Hot answers tagged exegesis
38
It is simply impossible to keep the juice from crushed grapes from fermenting without modern refrigeration and pasteurization techniques. So yes, the wine was alcoholic.
There is plenty of textual evidence as well, but this should do:
The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say,
‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax ...
28
Two things are significant. The first is that the curtain symbolically divided the Holy of Holies, the most revered place in the temple where God was believed to dwell and only priests were allowed to enter, from the rest of the temple where ordinary people were allowed. Removing that division was a symbol that there was now no barrier between ordinary ...
27
First understand people. They will adjust the literal translations of the Bible in order to hear what they want to hear. They will also interpret the words of the Bible based off of their own definitions as defined by their surroundings without truly finding out what those words meant to Jesus.
When the Bible says that Jesus turned water into wine. Then ...
26
First understand the architecture of the temple. There were three chambers. A large courtyard where a very large altar lay. An indoor lobby where only the priests could enter after washing and finally the Holy room which only the high priest himself could enter.
The Holy room contained the ark of the covenant. This room was shielded from the lobby by a ...
25
The reason this plural noun is translated into other languages as a singular noun is because it's being used with a singular verb.
This would be comparable to saying "Ants is here to stay" instead of "Ants are here to stay". It turns this plural word ("ants") into a proper noun.
Example with singular verb
In Genesis 1:1 (referenced in the question), we ...
24
In Mark 3:1-6, Jesus heals a crippled man's hand on the sabbath:
Jesus went into the synagogue again and noticed a man with a deformed hand. 2 Since it was the Sabbath, Jesus’ enemies watched him closely. If he healed the man’s hand, they planned to accuse him of working on the Sabbath.
3 Jesus said to the man with the deformed hand, “Come and stand ...
24
Matthew Henry Explains this passage with the following in his Commentary:
Some make the slain bird to typify Christ dying for our sins, and the living bird Christ rising again for our justification. The dipping of the living bird in the blood of the slain bird intimated that the merit of Christ's death was that which made his resurrection effectual for ...
24
Bob's answer about the intended meaning of 'not yet going' is on the right track but it leaves out a couple of important details.
There are more than one set of Greek manuscripts and there are actually quite a number of one and two character type differences between them. Usually, these involve punctuation or spelling differences and have no affect on the ...
22
There are three primary views that explain the meaning of the word "day" in Genesis 1. I will describe each one, and some of the purported Biblical evidence supporting each, briefly here. After all, this is a topic on which many books have been written.
24-hour Day Theory
This view, which is held by many Young Earth Creationists states that each of the 6 ...
21
In the NLT, it's quite straightforward:
Acts 20:26 (NLT)
26 I declare today that I have been faithful. If anyone suffers eternal death, it’s not my fault,
I was actually amused by the "it's not my fault" part; reminds me of a child. :P
Anyway, other more-literal translations give variations of the following:
Acts 20:26 (NIV)
26 ...
21
Isaiah 35:5-6a,10 NIV:
Then will the eyes of the blind be opened
and the ears of the deaf unstopped.
6Then will the lame leap like a deer,
and the mute tongue shout for joy.
(verse 10 shows context of Zion)
10 and those the LORD has rescued will return.
They will enter Zion with singing;
everlasting joy will crown their ...
20
This is a little easier to understand using the KJV translation.
Go ye up unto this feast: I go not up yet unto this feast; for my time
is not yet full come.
He didn't say he wasn't going. He said He wasn't going yet.
Also, for comparison, Young's Literal Transation:
Ye -- go ye up to this feast; I do not yet go up to this feast,
because my ...
20
The issue is not that OECs have a "weak faith," but we believe we are taking a more appropriate view of the scripture. Indeed, if the text is indeed written metaphorically (as we believe), then reading it literally is the weaker position.
If you don't want to read my rather long (yet still way too short to pay true justice to this topic) answer, I suggest ...
19
Christ is using his ability to perform miracles as evidence that he is God, and therefore has the right to forgive sins.
He is saying, anyone can say "Your sins are forgiven," without any evidence that they have the authority to do so. But only God can heal a paralytic. So by performing such a miracle, Christ is proving that he has the authority of God ...
16
Genesis 9:3 says that God gave all living things to Noah for food. This, in turn, applies to us as Christians.
3 Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything.
1 Timothy 4 also gives more insight into this. It deals with those who mislead the church and tell believers that they should ...
16
Romans 14 as a whole doesn't endorse a vegetarian diet as necessary or otherwise better. Look at the beginning of the chapter for the context:
Romans 14:1-4 (KJV)
1 Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful
disputations.
2 For one believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak,
eateth herbs.
3 Let not ...
16
I don't think its meant to be interpreted literally. I take it as "Do everything you possibly can to avoid sinning."
relevant example: I have a co-worker of refuses to go to the beach since he would be tempted to engage in lust-related activities.
Whether you agree with my coworker's interpretation and level of devotion to the literal word is not my point. ...
15
To me, this is a very offensive direction that Jesus gives. And that isn't a bad thing -- frequently the Bible gives directions that are offensive to what we are accustomed to believing. We should always take them seriously.
In this case, I think the message is that we must put following Christ above everything, even our most important worldly concerns. ...
15
It's a global flood. There are several logical points why.
First, the gathering of all of the animals in the world would be useless, if the Flood was only a local flood. If the Flood was only local, not all of the animals would drown, and thus, bringing all the animals of the World on the ark would have been a useless act.
Secondly, if the Flood was only ...
15
This is generally explained as two different details of the same event being the emphisis of the record.
Both accounts tell of a suicide. One specifically mentions hanging, the other doesn't mention anything about cause of death but does mention his "falling". These can readily be reconciled through natural causes either by something going wrong in the ...
15
There is a spectrum of literal biblical reading, but basically it boils down to the degree to which one believes in the historicity (in the modern sense) of the Bible.
Archeological evidence only goes back as far as a steele mentioning the "House of David," so for modern academics, the historicity of say, Moses, Abraham, and Adam and Eve are all at least ...
14
From Mathew Henry's Concise Commentary:
Whatever we have, the property of it is God's; we have only the use of it, according to the direction of our great Lord, and for his honour. This steward wasted his lord's goods. And we are all liable to the same charge; we have not made due improvement of what God has trusted us with. The steward cannot deny it; ...
14
I don't have a definitive answer, but here are a few things to keep in mind about the text. When I consider some combination of these, it doesn't bother me that an omniscient God is "surprised".
The word in the text is not usually translated "surprised" as if it was an unexpected event. The sense is one of wonder or awe or marvel or (as in your ...
14
I can't answer this definitively, but I can tell you what I've come to as a conclusion. The community can vote as to whether or not they agree, and I'm sure someone else would have a different answer, but here goes.
Looking at how God's method of communication has changed over time, it should not be surprising that such "gifts" are not as common as they ...
13
There are differing traditions about this. Only in Eastern Orthodoxy have I run into a very specific definition, where 'Image of God' is treated like a term of art with a specific, well defined meaning.
Generally speaking, most Christians interpret it to mean that we share in the spiritual reality with the spiritual beings, and traits specific to God ...
13
The death promised and that Adam experienced the moment he chose to sin was not a ceasing to exist or a physical stopping to breathe, it was a separation: a rending apart of two things that were once closely joined. On the day that Adam ate the fruit, he died1. He was separated from God. The fellowship between them was broken.
The reverse of this death ...
13
Over the years, there have been many theories to explain these Nephilim. I'm not fond of list answers, but unfortunately, there's no better way to represent all of these wildly varying theories.
Possible theories:
Giants (giantism)
Historically, there have been people who have been over eight feet tall. Archaeologists have uncovered tombs of these ...
13
The Bible is subject to several different types of interpretation and criticism. This is for various reasons:
It was originally written in languages that are no longer spoken. The ancient Greek and Hebrew that it was written in are similar but dramatically different than the current forms of those languages (languages morph and change over time).
...
13
Like Narnian commented, per the definition given by this site, nothing. However, historically most denominations have agreed upon several things.
The first thing that comes to mind is the existence of both God and Jesus. Also, many agree Jesus is God.
Historically, the Nicene Creed and the Apostles Creed have been generally accepted lists of agreed upon ...
13
Safe answer: John 20 is the only passage of scripture that discusses this event, so the short answer is - we can't say for sure. In general, we need to be cautious about "reasoning from an absence of scripture."
My guess: Thomas made a statement to the effect of "I refuse to believe that Jesus rose from the dead, and the only thing that could change my ...
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