Category: Bible

Posts from The Bible Blog, by Peter DeHaan

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Bible

What Does Perfect Love Do?

As we struggle with the paradox of fearing God and loving God, there’s another thought on the subject.

John writes that “perfect love drives out fear.”

Perfect love never fails. Perfect love is love that’s without fault, consistent and always present. God embodies perfect love.

Paul gives us a list of what love is and isn’t. Love is:

  • patient
  • kind
  • not envious
  • not boastful
  • not proud
  • not rude
  • not self-seeking
  • not easily angered
  • forgetting the mistakes of others
  • not delighting in evil
  • rejoicing over truth
  • offering protection
  • trusting
  • hopeful
  • persevering
  • never failing

This is love, perfect love, and it drives away fear.

[1 John 4:18 and 1 Corinthians 13:4-8]

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

God is Love

In the Old Testament of the Bible, we read the command to “fear God.” In the New Testament we read “God is Love.” How can we fear someone who is loving? Is it even possible to do?

Is there a difference between fearing God in the Old Testament and a God of love in the New Testament? Although it’s the same God in both, one who doesn’t change, the difference is Jesus. Jesus alters the way we understand and perceive God.

True, God is to be feared and God is love. This is a spiritual paradox we need to accept.

In the Old Testament, the focus is on the law (rules) and the result is fear because we fall short. In the New Testament, Jesus fulfills the law (overcomes or replaces rules) with love. The result is that love trumps fear.

This doesn’t mean we should completely disregard a healthy fear of God, but instead to temper our fear with his love.

[1 John 4:8 & 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.

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Bible

Fear is the Beginning of Wisdom

In my last post, I noted that the Bible says we are to fear God — and I confessed confusion over precisely what that means.

The next step in my progression of thought is to recall that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom and of understanding.

I think that means it’s okay I don’t fully know what it means to fear God, but as I contemplate it, I will begin to understand.

I will begin to realize that God is almighty and all powerful, that he is our awesome creator, our loving savior, and our ever-present guide. For that I can revere him, worship him, respect him, and perhaps have a bit of reverent fear.

But there’s more…so come back next week to find out.

[Psalm 111:10]

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

Do You Fear God?

The Bible says we are to fear God. But what does that really mean?

I don’t think it implies God is malevolent or waiting for us to mess up so he can zap us, which would be legitimate reasons to fear him. Instead, God is benevolent and wants good things for us; there is no reason to fear him for that.

Some translations render fear as “worship” or “revere.” That helps some. We are to worship God and to revere him. I can do that. And although I have a healthy respect for his power, it’s not one the produces fear. That’s a good thing, isn’t it?

Perhaps a hint of understanding is that of the 13 times the phrase occurs in the Bible, most are in the Old Testament.

I will post more on this next time.

[Ecclesiastes 12:13]

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

Watering Animals is a Prelude to Marriage

In the Bible there’s the story of Jacob, who rolls away the stone from the well to water Rachel’s sheep. They get married.

Then there’s Moses. He rescues some shepherd girls when they are being harassed and provides water for their flocks. He marries one of them.

It’s just not a guy thing, either. Rebekah provides water for a stranger and his camels, showing herself to be the one for Isaac, son of the stranger’s master. They get married.

Sometimes performing simple acts of service result in some most amazing things.

[Genesis 29:10, Exodus 2:16-21, and Genesis 24:15-20]

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 Love Story: Life Sustaining Water

In a love story, culturally distant and a bit strange to us, Jacob is enamored by the fetching Rachel. In an act of service, to garner her attention, he rolls away a stone from the mouth of a well to provide life-sustaining water for her sheep. It works and she becomes his bride.

In another love story, also culturally distant and a bit strange, Jesus, in an act of service sacrifices himself for those he loves. Three days later Jesus is resurrected and an angel rolls away the stone that sealed his tomb, effectively providing living water for his sheep; that would be us. It works and symbolically we become his bride.

The water is provided as an act of love. We drink the water to accept the love.

[Genesis 29:10, Matthew 28:2, and Mark 16:1-6]

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 Do You Earn Eternal Life?

In the Bible it was common for Jesus to invite people to follow him. That’s simple enough; anyone can do that.

But sometimes Jesus would give a different instruction. For example, he told one very wealthy man to give away all his money and possessions, not ten percent, not half, not even 90 percent, but all. That’s not so simple or so easy.

Some people assume this means the man was putting his trust in his money and as long as he trusted money, he could never fully trust Jesus.

I get that and agree with that: anything that’s more important to us than Jesus, keeps us from Jesus.

But I wonder if there’s not a different explanation. The man was trying to earn eternal life. We know we can’t earn our salvation; that’s impossible. So to make his point, Jesus gave him a seemingly impossible task: give away everything.

Eternal life is a gift. We can’t earn it. All we need to do is receive it.

[Luke 18:18-29 and Romans 6:23]

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

Is It Fair to Get What We Don’t Earn?

In the book of Ecclesiastes, King Solomon does a lot of whining.

(Don’t get bogged down by his negativity, for he eventually provides some reliable insight in the book’s concluding verses.)

Overall I find it easy to dismiss Solomon’s complaining, but one of his laments does make sense to me. He grumbles about leaving an inheritance to someone who didn’t earn it and doesn’t deserve it.

That’s not fair! And we all want what’s fair, don’t we?

Perhaps not.

Through Jesus, we receive something we didn’t earn and don’t deserve: eternal life.

That’s not fair either, but I’m not complaining.

[Ecclesiastes 12:13-14, Ecclesiastes 2:21, and Romans 6:23]

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

Three Things About Temptation

In Three Things About Sin, the prescription for sin is to deal with the temptation before it gives way to sin. It’s like getting a vaccine; preparing now to avoid a bigger problem later.

The Bible teaches us three things about temptation; they’re in the form of promises that we can claim and rely on.

1) Our temptations are not unique to us: Others have struggled with the same issues in the past.

2) God will limit temptation to what we can handle: God doesn’t tempt us and he does limit the enemy’s power to do so.

3) God will provide a way out: We can ask God to enable us to see the way out, give us the will to take it, and the strength to persevere.

And then we can withstand the temptation — just as he promised.

[1 Corinthians 10:13]

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

Three Things About Sin

The book of Genesis in the Bible gives a concise three-point teaching about sin. This was written about Cain, but equally applies to us.

1) Sin is crouching at our door: The word “crouch” reminds me of a cat getting ready to pounce on its prey. The situation is ominous.

2) Sin desires to have us: Once the cat leaps for its quarry, there’s little doubt over the outcome. Sin is crouching for us; it is getting ready to leap and destroy us. There’s little we can do — or is there?

3) We must master it: Sin is much easier to master beforehand rather than in the midst of it. When it is crouching, the potential for sin is there, but it’s not actual sin; it’s temptation. We know what to do with temptation and the devil who promotes it; we are to resist.

[Genesis 4:7 and James 4:7]

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.