“Speak this word to them: ‘Let my eyes overflow with tears night and day without ceasing; for the Virgin Daughter, my people, has suffered a grievous wound, a crushing blow.’” Jeremiah 14:17 NIV Without ceasing – Theology has a deep, intrinsic problem. The Bible doesn’t have this problem because the Bible isn’t theology. Theology is the…
to whom the word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. Jeremiah 1:2 NASB In the days of – Theology is the progeny of Hellenism. What I mean is that theology—thinking about God—is not a Hebrew idea. The Hebrew idea is behaving according to…
The word of the Lord which came to Hosea the son of Beeri . . . Hosea 1:1a NASB Which came – Maybe we should give this little investigation a different title. You see, theology is not impossible. Theology is rational thinking about God. Men have been doing theology since the first shaman priest discovered incantation. No, what’s…
In the beginning God created (various translations) God – I have often remarked that there is no Jewish systematic theology, but the importance of that fact is perhaps lost on an audience of Western thinkers. Most likely the subliminal explanation is simply that the ancient Hebrews were not intellectually or morally equipped to construct a…
And He had to pass through Samaria. John 4:4 NASB Pass through– In this brief interlude between teaching passages, John recounts that Yeshua left Judea when things became difficult. During the journey, he encountered the woman at the well. I’m sure he didn’t plan to encounter her, but when he did, the opportunity for some truly fascinating discussion…
“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.” Deuteronomy 6:4 ESV Hear – It should come as no surprise that Hebrew thinking about Scripture is radically different from Greek thinking about Scripture. The difference is not in the language of Scripture itself. The Bible is written in Hebrew, Aramaic, a particular kind…
The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Matthew 1:1 ESV Genealogy – Believing the good news accounts about Yeshua the Messiah is not difficult. The witnesses wrote about what they saw. They wrote to people who understood the meaning and implications of these eyewitness accounts. They…
The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham Matthew 1:1 NASB Genealogy – Abraham Heschel asks, “What is the pedigree of the Christian Gospel? These are the words with which the New Testament begins: [citing Matthew 1:1]. Yet the powerful fascination with the world of Hellenism has…
“Brethren, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees;” Acts 23:6 I am – “I am a Pharisee,” says Paul. Do you think we hear what he proclaimed? I doubt it. Most of us think of Paul as a Christian convert from Judaism. Most of us think of the Pharisees as the bad guys. We…
I’ve noticed a few things over the last months. Our community seems to have two wonderful strains going at the same time. We have a group of serious biblical exegetes – those who are willing to turn over all the stones to find the truth. This group follows the theological paths that I only hint…
