The Free Offer of the Gospel ‘Men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you fears God, to you is the word of this salvation sent’ Act 13:26. The Gospel is 'good news'. The good news is that God's salvation is sent to you. Some people know about the Gospel, some …
Category: Scripture
Metaphors and exegesis
Biblical exegesis is a wonderful God-given skill. It enables the exegete to draw out of Scripture the meaning intended by the Holy Spirit, as opposed to imposing on Scripture a meaning that the reader has already determined (eisegesis is reading into Scripture one's own prejudices). There are many principles for exegesis, but one of them …
A summary of the opening chapters of Ezekiel
To understand Scripture, one needs to understand texts and passages in context. So a summary of Scripture chapters can be very useful to help us understand the context. I have been doing so for years for my Bible commentary, an on-going work that will probably be published posthumously. However, this does not prevent extracts coming …
Continue reading A summary of the opening chapters of Ezekiel
Was the rich young ruler actually Saul of Tarsus?
Most of those acquainted with their Bible have heard about the rich, young ruler. He came to Jesus and asked him what he should do to inherit eternal life. He received the surprising answer - to sell all that he had and follow Christ! At this, he went away sad because he had great possessions. …
Continue reading Was the rich young ruler actually Saul of Tarsus?
Exegesis and eisegesis
As a divinity student in 1980 I came across the term 'exegesis' in reference to the exegesis of Scripture. It means 'drawing out' the meaning of a written text and Scripture in particular. I became aware of the opposite process – people reading into Scripture their own opinion and thus putting into Scripture something that …
Titles in the book of Psalms
Are the titles in the first verse of many of the Psalms part of Scripture? Frequently one finds people omitting the titles when reading the Psalms publicly. Presumably they do not think that these titles are part of Scripture. This arises because in many versions of the Bible the title is made a separate verse, …
New pope of Rome answers questions
I used to say that the Roman Catholic pope in Rome never answers questions, and is not accountable to others. At least, he now answers questions. During the resignation of Ratzinger from the Roman papacy, a discussion on BBC Scotland asked the question whether the job was too much for one man. A papal advisor, …
What did Jesus really say?
You may be familiar with the argument that we don't know what Jesus said because His sayings were written down after the event. I came across it recently when people were discussing how to live a good life. Jesus was mentioned as an example, but not as the answer. When various aspects of His life …
Wise preaching
The wise king Solomon's advice on preaching: Ecc 12:10“the preacher sought”: a good preacher studies how to put across his teaching in an acceptable and memorable manner. “acceptable words”: to speak in a manner which will be well received by his hearers. This does not mean pleasing words, which will not upset people, but it …
The first hard copies of Scripture
We are familiar with electronic and hard copies of documents, the former being stored as electronic medium and the latter being the physical tangible version. What and where is the first hard copy of Scripture? Moses wrote the Pentateuch on manuscript and copies were made from it. In Deu 17:18 we read that the king …
Donald's Thoughts 