One concern I hear a lot of pastors and other church workers talk about is a lack of biblical literacy or biblical fluency in their congregations. People do not seem to be as familiar with the Bible as we might hope.

When studying Exodus, we may ask: “Why did God harden Pharaoh’s heart?” Read what Martin Luther said about this difficult question in the post below.

When I teach on the Seventh Commandment, “You shall not steal” (Exodus 20:15), I challenge students to come up with examples of stealing beyond theft, armed robbery, burglary, and the like. I am pleased when they can come up with less obvious examples like tax evasion, falsifying time cards, being late, or breaking a promise.

Isaiah wrote to warn the people of Judah to repent so that they might escape God’s judgment, poured out through the Assyrians. However, the range of his prophecies of judgment spread in all directions to include virtually all nations known to ancient Israel and, indeed, all people throughout the world. The universal scope of judgment in Isaiah’s prophecies is complemented with the good news of Zion’s redemption, which also becomes the means of salvation for all people.

Anxiety can get the best of us, but even amidst our struggles, God promises to provide for all our needs. Read what Pastor Phil Rigdon has to say about the anxiety found in Luke 12:22–34.

The Song of Solomon celebrates love, a common theme for all people of all times. What distinguishes the Song, however, is the way it connects human love to God’s greater love in poetry that mingles the earthly with the heavenly, the royal with the rural, and the ordinary with the eternal. In this selection, read an overview of the book and understand how the characters and narrative of the Song of Solomon point to God’s Gospel message.

This blog post is adapted from Lutheran Bible Companion, Volume 1: Introduction and Old Testament.

Discover salvation and sin in the parable of the Good Samaritan with Pastor Phil Rigdon’s insight.

When the book of Ecclesiastes highlights judgment, it can arouse questions about the apparent contradiction between the grief of Ecclesiastes and statements of abundant mercy elsewhere in the Bible. This excerpt from the Lutheran Bible Companion, Volume 1: Introduction and Old Testament provides clarity in understanding God’s character of both justice and mercy.

Explore Christ’s great confession, “Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58), to the Pharisees and the highlights of John’s Greek with Rev. Phil Rigdon.

The Book of Proverbs could rightly be called a collection of collections. Within this book of the Bible, many different strands of Israel’s wisdom coalesce into a book that’s core confession is that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Below, you’ll find a summary of Proverbs along with specific themes of Law and Gospel in the Book of Proverbs.