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Genesis Marks the Spot

Raiding the ivory tower of biblical theology without ransacking our faith.

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189
July 24, 2026

When Refuge Becomes Bondage: Exodus 1–2 - Episode 189

Egypt preserved the family of Jacob during the famine. By the beginning of Exodus, however, that place of refuge has become a place of bondage. What happens when a sheltering order turns against the life it once protected? In this episode, we move from the end of Genesis into Exodus 1–2 and examine Egypt as a provisional refuge that becomes an anti-refuge. Pharaoh interprets Israel’s fruitfulness as a security threat, reorganizing Egyptian society around fear, forced labor, control, and event
188
July 17, 2026

Refuge on the Road: Abraham, Jacob, and Joseph - Episode 188

Refuge in Scripture is not always a visibly safe place. Sometimes it is a promise carried through darkness, a sanctuary encountered on the road, or a means of preservation recognized only after the danger has passed. This episode follows the theme of refuge through Abraham, Jacob, and Joseph. Genesis 15 presents covenant as God’s pledge to preserve a future Abraham cannot secure for himself. Jacob’s story shows God keeping a morally complicated fugitive through exile, danger, and eventual rec
187
July 10, 2026

I Am Your Shield: Refuge in Genesis - Episode 187

What does it mean to call God our refuge? The image can be comforting, but the biblical theme is more complicated than a quiet place of safety. Refuge appears where life, promise, family, or future is genuinely threatened—and not every hiding place leads toward God. This episode begins tracing refuge and hiddenness through Genesis using frame semantics. Adam and Eve hide among the trees, but they are hiding from the wrong person. Cain receives protection without having all the consequences of
186
July 3, 2026

Atonement Beyond Penal Substitution - Episode 186

This episode gathers together the main threads from the recent series on penal substitutionary atonement, or PSA (episodes 177 through 185). Using frame semantics, Carey revisits the major pieces of the conversation from wrath and judgment to justice and forgiveness, looping in substitution and representation and the broader meaning of atonement in Christ. The episode argues that the biblical picture does not produce a mechanism of penalty transfer, nor does it produce a true substitution
185
June 26, 2026

Death Cannot Stop New Creation: Galatians 3 and the Curse - Episode 185

What does Paul mean when he says that Christ “became a curse for us” in Galatians 3:13? This passage is often pulled into atonement debates as though Paul were making a direct statement about God punishing Jesus instead of us. But Galatians 3 does not stand alone. It belongs inside Paul’s whole argument about resurrection, deliverance from the present evil age, slavery, Torah, Abraham’s promise, the Spirit, sonship, inheritance, and new creation. In this episode, Carey walks through Galati
184
June 19, 2026

The Divine Council Without the gods: Atonement and Glorification - Episode 184

What is atonement actually for? After several episodes working through substitution, penalty, wrath, ransom, and sin-bearing, this episode steps back to ask the larger question. If atonement is not only about what Christ saves us from, then what does Christ save us for? Carey looks at atonement in its broad sense of at-one-ment: reconciliation, restored communion, and the bringing together of what has been fractured. That means the conversation cannot be limited to legal status, guilt remo

Recent Blog Posts

Jan. 16, 2026

Hellfire and Judgment Study Guide

This study guide accompanies my episode on eschatological fire—the Bible’s “Day of the Lord” imagery as judgment, justice, and new creation. If you’ve ever noticed how quickly conversations about fire in Scripture collapse into “hellfire” being a fi…
Nov. 20, 2025

God is a Consuming Fire: How “Glory” and “Fire” Frames Help You Read the Bible

If you’ve been around church for a while, you’ve heard about God's glory, maybe scratched your head wondering what, exactly it was. And you've probably heard the line: “Our God is a consuming fire.” For some of us, that lands like a threat. Fo…
Sept. 15, 2025

Not the Author of Evil: How the Bible Holds Sovereignty and Agency Together

In episode 60, Who Causes Sickness? - Episode 060. I explored the question: "Who/what causes sickness?" One perspective that has been prevalent throughout Christian history is the notion that Satan, as a biblical entity, may be involved in causing s…

About the Host

Carey Griffel Profile Photo
Carey Griffel

Carey Griffel has a Masters of Biblical Studies with Redemption Seminary and is passionate about teaching about the Bible from a biblical theology perspective with a healthy dose of creative thinking thrown in to the mix.
Carey can be found on Instagram and Facebook. She has her own Facebook discussion group for her podcast and is an administrator and moderator of several other FB groups, such as Reading Genesis 50 Times and Divine Council Worldview, official group of Dr. Michael Heiser.

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