No verse today. Just some personal reflections. For many years now, you and I have been exploring the origins of our faith. That means investigating the history of the ideas that we once accepted as part of our religious beliefs. What I’ve learned, and perhaps what you have also learned, is that most of my…
In the beginning . . . let him go up! Genesis 1:1a – 2 Chronicles 36:23c NASB In the beginning/ go up – These are the first and the last words of the Tanakh: be-rēʾ šît; yāâl. In the beginning God assents to descend, voluntarily creating a universe with agents who are capable of resisting…
There was war with the Philistines again at Gob, and Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim the Bethlehemite killed [b]Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam. 2 Samuel 21:19 NASB Killed Goliath – Read it carefully. Okay, now answer the question, “Who killed Goliath?” Translators of the NASB provide a footnote to this verse…
and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: Luke 4:17 NIV Scroll – Peter Enns is the sort of radical thinker that Christians need to read. He’s not Messianic. He might not even lean toward Judaism. But his insights into how Christianity understands…
For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe. 1 Thessalonians 2:13 NASB Accepted – This verse raises several important questions: 1) Why did…
You made men ride over our heads; We went through fire and through water, Yet You brought us out into a place of abundance. Psalm 66:12 NASB Place of abundance – What do you really want out of life? Peace? Prosperity? Security? Companionship? Love? What will you really get? Oh, that one’s easy. Death. All the rest is sort of up…
Now these are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob; they came each one with his household: Exodus 1:1 NASB Came to Egypt – What does the history of Jacob’s family mean to you? Is it a story of a tribe from the ancient past that eventually became the Jewish…
Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. James 1:27 ESV Religion– In recent conversation a young man expressed his determination for spiritual truth in this way: “When I rely on the Holy Spirit to lead me to the truth, I know…
Then I will take My hand away and you shall see My back, but My face shall not be seen. Exodus 33:23 NASB My back – By now you realize that this translation must be incorrect. God is spirit. He is not corporeal. He does not have a “back.” This is a case where the…
But the Arameans fled before Israel, and David killed 700 charioteers of the Arameans and 40,000 horsemen and struck down Shobach the commander of their army, and he died there. 2 Samuel 10:18 NASB 700 – I recently gave a lecture on the stories of David and Solomon. In the course of that lecture, I talked about…
