What do you want to be when you (finally) grow up? If you’ve had trouble figuring out your gifts and what God has called you to do and to be, you aren’t alone. The Lord enjoins every one of us, in all the actions of life, to have respect to our own calling . . …
What Balance Means
Balance is very difficult for us as Christians to maintain. But balance in worship, balance in doctrine, balance in good deeds, and balance in individual practice, are nevertheless required. At the same time, balance is to be defined according to the Word, and not according to the moderate nervousness the world has about religious things. …
Haman and Mordecai
In my morning Bible reading, I have been going through the book of Esther. Now in our circles, I am aware of a common reading of the text that says Mordecai was in the wrong for refusing to bow before Haman. Here are just a couple quick reasons why I can’t see it. The reversal …
Four Men
The task of exegesis is to unpack from the text what is already there. The task is not eisegesis, to import what it would be pleasant for me to find were I to have my druthers. If I go on a trip without my wife, when I get to the motel room, one of my …
I AM and the Resurrection
Just a few exegetical sketches on a couple of oddities I found. This is how the incident at the burning bush is described. “And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall …
The Day of Death
Our knowledge of the greatest journey we will ever undertake is lamentably sketchy. Some of this is obviously because of the nature of the case—death is a great barrier. But at least part of our ignorance is the result of not studying what the Scriptures teach us about this. “For we know that if our …
Scriptural Hermeneutics
Here is an interesting site that has some good info on Old Testament passages that are quoted in the New Testament. Since this whole subject mounts the central challenge to “scientific” hermeneutics in the evangelical camp, I would encourage all evangelicals everywhere to pursue this subject diligently. Longnecker’s book on the subject was really informative, …
Judah, Judea and James
In John 7:1, John tells us that Jesus did not go into Judea because the Jewish leaders were trying to kill Him. But the feast of tabernacles was at hand, and just a few verses later, his brothers (who did not believe in Him, v. 5), were taunting Him, trying to get Him to go …
Spiraling Away
I have recently been doing some thinking on Psalm 115. In the eighth verse, the psalmist tells us that men become like the idols they worship. And since he has already explained that all idols–whether formed by the hands or forged in cracked brains–are blind, deaf, dumb and lame, the men who worship them assume …