for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your…
He opened his mouth and began to teach them, saying, Matthew 5:2 NASB To teach – “The test of a true sermon is that it can be converted into prayer.”[1] Are you a preacher? Do you lead a Bible study? Do you teach your children or grandchildren the texts of Scripture? Are you an elder…
Why do you say, O Jacob, and assert, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the Lord, and the justice due me escapes the notice of my God”? Isaiah 40:27 NASB Due me – Biblical justice is exactly the opposite of the guiding principle of American jurisprudence. The assumption of guilt is the determining factor…
The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever. Isaiah 40:8 NASB Word – Yesterday we considered the possibility that the Bible is not like books written from a Western point of view. Yesterday we suggested that the Bible is a book about experiences with the holy God of Israel,…
The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever. Isaiah 40:8 NASB Word – Western paradigms focus on answers. Experience is reduced to principles in order that we may predict and control. In fact, the entire enterprise of science, a principal characteristic of the Western mind, is an effort to…
All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 2 Timothy 3:16 NASB Scripture – By now you realize that even the choice of words in a translation carry paradigm imported meanings. For example, it seems abundantly obvious that Paul was not referring to his own…
In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace Ephesians 1:7 NASB Him – There’s no debate about the Greek. The word is ho (since it precedes a vowel it is not hos). There’s also no debate that the word means “who, which, whom,…
When Noah was 600 years old, on the seventeenth day of the second month, all the underground waters erupted from the earth, and the rain fell in mighty torrents from the sky. Genesis 7:11 NLT In mighty torrents – Well, you won’t find anything like the second half of this verse in the Hebrew. The…
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…
The Lord smelled the soothing aroma; and the Lord said to Himself, “I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done. Genesis 8:21 NASB Soothing Aroma – Can you…
