A true account of God's relentless redeeming love toward all mankind through Jesus Christ to all who believe, inspired by God's own Spirit.
NOT a rulebook, guidebook, or roadmap. NOT a weapon of fear and condemnation against men and women. NOT given to restrain or restrict freedom and liberty. NOT the living Word of God (hint: John 1). NOT given to self-righteous men in order to control and manipulate the weak and needy.
These are just some thoughts swirling around inside my little head lately, they are slowly starting to take shape...
Showing posts with label rightly dividing the word. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rightly dividing the word. Show all posts
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Understanding Difficult and Confusing Passages of the Bible...
A while back, o.k., a long while back I said I wanted to tackle some of those tricky Bible passages that seem to contradict the grace message. Overall, I've seen that these Scriptures do NOT contradict the true gospel (surprise surprise!) but only the way they have been taught by men and women who do not have revelation of the New Covenant and therefore wrongly divide the word according to their own lack of understanding. I will freely confess to you all that I am no Bible scholar, so I'm relying on the Holy Spirit to reveal truth to me , to reveal Jesus, through the black and white words on the pages of my Bible.
Also, I'll be using some basic study tools to help me understand the original Greek which will allow us to examine the verses beyond the inevitable slant of perception that will come through the translators of whatever English Bible we use. And very importantly, I'll be paying close attention to the context of these difficult passages, taking into account who the words were specifically written by and for, as well as the cultural context of the recipients of the words which were either in the form of a letter or historical account. As well, I want to let Scripture interpret Scripture where possible remembering that God will not contradict himself because he cannot lie.
All that being said, I'm hoping that people more (or less hehe) knowledgeable than me will chime in with their perspectives to help along this whole process. I don't feel I'm the most qualified in terms of worldly wisdom, knowledge, or intellect but I'm not sure this matters! I think it's time that more of us 'gracers' tackle some of these verses head on since they will be used more and more against us as weapons to try and cut down the gospel and the power of our faith in Jesus. It's time to get prepared so that these attacks of flaming arrows fall flat and powerless as being continually extinguished by our shields of faith.
So stay tuned! The first passage I plan on tackling is from Philippians 2 "...work out your salvation in fear and trembling..."
If you have any requests, just let me know in the comment section and I'll try to deal with it at some point.
Also, I'll be using some basic study tools to help me understand the original Greek which will allow us to examine the verses beyond the inevitable slant of perception that will come through the translators of whatever English Bible we use. And very importantly, I'll be paying close attention to the context of these difficult passages, taking into account who the words were specifically written by and for, as well as the cultural context of the recipients of the words which were either in the form of a letter or historical account. As well, I want to let Scripture interpret Scripture where possible remembering that God will not contradict himself because he cannot lie.
All that being said, I'm hoping that people more (or less hehe) knowledgeable than me will chime in with their perspectives to help along this whole process. I don't feel I'm the most qualified in terms of worldly wisdom, knowledge, or intellect but I'm not sure this matters! I think it's time that more of us 'gracers' tackle some of these verses head on since they will be used more and more against us as weapons to try and cut down the gospel and the power of our faith in Jesus. It's time to get prepared so that these attacks of flaming arrows fall flat and powerless as being continually extinguished by our shields of faith.
So stay tuned! The first passage I plan on tackling is from Philippians 2 "...work out your salvation in fear and trembling..."
If you have any requests, just let me know in the comment section and I'll try to deal with it at some point.
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