For this commandment which I command you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it out of reach. Deuteronomy 30:11 NASB Out of reach – Are the commandments “out of reach”? If you grew up under Augustine, Aquinas, and Luther, you would be compelled to say, “Yes. No one can really keep them.” …
So Moses brought their case before the Lord. Numbers 27:5 NASB Their case – At the beginning of chapter 27 in the book of Numbers, certain daughters of in the line of Manasseh, son of Joseph, make a legal claim before Moses and Eleazar. Their argument is that their father died in the wilderness along with…
Now this is the law which Moses set before the sons of Israel; Deuteronomy 4:44 NASB Set before – You want your life to conform to God’s standard, right? You want to know what God wants you to do, and what displeases Him. So, you read your Bible. You think that what it says is…
You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you. Deuteronomy 4:2 NASB Not add/ nor take away – How flexible are your ethics? Do you hold hard and fast to your own moral commandments? Are…
The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, Romans 8:16 NASB Spirit Himself – I thought we’d resolved this. When we examined verse 12, we came to the conclusion that the Greek pneúma should be read as “vital force.” The apparent conflict about who does what to whom was over. It is…
But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. Romans 8:11 NASB Him/ He/ His – Who is the active agent in this verse? Who is “He, Him, His”…
If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. Romans 8:10 NASB Dead/alive – If there were ever a verse that makes Paul look like a student of Plato, this is probably it. The apparent dualism between body and spirit, dead and alive,…
However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. Romans 8:9 NASB If indeed – eiper (εἴπερ) is an exclamation point in Greek. It is used to intensify an expression. Paul…
because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. Romans 8:7-8 NASB Hostile/ cannot – You will recall that “the mind set on” is the translator’s attempt…
For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, Romans 8:6 NASB Life and peace – Returning to Paul’s great exposition of life in the Messiah, we have learned that “the mind set on” is really the single Greek word phrónēma, a word that encompasses…
