The Bible Sojourner

In this episode of The Bible Sojourner, Dr. Peter Goeman surveys more than 2,000 years of biblical interpretation, from Jewish foundations through the early church, medieval period, Reformation, and modern era. Examining figures such as Philo, Origen, Augustine, Luther, and Calvin, he explores literal and allegorical approaches, the influence of philosophy and tradition, and why authorial intent matters for understanding Scripture....

When Jesus and the apostles quoted the Old Testament, did they preserve its original meaning or give it a new one? Furthermore, can we as Christians use the examples of Jesus and the Apostles to model our own reading of the Bible? In this episode, Peter Goeman examines what Jesus and Paul expected people to understand from Scripture. He surveys seven approaches to the New Testament’s use of the Old Testament and seven common ...

How did people in the Old Testament understand God’s Word, and what can their example teach Christians about interpreting the Bible today? In this third installment of the hermeneutics series, Dr. Peter Goeman examines an often overlooked starting point for biblical interpretation: how Old Testament believers understood and responded to God’s revelation.

From God’s covenant with Noah to Joseph’s confidence in...

If authorial intent determines the meaning of Scripture, how can we actually know what a biblical author intended to communicate? In this second episode of the Hermeneutics 101 series, we look at how the text gives us access to authorial intent through grammar, vocabulary, historical context, genre, and normal conventions of human communication. Along the way, we consider Humpty Dumpty’s famous approach to language, the diffe...

How can two people read the same passage of Scripture and reach entirely different conclusions? In the first episode of this Hermeneutics 101 series, Peter Goeman explains what hermeneutics is, how it differs from exegesis, and why interpretation is never as automatic as we might assume. He distinguishes meaning from application, considers whether the reader, text, or author controls meaning, and examines the problems with the idea...

Does the Old Testament really teach a future for national Israel? In this episode, Peter Goeman walks verse-by-verse through Jeremiah 32, arguing that one of the clearest prophetic passages in Scripture leaves little room to deny God's future restoration of Israel. Along the way, he examines church history, prophetic interpretation, the New Covenant, and why fulfilled prophecy provides the pattern for understanding prophecy that is...

Do these twenty questions expose fatal problems with dispensationalism? Critics argue that dispensational theology cannot adequately explain key Bible passages concerning Israel and the church, the kingdom of God, Daniel’s seventieth week, the pretribulation rapture, biblical prophecy, and the New Covenant. In this episode, Peter Goeman works rapidly through twenty common objections to dispensationalism and asks whether they ...

William Lane Craig recently explained why he no longer believes Revelation 20 describes a literal millennial reign of Christ. In this episode, Peter Goeman examines Craig’s arguments, his interpretation of the first resurrection, and his claim that premillennialism creates insurmountable theological problems.

Does Craig’s approach arise from careful biblical exegesis, or does he allow philosophical assumptions to overrid...

In this episode, Peter Goeman reviews Tucker Carlson’s interview with JD Hall on Christian Zionism, dispensationalism, Scofield, and Israel. Peter evaluates the major biblical and historical claims made in the interview, including the definition of Zionism, Genesis 12:3, Galatians 3, Darby, the Scofield Reference Bible, Oxford University Press, the Balfour Declaration, and claims about Ottoman treatment of Christians.

Time Sta...

Peter Goeman talks with Paul Weaver about biblical archaeology and his new book, Faith-Affirming Findings: 50 Archaeological Discoveries that Validate the Historicity and Reliability of Scripture. They discuss how archaeology helps illuminate the world of the Bible, strengthens confidence in Scripture, and answers common skeptical claims about figures and events such as David, Sennacherib, Caiaphas, Pontius Pilate, Luke, Paul, and ...

Peter Goeman examines Galatians 3:16 and Paul’s claim that the promises were made to Abraham and to his singular “offspring,” who is Christ. By tracing the argument back to Genesis 22:17–18, comparing translation differences, and interacting with C. John Collins and Andrew E. Steinmann, he explains why Paul’s reading is rooted in the Old Testament context and why Christ as the seed of Abraham does not ...

The Bible was originally written in Hebrew, Greek, and a little Aramaic. But if we have so many good English translations today, do the original languages still matter?

In this episode, we argue that Greek and Hebrew are not just academic extras for pastors and theologians. They are deeply connected to the health of the church, the clarity of Scripture, and the preservation of sound doctrine.

We’ll look at why the Reformers car...

How old was Isaac when Abraham took him to Mount Moriah in Genesis 22?

In this short episode of The Bible Sojourner, we take a fresh look at one of the most famous passages in the Old Testament and ask a question many readers have never really considered: was Isaac a small child, or was he much older than we often assume? Drawing from the chronological clues in Genesis, I walk through the biblical data and argue that Isaac was likel...

Was Peter really the undisputed leader of the early church—or does the New Testament point somewhere else?

In this episode of The Bible Sojourner, we walk through Will Varner’s provocative article, “Was James the First Pope?” and explore the biblical and historical evidence that James, the brother of Jesus, may have functioned as the central leader of the early church in a way many Christians have overlooked.

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How do progressive covenantalists understand Israel and the land promise?

In this episode of Bible Sojourner, Peter Goeman reviews comments from Stephen Wellum in a recent interview with Grant Castleberry. Peter interacts with the core claims of progressive Covenantalism and talks about many of the presuppositions involved.

The big questions in this discussion are these:

• How does progressive covenantalism understand the people of Is...

Does the modern state of Israel have any real connection to biblical Israel? In this episode of The Bible Sojourner, Peter Goeman works through that question by interacting with an article by Dr. Mike Vlach on the relationship between modern Israel and Israel in Scripture. The discussion addresses a major issue in current theology and culture: when people claim that modern Israel has no meaningful connection to biblical Israel, doe...

In this episode, Peter Goeman answers ten foundational definitional questions to help listeners better understand conversations about eschatology. He explains what eschatology is, outlines the major millennial views, and explores the meaning of the tribulation and the rapture. He also discusses why covenant theology and dispensationalism matter so much in end-times discussions, and why hermeneutics is often the real key behind many...

In this episode, Peter Goeman reviews three Catholic commentators and their critiques of dispensationalism. This breakdown comes from the following video:Catholicism and Dispensationalism, Part II: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_cWJ9COAJ8

Video referenced on Ezekiel's Temple sacrifices: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTD4x5-qij4

Time Stamps:

• 00:00 Introduction to the Catholicism and Hermeneutics
• 10:16 Introduction to Ken Hensle...

In this episode, we spend the first part discussing the issue of whether it is correct to say Jesus was a Jew (apparently, that's a topic up for debate nowadays). Then we spend the rest of the episode discussing whether the Bible has secret codes built into it. This discussion includes a fascinating discussion of the development of the Hebrew language.

Time Stamps:

• 00:00 Intro
• 02:30 Was Jesus a Jew?
• 16:39 Are Bible Codes Real?
• 21:3...