For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he. ~Proverbs 23:7 I really enjoy reading the Bible in different languages because it often gives me a new perspective on familiar passages. Some time ago I was reading the book of Psalms from my Greek Old Testament (LXX) and I noticed a connection between Psalm…
Almost without fail, our Trinitarian friends will use plural pronouns in the Bible to argue that God is a Trinity. The stereotypical example is Genesis 1:26, "Let us make man in our image;" but as we have already discussed in another post, this verse in no way proves a Trinity. My question for our Trinitarian…
When we read the book of Esther we usually focus on Mordecai, the King, Haman, and queen Esther herself. But rarely do we take the time to pay attention to the king's servants---the men in the background who are actually integral to the story. Focusing on the king's men in the book of Esther can…
In Judges 3 Israel was once again committing idolatry and worshiping false gods, just as they had done so many times before. To judge Israel for their sin, "the Lord strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the Lord" (Judges 3:12). Moab allied itself with…
Ever since Resurrection Sunday I have been thinking about the crucifixion. Here are a few thoughts I have been meditating on lately. When we look at the cross we see an intersection between the vertical and horizontal: the beams are not in-line with one another, but they are perpendicular. So many things about the cross run…
Judas's role in the crucifixion of Jesus has always fascinated me. What could have compelled him to betray the Lord? The Bible tells us that the devil entered into his heart; and that must have been the case. How else could someone live so close to Jesus---hear him preach, see him heal, eat from the…
As I was reading the last chapter of John a few months ago, God began to show me how poetically the gospel of John ends. The details weave together perfectly to give the reader a beautiful crescendo of faith. John tells us that faith/belief is the reason that he wrote his gospel: "that ye might…
This post was accidentally posted several days ago because of a glitch in our post scheduling system...and we weren't even done writing it yet! We are sorry for this accident. Here is the full post. The Hebrew name Judah means "praise." Because of this, Biblical episodes involving the patriarch Judah, or the tribe of Judah,…
Occasionally our good Trinitarian friends point to Bible verses that seem to describe God with plural pronouns (verses like "let us make man in our image"). Then they use these plural pronouns to teach that God is more than one person. They believe these plural pronouns support the Trinity doctrine, which teaches that God is…
Sometimes a translation difference can have massive implications for our theology. Take Hebrews 1:8 for example. Today we are going to examine how this verse should be translated, and why. The way that we translate the original Greek text of Hebrews 1:8 greatly influences what we teach concerning the divine nature of Jesus Christ. Compare…
Lectionary 