Results 1 - 8 of 8
|
|
|||||
Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Author: gospelmidi Ordered by Date |
||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | Was Abraham a jew? | Rom 4:1 | gospelmidi | 110941 | ||
Abraham was a Hebrew, that is, a descendant of Eber (son of Salah, son of Arphaxad, son of Shem, son of Noah). Members of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin were not called Jews until the Babylonian exile (except in the KJV). The Jews were distinct from the ten tribes scattered by Assyria, but somehow the term "Jew" came to mean any circumcised descendant of Israel. | ||||||
2 | Abraham OUR forefather accordingto FAITH | Rom 4:1 | gospelmidi | 110938 | ||
The word "our" (Gr. "hemon") appears to be a typo. Although Paul was a descendant of Abraham, he was writing to the gentile Christians in Rome. And, no, they weren't sons of Ishmael either. "To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints." - Ro 1:7a Abraham was the forefather of gentile Christians according to faith, but not according to the flesh. |
||||||
3 | Can one who commits suicide be saved? | Ex 20:13 | gospelmidi | 40503 | ||
We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. - 1 John 3:14-15 Salvation is by grace through trusting Jesus for eternal life, not by doing what the Bible says. So I'll put my confidence in Jesus and God's grace. But a believer who commits suicide puts me in an untenable position insofar as upholding the truth of that last verse is concerned. That is, I have to do a cognitive disconnect to maintain both positions, grace and truth. |
||||||
4 | How old is the earth scripturally? | Gen 1:1 | gospelmidi | 3119 | ||
I believe the "six days and a rest" theory, with a day equal to a thousand years. This means that creation occurred about six thousand years ago, and a thousand years (the millenium) remains on His timetable. Then God burns up the heavens and earth that now exist and creates a new heavens and a new earth. I believe Jesus was born around 6 or 5 B.C. and died about 28 or 29 A.D., 33 years later. Assuming that this began a new "day", the sixth "day" ends around 2028 A.D., give or take a year. The Jewish calendar, at 5761 in 2000 A.D., also indicates that the sixth millenium will soon be complete, and the seventh or Sabbath millenium, a time of rest, will begin. Christians know this millenium of rest as the millenial reign of Yeshua haMashiach, the Lord Jesus Christ. |
||||||
5 | "the church's list" of dependent widows | 1 Tim 5:9 | gospelmidi | 3108 | ||
"The list" is the names of the widows who have no relatives taking care of them (1 Ti 5:8,16), and who depend upon the church even for daily bread (Ac 6:1). One commentator maintains that it might also be an honor roll for those widows who have lived exemplary Christian lives and who are worthy of supervisory roles in the church. 1 Ti 5:16 mentions the church being burdened by assisting widows who have other means of support. This indicates that the preferred interpretation is, "a list of widows dependent upon the church." |
||||||
6 | Did I offend you? | Matt 12:40 | gospelmidi | 2632 | ||
EdB wrote: I realize this issue has been a topic of many ongoing debates and will probably not be settled until Jesus Himself sets the record clear. Men far wiser and more learned than I have taken both sides of the discussion and it truly doesn’t effect our salvation one way or the other. _____________________ Hello EdB, I appreciate your "tone of voice" here, so I will relax a bit. Messiah Jesus is our Passover, and in Him, days, months, and years are irrelevant. So let's see how far I can travel this road in agreement with you. Inasmuch as Dec. 21 is the longest day of the year in Jerusalem, after Mar. 22, evening begins no earlier than 6PM and the morning no later than 6AM. But for the sake of convenience, we will agree on 6PM and 6AM. Then the first hour is from 6AM to 7AM, and the ninth hour, when Jesus died, from 2PM to 3PM. That gives Joseph of Arimathea from at least 3 hours to a little over 4 hours to complete Jesus' burial. Thursday crucifixion matches the 3 days and 3 nights of Mt 12:40 perfectly: until 6PM Thursday - one day until 6AM Friday - one night until 6PM Friday - one day until 6AM Saturday - one night until 6PM Saturday - one day until sometime before dawn Sunday - one night. On the first day of the week, the women came early to the tomb, while it was still dark (Mt 28:1; Jo 20:1), and found that He had risen. We agree so far. BUT... He was raised on the third day. To nail down the meaning of "the third day," we need to look at other occurrences of this phrase. Be persuaded that it does not mean, "three days later." "And there was evening and there was morning, one day... a second day... a third day." (Gen 1:5, 8, and 13). "Come, let us return to the Lord. For He has torn us, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bandage us. He will revive us after two days; He will raise us up on the third day that we may live before Him." (Hos 6:1-2). So "day one" is the day of the event, and the "third day" is two days later. "The third day" is used similarly in: Gen 42:17-18 Ex 19:10-11 Lev 7:16-17 Lev 19:6-7 Num 29:12,17,20 Judg 20:21,24,30 I Sa 20:12 II Sa 1:1-2 Esth 4:16 and 5:1 Mt 16:21 Mt 17:23 Mt 27:64 Mk 9:31 Mk 10:34 Lu 9:22 Lu 13:32 Lu 18:33 Lu 24:7 Lu 24:21 Lu 24:46 Ac 10:40 Ac 27:17-19 I Co 15:3-4 If you want a contrary interpretation of "the third day," look at Gen 40:13,20 and I Ki 12:5,12 (II Ch 10:5,12). But with these two exceptions, "the third day" is idiomatic in the scriptures, meaning, "the day after tomorrow." Therefore, my never-humble opinion is that Jesus died between 2 and 3PM on Friday, and He rose again before dawn on Sunday, "the day after tomorrow," or "the third day." I base this on the context of all the rest of scripture, excluding Mt 12:40 (plus Gen 40:13,20 and I Ki 12:5,12, if you wish). So what are we to do with this pesky prophecy from the Messiah Himself? I prefer to leave it as one of those unanswerable conundrums, a paradox we will have to wait until that Day to understand. Any human interpretation will never settle this debate, any more than man can establish peace in Jerusalem. If that won't satisfy the western mind, which demands closure on every issue and an answer for every riddle, the best I know is to use the Hebrew idiom, "an evening and a morning," meaning a day or a part of a day. Then, "3 days and 3 nights" can be s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d to mean three 24-hour days or parts of a 24-hour day. Friday until sunset, Saturday until sunset, and thereafter until His resurrection satisfies that definition. But I'm not sure about that, either. It appears to be a question to hold on to until Jesus comes. |
||||||
7 | 3 days and 3 nights and Sabbaths | Matt 12:40 | gospelmidi | 2385 | ||
EdB, you have no personal profile, so I could not respond privately. Therefore, I apologize in advance for any arrogance in my writing. I respect your scholarship and value your comment, so I submit the following as my opinion. "It was the preparation day, and the Sabbath was about to begin. Now the women who had come with Him out of Galilee followed, and saw the tomb and how His body was laid. Then they returned and prepared spices and perfumes. And on the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment. "But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb... " Lu 23:54-24:2 Luke, for whom "it seemed fitting... to write it out in consecutive order," specifies "the Sabbath" (singular) in both places. So do the other gospel accounts: Mt 28:1; Mk 15:42 and 16:1; Jo 19:31. (The "day of preparation" is a Jewish idiom for the day before the Sabbath; see Ex 16:22-26.) EdB wrote: "Lev. 23:5 defines the Passover. It also defines Sabbaths or other Holy Convocations. From reading this we can see that the Passover is called a Holy Convocation or day of rest. Also note the day after the Passover which is the Feast of Unleaven bread is also a Holy convocation or day of rest." [(A implies C) AND (B implies C)] implies (A is B)? Not according to logic. In Lev 23:2-8, the Lord tells Moses to have a holy convocation on Passover and on the first and last days of the week-long feast of unleavened bread that follows Passover. These days are designated as days of rest: "You shall not do any laborious work." But they are not called Sabbaths. Do you have a verse of scripture that calls any day (high, holy, or day of rest) a Sabbath _except_ the 24 hours from sundown Friday until sundown Saturday? Jews today do not call any other day a Sabbath, except the seventh day. EdB wrote: "For Jesus to be crucified on Friday and buried and have the women go to the grave on Sunday would mean that Jesus was crucified on a Holy Convocation Day or Jewish Day of rest." The Romans thought nothing of crucifying criminals on Passover. On the same afternoon when the priests blew the trumpets to signal the slaying of the paschal lambs, Jesus said, "It is finished." And it was also permissible by law for Joseph of Arimathea and the women to bury Jesus' body on the Passover, though not on Shabat, and thus their haste. EdB wrote: "Could the Sabbath talked about in the scriptures really be the Feast of the Unleaven Bread a Holy Convocation?" Again, I would be very interested in any scripture or rabbinical tradition that calls any day but the seventh day the Sabbath. And so would the rabbis. |
||||||
8 | 3 days and 3 nights as a Hebrew idiom | Matt 12:40 | gospelmidi | 2288 | ||
[Please add comments to Glenn M. Miller's note.] QUESTION: Jesus said he was going to be in the earth (buried) for three days and three nights. If he died on Friday and rose on Sunday morning, how is this three days and three nights? ANSWER: This is one of the easier ones...the Jews counted PART of a day or night as a WHOLE day or nite, so part of Friday, all of Sat, part of Sun would be 'three days and three nights'--it was a Hebrew idiom of the day... We do the same thing of course...if I say I worked at the office all day, 'all day' normally doesn't mean 24 hours...it means most of the daylight hours or whatever... This fits with the other predictions that says 'on the third day'... [Another person comments:] Thus, the meaning and implication of the phrases "Full Day", "Whole Day" and the word "Day", can and normally does change with a change in whatever it has been used with reference to. For instance, if I say: "I stayed in America, for three days and three nights", now the word "day" is being used here in the absolute sense. Thus, one day and one night, should be a full circle. Dont you think so? [Glenn M. Miller replies:] It is important to recognize first off, that the issue of "Don't you think so?" needs to be answered definitively 'no'... Idiomatic expressions in other cultures don't have to make ANY sense to us at all. Our job as readers of the literature from another culture is to try to understand THEIR idioms, rather than judge them. So, with that in mind, let me answer the request above for the data that supports my original statement ("What is the source of this information about the referred Jewish tradition?") Although I cannot list it all, let me give the main references available. Let me cite data from three sources: the OT, the Rabbinix, and one NT passage. 1. The OT data (to show that 'on the third day' equals 'after three days') Gen 42.16: "And he put them all in custody for three days. 18 On the third day, Joseph said to them, "Do this and you will live, for I fear God" and they are released ON that day [from the context of verses 25-26]. In this case the 'for three days' meant only 'into the third day.' 1 Kings 20.29: "For seven days they camped opposite each other, and on the seventh day the battle was joined." In this case we have 'for seven days' mean[ing] only 'into the seventh day'. 2 Chr 10.5: "And he said to them, 'Return to me again in three days" (NAS) with verse 12: "So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day as the king had directed, saying, 'Return to me on the third day.'" In this case 'in three days' is equivalent to 'on the third day.' Esther 4.16: "Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish." And then in 5.1: "On the third day Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the palace, in front of the king's hall." In this case, "on the third day" is equivalent to "for three days, night or day". 1 Samuel 30.12: "He ate and was revived, for he had not eaten any food or drunk any water for three days and three nights. 13 David asked him, "To whom do you belong, and where do you come from?" He said, "I am an Egyptian, the slave of an Amalekite. My master abandoned me when I became ill three days ago." In this case "for three days and three nights" somehow was fulfilled when his master left him 'three days ago'. "Thus, the Old Testament gives the picture that the expressions 'three days,' 'the third day,' and 'three days and three nights' are used to signify the same period of time." [NT:CALC:73] 2. The Rabbinical literature also manifests this idiomatic range: Rabbi Eleazar ben Azariah, tenth in the descent from Ezra was very specific: "A day and a night are an Onah ['a portion of time'] and the portion of an Onah is as the whole of it" [J.Talmud, Shabbath 9.3 and b.Talmud, Pesahim 4a] This understanding was used in the numerous correlations between Jonah 1.17 ('in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights') and the OT passages cited above [e.g. Mid.Rabbath on Genesis 56 (on 22.4); Genesis 91.7 (on 42.17-18)]. 3. There is one NT passage that indicates this Jewish idiom. Matt 27.63: "Sir," they said, "we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, 'After three days I will rise again.' 64 So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day." Note that 'after three days' was somehow equivalent to 'until the third day' (not 'until the fourth day'). This data should demonstrate the rough equivalence of the NT phrases. Hope this helps, Glenn M. Miller |
||||||