31 - Lance Ralston - Church History

31 - Lance Ralston - Church History

Author: Exploring Bible Words in Greek and Hebrew July 7, 2025 Duration: 39:45

Surprise! We’ve got an extra bonus episode of Summer Bammerhab! (Summerhab?)

This episode is a wide-ranging interview with pastor, podcaster and church historian Lance Ralston, however we’re still gonna start out focusing on a specific word, this time it is echaritōsen from Ephesians 1:6, and it means “He has made acceptable.”

It comes from the root Greek word charis which is among the most difficult words to translate into English simply because the concept it describes is just so complex, nuanced and vast. So translators have used so many English words to try to capture all of the meanings of this one Greek word: acceptable, benefit, favor, gift, grace, gracious, joy, liberality, pleasure, thanksworthy, thankful, credit, or gracious work.

But before I explain too much, I want to turn to the conversation I had with Pastor Lance Ralston about this word, and much more. Pastor Lance’s amazing podcast on church history was one of my main inspirations for creating Bammerhab, and if you haven’t heard that podcast then you absolutely have to add it to your list!

Anyway, I had a really great time talking with Lance and if you get even a fraction of the joy I got from this conversation, then you all are gonna love it!

This episode digs deeper into “echaritōsen” (ἐχαρίτωσεν meaning ‘He has made us accepted’) in Ephesians 1:6.

Eph. 1:6 - “To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.” (KJV)

Mentioned:

Pastor Lance Ralston: www.sanctorum.us/lances-bio/

Pastor David Guzik: calvarychapel.com/posts/author/david_guzik/

Enduring Word Free Online Commentaries: enduringword.com

Pastor Chuck Smith: calvarychapel.com/chuck-smith

History of the Christian Church podcast: www.sanctorum.us

History of Rome Podcast by Mike Duncan: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-history-of-rome/id261654474

12 Byzantine Rulers by Lars Brownworth: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/12-byzantine-rulers-the-history-of-the-byzantine-empire/id73802687

Jan Žižka: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_%C5%BDi%C5%BEka

Jan Hus - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Hus

Nestorius - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nestorius

Church of the East - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_the_East

Church History - Lance Ralston (YouTube Channel): youtube.com/watch?v=M2i53ZgcnPk

Into His Image (Lance Ralston’s Personal You Tube channel): youtu.be/3G0s05G7XPE

Books Mentioned:

Marriage As It Was Meant To Be by Lance Ralston

The Lost History of Christianity by Phillip Jenkins

Voyager from Xanadu: Rabban Sauma and the First Journey from China to the West by Morris Rossabi

My Links:

Bammerhab Site: www.bammerhab.com

Bammerhab Substack: bammerhab.substack.com

SDG Morgan’s Substack: sdgmorgan.substack.com

Thanks to:

• Aaron Woodard for Graphic Design

• Dave Allam of Allam House for advanced audio techniques: sound.allamhouse.com

• Bible Hub for Greek / Hebrew hypertext links

• Pixabay for sound effects (h/t jimena contreras & playsound)



This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bammerhab.substack.com

The journey through ancient texts often hinges on a single, potent term, a concept that loses dimension in translation. Bammerhab-Words from the Word is a quiet, focused excavation of those foundational terms. Each episode is a deep dive into a specific Greek or Hebrew word from scripture, peeling back layers of historical context, cultural nuance, and original meaning. This isn't about rushed readings or surface-level commentary; it's a deliberate unpacking, led by a writer with a scholar's curiosity and a storyteller's touch. You'll hear how a word's usage in everyday ancient life informs its theological weight, discovering connections and insights that typically remain hidden in plain sight. The aim is to enrich personal study and reflection by returning to the source material, offering listeners a more textured, grounded understanding of familiar passages. This podcast lives in the details, believing that a closer look at the building blocks of language can lead to a fuller appreciation of the text itself. For anyone interested in the intersection of faith, language, and history, these explorations provide substantive, contemplative material. Find more from this exploration of Bible words in Greek and Hebrew on the associated Substack page.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 50

Bammerhab: Bible Explainer
Podcast Episodes
62 - God’s Judgment (ft. Beth Matheson) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 22:23
God slowly carves out judgement and deliverance using the same sharp tool: Time itself.Time unveils reality. Time is a chisel. Though it tarries, we must wait for it because waiting is carving out an image.I’m very grate…
61 - Janet & Geoff Benge - Write the Vision [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 40:31
Habakkuk asked God a question: Why is evil winning?God gave him an answer through a vision. Habakkuk asked with words, God answered with a vision. God also knew that many other would want to know the same answer to the s…
60 - Paul in Troy (ft. Olivia Oster) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 17:18
Did you know Paul’s life changed twice in the same city? No, it wasn’t Jerusalem. It wasn’t Damascus. It was Troy.Troy? Yup, like the Trojan Horse Troy. Troy itself was gone, but the entire region was named after it: Tro…
59 - Matt Kennedy - Sound Teaching [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 41:14
At the end of Paul’s last letter that he composed on earth, he prophesied that sound doctrine would become rarer and rarer as time progressed. Indeed he said that many people wouldn’t allow it to be taught. They would fi…
58 - Laodicea (ft. Victoria Murgante) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 25:58
Jesus didn’t swear, or use coarse language. Neither did Paul. But they did use very forceful injunctions to express strong emotions, and the word they used was ophelon. It can be translated as “Oh, How I wish!”…But that’…
57 - Philadelphia! (ft. Rachael Watson) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 15:28
Surprising!Remember back in 2020? One day it was normal, the next day everything everywhere was shut down… for two weeks, or so they said. That was pretty sudden huh? Not much warning?In this penultimate church of Revela…
56 - Kori Frazier Morgan - Imagination [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 43:38
How should a Christian approach imagination? Imagination isn’t a virtue or a vice, it’s just the standard equipment of all humankind, made in God’s image. We have imagination because God has imagination. But while His im…
55 - Sardis (ft. G.K. Chesterton) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 23:54
The Greek word Gregoron in Revelation 3:2 means “Watch out!” or “Wake Up!”. (It’s also where we get the name Gregory.)This episode is the fifth of seven in a little miniseries about the seven churches that Jesus directly…
54 - Sandra Lewis - Creation [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 45:06
Yatsar is what a potter does to clay. Yatsar is also what God did to us. Yatsar is a cognate for another Hebrew which means to squeeze, to push, to pressure and to be distressed.This is because the image of formation tha…
53 - Thyatira (ft. Rebecca Gomez) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 31:21
This episode is the midpoint of the miniseries about the seven churches that Jesus directly addressed. And this one gets heavy, and it is longest letter, the heaviest letter to a tiny little church that wasn’t in a major…