After leaving the upper room and Jerusalem, Jesus led his disciples out of the city, across the brook, Kidron, to Mount Olives and a garden, which was called Gethsemane (Mark 14:32). Josephus tells us that there were many hedged gardens on the mount,[1] and, according to Jerome, a fourth century Christian scholar, the Garden of Gethsemane lay at the foot of the mountain. The word Gethsemane actually means ‘the place of the olive press’ and may have been convenient location, where folks, who owned the olive gardens on the mount, brought their fruit to force out the precious olive oil. The text doesn’t say, but it seems that the garden must have belonged to one of Jesus disciples, who made it available to him and his disciples for rest and sleep, while they were in Jerusalem. Upon reaching the garden, Jesus told most of his disciples to remain in one area, while he and a few others went to the other side to pray. Read the rest of this entry »
Mark tells us that Jesus came to Judea (Mark 1:5) from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John (Mark 1:9) in the Jordan near where it empties into the Dead Sea. An interesting fact about Mark’s narrative is that we don’t have any evidence here of John’s unwillingness to baptize the One mightier than he (Mark 1:7; cp. Matthew 3:14-15). Consider for a moment what John may have been thinking, as recorded by Matthew. John was to prepare the people for the coming of the Messiah, who was to remove the sin of the world (John 1:29; cp. Genesis 3:22-24) or in a covenantal context, the sin that caused the Lord to divorce Israel, and, thereby, bring in the New Covenant. In what context, therefore, was John to understand the One, who was to do such a thing, to be in need of baptism? If baptism was done to prepare, or to wash one who needed to change his life or his attitude toward God, why would it be done to the One mightier than I (cp. Mark 2:17)? Read the rest of this entry »
In my opinion, the Church by and large has greatly misunderstood John’s final words in his epistle. Some of what he claimed here has even been used in the Prosperity Gospel by the name-it-and-claim-it (sometimes referred to as the “blab-it-and-grab-it”) charlatans of our day. Nevertheless, their idea of the Gospel cannot be supported by John in his epistle. John told his readers that the confidence we have in God proves evident, in that, whatever we ask according to the will of God, he will hear us, and, if we know that he hears us, we have already received what we have asked for (1John 5:14-15). That is, the Lord has agreed to give us what we have requested of him. Nevertheless, John wasn’t referring to having a successful business, buying a car, a home or the latest electronic device we believe is so necessary in today’s environment. Such preaching abuses the word of God that we find in our Bibles. Read the rest of this entry »
Many scholars try to tell us that James was warning his readers about temptation to sin and that enduring such temptation brings us eternal life (James 1:12). However, if James is speaking about keeping the Law in verse-12, how is the sacrifice of Christ needed? In other words, if keeping the Law is what saves a man, then Christ is not needed (Galatians 2:21). Therefore, if James is speaking the truth (cp. John 10:35), he cannot be referring to the Law, when he writes of enduring temptation / trial and receiving the crown of life, which he claims comes to the believer by promise. While, theoretically, it is true that anyone may inherit eternal life, if he keeps the Law (cp. Luke 18:18; Matthew 19:17-20), all men are sinners (Romans 3:9-12), and, therefore, lawbreakers (James 2:10). So, practically speaking, no one is able to inherit life, because the Law condemns him (cp. Romans 7:9-10). On the other hand, if eternal life is a gift (Romans 6:23), how would it come by enduring persecution? So, what is James saying? Read the rest of this entry »
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Paul warned his readers that, if they sinned willfully, having received the knowledge (epignosis – G1922) of the truth, there no longer remained a sacrifice for sin (Hebrews 10:26). Instead, one has only an expectation of the judgment of God upon his enemies (Hebrews 10:26-27). What Paul was referring to in this verse was the same as what he claimed in Hebrews 10:25. So, if believers forsook their vindication and reward at the coming of Christ (verse-25), by returning to their former life (in the context of Paul’s letter, that would be Judaism), then all they had left was a sense of fear at Christ’s coming judgment (verse-27). In other words, they are without a sacrifice for their sins in Judaism (verse-26). Jesus is the only sacrifice God accepts for sin, and to accept Jesus is to abandon unbelief (Judaism). Read the rest of this entry »
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After showing how Christ, our High Priest, ministers a better covenant in Hebrews 8, Paul at this point in his epistle begins to contrast Christ and the New Covenant with that of the Old Covenant and the Levitical priesthood. The patterns of the real things could never be as effective as the reality, just as a shadow of a body could never be real without the body, which casts it. This seems to be the theme of what Paul communicates to his readers in this chapter. The Levitical priesthood and all it did could never offer real forgiveness for the sins of the people it represented. On the other hand, Jesus, coming as he does in the end of the age, accomplishes what the old order could not. Read the rest of this entry »
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Many modern Biblical scholars believe that the six principles of the doctrine of Christ refer to the foundational doctrines of Christianity, but this cannot be true, because Paul speaks of abandoning those very things. These same scholars then attempt to soften Paul’s directive, by concluding that he means mature Christians simply cannot cling to milk (foundational doctrines) as their steady diet. Rather they must go on to maturity, which is equated with eating solid food. While it is true that milk isn’t the diet of a mature adult, this explanation simply falls short of equating the principles of the doctrine of Christ with foundational Christian doctrines. We simply cannot abandon what is foundational to our faith, and Paul does tell his readers to abandon the principles of the doctrine of Christ. So how should we understand this?
In the context of the abortion issue, what would it mean to live by faith. Would it mean to take the word of a preacher that life within the womb is a person in its own right? Would it mean to take the word of a scientist who supports or rejects the idea of a fetus being a person? At this point my mind drifts back to when I was a boy, to a book that was required reading when I was in high school: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness … it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”[1] We live in a time when we have most everything at our fingertips. All the work has been done for us, all we need to do is play the game! Read the rest of this entry »
It seems fair to me, if I am going to say that homosexuality is a sin and not behavior approved of or encouraged in the Bible, I should at least attempt to address an argument that supports the homosexual perspective, namely, that it is not sinful behavior. I found such an argument entitled: Homosexuality: Not a Sin, Not a Sickness Part II “What The Bible Does and Does Not Say…”, by Rev. Elder Don Eastman. Part I didn’t argue from a Biblical point of view, so I won’t address it. Only Part II engages the Bible for its support. For the sake of space (I try to keep my studies under 1000 words),[1] I won’t be able to address every point of disagreement, but I shall address what I believe to be most important. Read the rest of this entry »
For some time it seems that homosexuality was considered the worst sin anyone could commit. I know from my own experience, brethren have held out this lifestyle as the chief of sinful behavior. Yet, these same folks seem to wink at adultery and divorce. Many of us have friends, perhaps even family members, who are divorced, once, twice perhaps even three times, but, while we associate with these sinners, we don’t associate with gay people (as a rule; there are exceptions). We befriend folks we know to be adulterers and at times eagerly listen to their bragging / confession about their sexual escapades, but who would want to listen to a gay’s night out? Gay bashing is also forgivable, because, after all, they deserve it—don’t they? God hates gays—doesn’t he (John 3:16). Jesus died for adulterers, murderers, thieves, idolaters, but not gays—right? Do we really get to choose whose sins are the greatest, or who is and who is not forgiven? Read the rest of this entry »
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The Lord told John to write that the overcomer would inherit all things, and the Lord, Jesus, would be his God, and the overcomer would be Jesus’ son (Revelation 21:7)! Let’s consider this for a moment. If the things in Revelation 21 take place after all things are made new (Revelation 21:5, and after the thousand year reign of Christ that was an era of peace like no other before it; and, if this chapter also occurs after the resurrection and judgment of the just and the unjust, after which all the wicked are cast into the lake of fire, **if** all these things are behind us, as we enter the New Jerusalem, what has the believer to overcome? Read the rest of this entry »
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When the Lamb (Jesus) had taken the book to himself to reveal its contents, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell before his feet and worshiped him (Revelation 5:8). The text says that every one of them had harps and golden censors in their hands, however, I don’t believe this means the four beasts and the twenty-four elders had both a censor and a harp in his hands. If that were true, it would be difficult to use either, because both require two hands to use. Read the rest of this entry »
In Revelation 2:11, Jesus spoke to those “who have ears to hear”, meaning believers who have exercised their senses to discern good and evil (cf. Hebrews 5:14). There, he promises that he who overcomes would not be harmed by the second death. But, what does Jesus mean by the second death? Exactly, how many deaths are there, and how are they described in Scripture? Read the rest of this entry »
Jesus concluded his parable in Luke 16:9 by telling his disciples to make friends with or by means of unrighteous mammon. Much of what the Lord intends for us to understand in the Parable of the Unjust Steward hangs on the meaning of the word mammon (mammonas – G3126), but we are unable to draw much help from the Greek. The word seems to be derived from G3125 (mamme), meaning grandmother, but the sense the translators give the word points to material wealth. Yet, the unjust steward doesn’t seem to be extorting the rich man’s wealth per se. Rather, he seems to be gaining the confidence of the rich man’s debtors. Read the rest of this entry »
In Luke 16:1 we have come to the Parable of the Unjust Steward. In my previous post I identified the unjust steward as the high priest in particular, but in general he could be any one of the Jewish authorities in Jesus’ day. In the parable it doesn’t appear that the rich man immediately deprived his steward of his office (Luke 16:4) and neither was Eli, the high priest when Samuel was a boy (cf. 1Samuel 2:31-33), immediately deprived of his office as. Rather, they would continue, until that faithful priest would come along whom the Lord had chosen (cf. 1Samuel 2:35). Read the rest of this entry »
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