John Mark Hicks

This is one of the most beautiful images of rest, calm, and peace. Our souls are like a nursing child resting in her mother’s arms after a feeding. This is the hope of Israel, and invites us to humble ourselves before the Lord, whose greatness we can never exhaust or fully comprehend. O Israel, hope […]

PDF file of blog here. What is the historic traditional interpretation of 1 Timothy 2:11-14? The complementarian and egalitarian interpretations are both of recent vintage and responses to cultural shifts. In her book An Historian Looks at 1 Timothy 2:11-14: The Authentic Traditional Interpretation and Why It Disappeared (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2012), Joan […]

Abby Kaplan joins Bobby Valentine and John Mark Hicks to talk about Psalm 45. This royal wedding song has both an original significance in Israel and a messianic meaning. The Psalm, sung by Israel, desires a king of justice, humility, and truth, and celebrates the inclusion of a woman from outside of Israel. Ultimately, the […]

Naomi Seeks Ruth’s Security (Ruth 2:17-3:5) So she gleaned in the field until evening. Then she beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley.  She picked it up and came into the town, and her mother-in-law saw how much she had gleaned. Then she took out and gave her […]

One book advocates a soft complementarian reading of Scripture and the other an egalitarian reading of Scripture. The general editor of the former is Renèe Webb Sproles. It is entitled Male & Female: A Biblical Look at Gender (published by Renew.org). The author of the other is Philip B. Payne. It is entitled The Bible […]

Texts: Acts 1:6-8; 2:16-21, 37-41 Days 56-58 in Around the Bible in Eighty Days. The prophet Joel promised Israel, who at the time was suffering a great national tragedy, a time when God would restore its fortunes. They would never again be same and all who called on the name of the Lord would be […]

In January, 2021, Bammel Road Church of Christ in Houston, TX, asked me to share my understanding of 1 Timothy 2:11-12 with them. This is the ZOOM video for January 31, 2021. This presentation suggests that Paul is addressing a confused situation in Ephesus where some deceived women were influencing the whole church, and consequently […]

In January, 2021, Bammel Road Church of Christ in Houston, TX, asked me to share my understanding of 1 Corinthians 11:2-16 with them. This is the ZOOM video for January 24, 2021. This presentation affirms the principle of “headship” (which needs definition) and the interdependency of women and men “in the Lord.” In the assembly, […]

In January, 2021, Bammel Road Church of Christ in Houston, TX, asked me to share my understanding of 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 with them. This is the ZOOM video for January 17, 2021. The presentation affirms the use of both male and female gifts as long as the assembly is decently ordered and prioritizes the building […]

I was invited to visit the Highland Oaks Church of Christ in Dallas, Texas, but due to COVID I could not. I was diagnosed the day I was supposed to get on the plane to fly to Dallas. Consequently, I addressed the church through Zoom on the topic while experiencing some of the effects of […]