Language Studies

The literal Greek of Matthew 6:22 "if therefore your eye is single" (םןנוץנהווקןלמוףסוץןפלוץף) has been translated variously. The Greek word only occurs in the New Testament in this saying of Jesus and literally means 'single', but meaningfully, means little. Just what is it getting at? Are we all to be one-eyed Cyclopses…

"The vision, of its essence, is apocalyptic and millennial. Deep in the Jewish tradition, and radiantly powerful in Deuteronomy, Daniel and Isaiah, is the idea that a moment of fearful justice will come, when the wrath of the divine will descend on Earth. It knows no compromise. Its very violence is a measure of its goodness. That is the tradition…

This study is pertinent in Europe and the World at large and particularly in England this week. Both EU and UN bodies have said that Britain fails to protect children's rights by allowing an 1860 law that legitimises "reasonable chastisement" to remain on the statute books. This week there have again been calls within the UK Parliament to outlaw…

Christians often have distanced themselves so far from their Jewish roots and heritage that they have forgotten that they, too, are obligated by commandments. On the question of whether there was such an obligation, leaders of…

Paul's point in 1 Corinthians 10 is that even the Old Testament people of God were baptised believers, nourished by spiritual food and divinely directed; yet they committed sins and fell away. So in verse 12 Paul tells the…

The role of woman as 'helper' to man in Genesis 2:18 has often been taken to mean a kind of domestic servitude and female inferiority. The term 'help-mate' is a mishearing of the AV phrase, "an help meet for him" and was used in Darby's 1884 translation, "a helpmate, his like". It is NOT a subordinate term as it is also used of God in the…

The commanded destruction is absolute down to not only the innocent child but also the cattle and pet sheep. The Hebrew verb used for "utterly destroy" is châram (Strong's #2763). It occurs 51 times, 7 of which are in this chapter. It means to "put under a ban", to "utterly exclude or devote…

"And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so." (Genesis 1:24, NKJV) This verse read in English bible versions causes no obvious theological problems apart from those related to the creation versus evolution debate. Our problem here…

This article is in response to a familiar question posed by those suggesting that the God of the Old Testament was cruel and tyrannical. It is not new. In the second century A.D. the Christian Marcion reflected on the same question and sought to remove all such passages from the Bible when they conflicted with his purer New Testament God of…

The idea that Jesus taught pacifism arose primarily due to the misunderstanding of a number of his sayings. When viewed from a Jewish perspective, the gospel passages on which pacifism is based point to a quite different conclusion. Many people over the years have seen Jesus as a pacifist - and for good reason. Here was a man who…

Whilst the later Matthew passage just speaks of any hand, foot or eye, Matthew 5:29-30 specifically speaks of the right eye and right hand. In Middle Eastern thought the right was to be preferred to the left, it was the clean hand used in…

This 'problem passage' is not theologically significant but is an example of error through transmission which if not understood and yet discovered by sceptics could lead the Bible's claim to historical accuracy and inerrancy into…

The point Jude is making is not hard to figure out, but the source of his cited example is. If we only needed to find "The Lord rebuke you!", that would be easy, for the very words appear in Zechariah 3:2. In that Old Testament scene Satan, the adversary, is contending with the Angel of the Lord about the high priest Joshua. The full detail of Jude's description…

Jannes and Jambres read like a Jeopardy question "What are Jannes and Jambres?" to which the answer, or in fact the question, is "What are the names of the two Egyptian magicians who, according to Exodus 7:8-12, performed miracles before Pharaoh equal to those of Moses and Aaron? Their appearance in 2 Timothy 3:8-9 has sparked a lot…