In an attempt to make churches more attractive and relevant, over the decades, many pastors effectively stopped preaching and teaching the contents of the Bible, and this has resulted in a significant decrease in basic Bible literacy among Christians across all denominations. Thirty years ago today, a diverse group of pastors and theologians met in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to address this and other challenges, and they produced an important document called The Cambridge Declaration. This program features audio from the 1996 meeting featuring R.C. Sproul, James M. Boice, David Wells, Michael Horton, Gene Veith, W. Robert Godfrey, and others.

To read the full text of The Cambridge Declaration online, click here, and to order a book containing the document along with all the plenary addresses presented at the 1996 conference, click here. For a recent review of the new 2026 edition of this book, click here, and to read the Wikipedia entry about The Cambridge Declaration, click here.

SHOW NOTES

Books
Here We Stand, Jim Boice & Ben Sasse (updated 2026 edition)
The Vanishing American Adult, & Them, Ben Sasse
No Place for Truth, David Wells
God in the Wasteland, David Wells
Faith Alone, R.C. Sproul (the book inspired by the WHI polls)
Reaching Out Without Dumbing Down, Marva Dawn
Peculiar Speech, Peculiar Speech, William Willimon
Christless Christianity, Michael Horton
The Christian Mind, Harry Blamires
Christianity & Liberalism, J. Gresham Machen
Creed or Chaos? Dorothy Sayers

Articles
Neither Reason, Nor Free Will, Ben Sasse
When Evangelicals Forget Their Theology, Andrew Spencer
The Megachurch Century, Shane Rosenthal
The Story of Us, Shane Rosenthal
The Tower of Babel, Shane Rosenthal
The Mormonization of American Christianity, Shane Rosenthal
Why Johnny Can’t Preach, T. David Gordon
Liberalism or Christianity?, J. Gresham Machen
The Importance of Christian Scholarship, by J. Gresham Machen
Creed or Chaos? Dorothy Sayers (essay)

Audio
The Living Church, WHI #317 with Ervin Duggan
Doctrine, Worship & Life, WHI #323 with Jim Boice
Catechesis, Preaching & Vocation, WHI #317 with Gene Veith
The Courage to Be Protestant, WHI #913 with David Wells
Grounded in the Gospel, WHI #986 with J.I. Packer
A Debate with Robert Schuller, WHI # 103
You Foolish Galatians! WHI #140 includes Shane’s 1993 street interviews
An Interview with R.C. Sproul, WHI #909
The Preached Word, WHI 972 with William Willimon
Jacob’s Ladder, Humble Skeptic #63
Christian Narcissism, Humble Skeptic #67 with J.I. Packer & others
The Effect of Media & Technology, Humble Skeptic #30
Youth Ministry in Crisis, WHI 1204 with Christian Smith & others
The Vanishing American Adult, WHI #1369 with Ben Sasse

Video
Ben Sasse on Uncommon Knowledge, with Peter Robinson
Ben Sasse on Interesting Times, with Ross Duthat
Ben Sasse on Life, Cancer & The Gospel, with Mike Horton

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According to the ESV, in the opening verse of his Gospel, Luke refers to the “things that have been accomplished (πληροφορέω) among us.” However, after my own careful investigation of the Greek text of the prologue, I concluded that Luke didn’t merely refer to events that had transpired, but also to promises that were fulfilled. In fact, I suggest that a better way to translate πληροφορέω (plerophoreo) in the latter part of verse 1 is to say that Luke wrote to Theophilus about the “things that were completely fulfilled among us.”

According to one Greek lexicon,1 the two definitions of πληροφορέω are as follows:

1. to fill (completely), fulfill
2. to convince fully

Paul used the word in the first sense when he told Timothy to “fulfill” his ministry (2Tim 4:5), and in the second sense when he encouraged believers to be “fully convinced” (cf. Rom 4:21, 14:5, Col 4:13). This word was also was frequently used in the ancient world to indicate that a bill was “paid in full.”2 Thus, if a man owed someone a denarius, when the amount was eventually paid off, this this would mean his promise was “completely fulfilled.”

This example fits well with Luke’s usage, since the word he uses seems to fit with the promise/fulfillment motif that we find throughout the New Testament generally, and in various places in Luke/Acts more specifically. In fact, when we take a close look at the places in which Luke presents this motif, it appears that he typically has the events of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection in view:3

Luke 22:37 For I tell you that this Scripture must be fulfilled in me: ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors.’ For what is written about me has its fulfillment” (citing the concluding verse of the suffering servant prophecy from Isaiah 52 and 53).

Luke 24:44-46 Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled…Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead…”

Acts 3:18 But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled.

Acts 13:27 For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him.

Acts 13:32-33 And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus…

Since Luke goes on to say that the things Jesus “completely fulfilled among us” had been seen by so many “eyewitnesses,” it’s worth pointing out how this ends up mirroring the structure of the earliest Christian creed cited by Paul in 1st Corinthians 15.4 In this creed that is dated by Bart Ehrman and other liberal New Testament scholars to the time before Paul’s conversion5 (i.e., in the early 30s), Paul declares that the gospel he “delivered” to the Corinthians, centered on Christ’s death, burial and resurrection, as seen by many “witnesses,” and which was “according in the Scriptures.”

One of the things I like to point out about the early creed cited by Paul is that he calls it both “the gospel” (1Cor 15:1) and “the thing of first importance” (1Cor 15:3). Though many believers in our day think of the gospel in terms of their own personal experience, Paul makes clear that the good news he reports is tied to historic events related to Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection (1Cor 15:4-5). But what I think even more people miss is the fact that Paul’s gospel was not a mere claim, since it was attested by so many living witnesses (1Cor 15:5-8) who confirmed that they saw the messianic promises fulfilled (1Cor 15:3-4). In other words, this attestation is a crucial part of the gospel itself, which is why it’s good news!

Since Luke’s other references to the promise/fulfillment motif relate specifically to the events of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, it seems likely that this is what he had in mind when he wrote to Theophilus about the “things completely fulfilled among us,” which makes his parallels to the early creed even more intriguing.

For Paul, these events are so well attested and so concrete that he could say with confidence that “if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain” (15:15). But Luke ends up saying something very similar in the last verse of his prologue. In light of all the witnesses he references (along with his own accurate and orderly report), Theophilus is told that he can have certainty about these events (Lk 1:4; cf. Acts 2:22, 36).

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Shane Rosenthal is the founder and host of The Humble Skeptic podcast. He was one of the creators of the White Horse Inn radio broadcast, which he also hosted from 2019 to 2021, and has written numerous articles for various sites and publications, including TableTalk, Core Christianity, Modern Reformation, and others. He lives with his family in the greater St. Louis area.

Related Articles
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The Parable of Lazarus, Shane Rosenthal
Passover & The Last Supper, Shane Rosenthal
Where Was Jesus Crucified?, Shane Rosenthal
Sprinkled Nations & Speechless Kings, Shane Rosenthal
Can We Trust Luke’s Early History of the Jesus’ Movement?, Shane Rosenthal
Finding Christ in All of Scripture (PDF), Shane Rosenthal
The Implications of 70 AD on the Date of the Gospels & Acts, Shane Rosenthal
A Pre-70 Date for the Gospels & Acts, Shane Rosenthal
Can We Trust Luke’s History of the Early Jesus Movement? Shane Rosenthal
On Faith & History, Shane Rosenthal

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Proof of the Gospel, Eusebius of Caesarea
The Text of the Earliest New Testament Greek Manuscripts (1), Philip Wesley Comfort
The Text of the Earliest New Testament Greek Manuscripts (2), Philip Wesley Comfort

Related Episodes
Lazarus, #84 with Richard Bauckham & T.C. Schmidt
Reconciling the Resurrection Accounts, #73 with Lydia McGrew
Who is Theophilus? #79 with Peter. Bolt
Stories of Jesus: Can They Be Trusted? #61 with Peter J. Williams
Are The Gospels History or Fiction? #52 with John Dickson
Faith Founded on Facts, Episode #15
What Did the Earliest Christians Believe?, #25 with Dennis Johnson
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The Tools & Rules of History, Gary Habermas & Shane Rosenthal & others

On this episode, Shane highlights some of the intriguing parallels that exist between the parable of Lazarus recorded in Luke 16 and the account of the raising of Lazarus in John 11. Since both texts involve a man named Lazarus as well as the subject of resurrection, it’s worth considering that these two stories may in fact be related. During this exploration, Shane talks with Richard Bauckham, author of Jesus & The Eyewitnesses, and T.C. Schmidt, author of Josephus & Jesus.

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For a gift of any size, you’ll receive a pre-release PDF download of Shane’s forthcoming book, Luke’s Key Witness, along with a 30-page PDF resource titled The Identity of the Beloved Disciple. If you’re already a paid subscriber, you’ll be able to access both resources via the above links. To donate or subscribe, use the green button below.

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SHOW NOTES

Related Episodes
Questioning The Fourth Gospel, #49 with Richard Bauckham
Did Josephus Ever Mention Jesus? #77 with T.C. Schmidt
Who is Theophilus? #79 with Peter. Bolt
Rethinking Jesus’ Parables, #43 with Scott Churnock
Simply Genius (a discussion of the Parables), #62 with Peter J. Williams
Stories of Jesus: Can They Be Trusted? #61 with Peter J. Williams
Are The Gospels History or Fiction? #52 with John Dickson
Faith Founded on Facts, Episode #15
What Did the Earliest Christians Believe?, #25 with Dennis Johnson
The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony, #48 with Richard Bauckham
Which John Wrote John? Episode #50
Locating Golgotha, #17 with David Rohl
The Messiah’s Redemptive Mission Episode #72
Reconciling the Resurrection Accounts, #73 with Lydia McGrew

Related Articles
The Parable of Lazarus, Shane Rosenthal
The Identity of the Beloved Disciple, Shane Rosenthal
Considering Alternatives to the Resurrection, Shane Rosenthal
Bart Ehrman on Jesus & The Claim of Resurrection, Shane Rosenthal
The Implications of 70 AD on the Date of the Gospels & Acts, Shane Rosenthal
A Pre-70 Date for the Gospels & Acts, Shane Rosenthal
The Date of John’s Gospel, Revisited, Shane Rosenthal
Can We Trust Luke’s History of the Early Jesus Movement? Shane Rosenthal
Authenticating The Fourth Gospel, Shane Rosenthal
On Faith & History, Shane Rosenthal
Passover, The Last Supper & The Day of Crucifixion, Shane Rosenthal
Where Was Jesus Crucified?, Shane Rosenthal
Things Completely Fulfilled Among Us, Shane Rosenthal

Related Books
Josephus & Jesus, T.C. Schmidt — FREE
Jesus & The Eyewitnesses, Richard Bauckham
The Fate of the Dead, Richard Bauckham
Can We Trust The Gospels? Peter J. Williams
Is Jesus History? John Dickson
Testimonies to the Truth, Lydia McGrew
Luke: A Commentary, Peter G. Bolt
The Surprising Genius of Jesus, Peter J. Williams
Proof of the Gospel, Eusebius of Caesarea

Related Video
History, Archaeology & Luke’s Most Excellent Theophilus
An Archaeological Discovery Sheds Light on the Gospel of Luke
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Evidence for the Resurrection, Peter J. Williams
Are the Gospels Reliable?, Peter J. Williams & Bart Ehrman
The Tools & Rules of History, Gary Habermas & Shane Rosenthal & others

If you’re a fan of the podcast, you may have noticed that it’s been a while since I’ve released a new episode. In light of the new exposure I received from my last video on the Joanna ossuary (close to 200K views), I decided to create a follow-up video that presents additional evidence in favor of linking Luke’s Theophilus to Theophilus the high priest. In this video, I walk through Tal Ilan’s criteria for identifying the same individual from a variety of ancient sources and conclude that there is an “excellent” case to be made for linking Luke’s Theophilus with Theophilus the high priest. So, how does this view impact our understanding of Luke’s two volumes? Watch this video to find out!

Here are some of the comments I received in response to my last video, which encouraged me to create additional content in this format:

Most Excellent Humble Skeptic, I will never read Luke and Acts the same way again. Thank you! — Teacher Deb

I had never heard this before, and I am a Bible archaeology nerd. Wow! — Mark

Great channel—please make more archaeology content! — Jordan

This infers that Luke wrote his Gospel and Acts to Theophilus as an explanation for, and a defense of, Joanna’s faith. Remarkable! I admit to being dumbfounded by this. — Tim

This evidence of Joana, granddaughter of Theophilus, definitely strengthens my faith in the Gospel of Luke. Glory to God & His only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ —DA 1898

This is so well done. I’d say: It is the most relevant archeological/text-critical discovery of the past two millennia. — Hans

It’s fascinating to think that Luke and other apostles…were just documenting what they knew. Not composing a fiction, not inventing a doctrine. Just describing the events that actually took place. Fascinating! — Delicious Crepes

Wow, mind officially blown...Thanks for bringing this to our attention! — NSnowman

This is my first hearing of any of this. I didn’t even know there was a Joanna ossuary! Thank you so much for digging this all out so thoroughly. Great work! — RockofAlethia

The implications of this are enormous. The dating of Luke's writings according to this ossuary discovery places it between AD 37 and AD 67. I mean, wow! Not far removed from the events of Jesus' life. Within the lifetime of both Theophilus and Joanna! — Echo-yr1cr

I need your help to continue this work! Please consider upgrading to a PAID subscription or making a one-time GIFT by using the link below.

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RELATED RESOURCES

Videos
History, Archaeology & Luke’s Most Excellent Theophilus
An Archaeological Discovery Sheds Light on Luke
Have Archaeologists Discovered Biblical Bethsaida?

Articles
Simon of Cyrene: An Intriguing Archaeological Discovery, Shane Rosenthal
Julia Crispina…A Case Study in Historical Identification, Tal Ilan
Who is Theophilus? Notes to Ep. #79, Peter Bolt and others
The Implications of 70 AD, Shane Rosenthal
A Pre-70 Date for the Gospels & Acts, Shane Rosenthal
The Date of John’s Gospel, Revisited, Shane Rosenthal
Bart Ehrman on Jesus & The Claim of Resurrection, Shane Rosenthal
Who is Sergius Paulus? Shane Rosenthal
Is Luke a Trustworthy Historian?, Sir William Ramsay
Can We Trust Luke’s History of the Early Jesus Movement? Shane Rosenthal
On Faith & History, Shane Rosenthal

Episodes
Who is Theophilus? #79 with Peter Bolt
Luke, Theophilus & Joanna, #80 with Jim Sibley
A Forensic Approach to the Gospels, #81 with J. Warner Wallace
Did Josephus Ever Mention Jesus? Episode #77 with T.C. Schmidt
Jesus in Josephus & Other Ancient Texts, Episode #78 with T.C. Schmidt
Faith Founded on Facts, Episode #15 with Lennox, Bauckham, and others
Stories of Jesus: Can They Be Trusted? Episode. #61 with Peter J. Williams
Are the Gospels History or Fiction? Episode #52 with John Dickson
The Messiah’s Redemptive Mission, Episode #72
Jacob’s Ladder, Episode # 63 with Richard Bauckham and Michael Horton
Did The Exodus Ever Happen? Episode #69 with David Rohl
Locating Golgotha, Episode #17 with David Rohl
The Jesus of History, Episode # 12
The Gospel Creed, Episode #9

Books
Luke’s Key Witness, Shane Rosenthal
Who Are Joanna & Theophilus? (e-book) Richard Anderson
The Historicity of Saint Luke, Wesley W.S. Lukas
Jesus & The Eyewitnesses, Richard Bauckham
Testimonies to the Truth, Lydia McGrew
Can We Trust The Gospels? Peter J. Williams

One of the main objections to the idea of linking Luke’s Theophilus with the high priest mentioned on the Joanna Ossuary is that over the past few centuries, many scholars have argued that the word kratistos found in Lk 1:3 (typically translated, “most excellent”) identifies Theophilus as a high-ranking “Gentile” official. Here are some examples:

John Wesley (1765): “Most excellent Theophilus—This was the appellation usually given to Roman governors.”

Adam Clarke (1831) “Theophilus appears to have been some very reputable Greek or Roman, who was one of St. Luke’s disciples.”

J.W. McGarvey (1872): “Nothing is known of Theophilus, but he is supposed to have been a Greek of high official rank.”

F.F. Bruce (1954): “Theophilus was a representative member of the intelligent middle-class public at Rome whom Luke wished to win over…”

Donald Guthrie (1990): “Theophilus…is described as ‘most excellent’ [kratiste] an expression which looks like an indication of social rank…He was clearly a Gentile…”

However, a late second-century Egyptian papyrus, affectionately known as HVG: P.Tebt. II 292,1 along with a handful of similar passages cited at the end of this article, provide us with an alternative interpretive option. The Egyptian text records the words of a woman named Isidora, who wrote to an official requesting that her son and nephew be circumcized.2 Here’s the relevant section of her letter: “I request that, in accordance with custom, a letter should be written…to his highness (kratistos) the high-priest in order that…the boys may be able to be circumcised…[My] husband Kronion son of Pakebkis, who now happens to be in Alexandria, will bring them before his highness (kratistos) the high-priest.”

Another translation renders the key phrase: “his excellency the high priest.” What’s particularly intriguing about this papyrus is that it provides clear evidence that the Greek adjective kratistos was applied, not merely to Roman governors (cf. Acts 23:26, 24:2, 26:25), but also to those who filled the office of high priest as well.3 In Roman Egypt of this period, the high priest oversaw all religious matters and also performed various secular duties as well, since he was a political appointee of the emperor.4

This was actually quite close to the situation in first-century Judea. The high priest Theophilus was appointed by the Imperial Legate, Vitellius, while he was governing Syrian affairs,5 and according to Josephus, after the reign of Herod the Great, “the government became an aristocracy, and the high priests were entrusted with a dominion over the nation.”6 In other words, just as in Egypt, the Judean high priests had both secular and religious responsibilities.7

According to Louw & Nida’s Greek Lexicon, the word krastistos pertains to “having noble status, with the implication of power and authority, often employed as a title — ‘excellency, most excellent, your honor.’”8 This is precisely the way Luke uses this word in verse 3 of his prologue. In other words, his use of kratistos helps readers to identify Theophilus as a man of power, authority, and high office. And because of this Egyptian papyrus, and others like it, we know that the word could also refer to a high priest as well, whether he lived in Egypt, Rome, or even Judea. In fact, one of the inscriptions I cite at the end of this article reveals that even the archangel Gabriel was called “most excellent,” and no scholar (at least that I’m aware of) has ever made the case that Gabriel was merely a Roman official.

Tal Ilan is an Israeli historian and scholar who has collected thousands of names from ancient Palestinian texts and inscriptions into an impressive database, and in her book, Integrating Women Into Second Temple History, she argues that “Identification of the same individual from two different sources can be almost certain in the case where the persons identified bear not only the same name but also the same title.”9

Since the adjective kratistos functioned as a title of respect and was appropriate both for Luke’s Theophilus and Theophilus the high priest, I think an excellent case can be made for identifying these two men as the same individual. In fact, the strength of this case increases significantly when we recall that, according to Acts 9, Paul was specifically commissioned by the chief priests to arrest and persecute the followers of Jesus. In short, Paul knew Theophilus the high priest personally. And since Luke later became Paul’s associate, a very plausible connection can be made between the Evangelist and the high priest. Finally, when we also recall that both the ossuary and the text of Luke’s Gospel feature an aristocratic woman named Joanna, and notice the way Luke places her in a position of prominence in his climactic final chapter, the case becomes very compelling.

One early advocate of this hypothesis was a German scholar named Johann David Michaelis. In 1777, he observed that if Luke wrote to Theophilus the high priest, who “was certainly of sufficient rank to be entitled to the appellation of kratistos,” his Gospel “must then be considered as an historical apology for the Christian religion, addressed to one of the heads of the Jewish nation.” After weighing the evidence in favor of this view, Michaelis then concludes with the following statement:

All these circumstances put together render the opinion highly probable that St. Luke’s Theophilus is no other than Theophilus the son of Annas, who is mentioned by Josephus. And if the opinion be true, as I really believe, it adds greatly to the credibility of St. Luke’s Gospel; for the Evangelist would hardly have ventured to dedicate to the son of that very Annas, who was High Priest when Christ was crucified, a narrative of facts performed in Palestine, unless he had been able to warrant their truth..10

A more recent advocate of this proposal is Australian NT scholar, Peter Bolt, who in his 2022 Luke Commentary published by The Gospel Coalition, argues that if Theophilus the high priest was the intended recipient, “then Luke’s narrative presents Jesus to a man who was at the centre of the Jewish circles that were largely responsible for rejecting Jesus. It is an ‘apologia’ (defense) as well as a ‘kategoria’ (accusation / critique).”

In my “humble” opinion, this identification has huge ramifications on the way we read and interpret the words of Luke’s narrative. As I see it, Luke’s Gospel was written as a kind of open letter, or public affidavit, submitted to the high priest while also published broadly (which explains some of the explanatory comments he makes for Gentile readers). In the end, his purpose was to set the record straight about Jesus. Here’s what he said and did, according to his closest disciples and witnesses, and here’s why he really was, and is, the promised Messiah.

I’ll continue to explore this topic in future articles, episodes, and videos, and will respond to some of the major objections I’ve received in recent months, such as whether the chronology between Theophilus and his granddaughter actually lines up with the individuals mentioned by Luke. So stay tuned!

NOTE:
Here are several additional texts that help us to see how the word
“kratistos” was used in the ancient world.

BEREA, GREECE (100-130 AD)

The high priest of the people, Flavius Paramonus, a most excellent man
ἀρχιερέα τοῦ ἔθνους Φ̣λ̣α̣ύ̣ιον Παράμονον ἄνδρα κράτιστον11

ATTICA, GREECE (165 AD)

The mighty high priest
τοῦ κρατίστου ἀρχιερέως12

MEMPHIS, EGYPT (171 AD)

Ulpius Serenianus, the most excellent high-priest
Οὐλπίου Σερηνι̣αν̣οῦ τοῦ κρατίστου ἀρχιερέως13

DELPHI, GREECE (180-190 AD)

The most excellent (lady) and high priestess of the people
την κρατιστην και αρχιερειαν του κοινου14

HIERAPOLIS, PHRYGIA (180-220 AD)

The most excellent high priest
τοῦ kρατίστου ἀρχιερέων15

TALMIS, EGYPT/NUBIA (215 AD)

The most excellent Muranos, successor to the high priesthood
τοῦ κρατίστου Μύρωνος δια- δεχομένου τὴν ἀρχιερωσύνην16

THESSALONICA, GREECE (261 AD)

Pontius Evangelius, the most powerful man and high priest
Ποντίου Εὐανγέλου τοῦ κρατίστου καὶ ἀρχιερέως17

ELAIOUSSA, CILICIA (1st - 3rd Century, AD)

A lion is referred to as “the mightiest of beasts”
θηρῶν κράτιστε καὶ θεῶν μύστα λέων τίνος φυλάσσεις χῶρον18

EGYPT / NUBIA (2nd - 3rd Century, AD)

A reference to angels: “Michael the highest, and Gabriel most excellent”
Μιχαὴλ ὕψιστε, Γαβριήλ κράτιστε19

Shane Rosenthal is the founder and host of The Humble Skeptic podcast. He was one of the original creators of the White Horse Inn radio broadcast, which he also hosted from 2019-2021, and has written numerous articles for various sites and publications, including TableTalk, Modern Reformation, Core Christianity, Heidelblog, and others.

Donate or Subscribe

Videos
An Archaeological Discovery Sheds Light on Luke
Have Archaeologists Discovered Biblical Bethsaida?

Related Articles
Julia Crispina…A Case Study in Historical Identification, Tal Ilan
Who is Theophilus? Notes to Ep. #79, Peter Bolt and others
The Implications of 70 AD, Shane Rosenthal
A Pre-70 Date for the Gospels & Acts, Shane Rosenthal
The Date of John’s Gospel, Revisited, Shane Rosenthal

Episodes
Who is Theophilus? #79 with Peter Bolt
Luke, Theophilus & Joanna, #80 with Jim Sibley
A Forensic Approach to the Gospels, #81 with J. Warner Wallace
Did Josephus Ever Mention Jesus? Episode #77 with T.C. Schmidt
Jesus in Josephus & Other Ancient Texts, Episode #78 with T.C. Schmidt
Faith Founded on Facts, Episode #15 with Lennox, Bauckham, and others
Stories of Jesus: Can They Be Trusted? Episode. #61 with Peter J. Williams
Are the Gospels History or Fiction? Episode #52 with John Dickson

Books
Luke’s Key Witness, Shane Rosenthal
Who Are Joanna & Theophilus? (e-book) Richard Anderson
The Historicity of Saint Luke, Wesley W.S. Lukas
Jesus & The Eyewitnesses, Richard Bauckham
Testimonies to the Truth, Lydia McGrew
Can We Trust The Gospels? Peter J. Williams

On this video, I take a trip to the Hecht Museum to investigate the ossuary of Joanna, granddaughter of Theophilus, the high priest. So, what does the curator of the museum think about this artifact? Could the Joanna and Theophilus named on this ossuary be the same individuals mentioned by Luke (cf. Lk 1:3, 8:3, 24:10)?

Steven Notley, the Director of the El-Araj Excavation Project, also makes an appearance in this video. Since Dr. Notley studied under David Flusser, who was one of the first scholars to publicize the discovery of the Joanna ossuary, I wondered if he was familiar with this artifact and its potential connection to the Gospel of Luke. I think you’ll be surprised by the responses I received from both of these scholars.

Please share this video with friends and family, and let me know what you think in the comments section! Also, when you get a chance, please subscribe to my YouTube channel, since this greatly increases our exposure.

Close to 200K Views!

I released this video on Tuesday, February 10th, and it is currently approaching 200K views. Here are some of the viewer comments:

Congratulations on an excellent and truly exciting video! I am an Israeli archaeologist working with the IAA for over 35 years in Jerusalem. Your proposal that the Joanna and Theophilus of the ossuary are the same as those in Luke is more than reasonable. If indeed it turns out that they are, then here is yet another amazing witness to the intimate connection that Jesus had to His Land and with His People. — Yehudah

WOW, mind officially blown! Thank you for bringing this to our attention! — NSnowman

I had never heard this before, and I am a Bible archaeology nerd. Wow! — Mark

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Luke’s Key Witness (PDF download)
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Have Archaeologists Discovered Biblical Bethsaida?
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Who is Theophilus? #79 with Peter. Bolt
Luke, Theophilus & Joanna, #80 with Jim Sibley
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Jesus in Josephus & Other Ancient Texts, #78 with T.C. Schmidt
Faith Founded on Facts, #15 with John Lennox, Richard Bauckham, and others
Is Faith Irrational? Episode #2 • Is Faith Blind? Episode #3
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His Excellency The High Priest, Shane Rosenthal
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New Evidence for a Historical Moses? Shane Rosenthal
Archaeological Discoveries Related to Nebuchadnezzar II, Shane Rosenthal
Simon of Cyrene: An Intriguing Archaeological Discovery, Shane Rosenthal
Who is Sergius Paulus? Shane Rosenthal
Is Luke a Trustworthy Historian?, Sir William Ramsay
The Ossuary of Yehohanah, Granddaughter of Theophilus, Barag & Flusser
Luke’s Key Witness? Shane Rosenthal

I recently wrote an article about Nate Hanson, host of the Almost Heretical podcast, which he launched back in 2017 as a way of publicly processing his own deconstruction. Close to a decade later, he has now returned to the Christian faith and has renamed his podcast, FaithLab. Last week, he released a 20-minute video explaining his rationale for these important changes, and today, he released an interview he recorded with me for his first official episode. Here’s the description:

For most people, faith means believing without evidence. A leap. A feeling. Something you are told to accept rather than question. But what if that is not what faith meant at all? In this conversation, Nate and Shelby Hanson sit down with Shane Rosenthal to explore why the New Testament idea of faith was rooted in trust, eyewitness testimony, and public events rather than blind belief. They unpack how faith slowly became detached from evidence, why that shift matters, and how it helps explain why so many people deconstruct today.

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After watching a new HBO documentary on the life of Billy Joel, Shane decided to reopen his investigation of the bar that inspired Piano Man. The question he posed on the pilot episode was whether his dad had visited the famous bar back in 1973, and whether he might even be one of the characters mentioned in the song. This program features Shane’s original exploration, along with selections from interviews he’s recorded since that time. In the final segment, he engages with individuals involved in this new documentary, which takes his investigation to a whole new level.

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Is My Dad One of the Characters in Piano Man? Shane Rosenthal
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And So It Goes, HBO documentary series on the life of Billy Joel
And So It Goes (Trailer)

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I recently received an encouraging email from Nate Hanson, one of the hosts of the Almost Heretical podcast, which was launched back in 2017. According to the program description, this podcast was born out of a desire “to invite others into their own journeys of deconstructing and reimagining their faith,” and over the past eight years, it has generated over 2 million downloads. However, as Nate explains in his letter (reproduced below with his permission), he has recently started questioning his involvement with the deconstruction movement.

Shane,

I wanted to reach out because your work has had a significant impact on me, and I thought it might be helpful to share a bit of my story. I spent several years [working in Christian radio in Los Angeles and later] I moved to the Bay Area to work with my friend Francis Chan. We planted churches and served in some of the most challenging neighborhoods in San Francisco. For a long time, faith and ministry were the center of my life.

About ten years ago, everything shifted. I began seriously questioning the foundations of Christianity. I struggled with the relationship between science and faith. I wrestled with the problem of evil and the portrayal of God in the Old Testament. I questioned the historical reliability of the resurrection and the authorship issues raised by scholars like Bart Ehrman. I eventually reached a point where I simply could not make myself believe anymore, and it felt like losing my identity.

Eight years ago, I started a podcast called Almost Heretical as a way to process these questions publicly. It grew quickly because so many people were walking a similar road. We produced more than two hundred episodes and reached more than two million downloads. The audience was largely made up of people who wanted Christianity to be true but no longer knew how to make sense of it.

A few years ago, something started to change in me. I found myself wanting the Christian story to be true again, which surprised me. Two years ago, my wife and I began attending a normal evangelical church. About a year ago, I decided to take a deep dive into the best scholarship on the historical and evidential case for Christianity. That led me to Richard Bauckham, Peter Williams, and eventually to your show.

Hearing you explain that faith is not blind belief but belief grounded in evidence was completely new for me. The way you frame the relationship between doubt, reason, and trust has been one of the most important influences on my own return to Christianity. Your show has helped rebuild a thoughtful and reasonable confidence in the Christian story. It came at exactly the right moment in my life.

Because of this shift, we have paused Almost Heretical and will be relaunching under a new name with a new focus. The goal now is to bring on scholars and let them present their strongest case for Christianity and to test those claims openly and honestly. I want to help others see what I am now seeing, which is that Christianity can withstand scrutiny and that belief can be rooted in evidence rather than sentiment.

I simply wanted to thank you for the work you are doing. It has meant more than you know. And if you ever want to connect or explore any ways our work might intersect in the future, I would love that.

Gratefully,
Nate Hanson

Yesterday, Nate released a short video titled “My Deconstruction Led Me Back to Christianity,” which you can watch on YouTube or listen to via Apple or Spotify.

In this video, Nate gave his followers a brief update about the new direction his program will be taking moving forward, and he also announced that the title of his podcast has been changed from Almost Heretical to FaithLab.

Though deconstruction is “often framed as rebellion, bitterness, or a desire to tear everything down,” Nate explains in this video that this was never his story. For him, “deconstruction was an honest process driven by a desire to understand what I actually believed. It’s what happens when inherited answers stop working. When the explanations you were handed no longer match your experience of reality.”

In many ways, Almost Heretical was me deconstructing in public. And I think it helped a lot of people feel less alone. If you’ve been through deconstruction, you probably recognize the pattern. You pull on one thread, and suddenly the whole system starts to wobble. Things that once felt solid begin to collapse. Often, what you’re actually losing aren’t the core claims of Christianity, but later interpretations. Confident explanations. Cultural add-ons. Assumptions you didn’t even realize were there…

For me, that unraveling was slow, honest, and sometimes painful. Eventually, I reached a point where I wasn’t sure what I believed anymore…I still admired Jesus. I still valued the ethics and the community. But I no longer believed the central claim that Jesus had actually risen from the dead. And at the time, I honestly thought that was the end of Christianity for me.

At some point in his deconstruction project, Nate realized that he was not only dismantling naive versions of Christianity but also simplistic secular explanations as to why we should reject it. Over time, he began to realize that many of these naturalistic theories about the origins of Christianity “required their own kind of blind faith.” Since these alternative stories “weren’t actually grounded in much evidence at all,” he kept digging.

I started listening to historians, philosophers, scientists, and biblical scholars who weren’t asking me to turn my brain off. What surprised me wasn’t that this material existed, it was that I had barely engaged it before. For most of my life, I had focused on living Christianity, not examining whether its foundational claims were actually true. I had assumed that people who needed evidence were somehow weaker in faith. That assumption didn’t survive scrutiny.

As I dug into the New Testament historically, it didn’t read like polished mythology. It read like people trying to describe something they believed they had actually witnessed. Real places. Real names. Awkward, inconvenient details you wouldn’t invent if you were creating a legend…I explored skeptical explanations too. I took them seriously. But over time, they stopped making the best sense of the data.

Toward the end of his video, Nate relates the following:

Christianity didn’t begin as a feeling-based belief system. It began as a claim about history. From the start, it presented itself as something that either happened in the real world or didn’t. The earliest Christian writings name people you could check, cities you could visit, events that were public enough to be disputed. Paul goes so far as to say that if Jesus wasn’t raised, the entire thing collapses. That’s not blind faith. That’s a claim that invites testing. And that realization changed everything.

In case you’re interested, I was recently invited to join Nate and his wife, Shelby, for an episode of FaithLab, and I’ll send a link to that conversation as soon as it becomes available!

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Have Archaeologists Discovered Biblical Bethsaida? Watch the new Humble Skeptic video featuring interviews with Steven Notely and others at the dig site. Click here.

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Episodes of The Humble Skeptic Podcast
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A Pre-70 Date for the Gospels & Acts, Shane Rosenthal
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A Cuneiform Cylinder of Nebuchadnezzar II, Shane Rosenthal
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Shane’s Translation of Luke’s Opening Prologue

Lk 1:1 Insofar as many have endeavored each to set in order an account of the events that have been completely fulfilled among us, 2 just as those—who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and guardians of the word—transmitted to us, 3 it seemed good also to me, as one who had been a follower from the beginning, to write everything accurately and orderly for you, most noble Theophilus, 4 so that you may know the certainty of the things you’ve been told.

Promise/fulfillment Theme in the Gospel of Luke

Lk 1:1 “…the events that have been completely fulfilled among us…”
Lk 1:54-55 “He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever.”
Lk 1:68-70 “[The God of Israel] has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old…”
Lk 3:4 “…as is written in the book of Isaiah…” (cf. Is 40:3-5)
Lk 4:21 “Today, this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (cf. Is 61).
Lk 7:27 “This is he of whom it is written, ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’”
Lk 9:31 “[Moses and Elijah] appeared in glory [with Jesus] and spoke of the exodus he was about to fulfill in Jerusalem.
Lk 18:31 “all the things that are written through the prophets concerning the Son of Man must be fulfilled.”
Lk 21:22 “…all things which are written must be fulfilled.”
Lk 22:37 “that which is written must be fulfilled in me: ‘He was numbered with the transgressors.’ For that which concerns me must be fulfilled.”
Lk 24:44 “all things which are written in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms, concerning me must be fulfilled.”

The Words of Gabriel’s First Annunciation (i.e., Daniel 9)

Dan 9:21-27 “While I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening offering. 22 He instructed me, and talked with me, and said, Daniel, I am now come forth to give you wisdom and understanding. 23 At the beginning of your petitions the commandment went forth, and I am come to tell you; for you are greatly loved: therefore consider the matter, and understand the vision. 24 Seventy sevens (i.e., seventy periods of seven years; cf. Lev 25:8) are decreed on your people and on your holy city, to finish transgression, and to put an end to sin, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy. 25 Know therefore, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem to the coming of the Anointed One the prince, shall be seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks...26 After the sixty-two weeks the Anointed One shall be cut off, and shall have nothing: and the people of the prince who shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end of it shall be with a flood, and even to the end shall be war; desolations are determined. 27 He shall make a firm covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the offering to cease; and on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate; and even to the full end, and that determined, shall wrath be poured out on the desolate (cf. Dan 8:16, Lk 1:19, 26 for other biblical references to Gabriel).1

An Interpretation of Daniel 9 from the Dead Sea Scrolls (c. 100 BC)

[The jubilee] applies to the Last Days and concerns the captives, just as Isaiah said: “To proclaim the jubilee to the captives” (Is 61:1, cf. Lk 4:16ff)…Melchizedek…will return them to what is rightfully theirs. He will proclaim to them the jubilee, thereby releasing them from the debt of all their sins. This word will thus come in the first week of the jubilee period that follows nine jubilee periods. Then the “Day of Atonement” shall follow at the end of the tenth jubilee period, when he shall atone for all the Sons of Light and the people who are predestined to Melchizedek…For this is the time decreed for “the year of Melchizedek’s favor” (Is 61:2) and for his hosts, together with the holy ones of God, for a kingdom of judgment, just as it is written concerning him in the Songs of David, “A godlike being has taken his place in the council of God; in the midst of the divine beings he holds judgment” (Ps 82:1). Scripture also says about him, “Over it take your seat in the highest heaven; a divine being will judge the peoples” (Ps 7:7–8)…This visitation is the Day of Salvation that He has decreed…through Isaiah the prophet concerning all the captives, inasmuch as Scripture says, “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who announces peace, who brings good news, who announces salvation, who says to Zion, ‘Your divine being reigns’” (Is 52:7). This scripture’s interpretation: “the mountains” are the prophets, they who were sent to proclaim God’s truth and to prophesy to all Israel. And “the messenger” is the Anointed of the Spirit, of whom Daniel spoke, “After the sixty-two weeks, an Anointed One shall be cut off” (Dan. 9:26, cf. Is 53:8). The “messenger who brings good news, who announces salvation” (Is 52:7) is the one of whom it is written, “to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn” (Is 61:2)…“Your divine being” is Melchizedek, who will deliver them from the power of Belial.2

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The Words of Gabriel’s Second Annunciation (c. 4 BC)

Lk 1:26-33. “Now in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 Having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, you highly favored one! The Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women!” 29 But when she saw him, she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered what kind of salutation this might be. 30 The angel said to her, “Don’t be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God (cf. Dan 9:23). 31 Behold, you will conceive in your womb, and bring forth a son, and will call his name ‘Jesus.’3 32 He will be great (Mic 5:4, Is 9:2), and will be called the Son of the Most High (Ps 2:7). The Lord God will give him the throne of his father, David (2Sam 7:12-13, Is 9:7) 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever. There will be no end to his kingdom” (2Sam 7:16, Is 9:7, Dan 2:44, 7:13-14, 27)

The Prayer of Nebuchadnezzar II (c. 600 BC)

“May the house I have made endure…to all eternity, O Marduk…May my posterity rule over men forever and ever.”4 Click here for additional discoveries related to this king.

The Words of Mary’s ‘Magnificat’

Lk 1:46-55 Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord (Ps 98:1). 47 My spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior (Ps 106:21, Is 43:3, 11, 45:15, 21, 49:26) 48 For he has looked at the humble state (Is 66:2) of his handmaid. For behold, from now on, all generations will call me blessed. 49 For he who is mighty (Ps 50:1, 132:2, 5) has done great things for me. Holy is his name (Ps 30:4, 145:21). 50 His mercy is for generations of generations on those who fear him (Ex 20:6, 107:1). 51 He has shown strength with his arm (Ps 89:13, 98:1 Is 40:10, 52:10). He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their heart (Ps 94:2, Prv 21:4, Ezk 28:17). 52 He has put down princes from their thrones (Ps. 107:40, Dan 4:37, Hag 2:22). And has exalted the lowly (Ps 18:27, 107:41, Is 57:15). 53 He has filled the hungry with good things (Ps 107:9). He has sent the rich away empty. 54 He has given help to Israel, his servant (Ps 115:9, Is 41:14), that he might remember mercy (Ex 33:19, Ps 25:6, 98:3), 55 As he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and his seed forever (Gen 12:7, 15:6, 26:24, 28:10-17, Dt 9:5-6, cf. Gal 3:8).

The Words of Zachariah’s ‘Benedictus’

Lk 1:68 “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, for he has visited and worked redemption for his people (Gen 48:16, Ex 6:6, Ps 111:9, 130:7, Is 29:22, 44:6, 52:9); 69 and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David (Ps 18:2, 2Sam 7:12-13) 70 as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets who have been from of old (Is 9:6-7, 11:1ff, Jer 23:5-6) , 71 salvation from our enemies, and from the hand of all who hate us (Ex 15:6, Is 11:6-8); 72 to show mercy towards our fathers (Ps. 25:6, Mic 7:20), to remember his holy covenant (Ex 2:24, Dt 4:31, Ps 98:3, cf. Gal 3, Heb 7:22, 8:13), 73 the oath which he spoke to Abraham, our father (Gen 26:3, Dt 7:8, Jer 11:5), 74 to grant to us that we, being delivered out of the hand of our enemies (Num 24:17), should serve him without fear (Gen 26:24, Is 43:1-5), 75 in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life (Ps 96-9, Ezk 20:38-39, Mal 3:3-4). 76 And you, child, will be called a prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way (Mal 3:1, cf. Mt 11:10, Lk 7:26), 77 to give knowledge of salvation to his people (Ps 98:2, 14:7) by the remission of their sins (Ps. 130:4, Is 53:6, Jer 31:34, Dan 9:9, 24), 78 because of the tender mercy of our God (Ps 25:6, Is 30:18), whereby the dawn from on high will visit us (2Sam 23:4), 79 to shine on those who sit in darkness (Is 9:2, 49:6) and the shadow of death (Ps 23:4); to guide our feet into the way of peace” (Is 52:7, 59:8).

The Angelic Announcement to the Bethlehem Shepherds

Luke 2:10 And the angel [told the shepherds] “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news (Is 40:9, 41:27, 61:1, cf. Lk 4:43, 8:1, 16:16) of great joy (Is 52:7-8) that will be for all the people (Ps 22:27, Is 24:16, 45:22, 49:6, 52:10, Mic 5:4, Zec 9:10). 11 For unto you is born this day (Is 9:6) in the city of David a Savior (Is 43:11, 45:21, Zeph 3:17) who is Christ the Lord (Is 9:6-7, Dan 9:25)…13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest (Ps 79:9, Is 60:19), on earth peace, good will toward men” (Is 9:6, 52:7, 53:5, Mic 5:4).

Aramaic Targums of Isaiah 9:6 & Michah 5:2

Isaiah 9:6 “The prophet said to the house of David that a boy has been born to us, a son has been given to us, and he has received the Torah upon himself to keep it. And his name has been called from before the One Who Causes Wonderful Counsel, God the Warrior, the Eternally Existing One—the Messiah who will increase peace upon us in his days.”

Mic 5:2 “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrath, you were as too small to be numbered among the thousands of the house of Judah. From you shall come forth before me the Messiah to be executing rule over Israel, whose name is uttered from former times, from the days of antiquity.

The Prayer of Simeon

Luke 2:29 “Lord, let your servant depart in peace, according to your word, 30 for my eyes have seen your salvation (Ex 14:13, Ps 98:3, 52;10), 31 which you have prepared before the face of all peoples (Ps 22:27, Is 24:16, 45:22, 49:6, 52:10, Mic 5:4, Zec 9:10); 32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles (Is 9:2, 42:6, 49:6, 60:3), and the glory of your people Israel (Is 60:1-3).” 33 Joseph and his mother were marveling at the things which were spoken concerning him, 34 and Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary, his mother, “Behold, this child is set for the falling and the rising of many in Israel (Ezk 34, Zeph 3:11) and for a sign which is spoken against (Ps 22:6, 118:22, Is 53:1-3) 35 Yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul (Ps 22:16, Is 53:5, Zec 12:10), that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”

Augustine on the Conversion of the Nations

What can our deluded adversaries say to such plain examples [as I have shown from the Scriptures], which leave no room for perverse denial, or even for skeptical uncertainty. I call on the Manichaeans to begin to inquire into these subjects, and to admit the force of these evidences…For instance, every reader can understand the words, “He was led as a lamb to the slaughter (Is. 53:7),” and the whole of that plain prophecy, “With His stripes we are healed (Is. 53:5)” — “He bore our sins (Is. 53:6, 11).” We have a poetical gospel in the words: “They pierced my hands and feet. They can count all my bones. They look and stare upon me. They divided my garments among them, and cast lots on my vesture” (Ps. 22:16-18). The blind even may now see the fulfillment of the words: “All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn unto the Lord, and all kingdoms of the nations shall worship before Him” (Ps. 22:27)...5

Longing for the Redemption of Jerusalem

Lk 2:36-38 “There was one Anna, a prophetess (Joel 2:28) the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher who was of a great age, having lived with a husband seven years from her virginity, 37 and she had been a widow for about eighty-four years, who didn’t depart from the temple, worshipping with fastings and petitions night and day. 38 Coming up at that very hour, she gave thanks to the Lord, and spoke of him to all those who were looking for redemption in Jerusalem.” The longing for “redemption in Jerusalem” is likely an allusion to Is 52:9-10 which speaks of the coming redemption (specifically in Jerusalem) as if it is a completed event: “Break forth into joy, sing together, you waste places of Jerusalem; for Yahweh has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem. Yahweh has made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

SHOW NOTES

Articles
Isaiah’s Prophecy of the Messiah’s Birth, Shane Rosenthal
The Bethlehem Prophecy: An Exploration of Micah 5:2, Shane Rosenthal
Justin Martyr on the Importance of Fulfilled Prophecy, Shane Rosenthal
Proof of the Gospel (PDF), selections from Justin Martyr, Eusebius & Augustine
Finding Christ in All of Scripture (PDF), Shane Rosenthal
Why Should We Believe The Bible? (PDF), Shane Rosenthal
Israel: The Story Behind Jacob’s New Name, Shane Rosenthal
Archaeological Discoveries Related to Nebuchadnezzar II, Shane Rosenthal
A Pre-70 Date for the Gospels & Acts, Shane Rosenthal
The Implications of 70 AD on the Date of the Gospels & Acts, Shane Rosenthal
The Date of John’s Gospel, Revisited, Shane Rosenthal
Is Luke a Trustworthy Historian?, Sir William Ramsay

Books
Jesus in the Old Testament, Iain Duguid
Journeys with Jesus, Dennis Johnson
Echoes of Exodus: Tracing the Theme of Redemption, Roberts & Wilson
The Angel of the Lord, Matt Foreman & Doug Van Dorn
The Jewish Gospels, Daniel Boyarin
A Handbook on the Jewish Roots of the Gospels, Craig Evans
Proof of the Gospel, Eusebius of Caesarea
Luke’s Key Witness, Shane Rosenthal
The Messiah of the Targums, Michael B. Shepherd

Audio
Christmas: Legend or History? episode #64
The Messiah’s Redemptive Mission, episode #72
In the Beginning was the Word, episode #75 with John Ronning
The Angel of Yahweh, episode #70 with Foreman & Van Dorn
Did The Exodus Ever Happen? episode #69 with David Rohl
Jacob’s Ladder, episode #63 with Richard Bauckham and others
Babylon, episode #66
Decoding the Prophecies of Daniel, episode #68
Signs of the Messiah, episode #74 with Andreas Köstenberger
Jewish Views of the Messiah, episode #38 with Daniel Boyarin
Were Jews Expecting a Suffering Messiah? episode #47

Video
Discovering Bethsaida, Shane Rosenthal
Rethinking Luke’s Prologue, Shane Rosenthal
Prophecies of The Messiah’s Birth, You Can Handle The Truth

On this episode, Shane walks through selections from the first two chapters of Luke’s Gospel as he highlights the significance of Jesus’ birth and redemptive mission. He also takes time to reflect on the meaning of the numerous Old Testament prophecies and promises that are alluded to throughout Luke’s account of the things that have been “fulfilled among us.” Click here for detailed notes related to this episode.

SHOW NOTES

Articles
Detailed notes for this episode, Shane Rosenthal
Isaiah’s Prophecy of the Messiah’s Birth, Shane Rosenthal
The Bethlehem Prophecy: An Exploration of Micah 5:2, Shane Rosenthal
Justin Martyr on the Importance of Fulfilled Prophecy, Shane Rosenthal
Proof of the Gospel (PDF), selections from Justin Martyr, Eusebius & Augustine
Finding Christ in All of Scripture (PDF), Shane Rosenthal
Why Should We Believe The Bible? (PDF), Shane Rosenthal
Israel: The Story Behind Jacob’s New Name, Shane Rosenthal
Archaeological Discoveries Related to Nebuchadnezzar II, Shane Rosenthal
A Pre-70 Date for the Gospels & Acts, Shane Rosenthal
The Implications of 70 AD on the Date of the Gospels & Acts, Shane Rosenthal
The Date of John’s Gospel, Revisited, Shane Rosenthal
Is Luke a Trustworthy Historian?, Sir William Ramsay

Books
Jesus in the Old Testament, Iain Duguid
Journeys with Jesus, Dennis Johnson
Echoes of Exodus: Tracing the Theme of Redemption, Roberts & Wilson
The Angel of the Lord, Matt Foreman & Doug Van Dorn
The Jewish Gospels, Daniel Boyarin
A Handbook on the Jewish Roots of the Gospels, Craig Evans
Proof of the Gospel, Eusebius of Caesarea
Luke’s Key Witness, Shane Rosenthal

Audio
Christmas: Legend or History? episode #64
The Messiah’s Redemptive Mission, episode #72
In the Beginning was the Word, episode #75 with John Ronning
The Angel of Yahweh, episode #70 with Foreman & Van Dorn
Did The Exodus Ever Happen? episode #69 with David Rohl
Jacob’s Ladder, episode #63 with Richard Bauckham and others
Babylon, episode #66
Decoding the Prophecies of Daniel, episode #68
Signs of the Messiah, episode #74 with Andreas Köstenberger
Jewish Views of the Messiah, episode #38 with Daniel Boyarin

Video
Discovering Bethsaida, Shane Rosenthal
Rethinking Luke’s Prologue, Shane Rosenthal
Prophecies of The Messiah’s Birth, You Can Handle The Truth

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Well, I may be late to the game, but I finally created a Humble Skeptic YouTube channel. If you’ve been listening for a while, you’ll probably understand why I’ve resisted this. Though some of my interviews would certainly work in a video format, many of my episodes feature a variety of segments, sound effects, music, storytelling, etc., that are probably best left to the imagination—that is, without a large budget.

In the meantime, however, I decided to create a YouTube channel that features segments from various episodes, along with short video content. This way, people can discover my work when searching for content on YouTube, and fans will have plenty of material to share—starting with my recent Bethsaida video! In case you haven’t seen it yet, here’s the updated title and description:

Have Archaeologists Discovered Biblical Bethsaida?
In this video, Shane Rosenthal, host of The Humble Skeptic podcast, explores the archaeological dig site at El-Araj on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee and talks with some of the archaeologists working there. Could this be the true location of biblical Bethsaida, where Jesus performed many “mighty works”? What kinds of artifacts have been discovered at this site, and how can Bethsaida’s unique history help us to better appreciate the accuracy, reliability, and early Jewish character of the New Testament Gospels? WATCH this video to find out!

My apologies to those of you who were unable to view the earlier release of the Bethsaida video on Rumble. Because of that bug (which was tied to certain browsers), I decided not to continue posting content on that platform. Finally, a special thank you to Brandon Kimber, the director of The American Gospel documentary series, for adding my video to his streaming service, so if you’d prefer an alternative to YouTube, it can now be viewed (ad-free and higher quality) on AGTV.

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If you’d like to see more videos like this one, please let us know! To support this work, click on the green button below to make a tax-deductible donation or to upgrade to a paid subscription. For a gift of any amount, we’ll send you a pre-release PDF of Shane’s forthcoming book, Luke’s Key Witness. Thanks for your support!

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Articles
Et-Tell is Not Bethsaida, R. Steven Notley
The El-Eraj Excavation Project, project blog and website
Is El-Araj Bethsaida? Biblical Archaeology Report
Archaeologists Find Entreaty to St. Peter by the Sea of Galilee, Haaretz
Ruins revealed by wildfire boost Galilean site’s claim as Bethsaida, Times of Israel
New Inscription Confirms Bethsaida at El-Araj, Danny the Digger
An Interview with Dr. Steven Notley, Museum of the Bible
A Pre-70 Date for the Gospels & Acts, Shane Rosenthal
The Implications of 70 AD on the Date of the Gospels & Acts, Shane Rosenthal
The Date of John’s Gospel, Revisited, Shane Rosenthal
New Evidence for a Historical Moses, Shane Rosenthal
A Cuneiform Cylinder of Nebuchadnezzar II, Shane Rosenthal
Simon of Cyrene: An Archaeological Discovery, Shane Rosenthal
Water Into Wine: An Archaeological Assessment, Shane Rosenthal

Videos
Josh Gates Discovers Bethsaida, with R. Steven Notley
Buried Ruins in Bethsaida, Eric Metaxas & R. Steven Notley
The True Location of Bethsaida, Sergio & Rhoda in Israel
The Church of the Apostles in Galilee, Sergio & Rhoda in Israel
1,500-Year-Old Mosaic Discovered by the Sea of Galilee, Sergio & Rhoda in Israel
Archaeologist Achia Kohn-Tavor in Action, Sergio & Rhoda in Israel
The David Rohl Lectures, Patterns in Evidence
Rethinking Luke’s Prologue, Shane Rosenthal

Podcasts
Is El-Araj Ancient Bethsaida, R. Steven Notley & Motti Aviam
Stories of Jesus: Can They Be Trusted? #61 with Peter J. Williams
Are the Gospels History or Fiction? #52 with John Dickson
The Gospels As Eyewitness Testimony, #48 with Richard Bauckham
The Sinai Inscriptions, Michael S. Bar-Ron
Did The Exodus Ever Happen? #69 with David Rohl
Questioning Conventional Wisdom, #13 with David Rohl
The Jesus of History, Humble Skeptic #12

I was recently invited back for another conversation on You Can Handle the Truth, and this time we focused on prophecies of the Messiah’s birth found in Micah 5:2-4 and Isaiah 9:1-7. While the latter passage from Isaiah states that one who is called “Mighty God” will be born as a child and reign on David’s throne “forever,” the former text from the book of Micah specifically states that this individual will be born in the village of “Bethlehem.” Click here to WATCH.

Bethsaida Video Streaming Issues

We received a few reports that our recent Bethsaida video on Rumble isn’t playing for some users. If you have been unable to view the video, it is also now streaming via AGTV (click here to watch), and it will also be available via YouTube later today.

RELATED RESOURCES

Articles
Isaiah’s Prophecy of the Messiah’s Birth, Shane Rosenthal
The Bethlehem Prophecy: An Exploration of Micah 5:2, Shane Rosenthal
Finding Christ in All of Scripture (PDF), Shane Rosenthal
ISRAEL: The Story Behind Jacob’s New Name, Shane Rosenthal
Justin Martyr on the Importance of Fulfilled Prophecy, Shane Rosenthal
Why Should We Believe The Bible? (PDF), Shane Rosenthal

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Christmas: Legend or History?
What Child is This?
Jewish Views of the Messiah
How Did Jesus View the Old Testament?
Jacob’s Ladder
The Messiah’s Redemptive Mission

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Kathy Afzali invited me to join her for another episode of “You Can Handle the Truth,” and this time we focused on the story of Joseph from the book of Genesis. Though he was despised and rejected by his brothers, through God’s providence, he ended up at the right hand of all power and authority in Egypt and became the source of a great redemption. As we point out, this powerful story ends up foreshadowing many aspects of Jesus’ story as narrated in the New Testament Gospels.

To download a FREE comparison chart highlighting some of the fascinating parallels between the story of Joseph in Genesis and prominent themes in the Gospel of Jesus, use the link below:

Joseph & Jesus

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RELATED RESOURCES

Articles
God Remembered Rachel, Shane Rosenthal
ISRAEL: The Story Behind Jacob’s New Name, Shane Rosenthal
Finding Christ in All of Scripture (PDF), Shane Rosenthal
Justin Martyr on The Importance of Fulfilled Prophecy, Shane Rosenthal
The Tower of Babel, Shane Rosenthal
The Story of Us, Shane Rosenthal

Audio
John Lennox on the Story of Joseph, with Shane Rosenthal
The Search for the Historical Joseph, with David Rohl
Coming to Grips with the God of the Old Testament, with Tom Egger
The Angel of Yahweh, Shane Rosenthal with Van Dorn & Foreman
Wrestling with God, Shane Rosenthal with Doug Van Dorn & Matt Foreman
The Gospel of God’s Weakness, Shane Rosenthal with Van Dorn & Foreman
How to Read & Interpret the Bible, Shane Rosenthal with Mike Brown
How Did Jesus View the OT? Shane Rosenthal with Jason DeRouchie
Jacob’s Ladder, Shane Rosenthal with Richard Bauckham and Michael Horton
Blessed in the Garments of the Firstborn, Shane Rosenthal & Ian Duguid

Video
Jacob Wrestles with God, You Can Handle the Truth
Jacob’s Ladder, You Can Handle the Truth
Scholars Are Rethinking The Date of John’s Gospel, You Can Handle the Truth
Who is Luke’s Key Witness? Shane Rosenthal & Frank Turek

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In the locust wind comes a rattle and hum
Jacob wrestled the angel, and the angel was overcome

— U2, “Bullet The Blue Sky” from The Joshua Tree (1987)

In his widely acclaimed book, We Who Wrestle With God (2024), Jordan Peterson discussed the significance of a curious scene found in Genesis 32:

On the edge of his homeland—on the very border between who he is now and who he was; on the verge of facing all the remaining consequences of who he was—Jacob of course wrestles with God, as we all do when we face the most difficult of decisions. What path will we choose? What will we allow, or call upon, to guide us? What spirit will possess us in our decision? The wrestling partner contending with Jacob is first presented as a man, but later revealed as God—the very God we wrestle with when attempting to make our difficult way forward. And who are the truly chosen people, according to this account? All those who wrestle with God honestly and forthright and prevail. Jacob sustains some genuine damage in the contest, as we are all likely to do when the most difficult decisions of our life present themselves, but he comes out of the battle firm in his conviction to do right. He fords the river, faces his estranged brother, atones for his past, and makes a productive and united peace-establishing, like the God he now worships, the order that is good. This agonizing decision transforms him so completely that, like Abram, he now has a new identity, a new name: he is now Israel, he who wrestles with God.1

Dennis Prager also acknowledged the importance of this famous wrestling match in his 2019 commentary on the book of Genesis:

It is almost impossible to overstate the importance of the meaning of the name Israel. It means ‘struggle with God.’ That God would bestow this name on his people could only mean God assumes — even expects — those who believe in him to struggle with him. There are believers who think that struggling with God such as questioning, or even doubting God is impious. But God assures us it is not only not impious but expected, and it can be meritorious.2

According to both of these authors, the ultimate point of Genesis 32 is that all of us are called to wrestle with God. When, for example, we wrestle with the implications of his existence on our lives, and on ultimate issues such as meaning or morality, then like Israel’s famous patriarch, we will ll be forever changed. It goes without question that this way of reading the story interprets Jacob’s wrestling as a good thing, worthy of both commendation and emulation. But is this the best way to understand the story?

Jacob was, of course, born to wrestle. According to Gen 25:22, he emerged from his mother’s womb grasping his brother’s heel, which is why he was given the name “Yacov,” which literally means, “heel-grabber.” Viewed negatively, it could also be interpreted to mean “supplanter,” “cheater,” or “deceiver,” which, as you read through Genesis, are all apt descriptions of Jacob’s character. In Gen 27:35, for example, Isaac clearly indicates that Jacob had deceived him when he lied about his identity and cheated his brother out of his inheritance.

The odd thing about this part of the Genesis narrative is that Jacob’s deception ends up being the basis for Israel’s inheritance of the promised land. If the patriarch had not worn his brother’s garments and lied about his identity, he (and all his posterity with him) would have been destined to inherit the dry and unfruitful land of Edom. In other words, what Genesis seems to be telling us is that the people of Israel never actually had the right to inherit the promised land. It rightfully belonged to Isaac’s firstborn son, Esau. But is this the way that God’s promise to Abraham works? Is this how the people of Israel ended up inheriting the promised land—through Jacob’s deceptive tactics?

Why should Israel’s founding patriarch be presented in Genesis as a schemer and deceiver? What other nation in the history of the world has ever presented the founder of their nation in such a brutally honest way? Before answering these questions, it’s important to note that not all commentators see it this way. According to Dennis Prager, “Jacob’s behavior is often viewed as unscrupulous. But it is quite defensible.”3 Another writer admits that “Jacob was a deceiver,” but goes on to explain that “deception is not always sinful. In this case, Jacob was a righteous deceiver.”4

In my opinion, these writers are attempting to justify Jacob’s actions because they want him—or perhaps need him—to be the hero of the story. After all, this is the man whose name is changed to Israel. He’s the patriarch who embodies the future Jewish nation, so he must be the good guy! I’m convinced, however, that Jacob is a flawed character who stands in need of redemption. In the words of Walter Brueggemann:

The narrative about Jacob portrays Israel in its earthiest and most scandalous appearance in Genesis. This narrative is not edifying in any conventional religious or moral sense. Indeed, if one comes to it with such an agenda, the narrative is offensive. But for that very reason, the Jacob narrative is most lifelike…There is a realism about this text which challenges romantic piety…The narrator wants us to know that there is a dark power at work in the life of Jacob. He is born to a kind of restlessness, so that he must always insist, grasp, and exploit…It is not argued here that he is good or honest or respectable.5

Though Jacob is presented as a deceiver and schemer, in spite of all this, he is mysteriously granted access to the promised land. In Brueggemann’s view, this is “a visible expression of God’s remarkable graciousness in the face of conventional definitions of reality and prosperity. Jacob is a scandal from the beginning. The powerful grace of God is a scandal. It upsets the way we would organize life.”6 This emphasis on grace, however, only tells one side of the story, since the blessing given to Jacob came at a cost. After all, he was allowed to enter the promised land at the expense of his brother Esau. Whereas Jacob was blessed with the fruitful land of Canaan, Esau was exiled further east, to the dry and infertile region of Edom.

As I began to wade through various interpretations of Genesis 32, it appeared to me that Jacob was frequently portrayed as the hero of the story. His wrestling match, you see, was a time in which he struggled with God and refused to let him go until he secured his blessing. Thus, the practical lesson that many people draw from this is that all of us are called to wrestle with God. With Jacob, we too should cling to God and refuse to let him go until we receive our desired blessing.

The problem with this approach is that something concrete and real has been spiritualized, which, at the end of the day, is the only way the story could be transformed into “practical application.” But when we take a close look at Genesis 32, Jacob wasn’t struggling intellectually with the implications of God’s existence or wrestling with questions of meaning or morality. In fact, he wasn’t even praying in this part of the narrative. A close study of the passages reveals that he was simply fighting for his life after being physically attacked in the dark. The fact that his name was changed to “Israel” is an important clue that the story isn’t about you or me, or how any of us can achieve victory in this life.

Since this is the first time the name “Israel” appears in the Bible, it must be important—but why? If you’re familiar with this part of Genesis, you’ll recall that Jacob was returning to the Promised Land after fleeing to Haran for twenty years after his brother had threatened to kill him for stealing his birthright. And surprisingly, as he made his way back, God was the last thing on Jacob’s mind—in fact, he appears to have been preoccupied with a different Lord altogether. According to Genesis 32:4-5, Jacob instructed his servants to send a message to his brother Esau, saying: “Thus you shall say to my lord Esau: Thus says your servant Jacob, ‘I have sojourned with Laban and stayed until now. I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, male servants, and female servants. I have sent to tell my lord, in order that I may find favor (חֵ֖ן) in your sight.’”

The Hebrew word חֵ֖ן can also be rendered “grace.” So, ironically, Jacob is focused here, not on Yahweh, but on the grace and favor of Esau. And when he hears back from his servants that his brother is coming with 400 men, Jacob is greatly afraid, and prays to God for deliverance, since in particular he fears that Esau “might come and attack me, the mothers with the children.”

Later, in verses 13-15, Jacob sends hundreds of cows, goats, and camels as an “offering” to his brother. Basically, he’s attempting to appease his brother’s anger, so that he will be accepted (Gen 32:20). Interestingly enough, this word acceptance is actually the same word we find in back in Gen 4:7, when Cain was told by God, “If you do well, will you not be accepted?” Since Cain did not end up doing what was right, but murdered his brother, he was later exiled to the land “east of Eden” (Gen 4:16). But did Jacob do what was right? Certainly not! He sinned against both his father and his brother. So why did God invite him to return to the promised land back in Gen 28 (cf. v. 15). Shouldn’t he, like Cain, be exiled from the place of God’s dwelling because of his sins? The point I believe we’re meant to see, over and over again, is that while Jacob deserves to be exiled, it’s out of God’s inexplicable mercy and grace that he’s been invited to share in the blessings of the Abrahamic promise.

Notice what happens in Gen 32:22 and following: “That night, Jacob arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. He took them and sent them across the stream, and everything else that he had. And Jacob was left alone.” Why does he do all this? Because he is currently afraid that his brother will come and attack him (Gen 32:11). He had already divided up his servants so that Esau would encounter wave after wave of gifts designed to turn away his anger, but just in case his brother was not appeased, he decided to move his wives and children out of harm’s way, to the opposite side of the river.

Now, in verse 24, we’re told that “A man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day.” When he was attacked in the middle of the night, what do you suppose would have gone through Jacob’s mind? It’s not difficult to guess. Based on all that we’ve been told by the narrator, he would no doubt assume that Esau finally caught up with him. In their helpful book Echoes of Exodus, Alastair Roberts & Andrew Wilson write that “It is very possible that, fording a river in the dark, Jacob thought that the man he was wrestling actually was Esau (whom he was scared of meeting)…which might explain his desperation to find out the man’s name. Only as dawn is about to break does Jacob realize that he has been wrestling with God himself.”7 John Lennox argues something similar in his book on the life of Joseph:

Jacob lingered behind and, alone in the darkness, no doubt with increasing trepidation, imagined that the next person he’d encounter will be Esau. He had presumably decided, maybe to protect his family, that he must face Esau alone. Yet he was not alone. For without warning, in the middle of the night, he found himself under surprise attack…He probably thought at first that it was his brother Esau who had failed to be modified by the gifts and had now come to fight him. His future will be decided by hand-to-hand combat in the night…Yet as the wrestling progressed, it slowly dawned on Jacob that there was something very strange about the encounter…No, this strange opponent was not Esau. It was someone altogether different.8

That Jacob initially thought he was wrestling his brother Esau is a rather fitting idea when we stop to realize that he’s been doing this very thing throughout the course of his life. Even in the womb, Jacob had wrestled with Esau. But in verse 25, we’re given the first clue that Jacob’s unnamed assailant is someone else. “When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him.” Though this man was not able to prevail against Jacob, he seems to have had the supernatural ability to dislocate a hip by a mere touch. Now it was completely dark, so Jacob may not have been aware of what had just happened. From his perspective, perhaps all he knew was that his hip was suddenly dislocated. In verse 26, the unidentified man says, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” Jacob then replies, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

At this point, can we really argue that Jacob is demanding a blessing from God? Have we found any clues yet that the patriarch actually knows the true identity of his wrestling partner? In fact, there’s evidence that Jacob is confused about his assailant’s identity all the way up to verse 29 when he asks the man to tell him his name. So if we take this knowledge back to verse 26, I think we have good reason to believe that Jacob believed he was still wrestling with his Esau. In short, this wrestling match would resolve the conflict once and for all, and he refused to let go of his brother until Esau relinquished the right of his firstborn status.

This was the thing he’d been striving for since the day he was born. By an accident of his birth, Esau won the blessing of firstborn status, and by means of deceitful tactics, Jacob wrested the blessing from his brother (which is why Jacob was so afraid). Now that he has been attacked in the dark (just as he had feared he would be), Jacob is convinced that he must solve this conflict once and for all—by force!9

But then in verse 27, the unidentified man inquires of Jacob, saying, “What is your name?” “Jacob,” he replied—likely with some degree of hesitation. Here, I think we’re meant to consider the significance of this question in light of Jacob’s earlier deception. Back in Gen. 27:18-19, Jacob went to his father dressed in his brother’s garments. When Isaac asked who was there, Jacob lied and said, “I am Esau, your firstborn.” This, you see, was the falsehood that had enabled Jacob to secure the blessing from his brother in the first place. And here in this scene, as he is re-entering the land of promise (which was Esau’s by natural rights), God (in the form of a man) appears to Jacob and asks him to come clean about his true identity. Perhaps we can even say that he was giving Jacob a taste of his own medicine by attacking him in the dark. Just as Jacob tricked his blind father, Jacob himself is tricked in the dark into believing that Esau had finally arrived, just as he feared.

In verse 28, the man tells the patriarch, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” Jacob’s response to this announcement shows that he was completely perplexed by this statement. Even though he was told that he had striven with God, he asks the man to tell him his name. And in response to this question, God replies, “Why is it that you ask my name?’ And there he blessed him.”10 So, Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.”

According to the prophet Hosea, “In the womb [Jacob] took his brother by the heel; And in his manhood he had power with God. Indeed, he had power over the angel, and prevailed…” (Hos 12:3). Though Hosea clearly affirms that Jacob’s wrestling partner was God, mysteriously, he also identifies him as an angel, which is a good indication that this is no ordinary angel. Rather, this is the Angel of Yahweh, who appears in various passages throughout the Old Testament (cf. Gen 16:7, 22:11, 31:11-13, 48:16, Ex. 3:2, 14:19, 23:20-23, Jdg 2:1-5, 13:17-18, etc.). After reflecting on texts of this nature, the first century Jewish writer Philo noted that “God at times assumes the likeness of the angels…as far as appearance went, without changing his own real nature, for the advantage of him who was not, as yet, able to bear the sight of the true God…those who are unable to bear the sight of God, look upon his image, his Angel Word, as himself”11 (cf. Jn 1:1-3).

So let’s think about this for a minute. Are we really to conclude that Jacob obtained the blessing (for himself and his posterity) because of his amazing wrestling abilities? Is Jacob stronger than God? Of course, he isn’t. Jacob wasn’t blessed because of his strength or his tenacity. Instead, when he stopped to consider what had happened—that he had unknowingly been fighting with his creator—he was shocked and said, “I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered” (Gen 32:30). If this really was God human form, then he could have conquered Jacob with a single word or touch. And therefore, the only solution to this bizarre passage is to say that Jacob obtained his blessing, not because of his superhuman strength, but rather, because God, in his gracious providence, allowed it to happen.

Recall once again the principle discussed earlier, that Jacob received the Abrahamic blessing at the expense of his brother Esau, who, as a result of his brother’s treachery, ended up inheriting the infertile desert region of Edom. It seems more than a little strange that Jacob should be awarded the promised land as a result of his deceitful tactics. But perhaps here in chapter 32, God will set things right. Yet, what we find instead is that God allows Jacob to prevail over him in this unexpected wrestling match. And this is the scene in which the patriarch is given the new name, “Israel.” This is how the people of Israel were granted access to the promised land. It all comes down to this moment in redemptive history, which points not to Jacob’s strength, but to God’s weakness and condescending grace (1 Cor 1:25).

In his commentary on this passage, Augustine offered the following insight:

Jacob held his brother’s foot who preceded him in his birth, and…because he held his brother’s heel, he was called Jacob, that is, “supplanter.” And afterwards…the Angel wrestled with him in the way. What comparison can there be between an Angel’s and a man’s strength? Therefore it is a mystery, a sacrament, a prophecy, a figure; let us therefore understand it. For consider the manner of the struggle too. As he wrestled, Jacob prevailed against the Angel. Some high meaning is here. And when the man had prevailed against the Angel, he…kept hold of Him whom he had conquered [saying], “I will not let you go, unless you bless me.” When the conqueror was blessed by the Conquered, Christ was prefigured. So then that Angel, who is understood to be the Lord Jesus, said to Jacob, “You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel shall your name be”…Such great power had this Conquered One, that a single touch to Jacob’s thigh, made him lame. It was then by His Own will that He was conquered. For He “had power to lay down” His strength, “and He had power to take it up again.” He was not angry at being conquered, just as he was not angry at being crucified.12

I’m convinced that Augustine was on to something here. Because of the events of Genesis 32, the descendants of Jacob would later come to be known as “the people of Israel.” In other words, this is a monumentally significant passage in the history of redemption, which is a fact that is often overlooked by many modern commentators. So are we really to believe that the main point of this passage is that God’s people should pray with tenacity and refuse to give up until they get their desired blessing? Surely there’s more to the story than obtaining our best life now?

Though most contemporary writers and scholars suggest that Jacob’s new name Israel, means “he who struggles with God,” notice what we find when we take a look at the way much older translations rendered verse 28 of Genesis 32:

Greek Septuagint (LXX): “Thy name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name; for thou hast prevailed with God, and shalt be mighty with men.”

Aramaic Targum: “Your name will not be called Jacob anymore, but Israel, for you are great before the Lord and with men, and have overcome.”

Latin Vulgate: “Your name will not be called Jacob, but Israel, for if you have been strong against God, how much more will you prevail against men?”

Syriac Peshitta: “Your name will no longer be called Jacob but Israel because you exercised strength with an Angel, and with men you have been granted power.”

In each of the above cases, the word Israel was interpreted to mean, not “one who struggles with God,” but rather, “one who prevails over God.” But this interpretation only serves to highlight the strangeness of Jacob’s inexplicable victory. Though he had won the wrestling match, Jacob did so without realizing that he had actually been victorious over God himself. But how can a man defeat God? The only way this is possible is if God himself allows it to happen, just as a father may sometimes allow himself to be defeated while playfully wrestling with his own children. When Jacob finally realized that God was his wrestling partner, that’s when he ended up confessing that his life had been “delivered.”

This is why I am convinced that Augustine’s interpretation is worth considering. According to Jacob’s confession, he didn’t actually defeat God by his own strength and tenacity. Instead, in that moment, he realized that he had actually been rescued. The fact that his name was changed to Israel is therefore playful and unexpected—something meant to inspire curiosity, reflection, and wonder. Jacob is now Israel, the man who defeated God in a wrestling match!

In a sermon on Psalm 45 Augustine added that when Jacob “wrestled with the Angel, and ‘prevailed,’ and had been blessed by Him over whom he prevailed, his named was changed, so that he was called ‘Israel’; just as the people of Israel ‘prevailed’ against Christ, so as to crucify Him, and nevertheless were (in those who believed in Christ) blessed by Him over whom they prevailed.”13 He also taught something similar in a sermon on Psalm 80:

For when others said ‘If he is the Son of God, let him come down from the cross,’ He seemed to have no power: the persecutor had power over him: and he showed this in advance when Jacob too prevailed over the angel. A great sacrament! He was conquered, and blessed the conqueror. Conquered, because he willed it; in flesh weak, in majesty strong...Having been crucified in weakness, he rises in power.”14

The fact that Jacob was renamed Israel just as he was re-entering the promised land is also significant. This story helps us to see that from the very beginning of the story, the people of Israel were permitted to enter God’s country, not because they deserved it, but because of God’s gracious invitation (cf. Dt 9:4). But this story also hints at something greater yet to come. Though Jacob is just one man, here in this mysterious encounter, he seems to embody the actions of the future nation. In the fullness of time, Israel’s leaders would end up rejecting (Is 53:3) the very one who came to redeem all mankind (Is 52:9-10). Nevertheless, what they meant for evil, God ordained for good in order to bring about a great redemption (Gen 50:20, Acts 2:22-23).

In John chapter 11, there’s a report of a man standing up during a meeting of the Sanhedrin and saying, “If we let Jesus go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.” Caiaphas, the high priest, then responded by saying, “Don’t you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish?” This is what Genesis 32 is ultimately hinting at. Like the famous patriarch, the children of Israel are still found striving, scheming, and plotting (Mt 26:4; cf. Ps 2:1-3). Fearing the Romans more than God himself (Gen 32:11), the leaders of the Sanhedrin had no clue that the person they were about to arrest was the Lord of all creation, robed in flesh. After all, “he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him” (Is. 53:2).

By delivering him over to be crucified, these men believed they were securing for themselves the ability to remain in the promised land. And yet, it was through this act of treachery that anyone is granted access to the ultimate land of rest. According to Augustine, all of this was foreshadowed in Genesis 32.

At the end of the day, this story is not about the power of Jacob’s striving or grasping, because he is not the hero of this story. Jesus, the one who “did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped” (Phil 2:6), is the focus of Genesis 32. At this point, I should be clear that I’m not advocating a form of typology, since in the standard Christian interpretation of this passage, it was Jesus himself who appeared to Jacob by the Jabbok River. In other words, he wasn’t merely hinted at in this scene but personally showed up and did some of the hinting! In his comments about this passage, Clement of Alexandria wrote that “Jacob called the name of the place, ‘Face of God’…The face of God is the Word by whom God is manifested and made known.”15 If, according to Ex 33:20, no one can see God’s face and live, how is it that Jacob survived? This is explained more fully in the New Testament: “No one has ever seen God,” John says in his opening prologue, “the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known” (Jn 1:18).

The best way to account for the mysterious events recorded in Genesis 32 is to focus on the way those themes are ultimately resolved in the greater story of redemption. According to Lk 24:27, Jesus specifically taught his disciples to read the Old Testament this way, “beginning with Moses.” Because all of us are like Jacob, none of us has the right to enter God’s country standing on his own merit. As Isaiah says, “All we like sheep have gone astray…” (Is 53:6). However, if like Jacob we wear the garments of the firstborn, the garments of the one who did have the right to inherit the land, if we put on his robe (Is 61:10, Lk 15:22), then, and only then, will we be granted access to the ultimate land of rest. But of course, all this comes at a cost. Jesus was cursed so that we could be blessed. In order that we could be brought near, he was exiled “outside the camp” (Heb. 13:12-13). He died that we may live.

Shane Rosenthal is the founder and host of The Humble Skeptic podcast. He was one of the original creators of the White Horse Inn radio broadcast, which he also hosted from 2019-2021, and has written numerous articles for various sites and publications, including TableTalk, Modern Reformation, Core Christianity, Heidelblog, and others. An earlier version of this article was published on the White Horse Inn blog back in 2021.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Articles
Finding Christ in All of Scripture (PDF), Shane Rosenthal
Justin Martyr on the Importance of Fulfilled Prophecy, Shane Rosenthal
Isaiah’s Prophecy of the Messiah’s Birth, Shane Rosenthal
The Bethlehem Prophecy: An Exploration of Micah 5:2, Shane Rosenthal
The Date of John’s Gospel, Revisited, Shane Rosenthal
The Implications of 70 AD on the Gospels & Acts, Shane Rosenthal
A Pre-70 Date for the Gospels & Acts, Shane Rosenthal

Podcast
The Angel of Yahweh, Shane Rosenthal with Van Dorn & Foreman
How to Read & Interpret the Bible, Shane Rosenthal with Mike Brown
How Did Jesus View the OT? Shane Rosenthal with Jason DeRouchie
Jacob’s Ladder, Shane Rosenthal with Richard Bauckham and Michael Horton
Babylon, Shane Rosenthal
Decoding The Prophecies of Daniel, with Daniel Boyarin & Craig Evans

Video
Jacob Wrestles with God, You Can Handle the Truth
Who is Luke’s Key Witness? Shane Rosenthal & Frank Turek

This short extract is taken from Our Jerusalem: An American Family in the Holy Land, 1881-1949 by Bertha Spafford Vester (1950).

Jacob Eliahu was…born in Ramallah, a village about twelve miles north of Jerusalem…Later, he took our name and assumed great responsibilities in the American Colony as Jacob Spafford. The year before our arrival, when Jacob was sixteen…his imagination was fired by learning about the subterranean tunnel in the Ophal Hill that had been excavated by King Hezekiah to bring water inside the threatened city (2 Kings 20:20). On the approach of Sennacherib, Hezekiah diverted the spring through the tunnel that pierces the hill sinuously and empties its waters into the Pool of Siloam; by covering up the spring the water was thus insured for the city but made inaccessible to the enemies (2 Chr 32:1-4)…The tunnel…is supposed to be haunted by a dragon or [malevolent spirit]. Even in biblical times, Nehemiah referred to it as “the Dragon Well” (Neh 2:13).

I recently decided to explore this haunted tunnel for myself during my recent trip to Israel. Click the play button to see what I discovered…

Nevertheless, Jacob determined to explore the tunnel. Because of its reputation for being haunted, he had some trouble persuading his friend Sampson, a boy about his own age, to explore it with him, but at last he was persuaded. The boys kept their plan a profound secret. They had no idea of the height or width or length of the tunnel, nor how deep the water [was, so] they prepared floats with candles and matches attached, and tied these around their necks with strings.

Jacob started from the Pool of Siloam side while Sampson entered from the [opposite direction, and the] plan was to meet in the middle. Jacob found himself in total darkness and muddy water up to his chin. It was cold and drafty in the tunnel; his candle blew out, his float with the matches submerged in the water, and he could not relight the candle. But he kept on, guiding his way by keeping his hand on the damp stone wall and feeling under his fingertips the marks of ancient chisels going forward, from right to left…Jacob, feeling his way, suddenly was conscious that the chisel marks had changed and were now going from left to right. He realized he must be in the exact place where the King’s workmen had met under the city. Carefully, he felt all around the walls, and was certain that his fingers detected an inscription chiseled in the stone.

He hurried through the watery tunnel to tell Sampson. A point of light shone ahead and he knew that he must have reached the other end…He did not know Sampson had long since abandoned his friend and gone back to school. Jacob rose out of the pool, dripping muddy water and half blind from the dark tunnel, and dimly perceived many figures about. Among them was a lad about Sampson’s size. Jacob clutched him, crying: “Sampson, I have succeeded!”

It was not Sampson but a peasant boy, who thought the [demon] of the tunnel had captured him, and collapsed into the water in a dead faint. The women about the pool, filling their jars with water and doing their washing, nearly tore Jacob to pieces. He ran for his life, followed by their screamed curses. When he reached school, he confessed the escapade to the headmaster. He expected punishment. Instead, his report of an inscription in the Siloam tunnel caused a sensation in the school and throughout Jerusalem.

Plans were soon afoot to investigate, but before they were completed a Greek [individual] with an eye to financial gain entered the tunnel by night and blasted the inscription out of the solid rock, breaking it in the process. Before he was able to spirit it away, the Turkish authorities captured him. He paid for the theft, and the inscription is now in the museum at Istanbul, with the crack plainly across it.

The inscription is not on a separate piece of stone but crudely cut in the wall, very likely by one of the workmen. Its translation was published by the Palestine Exploration Fund Quarterly Statement for July 1881:

Behold the excavation. Now this has been the history of the excavation. While the workmen were still lifting up the pick, each toward his neighbor, and while three cubits still remained to be cut through, each heard the voice of the other who called to his neighbor, since there was an excess of rock on the right hand and on the left. And on the day of the excavation, the workmen struck each to meet his neighbor, pick against pick, and there flowed the waters from the spring to the pool for a thousand two hundred cubits, and a hundred cubits was the height of the rock over the head of the workmen.

Professor Sayce, the great archaeological authority, described the Siloam Inscription as the oldest record of Biblical Hebrew yet discovered…My foster brother often told the thrilling story of the Siloam Inscription [but] seldom mentioned the fact, well known to archaeologists, that he was that boy [who discovered it].1

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FYI, I did eventually find light at the end of the tunnel!

TOP 10 Episodes of The Humble Skeptic

01 Is Faith Irrational?
02 The Pilot Episode: Was My Dad a Character in Piano Man?
03 Is Faith A Feeling?
04 Is Faith Blind?
05 How Did Jesus View the Old Testament?
06 Did the Exodus Ever Happen?
07 Did Josephus Ever Mention Jesus?
08 Faith Founded on Facts
08 Christian Narcissism
10 Locating Golgotha

Here are two videos I created about this fascinating artifact!

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Throughout his various writing projects, J. Warner Wallace encourages his readers to study the Gospels forensically—that is, to always be on the lookout for evidence, either of deception on the one hand, or of authentic eyewitness testimony on the other. On this episode, Shane talks with him about some of the evidence he discovered when he read the Gospels for the first time and which ultimately led to his conversion to the Christian faith. They also discuss issues related to the dating of the four Gospels and some of the interpretive possibilities related to identifying Luke’s Theophilus. For more information about J. Warner Wallace, visit his website coldcasechristianity.com

During this episode, Shane referenced his recent webinar on the prologue of Luke’s Gospel. A video recording of this presentation is available here for paid subscribers. To upgrade to a paid subscription, click here.

SHOW NOTES

Articles
Why I Know The Gospels Were Written Early, J. Warner Wallace
The Date of John’s Gospel, Revisited, Shane Rosenthal
The Implications of 70 AD, Shane Rosenthal
A Pre-70 Date for the Gospels & Acts, Shane Rosenthal
Who is Theophilus? Notes to Ep. #79, Peter Bolt and others
How to Detect Deception, Shane Rosenthal
The Authenticity & Genuineness of The Fourth Gospel, J.B. Lightfoot
Authenticating The Fourth Gospel, Shane Rosenthal
Is Luke a Trustworthy Historian? Sir William Ramsay
Outside The Gospels, What Can We Know About Jesus? Shane Rosenthal
Can We Trust Luke’s History of the Early Jesus Movement? Shane Rosenthal
On Faith & History, Shane Rosenthal

Episodes
Dealing with Discrepancies, Episode #57 with J. Warner Wallace
The Case for Early Gospels, Cold Case Christianity podcast
Luke, Theophilus & Joanna, Episode #80 with Jim Sibley
Who is Theophilus? Episode #79 with Peter Bolt
Did Josephus Ever Mention Jesus? Episode #77 with T.C. Schmidt
Jesus in Josephus & Other Ancient Texts, Episode #78 with T.C. Schmidt
The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony, Episode #48 with Richard Bauckham
Faith Founded on Facts, Episode #15 with Lennox, Bauckham, and others
Stories of Jesus: Can They Be Trusted? Episode. #61 with Peter J. Williams
Are the Gospels History or Fiction? Episode #52 with John Dickson
Questioning Your Faith, Episode #21 with Fikrit Bocek, pastor of Izmir, Turkey
Death, Ghosts & Views of the Afterlife, Episode #31 with Michael McClymond
The Gospel Creed, Episode #9

Books
Cold Case Christianity, J. Warner Wallace
The Truth in True Crime, J. Warner Wallace
Forensic Faith, J. Warner Wallace
Person of Interest, J. Warner Wallace
Jesus & The Eyewitnesses, Richard Bauckham
Religion on Trial, Craig Parton
Testimonies to the Truth, Lydia McGrew
Can We Trust The Gospels? Peter J. Williams
Redating the New Testament, John A.T. Robinson
Redating Matthew, Mark & Luke, John Wenham
Rethinking the Dates of the New Testament, Jonathan Bernier
Luke’s Key Witness, Shane Rosenthal

Videos
Can You Trust Bible Manuscripts? J. Warner Wallace
Has the Bible Changed Over Time? J. Warner Wallace
Does Christianity Have Evidence? J. Warner Wallace
Is Jesus in the Old Testament? J. Warner Wallace

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Kathy Afzali recently invited me to record another episode of You Can Handle the Truth! This time around, we spent our time discussing the numerous Old Testament themes, particularly in Genesis and Exodus, that are found throughout the Gospel of John. If you’ve ever wondered how the Old Testament connects to the New, this deep dive is for you! To WATCH this episode, click the image above or use the following links to LISTEN via Apple or Spotify.

RELATED RESOURCES

Episodes
Jacob’s Ladder, Ep. #63 with Richard Bauckham & Michael Horton
How Did Jesus View the Old Testament? Ep. #76 with Jason Derouchie
In The Beginning Was the Word, Ep. #75 with John Ronning
The Messiah’s Redemptive Mission, Ep. #72
The Angel of Yahweh, Ep. #70 with Matt Foreman & Doug Van Dorn
Babylon, Ep. #66
Decoding The Prophecies of Daniel, Ep. #68
The Earliest Gospel, Ep. #46 with Mike Brown
How to Read & Interpret the Bible, Ep. #37 with Mike Brown
The Big Picture, Ep. #26 with J. Daniel Hays

Articles
Finding Christ in All of Scripture, Shane Rosenthal (12-page PDF resource)
New Evidence for a Historical Moses, Shane Rosenthal
What is the Most Important Thing Taught in the Bible?, Shane Rosenthal
A New Way of Reading Scripture, Shane Rosenthal
Sprinkled Nations & Speechless Kings, Shane Rosenthal
Why Should We Believe The Bible? (PDF), Shane Rosenthal

Recent Episodes
Ep. 80 • Luke, Theophilus & Joanna with Jim Sibley
Ep. 79 • Who is Theophilus? with Peter. Bolt
Ep. 78 • Jesus in Josephus & Other Ancient Texts, with T.C. Schmidt
Ep. 77 • Did Josephus Ever Mention Jesus? with T.C. Schmidt

Rethinking the Prologue of Luke’s Gospel

If you’d like to watch the video of my recent webinar on the topic of Luke’s opening prologue, it is now available for subscribers (simply click the image below).

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After reflecting on the meaning and significance of Luke’s prologue over the past few months, my view of Luke’s role as an eyewitness has taken a dramatic turn. According to most scholars, Luke was not in Judea during the time of Jesus but later became a disciple of the apostles. In this view, Luke’s Gospel, therefore, is not a record of things he personally witnessed, but instead should be seen as a narrative he composed after interviewing all the key witnesses. Though it’s certainly true that Luke calls attention to the testimony of various eyewitnesses who had written narratives about Jesus, nowhere in the prologue does he indicate that he was a generation removed from those events, or that he was exclusively dependent on those written narratives. In fact, right there in his opening verse, Luke refers to “the things that have been fulfilled among us.”

So, what are the implications of those words? In using the first person plural, was Luke including himself as a member of the group among whom Jesus fulfilled the OT promises about the coming Messiah? Notice the way this same phrase is used in the prologue of John’s Gospel. In verse 14, we’re told that “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us…” Now, in John’s case, we know that he included himself as a witness since he went on to say, “We have seen his glory.” Furthermore, he specifically appeals to his own eyewitness testimony at various places throughout his narrative, and particularly at the end, in which he says, “This is the disciple who is bearing witness about these things, and who has written these things…”

We also find this phrase in Acts 1 in Peter’s speech to the eleven about finding a replacement for Judas. He was to be selected from “one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning with the baptism of John. In light of these examples, what are we to conclude about Luke’s use of this phrase in his prologue to his Gospel? What did he mean when he spoke of “the things that have been fulfilled among us?” Do these words imply that he, too, witnessed at least some of the events in the life of Jesus?

These are questions I recently explored during a one-hour webinar. If you’d like to watch the video recording of this presentation, you’ll find the link below when you upgrade to a paid subscription. You’ll also receive a pre-release copy of my book, Luke’s Key Witness, and other resources.

To view this presentation, click here to become a paid subscriber

When you upgrade to a paid subscription, you’ll be able to view Shane’s webinar below, download a PDF of his lecture notes, and read numerous quotes from scholars over the past two centuries who have advocated this way of reading Luke’s prologue.

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