Wonders and False Wonders, Part 1

Peter described Jesus to the crowd gathered at Pentecost as a man clearly attested to you by God with powerful deeds, wonders, and miraculous signs that God performed (ἐποίησεν, a form of ποιέω) among you through him, just as you yourselves know…1 The Greek word...

Funeral, Part 2

This is the first Scripture reading from my mother’s funeral.  I selected passages that contained forms of ἀνίστημι to describe resurrection from the dead: I have come down from heaven [Jesus said] not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me.  Now this...

Atonement, Part 1

I plan to begin a slow pilgrimage through kâphar, which will at a minimum include surveying kôpher and kippûr.  The first occurrences of kâphar and kôpher according to Strong’s Concordance are found in, Make rooms in the ark, and cover (kâphar, וכפרת; Septuagint:...

More Than the Minimum

To leave the giving, receiving and power of the Holy Spirit out of the Gospel is frankly absurd.  I doubt that was Paul’s intention in his first letter to the Corinthians.  The omission is mine if I limit my view to a specific text.  Jesus, after his resurrection,...