Every one who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness. 1 John 3:4 NASB Lawlessness – The Greek word for “lawlessness” is anomos. We have English derivatives from this Greek word like antinomian. But it isn’t the Greek background of the word that matters most when we want to understand what John is…
If you know that He is righteous, you know that every one also who practices righteousness is born of Him. 1 John 2:29 NASB Righteous – This is about as close as John comes to describing “born again.” But John’s focus is not on the experience of forgiveness. He focuses on the practice of righteousness. …
And the world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God abides forever. 1 John 2:17 NASB Will – By now we all realize that John did not use the words “born again” in his report of the conversation between Yeshua and Nicodemus (John 3). He used…
According to the terms of the law which they teach you, and according to the verdict which they tell you, you shall do; you shall not turn aside from the word which they declare to you, to the right or the left. Deuteronomy 17:11 NASB Turn aside – It all comes down to choosing whom…
Listen to counsel and accept discipline, that you may be wise the rest of your days. Proverbs 19:20 NASB Be wise – I have recently been reading the early speeches of Abraham Heschel. Fifty years ago his prophetic insight into our culture sounded the warning. Fifty years later it seems as though we didn’t listen…
Little children, let no one deceive you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous, the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. 1 John 3:7-8a NASB Practices – Rudolph Bultmann was one of the most important Christian theologians of the last…
Then He said to me, “Son of man, eat what you find; eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.” So I opened my mouth, and He fed me this scroll. He said to me, “Son of man, feed your stomach and fill your body with this scroll which I am giving you.” Then…
“You know the commandments, ‘DO NOT MURDER, DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, DO NOT STEAL, DO NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS, Do not defraud, HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER.’” Mark 10:19 NASB Do not defraud – Recently a reader asked the question, “Why doesn’t Yeshua quote the commandments as they are written? The commandment says, ‘Do not…
So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls. Acts 2:41 NASB Received – It is common to believe that this verse records the first Christian mass conversion, the first example of a Christian evangelical crusade. Taken out of the context of the first…
“But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” 1 Timothy 5:8 NASB Does not provide – By Michael Moen In today’s world we all grow up in different households with different family dynamics. The experiences we…
