John Mark Hicks

Who may sojourn in God’s tent and live on God’s holy hill? Those who love their neighbor with integrity! Bobby Valentine and John Mark Hicks discuss the significance of Psalm 15 as an entrance instruction. Like in Matthew 25 with its judgment scene, those who enter are those who have loved their neighbors–feeding the hungry, […]

Parallel to Ephesians 4:17-19, Paul reminds the gentiles that they no longer participate in their past practices, the way of the nations. This is the case because they have been taught by the Jewish Messiah and live in harmony with the ethics of the God of Israel. They are now part of the commonwealth of […]

How should we walk? And how can we walk? (Ephesians 4:17-24) Disciples of Jesus, those who learned about the Messiah, are to walk worthy of their calling (Ephesians 4:1). These first generation Gentile believers are called to no longer walk as they used to walk as people alienated from God, but to walk in the […]

Bobby Valentine and John Mark Hicks describe the significance of Psalm 50. it is a prophetic song, the voice of the “preacher” (priest/prophet) in the assembly of Israel. God speaks through the Psalmist to address two groups of people assembled: (1) those who misunderstand the significance of worship, and (2) hypocrites who confess the covenant […]

Hebrews 13:1-25 Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them; those who are being tortured, as though you yourselves were being tortured. Let marriage be held […]

Text: Matthew 9:9-17 Jesus uses Hosea 6:6 to critique the criticism of some who objected to his eating with “tax collectors and sinners.” The point? Jesus pursues mercy for the sake of healing, and this is at the heart of kingdom living. It is pouring new wine into wineskins.

     1 Peter 3:18a: Christ suffered for sins.             1 Peter 4:1a: Christ suffered in the flesh 1 Peter 4:1 resumes the primary topic: the suffering of Christ provides a model for living in a hostile environment. 1 Peter 3:18-22 underscores the victory of Christ over suffering and his enthronement over the powers and authorities, […]

This is a key moment in Peter’s letter, both rhetorically and theologically. Rhetorically, it heads the major body of the letter (1 Peter 2:11-4:11) as the letter moves from identity to exhortation. Theologically, it describes how disciples of Jesus live faithfully in a hostile culture. In terms of identity, though exiles and aliens within Roman […]

The opening Psalm functions as a kind of preface or introduction to the whole collection. It orients the worshipper to a particular path and the value of pursuing the life the Psalter envisions. Indeed, it offers us a choice. There is the way of the wicked (sinners, scoffers) and the way of the righteous. There […]

Though often called the “letters to the seven churches” (with somewhat good reasons), the address to each church functions as a prophetic oracle. John has called his work a “prophecy” (Revelation 1:3) and in these “letters” the prophet calls the churches to respond in faithfulness much like Israel’s prophets in the Hebrew Scriptures. Thyatira, a […]