John Mark Hicks

[I also recommend reading this assessment of Heiser’s work by Dr. Rick Wadholm Jr., “Revealing the Unseen Realm: A Critical Assessment of the Hermeneutical and Textual Foundations of Michael Heiser’s The Unseen Realm.”] Since I am sometimes asked to offer an opinion about the “Deuteronomy 32 Worldview” (or “The Divine Council Worldview”) unpacked by Dr. […]

An English version is available here. La ontología divina es Ser-en-Relación: la narrativa cristiana describe a Dios como uno y tres. El trinitarismo tiene una historia accidentada a nivel práctico. En la congregación promedio, en las reuniones ministeriales o en las aulas de seminario, el tema de la Trinidad se presenta como una mala noticia […]

Essay on Alexander Campbell’s Rejection of Creeds on the 1700th Anniversary of the Nicene Creed Theology Study Group: Stone-Campbell Journal Conference 2025 In a 2024 essay in the Restoration Quarterly, Brad East lamented the loss of catholicity, particularly soteriological ecclesiology and effectual sacramentality, among Churches of Christ within the past fifty years. One recourse, Brad […]

The focus of Paul’s prayer is not that the Ephesians would be filled with information (though Paul does want them to understand the mystery of Christ and live with wisdom) but that they might be filled with the fullness of God. He prays that through the Spirit strengthening their inner persons and Christ dwelling in […]

This is the “key and high point of the whole epistle” (Barth, Ephesians, 1:275). Though the gentiles were once foreigners and aliens from the commonwealth and strangers to the covenants of promise, through the cross the Messiah has made peace and killed the hostility between Jew and gentile by abolishing the law of commandments in […]

Ephesians has two lengthy prayers. The first is in Ephesians 1:15-19, and the second is Ephesians 3:14-19. The first is followed by teaching material about God’s exaltation of Jesus to the right hand of God (1:20-23), and the second is followed by a doxology (3:20-21). Ephesians 1-3 begins with a doxology (1:3-14) and ends with […]

In this lesson, I discuss Titus 2:11-14 and Titus 3:3-8. What does one teach or stress in order to form a community of believers into a people zealous for good works? This was delivered at the Homewood Church of Christ in Birmingham, AL on May 19, 2024.

A Weightier Word than the Word through Angels For to which of the angels did God ever say,             “You are my Son;                         today I have begotten you”? [quoting Psalm 2:7] Or again,             “I will be his Father,                         and he will be my Son”? [2 Samuel 7:14] And again, when he brings […]

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.

Texts: Galatians 4:4-7; John 1:1-2, 14; Hebrews 2:14-18 Days 30-32 in Around the Bible in Eighty Days. Trinity is often either avoided or ignored; it is misunderstood or denied. The confession of one God who subsists in three “persons” (or relations) is a difficult topic. As we seek to live within the biblical narrative, the […]