SeekLife

Faith is often understood as assenting to a series of facts without proof. While this is one of many definitions of faith, it is not the only, and when it comes to saving faith, this definition falls flat. There is instead a definition of faith that has dropped out of the modern vernacular, and it is this definition that is the primary meaning of faith in the Bible.

When attempting to interpret the Torah, what is the best way to do so? Well if we look to how the authors of the New Testament handle the Torah we find that they use certain principles in their interpretive technique. Principles that I call, the Law of Extrapolation.

God wouldn't allow good people to go to hell. But that's the thing. We are not judged or condemned by our works. It is our very nature that condemns us, which is why we must be born again into a new nature that comes from God.

The conflict between Haman and the Jews that is found in the book of Esther goes back thousands of years to a surprising source.

Forgiveness is a vitally important aspect of the Christian walk, but one of the most common questions I get on forgiveness is, "How do I forgive?" Here are three keys to forgiveness that can help to overcome the mental blocks of pain and trauma that can hold us back from forgiveness.

The book of Deuteronomy can seem daunting as you read through it. So many of the commands seem completely disconnected from each other. Often the book is seen as simply a jumble of different ideas that have all been mashed together. This is not the case. Rather, this book is extremely well organized and the Ten Commandments act as the index for the book. Once you see it, you will never see Deuteronomy in the same way again.

Temptation comes at us in three primary ways. We catch sight of these three primary ways when we compare the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness and the three failures of Israel in the wilderness from Numbers 11-14.

It is often said, "line upon line," is the way that we are meant to interpret scripture based on Isaiah 28.

In 2 Kings 2 we read a story that seems both brutal and strange. Elisha is mocked by some kids while on the road and in return he curses the kids and calls bears down on them! What is going on in this story? In this episode of the Blurb, we look at the importance of recognizing the range of meaning that is possible with Hebrew words, and when we see this we can find that this story is not what it first seems.

In John 13:34 Jesus states that He is giving a new command. The fact is that this command looks suspiciously like Leviticus 19:18. How is this a new command? To discover that we need to go back just 20 verses and examine another command that Jesus gave to His disciples at the Last Supper.

When it comes to Passover we translate the word Pesach to mean Passover. That is where the holiday gets its English meaning after all. But when we examine the root word for Pesach, Pasach, we find that there is a nuance to this word that is more than just a simple passing over of something.

We often hear it preached that God forgives our sins. How much have we considered the statements that God forgives based on how much we forgive? Just how important is it to forgive those around us who have harmed us?

God is often criticized as judgmental and mean. Especially when people look at how he is portrayed in the Old Testament. But this quality of God that is so offensive to some is a direct outpouring of His character of Just. But when God enters into judgment with mankind, he does so in a particular way. Let's look at three scriptural examples of this in action.

The plagues of Exodus serve as an introduction of God to a world that had forgotten about Him. They begin low and move upward to encompass the entirety of creation. It is through these plagues that God demonstrates His initial quality. He is the God of creation.

The festival of unleavened bread is one that is profoundly meaningful in its preparation. Cleansing out the leaven is a powerful symbol of a Christian. But what can we learn during the week of unleavened bread? What deeper principles are part of this festival of Matza?

As a Pronomian I get a lot of questions about how I strive toward keeping the Law. One of the most common is the question of which of the laws of the Torah still apply to the modern believer. The answer to this question as I see it might surprise you.

In Revelation 1:10 we read a phrase that is only used once in the Bible. This phrase has over centuries become used to describe Sunday, but is this the only way to understand this phrase?

When people find out I am pronomian, one of the most common questions I get is, "but what about Galatians."

Romans 10:4 states that Jesus is the end of the Law for all who believe. But just what does this mean when we compare this snippet to the context of the surrounding passage?

Matthew 5:18 states that the law will not pass away until all is accomplished. The assertion is then made that when Jesus declared "it is finished" on the cross He was declaring that all had been accomplished and so the law is no more. Is this the best way to understand these passages in relation to each other?

Repentance is something that we hear a lot about in religious circles, but just how important is repentance anyway?

The gospel is the message that we are supposed to preach according to the Bible, but what is the content of the gospel message? Is it simply the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, or is there more?

Ephesians says that we are saved by grace through faith. But what is grace? Similar to the word faith, this word is packed with a lot of ancient near east cultural norms that simply do not translate into our modern world. When we can learn what these words meant to the authors and immediate audience, we find a depth of definition that goes far beyond simply unearned favor.

The prophet Haggai describes a situation that Judah faced after they returned from captivity in Babylon. The people were spending all of their time working to survive and were barely making it. And it is Haggai's message that provides a revelation of why it is that they cannot seem to get ahead. They were so focused on their own houses that they had ignored the house of God. And this message was not just for the people in the day of Haggai. It is a message that we can stand to hear today.

Knowing how or what to pray can be difficult. It is so difficult that the disciples asked Jesus how they should pray. When He responds, He does so with a pattern. This pattern that Jesus gives mirrors another pattern from earlier in the Bible. A pattern that was given to Israel in the wilderness.