https://www.ebay.com/itm/386936399252 http://vigilo-et-spero.blogspot.com ..read more

Hebrews 7:22-κατὰ τοσοῦτο καὶ κρείττονος διαθήκης γέγονεν ἔγγυος Ἰησοῦς. Hebrews 8:6-νῦν δὲ διαφορωτέρας τέτυχεν λειτουργίας, ὅσῳ καὶ κρείττονός ἐστιν διαθήκης μεσίτης, ἥτις ἐπὶ κρείττοσιν ἐπαγγελίαις νενομοθέτηται. Hebrews 8:8-μεμφόμενος γὰρ αὐτοὺς λέγει Ἰδοὺ ἡμέραι ἔρχονται, λέγει Κύριος, καὶ συντελέσω ἐπὶ τὸν οἶκον Ἰσραὴλ καὶ ἐπὶ τὸν οἶκον Ἰούδα διαθήκην καινήν, Hebrews 8:9-οὐ κατὰ τὴν διαθήκην ἣν ἐποίησα τοῖς πατράσιν αὐτῶν ἐν ἡμέρᾳ ἐπιλαβομένου μου τῆς χειρὸς αὐτῶν ἐξαγαγεῖν αὐτοὺς ἐκ γῆς Αἰγύπτου, ὅτι αὐτοὶ οὐκ ἐνέμειναν ἐν τῇ διαθήκῃ μου, κἀγὼ ἠμέλησα αὐτῶν, λέγει Κύριος. Hebrews 81 ..read more

About ten years ago, someone asked me about Jean Calvin. They were trying to wrap their heads around the fact that he believed in "double predestination" and simultaneously thought "God is love" (1 John 4:8). Please let Calvin himself explain: "I again ask how it is that the fall of Adam involves so many nations with their infant children in eternal death without remedy unless that it so seemed meet to God? Here the most loquacious tongues must be dumb. The decree, I admit, is, dreadful; and yet it is impossible to deny that God foreknow what the end of man was to be before he made him, and ..read more

In Job 25, Bildad speaks the truth in a sense, but he distorts matters when he speaks to Job or concerning him: Job 25:6 while true in the abstract must have felt like the pangs of a sword to Job. The rhetorical questions with presupposed negative answers in Job 25:4 are worth quoting: "How then can a mortal be righteous before God? How can one born of woman be pure?" (NIV) Rebecca R. Clark writes: Finally, Bildad asks, “How then can a mortal be righteous before God? How can one born of woman be pure?” (25:4).115 Ash proposes, “This is the answer of human religion. But it is also the satan’s ..read more

Hebrew (Leningrad Codex): הֵן־בְּעָוֹ֥ון חֹולָ֑לְתִּי וּ֝בְחֵ֗טְא יֶֽחֱמַ֥תְנִי אִמִּֽי׃ NET: "Look, I was guilty of sin from birth, a sinner the moment my mother conceived me." ESV: "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me." The Hebrew word avon sometimes bears the meaning "guilt," but it may also denote iniquity or punishment for iniquity.  Compare Jeremiah 2:22 (NET), but see the translation's notes. Cf. Romans 7:18-20. BDB makes the point that it's hard at times to distinguish the concept of guilt from iniquity when it comes to the Hebrew avon ..read more

A student once asked me the question that a lot of people wonder about: who made God? A few scriptures directly address this question, but I referenced Psalm 90:2 in my answer to the student and one might also consider 1 Timothy 1:11. Furthermore, I tried to reason with her concerning the difficulty of understanding how God could have always existed without being created by invoking concepts in physics that are hard to understand (i.e., they are comparable to understanding God's necessary existence). For example, most people do not comprehend the math for relativity theory. But two arguments f ..read more

Greek: ὥστε ὃς ἂν ἐσθίῃ τὸν ἄρτον ἢ πίνῃ τὸ ποτήριον τοῦ κυρίου ἀναξίως, ἔνοχος ἔσται τοῦ σώματος καὶ τοῦ αἵματος τοῦ κυρίου. I've been wanting to address this verse because someone recently told me that they thought Jehovah would never forgive a person who ate the bread during the Memorial (Lord's evening supper) or who drank the cup, but who was not anointed. But I assured them that while it is a serious thing to partake of the bread and wine, there are at least two things to consider. 1) When Paul spoke of partaking "unworthily," whom was he referencing? At the time 1 Corinthians was writ ..read more

Donald G. Bloesch. God the Almighty: Power, Wisdom, Holiness, Love. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1995.  Bloesch lived from 1928-2010. He was an evangelical theologian and prolific writer.  "The God of the Bible cannot be described in univocal language, only by means of analogy, metaphor and simile." (page 32).  "The God of philosophy is capable of being thought and thereby mastered. The God of theology remains hidden and inscrutable until he makes himself known" (p. 32). God is "being-in-person" (32). "How God accomplishes his purposes in conjunction with human effort an ..read more

The word σύμμαχος is technically an adjective of sorts (cf. LSJ Greek-English Lexicon) meaning "allied with" someone in battle. But at times, I have used it as a substantive with the meaning "battle ally," a usage that appears in ancient Greek literature (s.v. LSJ). The plural substantival nominative form is οἱ σύμμαχοι. . http://vigilo-et-spero.blogspot.com ..read more

Latin Vulgate: Sed in lege Domini voluntas eius et in lege eius meditabitur die ac nocte (Psalm 1:2). Douay-Rheims Translation: "But his will is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he shall meditate day and night." Amplified Bible: "But his delight and desire are in the law of the Lord, and on His law (the precepts, the instructions, the teachings of God) he habitually meditates (ponders and studies) by day and by night." ASV: "But his delight is in the law of Jehovah; And on his law doth he meditate day and night." The Cambridge History of the Bible states that ancient Judaism&nbs ..read more