John Mark Hicks

This is lesson was delivered at the Northwest Christian Convention in Turner, Oregon, on June 28, 2023. The message is based on Ephesians 1:3-14.

I have now read the sixth of twelve books suggested by FB friends. This one was recommended by Clayton Homewood.  This is my summary. Marcus Peter Johnson, One with Christ: An Evangelical Theology of Salvation (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2013). Salvation, according to historic Christianity, is our personal union with the living Christ, our inclusion in […]

Texts: 1 Corinthians 15:21-28; 50-57; 2 Peter 2:11-13 Days 75-77 in Around the Bible in Eighty Days. The voice from the throne announced, “Behold, I am making all things new” (Revelation 21:5). Ultimately and finally, God makes all things new through resurrection. Though Jesus was seemingly defeated by the powers in his death, God vindicated […]

I have now read the fifth of twelve books suggested by FB friends. This one was recommended by Michael Asbell. This is my summary. David Moffitt, Rethinking the Atonement: New Perspectives on Jesus’s Death, Resurrection, and Ascension (Grand Rapids: BakerAcademic, 2022). While the term “atonement” is most often used to describe the cross of Jesus […]

J. M. R. Tillard, Flesh of the Church, Flesh of Christ: At the Source the Ecclesiology of Communion, trans. Madeleine Beaumount (Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 2001). I have now read the fourth of twelve books suggested by FB friends. This one was recommended by Reece LaBlanc. This is my summary; and this one is […]

Texts: Luke 4:16-21, 40-43; Matthew 6:9-13, 33 Days 36-39 in Around the Bible in Eighty Days. Did Jesus publicly preach the gospel during his ministry? That depends on what you mean by “gospel.” If you mean that he preached his death and resurrection publicly, then the answer is no. If you mean that he preached […]

While the final appeal for generosity Paul makes is the inexpressible gift of Jesus, he also draws on numerous texts from the Scriptures to make his case: Proverbs 11:24; Deuteronomy 15:10; Proverbs 22:8 (LXX); Psalm 112:9; Isaiah 55:10; and Hosea 10:12. He assumes his readers are familiar with their Bible, and through the echoes of […]

Philemon is a brief letter with only 335 words in the Greek text, and it appears in the New Testament without any specific context. Philemon and Onesimus, the main characters in the letter’s story, are unknown elsewhere in the New Testament. Many, if not most of the details, are lost to us as readers to […]

The Ray Evans Seminar, an annual event at the Alameda Church of Christ in Norman, Oklahoma, was held March 31-April 2, 2017. The general topic was Embracing Creation, which is also the title of the book I co-authored with Bobby Valentine and Mark Wilson. The book is available here. I gave six presentations as well […]