Author: Skip Moen, Ph.D.

  • Gardening (Rewind)

    “For your guilt teaches your mouth, and you choose the language of the crafty.”  Job 15:5  NASB Crafty– “Naked I came into the world” is another way to say that when I arrived I didn’t have a hidden agenda.  That’s what we learn from the phonetically similar Hebrew word ʿārôm in Genesis 2:25. Adam and Havvah were…

  • Speaking Your Mind

    Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.  Genesis 2:7  NASB A living being– In the Hebrew text, these significant words are nepeš ḥayyâ (for us, sounds like nefesh hayyah).  The words themselves are fertile ground for all kinds of translation assumptions. …

  • Are We Really Sick? (2)

    “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?”  Jeremiah 17:9  NASB Desperately sick– It’s the adjective that is bothersome. ʾānaš is the word in the Hebrew text.  It means, quite simply, “sick.”  It’s used once in Job, five times in Jeremiah, once in Isaiah, and once in Micah.  You can see…

  • Are We Really Sick? (1)

    “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?”  Jeremiah 17:9 NASB More deceitful– Just how sick are you?  Pretty sick, if you read this verse from Jeremiah as it is typically understood in Christian theology.  Many theologians teach that there’s a fatal flaw in human beings.  We all have a bad heart,…

  • Worship and Work

    We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. Romans 12:6  Berean Study Bible Gifts– While the Greek heritage provides a rich texture for understanding the idea of gifting as the expression of joyful celebration, an even deeper context can be seen in the Hebrew thought patterns that lie behind Paul’s vocabulary.  Charis is typically…

  • The Debt

    Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good,Titus 2:3  NASB Teaching– In the ancient world, older people were treasured for their insight and wisdom.  After all, they had lived through more than the young.  We’ve turned that notion upside down.  In modern civilization, social evolution…

  • Avoiding Confrontation

    Therefore when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John (although Jesus Himself was not baptizing, but His disciples were), He left Judea and went away again into Galilee.John 4:1-3  NASB Went away– What was Yeshua’s reaction to the probable confrontation with the Pharisees over baptism?  Ah, apérchomai.  He went away. He didn’t enter…

  • Apostolic By-lines (2)

    Christ paid the price to free us from the curse that the laws in Moses’ Teachings bring by becoming cursed instead of us. Scripture says, “Everyone who is hung on a tree is cursed.”  Galatians 3:13 (God’s Word translation, 1995, God’s Word to the Nations) Paid the price– Once more we examine the miserable translation of…

  • Apostolic By-lines (1)

    Christ paid the price to free us from the curse that the laws in Moses’ Teachings bring by becoming cursed instead of us. Scripture says, “Everyone who is hung on a tree is cursed.”  Galatians 3:13 (God’s Word translation, 1995, God’s Word to the Nations) Paid the price– THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO GO OUT ON MAY…

  • The Order of Existence

    Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.”   Genesis 2:18  NASB A helper suitable– We have investigated a lot about the Hebrew phrase ‘ezer kenegdo. We discovered that these words spoken by God about the creation of the woman are filled with royal language,…