This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say…
That the man (or woman) of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. 2 Tim 3,17 TIMOTHY These are Paul´s words to Timothy, a young man and a beloved co-worker in the Gospel. You should read the context, from verse 10. Timothy came from Lystra in the Roman province of Galatia. He was of mixed race, his mother being a Jewess, and his father a Greek. He was brought up by his mother in the Jewish faith and…
May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus… (Rom 15,5) What a wonderful verse popped up on my YouVersion Bible app today!(verse of the day) THE GOD OF ENDURANCE AND ENCOURAGEMENT These are two genitives in the Greek (of endurance and of encouragement). There are several types of genitive, and in translation, you have to try and pick the right one. These are most naturally taken…
THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE GOSPEL WRITERS In our New Testament we have 4 Gospels, followed by the Acts of the Apostles, followed by the letters of Paul, followed by other letters. And of course, the ministry of Jesus preceded the birth of the Church, Paul´s missionary journeys and the letter writing of Paul. A timeline is formed in the head, with the ministry of Jesus, followed by the Cross, followed by the birth of the Church and the ministry of…
A scribe asked Jesus which commandment was the most important? Jesus answered, “The most important is “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love your neighbour as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these” Mark 12,29-31. The scribes distinguished 613 commands in…
Preliminaries: They are liturgies designed to lead us into a personal encounter with God. Authorship: Traditionally many psalms are ascribed to David. Though this tradition may be accurate – we know that David loved music and wrote psalms (1 Sam. 16,14-23 and 18,10) – modern scholars see the superscriptions to the psalms (where an author may be mentioned), as being added later by those who collected and edited the psalms for use in the temple worship. A psalm like psalm 23,…
Analysis 1. A PSALM FOR LIFE A shepherd and his sheep – a peaceful, pastoral scene indeed! But looking more closely: “He makes me lie down in green pastures” (v.2), implies that there are other barren places with no food. “Han leads me beside still waters” (.2), implies other unsettled waters, perhaps stormy seas! That he restores my soul, and leads me in paths of righteousness (v.4), speaks in the same way of a life which is not always easy. Even…
It may seem that I did my best in the last post to tell you that you need to be some kind of expert to read the Bible and profit from it. Yes, we should know the extent of the task undertaken in giving to us these texts. And yes, we should know of the issues involved in interpretation. But if we do, our common sense will take us a very long way, as we read, and we will know…
The Bible contains 66 books, containing widely different types of text, different authors, and composed at different times. Scholars will argue over their age, but we shall not be far wrong to say generally that they come to us from a distance in time of several thousand years. The Old Testament is written in Hebrew (with the exception of parts of Daniel, which are in Aramaic), and the New Testament in Greek. These languages are now dead, meaning that though…
Christians believe that in the pages of the biblical texts, Old and New Testaments, God has revealed himself. Preeminently, he has revealed himself in his Son (Hebrews 1,1). What he has revealed concerns our salvation; who God is, who his Son is, who we are, what the Gospel message is – all are here involved. That Holy Scripture for Christians is inspired, gives it authority in all matters of faith and conduct! Does the fact that historical anomalies and problems…
I have to say this early on, because I know so many Christians are threatened by science: According to 2 Timothy 3,16, all scripture is given by God for teaching, for reproof, for rebuking and training in righteousness. In other words, I read the Bible to be instructed in my faith. I take my scientific questions to the scientists. Since I do not read Genesis 1 as a scientific text, it causes me no problems. What that text affirms –…