Author: Skip Moen, Ph.D.

  • Pardon the Expression

    So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.  John 8:36  NASB Makes you free – Are you free?  The answer depends entirely on your worldview.  The meaning of the term “free” is a function of the culture you belong to.  And the difference between the Greek/Western view of freedom and the…

  • Buy Back

    But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.  Galatians 4:4-5  NASB Redeem – “It is not enough to have met a word in…

  • The End of the End

    for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world.  But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.  Hebrews 9:26  ESV The end of the ages – If you read this verse by…

  • Get This Rabbi Under Control!

    as it is written, “Behold, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, and he who believes in Him will not be disappointed.”  Romans 9:33 NASB As it is written – But the problem, of course, is that this is not what is written.  How can Paul tell us that…

  • To Cut or Not to Cut

    For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love.  Galatians 5:6  NASB Circumcision – Given the choice, most men remember Shechem (Genesis 34).  The very idea of adult circumcision causes pain.  So they run to this verse, and others like it, claiming that it really doesn’t make any difference. …

  • Etymologically Impossible

    This is pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father, to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.  James 1:27  NASB Religion – John Gager points out that the word “religion” did not exist before the Christian era.  The idea is worth investigation. …

  • Why?

    but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles  1 Corinthians 1:23  ESV Stumbling block/ folly – Why is the Messiah crucified a stumbling block to Jews?  Why is the Messiah crucified folly to Gentiles?  Why does Paul choose two different words for two different groups of people?  If the…

  • Breaking Dawn

    O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly;
My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You,
In a dry and weary land where there is no water.  Psalm 63:1  NASB Earnestly – “I shall seek You earnestly.”  What does that mean to you?  Does it mean that you will rouse up passion…