Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Psalm 34:11 NASB Fear – There are basically two kinds of ethical systems in the world. They both have long histories. The first is the one we are most familiar with in the modern world, although it is not the most ancient…
So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and…
“When the unclean spirit comes out of [a]a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and not finding any, it then says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds it swept and put in order. Then it goes and brings along seven other spirits more evil than…
And a command has gone out from the Lord against those who dwell upon the dry ground that this must be their end. For they have learnt all the secrets of the Angels, and all the wrongdoings of the satans, and all their secret power, and all the power of those who practice magic arts,…
Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. Acts 17:11 NIV Examined the Scriptures – There’s a funny contradiction buried in this verse. The Bereans were orthodox. Jewish orthodox. They…
But if I do the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin that dwells in me. Romans 7:20 NASB Dwells in me – Since Augustine theologians have gotten a lot of mileage out of this verse. It just seems so patently Platonic. I am really two people; the one…
What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life— 1 John 1:1 NASB Heard/ seen/ touched – Don’t you just love John? He’s so down to earth. None of that mystical gibberish that we find in Paul (so confusing). …
And you will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:13 NASB Seek/search – “The modern scholar thinks that he must find religious answers to his critical questions by means of peshat exegesis. In contrast, the sages believed that answers to critical questions should be proposed by means of derash. Like…
For He has satisfied the [a]thirsty soul, and He has filled the hungry soul with what is good. Psalm 107:9 NASB Soul – Did you see that tiny footnote before the word “thirsty”? I hoped that the footnote would explain that the Hebrew word nepeš does not mean “soul,” ah, but not a chance. The footnote merely says…
For when Gentiles who do not have the Law instinctively perform the requirements of the Law, these, though not having the Law, are a law to themselves, Romans 2:14 NASB A law to themselves – We’ve spent a lot of time looking at Paul’s idea of nómos, or perhaps more accurately, his ideas about all the variations encompassed…
