Category: Bible

Posts from The Bible Blog, by Peter DeHaan

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Bible

Inherit Eternal Life

The Bible tells the story of a rich young ruler who asks Jesus the question: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”

His use of the word inherit is interesting — and a bit confounding.

His question implies that salvation is inherited. Is this a misconception of the man posing the question? Surely we cannot inherit a right relationship with God from our parents or relatives. This is not a condition that is passed on to us, but one we need to seek and receive on our own.

The man’s use of the word inherit, however, does imply that eternal life is a gift given after the death of a benefactor and it can’t be earned. These conclusions are both true.

We do not earn eternal life; it is given to us.

And, yes, someone had to die before we could receive this inheritance, but it’s not a relative; it’s Jesus.

Jesus died so we could inherit eternal life. Thank you, Jesus!

[Luke 18:18]

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

Just Doing Our Job

Jesus gives a brief story about the interaction between a servant and his master. The conclusion is that the servant should not expect any praise or special treatment for merely doing his job.

So too should be our attitude when we do what God expects of us.

Instead, we — I don’t think I’m alone in this — have a tendency to expect God’s attention and special favor when we merely do what we’re supposed to do. It’s as if we tell him, “Look what I did for you; now you need to do something for me.”

While I do think God appreciates and takes pleasure in the good things we do, he doesn’t owe us anything as a result.

He’s already given us everything through Jesus. What more could we want or need?

[Luke 17:7-10]

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

Always Forgive?

In my post on forgiveness, I cited the instructions of Jesus: when someone treats us wrongly we are to first confront (“rebuke”) them about the issue. If they apologize or acknowledge their error (“repent”), then we are to forgive them.

From this, we can infer a three-step process:

  1. We confront
  2. They apologize
  3. We forgive

Which evokes several questions:

  • Must apology proceed forgiveness?
  • If the offending person refuses to apologize are we still expected to forgive?
  • What about us and Jesus, do we need to apologize (“confess” and “repent”) to him before he will forgive us?

Frankly, I don’t know the answers to these questions. Although this passage implies one set of answers, other verses in the Bible suggest the opposite.

Could the real answer to each question be “maybe?” Perhaps God wants to keep us from turning his words into a simple three-step procedure. Instead, he gives us guidelines to study, interpret, and apply as appropriate.

[Luke 17:3-4]

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

Forgiveness

Once when teaching his disciples, Jesus addresses forgiveness.

He says when someone treats us wrongly we are to first confront (“rebuke”) them about the issue. If they apologize or acknowledge their error (“repent”), then we are to forgive them.

Although Jesus literally says we are to do this seven times, there is actually no limit to forgiveness.

What a great picture of God’s mercy towards us – endless, unconditional forgiveness!

[Luke 17:3-4, Matthew 18:22]

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

Obey God

In the post “Hear God” we looked at Jesus’ instruction to “hear the word of God and obey it.”

“Hear the word of God” is usually understood to mean “read the Bible,” but it might be more correct to comprehend it as meaning “listen to the Holy Spirit.”

Regardless, the concluding part, to “obey,” is the critical aspect.

When it comes to obeying the Bible, we do so selectively. We take some parts literally and some figuratively. We discard some commands as no longer being relevant and we interpret others from the perspective of modern society. We may obey the Bible, but I fear we all obey it in part.

Then there’s obeying the words, the promptings, of the Holy Spirit. This can be even more confusing. Did we hear correctly? What if we only heard part of the message? Did we understand it fully? Do we interpret the words literally or figuratively?

While we may not hear everything, everything we do hear, we should obey.

[Luke 11:28]

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

Hear God

Once when Jesus was wrapping up teaching, he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.” What exactly does he mean?

In our culture, we often consider “the word of God” to mean the Bible. So the common understanding is we need to read the Bible and obey it.

However, the part of the Bible about Jesus (the New Testament) didn’t exist at the time, so he couldn’t have been telling the people to read and obey something that hadn’t yet been written.

But since Jesus is both man and God, he could have used “hear the word of God” as a euphemism to mean “hear me.” While we can’t directly hear Jesus today, we can hear from the Holy Spirit he sent to us.

So maybe Jesus means he wants us to hear the Holy Spirit.

For some people this is easy and for others it’s nonsensical, while for the rest this is feasible but difficult and confusing and infrequent.

Yet, we may need to pursue listening to the Holy Spirit if we are to truly “hear the word of God.”

[Luke 11:28]

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 Finger of God

The phrase “the finger of God” occurs four times in the Bible.

The first is when the Egyptian magicians cannot duplicate the feats God is doing through Moses and they say, “This is the finger of God.”

The second and third times are when God gives Moses the Ten Commandments inscribed on stone tablets. What tool was used to etch the message in stone? None other than “the finger of God.”

The final use of the phrase is recorded by Luke. Jesus, when verbally sparring with his detractors, says his power to cast out demons is “the finger of God.”

So “the finger of God” is sufficient to perform wondrous acts that cannot be duplicated, etch messages in stone, and empower Jesus to cast out demons.

If the finger of God can do all that, imagine what the arm of God can do — image what all of God can do.

Now that’s powerful.

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

Jesus Knew

In continuing with the story of Jesus driving the demon out of the mute man there’s an interesting phrase. It is “Jesus knew their thoughts.” (In another account about Jesus, the Bible says, “Jesus knew what they were thinking.”)

This suggests a divine power as being a part of Jesus’ human existence. Perhaps this is why it’s been said Jesus was fully man and fully God.

This is a difficult concept to grasp. It’s hard to conceive of divinity and humanity coexisting in one entity. Logic would suggest Jesus could be either fully man or fully God, but he couldn’t simultaneously be both. Yet he was.

While it may be frustrating to some over not being able to understand this, I am not so affected. This is one more mystery of God, which cannot be fully grasped. It reminds me I am finite and he is infinite, I am limited and he is not.

God’s awesomeness allowed Jesus to be man and God at the same time. And when I think about this, I am in awe — and perhaps that’s the intent.

[Luke 11:14-28]

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

Driving Out Demons

After Jesus is criticized for driving out demons, he addresses his detractors. In doing so he makes a curious statement. He asks, by whose power do you drive out demons?

Implicitly, Jesus was not the only one with the power and ability to drive out demons. In considering this, a bunch of questions come to mind:

If others were also driving out demons, why were the people so amazed when Jesus did it? Perhaps Jesus was more effective at it, did it easier, or exhibited more compassion, grace, and power. Whatever the explanation, this was one more reason why people were drawn to him. He simply was like no other.

What was the source of their power? We could debate whether or not this power came from God. It certainly could have — or it could have been Satanic. Recall when Moses was performing miracles before Pharaoh, for a while, the magicians matched Moses using “their secret arts,” but eventually they could not. In the people’s criticism of Jesus, they could have merely been projecting the source of their power onto him.

Is the power to drive out demons more normative and accessible than we believe? I think the answer is yes. Jesus did it, others did it, and therefore so can we. Even though we may not see this happen, doesn’t mean it can’t. And that’s something to seriously contemplate.

[Luke 11:19]

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

We Often Criticize What We Don’t Understand

Once Jesus drove a demon out of a man. The man had been mute, but when the evil spirit was exorcized, he began speaking.

The people should have been in awe of the power Jesus displayed. They were not.

Instead they chose to be critical. Some questioned the source of his power and others insisted he do another miracle, as if the first wasn’t enough.

Things aren’t much different today. When someone comes along with a variant understanding of God, lives life in a different manner, or walks with a greater degree of spiritual power, the common response is criticism.

People tend to fear what challenges their status quo, to vilify what is different. They criticize what they don’t understand. It was done to Jesus two millennia ago and it’s still being done today.

Instead of looking for what makes us different, the better response is to focus on how we are the same. Pursue unity; avoid division. Celebrate diversity and embrace variation. I think that’s what Jesus would want us to do.

[Luke 11:14-16]

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.