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You're correct that the men who condemned Jesus falsely accused Him of blasphemy and declared Him worthy of death (Mark 14:64), and I agree that our sins place us among those whose rebellion made the cross necessary. Where I disagree is that Isaiah 53 presents the cross as only a condemnation...

No, not entirely. In the New Testament, the apostles were appointed directly by the Lord Jesus Himself. He personally chose the Twelve (Luke 6:13), and Paul repeatedly testified that he was an apostle "not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ" (Galatians 1:1). Their appointment...

Yes. According to Ephesians 4:11-12, Christ gave these ministries to His church "for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ." The purpose was not to create ranks of importance, but to build up believers so the whole body could function...

I never attack anyone's belief. I offer the scripture as it is written. Something I have done for years. I never came here to debate theology. I'm not a preacher. But I know when a man-made framework is being applied to scripture, and I attack that by pointing it out. Nothing more. And I...

What you've written is a fairly standard Reformed reading of John 3:16, but I do not think John 3:16 itself says most of those things. The verse explicitly says that "God so loved the world" and that "whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." The text identifies...

You're creating a choice that Isaiah itself does not make, because the chapter explicitly affirms both human responsibility and divine purpose: wicked men oppressed, afflicted, condemned, and killed the Servant (Isa. 53:7-9), yet the same chapter also says, "the LORD hath laid on him the...

Your argument depends on defining "laid on him the iniquity of us all" as merely permitting wicked men to abuse Christ, but Isaiah 53 goes beyond that, because the subject of the action is the LORD Himself: "The LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all" (v. 6), "for the transgression of my...

I agree that no one comes to Christ apart from God's work. I agree that sinners are dead in trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1), that the Father must draw (John 6:44), and that salvation belongs entirely to the Lord. Where I am less convinced is that every passage you cited explicitly teaches that...

That gets to the heart of the matter. Being a Greek speaker and hearing someone say καταλλάσσω in ordinary usage, I would not be consciously thinking, "down-another-exchange," any more than an English speaker hears "understand" and thinks "stand under." Native speakers tend to hear the meaning...

I understand what you're trying to do, and I respect the desire to strip away religious baggage and let readers see the structure of the Greek. My concern would simply be whether an etymological rendering communicates what the word means in actual usage. Compound words often drift beyond the...

That's a fair observation, and I agree that Paul is often using σάρξ as more than a simple anatomical reference. It functions as a figure of speech that forces the reader to think beyond the physical body. In that sense, I would actually be cautious about replacing it with something like...

That is exactly why I find these word studies interesting. Looking at your list, I can see why you've gravitated toward "correct," "correction," and "corrected" as the core idea of the δικ- word family. It gives the family a very consistent English backbone. My only hesitation is that...

I often wrestle with δικαιοσύνη. Most English translations render it "righteousness," which is accurate, but for many modern readers that word carries a moral-performance sense that can miss Paul's covenantal and legal nuances. Likewise, σάρξ is often translated "flesh," yet in many Pauline...

I think you've touched on why this discussion has continued for centuries. Even among those who affirm the Sabbath, there is disagreement about what obedience to the fourth commandment actually requires. Is the emphasis on abstaining from ordinary labor? Is it on corporate worship? Is it on...

Looking at your translation, I think the more interesting discussion is not actually the presence or absence of the article, but what Paul means by the entire phrase. Even if we grant the Byzantine reading with τῆς πίστεως ("the faith"/"the trust"), the central point remains that salvation is...

I agree that the Ten Commandments are repeatedly called the covenant, were written by God's finger on stone, and occupy a unique place in Israel's history. I also agree that the new covenant promise in Jeremiah 31 and Hebrews 8 is not that God abolishes His law but that He writes it on the...

You may be right that he is in error, but be careful not to write someone off as beyond redemption. God saved far worse than any of us. Present the Scriptures, warn him if necessary, and leave the results to God. Be at peace my friend.

I was enjoying the Genesis questions. What happened to that? There was some really good stuff to think on being brought up.

According to Scripture alone, that is a possibility, but it is not something the Bible explicitly states.

You might want to ask yourself whether you're speaking as someone who has received mercy or as someone looking down on another sinner. Scripture says we were all once ignorant and unworthy apart from God's grace. Calling someone "ignorant man" may express frustration, but it does little to...