Tag: Paul

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Bible

The Evil One

To the Thessalonians Paul writes that God will strengthen and protect them from the evil one. This promise and assurance applies to all who follow Jesus.

This excites and comforts me, because I want to be protected.

But that ’s only half the of the promise. The other part is that we will be strengthened.

To be protected is passive; it is easy and safe.

To be strengthened is more active; it reminds us that we will undergo trials, temptations, and attacks from the enemy—and for this, we will be made strong in order to withstand it.

Standing strong is not easy or safe; it is hard and risky. But we don ’t need to endure it alone, for God gives us the strength we need.

[1 Thessalonians 3:3]

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

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Imitate Me

In his letter to the Philippians, Paul tells readers to follow his example and to the Corinthians he writes, imitate me. [Philippians 3:17 and 1 Corinthians 4:16] This strikes me as bold and audacious, arrogant and presumptuous.

This seemingly brash statement, however, is illuminated when he later instructs readers to imitate him as he imitates Jesus. [1 Corinthians 11:1] I’m certainly more comfortable ”with that. After all, Jesus provides us with the ultimate example, which we are wise to follow.

To take this line of thinking one more step, Jesus asserts that he ”can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing.” [John 5:19] Therefore, he is imitating God the Father.

So, when we encounter the command in Ephesians 5:1 to ”be imitators of God”—who we have never seen—we are not taken aback. Paul imitates Jesus, Jesus imitates God, and there are ample examples about both of them in the Bible. 

So through Jesus and Paul, we know God’s character and are thus able to imitate him.

This begs the question, is our life lived as one worthy of being imitated?

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

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Bible

How Does Salvation “Work”?

In one of Paul’s letters, he says something that is quite curious and strange.  He tells readers to “work out your salvation.” [Philippians 2:12]

Ugh?  Didn’t Paul also write that we are saved through faith and not by our “work” (that is, not of our own doing or striving)?  [Ephesians 2:8-9]

So, if we can’t earn our salvation, why do we need to work it out?  Is Paul confused?  Is he schizophrenic?  Is this a paradox?

Actually, I think it’s a matter of timing.

First, we need to follow Jesus — by faith.  We don’t need to do anything else to get God’s attention or earn his affection.  There is no working involved in being made right with God.  That means it’s a gift — we didn’t buy it and can’t earn it; it was given.

The second part is our response.  Out of sheer gratitude for the gift, we can opt to respond by behaving differently.  I think this is what it means to “work out our salvation,” that is, to cultivate it or complete it.

Consider what if I gave you a million dollars.  Would your attitude towards me change?  I think so.  You might want to find out more about me, learn why I did it, and maybe help me in my future philanthropic efforts.

In essence you might be working out my gift to you.  It’s still a gift, but one that evokes a grand response.

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

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Bible

Pouring Out the Drink Offering

During a time of war, there is a curious story of King David.  He mentions that he is thirsty for water from a specific well.  Three of his mighty warriors break through enemy lines, draw water from that well, and return to David with it.

However, instead of drinking it with gratitude, David pours it out on the ground as an offering to God.  [1 Chronicles 11:17-19 and 2 Samuel 23:13-17]

Apparently, he felt that the risk the men took was so great that he was not worthy to taste the water, offering it to God instead.

This action may have parallels to the Old Testament instruction to give a “drink offering” to God.  The drink offering was a libation of wine that was poured over the altar or used with meat offerings as part of the Jewish worship rituals.

Instructions for its use occur over 45 times in the Jewish law, with 19 other references in the Old Testament.

Since Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament worship practices, it is not surprising for there to only be two mentions of drink offerings in the New Testament.  Both were made by Paul, referring to his willingly pouring out his life as a drink-offering to God.  [Philippians 2:17 and 2 Timothy 4:6]

It is important to understand that while the Old Testament believers presented their drink offerings ritualistically out of obligation and compulsion, Paul — being freed from the law by Jesus — willing and gladly presented his own life as a drink-offering to God.

It was his intentional act of sacrifice and service.

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

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Bible

The Armor of God

In the Bible, there is the instruction to “put on the full armor of God.”

To the casual reader, this might seem like a call to arms or a provocation for military action.

Yet I don’t see this as a militant statement, but merely a memory aid to help people remember key items needed to prevail in spiritual conflict, namely: truth, righteousness, sharing the gospel, faith, salvation, and the word of God (the only offensive tool of the group).

Paul, in Ephesians 6:11-17, seems to be painting a word picture using the soldier of the day (which readers would have been most familiar with) connecting his essential gear with these key spiritual elements.

Then, to recall Paul’s list of six items, readers needed only to envision a soldier in uniform and associate each spiritual element with its physical counterpart.  For example:

  • Belt: truth
  • Breastplate: righteousness (that is, right living)
  • Shoes: a readiness to share the gospel of peace
  • Shield: faith
  • Helmet: salvation
  • Sword: the word of God (the spoken word of God)

It’s not about a physical fight (which many people have missed throughout the ages), but instead a spiritual conflict for which followers of Jesus must be prepared to engage in using: truth, righteousness, sharing the gospel, faith, salvation, and the Bible. 

This is what is meant by the metaphor of the armor of God.

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

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Bible

A Little Bit of Yeast

I did a word study on the usage of yeast in the Bible.  Here is what I found:

Yeast is used symbolically to represent influence, usually negatively.  Just as a little bit of yeast, permeates dough and produces a noticeable result, so to does influence, be it good or bad.

  • The Bible contains many references to not using yeast in various religious practices, which symbolically shows the removal of sin.
  • Paul compares false teaching to yeast.
  • Another negative connotation is when Jesus says, beware of the yeast of the Pharisees (which is hypocrisy) and also the Sadducees and Herod.
  • In seemingly the only positive usage of yeast in the Bible, Jesus says that the Kingdom of God (that is, the Kingdom of Heaven) is like yeast.
  • In a final reference to yeast Paul uses it as a metaphor for boasting.  Paul talks about getting rid of bread with old yeast (malice and wickedness) and using new bread without yeast (sincerity and truth).

[Check out where these references to yeast are found.]

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

Categories
Bible

Weakness or Strength?

Do you ever feel spiritually weak? If so, you are not alone. In fact, if anyone ever tells you otherwise, they are lying; if they seem otherwise, they are posing.

The church in Philadelphia was also weak, but in that weakness remained true to God and his word (see Revelation 3:8). This is most encouraging to all of us weak people.

A strong weakness may seem like an oxymoron, but it’s not. When we are weak, we can turn to God who gives us the strength we need. As Paul said, “When I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10).

So, despite our weaknesses, we can prevail by God’s strength.

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.