Word Work

But the word of the Lord abides forever.  1 Peter 1:25 and Isaiah 40:8  NASB Word – Since this New Testament reference is a quotation from an Old Testament verse, we can look at both the Greek and the Hebrew.  The Greek word is rhema.  The Hebrew word is dabar.  Both words mean “to speak,…

Motivating Presence

Let your moderation be known to all men:  the Lord is near.   Philippians 4:5  NASB Near – This is a funny sounding word in Greek – eggus.  It literally means “close or near.”  Therefore, our English translation looks just fine.  But Paul is a deeper thinker than pashat meanings.  He is making an allusion to…

More Than Fair

 Let your moderation be known to all men:  the Lord is near.   Philippians 4:5  NASB Moderation –  The Greek word here is epieikes.  It comes from the word eikos (meaning “fair or equitable”) but Paul adds epi to the beginning to make the word stronger.  With this addition, “moderation” probably does not convey the right…

Some Final Thoughts on Body and Soul

By now you have struggled through the implications of Matthew 10:28, Yeshua’s supposed endorsement of the “body-soul” dualism that we have been exploring for the last 4 days.  Perhaps we haven’t solved the riddle of the translation, but we have at least learned these few things: 1.  The “body-soul” or “body-mind-soul” or “body-spirit-soul” concepts found…

Losing Your Way (4)

And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.  Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.  Matthew 10:28  ESV Soul – Greek dualism proposes that Man consists of at least two parts:  body (soma) and soul (psyche).  According to Greek philosophical thinking following Plato, the…

Losing Your Way (3)

And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.  Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.  Matthew 10:28  ESV Body – In this verse, the translator of Yeshua’s comment uses the Greek word soma.  We might expect soma to be the substitute for basar (Hebrew:…

Losing Your Way (2)

And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.  Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.  Matthew 10:28  ESV Destroy – [WARNING:  This a long because the subject is complicated.]  Does Yeshua teach the destruction of the soul?  If He does, doesn’t this stand in…

Losing Your Way (1)

And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.  Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.  Matthew 10:28  ESV Destroy – It is my intention, over the next several days, to deal with the concept of body and soul.  We can begin with this verse…

Skip Forgot

Skip Forgot No, there isn’t anything wrong with the server today.  I just forgot to write a Today’s Word for today.  Frankly, I’m not surprised.  I’m feeling quite a bit of stress these days and am really near exhaustion.  I just forgot that July has 31 days.  That’s a pretty good indicator of how crazy my life…