Posted on by christianwordsblog

PLEASING (GOD)

without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. (Hebrews 11:6)

The verb that is translates ‘to please’ is εὐαρεστέω euaresteó and means ‘to be well-pleasing’, which be extension could be ‘to render good service’.  This verse reads literally:

and apart from faith it is impossible to please well, for it behoveth him who is coming to God to believe that He is, and to those seeking Him He becometh a rewarder.  (YLT)

The writer of Hebrews clarifies an eternal truth, that the unregenerate, that is anyone that is not granted salvatory faith, can never do anything to gain to God’s favour. 

Read more
Posted on by christianwordsblog

DISCIPLE

… any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:33)

The word translated ‘disciple’ is μαθητής mathétés and it means one who subjects themselves to mental effort or rigour; mathematics, clearly a subject that demands much intellectual application, derives from the same root, mathema, which is literally ‘that which is learnt’.

A disciple, then, is different to a ‘follower’.  During his ministry, large numbers of people followed Jesus from town to town and mountainside to lakeside, but only a handful transitioned into discipleship, why was this?  Because few were willing to make the necessary effort or to pay the extreme cost of worldly renunciation.  Jesus outlines by this first employing plain language:

Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, ‘If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple …’ (ibid 14:25-26)

Read more
Posted on by christianwordsblog

ANGER

‘In your anger do not sin’: do not let the sun go down while you are still angry,and do not give the devil a foothold.  (Ephesians 4:26-27 NIV)

Many deem anger to be a sin, so to what does Paul elude here?  Actually, he quotes from the Septuagint:

Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness!
    You have given me relief when I was in distress.
    Be gracious to me and hear my prayer!
O men, how long shall my honour be turned into shame?
    How long will you love vain words and seek after lies? Selah
But know that the Lord has set apart the godly for himself;
    the Lord hears when I call to him.
Be angry, and do not sin;
    ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent. (Psalm 4:1-4)

David is crying out to God but also pleading with his enemies (possibly rhetorically).  He is asking them to bear their anger and not act upon it.  And it is this that Paul reiterates to the man and woman now set apart in Christ to deal differently with anger, knowing full well that any opposition, prejudice or persecution will provoke anger.

Read more
Posted on by christianwordsblog

GOSPEL (of Christ)

…If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. 

(Galatians 1:9)

Taken from the Anglo Saxon godes spell, ‘good words or speech’ the English language derives the word ‘gospel’.  The Greek word translated ‘gospel’ is εὐαγγελίζεται euangelizetai, stands for the act of good speaking, literally communicating a good message.  And for Paul, the message was sacrosanct and if any choose to deliver a different ‘gospel’, one did so at your eternal peril.

Twice Paul offers this imprecation at the beginning of Galatians.  To Paul it was a serious matter to understand and communicate the gospel without deviation or corruption.

Read more
Posted on by christianwordsblog

DWELL (Tabernacle)

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God’.  (Revelation 21:3)

John the Apostle receives a vision: 

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. (ibid 21:1-2)

In this new earth, God will dwell with his people.  The word ‘dwell’ translates a Greek verb σκηνόω skénoó, which literally means to camp, to live in a tent and in some versions is ‘to tabernacle’, referencing the Holy Tent in which God dwelt with his people Israel in Sinai.

Read more
Posted on by christianwordsblog

STRUGGLE

In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. (Hebrew 12:4)

The Greek word translated ‘struggle’ is ἀνταγωνίζομαι  antagónizomai, from anti ‘against’ and agónizomai ‘contend with’, whence English derives the verb ‘to agonise’.  The common usage of agónizomai was in the context of warfare or an athletic contest, and it refers to the physical, mental and emotional exertion in contending with an enemy.

The writer of Hebrews references Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, who –

knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.And when he rose from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow, and he said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation.”  (Luke 22:42-46)

Read more
Posted on by christianwordsblog

SILENCE (Hush)

When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.  (Revelation 8:1)

The scene is the throne room of God. Transported in a vision, John the Apostle witnesses the enactment of salvation, and he is moved to tears:

Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals.  And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” 

And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. 

And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”  (ibid 5:1-5)

Read more
Posted on by christianwordsblog

(The Promise of) VICTORY

To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne.  (Revelation 3:21)

In the Bible book that contains John’s apocalypse, Jesus reveals to his disciple an assessment of the seven churches; which, in the apocalyptic symbolism where the number seven represents completeness, is the assessment of the church in its totality.  It is a sobering read because the body of believers is clearly beset.  That it is persecuted should come as no surprise, but what is shocking (or should be) is the parlous internal conflict. 

Read more
Posted on by christianwordsblog

ORACLE

Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God.  (Romans 3:1-2)

Oracles are divine utterances, λόγιον logion.  Paul is of course speaking about all Scripture, which was for him the Tanakh, the Law, Prophets and Writings, latterly called The Old Testament.

An oracle is prophesy, as seen in the Hebrew:

Read more
Posted on by christianwordsblog

PROPHET

The nations you will dispossess listen to those who practice sorcery or divination. But as for you, the Lord your God has not permitted you to do so.  The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him.   For this is what you asked of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, “Let us not hear the voice of the Lord our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die.”

The Lord said to me: “What they say is good. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words in his mouth. (Deuteronomy 18:14-18)

In the second reading of the Law brought down from Mount Sinai, or Horeb, Moses brings a message from Almighty God.  In this capacity Moses is acting as a ‘spokesman’.  The Hebrew word translated as prophet is נָבִיא nevi and it means just that, one who speaks on God’s behalf.

Read more