Problem Pronouns

For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.  Colossians 1:13-14  NASB He/his – In recent dialogue these verses were used to prove that Yeshua’s death on the cross was for the atonement of our sins. …

The Fool’s God

For the LORD will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught.  Proverbs 3:26  ESV Confidence – The Hebrew verb for “to be foolish” is kasal.  Kesilut (stupidity) and kesil (fool) are both derivatives.  But so is kesel and kesel means confidence or hope.  How is this possible?  How can one word…

Functional Anarchy

that you keep the commandment without stain or reproach, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Timothy 6:14  NASB Commandment – In the Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, G. Schrenk makes the following observation: “In Pauline writings entole [commandment] always denotes an OT commandment except in 1 Tim. 6:14 . . .”[1] …

NEW AUDIO LECTURES

In South Africa I spoke about the Roman Empire in the first century, the Formation of the Christian Church, and Upside-Down Leadership.  Now these lectures are available on my website. Just go HERE where you will find the links. As a teaser, I have provided this brief 9-minute discussion for free about the meanings of words…

Pay Attention

I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate;  1 Timothy 6:13  NASB Good confession – Paul gives orders to Timothy.  Those orders still govern us because we are volunteers committed to the same way of life Paul…

The Cure (5)

Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.  Isaiah 1:17 ESV Learn – God expects you to learn to do good.  Does that mean you need to take a course in biblical ethics?  Does that mean you need a reference manual on moral choices?  Does that…

The Cure (4)

Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil,  Isaiah 1:16  ESV Cease – If removing evil was the same as not doing it anymore, then it would not be necessary to have two verbs connected to this idea.  But there are two verbs here. …

The Cure (3)

Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil,  Isaiah 1:16  ESV Remove – How can I remove my evil deeds?  Once done, aren’t they a permanent part of my own history?  How is it possible to extract them from who I am?  Isaiah offers…