Discussion of the history of Christianity in China is usually dominated by the Jesuit missionaries of the early modern era. But almost a thousand years earlier, the Christian community thrived in medieval China during the rule of the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907). These Christians belonged to the Church of the East, an ancient church that arose in the Sasanian Empire. They thrived while the Tang emperors were tolerant of other religions. That all changed during the reign of the emperor Wuzong (AD 841-846), who banned all foreign religions.

The Tang Dynasty: China’s Golden Age

After a long period of disunity and civil war between northern and southern states, China was reunified into a single state once again during the Sui Dynasty Period (AD 581-617). Emperor Wendi (AD 581-604) managed to restore the kingdom’s bureaucratic apparatus and centralize the state that he ruled from the rebuilt city of Chang’an (modern Xi’an). The construction of the Grand Canal from 605 to 609 united the Empire economically.

Although the Sui Dynasty ruled for a short time, it laid the foundation for the power and prosperity that China experienced during the Tang Dynasty. The Sui Dynasty’s rule came to an end with the revolt against the emperor Yangdi (AD 604-618) because of his unpopular and unsuccessful wars against Korea. General Li Yuan, who led the revolt, took the throne and ruled under the name of Emperor Gaozu (AD 618-626), initiating the Tang Dynasty.

During the reigns of his successors, Taizong (AD 626-649) and Gaozong (AD 649-683), China’s territory expanded greatly. Through a series of successful wars against Turkic tribes to the east, they established control over the Silk Road.

Trade with other Asian countries expanded through both land and maritime routes. Thanks to this expansion of trade, during the early Tang Period, China entered an era of economic, social, and cultural prosperity. A great number of foreigners came to China, mostly from neighboring countries but also from other parts of Asia. They settled in big trading cities and towns and were mostly engaged in business, but they also influenced China’s cultural life, including art, poetry, and fashion. The capital city of Chang’an became the residence of many artists, such as Zhang Xuan (c. AD 712-756). Tang China also served as a model for other Asian countries and their dynasties, such as Korea and Japan.

Religious Diversity in Tang China

Early Tang emperors promoted Buddhism, which became an integral part of the Chinese state and society. A great number of Buddhist temples flourished throughout the country. However, the promotion of Buddhism did not mean rejection of traditional Chinese religions, such as Confucianism and Taoism, which still played an important role in society.

In times of peace, emperors tolerated other religions that found their way into China. In the capital, members of various other religious groups lived and thrived, such as Zoroastrians, Muslims, and Manichaeans. Christians also found a place in China at that time.

The Rise of the Church of the East

These Christians belonged to the Church of the East, an ancient church that had its origins in ancient Persia. Christianity appeared in Persia in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD, under the Parthian Empire. It is not known exactly how Christianity spread into Persia. One possibility is that it was introduced by Greek-speaking refugees from the Roman Empire who fled persecution, or by the local Jewish community. Early Christians in Persia included local Persians, Arab tribes, and the Aramaic-speaking population.

With the rise of the Sasanian Empire during the 3rd century AD, Zoroastrianism was declared the official state religion. Consequently, Christians faced periodic persecution during the 4th century AD. The situation changed again during the rule of Yazdegerd I (AD 399-424).

Independence and Spread

In the first half of the 5th century AD, the Church of the East established its organization, headed by the Bishop of Seleucia-Ctesiphon. It gradually distanced itself from the Church of the Roman Empire and declared its independence in 424.

However, at the Council of Seleucia-Ctesiphon in 410, the Church of the East accepted the teachings proclaimed at the First Ecumenical Council in 325. The decisions of the Council of Ephesus in 431, which condemned the Patriarch of Constantinople, Nestorius, were not accepted. Nestorius thought that the title “Theotokos” (Mother of God), given to the Virgin Mary, was not appropriate and that only the title “Christotokos” (Mother of Christ) could be applied. The Church of the East did not participate in any other ecumenical councils after this.

Because of this, the Church of the East was, and still is, wrongly described as “Nestorian.” The Christology of the Church of the East was created under the influence of Theodore of Mopsuestia, a representative of the Antiochian school. Members of this school of thought considered that there were two separate natures in Jesus Christ. This was different from the official dogma of the Church in the Roman Empire, according to which the two natures of Jesus Christ were united.

During the 5th and 6th centuries AD, the Church of the East spread throughout the lands controlled by the Sasanian Empire, and Christians became a significant religious minority. During the 6th century AD, monasticism spread, and many new monasteries were built.

When Byzantine-Sasanian wars broke out, Christians in Persia faced persecution again. However, thanks to capable patriarchs such as Mar Abba I the Great (AD 540-552), the Church of the East managed to survive and thrive. The Church of the East also spread among the Arab tribes, in Central Asia, and even as far away as India and Sri Lanka. The church even survived the Arab conquests of the 7th century AD. During the rule of the Muslim Caliphs, the Church of the East belonged to the ahl-al-dhimma, that is, religious groups that, in exchange for religious freedom, paid tribute to the state.

Christianity Arrives in China

Very little was known about early Christianity in China until the discovery of the so-called “Nestorian Stele” in the city of Xi’an in the early 17th century. This stele, 2.79 meters high (9 ft 2 inches) and 99 centimeters wide (39 inches), was erected in 781 and is inscribed in Chinese script with a few lines at the end written in Syriac.

The author of the text was the monk Adam, with the Chinese name Qing-Qing. The Xi’an Stele tells us about the arrival of Christian missionaries from Syria to China during the reign of Emperor Taizong (AD 626-649). The mission was headed by the Syrian monk Alopen (or Olopen), who came to Chang’an in 635 and presented the Christian holy books to the emperor. This was followed by the imperial edict of 638, which allowed Christian missionary activity in the country. A Christian monastery was immediately built in Chang’an, where 21 monks could live.

According to the emperor’s orders, the Christian holy books presented to him by Alopen were translated and stored in the imperial library. Alopen was most likely part of an official mission from the Sasanian Empire, representing the last Sasanian ruler, Yazdegerd III (AD 632-651). His son, Peroz III, was in exile in China after the Arab conquests. Peroz was responsible for the construction of another Christian monastery in 677. In Chinese documents, Christian monasteries are called “Ta-qin monasteries.” “Ta-qin” was the Chinese name for the Roman Empire or the Middle East, depending on the context.

Ecclesiastical Spread 

During the decades that followed, Christianity continued to flourish in China. It enjoyed the support of Taizong’s successor, Gaozong (AD 649-683), and many important people in the empire. According to the Xi’an Stele, Gaozong allowed Christian churches and monasteries to be built in every province. This does not necessarily mean that monasteries were built in every province, but it is a good indicator of the rapid spread of Christianity.

In addition to the central parts of China, Christianity spread to the surrounding countries, to Tibet, and among the Uyghurs. The Church in China was officially organized as the Metropolitan Province of Beth Sinaye under the patriarch Saliba (AD 714-728).

Some Christian priests managed to reach important positions and served as advisors or even generals. For example, General Issu was the right hand of Lord Guo Ziyi. Issu was a priest of Iranian origin. His real name was Yazdebod, and he protected the northern borders of the empire. He was a great benefactor of Christian communities, and his name stands out on the Xi’an Stele.

Christian Literature

The history of Christianity in Tang China spans two centuries, and a small number of Christian texts in Chinese have survived. Christian monks and priests translated Christian texts into Chinese. During the 780s, an Indian scholar named Prajna resided in China. He helped the monk Adam translate Christian texts. By the end of the 10th century, around 500 texts had been translated, including the complete New Testament and part of the Old Testament.

Out of these 500 texts, only a handful have survived. Among them, the oldest are the Book of Jesus, the Messiah, and On the One God. These were written in 635-638 and 641, possibly by Alopen. A memorial pillar from Luoyang, erected in 814/815, contains the text titled Teaching on the Origin of Origins of the Da Qin Luminous Religion. Another pillar contains the epitaph of a Sogdian Christian woman, and it is decorated with pictures of a cross and winged angels.

Other Chinese Christian texts include the Book of Praise (presumably written by Qing-Qing in the late 8th century), the Book of Venerable Men and Sacred Books (written in c. 906-1036), and the Book of the Origin of the Enlightening Religion of Ta Qin (written before 1036).

Christian Art

Some examples of Chinese Christian art have also survived. A silk painting of a haloed Christian figure, dating from the 9th century, was found in the Mogao Caves. A painted male figure is represented with a halo and a winged crown containing a cross. The position of his right hand is taken from Buddhism, and it symbolizes the explanation of a doctrine. The silk painting depicts either Jesus Christ or a saint.

At the beginning of the 20th century, three frescoes were found in the remains of the Christian temple in Kocho, two of which have been preserved. The first one possibly depicts a celebration of Palm Sunday. The fresco depicts a man of Middle Eastern origin, most likely a deacon or priest, in front of three believers. According to another interpretation, it depicts a ceremonial greeting inspired by Buddhism. The second, smaller fresco depicts the Repentance. The third fresco, lost today, once depicted the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem.

Persecutions

At the end of the 8th century, the Christian community in China reached its zenith. However, most believers came from foreign populations: Iranians, Sogdians, Turks, and Uyghurs. Very few Chinese converted to Christianity because it was still a foreign religion to them.

During the middle of the 9th century, there were about 260,000 Christians in China. But the survival of Christians in China depended too much on the goodwill of emperors and local rulers. While peace reigned and the emperors promoted religious tolerance, Christians lived in peace. In turbulent times, rulers often turned against foreigners and foreign religions.

Christians experienced the first persecutions in China during the reign of Empress Wu (AD 683-705). As a fanatical Buddhist, she elevated Buddhism to the level of the state religion in 691 and turned on members of other religions. During her domination, several monasteries were looted and burned. The persecutions ended during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong (AD 712-756).

Final Demise

Christians experienced their final downfall during the reign of Wuzong (AD 841-846). He was a traditional Taoist and turned against all religions that he considered foreign. First, in 843, he banned the practice of Manichaeism, and later his persecutions were extended to other religions, even Buddhism. His edict from 845 banned “Persian religions,” namely Zoroastrianism and Christianity. All members of these religious groups were ordered to leave China.

During the next century, Christianity perished in China completely. With the fall of the Tang Dynasty in 907, China once again entered a period of civil war and internal instability. Trade routes with the West collapsed, and the remaining Christians lost contact with their patriarch.

Around 980, patriarch Abdisho I sent six monks to China to examine the situation. They reported that Christianity had completely disappeared. Churches and monasteries were destroyed, and there was only one Christian left. This, however, did not mark the end of Christianity in China. It would be revived in the 13th century, during the reign of the Yuan dynasty.

John Wycliffe was a 14th-century English Catholic priest and theologian who promoted several ideas which were precursors to many found in the Protestant Reformation. His ideas influenced the Lollards, a group of proto-Protestants largely composed of poor, uneducated individuals who spread Wycliffe’s teachings far and wide, across much of England.

The Dangerous Ideas That Terrified the 14th Century Papacy

Wycliffe believed that the clergy should be poor, from the lowest priest all the way to the Pope.  His writings rail against excesses of wealth and power that the clergy had at the time, to the point that he believed the royalty should take over the church’s property. He also believed in several ideas that would find more traction during the Protestant Reformation, particularly his opposition to transubstantiation (preferring a form of consubstantiation) and that scripture was authoritative over church tradition.  

The Mystery Behind the First English Translation of the Bible

For many years, it was thought that Wycliffe personally worked on translating the Latin Vulgate Bible into Middle English, and the resulting work does bear his name, the Wycliffe Bible.  Considering that Many of his other positions on theological topics tend to coincide with a position to translate the Bible into the language of the commoner, it would not be too outrageous to believe that he contributed directly. However, the level of his involvement is disputed, as there is no direct evidence beyond the inspiration for the concept of vernacular translation.

How the Insulted Mumblers Rose Up to Challenge the Church

The Lollards were a sect, originally led by Wycliffe, that embraced and advanced many of his theological positions. While “Lollard” was intended to be an insulting term that may have meant “mumbler,” Wycliffe’s followers embraced it instead. In 1395, the Lollards presented Parliament with the Twelve Conclusions of the Lollards, which outline their beliefs well: 

“… for the reformation of the Holy Church of England, the which has been blind and leprous many years by the maintenance of the proud prelacy, borne up with flattering of private religion…” 

The Conclusions laid out their complaints regarding the church hierarchy and its practices:

1. The Church of England is too involved in the civic realm “dote in temporality.”
2. Priestly orders as they are have no Biblical basis – not the priesthood which Christ ordained to his Apostles.
3. Celibacy among the clergy encourages sexual sins, “induces sodomy in Holy Church…”
4. Opposition to transubstantiation, which “induces all men but a few to idolatry.”
5. Exorcisms are “necromancy rather than of the holy theology.”
6. Church leaders should not be civic leaders, opposing that “all manner of curates, both high and low, be fully excused of temporal office…”
7. Prayers for the dead are “false grounds of alms deeds,” and do no good for the dead.
8. Pilgrimages and offerings “made to blind roods and deaf images of tree and stone be near kin to idolatry.” 
9. Priests have “a feigned power of absolution,” – here the Conclusions also speak of the Pope’s ability to forgive sin and withholding it, a complaint echoed many years later by Luther when he posts his 95 theses.
10. Opposition to war “without special revelation is express contrary to the New Testament.”
11. Opposition to nuns, preferring they be married as they may be performing abortions to cover up their indiscretions.
12. Encouraging simple adornments, opposing “crafts not needful to men.”

Why the Church Burned Wycliffe’s Bones and Hunted His Followers

In 1381, Wycliffe was removed from his position at Oxford University for heresy after advocating his position on Communion. While before, he could rely on some support of the nobility, his opposition to transubstantiation was beyond what they would allow. While his views were deemed either heretical or erroneous, he was never fully excommunicated.

He died while saying Mass on 28 December 1384, in Lutterworth. His bones were exhumed after his burial, burned, and the ashes thrown into the river. The Lollards, opposed by secular and religious leaders, were persecuted, with some executed eventually for heresy. However, the movement survived, even though it was a significant minority, and became part of the English Reformation, which adopted many of the ideas of Wycliffe and the Lollards.

Often read only for moral guidance or religious authority, the Bible also stands as a sophisticated masterpiece of literature. Its diverse authors used narrative, metaphor, and repetition to convey deep, multilayered meaning. From the poetic structure of Psalms to the allegorical layers of Revelation, biblical texts operate as literary genres as much as doctrinal sources. Understanding the Bible this way illuminates its central influence on Western culture, beyond the confines of churches and councils, and explains how it has shaped our cultural memory over centuries.

The Bible as an Ancient Library

The Bible is not one book of ancient literature. Rather, it is a collected library of 73 books. This means that the Bible has diversity built into its very structure. Such intrinsic diversity creates a dynamic interplay within the biblical literature that some mistake for flaws or contradictions. But it is best viewed as a rich conversation of faith across centuries of time.

This diversity gives the ancient text of the Bible depth and complexity that is increased by its own self-referential elements. The Bible quotes itself, interprets its own events and prophecies, and even holds arguments with itself. Proverbs and Ecclesiastes offer contrasting accounts of wisdom. Job protests while the Psalms praise. Paul and James debate faith and works.

The ancient diversity within biblical literature is a result of the following facts.

• The Bible is written in not one but three ancient languages: classical Hebrew, Aramaic, and Koine or common Greek. But there are allusions to others, including Persian and Latin.
• The 73 books of the Bible were written over many centuries by multiple authors and editors. They came from a range of socio-economic and educational backgrounds, with different literary goals, under pressure from various world empires, spanning three continents (the Middle East, Africa, and Europe).
• The Bible’s themes are expressed through many distinct literary genres: narrative, law, list, chronicle, poetry, liturgy, contemplation, oracle, biography, and letter. For example, the Old Testament Book of Daniel contains both court tales and apocalyptic visions.

Unity in Diversity in the Bible

With all this ancient literary diversity, isn’t there a danger that the Bible will simply lack overarching themes and a core message? There are many scholarly works that trace big picture doctrines like the messiah and redemption from one end of the Bible to the other. But here are two different ways that scholars explain the Bible’s unity-in-diversity.

• Multi-perspectivism— Differences in literary style, language, structure, and theme do not mean contradictions in content. Perhaps the best biblical example of this is in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, which all tell the same story but with differences that enhance the whole and encourage comparative readings. Other examples are parallel histories (Kings and Chronicles) and prophecies (Daniel and Revelation).
• Progressive revelation— Biblical literature does not display its central themes all at once or with equal clarity at every point. They are revealed over time as each new voice and insight builds on the last. This gradual unveiling explains basic biblical divisions, such as that between the Old and the New Testaments, prophecy and fulfilment, Law and Gospel. It is not a progress from error to truth or darkness or to light, but from some information to more.

The Power of Ancient Words

It is not easy to tell with certainty the literacy rates among the people of biblical times, especially in ancient Israel. We do know that there were different leadership classes that were expected to be able to read and write, such as the priests and kings. And we know that words were important to the religion of both testaments. The reading, proclaiming, listening, memorizing, reciting, interpreting, debating, and singing of words was central to the Jewish people then and still is today.

It is also important to understand that for the Hebrew writers, words carried spiritual power. According to Genesis, God used words to speak creation into being, emphasizing the performative power of language. Names of people, places, and events carried meaning and authority. A change in name could mean a change in identity.

The Hebrew term dabar can refer to a word, event, or act, highlighting the link between language and action. And the New Testament authors called Jesus the living Word of God.

The Bible’s Craft of Storytelling

Since biblical words were regarded as possessing divine power, it is not surprising that biblical stories were written to reveal divine meaning. Ancient authors and audiences did not view their stories as mere forms of entertainment. Biblical narratives and stories were highly crafted, employing plot, character development, and irony to convey theological truth.

Biblical parables, like those of Jesus, follow the rules of great storytelling. A crisis leads to a twist, and then a truth emerges. The Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25–37) uses narrative compression and irony to teach moral lessons indirectly. Theological doctrines, like divine justice and mercy, are encoded in literary form. And as with Joseph’s story, the Prodigal Son follows a path of Down-Then-Up redemption, what we now know as the familiar hero’s journey trajectory.

Symbol and Metaphor in the Bible

The emphasis that the biblical religions place on words is one way that they play with symbolism without reducing the text to literal interpretations. Symbols point to something outside themselves to impart a meaning not otherwise possessed. Symbolic language gave biblical writers a way to speak about the unseen realm through the visible world. To read the Bible as literature is to learn this symbolic code and discover how material things reveal spiritual truths.

The Bible overflows with symbols that carry spiritual meaning. Water, fire, bread, and light all tell stories beyond words. For example, when Jesus called himself the “bread of life,” he was not speaking literally. Rather, he was evoking nourishment, daily need, dependence, and sustaining grace. Fire represents both judgement and purification, destruction and holiness. Mountains mark the meeting place between Heaven and Earth. Ancient readers recognized these symbols instantly, just as modern audiences read visual cues in film.

The Strategy of Literary Repetition

Even occasional readers of the Bible will notice the use of repetition. There are names, phrases, and themes that are replicated over many texts. This is not due to lazy writing or a feeble imagination. Rather, it is intended by design to signal important points or to connect parts of the overall story that are separated by time and book. Other ancient texts employ a similar method, although not often on the same scale.

The Bible’s use of literary repetition can occur at a structural or “macro” level. For example, in Genesis, the creation story established a pattern that is repeated across theological cycles: chaos and order, fall and renewal. The Gospel of Matthew structures Jesus’s teachings in five sections, mirroring the five books of Moses (the Torah). This pattern points to Jesus as a new Moses, establishing a new covenant or testament. The thematic repetition creates deep-level resonance rather than redundancy.

The Literary Device of Parallelism

Examples of literary repetition at a “micro” or sentence level are especially visible in the Bible’s poetry. Unlike much of ours, biblical poetry doesn’t rely on rhyme or meter. Instead, it frequently utilizes the technique of parallelism. This is a balance of ideas in which one line restates or contrasts another to develop them both: “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.” Each phrase mirrors and reinforces the preceding thought while creating rhythms for oral recitation.

An example of micro-level repetition is what literary scholars call chiasms or chiasmus. These are a mirrored arrangement of phrases (A–B–B’–A’), which place the key message at the center to emphasize moral or spiritual pivots. They guided listeners through long readings and revealed deeper meaning. When we detect these designs, the Bible’s ancient artistry comes sharply into focus. Like the Bible as a whole, it is neither random nor primitive but composed with a high degree of sophistication.

“The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:27)

“Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20)

The Bible records extraordinary women whose courage and exploits shaped the trajectory of both ancient Israel and the early Christian Church. They served their people as judges, prophets, matriarchs, heroines, and leaders. Yet patriarchal traditions have often overlooked or minimized the roles of women in the Bible, leaving many stories underappreciated. By examining textual details in their historical context, we can recover these women in their literary and spiritual might.

Deborah: Judge and War Chief

Between the time when Israel left slavery in Egypt and the establishment of the monarchy, there was a period when judges ruled the people. These judges acted in a combination of roles, from charismatic heroes (Samson) to religious leaders (Samuel). One of the most incredible judges during this chaotic, intermediate period in Israel’s history was Deborah, who combined many roles in one person, while adding other aspects of her own. Her leadership broke every expectation of her age.

We are told that Deborah commanded Barak to lead Israel’s army against the Canaanites. Her victory song combines historical record, allegory, and theological reflection. Theologically, Deborah demonstrates that authority and leadership are gifts from God, not gendered prerogatives. Artistic depictions highlight her role as both spiritual mother to Israel and military leader, emphasizing divine guidance and human courage.

Here is a list of the different roles held by Deborah in the Book of Judges:

• Magistrate— The Book of Judges tells us that Deborah presided under a palm tree, where she would deliver judgments and settle disputes. Interestingly, there is no comment made in the text to imply that this was considered a strange position for a woman to hold.
• Prophet— Most of the prophets in the Old Testament were men, which is perhaps why the college or guild for the prophetic office later on was called “the sons of the prophets.” However, female prophets—Miriam, Deborah, Huldah, Isaiah’s wife (Isaiah 8:3)—were not uncommon.
• Military commander— When under attack from the Canaanites, Deborah commanded Barak to lead Israel’s army into battle against them. When he hesitated, she led the battle herself, saying that his glory would go to a woman instead.
• Poet— After the defeat of the Canaanites, the Bible records her song of victory, regarded as one of the oldest passages in scripture (Judges 5). It celebrates both divine deliverance and female strength.

Jael: Outsider and Assassin

There is another woman who plays a vital part in the story of Deborah’s victory over the Canaanites. Jabin was the king of Canaan at that time, and the commander of his army was Sisera. They enjoyed numerical and technological superiority over Israel, which perhaps explains Barak’s hesitancy to engage with the Canaanites in a direct military assault. Nevertheless, due to God’s help and Deborah’s presence on the battlefield, the Israelites won a victory, and Sisera fled on foot.

Jael was the wife of Heber the Kenite, a people who were related to Moses by marriage but not by blood. Jael met Sisera, offered him shelter and food, and waited until he was asleep. Then, she “grabbed a tent peg in one hand and a hammer in the other, crept up to him quietly, and drove the tent peg right through his temple into the ground below.” In her victory song, Deborah praised Jael for this act and contrasted Jael’s joy with the grief of a third powerful woman who makes up this story—the grieving mother of Sisera.

Huldah: Prophet and Counselor

Huldah may be the most forgotten of all the women mentioned here. This is surprising given the fact that she held one of the highest honors in ancient Israel and was central to a key event in their history. This event happened when good King Josiah’s servants discovered “the Book of the Law” (possibly the Book of Deuteronomy). They seemed initially unsure of its authenticity or how best to proceed. The king told them to seek God’s guidance. They, in turn, sought Huldah’s judgment.

This brief story in 2 Kings (chapter 22) provides an incredible insight into how deeply women shaped Israel’s faith. A king, a high priest, scribes, and royal courtiers submitted to her prophetic insight and counsel. Her words sparked a reform that impacted the entire nation.

Historically, Huldah reflected the increasing professionalization of prophetic roles in late Judaic culture. Huldah’s forgotten role challenges modern assumptions about ancient roles. Her authority reveals a society that, at times, recognized prophetic power beyond gender.

Ruth: Immigrant and Matriarch

Like the Book of Esther (discussed below), the Book of Ruth could be classified as a novella. It has a self-contained plot that focuses on a single central conflict, with a condensed structure and fast pacing, while allowing for character development and detail. Literary scholars note the novella’s narrative economy: suspense, dialogue, and irony advance both story and theology at the same time. The story influenced later art, including European paintings portraying her gleaning in Boaz’s fields, symbolizing inclusion and divine care.

Ruth was a Moabite by race and a vulnerable widow in social status. She traveled to Bethlehem with her Jewish mother-in-law, Naomi. Having had the chance to return home, Ruth instead heroically declares, “Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.” There, she meets and marries Boaz, her kindly kinsman-redeemer. These events would shape history, as Ruth the Gentile became the great-grandmother of King David and an ancestor of Jesus, included in the Jewish genealogies.

Esther: Beauty Queen and Heroine

The Book of Esther stands unique among biblical books because it is one of two books named after a woman and because it is also one of two books to not mention God (the other being Song of Songs). The story unfolds in the Persian court, prior to the restoration of the Jews to their homeland during the reign of Cyrus the Great. Its story reflects Persian court customs and Jewish diaspora experiences, combining political strategy with divine providence. Literary techniques, including irony, suspense, and reversal of fortune, emphasize the story’s dramatic tension.

Esther was chosen as queen for her beauty. But when she entered the king’s hall uninvited to plead for her people, she risked everything and faced death. Her mix of political acumen and moral courage turned the empire’s wrath into salvation. The festival of Purim still celebrates her victory.

Theological reflections consider Esther a type of savior figure, prefiguring later redemptive narratives, while artistic interpretations often highlight the tension between her vulnerability and valor.

The Women Who Followed Jesus: Witnesses and Leaders

The Gospels mention women who supported Jesus during his ministry. The most obvious examples are those who were named, such as Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Susanna (Luke 8:1–3; 24:1–10), although there were likely many others. These women are not listed among the Twelve Apostles, but between them they funded his mission, participated in Christ’s teaching, and stood by his cross. Textually, Gospel accounts emphasize women’s roles at key narrative moments, often in contrast to male disciples and the social norms of the day.

Perhaps the most prominent and well-known among these women is Mary Magdalene. She was once incorrectly identified as a prostitute and somewhat dismissed by history due to this mistake. But Mary was in fact the first witness to the Resurrection of Jesus, seeing the empty tomb and bringing news of it to his disciples. For this reason, she is sometimes referred to as the “apostle to the apostles.”

Paul’s Forgotten Female Coworkers: Deacons and Apostles

Paul’s letters and Luke’s historical account in Acts mention many women who led in the early Church. Priscilla had a ministry with her husband Aquila. Paul described them as “fellow workers” (Romans 16:3). Together, they taught the eloquent preacher Apollos (Acts 18:26). Lydia, a wealthy merchant, hosted one of the first house churches in Europe (Acts 16). She is often considered the first European convert to Christianity.

Two other examples of lesser-known individuals make the case for women holding official, ordained positions in the early church.

• Junia is described as “outstanding among the apostles” (Romans 16:7). This description challenges the idea that the highest leadership was exclusively male.
• Phoebe was called a diakonos or deacon (Romans 16:1–2) and trusted with delivering epistles.

These women were patrons, missionaries, and elders in all but name. They carried letters and served, preached and taught, possessed gifts and authority, and endured persecution. This demonstrates that from a historical and literary viewpoint, women’s roles in house churches were central to early Christian community life. Their names may have faded over the centuries, and their contributions forgotten. But their stories remain in the text, awaiting rediscovery and reappraisal.

Christians believe that God exists as a Trinity, that is, he is one God who exists as three persons—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Some people question this, insisting that Jesus was not the second person of a Triune Godhead and was, in fact, not divine at all. While it is true that Christ did not state outright that he was God, he revealed it in a number of ways, including through his multiple “I Am” statements.

The Original I AM Declaration

In the third chapter of the Old Testament Book of Exodus, God appears as a burning bush and commissions Moses to go to Egypt to petition the Pharaoh to release the Israelites who are enslaved by him.

The reluctant Moses says to him, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” (Ex. 3:13). God responds, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you” (Ex. 3:14).

From this point forward, Jews saw “I AM” as referring to God, and when Jesus used the title, they understood that he was identifying himself as God.

The phrase God uses of himself is, in Hebrew, “ehyeh asher ehyeh.” The word “ehyeh,” translated as “I am,” is not remarkable when used to describe an activity or relationship. For example, Moses, as a shepherd, might have used it to say, “I am watching my sheep.” He might also have used it to state, “I am Zipporah’s husband.”

However, when the two words are used on their own, it is a statement that describes the self-existence and self-sufficiency of the bearer. It also speaks to God’s eternality as it means that he existed in the past and exists in the present, and will exist in the future forever. And it accounts for the name “Yahweh,” which is used to refer to God as “I AM”— it contains the Hebrew consonants y-h-w-h. The Hebrew language contains no vowels. They were added later to make the word pronounceable.

Jesus Calls Himself I AM

In the eighth chapter of John’s Gospel, the Pharisees demand that Jesus identify himself. He does so by saying, “Before Abraham was, I AM.” It is an audacious claim that might have sounded ludicrous to some bystanders. After all, how could Jesus be older than Abraham, who had lived some 2,000 years before? However, the Pharisees knew exactly what he was saying. By using the name by which God called himself, Christ makes it clear that he is God, a statement considered blasphemous by the Jews. We know this is how the Jewish religious leaders understood it because they reached for rocks with which to stone him to death—the penalty for blasphemy.

Also of note is the fact that, in the Greek language, simply stating “I AM” (ego eimi) is, as scholars have noted, a particularly intense way of referring to oneself. It is as if Jesus had said, “I myself, and only I, am.” Since God said that of himself and Jesus said it of himself, then it follows that Jesus was declaring himself to be God.

Jesus used this title to describe himself later in John’s gospel. In the eighteenth chapter of it, Judas, various Pharisees, and Roman soldiers went to the Garden of Gethsemane to arrest him. When they asked him if he was Jesus of Nazareth, he replied, “I AM.” Some English translations add the word “he” to the end of his statement. This lessens the impact of the statement, a statement that made those in his presence involuntarily draw back and fall to the ground.

The Seven I Am Statements of Jesus

John records seven times when Jesus used “I am” followed by a predicate. All of them point to Christ’s divinity as they hark back to Old Testament descriptions of Yahweh. It is noteworthy that they are often linked to events that back up his assertion, as Jesus does not simply make statements about his deity; he demonstrates it.

It is also noteworthy that these declarations only appear in the Gospel of John and not in Matthew, Mark, or Luke. While they offer biographies of Jesus in the Graeco-Roman style of the day, John does not. He states his purpose in writing his gospel in the 20th chapter, verses 30 and 31, saying, “Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

In other words, John is not interested in portraying all the events of Christ’s time on Earth. He is focused on explaining who Jesus is, expounding on the opening statement of his gospel, which states that “in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God’’ (John 1:1). The I am statements all refer back to and support that assertion.

I Am the Bread of Life (John 6:35)

Jesus makes this statement following the feeding of 5,000 people, in which he took five small loaves of bread and two fish and multiplied them. Now a huge crowd follows him. Jesus knows full well that they are looking for more free food. However, his concern for people extends beyond the physical to the spiritual. “I am the bread of life,” he tells them, “and whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” He encourages them to seek the food that will give them eternal life. In other words, they were to seek him.

The Jews then recall the days of the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt when God sent manna from Heaven to feed them during their 40-year trek in the desert. Jesus contrasts himself with that bread, saying that he is the bread from heaven, as essential to life as the manna that sustained their ancestors. This metaphor speaks to his divinity as God Incarnate, the Savior come to rescue them from sin.

I Am the Light of the World (John 8:12)

Jesus made this statement when the Jews were celebrating the Festival of Tabernacles. The festival included a lighting ceremony in which the Israelites lit a huge candelabra to remind them of God lighting the path of their ancestors during their journey through the wilderness in the aftermath of their freedom from the Egyptians. Here, Jesus attempts to make them understand that he himself is the light that will guide them safely out of a different kind of wilderness, that is, the wilderness of sin and its darkness.

In doing this, Christ alludes to verses in the Book of Isaiah which speak of Yahweh being the light of the world (Isaiah 2:5; 60:1,19,20). Alec Motyer, in his commentary on Isaiah, notes that the word doesn’t just mean that they were bathed in light, but that they were “irradiated, inwardly charged with new outshining life.” Furthermore, the passage promises that not only would Jews experience this, but so, too, would Gentiles. Ultimately, for Jesus to declare that he is the light of the world is tantamount to his asserting that he is God.

I Am the Door (John 10:7)

Shepherds of Christ’s era often enclosed their sheep during long winter nights to protect them from predators such as wolves and lions. They would even sleep in front of the door to these pens for added protection. The shepherd would look at each and every sheep that went into the pen, checking them for injuries of any kind, treating any cut or wound that might become infected.

Jesus refers to himself as the door to the sheep pen just after he has healed a blind man who sees Christ for who he is, unlike the Pharisees, whose spiritual blindness caused them to pick up stones with which to kill Christ, as they know full well that he is calling himself God yet again.

In several passages in the Bible, Yahweh is referred to as the good shepherd, the most well-known being the opening line of the 23rd psalm, which reads, “The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want.” When Jesus calls himself the gate to the sheep pen, he is indicating that he is a shepherd to the people, just as God was to the Israelites back in the day. In other words, he is claiming to be divine. When he says it is the one and only door by which people can enter, he means that he is the one and only door to eternal life in Heaven, a gift that only God can provide.

I Am the Good Shepherd (John 10:11, 14)

Jesus elaborates on his role as the shepherd tending his sheep by stating that he is the good shepherd, which, as noted above, is a statement that describes God. In Ezekiel 34:11-17, we read the Lord’s promise to search for his sheep and look after them, rescuing them from harm, and providing the best grass on which they can be healthy and thrive—as any good shepherd would.

Sheep are particularly vulnerable and helpless and, therefore, are dependent on the shepherd. Jesus points out that a hired hand is unlikely to care for sheep as well as their owner. Christ’s followers are his sheep. They belong to him. Once again, he claims a title, that of the Good Shepherd, which is used of God. And once again, we see from the reaction of the Pharisees that they understood this fact as they picked up rocks with which to stone him.

I Am the Resurrection and the Life (John 11:25)

Jesus declares that he is the resurrection and the life just after raising Lazarus from the dead. He was in Bethabara, a day’s journey away from Bethany, when his good friend died. When a messenger brings him the sad news of the man’s death, he comments that Lazarus is just sleeping and tarries for three days before heading to Bethany.

He is met by one of Lazarus’ sisters, Martha, who says she knows that her brother would not have died if he had been there. Such was her faith in his powers of healing. Jesus assures her that Lazarus will rise again. Again, showing her faith, she replies that she knows that he will rise again in the resurrection of the last day. This is when Jesus states, “I am the resurrection and the life.” He tells the crowd gathered in mourning for Lazarus, “He who believes in me will live, even though he dies, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.”

At this point, Jesus approaches the tomb where Martha’s brother, dead for four days, lies. He calls, “Lazarus, come forth!” And Lazarus does just that. In this manner, Jesus demonstrates the truth of what he has said about being the resurrection and the life. His declaration reflects the verse found in Isaiah 26:19 in which states that, thanks to Yahweh, the bodies of the Israelites, though dead, will rise and live again. In John’s gospel, it is Christ, as God Incarnate, who performs such a resurrection, with the promise of raising more, both Jew and Gentile.

I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6)

On the night before his betrayal and subsequent crucifixion, Jesus tries to prepare his followers for what is to come as they share their Passover meal. He warns them that he will only be with them for a short time longer, telling them that, where he is going, they cannot follow—at least, not immediately. Peter, having no idea what he is talking about, insists that, wherever Christ goes, he will surely go, too. Jesus then starts to talk about Heaven, about how he will prepare a place for them there, that some day they will be able to join him, that they will know the way. Thomas, confused, protests, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” At this point, Jesus responds with “I am the way, the truth and the life.”

It is noteworthy that Jesus does not say that he is A way, but THE way, that is, the only way—the only way to Heaven, to eternal life, to God the Father. Nor does he say he knows a truth or that he represents a truth. He says that he IS the truth, again meaning that he is the one and only truth.

In Psalm 119:142, it states that God’s Law is the truth. Jesus noted, as recorded in Matthew 5:17-20, that he was the fulfillment of the Law, meaning that he met its requirements perfectly, something sinful human beings could not do, and who, therefore, would have been sentenced to spend eternity apart from God, if Christ had not done so on their behalf. In essence, here, Jesus equates himself with the Law, that is, the truth.

Last of all, Jesus states that he is the life. He has just told his disciples that he is going to lay down his life for his sheep, but he assures them that he will take it back again because, as God Incarnate, he has power over life and death. It was through his life that they, too, could and would have life, as he says, “Because I live, you also will live.”

I Am the True Vine (John 15:1)

Christ’s final I am proclamation is part of his encouragement to his disciples following their shock and dismay at the knowledge that he would soon be leaving them. In stating that he is the true vine, he is referring to a passage in the Book of Isaiah where we can see the symbolic importance of the vineyard imagery. In its fifth chapter, we read that the vineyard is Israel and God is the keeper who has planted it, tended it, and protected it with love. However, the Israelites rebel against him and, therefore, the fruit that they bear is wild, corrupt, and useless.

In contrast, Christ’s followers were to stay connected to him, the true vine, to be able to bear good fruit. They are to do so through the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus promises to send to them (Acts 2).

Conclusion

John begins his gospel with a statement about the deity of Jesus Christ. He writes, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” The I Am declarations of Jesus, sprinkled through his book, attest to that fact as they point to his divinity time and time again.

Various pagan mystery religions offer gods who, having died, do not stay dead. While most scholars differentiate their “rebirths” from the resurrection of Jesus, the belief that Christ’s return to life is borrowed from mythology remains popular on the Internet. However, when examined, we can see that they differ both in kind and purpose.

Jesus as a Historical Figure

While historians may disagree over Christ’s identity as the Second Person of the Triune Godhead and his divinity, the majority of them agree that Jesus was a real person who existed in the 1st century AD. However, the same cannot be said of the various gods from the many pagan religions practiced at that time. Whether it’s the Egyptian Osiris, the Phoenician Melqart, or the Greek Adonis, there is no evidence that such characters actually existed.

In fact, while the gospels give us a clear picture of who Jesus was and what he did during his life on Earth, information about pagan religions is scarce and confusing. Historians have to cobble bits and pieces of material together to arrive at uncertain conclusions.

One reason for the lack of solid information about pagan deities lies in the fact that, as mystery religions, their adherents kept their practices secret, allowing only members of each cult to engage in them with the proviso that they kept their rituals to themselves.

The Golden Bough

In 1896, J.G. Frazer published The Golden Bough, which was one of the first attempts to seriously compare Christ and the dying and rising gods of pagan mystery religions. He surmised that, at the center of every religion, was the idea of a god who was killed and then rose to reign again, a cycle repeated over and over again with the change of seasons. These gods were, therefore, tied in with agriculture. While they spent the winter in a dead state, they would supposedly arise in the spring as grain, for example. Such gods include the Egyptian Osiris and Dionysus, the Greek god of fertility and winemaking. However, their rebirths differ greatly from the resurrection of Jesus, who died only once and rose only once, to atone for the sins of humanity, and not in the form of an agricultural crop.

While pagan gods were mourned because of their demise, there is only triumph in the death and resurrection of Jesus. Pagan gods did not choose to die, unlike Christ, who made a point of stating that nobody took his life. Rather, he chose to give it as recorded in John 10:18: “No one takes [my life] from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again.”

Definition of Resurrection

When Christians speak of resurrection, they refer to a physical body that dies and is then transformed into a glorified one. It is the same body, but it is raised to be, as the apostle Paul put it in the 15th chapter of his first letter to the Corinthians, “imperishable” and “incorruptible.” In other words, this new body will never get sick, never age, and never die again, as the mortal flesh has become immortal.

Paul explains that it is the same kind of body that the resurrected Christ had, a body that is not merely spiritual, as some suggest, but corporeal. We know this from Jesus’s appearance to the disciples in the Upper Room as he says to them, “See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself; touch me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have” (Luke 24:39).

The purpose of Christ’s death and resurrection is unique in that he died to atone for the sins of humanity and rose from the dead to defeat death itself and provide eternal life for all who accept it in faith, making Christianity a universal religion. None of the localized pagan gods claims anything similar.

Additionally, upon examination, it is clear that Christianity did not borrow its dying and rising god from other religions, as much of the information we have about them dates well after the first century AD. In fact, when we take a look at what the Bible has to say about the uniqueness of Jesus, we see it in the reaction of the philosophers with whom Paul speaks at the marketplace in Athens.

When he tells them about the death and resurrection of Christ, they remark on the “new teaching” that he had presented to them and wanted to know who this “foreign” god about whom he preached was, saying, “You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we would like to know what they mean” (Acts 17:20).

Definition of Reincarnation

Reincarnation, also called rebirth, is not the same as resurrection. To be reincarnated is to be reborn in a new, different body, and not necessarily a human one. A person can, supposedly, return to life as an animal or even an insect. Whether one achieves a better life or a poorer one upon being reincarnated depends on how well one has conducted one’s life. The belief in it stems from Eastern religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism. Reincarnation offers a seemingly never-ending cycle of birth and reincarnation, birth and reincarnation, birth and reincarnation, over and over and over again.

Definition of Resuscitation

Resuscitation can also be called reanimation or revivification. It involves raising a person into life in the old body that had died. This body would still be prone to sickness, would age, and, ultimately, would die again at some point. We see examples of this in the case of Lazarus, whom Christ raised from the dead (John 11:41-44). Other instances include the son of the widow of Nain (Luke 7:14, 15) and Jairus’s daughter (Luke 8:52-55), both brought back to life by Jesus.

Adonis the Beautiful Youth

Like most myths, the story of Adonis appears in several versions. In one, Artemis, the goddess of the hunt, had the young man killed by a wild boar. Aphrodite (known as Venus by the Romans), the Greek goddess of love, beauty, pleasure, and procreation, pleaded with the great god Zeus to bring him back to life. Zeus apparently did, although we are not told how, and Adonis then spent half the year in the Underworld and half with Aphrodite.

As with so many pagan gods, Adonis was tied in with the cycle of the season, dying in winter, but coming back to life in the spring. His followers held festivals in his name to encourage his blessing of plenty of rain and successful crops.

Apis and the Cycle of the Bull

Depicted as a bull with a solar disc and a serpent between its horns, Apis was supposedly the incarnation of the god Ptah, and was highly venerated in Egypt. Priests selected a bull for worship based on its physical markings. It had to be black with a white triangular marking on its forehead as well as a white marking on its back that looked like the wings of a hawk, a white crescent on its side, and a lump under its tongue that resembled a scarab.

If, after 25 years, the bull was still alive, the priests would kill it. The followers of Apis believed that, in death, the animal merged with Osiris, the god of the Underworld, and rebirth, becoming Osirapis. The priests would find a new calf with the requisite markings as the next incarnation of Ptah, in which the eternal spirit of the previous bull would live on.

For the Egyptians, the death of the bull and the rebirth of the spirit in another bovine symbolized their own death and renewal as they saw the afterlife as a continuation of existence, only on a different plane.

Attis, God of Vegetation

Attis was a vegetation god, a product of Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey). He was, apparently, comely in appearance. Agdistis, originally a hermaphrodite who accidentally castrated himself, became Cybele and fell in love with Attis. At the wedding of Attis to the daughter of a king, Cybele appeared and, somehow, in the midst of it all, Attis went mad, castrated himself, and bled to death under a pine tree.

There are multiple versions of Attis’s life and death, but all include the element of castration and, somehow, out of all of it, came the idea that Attis was resurrected at springtime, thereby symbolizing the return of life to the Earth. Worship of him was supposedly to ensure good crops for his followers. While Attis is considered a dying and rising god, information about just how his rebirth came about is unclear.

Dionysus, God of Fertility, Wine, and Much More

There are multiple versions of how Dionysus, the god of wine, winemaking, grape cultivation, fertility, ritual madness, theater, and religious ecstasy, came to die and was resurrected. One story has the Titans killing him and ripping him apart as an infant. His heart is saved, and Semele makes a potion of it and drinks it. Then one of her lovers begets Dionysus, to whom she gives birth.

A second version of the tale suggests that Semele is incinerated in the presence of Zeus, who saved Dionysus by ripping him from her womb before she burned to ashes. He then sewed the baby into his thigh, where he grew to manhood, at which point Zeus “gave birth” to him.

Another version suggests that Zeus swallowed the beating heart of the infant upon his dismemberment by the Titans and then gave birth to the baby through his thigh. And yet another telling of the myth suggests that Zeus put the full-grown Dionysus back together again, rather like Humpty Dumpty, only with greater success, following a battle in which Dionysus was hacked to pieces.

Melqart, God of Tyre

Melqart was particularly popular in the Phoenician city of Tyre, where he was called the King of Tyre. The Greeks referred to him as Herakles or Hercules. As with other pagan deities, there are many versions of his life, death, and rebirth. In the Roman version, he set himself on fire to burn away the human parts of him, but died in the process. Another version says the monster Typhon killed him.

As to his rising from the dead, we have no information about the process, but his followers held an awakening festival each spring to re-enact his supposed rebirth. They made sacrifices of both animals and humans to him. As with the other pagan dying and rising gods, he was tied to the people’s agricultural activities, and his death and rebirth were cyclical according to the seasons.

Osiris, God of the Underworld

According to one version of this myth, Set (also called Seth), the brother of Osiris, kills and dismembers him, flinging the various parts throughout Egypt. His wife, Isis, gathers the bits of him and puts them back together magically.

Another variation suggests that Isis buried all the pieces of him except his phallus, the saving of which supposedly represents his rebirth. Either way, Osiris could not return to life on Earth, but became the king of the Underworld. While he was the god of the dead, he also represented a life-giving fertility god, linked with the cycle of the seasonal “rebirths and deaths.”

Persephone, Queen of the Underworld

Hades, king of the Underworld, kidnapped Persephone while she was picking flowers and took her to his domain. Because her mother, Demeter, became distraught over the loss of her daughter, she neglected her role as a goddess of vegetation, and a drought ensued. In response, Zeus ordered Hades to return Persephone to her mother.

If someone ate or drank anything in the netherworld, that person could not return to life. Unfortunately, Persephone ate six pomegranate seeds, which precluded her from returning to her mother full-time. She could only spend six months with Demeter and had to return to Hades for six months of the year—the winter months, of course, when the earth lay dormant. Once again, we see the “dying and rising” of a god connected to the changes of season and planting, and harvesting.

Conclusion

While pagan myths offer dying and rising gods, it is clear that their so-called rebirths are not the same as the resurrection of Jesus. Any resemblance is superficial while the differences are profound.

Thomism (the philosophical system founded by Thomas Aquinas) is intended to be an interrelated web of complementary concepts and arguments, akin to overlapping layers of a flower’s petals, which can only be appreciated by contemplating all its imbricated structures. Asking the question “Does God know evil?” occasions asking what evil is, what its cause is, what reasons God has for permitting it, what role it plays in providence, and what its consequences are.

Here, the first question is addressed.

Evil as Privation

How does Thomas Aquinas conceive of evil? He holds that evil is not a “thing”— a doctrine known as privatio boni (Latin for “privation of the good”), which dates back at least to Augustine of Hippo. All created essences possess being and contain, qua essences, no defect, and are good in that they bear a likeness to the being of God. In this way, the order of beings excludes evil from its essential nature. Put differently, God doesn’t directly create any evil thing. 

However, God has morally sufficient reasons for permitting corruption and privation in that created order (reasons we cannot detail here) through the agency of secondary causes—those creatures endowed by the Creator with the capacity to be their own causes, whether through natural laws or through the powers of voluntary action. The first grouping corresponds to the world of the physical sciences; the second refers to the spheres of moral interaction that we will into existence. 

Thomas Aquinas generally defines evil as “the privation of that which is connatural and due to a thing” (Book III, Ch. 7, Summa contra Gentiles). It consists either in a defect in the apprehension of good, in the case of moral evil, or in a deficient cause within the physical order of things, pertaining to one or more of the four Aristotelian causes. For example, a person limps, Aquinas says, only on account of some defect or “crookedness in the tibia” that hinders their power to walk (Book III, Ch. 10, Summa contra Gentiles). Moral evil, having to do with a failing in our powers to act, arises due to a misperception of the ends towards which we ought to be directed, whether misguided by our will or reason. 

In this way, evil always parasitizes what is good—it lives by living on what is good. It exists exploitatively, through some mal-achievement or some misconception. 

How God Knows Evil Exists Without Creating It

Some might think that God cannot know evil, since He knows only Himself, who is the sovereign good; and further, can neither tolerate the company of evil nor turn away from His own essence. Similarly, one might think that it would be beneath Him to contemplate ignoble things, such as the forms of mud, filth, or hair, let alone think eternally about every seemingly trivial detail or fact, such as an infinite number of tautologies or logical equivalences, or sets of endless and meaningless combinations of letters or words. 

One rebuttal Aquinas issues in response is that God must know even those things we might consider lowly since the order of the universe is nobler than any of its parts, which follows if the parts are directed toward the good of the whole. Thus, if God knew only the parts we consider dignified to the exclusion of the rest, it would render His knowledge less noble, not more so. Further, God knows all these things because he pours Himself out into all things as their Creator and First Cause.

Thomas Aquinas maintains that God knows evil things by virtue of His omniscience. He also knows particular evils in the world, and how they work to providentially fulfill His plan. However, only the first aspect will be discussed below. 

• That evil is evil and opposed to good is true, which an omniscient God would know to be true, implying that God knows evil. 
• God perfectly knows the form, that is, the perfection due to every created thing. Evil is the lack or absence of perfection due to a thing. To know the form of a thing perfectly is to know what it would look like if that form were somehow lacking in it. Thus, by knowing the form of things, or by knowing the complete reality of the good in things, he knows evil; 
• God creates both form and matter. Matter can actualize either toward what is not (privation) or toward what is (form), and God perfectly knows every possible state in the universe pertaining to material potentiality, being its Creator. As already said, Aquinas understands natural evil to arise when privation occurs within material potentiality. So, God would know evil;   
• In fashioning the universe, God arranged every part to work together for the perfection of the whole. This would require knowing how the parts would ward off specific types of harm. God thus possessed knowledge of evils in the context of how certain things were designed to remove them. 

These arguments are only part of the larger story of Thomism, and here we have barely begun to investigate a single petal of the flower mentioned earlier. Many questions remain unresolved, but perhaps that is not why they are important. His arguments unceasingly prompt further reflection on the divine nature, and his works are in that regard nearly unparalleled.

The number seven has great significance in scripture. It speaks of completion, as when God created the earth in six days and rested on the seventh. We see it in the Lord’s order to Joshua and the Israelites to march around the walls of Jericho once a day for seven days. On the last day, he commanded them to march around the city seven times more, at which point seven priests blew seven trumpets, and the walls of the city fell. In light of this, scholars suggest that the seven sayings of Jesus Christ represent a divine completion of sorts.

The History of Crucifixion

While scholars believe that the ancient Assyrians initiated the practice by impaling their enemies, the first historical record of a crucifixion dates to the 6th century BC, when King Darius I of Persia crucified 3,000 rebels. Other nationalities, including the Carthaginians, Seleucids, and, of course, the Romans, employed it as a means of capital punishment. The practice only ended when Constantine the Great abolished it in the 4th century AD.

Crucifixion represented the worst torture that could be inflicted on a human being. It began with a severe beating of the victim, almost to the point of death. Then the culprit was forced to carry the large wooden crossbeam to the site of the crucifixion in front of crowds of people who vilified him as he struggled along.

Criminals were stripped naked. Their executioners nailed them to the cross, arms outstretched, using spikes hammered through their wrists to cause excruciating pain. The soldiers would then hoist the crossbeam up to a post that remained in place between executions. At this point, they would drive nails through the middle and arch of each foot of the victim.

With the arms stretched out, it was hard for the sufferer to breathe. He had to push himself up with his feet, gasping for air, only to slump down again. When the victim was no longer able to repeat this action, he would die of asphyxiation. Dehydration and blood loss also played a role in the deaths of those crucified.

The Theological Significance of Christ’s Crucifixion

When Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden, sin entered the world, and humankind became estranged from God. To atone for their sins, people sacrificed animals. However, these sacrifices had to be repeated and did not remove sin, only covered it.

It would take a sinless man to atone for the sins of humanity, but human beings were born with sinful natures that they could not eradicate themselves. It would take the human counterpart of an unblemished lamb to atone for humanity’s sins. That was Jesus who, being God, was sinless, and being man, could pay the debt on our behalf.

Where Was Christ Crucified?

All of the Gospel writers tell us that Jesus was crucified at Golgotha, an Aramaic word that means “the place of the skull” (Matthew 27:39; Mark 15:22; Luke 23:33; John 19:17), suggesting that the hill on which the cross was placed was shaped like a head. Scholars are not sure exactly where that location is today. Certainly, it was outside of the gates of the ancient city of Jerusalem for the simple reason that Jews would not allow any impurity within its walls because it was God’s Holy City. John tells us in his gospel that it was “near the city” (John 19:20) while Mark states that you could see the location “from a distance” (15:40). Matthew and Mark both tell us that the spot was accessible to passers-by (Matthew 27:39; Mark 15:29).

The Romans purposely placed the crosses at sites that could easily be seen and where people could gather to watch men suffer and die. They hoped to deter people from breaking their laws or fomenting rebellion by showing them just how brutal Roman punishment could be.

Today, visitors to Jerusalem can explore two possible sites for the Crucifixion. One is within the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which is located in the Christian Quarter of the ancient city. Historian Eusebius, writing in the 4th century AD, places it there. While it is within the city today, the site was probably outside its walls at the time of Jesus’s crucifixion. Some scholars believe that it is the site of Christ’s burial tomb as well.

In the late 19th century, British Major-General Charles Gordon trumpeted another site, a skull-shaped hill outside the north wall of Jerusalem, near the Garden Tomb, which he believed to be the location of the burial site of Jesus. The place now bears his name, being called Gordon’s Calvary. However, no one can be totally sure that either place was the location of the crucifixion simply because Jerusalem has changed greatly over the centuries.

Father, Forgive Them, For They Don’t Know What They Are Doing (Luke 23:34)

The Pharisees wanted to get rid of Jesus for a variety of reasons. They regarded his claim to be God blasphemous (Matthew 9:3; John 10:30-33). He socialized with tax collectors and sinners (Matthew 9:10, 11; Mark 2:15, 16). He challenged their teaching that righteousness came to those Jews who kept the Law (Matthew 5:20). And many people were following him rather than them, which jeopardized their positions, their power, and even their place in Roman society (John 11:48).

A man being crucified was expected to confess his wrongdoings. Here, Jesus confesses the wrongdoings of those responsible for his death, from the soldiers who whipped him, spat on him, and pounded the nails into his wrists to the Pharisees and other Jewish leaders who conspired to have him executed. He notes that they have no idea that they are killing the Son of God and, for this reason, he does not want God to hold their actions against them. He came to Earth preaching forgiveness, and he lives out that message as he is dying, thinking of others even as he is suffering and in great pain.

Truly, Today You Will Be With Me in Paradise (Luke 23:43)

Some scholars suggest that there may have been more than three crosses on Golgotha, but the Gospels only speak of Jesus and two criminals, one hanging on each side of him. One of them speaks derisively of him, joining in the taunting of the soldiers, the Jewish leaders, and various other observers. All of them hurl insults at him and mock him, saying, “If you’re the king of the Jews, if you’re the Messiah, then save yourself.”

But the thief on the other cross rebukes his fellow criminal. “Don’t you fear God,” he says, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong” (Luke 23:40, 41).

The repentant thief then asks Jesus to remember him when Christ “comes into his kingdom” (Luke 23:42), to which Jesus responds, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Even from the cross, Jesus is telling people how they might be saved, through sincere confession, repentance, and faith in his ability to give them eternal life.

Woman, Here is Your Son (John 19:26)

Some paintings depict Jesus high up on a cross. However, records show that the corpses were left on the crosses for wild animals to eat. This suggests that they were fairly close to the ground. Christ was certainly within speaking range as he called out to his mother, Mary, and his disciple, John.

It is likely that Mary’s husband, Joseph, who was somewhat older than she, had passed away by this time. A dying son had the responsibility of finding someone to look after his mother. Therefore, it is not surprising that Jesus made arrangements, even from the cross, to ensure that his mother would be taken care of. To her, he said, “Woman, here is your son,” and to his disciple, John, he said, “Here is your mother.” We read that John took Mary into his home from that day on.

Some may question why Jesus did not leave his mother in the care of one of his half-brothers. However, at that point, none of them believed that he was the Messiah, the Son of God, and God Incarnate. Only after Christ’s resurrection did they realize it, at which point his brother James became a key member in the early Church and authored the New Testament book that bears his name. And historians suspect that John was actually Jesus’s cousin, his mother, Mary, being the sister of John’s mother, Salome. However, whether a blood relative or not, he was a spiritual brother to Jesus.

Of note here is the way Jesus addresses his mother as “woman.” He does so in the story of the wedding in Cana as well, when she suggests he do something about the shortage of wine. To modern readers, it may sound abrupt and even harsh. However, it was a term of respect and affection in that culture. The New Living Translation of the Bible translates it as “dear woman” to reflect this.

My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me? (Matthew 27:46)

Jesus uttered what theologians call his “cry of dereliction” at the ninth hour, that is, at three o’clock in the afternoon, which was the hour of prayer designated by the Jews (Acts 3:1). This statement is just one of the many references to Christ’s crucifixion found in Psalm 22, a messianic text that scholars believe predicted the event. In fact, the psalm has been nicknamed the fifth gospel account of the crucifixion. The words, “My, God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” are found in its first verse.

Did God really abandon Jesus, or did he just feel as if his heavenly father did? The reality is that God did indeed desert him. Two verses from two of Paul’s letters explain why:

“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole’” (Ga. 3:13).

In other words, Christ, who was sinless, took all of the sins of humanity upon himself on the cross. Sin separates the sinner from God, and so, momentarily, Jesus was cut off from his heavenly Father.

I Am Thirsty (John 19:28)

Jesus, knowing that the end is near, requests a drink. It is unlikely that he had had fluids of any kind since the Last Supper that he shared with his disciples some 18 hours before. Therefore, he was probably dehydrated and, anticipating that he was about to declare the end of his ordeal, he needed moisture to lubricate his throat and tongue.

The statement fulfills the prophecy in Psalm 69:21 which reads, “They put gall in my food and gave me vinegar for my thirst” as well as verse 15 of Psalm 22, that states, “My mouth is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death” which John mentions earlier in this chapter.

In response to Christ’s request for something to quench his thirst, a soldier in attendance soaked a sponge in cheap wine vinegar, put it on a stalk of a hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’s lips.

Notably, hyssop branches were used to mark the houses of the enslaved Israelites with the blood of a sacrificed lamb in Egypt when the angel of death came to destroy all firstborn sons of their captors. Here, on the cross, Jesus represents that lamb, whose shed blood would ensure that the angel of death did not come near his followers, then and now.

It Is Finished (John 19:30)

In Greek, the sentence “it is finished” is encapsulated in one word—tetelestai. It is an accounting term that literally means “paid in full.” It refers to the fact that Christ’s death paid the sin debt that humanity owed to the God who had created them and against whom they had rebelled. The apostle Paul, in his second letter to the Corinthians, explains it this way:

“All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them” (2 Corinthians 5:18-19).

The verb tense is perfect, which means that, while it states an event in the past, it focuses on the present consequence of the activity. In other words, Jesus’s life and ministry on Earth had come to an end, but the effects of his work on the cross go far beyond that.

Father, Into Your Hands I Commit My Spirit (Luke 23:46)

Noticeably, Jesus calls God “Father,” as he did in his first words on the cross. The separation between them is over. The intimacy has returned. Once again, we look to a psalm for its original expression. In this case, it’s Psalm 31, verse 5. It’s a plea for deliverance from one’s foes in the face of death. The phrase “hands of God” denotes the incomparable omnipotence of God. Jesus voluntarily commits his soul to hands that will, ultimately, deliver him from death itself.

It is interesting to note that the gospel-writers do not use the word “die” when referring to Christ’s demise. Scholars suggest the word is too pedestrian to describe the event. Luke and Mark say that he breathed his last (Luke 23:46 b; Mark 37, 39), with some translations using “expired” to note his passing. However, Matthew and John emphasize the fact that Jesus chose the moment to let go of life, saying that he yielded or gave up his spirit, an action of his own accord.

The Symbol of the Cross

For the Christian, the cross symbolizes the victory that Christ had over sin and death as he atoned for the iniquities of humanity. As such, it became a popular subject of art down through the centuries, in paintings and sculptures, and also in the form of jewelry. Interestingly, the Roman Catholic Church often presents crucifixes with the figure of Christ on them as its adherents recall the agony he went through to give people eternal life with God, while Protestants prefer an empty cross as it speaks to his glorious resurrection and conquest of death.

Few literary works have stirred as much fascination as the biblical Book of Revelation. Written by John on the Isle of Patmos in the late 1st century AD, it combines vivid visions, cosmic imagery, and cryptic metaphors. Though often read as a prediction, Revelation also functions as a literary and theological masterpiece of apocalyptic imagination. It speaks to believers under persecution, offering both warning and hope. Understanding its genre, structure, and symbols reveals how Revelation transcends a single moment to become a timeless meditation on evil, hope, and divine justice.

The World of the Book of Revelation

It is impossible to begin to understand the Book of Revelation without knowing who wrote it and under what conditions. The author of Revelation was supposedly the John who is often called “the Beloved Disciple.” He was one of the original twelve disciples of Jesus, along with his brother James. Tradition has it that he was the youngest disciple and the only one to die of natural causes, outliving the others. It is likely that when he wrote Revelation, the last New Testament book, he was the only apostle left alive.

According to tradition, John wrote Revelation while exiled on the island of Patmos, a Greek island in the Aegean Sea. John was banished there by the Roman authorities during the persecutions under Emperor Domitian. John says he was exiled “for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.” Banishment was a common punishment used during the Imperial Period for a number of offenses, such as prophecy and preaching, which the Romans viewed as a political threat.

So, the context of Revelation was one of crisis in which early Christians faced suspicion and sometimes violence as they lived under Roman rule. The empire demanded loyalty, but their faith demanded defiance, since they placed King Jesus above any emperor. Revelation used coded language to give believers hope without agitating open rebellion or further persecution. It gave comforting words to the sufferers, promising that empires rise and fall, but their truth would triumph forever.

The Meaning of Apocalypse in the Ancient World

When we hear the word apocalypse, we tend to think of the end of the world, or at least, of some terrible disaster. But in the ancient world, an apocalypse wasn’t about destruction at all. The literal meaning of the Greek word apokalypsis is unveiling or revealing. It refers to a literary genre that flourished between 200 BCE and 200 CE, in periods of Jewish and Christian persecution. Apocalyptic literature, such as Daniel, 1 Enoch, and 2 Esdras, interpreted history through divine visions.

Jewish and early Christian writers used vivid images to reveal hidden, spiritual realities that gave them hope under oppression. For example:

• Fire, mountains, and stars symbolized powers beyond human control
• Beasts, horns, and Babylon symbolized imperial oppression

Apocalyptic writing didn’t predict exact events. Rather, it provided coded protest and hope by dramatizing the cosmic struggle between good and evil. So, for readers in the 1st century, who were enduring exile and martyrdom, Revelation wasn’t a horror story. It was the apocalyptic genre reworked through Christian theology to give them reassurance. It told them that history had meaning, angels were for them, and their faith would survive when the world seemed lost.

The Structure and Symbols of Revelation

The structure of Revelation is not as random or chaotic as it might first appear. It is a carefully composed story about the world’s moral order. The book is built around a series of cyclical visions rather than a single, linear timeline. Each cycle presents a different symbolic perspective on the same event: the conflict between divine and demonic powers. Repetition and layering are used to retell this same end-time conflict from new angles. Each conflict is preceded by a vision of divine order, followed by rebellion. After the conflict comes a judgment, which brings resolution and restoration.

The structure of Revelation is mirrored in its dense use of symbols that operate on multiple levels. Revelation frequently uses symbols in numerical patterns of sevens, fours, and twelves to amplify their significance and create expectation. The dragon (Satan), beasts (empires), and lamb (Christ) function as theological archetypes. Other symbols, such as the Four Horsemen, have created archetypes. This symbolism transforms a historical event into a cosmic drama with spiritual and moral implications that transcend the limits of authorial context.

The Theology of Revelation

Revelation’s theology centers on divine justice. Judgment scenes, such as the opening of the seals or the pouring of the bowls, symbolize the moral consequences of human rebellion. Yet it is not a judgment without redemption, and after punishment comes renewal. The “New Jerusalem” (Rev 21) embodies reconciliation between God and humanity. Theologically, Revelation unites justice with mercy, so that evil has limits and suffering has meaning within divine providence, offering hope to the faithful.

Another way to divide the theology of Revelation is between God’s sovereignty in Heaven and moral conflict in human history. This twofold message mirrors Revelation’s rhythm between a heavenly vision and an earthly struggle:

• Theocentric themes on the vertical dimension. The heavenly order of who God is and the victory Christ has accomplished.
• Anthropological themes on the horizontal dimension. The earthly drama of who we will serve and how we will respond.

Revelation unites these two planes to show that what happens as earthly history participates in heavenly triumph. However, some Christian thinkers like Augustine and Aquinas later interpreted Revelation as a cosmic allegory of the soul’s journey toward God.

Interpreting Revelation Through the Centuries

Revelation has never had only one meaning. The book’s symbolism has left it open to multiple interpretations and misinterpretations. One common tendency is for readers to interpret it in terms of their own times. Early Christians saw it as a promise of deliverance from Rome. Reformers linked the beast and the antichrist to the Papacy. Modern movements link it to global politics and environmental disaster. Another tendency is to seek in its pages a secret code to predict the future.

Here are four of the main interpretative frameworks that scholars have used to approach Revelation.

• Preterist interpretation— This is a past-focused approach that believes Revelation is describing events that were happening or soon to happen in the first century, particularly in relation to the Roman Empire and early Christian persecution.
• Futurist interpretation— This is a future-focused view that thinks Revelation predicts events that will occur at the end of all human history, including the rise of the Antichrist, the rapture and tribulation, the Second Coming of Christ, and the final judgment.
• Historicist interpretation— This sees Revelation as applying to all of Church history in a continuous sense, from John’s time until the end times, using symbols that represent successive historical events, empires, or religious movements.
• Idealist interpretation— This gives a spiritual or moral reading of Revelation, with symbols that are timeless, illustrating the ongoing struggle between good and evil, faithfulness and rebellion in a way that is not tied to specific events.

Revelation as Songbook

Revelation is more than a book to read and interpret. Hymns and doxologies appear throughout it, and worship frames almost every section. “Holy, holy, holy” (Rev 4:8) and “Worthy is the Lamb” (Rev 5:12) echo liturgical worship. These passages draw from temple ritual, the Book of Psalms, and prophetic poetry. This means the book itself functions partly as a heavenly hymnal, merging prophecy and worship. In contrast to the false worship demanded by the Beast, heavenly worship reveals the true order of reality. According to Revelation, to worship God alone is to see reality rightly. Worship is both resistance and revelation.

Early Christian worship adopted Revelation’s imagery, influencing chants and hymns. Ambrose of Milan (4th century) drew on Revelation’s imagery in hymn-writing, creating metrical hymns emphasizing the victory of Christ (e.g., Veni Redemptor Gentium). Medieval mystery plays and Gregorian chants were influenced by Revelation. Later musical works like Handel’s Messiah or Bach’s cantatas and chorales draw directly from the Revelation’s words. Revelation became both text and template for Christian doxology.

Revelation’s Legacy Today

Today, Revelation shapes pop culture as much as it does theology. Films, novels, and music borrow their imagery from the Four Horsemen to the Battle of Armageddon. The language of apocalypse defines how we picture global crisis and renewal. Films with end-times themes (The Omen, The Day After Tomorrow, and Left Behind) as well as horror themes (The Exorcist, Constantine), draw heavily from Revelation, as do novels like The Stand and Good Omens.

Modern readers can easily forget its ancient purpose. It wasn’t written to terrify, entertain, or prognosticate. It was written by a man in a definite situation and context, but to strengthen others who were experiencing the same suffering. Revelation’s final words, “Come, Lord Jesus,” remain a call to hope. Beyond beasts and horsemen, it’s a story of faith enduring through fear, light through darkness, and the belief that endings are also new beginnings.

The Bible has been the best-selling and most widely distributed book in the world for centuries. Therefore, it is no surprise that so many of its sayings have entered the English language. However, many people are unaware of their origins in scripture. Here are twelve of the most common sayings from the Bible:

1. Going the Extra Mile (Matthew 5:41)

We understand that, when we do something beyond what we need to do, we are going the extra mile. The phrase comes from Matthew’s Gospel, in verse 41 of his fifth chapter. Jesus states, “If someone forces you to go a mile, go with them two miles.”

At that time, if a Roman soldier encountered a Jewish man while walking, he could force the fellow to put down his own belongings and carry those of the soldier in whatever direction the military man was going. However, the law dictated that this could only be for one mile, at which time the Jew would be relieved of the burden and could go his own way.

Christ’s words must have seemed unbelievable and even laughable to his listeners, as they could not imagine going another mile when they did not have to. On the soldier’s part, if he was caught with a Jew carrying his gear more than a mile, he would be penalized. Basically, the instruction called for the Jewish man to take the high road, an idiom that does not come from the Bible!

2. You’re Putting Words in My Mouth (Isaiah 51:16)

When someone misinterprets and misrepresents what we have said, we accuse them of putting words in our mouths, words we never uttered and never meant. The phrase is found in several Old Testament passages:

In Deuteronomy 18:18, God promises to raise a prophet and “put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him.”

In Isaiah 59:21, God states, “My Spirit that is upon you, and my words that I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth.”

In Jeremiah, we read, “Then the LORD reached out His hand and touched my mouth and said to me: ‘Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.'”

The job of a prophet was to deliver the messages of God to the Israelites. Putting words in their mouths was a poetic way of saying that the LORD told them what to say. Therefore, from the Bible’s perspective, this was a good thing. However, today, we see it as bad because it implies dishonesty and deceit on the part of the one who has altered what we said.

3. A Leopard Never Changes Its Spots (Jeremiah 13:23)

We use this phrase to indicate that a person will never change, that his or her character will remain fixed. Therefore, if a man is a liar, he will always be a liar. If a woman is a cheat, she will always be a cheat. The statement comes from the Old Testament book of Jeremiah. In it, the prophet Jeremiah states that an evil person will stay evil forever. ‘“Can an Ethiopian change his skin or a leopard its spots?” he says. “Neither can you do good who are accustomed to doing evil”’ (Jeremiah 13:23). He is talking about those Israelites who constantly disobeyed God and refused to follow his will, which led to his judgment of them through exile and hardship in Babylonia.

4. She’s the Apple of His Eye (Deuteronomy 32:10 and Psalm 17:8)

This phrase is found in Deuteronomy 32:10 and Psalm 17:8. In the former, God declared that the nation of Israel was the apple of his eye, meaning that he cherished the Israelites and would take care of them and protect them. David, who God chose to be king of Israel, used the phrase in his psalm as he petitioned his heavenly father for safety and protection in the face of his enemies. “Keep me as the apple of your eye,” he says.

As to how and why the phrase arose, the Hebrew word translated as “apple” is actually the word for the pupil of the eye, and some versions of the Bible, such as the Christian Standard Bible (CSB) and the New English Translation (NET), translate it as such. However, older translations such as the King James Version (KJV) retain the idiom. It refers to the tiny reflection of oneself that can be seen in another person’s eye. In other words, God, looking at the people he created and loved, could see his own reflection in them as they were made in his image.

5. We All Have Our Cross to Bear (Luke 14:27)

The Romans sentenced Christ to death by crucifixion. Criminals were made to carry their own crosses to the site of their execution, and all four of the Gospels relate that Jesus did this. The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, however, record that the Roman soldiers coerced a man in the crowd, Simon from Cyrene, to help Jesus when he stumbled and could not go on.

Today, people use the phrase to describe a burden with which they are saddled. It could be anything from a chronic illness to a difficult relationship or loss of a loved one to ongoing financial or job-related woes.

However, looking at the statement from a Biblical perspective, the cross that Christians have to bear is the challenge of following the Lord in obedience. They do this in imitation of Jesus, who obeyed God in going to the cross to atone for the sins of humanity. Just as Christ said to God the Father, “Your will, not mine,” so must Christians say that as well. The all-importance of this is summed up by Jesus, who said, “Whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:27).

6. The Blind Leading the Blind (Matthew 15:14)

We use the statement today to describe someone who is foolish, ignorant, or incompetent, leading other people who are also foolish, ignorant, and incompetent. And this is what the Biblical passage meant as well. It is found in the 15th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew.

The context is this: the Pharisees accuse Jesus of breaking their law regarding the Sabbath when his disciples fail to wash their hands before they eat. This law did not come from God, but was one that the Pharisees concocted. They believed that Jews must keep it to be righteous. Christ remarks on their hypocrisy as they fail to honor God in their lives in many ways. He states that they are blind guides who lead the blind, with everyone eventually falling into a pit (Matthew 15:14). The statement speaks to an eternal consequence, as keeping the Pharisees’ laws would not earn them a place in Heaven, but only lead them to spend eternity separated from God for their failure to accept Christ as Lord and Savior.

7. I Wash My Hands of the Matter (Matthew 27:24)

The person who is fed up and wants nothing more to do with somebody or something might utter this phrase, which originates from Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea, who, finding no fault with Jesus, would gladly have released him. But the crowd wanted Jesus crucified, and the people shouted at Pilate to issue the order. Finally, the official gave in. He stood before them and washed his hands, saying that he was innocent of Christ’s blood and that the responsibility for his death lay with them (Matthew 27:24). The phrase is used today in the same manner. To wash one’s hands of a matter or a person is to have nothing more to do with them.

8. Turn the Other Cheek (Matthew 5:39)

In his Sermon on the Mount, found in chapters 5 through 7 of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus tells his listeners that, if someone strikes them, they are to turn the other cheek (Matthew 5:39). This is not a call for Christians to be doormats, standing there, allowing someone to beat them up physically or abuse them verbally. Rather, it means that they are not to retaliate or respond in kind. They have the choice to walk away or answer with courtesy and compassion. Ultimately, they are to let God take care of the matter and deal justly with the person who has caused offense (Romans 12:19).

9. It’s a Labor of Love (1 Thessalonians 1:3)

The Apostle Paul uses this phrase in the first letter that he wrote to the church in Thessalonica in northern Greece. He opens it with a commendation to the Thessalonians for the good work that they have done, work that stemmed from their faith in Christ. This work he calls “a labor of love,” done, not out of duty or for any kind of reward, but out of pure affection. We have retained the meaning of this phrase today, still using it to refer to actions that are performed just for the joy of it, without any compulsion or promise of remuneration or prize.

10. Seeing the Writing on the Wall (Daniel 5:5,6)

This idiom suggests that the future can be seen… and it’s not good! It describes the knowledge that something horrible is going to happen. For example, an employee might see that her company is going to close in the near future and, accordingly, leaves that business and finds a new job before the inevitable occurs.

The phrase comes from the 5th chapter of the Book of Daniel. In the passage, the Babylonian King Belshazzar holds a feast with thousands in attendance. He has insulted God by using sacred vessels from the temple for his drunken banquet. In response, God writes a message on the wall before him: “mene, mene, tekel, upharsin,” which means “numbered, weighed, divided.” This indicated that Belshazaar’s days as king and the “days of his kingdom were numbered” (v. 26). Being weighed, he was “found wanting” (v. 27) and, in result, his nation would fall and be “given to the Persians and the Medes” (v. 28). The king died that night and his kingdom did, indeed, go to the Persians.

11. Let Me Catch My Breath (Job 9:18)

Satan has taken everything from Job: his children, his home, his livestock, even his health. Job thinks that God has caused these calamities and, looking skyward, he pleads for the LORD to give him a minute in which to catch his breath as he is overwhelmed. The meaning has, of course, stayed the same throughout time, whether it is spoken by the athlete who just ran a race, a parent who is busy with little ones, or an emergency room doctor with a waiting room full of patients.

12. Am I My Brother’s Keeper (Genesis 4:9)?

To say that I am not my brother’s keeper is to say that I am not responsible for some other person. This is the answer that Cain gave to God when the LORD asked him where his brother, Abel, was. God knew that Cain had killed Abel and wanted him to confess. God had commended Abel’s gift of a lamb, given in honest faith, but he rejected Cain’s gift of grain because he knew that Cain’s heart was wicked. This made Cain angry. Enraged, he killed his brother out of jealousy. Today, the phrase still carries a negative connotation, implying that someone is shirking responsibility regarding another person for whom he or she should care.