Healing of a Man with a Demon at Gerasa (Mark 5:1-20)
Holy War (Deuteronomy 20:1-20)
The term "holy war" refers to a sort of warfare that is dedicated to the purposes of the Lord. God himself is also an active participant it this kind of war. The Old Testament does not use the term “holy war.” Instead, it was coined by the German scholar Friedrich Schwally in the early...
Love and Affection
Primary expressions for the word love in the New Testament are two nouns ἀγαπη and φιλία, including their cognates. These words are present in various contexts, creating a vibrant semantic range. In the bible, there exist another two words for love ἔρως and στοργή that are however present in...
Song of Angels: Gloria in Excelsis (Luke 2:14)
Gloria in Excelsis refers to a short hymn that is pronounced by angels when the birth of Christ and savior was announced to shepherds. The name "Gloria in Excelsis" is based on the first three words from the verse in the Latin translation: "Gloria in excelsis Deo et in terra pax hominibus bonae...
Suffering of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 3:18-22)
The 1 Peter 3:18-22 is arguably the most challenging passage in the entire list and maybe in the entire New Testament itself. This Christological text might have contained fragments of an ancient hymn (among others in the list: 1 Peter 1:18-21; 1 Peter 2:21-25; 1 Peter 3:18-22; 1 Peter 5:5-9). It...
Mystery of True Godliness (1 Timothy 3:16)
This short hymnic passage of 1 Timothy 3:16 interrupts Paul’s address to Timothy with an exposition of “the mystery of true godliness.” This break is apparent by the change of personal pronoun from the second person (you) to the third (he) as well as also pointed by relative pronoun “which (ὃς...
Hymn of Peace (Ephesians 2:14-16)
Paul breaks his speech to the Ephesians in verses 2:14-16, and begins a short discourse that is composed as a hymn. This is well discerned by a change of the personal prepositions from the first person plural (we) to the third person singular (he). In this discourse, Paul brings to the...
Davidic Messiah (Psalms of Solomon 17:1-51)
This very famous psalm (among the NT scholars) describes a Davidic, messianic figure who will purge Jerusalem of Gentiles. The psalm is important for christology studies in that it unveils messianic hopes among some branches of early Judaism. It promotes a belief that the messiah would soon come to...