Psalm 104:30, “When you send forth your Spirit [or “breath’], they are created…” John 19:30, “He bowed His head and handed over the spirit [or “breath”].” As you may know, the same word is used both for “Spirit” and “Breath” in Hebrew as well as in Greek. This is a fruitful ambiguity. Biblical authors […]
Psalm 104:30; John 19:30 Read More »
1 John 4:14-15, “And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him and he in God.” John is here saying the same thing in two complimentary ways. To confess Jesus
1 Chronicles 29:14. “But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able thus to offer willingly? For all things come from you, and of your own have we given to you.” This is part of David’s prayer after the collection for the building of the temple, and the implication
1 Chronicles 29:14 Read More »
John 14:6-7, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father if not through me. If you have known me, also have also known my Father. And from now on you know Him and have seen Him.” The way for the disciples to come to the Father—both truly now,
John 10:3-5, “The sheep hear His voice, and He calls His own sheep by name and leads them out…the sheep follow Him for they know His voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” The sheep recognize the VOICE of
1 Timothy 1:5, “The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and sincere faith.” I love the “North Star” statements of Scripture. The North Star is clear and unmoving and—no matter what else may be happening—if you follow that star, you will be heading North…Similarly,
John 1:5, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome [comprehended] it.” An interpretive question we must ask when we come to this passage is what we understand “κατέλαβεν” (translated either “overcome” or “comprehend”) to mean. The word appears again in John’s gospel only in 12:35 where the meaning seems to
Proverbs 9:10, “The fear of YHWH is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.” The knowledge (intimate, personal knowledge—same word used for the way a husband and wife “know” one another in marital union) the knowledge of the Holy One is insight. By saying that knowledge of the Holy
Psalm 139:23-24, “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Test me and know my anxious thoughts! See if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” If we have known God in Christ by the Spirit, we will not try to “hide” any aspect of our life
Proverbs 8:23, “Ages ago I was set up [or, “poured out”], at the first, before the beginning of the earth.” The word that the ESV translates as “set up” in verse 23 is used 26 times in the Old Testament and 23 of those times, it has to do with the outpouring of an offering.
Exodus 33:20, “…man shall not see me and live.” When Moses asks to see YHWH’s glory on Mount Sinai, the Lord responds by telling Moses that he cannot see His face, since to see the face of God means death for a sinful human. However, John tells us that—with the incarnation of the self-declaring Word
Colossians 1:20, “…and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.” The same all things that were created in and through Christ as their source and ground, the same all things that exist for Christ as their telos (Col.1:16), and the
John 20:27-28, “[Jesus] said to Thomas…’see my hands; and put out your hand and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.’ Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’” Sometimes we read this passage and think that Jesus presents His wounds to Thomas as proof that He really has been raised from
– Part VII- Through faith-union to God the Son, wrought by the indwelling Spirit of God, a once scattered and rebellious people have become the unified and sanctified Bride of Christ. Because of the incarnation of God in Christ, the Church truly is bone of God’s bones, and flesh of God’s flesh, united in
The Gospel – VII – Consummation Read More »
Romans 8:23, “…we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.” As I read Romans 8:18-25 this morning, I was struck by what a primary role HOPE plays in the Christian experience under the curse of Genesis
John 17:3, “And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” John 17:3 is one of the most paradigmatic verses for me in all of scripture….it overflows with implications for all of life and informs pretty much everything I do and create…So with
Romans 6:3-4, “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in
John 16:14-15, “He will glorify me, for He will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine…” I was reading through John 16 this morning and was once again struck by the unique role that Jesus tells us the Spirit fulfills. The Spirit glorifies the Son,
John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” As I considered this morning what exactly the “Peace” that Jesus gives is, I noticed a few things: First,
2 Corinthians 4:6, “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness’, has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” The Spirit-wrought work of regeneration causes us to see the crucified Christ and say, “my Lord and my
