For a fascinating comparison of Paul’s use of “Gentile” and “Israel” in Romans 11 with the OT language of the northern and southern tribes of Israel, be sure to check out Michael Barber’s new post: How “All” Israel Will Be Saved on his excellent Singing in the Reign blog.
The northern Israelites were sent into exile [...]
I’m frequently asked what resources are available for the Revised English Bible, especially if it’s available electronically (sadly, as far as I know, it is only available as an optional module for the Mac-only Accordance Bible software program; none of the Windows software titles appear to support it).
However, thanks to Andrew Dunning, my attention was [...]
The author of Hebrews has some biting words about the Christian maturity of his or her audience. In 5:12, the author writes, “By this time you ought to be teachers, but instead you need someone to teach you the ABCs of God’s oracles over again. It comes to this: you need milk instead of solid [...]
April 28, 2008 – 11:50 am
Last week I was reading a bit in Hebrews and paused for a while over chapter 4, where the author describes our future prize in the context of God’s Sabbath rest:
[1] Therefore, while the promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear so that none of you should miss it. [2] For we also [...]
There is much ado at the end of Revelation about a new heaven and a new earth, along with new Jerusalem, the Holy City, and the statement that God “will dwell among [mankind] and they shall be his people, and God himself will be with them” (Rev 21:3, REB†). Orthodox Christianity interprets this as a [...]
March 27, 2008 – 10:14 pm
In 1 Timothy 1:19, Paul writes that “it was through spurning conscience that certain persons made shipwreck of their faith” (REB). Shipwreck in this case means “a complete ruin” or “an irretrievable loss”. But of course, shipwreck is also a literal event, one which Paul experienced three times in his apostolic career (2 Corinthians 11:25), [...]
While most of the gospels rightly focus on the empty tomb as the next event after Christ’s crucifixion in the resurrection story, Matthew includes a very curious anecdote of what happened in the interim:
50 Jesus shouted again with a loud voice and gave up His spirit. 51 Suddenly, the curtain of the sanctuary was split [...]
In my post “The heart of preterism” I summarized the view that Christ’s death, resurrection and ascension stood as the completion of the “Old Testament” covenant in the context of a suzerain treaty, opening the door for a new covenant to be established between God and his chosen elect, signed by the Holy Spirit indwelt [...]