Romans 8 Greek Wordle
I left out the articles, conjunctions, etc to help the main themes of Romans 8 stand out better. Here are some of the Greek wordles posted on the blog in the past: John 3 John 1:1-18
Baptism – Related to Salvation but Not a Work
Two insights from Kittel’s Theological Dictionary of the New Testament that help us get a better understanding of baptism: 1) Baptism is seen in the New Testament as part of God’s reconciling process. Here are some words from Oepke in Kittel, “Christian baptism certainly has as its final goal new and eternal life…the new life […]
What Are the Results of Sin?
We usually are quick to point out death (Romans 3:23) and that is a correct answer but what is interesting about sin is that this death can be a very slow, gradual process. This is very much in line with the song “Slow fade” by Casting Crowns. Death yes, but in the meantime sin takes […]
Big Buts in the Bible
But is a very important word. In Greek it is the word “alla” (αλλα). There are times in scripture where you are glad for that small three letter word. Here are some examples that without the “but” we would be in bad shape. Imagine where we would be if Paul, Mark, Peter, or others didn’t […]
Incarnation – Adding Nonverbals to the Conversation
As was mentioned in a previous post, much of communication is done non-verbally. One of the difficulties of the Law in the Old Testament was that transformation is much more easily done through face-to-face interaction than through a series of written rules, regulations, and requirements. When the Law was first given it was done face-to-face. […]
Romans 8:37-39 in the New Living Translation (NLT) vs. New International Version (NIV)
A very interesting translation of this text in the New Living Translation: “37No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from his love. 38Death can’t, and life can’t. The angels can’t, and the demons can’t. Our fears for today, […]
How We View Jesus Impacts the Way We Live
In your own thinking, where does Jesus come from? I am not talking about a physical place in Palestine so Bethlehem is out. I am talking about the influences that have shaped your view of Jesus to this point in your life. There are a lot of sources that shape our views of Christ over […]
What do you do with Junias and Phoebe?
Now this one threw me for a loop. I never noticed this before – “Greet Andronicus and Junias, my relatives who have been in prison with me. They are outstanding among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was.” – Romans 16:7 There is no doubt that Paul is referring to Junias as […]
Should We Celebrate Easter?
For those of you not from the Churches of Christ you might wonder why even ask such a question. For those of you who are familiar with the CofC you know exactly why I would ask such a question. We have traditionally backlashed so severely from denominationalism that we have drawn some lines where they […]
Balancing Faith, Grace, Baptism, and Works
I am re-posting this comment I left over at Jay Guin’s blog. He was discussing the necessity of baptism and I thought this might be helpful to mention here as well. See his post here as it is excellent and followed up by insightful comments. Here is my comment: We have to understand what Paul […]