Old Testament
If Jesus Is the Whole Point, Then What’s the Point of the Old Testament? (podcast)
Category: ReKnew Podcast
Tags: Cruciform Theology, Old Testament
Greg considers the role of the Old Testament in Christian faith. Episode 554 http://traffic.libsyn.com/askgregboyd/Episode_0554.mp3
To What Extent is the Old Testament a Sufficient Revelation of God? (podcast)
Category: ReKnew Podcast
Tags: Crucifixion of the Warrior God, Cruciform Theology, New Testament, Old Testament
Greg considers the relationship between the testaments. Episode 548 http://traffic.libsyn.com/askgregboyd/Episode_0548.mp3
Podcast: Doesn’t Claiming that the Old Testament Writers were Sometimes Wrong Inevitably Lead to a Slippery Slope?
Category: ReKnew Podcast
Tags: Crucifixion of the Warrior God, Cruciform Theology, Hermeneutics, Old Testament, OT Violence
Greg talks about cataphatic prayer and the role of the imagination. http://traffic.libsyn.com/askgregboyd/Episode_0470.mp3
Podcast: How Does the Story of Achan In Joshua 7 Point to the Cross?
Category: ReKnew Podcast
Tags: Crucifixion of the Warrior God, Cruciform Theology, Old Testament, OT Violence, Religious Violence
Greg looks at a violent Old Testament story through a Cruciform lens. http://traffic.libsyn.com/askgregboyd/Episode_0447.mp3
What does the Bible mean when it says God “sent an evil spirit” on certain people?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Bible, Demons, Old Testament, Q&A, Responding to Calvinism, Spiritual Warfare
Topics: Interpreting Violent Pictures and Troubling Behaviors, Spiritual Warfare, Cosmic Conflict
Verse: 1 Samuel 16, 1 Samuel 18, Judges 9
Question: In Judges 9:23, I Samuel 16:15ff and 18:10 it is said that God sends evil spirits on people. Doesn’t this support the idea that everything Satan and demons do is under God’s sovereign control?…
The Point of the Book of Job
Category: Essays
Tags: Apologetics, Bible, Essay, Old Testament, Problem of Evil
Topics: The Problem of Evil
The point of the book of Job is to teach us that the mystery of evil is a mystery of a war-torn and unfathomably complex creation, not the mystery of God’s all-controlling will. Given how…
Podcast: Must We Believe in the Historicity of the OT Stories to Trust in the Bible and in Jesus?
Category: ReKnew Podcast
Tags: Cross Vision, Crucifixion of the Warrior God, Cruciform Theology, Deep Literalism, Old Testament
Things get deep, literarily, as Greg discusses deep literalism. http://traffic.libsyn.com/askgregboyd/Episode_0384.mp3
Podcast: Where is the Foundation of Our Trust in the Old Testament?
Category: ReKnew Podcast
Tags: Crucifixion of the Warrior God, Cruciform Theology, Old Testament
Greg looks at what he considers the foundation of trusting in the Bible. http://traffic.libsyn.com/askgregboyd/Episode_0310.mp3
Did God Give Violent Laws? A Response to Paul Copan (#13)
Category: General
Tags: Crucifixion of the Warrior God, Cruciform Theology, Law, Old Testament, Paul Copan
Topics: Interpreting Violent Pictures and Troubling Behaviors
In his critique of Crucifixion of the Warrior God (CWG) at the Evangelical Theological Society annual meeting in November, Paul Copan takes issue with my contention that the violent dimension of OT laws reflects God…
Jesus Repudiates OT Commands on Oath-Taking: A Response to Paul Copan (#9)
Category: General
Tags: Cruciform Theology, Jesus, New Testament, Old Testament
Topics: Biblical Interpretation
In his critique of Crucifixion of the Warrior God (CWG), Paul Copan argues that “Boyd pushes too hard to make Jesus’ teaching appear more revolutionary than it really is” [italics original]. Whereas I argue that…
Frank Viola’s Interview With Greg: OT Violence and the Spirit World
Category: General
Tags: Frank Viola, Old Testament, Spiritual Warfare, Violence
I have not yet personally met Frank Viola, but over the last several years we’ve conversed and debated a good deal, to the point that I consider him a good friend. He is one of…
Podcast: Can We Still Take Comfort in the Old Testament?
Category: ReKnew Podcast
Tags: Crucifixion of the Warrior God, Cruciform Theology, Old Testament
Greg considers the Old Testament revelations that are consistent with Christ crucified. http://traffic.libsyn.com/askgregboyd/Episode_0199.mp3
Reinterpreting the Law, Violence and Nationalism of the OT
Category: General
Tags: Law, Nationalism, Old Testament, OT Violence
Topics: Biblical Interpretation
The law of the OT was intended to serve a negative object lesson. This finds its clearest expression in Paul. To begin, Paul interpreted Jesus’ death on the cross largely in sacrificial and substitutionary terms….
Podcast: If Jesus Fully Reveals God, Do We Need the Old Testament?
Category: ReKnew Podcast
Tags: Cruciform Theology, Old Testament
Greg looks at the value and the role of the Old Testament in light of Jesus’ full revelation of God on the cross. http://traffic.libsyn.com/askgregboyd/Episode_0181.mp3
The Entire Old Testament is About Jesus
Category: General
Tags: Bible Interpretation, Cruciform Theology, Old Testament
Topics: Biblical Interpretation
Jesus himself taught that he carried more authority than any prophet that predated him. Though Jesus regarded John as the greatest prophet up to himself (Matt 11:11), he claimed his own “testimony” was “weightier (megas)…
The Centrality of Christ in Hebrews, Part 2
Category: General
Tags: Bible Interpretation, Christocentrism, Cruciform Theology, New Testament, Old Testament
Topics: Christology
The intensely Christocentric reading of the Old Testament that I introduced in the previous post is reflected throughout the book of Hebrews. Here I want to cite two more examples of how this writer saw…
The Centrality of Christ in Hebrews, Part 1
Category: General
Tags: Bible Interpretation, Christocentrism, Cruciform Theology, New Testament, Old Testament
Topics: Christology
The intense Christocentricity that the New Testament writers embrace is nowhere more clearly and consistently illustrated than in the book of Hebrews. Throughout this work we find a repeated emphasis on the many ways the…
Do the Gospels Fabricate Prophetic Fulfillment?
Category: General
Tags: Cross, Cruciform Theology, Jesus, Old Testament, Prophesy
Topics: Biblical Interpretation, Christology
Skeptically-inclined scholars, and especially critics of Christianity, frequently argue that the Gospel authors created mythological portraits of Jesus largely on the basis of OT material they claim Jesus “fulfilled.” In other words, they surveyed the…
Jesus, the New Israel
Category: General
Tags: Israel, Jesus, Old Testament
Topics: Biblical Interpretation, Christology
The Gospels present Jesus and the Kingdom he inaugurated as the fulfillment of Israel’s story. For example, Jesus’ birth fulfills Israel’s longing for a Messiah; his return from Egypt as a child mirrors their Exodus…
Jesus Refuted Old Testament Laws
Category: General
Tags: Cruciform Theology, Jesus, Old Testament
Topics: Biblical Interpretation
Although it’s clear that Jesus regarded the Old Testament as the inspired word of God, he also directly challenged aspects of the Old Testament law. To illustrate, Jesus was repudiating Sabbath law when he defended…