Articles
– …and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. (Eph. 6:17 NRS) –
Understanding John 6:44 – the drawing of the Father
οὐδεὶς δύναται ἐλθεῖν πρός με ἐὰν μὴ ὁ πατὴρ ὁ πέμψας με ἑλκύσῃ αὐτόν, κἀγὼ ἀναστήσω αὐτὸν ἐν τῇ ἐσχάτῃ ἡμέρᾳ. (John 6:44; Greek) No one is able to come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him; and I will raise that person up on the last day. (John 6:44,...
Jacob have I loved
"Jacob have I loved" In the discussion of predestination, you will quickly hear the oft quoted verse from Romans 9:13. As it is written, "I have loved Jacob, but I have hated Esau." This text is used to suggest that God had particularly chosen the man Jacob for...
Predestination – Part 2
Part 2 – Romans 8:28-39 A second passage where we find “predestined” (PROORIZŌ) is found in Romans 8:29-30 where we see it used twice in what is often called the “golden chain of salvation” and is used by some to demonstrate a case for God’s pretemporal predestining...
Predestination – Part 1
Understanding Predestination The following quote from R. C. Sproul was posted on Facebook recently: “We talk about predestination because the Bible talks about predestination. If we desire to build our theology on the Bible we run head on into this concept. We soon...
Communion Meditation – John 1
12/16/2018 - A meditation from John 1. When I was 18 years old, I attended Nyack College and took my first Greek class. The very first two verses my instructor taught me was: Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος, καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν, καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος. (John 1:1 - Greek)...
Corporate Election in Ephesians 1:4 – Judge’s Question and Answer
At the end of the debate, I was asked the following by one of the judges: "For Bob, you said "It is a particularly Jewish blessing" when discussing the blessings in chapter one and later said that "Paul is saying that the blessings that are found in the Jewish...
Corporate Election in Ephesians 1:4 – Argument 2 – Part 2
Continued from Argument 2, Part 1 - When did the choosing take place? Corporate election does not suggest that the choosing is not before creation. What it argues is that it is gnomic, a principle that those who will be “in Christ” will be holy and blameless. The...
Corporate Election in Ephesians 1:4 – Argument 2 – Part 1
Second Argument In my first argument, I provided a basic exegesis of Ephesians 1:3-14 to gain an understanding of what the text was saying. That is because I believe exegesis must drive doctrine. My rather lengthy analysis was based on an understanding (rightly or...