All Questions

8
votes
3answers
130 views

Did King Ahaz find a virgin mother?

In Isaiah 7, King Ahaz, the Judean king, is surrounded by the armies of Aram and Israel and things look bleak. At Isaiah 7:13-17, the prophet tells Ahaz that God will give him a sign that the seige ...
8
votes
2answers
35 views

What did Jesus mean by “be perfect” in the Sermon on the Mount?

I asked this on the Christianity Stack Exchange site, and they told me it would be better here. So I here I am asking it... Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is ...
7
votes
2answers
82 views

What language(s) would the Jewish Christians in the various Macedonian cities have spoken?

In Acts 16-18, Paul is shown moving from city to city in Macedonia - e.g. Phillipi, Thessalonica, Berea, Corinth - many of to whom he would later write letters. Acts 17:2 explains that it was his ...
3
votes
2answers
68 views

Does the “fear of death” in Hebrews 2:15 refer to the dread of physically dying, or to something else?

In the Christian New Testament, we find the following: Hebrews 2:14-15 (NASB) 14Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through ...
4
votes
1answer
47 views

Did Mark intend to end his gospel at 16:8?

Mark's gospel may or may not end at 16:8. The earliest manuscripts do not contain 16:9-20. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and ...
4
votes
1answer
37 views

Why does John interweave the stories of Jesus' questioning and Peter's denial?

In John 18, the author weaves together an account of Peter's denial and a questioning of Jesus before Annas. It's very well done and seems rather more complex from a literary standpoint. But what does ...
3
votes
1answer
335 views

*Two* miraculous catches of fish in John 21 and significance?

In John 21, Jesus tells the disciples to throw their nets on the "right side of the boat" (verse 6) which enables the second miraculous catch of fish in Jesus' ministry, the catching of 153 fish. ...
2
votes
1answer
69 views

What does 'Salt of the Earth' mean?

"You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless." - Matthew 5:13 (NLT) ...
2
votes
1answer
29 views

Does Paul counsel against marriage or remarriage in 1 Corinthians 7:27b?

What situation is Paul addressing in 1 Corinthians 7:27b? I think that in view of the present distress it is good for a person to remain as he is. Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. ...
5
votes
0answers
54 views

By what Name did God reveal Himself to Abraham?

God is on several accounts called the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. (Even by Christ himself and by his apostles He is called their God. e.g. Mk 12:26 /Acts 3:3 I quote from Monica Cellio´s ...
4
votes
0answers
47 views

Just how overpriced was Efron's burial cave anyway?

In Genesis 23 Avraham pays 400 shekels to Efron for a burial cave for Sarah (and, later, other family members). This seems to be an enormous amount of money and Rashi suggests it's even worse than it ...
3
votes
0answers
23 views

In John 18, who was high priest at the time of Jesus' arrest?

First the text in John 18 (NIV) seems to make clear that Caiaphas was high priest: 18:13 They bound him and brought him first to Annas, who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest that ...
3
votes
0answers
64 views

What did Job believe?

Job 9:2 says: In truth I know that this is so; But how can a man be in the right before God? Is this a rhetorical question, or he is sincerely wondering how to be justified before God? Depending ...
3
votes
0answers
25 views

Galatians 4:13: What was Paul's “infirmity of the flesh”?

Galatians 4:13 A.V. Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first.
2
votes
0answers
10 views

Is the water jar in John 4:28 a symbol?

At the end of Jesus' conversation with the woman by the well, John records 28 So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me all ...
2
votes
0answers
40 views

The time span of growing into Christ the Head in Ephesians 4:13-15

Ephesians 4:13: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ Does this ...
2
votes
0answers
20 views

Will the NABRE New Testament be primarily a scholarly or liturgical text or both?

The U.S. Catholic bishops last year announced that the NABRE New Testament, last revised in 1986, will be revised again so that the same text could be used for both study and liturgical proclamation ...
1
vote
0answers
57 views

Why did the Masoretes take away 100 (or 50) years from the age of the fathers at their first sons' dates of birth?

The Septuagint (along with the Samaritan Pentateuch) and Flavius Josephus in his Jewish Antiquities allow for about 6 to 7 hundred more years from our days back to the Flood (which accordingly would ...
0
votes
0answers
11 views

The name Samara is Biblical?

I had found that the name Samara, means protected by god, which I know that comes from 8104. Shamar which means to keep, watch, preserve. But I can't understand why shamara suppose to mean protected ...
0
votes
0answers
10 views

in what way Jesus is God's Wisdom in 1 Corinthians 1:24

The verse is saying that to those who are called,both Jews or Greeks, the Messiah for them is God's power and wisdom. 1 Corinthians 1:24 So in what way Jesus is God's Wisdom here? As divine? Or as ...
0
votes
0answers
11 views

What is the “weakness of God” in 1 Corinthians 1:25?

Is God ever been weak? What does it mean to say that God has weakness? What was this weakness Paul was talking about?
0
votes
0answers
43 views

Does 2 Samuel 22:27 mean that God can be unrighteous?

With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure ; and with the froward thou wilt shew thyself unsavoury (2 Samuel 22:27) and All the words of my mouth [are] in righteousness; [there is] nothing ...
0
votes
0answers
16 views

What signs does Q show of stages of composition?

Regarding the Jesus Seminar, N.T. Wright writes in Jesus and the Victory of God: Great reliance has been placed on the work of John Kloppenborg, who has painstakingly analysed the Q material into ...