God has free will, as illustrated here: HOS 14:4 I will heal their waywardness and love them freely. 1CO 2:12 We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. EPH 1:6 … to the praise of his glorious […]
“[God’s] will of decree is not his will in the same sense as his will of command is. Therefore it is not difficult at all to suppose that the one may be otherwise than the other: his will in both senses is his inclination. But when we say he wills virtue, or loves virtue or […]
Are babies entirely innocent? And then they sin, and this is their first experience of sin? Romans 3:19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced… How is every mouth silenced, if some are not chargeable with sin? Romans […]
Genealogies were always reckoned through the father (Moses’ sons were Levites, though Zipporah was not from Israel), and Jesus considered himself descended from David (Mt. 22:43-45). Now the two genealogies of Jesus in Matthew and Luke are actually the same in various places, especially the early parts, and sometimes the genealogies only “hit the high spots,” […]
There are several quotes in Scripture, which seem not to be found in the Bible, or at least not in one place in the Bible. One example is here: Mt. 27:9 Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: “They took the thirty silver coins, the price set on him by the people […]
Judaism Certainly fulfilled prophecy in the Old Testament is very impressive: The return of the nation of Israel to their homeland (Isaiah 11:11ff), and their miraculous survival there and through the ages (Jeremiah 31:36). Also the disappearance of the Philistines (Isaiah 14:31), the Edomites (Idumeans) (the entire book of Obadiah), the Ammonites (Ezekial 25:10), etc. […]
MT 24:34 “Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.” And in the next verse, we read: MT 24:35 “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.” Jesus seemed to know that this would be a disputed passage! Here is a […]
PS 82:6 “I said, ‘You are gods; you are all sons of the Most High.’ “ Even in this verse, God makes a distinction between those of whom he says “you are gods,” and “the Most High.” He says of the “gods”, you are sons (not co-rulers, not equal with God). PS 89:6 “For who […]
“The discovery of the Ebla archive in northern Syria in the 1970s has shown the Biblical writings concerning the Patriarchs to be viable. Documents written on clay tablets from around 2300 B.C. demonstrate that personal and place names in the Patriarchal accounts are genuine. The name “Canaan” was in use in Ebla, a name critics […]
It seems it is not so easy to say that Noah’s flood was local, yet there may be a case to be made for that. The crucial question would seem to be: What does “the face of the whole earth” mean? Now here is an instance where this phrase is used: Genesis 41:56 When the […]