Growing up it was not uncommon for the leaders in my church to claim that Scripture, being inspired, was easy to understand. Why would God speak to his people in ways hard to understand? Ignoring the fact the Peter directly contradicts this statement in regard to Paul’s writings...
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October 31, 2016 Andrew Sargent
Biblical Language Issues
I hardly need to recount the blessings of translating the Bible. It is the most basic sense of preaching… translations seek to present the word of God, the Gospel of God, the Gospel of Christ in a language that people from every part of the world can understand....
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October 28, 2016 Andrew Sargent
Biblical Language Issues
I was asked once to deliver a lecture titled, “Is the Bible Reliable?” I asked, “Reliable for what?” One asks, “Can you trust translations of the Bible?” I counter ask, “Can you trust translations of the Bible to be or do what?” Can you trust translations of the...
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October 26, 2016 Andrew Sargent
Biblical Language Issues
While foolishly engaging a Twitter troll the other day, as this egomaniacal barbarian cursed the idea of God and Scripture, declaring Christianity and all other religion the source of all evil, (200 million dead at the hands of atheists not withstanding) I asked the man if he understood...
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October 24, 2016 Andrew Sargent
101 Most Misunderstood Verses, Bible Backgrounds, Biblical Studies, HAGALAH, New Testament Studies, NT's Use of the OT, Old Testament Studies, Society
In two recent posts we began to discuss the implication of reading Genesis as an Ancient Near Eastern (ANE) Ancestor Epic, a collection of stories that a people tell themselves about how they almost weren’t, about their deliverance by their God to fulfill his purposes in and through...
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October 21, 2016 Andrew Sargent
Bible Backgrounds, Biblical Studies, HAGALAH, Inductive Study Methods, Old Testament Studies
In a recent post we began discussing the nature of Genesis as an ancestor epic—the stories that a people tell themselves about how they almost weren’t a people. Crises have arisen in a people’s past which, save for the sovereign hand of their God, who has a purpose...
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October 19, 2016 Andrew Sargent
Bible Backgrounds, Biblical Studies, HAGALAH, Inductive Study Methods, Old Testament Studies
When reading any document it helps to know what you are reading. Is this document a comic meant to be funny, mocking or otherwise derisive? Is this document a fiction meant to entertain? Is this document a body of laws meant to form the rules of a society?...
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October 17, 2016 Andrew Sargent
Bible Backgrounds, Biblical Studies, HAGALAH, Inductive Study Methods, Old Testament Studies
So, in a recent post I discussed the church’s first heresy (Judaizers/the circumcision party) who sought to require gentiles to become Jews before becoming Christians, or in addition to becoming Christian, as if a proper expression of Christianity is encapsulated in a fixation on the letter of the...
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October 5, 2016 Andrew Sargent
101 Most Misunderstood Verses, Biblical Studies, Biblical Theology, New Testament Studies, NT's Use of the OT, Old Testament Studies
So, I’ve been discussing Torah food laws and how the two main texts that Christians appeal to for ignoring them are improperly interpreted. Mark 7 is talking about Halakic regulations popular during Jesus’ day which sought to drive a wedge of hatred between Jew and Gentile, abandoning the...
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October 3, 2016 Andrew Sargent
101 Most Misunderstood Verses, Biblical Studies, Biblical Theology, New Testament Studies, NT's Use of the OT
