Ryan McGraw

Nov 12, 2024 | booksataglance.com | Ryan McGraw

by Ryan M. McGrawAs a pastor, professor, and author, I am mildly obsessed with books about writing and communication. Writing is a form of communication, and all forms of communication are linked. People often think that they can speak well though they cannot write well. Conversely, reading a paper publicly is not really peaching or public speaking, but sharing a paper verbally. Speaking and writing are not the same, but they are cousins.

Sep 15, 2024 | booksataglance.com | Ryan McGraw

by Ryan M. McGrawThere is a growing healthy dissatisfaction today with reducing Bible study (and sermons) to history and grammar lessons. Scholars specifically, and Christians generally, are yearning to hear from God through his Word. This good instinct is leading many into recovering older Christian models of Bible reading in which people assumed that the Bible was God’s word, that the Spirit spoke to God’s people through it, and that reading was a spiritual exercise by spiritual people.

Sep 8, 2024 | booksataglance.com | Ryan McGraw

by Ryan M. McGrawChristians, who have read the New Testament, know intuitively that the whole Bible is about Christ. Yet relating the Old and New Testaments and finding him throughout Scripture often raises difficult issues. Is every OT text directly about Christ? If so, then how? Are there overarching reading strategies we should pick up to see Christ better?

Aug 20, 2024 | booksataglance.com | Ryan McGraw

by Ryan M. McGrawHow would we characterize the Protestant Reformation? Many today would answer with the five solas or perhaps even the later “five points of Calvinism.” More narrowly, sola Scriptura often rises to the surface, contrasting returning to the living Word of God with sitting in the stale traditions of Roman Catholicism. However, many modern Protestants forget that the reformers also sought to establish historical legitimacy.

Aug 19, 2024 | theaquilareport.com | Ryan McGraw

A worldwide church is a clear indicator that the Seed of the woman has crushed the serpent’s head, which should encourage us to pray and persevere in a world that is hostile to Christ and his gospel. Second, Paul told the church in Rome that “the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet” (Rom. 16:20). This statement takes Christ’s victory over Satan from the end of Genesis 3:15 and combines it with the separation of the woman’s seed and the serpent’s seed in the middle.