Fifty Years Too Late

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…

Pardon the Expression

So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.  John 8:36  NASB Makes you free – Are you free?  The answer depends entirely on your worldview.  The meaning of the term “free” is a function of the culture you belong to.  And the difference between the Greek/Western view of freedom and the…

Freedom or Slavery

Therefore do not let what is for you a good thing be spoken of as evil; for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but rightouesness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.  Romans 14:16-17  NASB Good thing – What is the emphasis of Paul’s statement?  Is it on the “good thing”? …

The Scales of Justice

Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am gentle and lowly of heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  Matthew 11:29  ESV Yoke – Yesterday we connected Paul’s idea of “bond” with Yeshua’s statement about “yoke.”  “Freedom comes in chains,” we said.  When Yeshua invites us to take His…

Take My Yoke

 being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.  Ephesians 4:3  NASB Bond – Syndesmos is the Greek combination of words that mean “together” and “band or shackle.”  We might think of this word with the imagery of a chain.  Each link is welded together with the next.  The “bond”…

A Reasonable Conclusion

“If therefore the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.”  John 8:36  NASB Therefore – Don’t we love this verse!  I hear it all the time.  “Jesus set me free.”  “I’m free because Jesus died for me.”  The great mantra of the Western world is “Freedom!”  Of course, none of us bother…

More Than I Am

“Then if the Son sets you free, you are free indeed.” John 8:36 Free – Freedom is an important word in a man’s vocabulary. We have talked about it a lot. We recognized that the Greek idea of freedom is centered in the relationship between the individual and the State. For the Greeks, freedom is…

Care-Less Freedom

Then stand firm in the freedom with which Christ made us free, and do not again be held with a yoke of slavery.  Galatians 5:1 Freedom – Heinrich Schlier wrote an incredibly insightful article on the Greek word eleutheros. His comments are so good that they are worth contemplating: The NT . . . realizes…

The Delusion of Freedom

Then stand firm in the freedom with which Christ made us free, and do not again be held with a yoke of slavery. Galatians 5:1 Freedom – Are you free? Don’t be too quick to answer. It depends on your concept of freedom. In order to understand what Paul says about freedom in Christ, we…