John Phinehas Markham

I am pleased to announce the birth of John Phinehas Markham at 10.55pm on the evening of 10th March 2013, Mother’s Day, weighing 8lb 3.5oz. Mother, father, baby and older brother are all well :-)

He is called John after:

  • John the Apostle, who wrote the Gospel of John, the Epistles of John and the Book of Revelation, all of which provide invaluable divinely-inspired guidance to the church;
  • John Calvin, whose Biblical scholarship and preaching underpinned much of the Reformation, that glorious time when half the world rediscovered the truth of salvation by faith;
  • John Wycliffe, one of the forerunners of that Reformation, who created and directed the first translation of the Bible into vernacular English;
  • G. C. John Rotter, Ruth’s grandfather, a godly man who served as an engineer in World War II and brought Ruth’s father up in the faith;
  • Admiral John Markham, second son of Archbishop William Markham (after whom his brother is named), who served his country in the navy and then became MP for Portsmouth.

He is called Phinehas after the priest whose rather striking story (pun intended) is told in the Biblical book of Numbers, chapter 25. God’s and our approval of that Phinehas may surprise or shock some; I’ve written a little more elsewhere about why we think he is a wonderful person to be named after.

To my eyes, John looks nothing like his brother (and so not much like me either), so we’ll have to see if he is as different in personality also!

16 thoughts on “John Phinehas Markham

  1. Great to hear the good news of John’s arrival. Great photos, great names. Congratulations to you all, and God’s richest blessings.
    love Paula and Peter

  2. Thank you for your exciting news . . . and the reasons for the choice of names.
    May He bless you, John, and those close to you, as you start on your journey in life;
    Paul R F

  3. Congratulations and best wishes to all the family.

    As it happens Psalm 106:30 came up this week in my random-verse-of-Psalms program :)

  4. Many congratulations! John Phinehas is a cool name, and I hope everything continues to go well for your now expanded family.

    I was taught that the John who wrote Revelation is a different John from the one who wrote the Gospel. Interesting that your church regards them as the same person!

  5. Congrats to you and Ruth and welcome to John. I believe that having 2 very different kids is a great joy! I’m sure William is eager to play with his little brother.

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  7. I think that’s most likely (e.g. the letters and the gospel have a very similar style to my eyes) but unless the Bible explicitly says it was the same guy (and I don’t think it does) it’s not an article of faith :-)

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