Go Straight to Hell

Therefore Sheol has enlarged its throat and opened its mouth without measure;  Isaiah 5:14a Without measure – Why do people go to Hell?  No, it’s not a theological trick question.  Why do you think God would send people to Hell?  Is it because they were wicked and deserved long-lasting punishment?  Is it because true justice demands that…

Justice Out of Balance

He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.  Psalm 103:10  NASB According to  – Is God just?  Frankly, I hope not.  Justice means the application of the law without bias.  It is personified in the famous blind lady holding the balance scales. If God blindly measures me…

Law and Order

When God began to create heaven and earth—the earth being unformed and void,  Genesis 1:1-2a  Parsha: Bere’shit JPS Tagged Tanakh To create – Biblically-based religions are susceptible to a subtle but dangerous trap.  They can easily become religions of the book rather than religions of the God revealed in the book.  You and I, being familiar…

The Second Great Divide

Then you are to say to them, ‘It is because your forefathers have forsaken Me,’ declares the Lord, ‘and have followed other gods and served them and bowed down to them; but Me they have forsaken and have not kept My law.  Jeremiah 16:11 NASB Law – There are two unbridgeable chasms between Christianity and Judaism.  The first,…

A Pauline Paradox

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.  Ephesians 2:8-9  NASB Grace/works – I used to think I knew what Paul was writing about.  Decades ago, I had the right theological perspective on Paul.  He was…

Clear and Not So Clear

so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.  Romans 8:4  NASB So that – Before we can figure out what the consequences of  perí hamartías (“for sin” Hebrew ʾāšam) meant for Paul, we’ll need to determine who the pronoun refers…

God’s Weakness

For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh,  Romans 8:3  NASB Weak – Oh, the pitiful Law!  It just couldn’t do what God wanted.  It was so inadequate to rescue us.  It…

But Why?

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. Romans 8:2  NASB For – Maybe we should look at this verse in the NIV:  “because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.”  You’ll notice…

A Confused Soul

To the Jews I became as a Jew, so that I might win Jews; to those who are under the Law, as under the Law though not being myself under the Law, so that I might win those who are under the Law;  to those who are without law, as without law, though not being without the law of…

Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. Galatians 3:24  NASB Tutor – According to many commentators, once we arrive at the goal of salvation by faith, school’s out.  We no longer need the law because its only purpose was to prod us into recognizing our sin…