John Mark Hicks

Ruth Meets Boaz (Ruth 2:1-16) Now Naomi had a kinsman on her husband’s side, a prominent rich man, of the family of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz. And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain, behind someone in whose sight I may find […]

Text: John 13:1-17 The sermon begins at about minute 43 at this link. Through washing the disciples’ feet, Jesus teaches us to receive grace even when we feel unworthy and full of shame, and he also teaches us to follow his example of giving grace by serving others.

This sermon, delivered at the Southwest Church of Christ in Amarillo, TX, is based on 2 Corinthians 8-9. How does one obey the gospel? Is generosity obedience to the gospel? Paul calls the Corinthians to give out of the gracious dynamic that is fundamental to the story of God in Christ. Just as God has […]

[Sermon begins at the 55 minute mark.] How do you persuade a wealthy congregation in Corinth to share their resources with an impoverished and ethnically different group of people in Jerusalem almost 1,000 miles distant? When they shared from their resources with the Jerusalem believers, Paul wrote, they would “glorify God by [their] obedience to […]

Paul began his “foolish” boasting by identifying how, as a minister of Christ, he endured hardships, dangers, threats, and loss for the sake of the ministry of reconciliation. In effect, he boasted in his endurance, and through this endurance he suffered “more” (hyper) than the “super (hyper) apostles.” Instead of listing his credentials, he preferred […]

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 […]

[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 […]

[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. Two […]

The Reformation in a nutshell: We are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone to the glory of God alone as taught by Scripture alone. • Grace alone (sola gratia) means that God took initiative, supplies grace for every good work, and completes God’s work in us, and this includes a cooperative […]

Review of Jacob Arminius: Theologian of Grace, by Keith D. Stanglin and Thomas H. McCall.  New York: Oxford University Press, 2012.  This review first appeared in Restoration Quarterly 56 (2014): 258-259. This book is long overdue. While the shelves are filled with scholarly summaries of Augustine, Luther, Calvin, and Wesley, this is the first book-length […]