Blue Letter Bible for Online Bible Reading and Bible Study

 

I have recently discovered the usefulness of the Blue Letter Bible online and phone app (Android, iPhone) service. It is jam-packed with useful tools!

A Study on the Old Testament Book of Daniel

 

Daniel, probably a teenager, along with his friends, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, were taken into exile to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, in the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah. From the time of the first captivity around 605 B.C., until the time of Daniel's last entries in the book bearing his name, are about 70 years. The last date that he mentioned is "the third year of Cyrus king of Persia" (10:1), around 536 B.C.

Birthday Books

Even though my birthday was waaayyy back on 11 January, I was only able today to go spend the money I received on my birthday. I buy almost all my physical, paper books from Augustine Bookroom, and that is where I bought these books today.

My Birthday Books

I haven't read anything of Spurgeon's for some time, so I decided to include at least something of Spurgy's today (Satan a Defeated Foe). 

The next book I bought is Anthony Hoekema's The Bible and the Future, a book on eschatology from an amillennial perspective. 

The last book I bought is AMG's Comprehensive Dictionary of New Testament Words.This book is of great help to those who do not know any New Testament Greek. It is a book of 1364 pages. Of course, this is not the kind of book you would read from cover to cover. It is a reference work.

The blurb on the back cover explains:

"As a premier provider of Christian books and Bibles that help the average person understand the Bible in its original languages, AMG Publishers is proud to present this important reference tool. This volume will help you discover the rich meaning of the words in the Greek New Testament.

"PART ONE contains defintions (sic) or cross-references for more than 8,000 English terms, definitions that are based on the meaning of the more than 5,500 Greek words in the Greek New Testament. Unlike some other tools, where you have to know the Greek alphabet or must first look up a Strong’s number before you get to the real meaning of things, this dictionary is organized alphabetically by the English words.  It covers all the common words and all the names of people and places found in the New Testament, and most often lists all the Scripture references where each English word is used. The primary entries also list the Greek words and Strong’s numbers so that you have them as a reference to other works.

"PART TWO is a simple lexicon of the Greek New Testament words, organized by Strong’s numbers, defined by terms found in Part One. Most lexicon entries list the other English New Testament words that translators used for that Greek word. To dig deeper, look up those other English words in Part One."

To help the user find the correct words in this reference tool, the vocabulary of seven (7) translations was used to build the dictionary. These translations are: J. N. Darby, KJV, NKJV, NASB, NIV (1984), NIV (2011), and ESV.

In order for you to understand how this tool works, have a look at these images:

I have 2 issues with this book:

1. Why was J. N. Darby's vocabulary included in this book? Who uses this translation?
2. The possibility exists for someone who does not know Greek, in using this book, such a person could start thinking that they know enough about a word or words in the New Testament to proclaim that "knowledge" far and wide as set in stone. The same problem exists with Strong's Concordance. These types of tools give just enough information to make people dangerous in their knowledge. Please understand that I am not shooting this book down for the "Greekless" user. All I am trying to do is to warn "Greekless" users not to push their knowledge picked from these tools too far.

However, this book can help many in their own Bible Studies.

Learning Biblical Greek has never been more accessible, and is needed more than ever!

When I studied at Bible College in the second half of the 1980s, we had to learn Biblical Greek, and I

loved it! It took a lot of work and dedication, but at the end of the 3 semesters of Greek that year I had an average of 96%. I found it fascinating!

But, like they say, "If you don't use, you lose it!" I got married in 1990, and started working at a massive state company through which I studied software development, and I've been in software development ever since. Through the years, because of disuse, I had forgotten much of what I learnt about New Testament Greek. I don't know how many times I tried to pick it up again. Don't get me wrong! I could no longer handle it smoothly, differentiating between different verb forms, nouns, etc. Yet, I was quite capable of helping myself when I came across something in the New Testament that I wanted to check against the Greek. I had the resources, and I knew how to use them, but I couldn't pick up a Greek New Testament and just translate as I read.

1000 Consecutive Days of Reading the Bible

Today, one thousand days ago I started using the YouVersion Bible app to read the Bible everyday. Although I used the app to read the Bible everyday, I only started using the app to actually read systematically through the Bible using their different Bible-in-a-year programs. 

Review: How to Study Your Bible by Kay Arthur

This past week I read two books on studying the Bible inductively by Kay Arthur. The first one is "The BASIC STEPS of BIBLE STUDY" (BSBS), Harvest House Publishers, Eugene, OR, 2019, and the second is "HOW TO STUDY YOUR BIBLE" (HSYB), Harvest House Publishers, Eugene, OR, 1994.

IN GENERAL

Right off the bat, between these two books, I would recommend HSYB, since BSBS is simply the first part of HSYB. BSBS is a very simple introduction to inductive Bible study, whereas HSYB goes into much more detail.

Both books are easy to read, even HSYB, the more in-depth book of the two. In fact, for every part of the process, there are easy to follow steps. HSYB is not the theory of inductive Bible study, but a practical walk-through of the process.

SUMMARY

The book is divided into six parts. The first two chapters are an introduction. The rest of the chapters of the book are divided into five parts. The first introductory chapter, If You Want to Know God's Word, is written as a letter to the reader by the author, giving a little background to the development of the Precept Upon Precept Inductive Bible Courses. The second introductory chapter, The Joy and Value of Inductive Study, gives a very broad outline of the rest of the book. Arthur writes, "Inductive Bible study draws you into personal interaction with the Scripture and thus with the God of the Scriptures so that your beliefs are based on a prayerful understanding and legitimate interpretation of Scripture--truth that transforms you when you live by it." (p11)

Allusions in the Book of Revelation to the Old Testament

Currently, I am studying the last book of the Bible, the "Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John."

After I worked through the text in my first round, I wanted to return and work through it while studying all its allusions and verbal parallels to the Old Testament. I started looking for a complete list of allusions, but I couldn't find a complete list. In the 404 verses of the Book of Revelation, it has several hundred allusions and verbal parallels to the Old Testament, more than any other New Testament book. I found a list here and here. I still wasn't convinced that these two lists were complete. Greg Beale makes frequent reference to these allusions to the Old Testament in his "Revelation: a shorter commentary." He also mentions in his John's Use of the Old Testament in Revelation, Sheffield Academic Press Ltd, Sheffield, England, 1998, p60, that the UBS3 Greek text has 394 references of allusions and verbal parallels to the Old Testament. I checked in my copy of the UBS5 Greek text; it has over 600 allusions and verbal parallels in the Book of Revelation to the Old Testament (Aland, Barbara & Aland, Kurt & Karavidopoulos, Johannes & Martini, Carlo M. & Metzger, Bruce, THE GREEK NEW TESTAMENT, Fifth Revised Edition, Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, Germany, 2015, pp864-882).

My Bible Reading Plan for 2020

I haven't been blogging like I would like to, and I am sorry for that. Life has been very hectic in the last 5 years, really.

I'm a bit late in the uptake of this series of blog posts this year. Others have already written blog posts about their Bible reading programs for this year.

Diagramming the Bible

Some time ago I was shocked to learn that there were so many people across the pond that knew, or at least had learnt how to diagram sentences! Apparently, it is not being taught in schools there anymore, but many of my age were taught how to diagram. I have never learnt how to diagram in high school (late 70s) or Bible school (late 80s).

Recently I decided to start learning how to diagram, so I bought myself a book to learn. I bought Diagrammatical Analysis by Lee L. Kantenwein. The book is an endless quagmire of examples. What I did not find very helpful from this book is that there are no explanations on how to get to the end result of those examples. I probably just have to slow things down and go through the book step-by-step. I went through the Introduction to get an idea of what we are dealing with, and then I did a quick scan through the rest of the book to find out what is waiting for me down the line.

So, as you can see, I am not a “diagrammer.” Through the 1980s and 1990s, I would underline verses and make comments in the margins about those verses, and then through the 2000s and 2010s I applied a more visual approach with drawn icons, lists and comments.

Students of New Testament Greek and pastors should keep up to date with latest Greek scholarship

Back in April 2016, I read the little book, "Keep Your Greek: Strategies for Busy People" (Kindle Edition), written by Constantine R. Campbell (also see this).

I immensely enjoyed this book and it is this book that led me to Con Campbell's book, "Advances in the Study of Greek: New Insights for Reading the New Testament" (Kindle Edition).

Even though some of the discussions were slightly over my head, I pressed on, and as I did, I gained some perspective of several of the latest Greek scholarly studies and debates. It gave me a fresh view of how limiting my own Greek studies were back in 1986. So many things I learnt back then have now been skewered by updated Greek studies. Yet, it also encouraged me to start "updating" my Greek, so to speak (write?). One area where I lack due to my studies in the 80's is in the area of verbal aspect, and as a result, I have ordered Con's book, "Basics of Verbal Aspect in Biblical Greek" (paperback).

For those that are studying, or have already studied Greek, and also those that should be studying New Testament Greek (e.g pastors), "Advances" is an invaluable book that will help you in choosing what and how to study.

I'm not doing a whole review of the book at all. It simply would be too involved. I would like to give you a quote or two, though!

"[...] there is no such thing as Greek exegesis that does not involve Greek. And whenever Greek is involved, our understanding of the language determines how well we will handle Greek text. Thus, Greek cannot be regarded a peripheral issue for New Testament studies, since the entire New Testament is written in Greek. This means that New Testament studies can no longer afford to hold Greek scholarship at arm’s length, for there is no area of New Testament interest that does not involve Greek in some capacity. It affects the entire guild. This is fact; the only question is whether or not we will be responsible with that fact. For bad Greek is like a poisoned water stream in a village; its ill effects touch everyone." (Constantine R. Campbell, Advances in the Study of Greek: New Insights for Reading the New Testament, Zondervan Publishing, Grand Rapids, MI, ePub Edition, 2015, p225)

As part of his conclusion to his book, the author hopes that he had accomplished 8 things, which I believe he achieved admirably! Those 8 things are in the quote below.

"Before concluding, I reiterate my several hopes for this book. First, I hope the reader will be properly introduced to the issues of greatest importance for current Greek studies. Second, I hope the reader will become better equipped to handle Greek text with linguistic sophistication, both on a methodological and practical level. Third, I hope the reader will feel competent to engage further with Greek scholarship. Fourth, I hope the reader will engage further with Greek scholarship. Fifth, I hope that the teaching of Greek will be well informed of current issues. Sixth, I hope that the wider world of New Testament scholarship will become more engaged with Greek scholarship. Seventh, I hope that some readers will be inspired to become Greek scholars themselves. Eighth, I hope that future editions of this book will need to include the contributions of some of those aforementioned readers." (Constantine R. Campbell, Advances in the Study of Greek: New Insights for Reading the New Testament, Zondervan Publishing, Grand Rapids, MI, ePub Edition, 2015, p225-226. Bold text bolded by me)

I hope this helps you in terms of at least improving your Greek, or to start it for the first time.

60 Days–600 Chapters-1900 to go to finish the Bible

Two pages from my Bible in Ephesians.

From reading the title of this blog post, you are probably thinking that my math is all screwy, because how can 600 + 1900 (2500) be the completion of the Bible in chapters? Especially since there are only 1189 chapters in the Bible!

Every year there are hordes of Bible reading plans to follow, and like it or not they are designed to be read from 1 January to 31 December. They are annual Bible reading programs. There are other programs that are designed to be read over 2 or 3 years. I know, many will say that you don’t have to read it starting at 1 January, it could be started at any time. The fact is that these Bible reading plans are promoted on scores of websites and blogs. . ., in the last week or so of December. Which leads the human mind to see these programs, plans or systems as new year’s resolutions. They are designed with the annual mindset.

Well, this year I decided to do it a tad differently! I decided to follow Prof. Grant Horner’s Bible reading system which is kind of designed around a 250 day cycle, or a 28 day cycle, or a 31 day cycle, or an 89 day cycle. . . you get the drift! Horner’s system is designed around ten lists of Bible books of which you are to read one chapter from daily. That makes it 10 chapters each day, each chapter from a different book.

While most reading plans are designed to finish 1189 chapters in a year, Horner’s system is designed to read every chapter in the Bible in 250 days. His longest list of books is 250 chapters long (List 9, OT prophets) and his shortest list is only 28 chapters long (List 10, Acts). It means that by the time List 9 has been completed, Acts would have been read almost a complete 9 times!

The lists are made up as follows:

In 250 days you would have read the gospels just shy of 3 times, the Mosaic books 1.33 times, List 3 just more than 3 times,  List 4 almost 4 times, List 5 a total of 4 times, Psalms 1.66 times, Proverbs 8 times, and Acts almost 9 times. This makes for a lot of reading! By the end of the year, if you have read every day of the year, you would have covered 3650 chapters of the Bible. You would have read Acts 13 times! Do you think you would know Acts just a little by then?

Prof Horner recommends using the same Bible every day, the same one you always use. You will gain an affinity for the Bible you use. And, it helps for recollection. After reading the same passages from the same Bible for several years, you will start recalling entire pages in your mind, says Prof Horner. (Read more here.) You can also find Prof Horner’s system on Facebook. You can find his 10 Lists in a document that explains the whole system here. Simply print out the lists, and then cut them into individual strips and you will have bookmarks for each list.

What I’ve done to help myself keep track of what I have read was to create 2 documents. One is simply a foldable checklist of each chapter from each book in each list. Click here to download this checklist. Then I also created an Excel spread sheet with each list’s books and chapters (some repeated) all the way down to row 250. This way I can keep track with where I am supposed to be at all times while repeating some books several times. Click here to download this spread sheet.

What I have found with this system of reading is that there is no time to get bored or stuck in a rut. With the subject matter changing several times in a sitting, my attention is held fixed to the Scriptures.

UPDATE:
2 March 2014 - I have updated the Excel spread sheet. I have added a date column and a day column. The Date column is the first column. The dates start in row 2. If you did not start on 1 January with this program, then in the Date column, row 2, change your starting date and all the succeeding dates will change too. That way you can keep a check on your progress no matter when you start the program. The second column is the Day column. This you must leave as is. It simply gives you an idea of which day you are on in your reading progress. In my progress, yesterday (1 Mar 2014) was day 60. It means that I have read 600 chapters.

I hope this all helps!

Next Greek-English lexicon: Liddell-Scott

Apart from my other lexicons I already have (Davidson’s “The Analytical Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon,” Osburn’s “A Hebrew and English Lexicon to the Old Testament,” BDB’s “The New Brown-Driver-Briggs-Gesenius Hebrew-English Lexicon,” Mounce’s “The Analytical Lexicon to the Greek New Testament,” Friberg, Friberg and Miller’s “Analytical Lexicon of the Greek New Testament,” Louw & Nida’s “Greek-English Lexicon” in two volumes, Thayer’s “A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament” and Bauer-Arndt-Gingrich-Danker’s “A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian literature”), today I received my “An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon” by Liddell & Scott.

1 Peter: A Commentary by Karen Jobes

I just finished with Karen Jobes’ commentary on 1 Peter, a commentary in the Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament series.

As would be expected from a commentary, this was indeed a commentary! Who would have thought that? Seriously, I have found that Jobes’ commentary was extremely helpful, and that she didn’t shy away from difficulties with either the text or the meaning of the text.

This series that the commentary of 1 Peter is a part of, has been created to address the needs of pastors and those involved in preaching and exposition of the Word of God. Those that are serious about preaching through the Scriptures book by book, chapter by chapter and verse by verse will find great benefit in this commentary. On the other hand those that are used to preaching topical sermons and who don’t really do exposition of Scripture will only waste their money and time, since they probably won’t want to spend the time working through a commentary as thorough as this one! However, anyone who is serious about studying Scripture, and willing to look at textual issues—which Jobes handles superbly in a proper evangelical way—and issues of the Greek language behind 1 Peter, will truly benefit, and indeed enjoy this commentary.

Why did Jobes write yet another commentary on 1 Peter? She hopes to offer 3 distinct contributions which she mentions in the Author’s Preface. (Location 96 in the Kindle edition)

1. She presents a new theory on the historical background of 1 Peter.
2. She attempts to make the role of the Septuagint for interpreting 1 Peter more accessible.
3. She presents an analysis of the syntax used in 1 Peter based on the principles of bilingual interference to question the regularly repeated opinion that the Greek of 1 Peter is of a high quality.

The structure of the book simply follows the flow of Peter’s letter, and then finally ends with an analysis of the Greek of 1 Peter. I have looked at several commentaries in the past, and what makes this one unique, at least for me, is that it is so thorough in dealing with the issues.

In my opinion, Jobes certainly succeeds in the handling of 1 Peter in her commentary. Those that want more depth in preparation for their sermons and expositions of the text will definitely not be disappointed.

Jobes stuck to the text of 1 Peter in such a way that it makes it easy for the reader follow. What I did find slightly confusing at times is that Jobes would deal with critics and then start with possible answers to the critics based on her studies of other commentators of 1 Peter. Then she would start giving her own opinion, and just when you think she is done on the point, she would go back to more opinions and possible scenarios from other commentators. I would have liked it more if she gave all the ideas and comments from other commentators and then to conclude with her own ideas on the issues. However, this is certainly not a deal breaker. The fact that she is so thorough makes up for any “anti” points concerning this commentary, of which I do not have many.

So, who should and should not read this commentary? Pastors, preachers and teachers of the Scriptures should certainly use this commentary. Also, those that want more depth beyond the mere handling of surface issues. On the other hand, if all you want is a devotional type of commentary, then this is perhaps not for you. This commentary is not for the super-spiritual ones among us, since this book may just make you work more at studying the Scriptures than you really want to!

Will I recommend this commentary? Certainly!

Completed by the Spirit: a series on sanctification

Whenever we hear the word sanctification, it is quite normal in many circles to conjure up the idea of now following the law in order to e sanctified. It reminds me of the apostle Paul’s question: “Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” (Gal 3:3)

Ed Trefzger has written a series at Christ My Covenant, called Completed by the Spirit.

 

Here is the Completed by the Spirit series by Ed Trefzger. May you enjoy, learn and live as Completed by the Spirit.

 

Completed by the Spirit, Part 1: Five Propositions

Completed by the Spirit, Part 2: A Resurrection Like His

Completed by the Spirit: Part 3 – The Law Cannot Cope With Sin

Completed by the Spirit Part 4: The ‘Poverty of our Sanctification?’

Completed by the Spirit Part 5: We Serve In The Spirit

Completed by the Spirit Part 6: We Serve In The Spirit

Completed by the Spirit Part 7: Paul, the Unconverted Jew

Completed by the Spirit Part 8: Paul, Redeemed but Struggling

Completed by the Spirit Part 9: ‘It Cannot Justify, It Cannot Sanctify’

Completed by the Spirit Part 10: The Law of the Spirit of Life Has Set You Free

Completed by the Spirit Part 11: Not of the Letter, But of the Spirit

Completed by the Spirit Part 12: Not of the Letter, But of the Spirit

Completed by the Spirit Part 13: Not of the Letter, But of the Spirit

Completed by the Spirit Part 14: The Very Stuff of New Covenant Ethics

Completed by the Spirit Part 15: Producing Fruit, Not Inspecting Fruit

Completed by the Spirit Part 16: Exhorted in our Union With Christ

Completed by the Spirit Part 17: The Gospel Brings About All Aspects of Our Salvation

Completed by the Spirit Part 18: If We Have the Spirit, Why Do We Need Instruction?

Completed by the Spirit Part 19: Imperatives Rooted in the Indicative

Completed by the Spirit Part 20: A Pattern of Indicative-Powered Imperatives

Completed by the Spirit Part 21: Do Not Submit Again to a Yoke of Slavery

Completed by the Spirit Part 22 (Final): A Summary

AGAPE and PHILEO: That much different?

Introduction

"So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, 'Simon, son of John, do you love (ἀγαπάω) Me more than these?' He said to Him, 'Yes, Lord; You know that I love (φιλέω) You.' He said to him, 'Tend My lambs.' He said to him again a second time, 'Simon, son of John, do you love (ἀγαπάω) Me?' He said to Him, 'Yes, Lord; You know that I love (φιλέω) You.' He said to him, 'Shepherd My sheep.' He said to him the third time, 'Simon, son of John, do you love (φιλέω) Me?' Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, 'Do you love (φιλέω) Me?' And he said to Him, 'Lord, You know all things; You know that I love (φιλέω) You.' Jesus said to him, 'Tend My sheep.'" (John 21:15-17)

Notes:

Verb	Noun
ἀγαπάω – agapaō	ἀγάπη – agape
φιλέω – phileō	φιλία – philia

How many of us have not heard a sermon on this passage? Probably everyone reading this who has been a regular church attendee would have heard a sermon on this passage at least once in the last ten years.

I will do my best to remain objective at all times, even though objectivity is one of the most difficult frames of mind to keep and practise. We all have our rose-coloured glasses on, and that is how we look at the world.

The differences between these two words intrigued me ever since Bible college in the years between 1985 and 1989. I will be drawing from various resources, e.g. lexicons, e-mail discussion groups, and finally, the highest authority I could find on this subject, the Scriptures.

Before we carry on to execute our study, let me clarify my assumptions concerning the God kind of love, whether it be ἀγάπη or not. Firstly, it must be unchangeable. Why? God is unchangeable. Any attribute of God has to be unchangeable if God is unchangeable. Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Secondly, it has to be pure. Due to the holiness of God any attribute of His has to be holy and pure. No stench, or darkness can be associated with any attribute of God.

Word Meanings

The meanings I present here I have gleaned from several lexicons (dictionaries), and one theological dictionary. They are:
Bauer's A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (commonly known as BAGD), Second edition Revised and augmented by F. Wilbur Gingrich and Frederick W. Danker from Walter Bauer's Fifth edition, 1958, published 1979, the University of Chicago press.
Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament based on Semantic Domains Volume 1 Introduction & Domains, Second impression, 1988, United Bible Societies;
A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament by Joseph Henry Thayer, Twenty-first Zondervan printing 1981, Zondervan;
Theological dictionary of the New Testament by Geoffrey W. Bromiley, reprinted, May 1986, William B. Eerdmans;
Strong's exhaustive concordance of the Bible found in the Online Bible, version 7.03;
The Expository dictionary of New Testament words by W.E. Vine, Seventeenth impression, 1966, Oliphants;

Agape

Agape means the following: to be fond of, to love dearly; to love, to be full of good-will, to have a preference for, regard the welfare of: . . . to take pleasure in the thing, prize it above other things, be unwilling to abandon it or do without it; a spontaneous feeling which impels to self-giving, the weak sense to be satisfied, to receive, to greet, to honor, or more inwardly, to seek after; to have love for someone or something, based on sincere appreciation and high regard.
Louw and Nida says this concerning ἀγάπη and φιλέω:

“. . . Though some persons have tried to assign certain significant differences of meaning between ἀγαπάω, ἀγάπη and φιλέω, φιλία (25.33), it does not seem possible to insist upon a contrast of meaning in any and all contexts. For example, the usage in Jn, 21:15-17 seems to reflect simply a rhetorical alternation designed to avoid undue repetition. There is, however, one significant clue to possible meaningful differences in at least some contexts, namely, the fact that people are never commanded to love one another with φιλέω or φιλία, but only with ἀγαπάω and ἀγάπη. Though the meanings of these terms overlap considerably in many contexts, there are probably some significant differences in certain contexts; that is to say, φιλέω and φιλία are likely to focus upon love or affection based on interpersonal association, while ἀγαπάω and ἀγάπη focus upon love or affection based on deep appreciation and high regard.” p294

and

“. . . It would, however, be quite wrong to assume that φιλέω and φιλία refer only to human love, while ἀγαπάω and ἀγάπη refer to divine love. Both sets of terms are used for the total range of loving relations between people, between people and God, and between God and Jesus Christ.” p294

BAGD adds that ἀγάπη and φιλέω

"seem to be used interchangeably here; cf. the freq. interchange of synonyms elsewh. in the same chapter [βόσκειν - ποιμαίνειν, ἀρνία - προβάτια, ἑλκύειν - σύρειν]." p4

Phileo

φιλέω means the following: friendship, to be friendly to one; φιλέω more nearly represents tender affection; To love; to be friendly to one, to treat somebody as one of one's own people; to have love or affection for someone or something based on association; love, have affection for, like.
Kittel says,

"In the LXX phileo, which is less common than agapao, is mostly used for 'hb. In meaning it is very similar to agapao. . . . Like the LXX, the NT prefers agapao to phileo. . . . Alternation between agapao and phileo occurs in Jn. 21:15ff. Some exegetes think that Peter is grieved because Jesus uses phileo the third time (21:17), but the words are mostly synonymous in John, and Peter is more likely grieved because Jesus asks for a third time. . . ." p1263-1264

We have now seen what the lexicons have to say concerning ἀγάπη and φιλέω. Even so, the best way of finding out what is meant by a word is to see how that word is used in a certain context.

How are these words used in the Scriptures?

Misunderstood Bible verses–Rom 8:14 and the like (led/walk by the Spirit)

I have written about this topic before, and it handles the issue of being “led by the Spirit” or to “walk by the Spirit” and can be found in the following:

Walk by the Spirit

“so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” (Rom 8:4)

“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.” (Gal 5:16)

“If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.” (Gal 5:25)

Led by the Spirit

“For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” (Rom 8:14)

“But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.” (Gal 5:18)

Since I wrote on these verses before, I will not go through it all again. To read about it, simply visit my article Being led by the Spirit doesn’t mean what you think it does!

Misunderstood Bible verses–Mt 18:19

In my previous post (the first one) in this series, I dealt with Rom 10:17.

I am sure you have heard Mt 18:19 and/or verse 20 quoted in conversation with the idea behind it that if only we could stand together as two or three and agree on an issue then God would answer our prayer or Jesus will certainly be in our midst. Or, something similar to that…

Just more than a week ago I wrote two posts on hermeneutics, and it is always good to keep the basics of interpreting the Bible in mind. So, if you’d like, you could read through those posts to just to get to know the basics on interpreting the Bible. Many books, many of them very thick, have been written on the topic of interpreting the Bible. So, when you read those two posts, please do not think for a moment that I covered every aspect of hermeneutics in detail. In fact, it is more of a summary.

Anyway, today we will have a look at Mt 18:19-20:

“(19)  ‘Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven.
(20)  ‘For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.’ (Mat 18:19-20)”

With what I wrote above on how many Christians misuse these two verses, I thought that we’d have a quick look at them. Like I always say:

A text without a context is merely a pretext!

Misunderstood Bible verses–Rom 10:17

You’ve probably been in church services, or listened to sermons where the preacher would quote a verse and build his whole sermon around that verse; just to realize that what the preacher is preaching is not what the verse actually says. That really happens a lot!

I was sitting in a meeting not so long ago where we were all listening to a teaching (on MP3) in which the preacher mentioned several verses and preached the usual about them. He used verses like Rom 10:17 and Mt 18:19, and gave them the usual spin. It is just that, his spin wasn’t what these verses meant!

He used Rom 10:17 to teach us that we could use the Word of God to grow our faith, while others believe that we must hear God’s voice to grow our faith, since the Greek word for “word” is ρημα (RHEMA)!

After just a little reading in the context within which this verse finds itself, we soon realize that it has nothing to do with the ideas raised above! The fact is, that a verse without a context is merely a pretext for our own human imaginations.

Hermeneutics - Part 2: Different Genres

Part 1 of this blog post can be found at Hermeneutics–Part 1: Need, tools and principles

1. Introduction

When it comes to interpreting Scripture, it is important to notice the style of writing and the genre used in the writing, for it will bear upon the way the specific writing needs to be interpreted. It is no use interpreting passages that fall into the symbolic genre as literal. You will start believing in horses that fly. It is no use taking history and interpreting it as doctrine, since that will lead to believing that a work of God is identified by how long it is around.

[38] So in the present case I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail;  [39] but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God!" So they took his advice, (Ac 5:38-39 ESV)

This is a historical account of what Gamaliel told the Jewish council concerning this new “faith.” Many today have exactly the same attitude concerning all kinds of groups. Most notably the Word-of-Faith (WOF) movement led by men such as Kenneth Copeland and also the Toronto Blessing (TB) led by men such as John Arnott. Should we take what Gamaliel said as a way of testing a work’s validity whether it is from God or not? Definitely not! Then we have to conclude that the Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons and the Roman Catholic Institution are works of God, since they have been around for much longer than WOF and TB!

2. Genres

2.1 Types

2.1.1 The validity of types as a method of hermeneutics

According to Ramm there are three reasons why typology is a Biblical discipline of hermeneutics.

“(1). The general relationship which the Old Testament sustains to the New is the very basis for such a study. The strong prophetic element in the Old Testament establishes a real and vital nexus1 [connection] between the two Testaments. The fact of prophecy establishes the principle that the New is latent in the Old, and that the Old is patent [obvious] in the New.”²

“(2). Our Lord’s own use of the Old Testament is His invitation to us to find Him in the Old Testament. In Luke 24:25-44 Christ teaches the disciples about Himself, beginning at Moses and following through all the Scriptures.”³

“(3). Even more specific is the vocabulary of the New Testament with reference to the nature of the Old. The following words are used in the New of the Old. Hypodeigma means a sign suggestive of anything, a representation, a figure, a copy, an example. Typos and typikos (from the verb, typtō, “to strike”) mean the mark of a blow, the figure formed by a blow, an impression, a form, a letter, a doctrine, an example, a pattern, a type. Skia (from skēnē, a tent) means a shade, a sketch, an outline, an adumbration [a general idea of something without details]. Parabolē means a placing by the side, hence a comparison, a likeness, a similitude. Eikon means an image, a figure, a likeness. Antitypon means a repelling blow, an echoing, a reflecting, a thing formed after a pattern, a counterpart, an antitype. Allegoreō means to tell a truth in terms of a narrative.”⁴

2.1.2 Principles of using types

Hermeneutics–Part 1: Need, tools and principles

1. Introduction

Many times when studying the Bible people get to a point where they just cannot make sense of the passage in question. With the proper hermeneutical skills, many such difficulties could be solved.

“Hermeneutics is the science and art of Biblical interpretation. It is a science because it is guided by rules within a system; and it is an art because the application of the rules is by skill, and not by mechanical imitation.”¹

Admittedly, skill in the area of hermeneutics is not gained in a week or a month. It takes time and dedication. It takes hours and hours of thinking and rethinking. In order to do honest hermeneutics it may become necessary to throw out preconceived ideas, until such ideas are confirmed by the proper study of God’s Word. And, such study is not achieved by a superficial glimpse into the riches of God’s Word. Once artificial study of God’s Word becomes a habit, one will almost never get to the point where Biblical knowledge becomes part of who we are.

The study of God’s Word is not to become clever, but to live in truth and to have changed lives.

Charles Spurgeon once said: “Truth Is of necessity intolerant of falsehood.”

2. The need to interpret the Scriptures

Our aim in interpreting the Bible is not to be unique and different to everybody else. In fact, chances are good that the unique interpretation is wrong. The aim of the interpreter is to get to the plain meaning of the text. In the end, the litmus test of good interpretation is that it makes good sense of the text at hand.