The apostle Paul has gone down in history as a ‘prisoner of Christ’ (Phlm 1). However, the ramifications of this statement remain curiously under-explored. This article follows the logical implication of this phrase that if Paul is a prisoner, Christ is a jailer. Here as elsewhere, Paul demonstrates an understanding of God in terms associated with his own experiences of imprisonment. This article examines firstly the relationships between prisoners and jailers in ancient times, and the implications of Paul’s apparent placement of Christ in the role of incarcerator. Secondly, it discusses the imperial-carceral rhetoric in Paul’s letters, especially the Corinthian correspondence, and the ways in which Paul makes use of images of carceral subjugation to describe his own status in relation to God. Thirdly, it explores the idea, popular in early Christianity, of God and/or Christ as the ‘good jailer’, and the subversion of carceral language to denote protection, safety and refuge. Finally, it reflects on the theological implications of a carceral God, whether punitive or benevolent, and the liberatory potential – or lack thereof – of Paul’s words in a carcerally marked modern world.

The similarities between the Jericho Episode (Luke 19.1–10) and the second Messenger Speech in Euripides’ Bacchae (1043–152) are so extensive that the most probable explanation is the existence of a direct genetic dependence of the first story on the second. By making this reference, the author of the Gospel portrays the figure of Zacchaeus as a ‘converted Pentheus’, while by comparing Jesus to the cruel Dionysus, who punishes Pentheus for his sin, he reveals the mercy of the God of Israel in a new light.

In this short study, the syntactic structure of 1 Tim 4.1–3a is re-examined to address long-standing interpretative challenges regarding its apocalyptic warning against demonic teachings. A traditional reading of the passage, as reflected in many translations and commentaries, asserts that the opponents are accused of both forbidding marriage and mandating abstinence from certain foods. This interpretation often relies on invoking the phenomenon of zeugma to explain the syntax. However, this approach generates significant difficulties, particularly in reconciling the Greek text with the subsequent focus on dietary restrictions in 4.3b–5. The study proposes an alternative reading that resolves interpretative tensions, respects the text’s syntax and explains why the subsequent discussion does not address marriage prohibitions.

Markan scholars have paid inadequate attention to the literary/theological significance of Jesus’ resurrection. This article seeks to remediate this deficiency by situating Jesus’ resurrection within Mark’s principal theme: the hastening kingdom of God. In doing so, this analysis demonstrates how Mark, like other early Christian authors, reshaped Jewish resurrection hope, with its concordant belief in the restoration of Israel, to present Jesus’ resurrection as the inauguration of the kingdom of God.

Exegetes typically interpret ‘the elect lady’ (ἐκλεκτὴ κυρία) in 2 John 1 as symbolising ‘a church’. However, this article analyses the use of κυρία in ancient private letters and inscriptions, proposing that in 2 John, the title serves as a polite address for a woman leader, not a church. The use of the title κυρία in 2 John 1 is consistent with the epistolary convention addressing a woman recipient within a family context in ancient letters. In ancient private correspondence, if the letter writer and the recipient were well acquainted, it was feasible for the recipient to be unnamed with the address κυρία on the recto of the letter. In such cases, the name of κυρία could be written on the verso of the letter. The phrase ἐκκλησία κυρία in ancient civic inscriptions should not be interpreted as a symbolic representation of a community as a ‘lady’, but rather as a designation of a ‘regular (κυρία) assembly’. Consequently, our analysis leads to the conclusion that 2 John can be read as a letter of exhortation providing pastoral guidance to a woman leader.