Passage: Matthew 9:27-31. This is not the same story of healing a blind man or men in Matt. 20:29-34 (two blind men) and Mark 10:46-52 (Bartimaeus) and Luke 18:35-43 (one blind man).
This Scriptural list will edify you.
Passages: Matthew 12:9-14; Mark 3:1-6; Luke 6:6-11. Jesus healed this man on the Sabbath. Everyone saw the healing with their own eyes. The Pharisees were angry at him, however.
There is a teaching circulating through the American church, particularly in the prophetic community, that prophets (and others) can exercise the “seven spirits of God.” What about this?
Scriptures: Matthew 9:1-8; Mark 2:1-12; Luke 5:17-26. When the crowds prevented the paralyzed man and his friends to reach Jesus, they dug a hole in the roof, to lower him down to him. Jesus saw that the men had great faith.
What do those verses about being taken away and left behind really teach? The answer may shock many people who have been taught only one viewpoint. I also briefly look at Matthew’s version.
Scriptures: Matthew 15:21-28 and Mark 7:21-30. It is possible to detect faith in someone. A wise teacher will bring it out of her.
Passage Luke 13:10-17. Jesus heals this “daughter of Abraham,” proclaiming she is loosed.
Many Renewalists believe apostles do exist. But should there be restrictions? An old-fashioned Bible study to answer the question. (I have updated this post,)
A teaching on Acts 2 has been circulating among certain (restrictive) Bible interpreters, which says that only the twelve apostles received the fullness or the baptism with the Spirit at Pentecost with the gift of speaking in Spirit-inspired languages (commonly called ‘tongues’). True?
Many Renewalists say yes for prophecy. The biblical evidence favors them. Now what about prophets? (I have recently updated this post.)
Passages: Matthew 9:20-22; Mark 5:24b-34; Luke 8:42b-48. The power of God flowed from Jesus to the woman. Can we expect the same power to flow through us, as the Spirit distributes the gifts of healings (1 Cor. 12:4-11)?
This summary post covers some sample verses from Jesus’s teaching on the end times, throughout the four Gospels (excluding Matthew 24-25, Mark 13, and Luke 17 and 21, which are covered in separate posts). He simplified. End-time Bible prophecy teachers complicate.
Let’s allow the clarity of Scripture to overturn needlessly complicated and convoluted eschatological (end-times) interpretations that have dominated American Christianity for many decades. Further, is this replacement the same as the church replacing Israel? Read the post to find out. And look at the photos, too!
The Church fathers quoted here lived in the second to third centuries. They are unanimous that Matthew wrote the first Gospel, and it was authoritative for them–so it should be for us too.
Passages: Matthew 8:1-4; Mark 1:40-45; Luke 5:12-15. What can we learn from this episode and apply it to our lives today, particularly those who pray regularly for healing?
This post looks at the major Scriptures about the atonement. It also asks whether the atonement is for everyone (potentially) or for just the elect few.
The Fathers quoted here lived in the second to third centuries. They are unanimous that Mark wrote the second Gospel, and it was authoritative for them–so it should be for us too.
This post has been thoroughly revised and updated. The verses we will look at describe male elders and overseers and pastors and elderly widows. Both men and women took care of the churches. Just like the men, the elderly women functioned as pastors, elders, and overseers throughout their redeemed lives, because they were those things. Scriptures: 1 Timothy 5:2, 9-10, 3:1-7, 11-13, 5:17; Titus 1:5-9; 2:3-5; 1 Peter 2:25, 5:1-5.
Matthew 5:28 has been misused over and over again. What does it mean in its textual and OT contexts? Update: radio host Dennis Prager says that in Judaism a man can watch a little porn because the Torah does not forbid it. Judaism is about behavior, not inner thoughts. (The debaters do not understand Greek.)
The Fathers quoted here lived in the second to third centuries. They are unanimous that Luke wrote the third Gospel, and it was authoritative for them–so it should be for us too.
It’s frustrating to look at old family photos, say a hundred years old, and not know who the people were. They were important enough to be included in the old shoe box filled with known photos, but their names and relationships have been lost to us.
Passages: Matthew 8:14-15; Mark 1:30-31; Luke 4:38-39. We also look at Matthew 816-17, which says that the Messiah fulfills Isaiah 53:4, which further clarifies that he took our diseases and carried our sicknesses.
I have added a Greek text + my slightly revised translation, and I answer the odd interpretation of Luke 1:35. Now, in my mind there is no doubt about the answer. Updated once again: more Scriptures!
The Fathers quoted here lived in the second to third centuries. They are unanimous that John wrote the fourth Gospel, and it was authoritative for them–so it should be for us too.
The moment you are saved, Christ becomes your sanctification. Now he works it out in you in slow, steady progress until the day you die and live again in heaven and then the new earth with your new body, when your sanctification will be completed.
Here begins a multipart series on every instance of healing and deliverance in the four Gospel and Acts, posted each Wednesday, for the rest of 2023.
In this post, Scriptures: Mark 1:21-28 and Luke 4:31-37. Let’s see how Jesus expelled the demons.
Yes, healing is “in” the atonement, like every biblical benefit. So why not 100% healing right now? The goal here is not to put doubt in the reader, but to explain to people why their prayers were not answered and their beloved family member died. (I updated this post yet again, revealing that God has improved one of my conditions.)
These are the “big ten” reasons that go a long way to explain why Christianity is still the fastest growing religion in the world and why it gains converts from the other religions.
What does it mean to be a disciple? You better count the cost before becoming one!
Included in this post are the link to his video testimony, the transcript of the video, and my embedded comments.
You must be born again. But what does that mean? Does anything result from rebirth? Or do we just stay the same?
These chapters are on Jesus’s discourse about the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple (AD 70) and then the Second Coming, which has not happened yet, 2000 years later (and counting). Looking at the chapters side by side clarifies what he really taught.
What does baptize literally mean? Can infants be baptized, biblically speaking? What about adults being baptized twice? Questions like these are answered point by point.
We cannot answer all the questions in this overview, but we can exegete the Lord’s Supper in its original context in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. This post also looks very briefly at 1 Corinthians 10:16-17 and 11:23-34. Then, what do various churches teach about the Lord’s Supper (or Communion or Eucharist)? I am here to learn. I updated this post with information that startled me. I also learned something new from Exodus 12:14.
In its simplicity, it is “communication with God.” But what do the Scriptures say about it more fully? This post offers a thorough biblical teaching, with many references, on prayer generally.
An old fashioned Bible study is offered here, countering a desperate misinterpretation from mega-church guys and TV ministries.
God’s New Covenant plan is much better than an obsolete, national, theocratic tax designed to support an obsolete, national, religious system. God has a better way for the New Covenant church.
The only reason this verse has become controversial and complicated is because Complementarians (those who restrict women from full participation in ministry) have made it controversial and complicated. But Romans 16:7 is straightforward and clear and easily translated. (I updated this post.)
These names and titles and activities and metaphors reveal his character and outreach towards needy humans. Many tables and Scripture references are included.
Some Renewalists of the Word of Faith variety say your redeemed spirit is perfect, but not your redeemed soul. True?
This topic is really unpopular in the “wilder grace” and “freer grace” Renewal circles. But becoming like Christ is scriptural. Unavoidable. Necessary. And a blessing.
I updated this post yet again. Who were the “sons of God” mentioned in Genesis? This post also covers the “sons of the Most High” in Psalm 82 and the “sons of God” in Job 1-2 and other verses. Earlier update: This post also looks into the phrase “because of the angels” in 1 Cor. 11:10.
We all need to participate. But how exactly?
What are the Scriptures that reveal them? How are they relevant to my life today? Or have they ceased?
These are more commonly known as ‘tongues.’ Here some of the biblical basics.
It is important to distinguish law from the gospel. If we don’t, we’ll get confused about how to walk the walk.
Are we body and soul? Or are we body, soul, and spirit? It’s not as clear-cut as most Renewalists believe.
Let’s use the Q&A format for ease of understanding this major theme of New Testament, particularly the synoptic Gospels.
“All sins are the same! Sin is sin!” I have heard this confusion even from pastors. So how can we blame the laity if they get it wrong?
Some key points backed up by lots of Scripture.
An old-fashioned Bible study here. There is a lot of confusion in certain quarters of the global Renewal Movement about what revivals involve. How can we clear up the confusion? What did Paul really teach in 1 Corinthians 14? Are we willing to obey his teaching or just run roughshod over it?
This short post should help define the term. A simple five-step explanation of the Kingdom is included, as well.
What do their names mean? Why do the lists of the twelve in the New Testament have a slight variation? Can it be resolved?
A brief history of a controversy over the Bible in America, since the 1970s. I offer my view of Scripture, at the end.
Hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, wildfires, earthquakes and tsunamis—natural disasters slam humankind every year. Did God do that? What does the Bible say? Two different covenants make all the difference—a progressive revelation.
I used to teach world religions for a number of years. I learned that even though many people never got the chance to hear the gospel, they still lived impressively moral lives. What happens to them at judgment?
Grace means God’s unmerited, unearned favor. But once you have experienced it, you must show it.
You did something you regret. You said something that you want to take back. Good news! You’re a prime candidate for God the Redeemer to deliver you out of your troubles and buy you out of your self-inflicted prison.
Christ fulfilled or paid off your debt to the Law. It’s paid in full. He accomplishes this by fulfilling the holiness demand in the law and the fullest revelation of God’s character.
When the Old and New Testaments are interpreted carefully and rightly, using Scripture to interpret Scripture, this truth will emerge: Jesus Christ fulfills the old law, in many, many areas.
Sometimes the church can be self-righteous and condemn a sinner in the name of holiness, ignoring mercy. Or it can be permissive in the name of mercy, ignoring holiness.
Does the verse allow violence to be done to Christians, without self-defense?
In the current confusion in society, we need clarity. The Bible still has wisdom to teach us, if we listen.
Don’t try this at home or elsewhere, unless called of God to take down systems!
In the book of Acts, they dropped dead. Why? To understand what happened, it is important to keep the Old Sinai Covenant and the New Covenant separate.
This is important for our walk with God. Don’t get them confused!
Does the Old Testament demand literal retaliation for a wrong? Should an eye or a tooth be gouged or knocked out—physically? What about the teaching of Jesus? Does he raise our vision to a higher calling? How do we forgive a tort or a physical injury? How do we get compensated for damages?
Let’s learn about these key Christological points together, in the Q & A format.
Let’s place his two natures side-by-side with verses from Scripture to see who he really is.
This topic is about Jesus Christ in his full personhood. Let’s use the Question and Answer format for clarity and conciseness.
This post answers a series of tough questions about this vital and indispensable doctrine.
Good question, and the answer is clear, based on one biblical truth. Other questions are included here, as well.
From the Council of Chalcedon (AD 451). English, Greek, and Latin are included; the post discusses how the definition opposes three deficient teachings about Christ and answers the objection that the fifth-century church just made it all up.
Two natures (deity and humanity) are united in one person—the person of Jesus Christ. Let’s use the Q & A format, for clarity and conciseness.
Welcome to the website! (A post office box is at the end of this post, if you wish to contribute to this teaching ministry)
Are some theories about it better than others?
Many claim that the birth narratives in the Gospels–here the third Gospel–were merely reshaped copies of Greco-Roman myths. True?
Some scholars say they are irreconcilable, while others say reconciling them is not so difficult. I favor plausible harmonization. It’s all in the family. Bonus: see the American family “the Roosevelts” in a chart for parallels.
This is an easy-to-follow word study in Hebrew and Greek, with all the words transliterated into English. And then redemption and ransom are applied to our lives today.
Updated: Here are twenty-nine objections in a list that Complementarians raise. Replies are given to each one. Many important verses are discussed here, like Genesis 1-3, Galatians 2:28, Ephesians 5:22-24, 1 Timothy 2:11-15, 1 Peter 3:1-7, 1 Corinthians 7, 11:2-16, and Acts 6:5.
In this context, ‘divine, hard determinism’ means the people had no choice but to believe and be saved. God ‘appointed’ them to eternal life.
These verses on healing and deliverance are foundational for the entire Old Testament and for the entire Bible.
In Genesis healing is about fertility. It is God’s promise to those who live by his commands. It is his blessing. And this first book of the Bible teaches us that God can answer prayers for fertility, to remove the sadness of infertility.
American Bible teachers appear confused about biblical interpretation between the Old Testament (OT) and the New Testament (NT). Some claim, for example, that David will share the throne with his superior descendant, Jesus. A third temple will be built, and animal sacrifices will be reinstituted. Christians must keep the Sabbath by command today. What about replacement theology? So confusing!
How do biblical covenants bear on that extremely important question today? Does the New Covenant cancel the Abrahamic covenants? What does the remnant mean in the Bible?
What is it? Do they happen today? Can you experience one?
This post is an old-fashioned Bible study, offering a clear understanding of the church.
Yes, the first-person pronoun “I” is in that old biblical songbook (Psalms), but so is “God” without “me.” But when do we take “me” too far?
It is the key to the Christian life. What does the Bible say?
What should worship look like, biblically, in a church service? What are its component parts? Is the church today imbalanced by omitting some things? Included here is a teaching about prayer and intercession, based on the Lord’s Prayer.
Everybody seems to use the term. I’ve seen it in movie reviews. “The scene was ‘deconstructed’ nicely.” But what does it really mean?
This is so important to God. It should be to us too.
Liberalism, generally, favors a bigger government and higher taxes to pay for it, while conservatives advocate moving in the opposite direction: limited government and low taxes. What does the Bible say about this?
In a world filled with despair, we need this gift of God more than ever.
We live in a society that degrades humankind with cursing people, promiscuously sharing our bodies with various partners, doing drugs, and other dehumanizing things. God calls us to something higher.
Renewalists believe that Satan is real and attacks people, but in Christ they can have victory over the evil spirit being.
Renewalists have a robust and biblical pneumatology (doctrine of the Spirit). The church is a living organism, and the Spirit is guiding it. But the church is made up of individual believers. The Spirit works in them too.
Is America experiencing inevitable decline? A nervous breakdown?
Critics of the Bible forget that it also advocates liberty. It’s the Grand Arc of the Biblical Narrative, from Genesis to Revelation. Let’s see if we can discover universal truths from these historical, culture-bound slave laws.
Do you remember when you messed up? When you got drunk and went too far? What about the flirtation that went too far? What about saying stupid stuff at the job or Thanksgiving? When you lost your temper? What about your bad behavior generally? What about that abortion? Shoplifting?
This study looks at this attribute of God from a personal point of view. It is relevant to your life.
Start with this post, if you want the Bible basics. It will boil things down and clarify them. Key Hebrew and Greek words, too.
Prepare to get your hands dirty. This post attempts to dig up the roots of wild and crazy public policies.
All the verses are here. This post is good for your personal edification or for pastors and teachers who wish to build a Bible study or sermon series.
All the verses are here. They are great for your personal edification or for pastors and teachers who wish to build a Bible study or sermon series.
It’s about God’s love and favor, not yours for him. Great for a series of sermons or Bible studies or your personal edification.
Here are the verses where the words love and grace in their various forms appear in the biblical prophets. Great for a series of sermons and Bible studies or your personal edification.
This is for your Bible study and sermon series and personal edification. All the words for love and grace in these three books of the biblical Wisdom literature are found here. Great for your personal edification or a series in a Bible study or sermons.
Even though these verses have an ancient historical context, they are spoken to you today. Such verses are timeless and universal in that way, if we interpret them properly. Great for a sermon or Bible study series or your personal edification.
This chapter is full of information about church leaders. I look more carefully at the women leaders than the men, though everyone gets a comment.
The Torah is the first five books of the Bible. Yes, God’s love and grace can be found in this section of Scripture. It is not always and only wrath and judgment. Great for your personal edification or a series in a Bible study or sermons.
Yes, women really did function in Christ’s five gifts to his church, his temple, to build it up: apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastors-teachers. Check out the evidence. (I updated this post.)
How restrictive are those verses in the title? Does the Greco-Roman household offer any guidance for reading them? What about other verses in the NT?
How can we proclaim it if we don’t know what it is? After a basic definition offered just below, the gospel also has multiple parts to it. Let’s see what they are. (I recently updated this post.)
Yes, prophets of a certain sort rightly exist today, biblically speaking. However, errors are committed in many churches today, usually by “youtube” and “facebook” prophets. They are unscripturally concentrating too much authority in themselves. A closer reading of the New Testament, however, restricts them, their authority, and their ministry.
One older commentator says the prohibition in those verses seems “absolute.” Yet how do we properly read them?
May she be welcomed into heaven because she put her faith in Christ! 1926-2022. Historians of the monarchs of Europe always include several genealogical tables. Here are some of them for your convenience. Further, each monarch massively influenced influenced the Western European church, and the church influenced them. Continue reading
Certain interpreters of those verses in the title have restricted women’s full participation in the teaching ministry. But are these restrictions truly biblical? Let’s take a deeper look at the verses in the title.
This is the final chapter of the book of Acts, but not of the acts of God, which go on to this day. Paul gets bitten by a poisonous snake, shakes it off, is unharmed, and then God works healing through his hands. They finally reach Rome, where Paul is at liberty to preach the kingdom of God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
This article is the conclusion to the series on postmodernism and the Bible. A good summary of the entire series.
The words “the truth” will shock postmodernists and deconstructionists. Good. But it asks: How do we study and interpret the Bible? How do we find truth which really is out there, around us? This post is a simple reply to claims of unsolvable ambiguities in the Bible.
Paul, Luke, and Aristarchus go through a storm and shipwreck. An angel stands before Paul and promised everyone safety. When they followed his directions, they safely reach an island.
It is now time to counter the extreme views spelled out in Part Five. Who was Jesus, really?
Paul delivers a speech before Agrippa and Festus, in Caesarea. Paul recounts his testimony on the road to Damascus. Festus reacts and calls him crazy. Does Paul want to convert him? Agrippa and Festus conclude that Paul is innocent, but he had appealed to Caesar, so the trials go on.
Paul defends himself before Festus, King Agrippa II, and his sister Bernice against the accusations of the Jerusalem establishment, who stood around Paul. He was calm and forceful in his defense. He appealed to “lord” Caesar.
Deconstruction overturns privileged hierarchy and meaning. Defenders promise us that they do not practice Anything Goes in their deconstruction of texts. Do they keep their promise? How do we verify it? Click on this link only if you have courage.
Paul defends himself before Felix at Caesarea. He is kept in custody, discussing with Felix, righteousness, self-control, and judgment to come. Felix is succeeded by Porcius Festus.
Paul appears before the Jewish High Council, a Roman commander rescues him, Jesus personally appears before Paul, a plot by assassins is foiled, and he is taken to Caesarea, where he had landed earlier.
Do you want to know what deconstruction really is? Read about it from its practitioners.
Paul delivers his defense (apologia) to the crowds who were demonstrating against him. It is a masterpiece.
This chapter has all sorts of prophetic words about Paul going up to Jerusalem. He arrives there. The chapter also sees James, the (half-)brother of Jesus, tell Paul to go along with a vow to be a good witness to the law-keeping converts to the Jesus Movement, which he did. A riot promptly beaks out when he is spotted in the temple. In v. 16, Paul’s third missionary journey comes to an end, and his journey to Rome via Jerusalem begins in v. 17.
Postmodernism has produced all sorts of confusing interpretations of Scripture. For the postmodernist, Scripture has turned into a pot of stew.
Paul is on his way to Jerusalem. But first he forms a team, sees a boy named Eutychus survive a fall, and delivers his very moving farewell to the Ephesian elders. This chapter also begins Paul’s journey to Jerusalem (20:16 to 21:17). Please see the timeline table that harmonize Acts 18-25 and Paul’s epistles
Paul is in Ephesus and prays for twelve disciples who need the fullness of the Spirit, seven Jewish exorcists get pummeled, a demonstration erupts because of the goddess Artemis and Paul’s monotheism and the gospel. The fifth “panel” is in this chapter. Also see the ministry timeline set in a convenient table.
Does postmodernism spring out of the head of Zeus unconceived or misconceived? Or does it carry a heavy debt on its back to earlier movements and trends?
This is an easy-to-follow word study of key terms in the New Testament and a close look at Matthew 7:1-5. Let’s understand what it really means in context.
Paul finishes up his second missionary journey in v. 22 and begins his third in v. 23. In this chapter, his ministry in Corinth and Ephesus takes center stage. Priscilla and Aquila make their appearance, so does the powerfully effective speaker Apollos, who received more theology about God and the fulness of the Spirit.
Paul is still on his second missionary journey, along with his team, minus Luke, who will rejoin them in Troas (20:5). The Bereans were nobler than the Thessalonians because the Berans searched the Scriptures. Paul preaches his famous discourse to the Areopagus council.
So begins an eight-past series. In the late 1980s or early 1990s, a pastor reported this conversation (as I recall it) between him and a woman from his large congregation. She apparently wanted him to approve of something.
Paul begins his second missionary trip, with Silas. The Spirit leads Paul and Silas not to go into two big regions but to go to Macedonia; the salvation of Lydia and her household; the deliverance of an oppressed girl; a beating, Paul and Silas singing and praying in prison; an earthquake; and a jailer’s and his household’s salvation. Timothy and Luke join Paul’s team.
The council in Jerusalem decided on how Gentiles could be saved. They held to four requirements, which were designed for peaceful fellowship between Messianic Jews and converted Gentiles. Paul and Barnabas split up. After this, Paul and Silas begin Paul’s second missionary trip, all the way to Acts 18:22. And Barnabas and Mark make a second team. Included: Timeline table of Paul’s journey coordinated with his epistles.
Scripture: Deuteronomy 22:28-29 and Exodus 22:16-17. Is the titled question true? Or are there circumstances that clarify what was really going on? A parallel case in colonial Philadelphia is also included here.
This chapter ends Paul’s and Barnabas’s first missionary journey, but not before Paul gets stoned and taken for dead. This chapter includes preaching, a healing miracle, and other signs and wonders. He tailors his message for towards pagans for the first time; then he is challenged by opponents.
This chapter is clearly transitional. In their first missionary journey, Barnabas and Saul go beyond Israel and Antioch and head westward. It includes worshipping and praying and personal prophetic words and spiritual warfare. It has Paul’s first recorded sermon, a masterpiece. This is Paul’s and Barnabas’s first missionary journey (to 14:28). Table: Paul’s travels which is coordinated with a timeline.
Scripture: Deut. 21:10-14. War was a fact of life in the ancient Near East. When a soldier whose army was victorious saw a woman he was attracted to, what could he do? The Torah regulates this cultural fact.
James, son of Zebedee, is executed; Peter escapes miraculously from jail; Rhoda’s exuberance, and Herod Agrippa’s sudden death.
Peter explains his eating with Gentiles, Agabus and his team of prophets appear and predict a worldwide famine, and the disciples are first called Christians in Antioch, and Barnabas and Saul are commissioned to bring relief to Jerusalem Christians.
Despite the confusion circulating over the web for years, the Bible unambiguously upholds the sanctity of prenatal life.
Scriptures: Lev. 25:44-46 and Deut. 23:15-16 (and Exod. 21:16, again, with its parallel Deut. 24:7). As we have observed in this series, slavery was a cultural fact of the ancient Near East. When an Israelite bought a foreign slave or a foreigner residing among them, what were his obligations to care for them and what rights did the slaves have? This post also has two parallel cases in colonial Virginia.
Dr. Jim's Essential Bible Teaching 