To Make Holy, Part 5

The next form of ἁγιάζω I want to consider is found in Jesus’ prayer to his Father: Set them apart (ἁγίασον, a form of ἁγιάζω) in the truth; your word is truth.[1]  But I’m making a slow pilgrimage through his prayer because I believe I can know his holiness here.  I...

Will, Areté and Troy

An article in the Washington Post by Mark Berman and Marwa Eltagouri, entitled “Parkland suspect detailed plans in chilling videos: ‘I’m going to be the next school shooter’” caught my ear.  Two excerpts from it are contrasted below: He announced plans to become a...

Cobwebs

I think I can finally wipe some sticky filaments of ideas from my face and roll them up into something like a little cotton candy ball: I have dual citizenship in the rarefied and pampered world of resort hotels, both as a guest and as a servant working along with...

Believers

I tend to use the word believers for ἐκκλησία primarily because the word church had become a not-for-profit corporation managed and operated by believers.  It helps me study the Bible as if it pertains to me, rather than as a search for bylaws and provisions for the...

Romans, Part 90

Paul wrote believers in Rome (Romans 15:28, 29 NET): Therefore after I have completed this [contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem[1]] and have safely delivered this bounty to them, I will set out for Spain by way of you, and I know that when I come...

Father, Forgive Them – Part 4

I have attempted to cleanse Jesus’ words of the crime/punishment motif I think the translators of the NET and NASB superimposed upon them, so that his mercy—planning the offspring of vipers’ escape from being condemned to hell—shines through (Matthew 23:33-35 NET;...

Father, Forgive Them – Part 3

Jesus said (Matthew 23:33-36 NASB): You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell? “Therefore (Διὰ τοῦτο; See: Table1 below), behold, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of...

My Deeds, Part 3

There is a table representing my unstudied view of the relationship of the clauses of Revelation 2:26-29.  I’m considering the clause, who continues in my deeds until the end, because it tugs the hardest at me to return to my own works.  I’ve begun to try to...