The Naked Bible Podcast

On a previous episode, Mike interview Rick Brannan on how we got the New Testament Testament and why conspiratorial ideas about the Greek New Testament are bogus. In this episode the Old Testament gets equal time. Mike overviews how the OT books were composed, edited, received, transmitted by scribes, and published to the present day (with a little Dead Sea Scrolls conspiracy debunking along the w...

Many Bible students find the episode in Numbers 21:1-9 confusing. Why would God tell Moses to make a bronze serpent (nachash)? Did God forget about the serpent of Genesis 3? Why would Jesus compare his impending death on the cross to the bronze serpent? This episode asks whether these ideas are in fact connected and how the serpent in the wilderness episode should be interpreted.

It’s common among Christians to interpret Paul’s statement that “all Israel will be saved” (Rom 11:25-26) to refer to mean that national Israel will be saved by God in the end or that all Jews will eventually turn to the messiah in the end times. But is that what Paul meant? How would we know? This episode discusses Paul’s statement and these questions. Links referenced: Summary of Christopher Zoc...

Lots of Christians interested in prophecy talk about the tribulation period (aka, the “Great Tribulation”), but they never seem to get around to asking where the idea comes from. In this episode we explore the development of the eschatological tribulation idea in Second Temple Jewish literature up to and including the time of Jesus. Surprisingly, asking what the tribulation meant in the actual New...

We reached a milestone and celebrated with our listeners. Thanks to all who sent in their thoughts. It’s gratifying for both Trey and myself to be helpful to those who care about biblical content. Thank you for listening to The Naked Bible Podcast God bless…

How did we get the New Testament? This episode is in response to listener requests. Mike and Trey interview Rick Brannan, the information specialist for Greek New Testament products and databases at Logos Bible Software, about how we got the New Testament, the KJV-only idea, and conspiratorial views about the history and transmission of the Greek New Testament. We also talk about tools for learnin...

In this episode Mike and Trey talk with Tim Andrews and Rich Baker about alternative ways to think about church – specifically, if church wasn’t a time or a place, what would that be like? Tim Andrews currently lives in Atlanta, GA, and has been in leadership in alternative church communities for over twenty years. Rich Baker has a long history in ministry to the homeless and other marginalized co...

Our 12th Question and Answer episode!

Our 11th Question and Answer episode! Link referenced:  AllAboutGod.com

This episode invites David Burnett back to the podcast for a discussion of his research on 1 Cor 15:35-50. In an earlier episode on this chapter, we talked about the meaning of Paul’s phrase “the spiritual body.” This time around, David draws our attention to the listing of “bodies” (celestial vs. earthly) in vv. 35-41 and asks: (1) what part of the OT is Paul drawing on for this list and (2) why...

Biblical scholars know that Paul subordinates the Law to Christ (Gal 3:1-18). He writes about how the Law could not result in the fruition of the promises given to Abraham (and, by extension, to all nations; Gen 12:1-3). Paul then asks “Why then was the law given?” He answers that it was “added because of transgressions” (Gal 3:19). The most common assumption is that this (somehow) means the Law w...

The book we know as 1 Enoch was well known to early Christians. Its importance produced an understandable question among some influential early Christian writers and, one may presume, Christians in general: Should 1 Enoch be considered inspired and thus “Scripture” in the manner of other books in the Old Testament? Ultimately, Christianity at large answered this question negatively, save for the C...

Ezekiel 28:14, 16 describe an “anointed cherub” who walked in the midst of “the stones of fire” and was removed from among “the stones of fire.”  What are the stones of fire? What do these verses describe? How do the phrases relate to what’s going on in Ezekiel 28 and its “twin,” Isaiah 14? blog post referenced

Our 10th Question and Answer episode!

This episode discusses why hellfire in the New Testament is associated with “the devil and his angels” (Matt 25:41). Where does that idea come from? There are in fact earlier books that are the basis for this language—inside and outside the Old Testament.

There are over a dozen references in the Old and New Testaments to “books” in heaven. The idea of such books extends back to Sumer and Mesopotamian (“tablets of destinies”). In this episode, we trace the lineage of the idea through ancient Near Eastern examples, the Old Testament, 2nd temple Jewish texts, and the New Testament. Are these records “real time” record keeping? Proof of predestination?

This episode focuses on Paul’s language, in 1 Cor 15 and elsewhere, about the “spiritual body” of the resurrected Jesus—a body that believers will also share.  In Paul’s day, Gentiles (Greco-Roman culture) and Jews (OT) both believed that gods had bodies — not made of flesh and blood, but of something that was superior to flesh and blood. In other words, gods weren’t simply formless, s...

There is no direct talk in the Old Testament about the messiah, the son of David, would cast out demons. Yet that title (“son of David”) is found only in the synoptic gospels in association with Jesus’ healing and demonic exorcisms. While healing is a clear part of the messianic profile in the Old Testament, exorcising demons is not. What predisposed first century Jews to the idea that the Davidic...

This episode begins a series of topical episodes following the end of our series on Leviticus. The topic for this episode is the controversial head covering reference in 1 Cor. 11:13-15. The discussion summarizes the material discussed in a scholarly journal article published in 2004 by Dr. Troy Martin entitled, “Paul’s Argument from Nature for the Veil in 1 Cor. 11:13-15: A Testicle instead...

Our 9th Question and Answer episode! Also find out what topics are next for the podcast. to support our show go to:  our Support page Harvey book on term Jew: Graham Harvey, The True Israel: Uses of the Names Jew, Hebrew, and Israel in Ancient Jewish and Early Christian Literature (Brill, 2001)

This episode covers Leviticus 26-27, bringing our study of Leviticus to a close. Our focus is primarily a question raised by Lev 26 — whether the offer of restoration to Yahweh (and thus to the land) described in Lev 26:40-42 is being fulfilled now or is yet to be fulfilled. The episode also addresses the reference to Sabbath cycles in Lev 26 and the “offering of people” to the sanctuary in...

This episode discusses items in three chapters of Leviticus including how Leviticus 23 conceptualizes the Sabbath, how its description of Israelite feasts and festivals diverges with other passages in the Torah, the imagery of the “shewbread” (“bread of the Presence”), the principle of lex talionis, and the concept of jubilee in Leviticus 25 and other sources, such as the New Testament and the Dea...

Our 8th Question and Answer episode! to support our show go to:  our Support page

Leviticus 21-22 overlaps a great deal with earlier material in Leviticus. This episode focuses on certain mourning rites and Israel’s need to maintain a holiness distinction from pagan religions in that regard. Of special interest in this episode is Lev 21:5 (cp. Lev 19:26-28), a passage many use to condemn tattooing. papers referenced: Roberts A New Parallel to 1Kgs18 Gevaryahu Lev1928 Tattooing...

This episode covers two chapters in Leviticus, chapters 19-20. Leviticus 19 is essentially a mini-Torah of sorts, in that it mimes a number of the Ten Commandments and a wide range of laws and commandments that are representative of the overall Torah. Chapter 20 re-articulates much of Leviticus 18 with respect to prohibitions of certain sexual behaviors. More specifically, the episode devotes time...