What Must Be Done

“And God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power.”  Acts 2:24  NASB End – In the end, the ultimate question of life is death.  In fact, every human philosophy and religion must deal with the ubiquity of death. …

Something Missing

For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.  1 Corinthians 15:22  NASB In – We’ve looked at the difference between reading this preposition (en) as the material cause or the efficient cause.  I know, it’s complicated.  Maybe you had to read it a few times to see the…

Detours

He is not God of the dead, but of the living. You are quite wrong.  Mark 12:27 ESV You are quite wrong – The central theme of the Bible is life!  Everything about God’s instructions, everything about the concern with sin, everything about deliverance and redemption is about living!  Perhaps we semi-unconsciously know this, but…

Paradigm Shift

But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive adoption as sons.  Galatians 4:4-5  NASB Redeem – The Greek verb for “redeem” is exagorazo.  It literally means “to…

A Public Display

He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.  Colossians 2:15  ESV Triumphing over – In the past few days, and over the last month or so, we have explored the meaning of the cross from a Hebrew perspective.  Despite the popular claim that “Jesus” died…

Voiding the Death Certificate

The last enemy that will be abolished is death.  1 Corinthians 15:26  NASB Will be abolished is – If you read this verses in the NASB, it appears that Paul projects the destruction of death into the future.  At some unspecified time, death will finally be overcome.  It will be abolished.  But the verb, katargeo,…

The Thin Red Line (1)

For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life.  Leviticus 17:11  ESV Blood – Christian apologists often claim that the blood of Christ shed on the cross…

Cross-over

knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him.  Romans 6:9  NASB Is master – “Jesus died on the cross for the forgiveness of sin.”  This common Christian belief might not be quite accurate.  Even Paul suggests something just a bit different.  We…

A Bigger Picture

For God so loved the world that He gave . . .  John 3:16  NASB World – Nearly sixty years of theological reflection on the meaning of the events in the life of Yeshua had passed by the time John wrote his gospel account.  Perhaps that’s why John begins his account with a deliberate allusion…