John Mark Hicks

After the ascension of Jesus to the right hand of the Father, one hundred and twenty disciples, including the mother of Jesus, were gathered together in one place (ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ). They were all devoted (προσκαρτεροῦντες) to praying and waiting for the promised Holy Spirit (Acts 1:14-15). On the day of Pentecost, they were all […]

This communion mediation is based on 1 Corinthians 10:16. It discusses the meaning of “This is my body” through the lens of 1 Corinthians 10:16. What is the meaning of “is”? What is its meaning for the table of the Lord?

Texts: Acts 2:42-45; 3:1; Eph 4:7-8, 11-12 Days 62-64 in Around the Bible in Eighty Days. Previously, we have seen the formation of community through a shared initiation (baptism), shared faith in Jesus the Messiah (through the apostles’ teaching), and a shared table (breaking bread). These were communal moments in Acts 2. Together, 3000 were […]

This is a lecture I delivered at Great Lakes Christian College on October 21, 2022. Click here for the link. The lecture begins about minute 40. Acts 2:42: “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and the fellowship, the breaking of bread, and the prayers.”

[This is copied from my book Searching for the Pattern, pp. 90-104. Due to a recent bout with COVID-19, I have not had the energy or time to do any original writing on 2 Corinthians 8-9. However, I think the following captures the essence of Paul’s theological interests in this section of the letter. One […]

For many the Holy Spirit is an impersonal, imperceptible, and indiscernible force.  Cloaked in mystery, many find it difficult to “get a handle” on the Spirit. The Spirit has no “face” like Jesus nor any personal metaphors, such as parent, mother, or husband, like Israel’s God. Our desire, of course, is not so much to […]

“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” Acts 2:42, NRSV. “Our greatest trouble now is, it seems to me, a vast unconverted membership. A very large percent of the church members among us seem to have very poor conception of what a Christian ought […]

“Send bread now, brethren, and afterward the Bibles and preachers,” David Lipscomb (1866). I’ve often heard and said that people won’t care what you say until they know you care.  I think the following small blurb by Lipscomb reflects that principle. **** David Lipscomb, “Fellowship,” Gospel Advocate 9 (June 1867) 476. [After listing a number of […]

The 1866 Gospel Advocate, the year its rebirth after the Civil War, is filled with notices about sharing resources with the poor and encouragement for churches both north and south to do so. Apparently, the Advocate was accused by some of controlling these resources as they came to Nashville for distribution as if the paper was a […]

The bloody stress of the Civil War strained relationships between northern and southern members of the Stone-Campbell Movement to a breaking point. While sectional attitudes created tension as well as the diverse response to participation in the war, the gut-wrenching reality–as Lipscomb saw it–was that northern brethren were more interested in high-salaried preachers, worldly buildings […]