He will call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. I will satisfy him with a long life, and show him My salvation. Psalm 91:15-16 NASB Call upon – “Even personal prayers for our own needs are not necessarily selfish in nature. God feels the…
Abraham breathed his last and died at a good old age, an old man and satisfied with life; and he was gathered to his people. Genesis 25:8 NASB With life – Irvin Yalom wrote, “Death anxiety is the mother of all religions, . . .”[1] Clearly he’s right when it comes to religions we identify today. Christianity and…
In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Judges 21:25 NASB In his own eyes – A recent conversation with the rabbi of Parma caused me to recognize just how much of my Christian theological training affects the way I read a text. We were…
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: Ecclesiastes 3:1 NIV Season – Actually, the Hebrew doesn’t use the word for “season.” It uses ʿēt, meaning “time”—a time for every activity. Where the NIV translates “There is a time,” the Hebrew text uses zĕmān, an “appointed time.” But we…
But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us . . . Titus 3:4-5a NASB Kindness – Syntax, syntax, syntax. You see, the Greek sentence doesn’t actually read the same way as the English translation. In Greek, the literal reading is: “When but the kindness and love…
For we too were once foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. Titus 3:3 NASB Spending our life – “To behave in a certain way.” That’s the meaning of Paul’s Greek word diagō. It’s about a lifestyle, a constant behavior, a way of conducting oneself. The verb is…
For we too were once foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. Titus 3:3 NASB Lusts and pleasures – What’s the difference between lusts and pleasures? Paul seems to think we need to know both words. Why? The Greek roots are epithymía and hēdonḗ. Epithymía is desire, especially…
For we too were once foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. Titus 3:3 NASB Disobedient, deceived, enslaved – “Foolish” keeps company with a host of friends. You remember that Greek term anóētos with all its nuances. Well, Paul provides a list of some of the compatriots of anóētos. The…
For we too were once foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. Titus 3:3 NASB Foolish – “No fool like an old fool.” But we were all “old fools” once, weren’t we? Even Paul says so. The Greek term is anóētos. If you look carefully, you’ll see that…
to slander no one, not to be contentious, to be gentle, showing every consideration for all people. Titus 3:2 NASB Consideration – You know, sometimes trying to get Paul’s ideas into English is just such a mess. Here we have a translation that first says “gentle” (epieikḗs) which really should be something like “upright” (doing what is the right…
