17:34 “I tell you, in that night there will be two people in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. 17:35 There will be two women grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left.”
Is one ‘taken’ in judgment, or salvation in Jesus’ teaching here?
Interpreters hold a range of opinions.
(a) Some are not sure
Perrin: ‘whether in judgment or salvation is not clear’.
Some others do venture an opinion, but tentatively.…
Numbers 3:40 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Number all the firstborn males of the Israelites from a month old and upward, and take the number of their names. 3:41 And take the Levites for me—I am the LORD—instead of all the firstborn males among the Israelites, and the livestock of the Levites instead of all the firstborn of the livestock of the Israelites.” 3:42 So Moses numbered all the firstborn males among the Israelites, as the LORD had commanded him.…
4:16 He said to her, “Go call your husband and come back here.” 4:17 The woman replied, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “Right you are when you said, ‘I have no husband,’ 4:18 for you have had five husbands, and the man you are living with now is not your husband. This you said truthfully!”
To what extent (if any) is Jesus being critical of this woman’s morality?
And to what extent (if any) are commentators quilty of slander when they comment adversely on her sexual history?…
NET – 116:15 The LORD values
the lives of his faithful followers.
AV, RV, RSV, NIV (1984), ESV – ‘Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.’
Similar NIV (2011), NASB, NRSV and many other translations.
NLT – ‘The LORD cares deeply
when his loved ones die.’
GNB – ‘How painful it is to the LORD
when one of his people dies!’
The Message – ‘When they arrive at the gates of death,
GOD welcomes those who love him.’…
It’s often said that the Gospels are anonymous.
It’s true that none of them has the name of its author embedded in its text.
But, as Martin Hengel has argued, the present titles were unanimously attached by the middle of the 2nd century. It is highly likely that for this to happen the church would have know for quite some time who wrote which Gospel. Otherwise, multiple names would have circulated (as was the case with Hebrews).…
Hebrews 8:9 “It will not be like the covenant that I made with their fathers, on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not continue in my covenant and I had no regard for them, says the Lord.”
This is one of a handful of places in this quotation from Jeremiah where the LXX differs from the MT.
The issue here that the LXX, on which this quotation is based, appears to have mistranslated the text in Jeremiah 31:32 (‘though I was their husband’).…
Does the Bible anticipate modern science?
One of the go-to verses for ultraconservative readers of the Bible is Job 26:7 –
‘He spreads out the northern skies over empty space; he suspends the earth over nothing.’
This, of course, is a clear and beautiful assertion of God’s sovereignty over his creation.
But does it anticipate modern science by picturing the Earth as a globe floating in space?
According to the Apologetics Study Bible,
…‘Some scholars suggest that Job wrote better than he knew, for his observation approached the knowledge that the earth is suspended in space supported only by gravitational forces.’
The ‘beloved disciple’ is an unnamed individual mentioned only in the Fourth Gospel. He first appears at the Last Supper, where he reclines on Jesus’ bosom. He asks about Jesus’ betrayer, is entrusted with the care of Jesus’ mother, discovers the empty tomb of Jesus, and identifies the risen Jesus in Galilee. He appears to have been a close companion not only of Jesus but of Peter. References to the ‘other disciple’ may also refer to the beloved disciple. …
In Christian Theology (3rd ed. Baker Academic, 2013), Millard J. Erickson (2013) outlines a number of approaches to biblical inerrancy.
I summarise:
1. Absolute inerrancy. The Bible is completely true in all of its utterances, whether historical, scientific or theological.
2. Full inerrancy. The Bible is completely true. However, scientific and historical data are conveyed phenomenally, as they appear to the human eye. They include approximations, couched in popular, rather than scientific language.
3. Limited inerrancy regards the Bible unfailingly true in its teaching on all matters that pertain to salvation and the spiritual life. …
12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, we must get rid of every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and run with endurance the race set out for us, 12:2 keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy set out for him he endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.…
