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 Bible Fluency: Sing It, See It, Study It. 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
Why You Shouldn’t Tell your Children that Santa Claus is Real
Kenneth Berding — December 18, 2014
A few evenings ago, we hosted a delightful group of ten Biola students at our house for dinner. During dessert, we launched into a lively discussion about how we should celebrate Christmas as Christians. We discussed various sub-topics under this broader question, but we spent the largest portion of our time talking about how Christians should—and should not—talk to their children about Santa Claus.
The Good Book Blog
Spurgeon Comments on Whitefield's Preaching
Kenneth Berding — December 03, 2014
Charles Spurgeon’s words about the way Whitefield preached are worth pondering ...
The Good Book Blog
Funny Biblical Passages
Kenneth Berding — November 06, 2014
Sometimes I have to stop when I’m reading my Bible—and laugh. Let’s admit it; some passages are just plain funny. Here are some that my daughter Lydia and I collected together.
The Good Book Blog
Teaching Bible Fluency: Using Classes and Videos
Kenneth Berding — October 13, 2014
Are you as concerned about the growing problem of biblical illiteracy as I am? We Christians have more Bible-focused resources available to us than has any generation of Christians in the history of the world. Despite this we are literally—from a spiritual standpoint—starving ourselves to death. Would you like your church, adult Bible class, youth group, or small group to reach Bible fluency by pursuing an Old Testament Fluency in 12 Weeks class or a New Testament Fluency in 12 Weeks class using the free resources at biblefluency.com? Here’s how.
The Good Book Blog
Achieving Bible Fluency: Using Music, Visuals, and a Workbook
Kenneth Berding — October 07, 2014
What does it take to achieve Bible Fluency? In my next two posts I will guide you through how to use a brand new free resource called Bible Fluency: Sing it, See it, Study it, found at biblefluency.com. This first post seeks to answer the question: How can I use music, visuals, and a workbook to help me learn to think my way through the Bible?
The Good Book Blog
My 13-Year-Old Daughter’s Baptism Testimony
Kenneth Berding — September 16, 2014
This past Sunday (September 14, 2014), my fourth daughter, Ana, was baptized as a believer in Jesus Christ at Corona Del Mar beach with 15 or so others from Redemption Hill Church. We have heard from so many about the impact of her public testimony, so I thought that I might share it as an encouragement to you as well. The testimony is hers, written by her and read out before she was baptized.
The Good Book Blog
59 Important Questions You Must Ask a Missions Agency
Kenneth Berding — August 26, 2014
I recently came across an excellent list of questions that every missionary thinking of joining a missions agency should ask before signing up. This list, and the introductory paragraphs, were written by Dan Crane from the First Evangelical Free Church of Fullerton. They are reprinted with permission.
The Good Book Blog
How Can You Discern Whether an Overseer is “Free From the Love of Money”?
Kenneth Berding — August 06, 2014
One of the qualifications for an overseer/elder/pastor (all the same office in the Bible) is that he be “free from the love of money” (1 Tim. 3:3). Now suppose that you are on an elder board and seeking to know whether a new candidate for the office is in fact free from the love of money, how can you figure it out? Here are five useful diagnostic questions.
The Good Book Blog
A Short Book Review of One of the Longest Books I’ve Ever Read
Kenneth Berding — July 22, 2014
After six months of on-and-off reading, I have just completed N.T. Wright’s book, Paul and the Faithfulness of God. The book is 1660 pages long if you include the bibliography and indices. (If you don’t it’s only 50 pages long…just kidding.) Here are three things I liked about this two-volume book, and two things that I struggled with.
The Good Book Blog
What a Difference a Century and a Half Can Make!
Kenneth Berding — July 08, 2014
In 19th century England, Atheists knew more about the Bible than most Christians do today. So did Liberal Anglicans, Anglo-Catholics, Unitarians, and Agnostics. So claims Timothy Larsen in A People of One Book: The Bible and the Victorians (Oxford, 2011) ...
The Good Book Blog
“These Were My Thoughts On the Night I Thought I Would Die” - My Daughter’s Testimony
Kenneth Berding — June 24, 2014
Almost eleven months ago, my wife and I said a tearful goodbye to our young adult daughter Lydia just before she boarded a plane at the Los Angeles airport on her way to serve as a missionary nurse in Mindanao, Philippines ... About six weeks ago Lydia discovered that she had contracted typhoid fever, a very serious illness. Subsequently, she was hospitalized three times in Mindanao, first to treat the typhoid, then to rescue her during a life-threatening emergency related to the typhoid, then to treat sepsis, her second life-threatening emergency ...
Biola Magazine
The Crisis of Biblical Illiteracy
Christians used to memorize and meditate on the Bible. We don’t do that anymore, and in a sense we’re starving ourselves to death. A look at the problem, how we got here and what needs to change.
Kenneth Berding — May 29, 2014
Stacey Irvine ate almost nothing but chicken nuggets for 15 years. She never tasted fruits or vegetables. She occasionally supplemented her diet...
Biola Magazine
Five Tips for Better Bible Reading
Kenneth Berding — May 29, 2014
Want to get the most out of your Bible reading, better grasping what God wants you to understand in his Word? These five guidelines from Kenneth...
The Good Book Blog
Skills vs. Character: Which is More Important in Ministry Leaders?
Kenneth Berding — April 02, 2014
Have you ever noticed how often we rank skills over character? You’re seeking to hire someone for a job. Which is more important? Skills for the job, or the character of the one seeking the job? In almost every hiring situation, skills are the focus (though I have heard that Human Resources folks are increasingly Facebook and Instagram-stalking potential employees in an attempt to ascertain whatever they can about applicants’ private lives.) I would like to suggest that in Christian ministry, character should be weighted over skills.
The Good Book Blog
How Many Herods Are There in the Bible?
Kenneth Berding — March 03, 2014
In my last post (What Does The Fox Say? Who is the Fox Anyway?) I wrote about Herod Antipas. As I was writing, I realized that a lot of people get confused about who “Herod” is in the Bible. This isn’t surprising since there are actually six different (!) “Herods” in the New Testament, and they are all somehow related to each other. Here are thumbnail sketches to help you keep track of who’s who...
The Good Book Blog
What Does the Fox Say? Who is the Fox Anyway?
Kenneth Berding — February 05, 2014
The Fox is Herod Antipas. Jesus says so. If you don’t believe me, look at Luke 13:32. But what does this arrogant, sensual, and power-hungry tyrant say?
The Good Book Blog
Exponential Mentoring
Kenneth Berding — January 06, 2014
In an ideal world, all Christians would maintain three types of spiritual relationships as they walked through life. (Disclaimer: There have only been a couple times in my own life when I have had all three going at once, but this is still an ideal worth aiming for.)
The Good Book Blog
Does a Denial of a Historical Adam Impact Other Christian Doctrines?
Kenneth Berding — December 19, 2013
Yes. If you deny that Adam was a historical person it negatively impacts other Christian doctrines. An affirmation of the historicity of Adam positively and necessarily connects with a number of key Christian doctrines.
The Good Book Blog
“Into Him” and “In Him” in Ephesians 1: Should We Leave These Out When We Translate into English?
Kenneth Berding — December 09, 2013
A couple days ago I was reading Ephesians 1 in Greek during my morning Bible-reading time. As I read, I was drawn to two phrases that are clearly present in Greek but are often eliminated in English. The two expressions that get removed are “into him” (εἰς αὐτόν) in the middle of verse 5 and (“in him”) (ἐν αὐτῷ) at the end of verse 10. Presumably these expressions get cut because they are deemed unnecessarily repetitive.
The Good Book Blog
The Simplicity of My Mom's Faith in Christ
Kenneth Berding — November 12, 2013
My mom passed from this world into the presence of the Lord less than three weeks ago. Since she faced a long journey through early-onset Alzheimer’s Disease (a journey of twenty years from the time the disease was detectable), I am so glad—beyond what you can probably imagine—that my mom is now with the Lord, in a place of rest, and with all her mental faculties restored while she awaits the resurrection and restoration of her body. My dad, sister, brother, and I each spoke at Mom’s memorial service about her genuine love for others and her faith in Christ. I’d like to share with you the last part of what I shared at that service.
The Good Book Blog
A few things Christian families should know before they apply to adopt children out of the foster care system
Kenneth Berding — October 01, 2013
Three years ago, Trudi and I adopted two precious girls out of the Los Angeles County foster system. They are now 14 and 12 years old. We are deeply grateful for these precious young ladies God has brought into our family. But we encountered a few things that we wish someone had told us about foster-adoptions before we started the process. Here is a short list of issues that might be helpful for you to know if you’re considering embarking on such an adventure.
The Good Book Blog
What Am I Preaching on Sunday?
Kenneth Berding — September 19, 2013
Yesterday I spent about 45 minutes talking and praying with one of my current students. Four months ago he was invited to step into the role of youth pastor in his church, and now finds himself responsible for preparing and teaching a message every Friday and Sunday. Two messages a week! And this for someone who has only done a bit of preaching in the past… He shared with me (and I share this entire post with his permission) that the single hardest thing he has faced in his new role as youth pastor is the agonizing decision of what to preach each week.
The Good Book Blog
Every Bible Translation Does What?!
Kenneth Berding — September 04, 2013
Dave Brunn recently gave a gift to the English-speaking church in his book One Bible, Many Versions: Are All Translations Created Equal? (IVP, 2013). Dave Brunn is a professional translator and trainer of translator-wannabes within New Tribes Mission. To the best of my knowledge, he has never worked on an English-language translation project. His translational claim to fame is a translation of the Bible (done alongside dedicated national co-translators) into Lamogai, one of the multitude of languages in Papua New Guinea. Consequently, Dave Brunn brings an outsider’s perspective to our recent English translation battles. (You know what I’m talking about, the “mine is the best translation and all others are suspect” battles.) And his outsider’s perspective is clarifying and challenging. Here is a summary of the book, in the author’s own words (from pages 189-190), focusing on what translations share, rather than how they differ.
The Good Book Blog
Jesus is Worthy: And He Has the Right to Send our Children Overseas
Kenneth Berding — August 10, 2013
This week was a week of tears in the Berding household. We cried as we sent our oldest daughter, Lydia, overseas into a needy and difficult region of the world as an ambassador for Jesus Christ. She will be gone for at least one year, and is open to and actively praying about making a long-term commitment after that year. We cried before we sent her. And we cried afterwards. But we will not hinder her from going out. Quite to the contrary, Trudi and I are entirely supportive of the mission Lydia is on; she is going out with our full blessing. But many young people don’t enjoy the support of their parents as they depart for overseas service, and many never actually make it—in large part because their parents have opposed them. Their Christian parents…! Family opposition may be the number one reason young people with a call to overseas missions don’t ever arrive there. And this is a grave sin on the part of the parents.
The Good Book Blog
A Few Notes on "Blended" Worship Services
Kenneth Berding — August 02, 2013
Is it possible to successfully “blend” the hymns of the past with modern hymns and worship music in a single service? Let's talk about it.