The Blue Collar Biblical Scholar

My insignificant other, you repressed emotion so you wouldn’t hurt us. And I tried to find out why so we could have each other, but you thought of inconvenience and relished instead the distance. I felt the lack of heart. I felt our skies turn grey, the wind picked up, the temperatures drop. Should we go inside, sweet bride? But you preferred this outcast vision to warmth around a cloistered…

On one side, let us sisters pass his soul round  cause no one will speak for him.  The campfire where they laughed and scorned: “You get this, and I’ll take that.”  It’s not really a money-grab!  Obviously he doesn’t care,  and no one is there to speak for him.  But if he would speak for himself, that would be miraculous! On the other side, is not order and discipline.  It is tender and…

A Poem by Adam Lambdin Moving from inferno to mountain we surmount to gain heights  In a wilderness that calls us forward. (Dante 7) But city is natural to sinner as ocean were to mermaids. Am I justified in changing this, Mr. Prufrock? If the damned answered Dante in a moment of candor,  Can a saint answer one from tepid life in A wilderness where souls are brought back to life through…

A Poem by Adam Lambdin We may represent behavior as static, a state of being, But God is self-sufficient, not transient, as we are finite and frail. Not far from us, God is near, though we grope for Him with untrained ear. But like sparrows, we ebb and flow in nature’s circuits. The Spirit moves in deeper fullness, bringing life and light to we His creatures, finite and bound, Are we ever…

A Poem for Jenece By Adam Lambdin “My soul was uninhibited but never saw the shoals.My vessel, not my own, belonged to another,For you were also commissioned, though yet unknown,We depended on each other. At interludes, the fog deepened in mutual detachment,As if I to thee had absconded all hopeAnd left us both without our purpose.But dereliction was not like calibrating periscopes. What I…

The city of Jerusalem contained numerous pools, and Bethesda was one such site surrounded by five colonnades or porticos. It was associated with healing from early on and is mentioned only once in the Bible in the fifth chapter of the book of John where Jesus healed a paralytic. The gate near which the Pools of Bethesda lie is to the north of the Temple Mount. As this pool was near the mount as…

I have to say that unless your eschatology occurs in a vacuum, you are going to read events into whatever framework you have doctrinally. I like to say that Josephus is the Postmillennialist’s newspaper exegesis via the first century AD. Today, the sensationalists tend to wax along these lines about middle-eastern conflict and blood moons. They are the popular Dispensational teachers who are…

The following is a manuscripted sermon that I did not preach but composed for a class in college in 2006: Paul calls the Ephesians to be strong in the Lord and to stand against the spiritual forces of evil, taking up the Spirit-supplied resources that God has given to His saints. A Call to Arms (vv. 10-13) The Source  The Means  The Adversary  The Stand  The Weapons of Our Warfare (vv.…

The Bible is the most enduring book of human history. Its pages have been read and copied and studied for ages. It is the only book that although consisting of many different authors spread out over various ages, is not only consistent with itself, but also claims divine authorship. God inspired the scripture and gave it to us so that we may understand and know Him. As such, it carries divine…

I originally wrote this blog post in 2006 as an undergraduate essay towards my B.A. in Christian Ministries. It is amazing how revelatory this actually is. The New Age Movement is very diverse and at the same time, hidden. In the nineteenth century, Paganism began to rise from seclusion in America to popular acceptance by the 1960’s and 70’s. Despite appearances however, and a name that sounds…

Habakkuk 2:4 is quoted in three places in the New Testament. It is quoted in Romans 1:17, Hebrews 10:38, as well as in Galatians 3:11. In these instances, the author uses this as support for his teaching that the “just shall live by faith,” or that those who are justified are justified by faith alone. The question arises as to whether this is a legitimate usage of Habakkuk 2:4. When the the…

There is no more profound message given in the history of the world than the message of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. Regardless of whether you refer to Him as “the Messiah” via Matthew’s Jewish perspective or “the Christ” via Luke’s Greek vantage point, Jesus is the chosen one. He is the long anticipated champion of mankind’s lost cause. He does not minimize the law. He enhances it in the…

The Old Testament refers to “The Day of the Lord,” “The Day of the Lord’s Judgement,” “The Day of the Lord’s Anger,” “The Day of the Lord’s Wrath,” and “The Great and Terrible Day of the Lord.” The OT speaks of this day as a time when Yahweh will judge the nations (Is. 2:10-21) and punish Israel (Zeph. 1:4), and He will come as a God of terrible war to all those who have dishonored Him. There…