Todd Scacewater

Todd (PhD, Hermeneutics) serves with Wycliffe Bible Translators as a professor of international studies at Dallas International University.

Enter to Win Our Colossians Greek Reading Videos!

July 20, 2015

Todd Scacewater

Enter here to win one of five sets of Colossians Greek Reading Videos! (A description of the videos is below in the giveaway widget.)

These videos are at the heart of what we at Exegetical Tools want to do for biblical language learners, namely, assist and empower you to continue improving your biblical language skills as you use them personally and in your teaching or preaching. Unfortunately, I’m not independently wealthy and it took me around 160 hours to complete these Colossians videos, so the only way….

Keep Your Greek: Choose the Right Bible

July 20, 2015

Todd Scacewater

There are several different types of Greek Bibles and all have strengths and weaknesses–for both the disciplined and the undisciplined among us.

Winners of the $500 Greek Resource Giveaway

July 18, 2015

Todd Scacewater

Five lucky Greek nerds have won themselves $100 in free Greek resources, including David Black’s Learn to Read New Testament Greek and three of the Exegetical Guide to the Greek New Testament books. All four of these books, which all five winners will receive, are published by B&H Academic and they sponsored the giveaway by offering them for free. Thanks to B&H for their generosity and desire to foster learning of the biblical languages….

Weekly Roundup July 17, 2015

July 17, 2015

Todd Scacewater

Eerdmans posted an interview with Alvin Plantinga about his new book Knowledge and Christian Belief.

I posted a summary (6,000 words) of G. K. Beale’s Handbook on the NT use of the OT over at Books At a Glance. If you haven’t signed up yet, try a free 30-day trial and read my summary of this fantastic resource.

We posted two new posts in our Greek Matters series, which looks at practical or devotional points we can take from the Greek that isn’t easily or at all apparent from the English translations. Check out Greek Matters: Colossians 1:3-5 and Christian Hope and Greek Matters: Colossians 1:9-12 and Pleasing God….

Greek Matters: Colossians 1:9-12 and Pleasing God

July 16, 2015

Todd Scacewater

How can we please God? Colossians 1:9-12 is a complex passage with lots of participles and prepositional phrases. One could translate each clause and read it well enough, but analyzing the paragraph as a whole enables us to see what the major idea of the passage is and how Paul develops that idea. After Paul tells his readers that he always thanks God for their faith, hope, and love, he continues on that basis (Διὰ τοῦτο, “because of this”) to say that he never ceases praying and asking “that you might be filled” (ἵνα πληρωθῆτε) with the knowledge of God’s will….

Galatians (Paideia Commentaries on the New Testament), by Peter Oakes

July 13, 2015

Todd Scacewater

This Galatians commentary is concise, well-informed, accessible, and obviously filled with an immense amount of research and thought – not only thought about Galatians’ theology, but also about methodology. Peter Oakes uses knowledge from various disciplines, such as archaeology, sociology, linguistics, and historical background to enlighten our reading of Galatians….

Land Center Young Scholars’ Competition

July 13, 2015

Todd Scacewater

Last Friday July 10, I participated in the Land Center Young Scholars’ Competition. This colloquium was a unique opportunity for graduate students to compete for prizes in front of an accomplished scholar in the field and receive generous but significantly helpful feedback. It was put on by the Land Center for Cultural Engagement at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Seven PhD students or recent PhD graduates presented papers on topics that intersected with their PhD emphasis and the area of faith, work, and economics. We turned in an academic paper before the competition, which was scored by two different philosophy professors from Southwestern….

Weekly Roundup July 10, 2015

July 10, 2015

Todd Scacewater

Blogs David Capes posted a video in which he discusses with his co-authors Rodney Reeves and E. Randolph Richards their forthcoming book Rediscovering Jesus: An Introduction to Biblical, Religious and Cultural Perspectives on Christ. Larry Hurtado announced the forthcoming third edition of his groundbreaking One God, One Lord: Early Christian Devotion and Ancient Jewish Monotheism (Bloomsbury T&T Clark, November 2015) The Zondervan Academic blog posted From Where Did God Bring Out the Israelites (Exod 20:2)? by Lee Fields as well…

Greek Matters: Colossians 1:3-5 and Christian Hope

July 9, 2015

Todd Scacewater

Εὐχαριστοῦμεν τῷ θεῷ πατρὶ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ πάντοτε περὶ ὑμῶν προσευχόμενοι, ἀκούσαντες τὴν πίστιν ὑμῶν ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ καὶ τὴν ἀγάπην ἣν ἔχετε εἰς πάντας τοὺς ἁγίους 5 διὰ τὴν ἐλπίδα τὴν ἀποκειμένην ὑμῖν ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς, ἣν προηκούσατε ἐν τῷ λόγῳ τῆς ἀληθείας τοῦ εὐαγγελίου
(Colossians 1:3-5)

In Colossians 1:3-5 we see Paul’s triad of faith, hope, and love. By sorting out what a particular prepositional phrase modifies, we discover something unique about Christian hope. The main idea of this section is the first verb, “We give thanks.” Paul then explains the reason why he and his co-workers give thanks: ἀκούσαντες (because we have heard) of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints….

Announcing Our Colossians Greek Reading Videos

July 8, 2015

Todd Scacewater

Today is the day that Exegetical Tools comes into its own and begins to realize a vision that began three years ago. I wanted this site to be a hub for biblical languages and exegesis, and three years ago I began making Greek Reading Videos.

After beginning my PhD program at Westminster, I simply ran out of time in the week and put the project on halt. When I began teaching Greek at Westminster, I found a good opportunity to begin creating Basic Greek Videos by recording my lectures after teaching a class. Hopefully, the Basic Greek Videos will be done by the end of this month.