John Mark Hicks

Because Christ also suffered… If one suffers for “doing good” as an expression of the will of God, Peter writes, it better to suffer for that than suffering for doing evil (1 Peter 2:17). Why is that? Because Christ also suffered… The Christ Narrative—the story of God in which Christ suffers for sins—is the reason […]

Imperial residents, submit to the empire. Slaves, submit to your masters. This submission, Peter tells us, is grounded in our vocation or calling. We are called into a life of submission because Jesus is our model (pattern, example). Our vocational mission as the people of God is grounded in the life of Jesus as the […]

Just as there were two movements in Mark 14:1-11, a conspiracy to kill and a mealtime anointing in preparation for death, so there are two movements in Mark 14:12-26. The first recognizes the conspiracy along with the subsequent faithlessness of the disciples and the second describes another meal that carries the significance of Jesus’ death. […]

This poem climaxes the message of Zechariah 12:2-13:6. The voice of God announces judgment and mercy; Yahweh speaks into the situation. The shepherd and people of Israel, Yahweh says, will experience judgment but a remnant will emerge from the refining fire. Zechariah 9-14 has already used shepherd imagery. Israel’s shepherds (leaders) have led their people […]

Zechariah’s fourth vision takes him into the heavenly council which mirrors the reality of the holy courts of the temple where priests officiate before the Lord (similar to Isaiah 6:1-3). The earthly temple is the meeting place of the heavenly council. The temple is one place where heaven and earth overlap. Zechariah sees three persons: […]

[Note: I am attempting to keep these SBD installments under 2000 words each, but that is–of course–quite inadequate for the topics covered. Consequently, these contributions are more programmatic than they are explanatory or defenses of the positions stated. You may access the whole series at my Serial page.] Jesus accomplishes the divine mission to make […]

Recently a researcher in Europe asked for a copy of my article The Righteousness of Saving Faith: Arminian Versus Remonstrant Grace (published in Evangelical Journal in 1991) to assist his investigation of Arminianism. It gave me the opportunity to dig it up and put it on my website.  The article is based on my Ph.D. […]

The annual season we know as Christmas is a time when most people remember the stories of Jesus’ birth. The media is full of movies, articles and advertisements, which remind us of those stories. There are good stories — Joseph & Mary, Bethlehem, “no room at the inn” which is traditionally badly interpreted as inhospitality […]

There are many texts in Paul where one could illuminate the theme of this series.  I have chosen Colossians 1, but others would include Ephesians 1 among others. Kingdom language is not as frequent in Paul as it is in the Gospels, but it is nevertheless part of the substance of his theological perspective.  For […]

This is my last post under the heading of “Created for Hermeneutics.”  In the near future–after a little break this week–I will continue a discussion of hermeneutics.  My plan is to summarize and critique some aspects of traditional Stone-Campbell hermeneutics in one series and then initiate another series which offers an alternative (though not disconnected) vision for contemporary theological hermeneutics. […]