So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. John 8:36 NASB Free – Consider the strangeness of this statement. Oh, you might have heard it so often that it doesn’t seem strange to you anymore, but pause just long enough to notice the verb eleutheróō. It means “to set free.” The apostle…
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…
yet for love’s sake I rather appeal to you—since I am such a person as Paul, the aged, and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus Philemon 1:9 NASB Appeal – You know this Greek word. You just don’t know it in this context. The word is parakaléō, usually associated with the Christian idea of the Holy Spirit. What it really…
Abandoned among the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave, whom You no longer remember, and they are cut off from Your hand. Psalm 88:5 NASB Abandoned – What an interesting choice of words! Sometimes translated “forsaken,” the Hebrew root is the verb ḥāpaš. Here it is ḥopšî, an adjective. What’s interesting is the basic…
And all the people were watching and hearing the thunder and the lightning flashes, and the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it all, they trembled and stood at a distance. Exodus 20:18 NASB At a distance – It’s a nice translation but it doesn’t really tell us what happened. In order…
So if the Son sets you free, you really will be free. John 8:36 NASB Free – eleutheróō. “To set free.” The Greek verb is contrasted to being a slave. To be set free is to be redeemed from slavery. This is not merely a political act. To be really free is to experience independent self-determination. …
that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. Romans 8:21 NASB Slavery to corruption – If we’re going to understand Paul’s view of freedom, we will first need to understand Paul’s view of slavery. He calls himself a slave,…
Therefore, although in Christ I could be bold and order you to do what you ought to do, yet I prefer to appeal to you on the basis of love.Philemon 1:8-9a NIV Order you– The letter to Philemon is the shortest of the Pauline material in Scripture. That’s why it comes last in Paul’s work. It is also unique…
It came about when Israel became strong, that they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but they did not drive them out completely. Judges 1:28 NASB Completely – What happens when God’s people don’t finish the job? The book of Judges answers that question with a very dismal and discouraging portrait of incomplete performance. From…
I am very dark, but lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon. Song of Songs 1:5 ESV But – Look at the translation of this verse in your Bible. Is the conjunctive translated as “but” or as “and”? In some editions, you will find that the vav…
