr. Gregory Hall  There’s a water theme in the book of John. In each of the first 7 chapters of John’s gospel… there are significant events/conversations involving water. In each of these, Jesus is shown to not only have control over the water, but also offer a better alternative... the Holy Spirit. Reference...

Rethinking Scripture Podcast -  Episode 8: A Well in a Foreign Land (John 4) July 26, 2021 - Host: Dr. Gregory Hall In John chapter 4, Jesus has a meeting with a woman at a well. What kind of person was this woman? We’ve been lead to believe she was a social outcast, possibly a prostitute, someone with an immoral past, who was shunned by her own community. You might have come to see her as a misfi...

Rethinking Scripture Podcast - Episode 7: The Voice of the Bride and the Bridegroom July 19, 2021 - Host: Dr. Gregory Hall  At the end of John 3, there are some verses that you probably didn’t know were there. You’ll find them right after the Nicodemus conversation, and they’re right before the well-known encounter with the woman at the well. So let’s slow down and not get too far ahead of ourselv...

Rethinking Scripture Podcast -  Episode 6: The Curious Case of Nick at Night - Part 2 July 12, 2021 - Host: Dr. Gregory Hall Nicodemus is a complicated character, and his conversation with Jesus in John chapter 3 gives several clues about his spiritual condition. Today, we’ll be rethinking what you thought you already knew about this man... and by the time we’re done, we might even change the colo...

Rethinking Scripture Podcast - Episode 5: The Curious Case of Nick at Night - Part 1 July 5, 2021 - Host: Dr. Gregory Hall Nicodemus is a well known character in John’s gospel. He comes to Jesus at night. He has lots of questions… and he often doesn’t seem to follow the conversation very well. But I think Nicodemus has been completely misunderstood. Who exactly is this mysterious man? There’s a lo...

Rethinking Scripture Podcast - Episode 4: The Wedding Theme in John's Gospel June 28, 2021 - Host: Dr. Gregory Hall There’s a wedding theme in the book of John. The author introduces it early in the gospel and it includes a complicated mix of Old Testament references and thematic suggestions. But why would John include a wedding theme? It's because Jesus is getting married! Referenced Resources: H...

Rethinking Scripture Podcast -  Episode 3: John 1 - Rethinking Conversion June 21, 2021 - Host: Dr. Gregory Hall Why is John 1 written in such a fragmented format? It's because there were a bunch of Old Testament Saints alive that still needed to hear about Jesus. In this episode we rethink the topic of "conversion" by considering the first-century faithful remnant, who were already saved before t...

Rethinking Scripture Podcast -  Episode 2: Introduction to the Gospel of John June 10, 2021 - Host: Dr. Gregory Hall What happens when we back away from the gospel of John and ask about its relationship to John's other writings? In this episode, we follow the theme of redemption in John's gospel into the book of Revelation. It's a beautiful mosaic of Christ's work. Referenced Resources: Heiser, M....

Rethinking Scripture Podcast -  Episode 1: Introduction to Rethinking Scripture June 5, 2021 - Host: Dr. Gregory Hall Why is it important to rethink what we already know about the Bible? Well... because what we think we know is very likely wrong. Or at least it has been somehow altered, away from its original meaning, by our traditions and creeds. We also need to rethink because it's exactly what...