Category Archives: Bible

2 Cor 12:12 – ‘The signs of an apostle’

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12:11 I have become a fool. You yourselves forced me to do it, for I should have been commended by you. For I lack nothing in comparison to those “super-apostles,” even though I am nothing. 12:12 Indeed, the signs of an apostle were performed among you with great perseverance by signs and wonders and powerful deeds.

Two questions may be raised.  An exegetical question: do these ‘signs of an apostle’ to refer to miracle-working, or more broadly to a life and ministry consistent with that of an apostle? …

Rev 13:18 – ‘His number is 666’

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Rev 13:18 This calls for wisdom: Let the one who has insight calculate the beast’s number, for it is man’s number, and his number is 666.

There have been two main ways of explaining this number.

1. The number of Nero

This is been the identification traditionally and in much recent scholarship.

In Greek and Hebrew, numbers were written using letters of the alphabet in the 1st century, and in that language the letters making up ‘Nero Caesar’ add up to 666.…

Re-reading the story of Adam and Eve

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I’m not entirely sure what to make of Peter Enns’ and Jared Byas’ take on the story of Adam and Eve.  But I offer a synopsis here, since it is certainly worth pondering.

Many of us have been taught that Adam and Eve were created perfect, but then ‘fell’ into sin, taking the entire human race with them.

But some – including those from the Eastern Orthodox tradition – take a different angle.  In this reading, the story is not about a fall from sinless perfection, but rather a failure to grow up into godly wisdom.…

2 Jn 1:1 – ‘An elect lady and her children’

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1:1 From the elder, to an elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth (and not I alone, but also all those who know the truth), 1:2 because of the truth that resides in us and will be with us forever.

Does this refer to a person and her offspring, or to a church and its constituent members?  Although certainty is not possible, the latter option is to be preferred.

Some early writers were undecided. …

The Garden of Eden as a Temple

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Eden is not just a garden for humans, but the garden of God, Is 51:3; Ezek 28:13.  As Wenham explains,

‘The garden of Eden is not viewed by the author of Genesis simply as a piece of Mesopotamian farmland, but as an archetypal sanctuary, that is a place where God dwells and where man should worship him. Many of the features of the garden may also be found in later sanctuaries particularly the tabernacle or Jerusalem temple.

…

Jer 22:30/Mt 1:12 – The curse of Jeconiah

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What about the curse of Jeconiah (Jer 22:24-30)?

22:30 The LORD says,
“Enroll this man in the register as though he were childless.
Enroll him as a man who will not enjoy success during his lifetime.
For none of his sons will succeed in occupying the throne of David
or ever succeed in ruling over Judah.”

According to 1 Chron 3:17 Jeconiah had seven sons (1 Chron 3:17).

So what does it mean that none of them would occupy the throne of David? …

Yes, I must learn how to interpret the Bible

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Based on:

Carson, D. A. ―Must I Learn How to Interpret the Bible?  Modern Reformation 5:3 (May/June
1996): 18–22. Updated 2003.

What parts of the Bible are binding mandates for us, what what parts are not?

  • Should we ‘greet one another with a holy kiss’?
  • Should we wash one another’s feet?
  • If the answer to the preceding question is ‘No’, why do we follow the Lord’s command, ‘Do this in remembrance of me’?
  • Should we execute adulters by stoning?
…

Heb 2:9 – ‘Apart from God’

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Heb 2:9 – ‘We see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by God’s grace he would experience death on behalf of everyone.’

Summary

An alternative reading has ‘apart from God’ (χωρὶς θεοῦ), instead of ‘by God’s grace’ (χάριτι θεοῦ).  The evidence for this alternative reading is weak.

In detail

Hagner thinks that the evidence for the accepted reading is ‘overwhelming’. …

Phil 3:11 – Paul uncertain of his resurrection?

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3:10 My aim is to know him, to experience the power of his resurrection, to share in his sufferings, and to be like him in his death, 3:11 and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

The word for ‘resurrection’ – exanastasis – is used only here in the NT (the usual word being anastasis).  But Paul’s meaning is detected not by the use of this word but (according to F.F.…

Jn 14:3 – “If I go…I will come again”

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“And if I go and make ready a place for you, I will come again and take you to be with me, so that where I am you may be too.”

What does our Lord mean, when he speaks of ‘going’ and ‘coming again’?

There are two main interpretative options:

(a) ‘I am going to heaven to prepare a place for you there, and at my parousia I will return and take you there, so that you will be with me for ever.’…