Don’t Get Me Started (rewind from September 2018)

All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;  2 Timothy 3:16  NASB Scripture– Let’s follow up on yesterday’s lengthy (I apologize) description of the Bible as a book about human encounters with God. Peter Enns adds some important insight: Seeing God as a character in the story who…

Once More Around the Block (rewind from September 2018)

All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;  2 Timothy 3:16  NASB Scripture– “I wrote that when I was stupid.”  So said David Flusser when questioned by one of his students about an article he published years before.  That’s how I feel today.   If you ask me…

Paul’s Paradigm

All Scripture is inspired by God and beneficial for teaching, for rebuke, for correction, for training in righteousness;  2 Timothy 3:16  NASB Scripture – What does Paul mean when he uses the Greek term graphḗ?  Before we can answer that, we need to know something about the wider meaning of the term in the first century.  graphḗ…

The Hebrew Stutter

then you shall say to them, ‘That the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord; when it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off.’ So, these stones shall become a memorial to the sons of Israel forever.” Joshua 4:7 NASB Were cut off – Remember…

Just Messing with You

to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, “What do these stones mean?”  Joshua 4:6  NIV Ask – Don’t you just love the messiness of Hebrew?  It’s so pedestrian.  No Greek eloquence.  No tight specifications for definitions.  Sloppy translations suffice because the language is so flexible.  And filled with…

August 16, 2011

For this is what the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, has said: “In repentance and rest you will be saved, In quietness and trust is your strength.” But you were not willing, And you said, “No, for we will flee on horses!” Therefore you shall flee!  “And we will ride on swift horses!” Therefore those who pursue you…

Peshat Problems

There is no Scripture except according to its literal sense.  Sefer Ha-Mitsvot (Maimonides) Literal sense – In his article, “The Authority and Interpretation of Scripture in Jewish Tradition,” Nahum Sarna examines the idea that the biblical writers wrote exclusively for their contemporary audiences.  He cites Maimonides’ statement to the effect that the Peshat layer of…

Experience Matters

Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the lord your God is giving you.  Exodus 20:12  ESV Experience Matters by Michael Moen My son, Michael, wrote this on his birthday nine years ago.  I think it’s time to read it again. Honor – The word kābēd…

Head of Household

He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him, and he must do so in a manner worthy of full respect. 1 Timothy 3:4  NIV Family – The NIV translates the word oíkou as “family.”  The NASB uses “household.”  The Greek term is quite flexible, stretching from “family” to “house”…