Category: Bible

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Come Follow Me Old Testament Scriptures

How to Pick a Study Bible: Latter-day Saint Edition

An excerpt from the SBL Study Bible translation of Genesis 1, alongside four Study Bibles, illustrating how Latter-day Saints can benefit by learning about the Bible from experts rather than relying only on the archaic King James Version.

Study Bibles offer valuable insights that can help Latter-day Saints understand the scriptures, including the Old Testament. Church members can use reliable editions alongside the King James Version to better comprehend historical and doctrinal issues obscured by the 1611 text. The General Handbook allows for the use of study Bibles and includes a list of Bibles published or preferred by the Church to maintain clarity in discussions. In this interview, BYU scholar Joshua Sears evaluates leading study Bibles from a Latter-day Saint perspective, explains what to look for, and shares practical tips.

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New Testament

What Language Did Jesus Speak? Aramaic and the Historical Jesus

Aramaic Jesus depicted in Jorge Cocco’s Sermon on the Mount painting, showing Christ teaching his followers
“Sermon on the Mount” by Jorge Cocco. Used by permission.

Jesus spoke Aramaic, the common language of Galilee in the first century. The Gospels preserve traces of this in words like Abba and ṭalîta’ qûmî, even though they were written in Greek. But the real significance goes beyond vocabulary: Aramaic-speaking circles that contributed to the accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John remembered Jesus in distinct ways. For example, Peter’s circle emphasized forgiveness, that of Mary Magdalene focused on purity, and so on. Together, they form overlapping but distinct “streams of tradition” in the Gospels, revealing that no single community preserved the whole picture of Jesus. In this interview, Bruce Chilton discusses his book Aramaic Jesus and what it reveals about the language Jesus spoke, memory, and the earliest church.

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New Testament

What Was Gethsemane Like in Jesus’s Time?

Painterly night view of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives with olive trees in the foreground and the illuminated Jerusalem Temple under a full Passover moon in the background.

Gethsemane in Jesus’s time was a working olive orchard with terraced groves and a cave press where olives were crushed and stored. Archaeological findings point to the Gethsemane grotto itself as a likely setting for Jesus’s anguished prayer in the New Testament, with his disciples resting outside among the trees. From its vantage across the Jerusalem temple, the site carried deep associations with sacrifice, light, and anointing. In this interview, Matthew J. Grey explores the history, symbolism, and gospel portrayals of the Garden of Gethsmane.

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Doctrine and Covenants New Testament

What Does D&C 77 Say About the Age of the Earth?

A split image featuring an hourglass contrasted with a view of the earth from space, illustrating the literal-symbolic tension about the age of the earth in D&C 77.

Section 77 of the Doctrine and Covenants contains statements indicating that the Earth will exist for 7,000 years. Some Latter-day Saints interpret this literally, while the revelation’s historical context also allows for scientific understandings of how old the Earth is. For instance, Joseph Smith’s focus in D&C 77 was the Book of Revelation, known for its symbolism. His later teachings also seem to challenge a strict 7,000-year timeline. In this interview, Nicholas Frederick examines the background of Doctrine and Covenants 77, emphasizing the central role of Jesus Christ.

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Ancient history New Testament

How Close Were Jesus and the Pharisees?

A painting of Jesus healing a blind man while surrounded by Pharisees, as portrayed by Jorge Cocco in "I was Blind, but Now I See."
"I Was Blind, but Now I See," by Jorge Cocco. Used by permission.

The relationship between Jesus and the Pharisees is often reduced to hostility and hypocrisy. But the New Testament tells a more complicated story—one of shared meals, theological debate, and overlapping commitments to the Torah. Far from being outsiders to Judaism, Jesus and the Pharisees were part of the same religious world, sometimes clashing, sometimes converging. In this interview, New Testament scholar Jens Schröter helps unpack that complexity.

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Bible

“The Bible Says So”: An Interview with Dan McClellan

A headshot of Data Over Dogma podcast host, Dan McClellan, who also authored the religion book, "The Bible Says So."

Biblical scholar Dan McClellan invites readers to reconsider the idea that the Bible speaks for itself in his new book, The Bible Says So. Driven by a love for the ancient text, McClellan works to make scholarship more accessible, both through his writing and his “data over dogma” approach on social media. In this interview, he explains why the Bible’s meaning depends on interpretation, how authority is understood, and how readers sometimes bring their own assumptions to the text.

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Devotional Old Testament

“His Hand Is Stretched Out Still”: The Lord’s Eternal Covenant of Mercy

A section from the Sistine Chapel showing the hand of God outstretched toward man.

Many times in the scriptures, we read of the Lord’s outstretched hand or arm. It serves as a metaphor both for his forbearance and for his invitation to come to him. Nephi reports the Lord’s assurance that “mine arm is lengthened out all the day long (2 Nephi 28:32). We find such references scattered throughout Isaiah’s writings. “His anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.”

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Ancient history New Testament

Did Herod the Great Claim to Be the Messiah?

While Herod the Great is portrayed as an anti-Jesus in the Gospels, archaeologists think that the ancient king claimed to be a Messiah.

Herod the Great is perhaps best known for the massacre of the innocents portrayed in the Gospel of Matthew. Interestingly, many scholars believe that Herod claimed to be a messiah, and Ehud Netzer’s discovery of King Herod’s tomb at Herodium led to additional evidence. In this interview, biblical archaeologist and Masada expert Jodi Magness expounds on her related article in the Journal of Ancient Judaism.

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Ancient history New Testament

Who Was the Virgin Mary in Early Christianity?

A composite painting of the Virgin Mary generated by AI to represent the nuanced way she was viewed in early Christianity.

The Virgin Mary is best known today as the Mother of God. Ancient Christians held the same belief, but it’s unclear what else they knew about her. The New Testament, apocryphal writings, and biblical archaeology shed light on certain aspects of her life, such as her likely age was when Jesus was born. Mary also serves as a lens through which we can view the history of Christian theology and the nature of Jesus. In this interview, biblical scholar Mary Joan Leith discusses the role of Mary in early Christianity.

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Come Follow Me New Testament

Latter-day Saints and the New Testament

The story of Jesus and the pool of Bethesda, as illustrated in this Carl Bloch painting, is one of many events from the life of Jesus covered in the Come Follow Me 2023 curriculum drawn from the New Testament.

The New Testament is considered scriptural canon for Latter-day Saints, alongside the Old Testament, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price. This article compiles scholarly and devotional insights about the second half of the Bible, addressing themes such as history, theology, and revelation. It features interviews with scholars like N. T. Wright, Thomas Wayment, Amy-Jill Levine, Camille Fronk Olson, S. Kent Brown, Eric Huntsman, Terryl Givens, and many others.

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