Thoughts on the Bible and Life
Genesis 1 contains many challenging ideas but verses 6-8 pose a special challenge. 6 And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” 7 So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. 8 God called the vault “sky.” … Read more
John Calvin (1509-1564) was one of the most prolific and influential Bible interpreters in Christian history. He wrote a commentary on almost every book of the Bible and he systematized his understanding of the Bible in his magnum opus, Institutes of the Christian Religion. I was interested in what Calvin had to say about two … Read more
Genesis 18 contains an intriguing mystery. Before we examine it let’s look at the chapter’s plot line. The chapter begins with three men visiting Abraham and predicting that Sarah will have a son in one year’s time. The men and Abraham then walk toward Sodom and the Lord shares his plan with Abraham: he will … Read more
There’s a lot of ways to summarize the Old Testament. Here’s one of my OT summaries: Divine Creation (Gen. 1-2) Human Rebellion (Gen. 3-11) Divine Judgment/Curse (Gen. 3-11) The Universal Blessing Begins: God’s Promise to Abraham (Gen. 12-25) The Universal Blessing Continues: The Story of Abraham’s Descendants (rest of OT) a. Israel’s Slavery, Freedom, and … Read more
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1). I’ve always read that as a summary statement for the rest of Genesis 1. In that way, the book of Genesis opens with a concise statement of what God did in the beginning and then proceeds to fill in the details with the … Read more