Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son Genesis 22:10 NASB Knife – The ma’akelet is a special kind of knife – a knife used to slaughter sacrifices. In the Old Testament, it describes the instrument used to cut a person into pieces (Judges 19:29) and to prepare animals for…
the one who does not love does not know God for God is love 1 John 4:8 NASB Not – This is a harsh verse. It may not seem harsh because we are likely to modify its meaning. We want to feel better about our efforts to meet its demands, so we lessen the impact…
for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God to salvation Romans 1:16 AKJV Not ashamed – The Greek words are ouk and epaischunomai. Paul uses the word ouk for “not.” This word is very strong. It means “absolutely not” or “under no circumstances.” The other word…
He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty Proverbs 16:32 NASB Slow to anger – The Hebrew expression is erek apayim. It is a perfect match with the Greek makrothumia. Behind this expression the word ap, a word that describes the nostrils in breathing and the word erek which mean “long.” God…
love is patient 1 Corinthians 13:4 NASB Patient – The Greek word is makrothumeo. It comes from two older Greek nouns, makros meaning “long” (i.e. an extended temporal duration) and thumos meaning “passion.” We might think that this mean love has a passion that lasts. That seems very nice, the sort of thing we like…
“Do you wish to get well?” John 5:6 NASB To get well – Yeshua is making his way through the crowd at the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem. To do so he has to pass by a pool. Today, just like every day, it is surrounded by those who cling to life by a thread of…
to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against your soul 1 Peter 2:11 NASB Wage war – Strategy seems to be a big deal these days. There is military strategy in the war with terrorism. There is political strategy in the upcoming election. There is a strategy for reaching the world with the gospel. …
even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, for us to be holy and without blemish before Him in love, Ephesians 1:4 NASB Without blemish – In Greek, negative word constructions are sometimes made up of two combined parts. It is something like our English “un” as in “unfit” or…
Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy Jude 24 NASB Blameless – The English translation comes from a combined Greek word (amomous) meaning without spot or blemish. There are connections between this word and non-Christian sacrificial…
