You shall have no other gods before me. Exodus 20:3 NASB Shall have – In May of 2014 we looked at the important difference between Greek thought and Hebrew thought in this verse. Usually translated “you shall not have,” the Hebrew verb plus negative, lo-yihye’, reveals an important characteristic of Hebrew thought. The translation, “shall…
I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died; Romans 7:9 NASB I died – In 1977, Krister Stendahl changed everything about the way Christianity understood Paul.[1] You probably didn’t know that; in fact, you probably never heard his name. What he started is now…
O Lord, rebuke me not in Your wrath, and chasten me not in Your burning anger. Psalm 38:1 NASB Rebuke – How long is your fuse? How long can you hold out before that deep anger about the injustice in life explodes? Oh, I don’t mean all the social injustice we observe every day. I mean that sense…
to whom the word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. Jeremiah 1:2 NASB In the days of – Theology is the progeny of Hellenism. What I mean is that theology—thinking about God—is not a Hebrew idea. The Hebrew idea is behaving according to…
to whom the word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. Jeremiah 1:2 NASB In the days of – From Moses to Malachi God sent prophets to provide His people with His point of view. But something happened about 2500 years ago. The prophetic…
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20 NASB Of all nations – Perhaps we need to rethink the…
To the Jews I became as a Jew, so that I might win Jews; to those who are under the Law, as under the Law though not being myself under the Law, so that I might win those who are under the Law; to those who are without law, as without law, though not being without the law of…
At that time people began to call on the name of the LORD. Genesis 4:26 ESV Name – Explain the grammatical connections and implications of calling someone’s name. Let’s see. In English (and also in Greek and most Indo-European languages), a name is a phonetic marker that represents some entity. More importantly, it is an…
Far be it from You to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?” Genesis 18:25 NASB Deal justly – What does it mean to execute justice? Paul gives us…
“I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a…
