Then they will cry out to the Lord, but He will not answer them. Instead, He will hide His face from them at that time because they have practiced evil deeds. Micah 3:4 NASB Hide His face – Hebrew is a tactile, idiomatic language. It uses common life experiences to describe crucial religious concepts. Salvation is described as a…
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 1 John 1:1 NIV This we proclaim – If you read this text in the NIV, you would immediately be confronted with a…
so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. Romans 8:4 NASB So that – Before we can figure out what the consequences of perí hamartías (“for sin” Hebrew ʾāšam) meant for Paul, we’ll need to determine who the pronoun refers…
Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. James 1:27 NASB Religion– A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away—we investigated thrēskeía, the Greek term James uses in this verse translated “religion.” The translation obscures some of the…
“Then I will give you shepherds after My own heart, who will feed you on knowledge and understanding.” Jeremiah 3:15 NASB Shepherds– Please don’t consider me a teacher. I’m not up to the task. I’m just an investigator, someone who explores the connections between culture and Scripture. I just am curious about things and I see all sorts of relationships…
Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world. James 1:27 NASB Religion – thrēskeía is the Greek term James uses in this verse. But our translation obscures some of the odd history of…
Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. 2 Timothy 1:13 NASB Sound words – Systematic theology, so essential for doctrine, was simply impossible before Alexander the Great. Why? Because systematic theology requires a special kind of theological dualism, that is, the separation of mind from…
When the accusers stood up, they began bringing charges against him not of such crimes as I was expecting, but they simply had some points of disagreement with him about their own religion and about a dead man, Jesus, whom Paul asserted to be alive. Acts 25:18-19 NASB Religion – Did you see the Tom…
So Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I observe that you are very religious in all respects. Acts 17:22 NASB Religious – We realize, of course, that Paul didn’t use the word “religious.” Why? Because the word “religion” didn’t exist in the first century. It came into being…
one Lord, one faith, one baptism, Ephesians 4:5 NASB One faith – “‘Religion’ comes from the Latin ligare, meaning to join or bind. Religion binds people within a group – Christian to Christian, Muslim to Muslin, Jew to Jew. More specifically, since some of the most bitter conflicts take place within a faith, it bonds…
