Even before the crucifixion, there came a point in Jesus' ministry when the Jewish religious officials were desperate to have him out of the way. During the feast of tabernacles the chief priests and Pharisees sent the officers of the temple guard to watch Jesus, and take him into custody at the first valid opportunity.…
In Luke 24:47 the KJV and says "repentance AND remission of sins," whereas most modern versions like the ESV and the NASB say "repentance FOR remission of sins." While this may seem like a small difference, it can have deep implications for how we understand Biblical doctrines of salvation. But before we can discuss the…
I recently finished reading Jesus' Bible: A Concise History of the Hebrew Scriptures by Christopher Dost. The book is a small one (less than 120 pages if you don't count the preface or the bibliography) but it is packed with information, especially for those of us who know more about the Greek New Testament than we…
The other day I was reading my Greek Old Testament (LXX) and I noticed an a similarity that I had never seen before. As we shall see in a moment, the way that the LXX describes the creation of the world in Genesis is strikingly similar to the way that Luke describes Jesus' ministry in…
Sometimes little words can carry big distinctions. Both words are only a few letters long, and they even share a common letter, but there is a world of difference between my wife and your wife! Confuse the two at your own risk. Little differences like this become even more important when we attempt to study God's word.…
We naturally tend to think of our life as a story; we especially do this as Christians, because the Bible tells us that Jesus is "the author of eternal salvation" (Heb5:9). When we examine our life, we can find assurance by "looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy…
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…
