“It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?’” Deuteronomy 30:12 NASB Not in heaven – Have you considered the implications of Moses’ observation about God’s revelation? Moses is delivering Torah to…
Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. Jude 3 The saints – It all begins with the date of this letter. For some…
So, then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. Romans 7:12 NASB Law – I live on Thoroughbred Lane, but the only horses I have ever had are the ones packed into the back of fine examples of human engineering like this Ferrari 512TR that used to grace my…
And if I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 1 Corinthians 13:2 ESV Have not – How we agonize over this verse! Paraded before the cringing audience in the pews, preachers hammer believers for…
“Behold, his soul is puffed up, it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith.” Habakkuk 2:4 ESV Righteous – What does it mean to say, “He is righteous”? Would you answer, “That means he has a right relationship with God”? Answers like this are common among Christians, but maybe…
Don’t let anyone pass judgment on you in connection with eating and drinking . . Colossians 2:16 (The Complete Jewish Bible – David Stern) Eating and Drinking – David Stern correctly notes that Paul is not talking about all eating and drinking. He is addressing the assembly in Colossae, an assembly consisting of Jews and…
A man does not fully understand the words of the Torah until he has come to grief over them. Babylonian Talmud, Gitten 43a Come to grief – Rabbi Huna commented with these words when he acknowledged his own error in interpretation concerning a debate over the conditions of betrothal. Rabbi Huna called for a public…
Do not lie with a male as one lies with a woman; it is an abhorrence. Leviticus 18:22 JPS Abhorrence – When it comes to the Hebrew word to’evah (abomination, abhorrence), most discussions move immediately to this verse. Why? Because homosexuality is such a hot political/religious topic. The incendiary comments on both sides offer plenty…
“Therefore it is my judgment that we do not trouble those who are turning to God from among the Gentiles, but that we write to them that they abstain from things contaminated by idols and from fornication and from what is strangled and from blood.” Acts 15:19-20 NASB Abstain – (This is going to be…
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky . . .” Genesis 1:26 NASB Image – Now we know that tselem (image) is associated culturally with the representation of the god in…
