Author: Skip Moen, Ph.D.

  • Change of Address

    Their inner thought is that their houses are forever and their dwelling places to all generations; they have named their lands after their own names.  Psalm 49:11  NASB Houses/ dwelling places – Okay, so we know that all the habitations here on earth aren’t permanent.  Just like everything else, they will pass away.  The Roman Colosseum was meant to last…

  • Same Time, Same Station

    For he sees that even wise people die; the foolish and the stupid alike perish and leave their wealth to others.  Psalm 49:10  NASB Alike – “because the wise man, just like the fool, is not remembered forever; for, as the succeeding days roll by, both are forgotten.  Alas, the wise man dies, just like the fool” (Ecclesiastes 2:16…

  • Whatever It Costs

    For the redemption of his soul is priceless, and he should cease imagining forever—That he might live on eternally, that he might not undergo decay.  Psalm 49:8-9  NASB Priceless – What does a priceless work of art cost?  More than you have, that’s for sure.  But the question itself is nonsense.  What is priceless can’t be bought!  That’s the point…

  • SOL (Sorry, Out of Luck)

    No one can by any means redeem another or give God a ransom for him—  Psalm 49:7 NASB By any means – We looked at this verse some time ago.[1] On the surface, it completely overturns the penal theory of atonement, a theory that was articulated by Reformation theology and is typical of evangelical thinking today.  “Jesus paid it all” is a…

  • Plenty to Go Around

    Those who trust in their wealth and boast in the abundance of their riches?  Psalm 49:6  NASB Boast – If you read this verse in Hebrew, you’ll discover that “boast” is the last word in the text.  You’ll also discover that “those who trust” is the first word.  The verse creates a kind of verbal envelope.  First these people trust in wealth, then in the abundance…