It’s a contentious issue to some. But I’ll just post what the New Testament says without comment. Only one passage is partially my translation. The rest are either the NET or ESV. I’ve excluded passages that repeat the same thing. I have left one passage out about the impossibility of being justified by the law …
Category: Bible
On the Importance of Philosophical Reasoning for Biblical Exegesis: Edward Feser and Romans 1:18-23
Introduction In my mind, the ability to engage in philosophical reasoning in order to tease out the implications of particular interpretations of the Bible and other truths is indispensable for reading the Bible and teaching it to others. Example Edward Feser, in a post titled, “Repressed Knowledge of God?” comments that the common interpretation of Romans …
Abraham’s Virtues
God Blessed Abraham in All Things Yoram Hazony makes the case that in Genesis, Abraham is painted as a paradigmatically virtuous character. The primary evidence is that while Abraham is not perfect, God has confidence that he will “command his children and his house after him, and they will keep the way of the Lord, …
Virtue Lists in the New Testament
Virtue Lists? In the Bible there are several famous virtue lists. A virtue list is exactly what is sounds like, a list of positive traits in sequence as a description of the good life. As a part of Scripture, the New Testament virtue lists are easy to overlook and if you misunderstand God’s grace, they …
What if John wrote first?
In Star Wars: A New Hope, the character Han Solo was confronted by an intimidating bounty hunter, Greedo. In the original cut of the film, Han shot Greedo before things could get out of hand. This fit with the anti-hero arc, Han was the scoundrel with a heart of gold. In later recuts of the …
The Image of God: Each Man Makes Heaven and Earth Anew
In Genesis 1:1-2, God makes the heavens and the earth. In Genesis 1:26-31, God makes man in his image. Okay. We’re not able to engage in creating a cosmos from nothing. But here’s what we can do. We construct the world in unique ways, each of us. The objective world, of course, is real. But …
Christian Conflict Resolution
Like all people, Christians have conflict over ideas, practices, preferred traditions, and how to spend money. Conflict is good. It helps solve problems. But we frequently handle this conflict in ways that contradict the purpose of the church and the content of the gospel message! When we value a minor thing as though it were …
The life of the mind in early Christianity
This is the best couple of paragraphs from N.T. Wright’s massive two volume tome: That is the point at which Paul found himself inventing and developing this new discipline we call, in retrospect, ‘Christian theology’. The radically new worldview in which he and his converts found themselves was bound to face the question ‘why’ at …
Levels of Analysis in the Sermon on the Mount: A brief outline
What is the Sermon on the Mount? How do we read it? What I have in mind is Matthew 5-7. Let’s leave Luke 6 out for now. Below are some potential layers of analysis for understanding the Sermon on the Mount. Now, the most simple way to read it is: hear these words and do …
Think Rightly About Yourselves
[This is a repost from 2013 with an additional translation added to the list below] Text Λέγω γὰρ διὰ τῆς χάριτος τῆς δοθείσης μοι παντὶ τῷ ὄντι ἐν ὑμῖν μὴ ὑπερφρονεῖν παρ᾽ ὃ δεῖ φρονεῖν ἀλλὰ φρονεῖν εἰς τὸ σωφρονεῖν, ἑκάστῳ ὡς ὁ θεὸς ἐμέρισεν μέτρον πίστεως. (Rom 12:3 BGT) Translation Upon first glance the …