Dark Side of the Moon

“I am giving you a new commandment, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, that you also love one another.  By this all people will know that you are My disciples: if you have love for one another.”  John 13:34-35  NASB New – Yeshua says, in the Greek text, “I am giving you a new commandment.”  But…

What’s New?

For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “But the righteous man shall live by faith.”  Romans 1:17  NASB 1995 Is revealed – Paul has this tendency to write run-on Greek sentences.  In fact, the opening of Ephesians is one long sentence which we break up…

Unbelieving Faith

“Behold, as for the proud one, his soul is not right within him; but the righteous will live by his faith.”  Habakkuk 2:4 NASB Faith – Years ago we spent a lot of time examining this critical verse from Habakkuk, cited by Paul as the summary of the letter to the Romans (if you want to review, try…

Opposites

“Behold, as for the proud one, his soul is not right within him; but the righteous will live by his faith.” Habakkuk 2:4 NASB Proud one – The NASB translation attempts to capture the idiomatic meaning of a phrase that literally says, “behold, swollen not straight his nephesh (person).” “Not straight” is the Hebrew lo…

Small Additions (2)

For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “But the righteous man shall live by faith.”   Romans 1:17 NASB The/man – Now that we’ve taken a longer look at the addition of the definite article, we need to pay attention to the addition of the word…

Pulling Back the Covers

For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “But the righteous man shall live by faith.”   Romans 1:17 NASB Revealed – The Greek verb translated “is revealed” is apokaluptetai. This is present tense – an on-going process. Notice that “is revealed” implies something new. This is…

Grammatical Theology

Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith.  Habakkuk 2:4  ESV By his faith – Paul made this verse one of the most important citations in the New Testament when he quoted the prophet Habakkuk as the summary of the letter to the…

Paul’s Summation (4)

“Behold, his soul is puffed up, it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith.”  Habakkuk 2:4  ESV Faith – Finally we come to the most crucial term – faith.  Once again we must turn to the Hebrew background.  The Hebrew stem is ‘aman.  It means, “to confirm, support, uphold,…

Paul’s Summation (3)

“Behold, his soul is puffed up, it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith.”  Habakkuk 2:4  ESV Righteous – What does it mean to say, “He is righteous”?  Would you answer, “That means he has a right relationship with God”?  Answers like this are common among Christians, but maybe…

Paul’s Summation (2)

“Behold, his soul is puffed up, it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith.”  Habakkuk 2:4  ESV Puffed up – Let’s get the Greek out.  Neither Habakkuk nor Paul nor God Himself use the word “soul.”  The Hebrew is nephesh.  We have the English translation “soul” because of the…