The Biblical Unitarian Podcast

As we continue our series on the Jewish Principle of Agency, we explore in this episode the ways in which the commissioned agent carried out the judicial roles and responsibilities of his sender. We look closely at how human judges function as agents of God, to the point where they are even called "God." Then, we dive into the Old Testament and New Testament to survey how human agents share in God...

The first tenet of the Jewish Principle of Agency is that the agent fully represents the sender. This episode examines the evidence for this concept within the Hebrew Bible, the Mishnah, the Babylonian Talmud, and the New Testament. We also explore some of the most noteworthy agents of Yahweh in the Bible, including heavenly angels, prophets, kings, judges, and Jesus himself. Visit Amazon to buy y...

Scholars have long noted the similarities between the regular depiction of God sending prophets, messengers, and even the Messiah, with the Jewish principle of agency. This episode introduces the Jewish principle of agency and offers an overview of its six major tenets. Over the next six episodes, we will examine evidence for each of the tenets of Jewish understandings of agency within the biblica...

My book, Wisdom Christology in the Gospel of John, is now available. In this week's episode, I talk about why I wrote it, how I organized the material, and what you can expect in each chapter. If you are on the fence about buying it, or if you want to know more about how I organized the material, then this episode is for you. Visit Amazon to buy your copy of my new book Wisdom Christology in the G...

As we continue working through Alan Segal's arguments in favor of early Christian views of the Two Powers in Heaven heresy, we come to the Gospel of John. We explore the texts that Segal points to as evidence for the belief in Two Powers. In doing so, we interact with his arguments, weigh them for persuasiveness, and consider some of the much-needed evidence concerning monotheism that Segal conven...

Did the Apostle Paul teach something resembling the heresy of Two Powers in Heaven that the later Jewish rabbis rejected? This episode interacts with Alan Segal's interpretation of three key Pauline texts where Paul may (or may not) be guilty of promoting Jesus as the second power in heaven. After dialoguing with Segal's reading of Paul, we offer a summary of what Paul did in fact teach about God'...

Did Philo, the first-century Jew, believe and teach that there were actually two Gods in heaven? What does Philo mean when he talks about the "two powers" of God? This week's episode explores the complex theology of this prolific first-century theologian in order to better understand how Jewish monotheism was conveyed through the lens of a Middle Platonist. We interact with Alan Segal's book Two P...

The seminal work by Alan Segal, Two Powers in Heaven, has made a demonstrable impact on how interpreters understand Jewish monotheism and early Christian views of the exalted Jesus. This episode introduces the topic of the Two Powers heresy. We examine three passages from rabbinical literature in order to better understand this peculiar heresy, who might have been promoting it, and what sort of pa...

This episode interacts with a recently published article in the journal Novum Testamentum 66 (2024) entitled "Jesus’s Solidarity with Human Mortality and Perfection of Sonship in the Epistle to the Hebrews." The author draws attention to an overlooked argument in Hebrews, specifically in the manner in which the mortality of Jesus--the son of God--is set in parallel to the mortality of the original...

Deuteronomy 18:22 indicates that a presumptuous prophet is not to be feared. How does the theme of fear relate to those who hear Jesus’ prophetic preaching in the Gospel of John? Is Jesus feared, and if not, who is feared, and for what reason? Instead of ignoring Jesus as a presumably false prophet, why do some criticize him and his hometown anyway? And how are those who call for Jesus to be put t...

If Deut. 18:21-22 gives a litmus test to determine the legitimacy of a prophet's status, how does the Gospel of John frame the portrayal of Jesus in a manner that both anticipates this test and answers it? This week's episode demonstrates how Jesus' status as the prophet like Moses in whom Yahweh has placed his words is true. By examining the testimony of John the Baptist, the emphasis on the fulf...

Although the Gospel of John paints a thorough picture of Jesus as the prophet like Moses (Deut. 18:15-19), many of those who rejected Jesus regarded him as a false prophet who spoke presumptuously in the name of Yahweh (Deut. 18:20). This episode traces the many ways in which the narrative of the Gospel of John is framed around the warning in Deut 18:20, focusing specifically on what Jesus said th...

In our ongoing series that seeks to understand how Deut. 18:15-22 has shaped the depiction of Jesus in the Gospel of John, we focus this week on 18:19. This passage threatens the judgment of God upon those who do not heed the prophet in whom Yahweh has placed his authoritative words and commands. We demonstrate three ways in which those who refuse to listen to the prophet Jesus are called to accou...

As we continue our deep dive into the many ways that the Gospel of John displays Jesus as the prophet like Moses from Deut. 18:15-22, we focus this week on how Jesus speaks all that Yahweh has commanded him. We give attention to the insistence that Jesus' words are actually his Father's words spoken through him, the portrayal of Jesus as the agent who comes in the name of his Father, and the autho...

As we continue our exploration into the many ways that Deut. 18:15-22 has shaped the christological portrayal of Jesus in the Gospel of John, we focus this week on the phrase "I will put my words in his mouth" from Deut. 18:18a. We note the frequency in which Jesus openly admits that his words are not his own, rather they belong to the God who commissioned him. We also look at several witnesses in...

This week's episode continues exploring how the Gospel of John portrays Jesus as the prophet mentioned in Deut 18:15-22. Having already observed how Moses anticipates the Johannine Jesus, how Jesus is explicitly described with the title "Prophet," and the insistence that Jesus is a fellow human member of the people of Israel, we can turn our attention to the second half of Deut 18:15 where people...

This week’s episode begins our exploration of the many ways in which the Gospel of John draws upon Deut. 18:15-22 in order to portray Jesus as the prophet like Moses. First, we note how Jesus is frequently introduced as a figure like Moses in John. Second, we take note of the motif where the crowds discover that Jesus is ”the prophet.” Third, we observe how the Johannine Jesus fulfills the require...

The Didache is an early collection of the teachings of Jesus, aimed at making disciples. This week's episode will explore what the Didachist--the author of the Didache--taught about the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We explore the ways in which the Didache portrays the relationship between God and Jesus, as well as the meaning of the baptismal reference from the end of Matthew. Please consider sup...

Clement of Rome is a very important witness to the character of early Christianity, particularly because he is the earliest extrabiblical Christian author whose writings have survived. What did Clement of Rome believe and teach about the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? This episode combs the Greek text of 1 Clement in order to provide answers to these very important questions.  Please consider suppo...

Most translations describe the Lamb of God as the "Root of David" in the Book of Revelation. A root, however, is something that comes before the tree. Does the title "Root of David" prove that Jesus preexisted David? This episode explores this overlooked title and attempts to make sense of what John the Revelator intended to convey to his original audience.  Please consider supporting this Podcast...

Did Jesus have to be Yahweh, the God of Israel, in order for his death to completely deal with the sins of all humanity? Many have been led to believe so, but what does the New Testament teach? This episode explores the intersection of christology and atonement taught by eight different authors of the New Testament to determine if only God could atone for the transgressions of the human race on th...

Is the figure described as "Son of Man" in the extra-biblical book of 1 Enoch the same Son of Man we read about in the New Testament gospels? This episode explores 1 Enoch and its portrayal of the "Son of Man" to ascertain its relation to Jesus' favorite title. Please consider supporting this Podcast and future projects by donating at: https://www.paypal.me/10mintruthtalks                   To vie...

What truths about the birth of Jesus Christ are most commonly left out of nativity scenes, Christmas plays, and Advent sermons? This week's episode explores five important truths concerning the Son of God that pastors only interested in talking about the incarnation regularly ignore. Each of these biblical truths discussed in this episode is inconsistent with the doctrine of the literal preexisten...

In this week's episode, we listen to the recent paper I presented on the origins of the doctrine of incarnation within the forms of Judaisms that predated Christianity. We carefully examine the Book of Proverbs, the deuterocanonical book of Sirach, the Qumran scroll labeled 1Q20, and the works of Philo, noting how each author illustrates God's personified wisdom as becoming flesh in the lives of n...

Were the opponents of 1 John Jews who gave up their confession of Jesus being the Jewish messiah, perhaps to rejoin the local synagogue? This week's episode explores this possibility. We look at the arguments in favor of the secessionists in 1 John being Jews as well as the arguments against this interpretation. Please consider supporting this Podcast and future projects by donating at: https://ww...