Posts by Kenneth Berding

Kenneth Berding

Kenneth Berding is a professor of New Testament at Talbot School of Theology. He is an author of various books, some academic (such as Polycarp and Paul), some semi-academic (such as What Are Spiritual Gifts? Rethinking the Conventional View), others for-the-classroom (such as Sing and Learn New Testament Greek or The Apostolic Fathers: A Narrative Introduction), and still others for-the-church (such as Walking in the Spirit or Bible Revival: Recommitting Ourselves to One Book). He has published articles in such journals as the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, Vigiliae Christianae, New Testament Studies, and Journal of Early Christian Studies. He is the director of . Before coming to Talbot, Berding was a church planter in the Middle East and taught at Nyack College just north of New York City. He has a heart for God and ministry, has written many worship songs, and has served as a worship pastor in local church ministry.

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The Good Book Blog
How Do You Identify?
Kenneth Berding — November 18, 2020
If you fundamentally identify yourself as being in Christ—as opposed to all the other options for self-identification—you will regularly respond...
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Let’s Just Get Through This
Kenneth Berding — October 23, 2020
Here’s a thought experiment. Suppose that you possessed a magic ball from which dangled a tiny magic thread. Furthermore, suppose that when you...
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Diagnosing Pride: A Checklist
Kenneth Berding — October 21, 2020
How can you identify that you have a problem with pride? Following are 14 diagnostic questions that I recently adapted from a set of “rules”...
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Ephesians 1:3-14 Re-ordered Twice
Kenneth Berding — October 12, 2020
Following is a little exercise I did while working on my new devotional book on union with Christ (what I refer to as inChristness in the book). I...
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Bible Memorization and the Problem of Changing Bible Translations
Kenneth Berding — September 28, 2020
This post will address two sets of questions: 1) What translation should I use when I memorize the Bible? and 2) What if I have already memorized a...
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How to Live an "In Christ" Life
A New Book Announcement and How to Use the Book
Kenneth Berding — September 21, 2020
I am excited to let you know that my newest book, How to Live an ‘In Christ’ Life: 100 Devotional Readings on Union with Christ has just been...
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Our Hope is in Christ, Not in a Vaccine
Kenneth Berding — August 24, 2020
Gritting your way through the current crisis on the assumption that the world will be back to normal sometime next year is inadequate.
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My Favorite Passage on the Christian Life from George Müller
Kenneth Berding — August 12, 2020
Here is my favorite passage from George Müller, the man of prayer and leader of orphan houses (1805-1898). This reading was originally a single...
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What Does “It is Well with My Soul” Mean?
Kenneth Berding — August 03, 2020
This post is not about the historical background to this wonderful hymn, though knowing the background is touching and makes the hymn more...
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Was Horatio Spafford a False Teacher When He Wrote “It is Well with My Soul”?
Kenneth Berding — August 03, 2020
In 1873, Horatio Spafford penned the lyrics of one of the most-loved hymns of all time, It is Well with My Soul. But should we sing a song by one...
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How to Decide in the Gray Areas
Kenneth Berding — July 15, 2020
We are living in a time characterized by difficult decision-making. Some of those decisions are in gray areas. Whether deciding about posting a...
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America First? Reject America? Early Christians Offer a Third Way
Kenneth Berding — July 03, 2020
This week, citizens of the United States are pondering once again what it means to be American. Personally, I am deeply grateful that God permitted...
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Quoting Scripture in the Night
Kenneth Berding — June 22, 2020
I stumbled upon a new spiritual discipline this past year. It isn’t new in the sense that no one has ever done it before—quite to the contrary (see...
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An Ancient Prayer to Help Us Pray into Our Cultural Moment
Kenneth Berding — June 15, 2020
Sometimes we need to spiritually step outside of our historical and cultural setting to adequately engage the demands of our own cultural moment....
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What Does God Require of Me in this Moment?
Kenneth Berding — June 05, 2020
What does the LORD require of me during these days of turmoil?
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Spiritual Conversations at Home
Kenneth Berding — May 25, 2020
I once spoke with a teenager who had returned from a spiritually impacting week at a Christian camp. During that week the Lord had profoundly...
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Civil Disobedience in an Age of Coronavirus
Kenneth Berding — May 08, 2020
Unless we have biblically-derived reasons for doing something contrary to what the government has ordered, we should seek to faithfully carry out whatever has been directed, even when doing so makes us uncomfortable or appears unreasonable.
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Faithfulness in the Little Things
Kenneth Berding — April 28, 2020
During the present coronavirus crisis, many of us (excepting some, such as our heroic front-line workers and people raising small children) have...
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One Way to Pray About the Coronavirus Crisis
Kenneth Berding — April 08, 2020
Many people I know are praying for family members who are currently ill, immunocompromised or facing other critical risks from COVID-19. Others I...
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A List of Psalms to Memorize
Kenneth Berding — April 03, 2020
Would you like to use some of the extra time you have right now to memorize Scripture? I have previously written about the importance of memorizing...
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How Did Early Christians Respond to Plagues?
Historical Reflections as the Coronavirus Spreads
Kenneth Berding — March 16, 2020
COVID-19 is spreading across the globe as I write these words. In my section of the world, people are stockpiling hand sanitizers, facemasks,...
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How Much Should Christians Touch?
A Book Review of Handle with Care, by Lore Ferguson Wilbert
Kenneth Berding — March 02, 2020
I have just finished reading Lore Ferguson Wilbert’s newly published book, "Handle with Care: How Jesus Redeems the Power of Touch in Life and...
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Humility and Prayer
Kenneth Berding — February 17, 2020
Humility supports prayer, and prayer supports humility. First, humility supports prayer. Suppose that I entered into a time of prayer arrogantly....
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The Problem with Principlizing: How Do We Move From Biblical Text to Application?
Kenneth Berding — January 28, 2020
When you read the Bible, how do you connect what you read to practical life? When you preach or teach from the Bible, how do you move from a...
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The Ministry-Impact Gap
Kenneth Berding — January 09, 2020
Today, my friend Chris Grace[1]introduced me to a concept that recent social psychologists refer to as “The Liking Gap.” In simple terms, when...