Hot answers tagged luke
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Jesus always uses the mustard seed to represent something small. The mustard seed was popularly known to be the smallest of all seeds.1 Of course, it also has the property of being a seed (i.e. it germinates), but that part of the metaphor is not unique to being a mustard seed. There is no record of Jesus using any other of the mustard seed's unique ...
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The Hebrew word שמיים (shamayim), which is translated into English, is what is known in Judaism as a כנוי (kinnui), or a "substitute," "nickname."
The reason why Matthew uses "kingdom of Heaven" more often than "kingdom of God" is because he wrote to a Jewish audience, and the Jews did not pronounce the Tetragrammaton יהוה, and sometimes not even the word ...
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Some say the "Kingdom of Heaven" refers to the a physical/political kingdom on earth while the "Kingdom of God" is the spiritual, coming reign of Christ.
Arguments against the two being the same often come down to hair splitting and misinterpretation of verses. For example, the site listed above relies on a single verse in an attempt to say they are ...
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Tithing was an institute of the Mosaic Law and consisted of agricultural produce and reared livestock (Lv 27:30-33). The Israelites offered the tithe to the landless Levites who in turn offered a tenth of the tithe to the Aaronic priesthood (Nm 18:26-28). Unlike the other tribes, the Levites were denied any inheritance or land ownership in Israel. They were, ...
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According to wikipedia, there is no name of the person who was the Roman Governor of Syria listed for the time specific period in question (4-1 BC). Is it possible that an individual with the cognomen of "Quirinius" was governor for the time in question?
Please note that...
Gaius Sentius Saturninus was governor between 9-7/6 AD
Lucius Volusius Saturninus ...
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The way I always have read that is that Luke 22:36 is meant to be taken metaphorically: "Dangerous times are coming and you must be prepared." But as usual, the disciples don't get it. A possible parallel situation is:
Now they had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. And he cautioned them, saying, “Watch out; ...
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Actually, I don't know of any Christian denomination or individual that tithes according to the Torah of Moshe. Tithing (עישור) is a relatively complicated process in Judaism, and of course, it's hardly (if at all) practical without a Temple. If Jews cannot tithe without the Temple, then Christians certainly cannot.
With that being said, the general concept ...
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Whatever the solution to this problem, and there are good solutions, It appears to me that Luke mentions Quirinius at least in part to connect Jesus’ birth in the mind of his original readers with the census of A.D. 6. Here’s why
The census that year sparked a major Jewish revolt. Luke knows of this event because he refers to it in Acts 5:37.
After this ...
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You might find this discussion at the "Christian Think Tank" interesting. As I understand it, the writer and some of the sources he quotes find it possible that Quirinius was a "de facto" governor before he was officially so:
I assume you mean contemporaries in office--they were certainly contemporaries in life...Quirinius, at the time of King Herod's ...
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The "finger of God" is mentioned in two passages in the Hebrew Bible. Once when the magicians of Pharaoh conceded defeat before Moses (Ex 8:19) and secondly when the two tablets were inscribed with the Ten Commandments (Ex 31:18).
In the context at hand here in Matt 12:27-28 and Luke 11:19-20, where we see Jesus casting out the demons, the confrontation ...
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A Generation is 40 years in Bible. Here are some examples.
Numbers 32:13 (ESV) - And the Lord's anger was kindled against Israel, and he made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation that had done evil in the sight of the Lord was gone.
Deuteronomy 1:34-36 (ESV) - And the Lord heard your words and was angered, and he swore, ‘Not ...
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Regarding the New Living Translation (NLT), Wikipedia states that it "was based on the two standard editions of the Greek New Testament (the UBS 4th revised edition and the Nestle-Aland Novum Testamentum Graece 27th edition)."
Regarding the New International Version (NIV), Wikipedia states, "The manuscript base for the New Testament was the Koine Greek ...
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In the former, I gather from his line of reasoning that demons cannot be cast out by Satan; in the latter, it seems as though casting out demons by Satan must be a possibility.
I think you are mistaking Jesus' reasoning. As you point out that reading would put Jesus at odds with himself in Matthew 7 where he speaks of the 'appearance' of good deeds ...
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The name “Theophilus” may indicate a primarily Gentile audience, perhaps in Rome, given its decidedly Greek nature and that Luke’s account ends with Paul’s arrival in Rome. However, Theophilus could have just as easily been a diaspora Jew living in Rome. Heinz Joachim Held takes this perspective further by hypothesizing that Luke’s intent was to reach the ...
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I go back and forth on my interpretation of Gen 6:1-4 as to if it is fallen angels or people. Fallen angels is certainly a view with history. That is the interpretation that the authors of 1 Enoch had (see especially Book of the Watchers). However, Walter Kaiser gives a good defense of the sons of God being human beings in The Old Testament Documents: Are ...
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Interesting to observe the first person to enter paradise after Christ’s death was this man, a criminal. This must say something that God wanted front-and-center in how we see the results of his death.
Going for the short answer I would say the following was not essential for salvation: being baptized, observing the Lord’s supper, going to church, ...
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Notice the context of this phrase in Matthew 3:
But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto ...
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No. Yes, mustard seeds are small, but that isn't their only important property. Jesus doesn't say "If you had faith like a tiny grain of sand", or "The kingdom of heaven is like something really small". He uses the image of a tiny speck of dust, a "mote" when describing something really tiny in another passage, so it isn't like the mustard seed is the only ...
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Gabriel seems to be the same person who visited Daniel to explain the meaning of his visions. Since those visions were very troubling, Gabriel's message was welcome and an answer to prayer.
Gabriel also visited Zechariah as he served at the altar of incense in the Temple. In that case, Gabriel was there to explain how and why Zechariah's wife, Elizabeth, ...
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From what I can tell nearly every commentary on these verses that I am aware of understand the verses in a positive sense and that the role of the deacon is illustrated well here. In other words one of the main responsibilities of the deacons were in charge of dispensing money to the needy, which the church collected and generally helping the poor.
The ...
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Theophilus was certainly used as a given name by people in the right era: there was a High Priest in the early first century named Theophilus and a bishop of Antioch in the late 2nd century named Theophilus. Unfortunately, neither of these Theophilus's (nor any other known Theophilus) lived during the time frame that most scholars think that Luke was ...
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Considering the context that Jesus was engaged with the Pharisees and the subject that He alone was powerful enough to remove the Devil from his kingdom, various commentators seem to conclude that this is a parable to expose the true nature and hypocrisy of religion without Christ.
Religion pretends a higher morality than the common man and tries to show it ...
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I think the exact verses you mention will directly answer the question. First the context is Jesus in his opposition to the mentality of the Pharisees as opposed to his disciples and the beatitudes which they were to emulate (Math Ch. 5). The Pharisees are characterized in the gospels of being self-righteous man-pleasers who do everything in the eyes of men ...
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An army would not go around re-building castles broken down by comrades. That army would fall. Casting out devils (for real), including healing of mind and body, is like rebuilding a castle wall that took very hard work to destroy. Jesus assumes that the Devil spends a lot of effort in possessing a soul. Sure if it was an 'easy thing' to re-posses another ...
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The vision for which Daniel gives the interpretation in Daniel 2 is about the current kingdom and kingdoms that are to follow it. From history it can be seen that the kingdoms that followed the Babylonians is a match to the symbols in the vision.
The kingdom of the toes was the Roman dynasty which consisted of two forms: the Roman Republic and the Roman ...
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Just a thought, but the husband of her cousin (Elizabeth) was Zecharias, who had just had a similar experience with the very same angel Gabriel several months earlier, and Gabriel had left him (Zecharias) mute. Gabriel's announcement to Zecharias was the birth of John.
Gabriel now appears unannounced to Mary, and indicates that her child will possess the ...
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Possibly her reaction is more along the lines of shock as she was unable to reconcile the favor implied in the greeting compared to her own humble view of herself. Therefore she tries to discern what it could mean without actually making her 'highly favored'.
For example if the President of a nation stopped buy a peasant and said hello, you shall be my ...
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Jesus' statement in Luke 23:43 is not so much about the afterlife or what's required of us to get into heaven. It's primary purpose is to depict Jesus' death as undoing the curse of Adam.
Luke presents Jesus as a new Adam.
This is beyond a doubt the purpose in Luke's placement and arrangement of Jesus’ genealogy. Unlike Matthew who places his genealogy ...
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Yeshua's had taught his disciples to not resist an evil doer.
But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also (Mt. 5:39 NKJV).
This instruction did not change though he instructed them to buy swords; in fact, as we shall see, it plays perfectly into how he demonstrates and cooperates ...
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The answer to this question requires a little B.C.E/C.E knowledge of history. As you may or may not be aware, from about 332 B.C.E to roughly 135 C.E, the Israelite world was under Greek/Roman rule. This period is historically known as the Hellenization period,where Greek/ Roman influence began to take over much of the Arabic, European,and Asia minor regions ...
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