Monthly Archives: December 2021

Daily Bible Study

December 22, 2021 Bible Study — Repay Evil With Blessing

Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Peter 1-5.

Peter begins his letter by reminding us that God has chosen to give us an inheritance in His estate which will last in value for eternity.  This separates it from anything on this earth, because everything on this earth will eventually become of no value.  We may suffer now, in fact Peter writes that we probably will, but that which God has given us cannot be taken from us by those who persecute us.  So, because we have such an inheritance we should be holy, just as Jesus is holy.  Peter does not just tell us to be holy, he tells us what he means when he says that.  He writes that we should rid ourselves of malice and deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander.  We should respond to evil with evil, or insult with insult.  Instead we should strive to bring a blessing on those who do evil to us, and build up those who insult us.  Peter writes that suffering will come upon us, let us live so that the suffering results from the good we have done, rather than from wickedness which deserves to suffer.  Let us love one another and offer hospitality to those around us.  If we suffer for being a Christian, let us praise God that we are counted worthy to share Christ’s suffering.  If we prosper in this world let us seek out how we can serve others as a result.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

December 21, 2021 Bible Study — Ask God For Wisdom And You Will Receive It

Today, I am reading and commenting on  James 1-5.

James begins his letter by writing that if anyone lacks wisdom they should ask God for it, and God will give it to them generously.  However, when we ask we must believe and not doubt.  Later in today’s passage James writes that fights and arguments among believers occur because we desire and do not have.  He goes on to tell us that we do not have because we do not ask.  Finally, James writes that even when we ask we do not receive because we ask in order to please ourselves rather than in order to please God.  James makes it clear that we should allow godly wisdom to guide us in asking God to give us things.  At the beginning of the letter, he tells us that we should ask God for wisdom, following that up by telling us that God gives generously to all.  Then later James writes about distinguishing between true wisdom, the wisdom of God, and the wisdom of this world.  The latter contains envy and selfish ambition.  The wisdom of this world is about promoting oneself either to fame or to wealth (or to both).  On the other hand, true wisdom leads one to humbly do good deeds peaceably, with purity, and impartiality.  So, James tells us to request wisdom from God, and then to pray for whatever that wisdom leads us to desire.  If we have faith that God will answer our prayers offered with His wisdom, He will grant us our requests.  And how do we know that we have the faith needed to obtain that which we desire?  Because we act on the basis of that faith.  Or as I have written from time to time about Jesus’ statement that if we have faith no larger than a mustard seed if we tell a mountain to move into the sea it will move.  If we genuinely have faith that what God desires will come about by a mountain moving into the sea, we will pray for it to move and then grab a shovel and start moving it.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

December 20, 2021 Bible Study — Get Rid Of Sin, And Everything Else Which Hinders Us From Doing Good

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Hebrews 12-13.

Having given examples of the many people who have lived by faith in yesterday’s passage, the writer tells us that such people are witnesses to what we do today (or perhaps they are witnesses to what we should do today).  Therefore we should get rid of sin which entangles us, and everything which hinders us from doing the good to which our faith should inspire us.  The writer enjoins us to keep our eyes on and imitate Jesus, who suffered dying on the cross in order to gain the joy which comes from being faithful.  He goes on to encourage us to be willing to bleed, and even die, in our struggle against sinning.  Let us view any hardship which we endure as discipline from God designed to train us to be more like Him.  But the writer does not limit himself to telling us to endure the suffering and hardship which comes from throwing off sin.  He goes on to lay out some of the good which we should do in replacement for that sin which we should no longer do.  We should love one another and be hospitable to everyone, perhaps especially to strangers.  Let us offer up to God a sacrifice of praise and of sharing with others.  And once again we have the command to pray, which challenges me every time I see it mentioned.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

December 19, 2021 Bible Study — Faith Leads To Action

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Hebrews 10-11.

The writer continues to expound on his theme about how we may enter into the presence of God because Jesus has offered Himself as a sacrifice for our sins once for all time.  He then goes on to speak about how we are saved by faith.  The similarity to the way in which Paul writes on the same subject is striking.  And yet this writer is different enough in his word choices for it to be clear that he is not Paul.  The writer makes it clear that we are saved by putting out faith in God, but he also gives examples of the accomplishments to which our faith should lead us.  The writer lists many great heroes of the Bible whose accomplishments resulted from their faith.  He includes in that list those whose faith led them to suffer great pain and even death.   I want to end my thoughts today with this writer’s definition of faith: “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

December 18, 2021 Bible Study — Jesus, A High Priest After The Order Of Melchizedek

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Hebrews 6-9.

I find this passage hard to write about because I feel that the writer has done such a good job of putting together the complex argument he is making that I am not sure how to highlight the key points which he makes.  The writer tells us that Jesus is our high priest, but He is not a priest of the Law of Moses.  Those priests were commissioned to serve in the earthly Tabernacle and Temple, which were but copies of the heavenly, eternal place of worship.  Further, those priests only served until their death.  Jesus, on the other hand, serves as high priest in the heavenly Tabernacle and in the direct presence of God.  Jesus also lives forever so there will never be a time when He is no longer high priest.  Jesus will be able to intercede between God and man for eternity.  The writer discusses how in the copy of the Tabernacle which existed on earth there was a veil between the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place, a veil which was torn when Jesus died on the cross.  That veil is no longer necessary because Jesus offered Himself as a sacrifice for our sins and now we can enter directly into God’s presence where Jesus will intercede for us.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

December 17, 2021 Bible Study — Wrapping Our Heads Around God’s Infinite Love

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Hebrews 1-5.

I find the Book of Hebrews challenging because the writer chose to cover some rather advanced theology in his letter.  While Paul covers similarly advanced theology in some of his letters, we have more letters by Paul from which to learn to understand the way he words things.  The writer begins by pointing out that Jesus was distinct from the angels.  Jesus was not a special kind of angel, He was, and is, something completely different.  Angels are spirits sent by God to minister to and to serve those whom He has save by His grace.  The writer goes on from there to answer the question, “If Jesus is not an angel, what is He?”  Jesus became fully human. So, He was human, but He is also God.  More than any other writer in the Bible the writer of Hebrews tackles the fact that human comprehension cannot fully explain God.  We must be left with using metaphors and similes about God which we know do not fully explain any aspect of Him.  When the writer tells us that we need to work on consuming solid spiritual food rather than continuing to subsist on spiritual milk he is alluding to the fact that we must move beyond simple metaphors for God, that we must wrestle with explaining Him in better ways than that.  We may not succeed, but we should strive to wrap our heads around the infinite greatness which is God and His love.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

December 16, 2021 Bible Study — Live So That Those Who Oppose Us Have Nothing Bad To Say About Us

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Titus and Philemon

Paul writes to Titus that to the pure all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted nothing is pure.  Paul goes on to write that Titus should show integrity, seriousness, and speech which cannot be condemned.  Then a little further on he instructs Titus to teach people to slander no one, and to be peaceful and considerate of others.  Paul writes that Believers should be self-controlled and live upright, godly lives.  We should strive to live our lives so that those who oppose the Gospel have nothing bad to say about us.  Paul writes that we should live that way in imitation of God who saved us.  All in all, Paul calls on us to do good because God has saved us and given us His Spirit and to never think that God saved us because we do good.  We should do good because God has saved us and never think that we can be saved by doing good.  Usually I would separate out what I write about Paul’s letter to Philemon, but today I want to connect it to what I just wrote about Paul’s letter to Titus.  Paul writes this letter to Philemon telling him to be kind to his runaway slave whom Paul has sent back to him.  Paul makes the case that Onesimus (which may not have been his name previously) will be useful to Philemon now because he has learned to serve God and will serve Philemon as part of his service to God.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

December 15, 2021 Bible Study — God Gives Us Spirit of Power, Love, And Self-Discipline

Today, I am reading and commenting on  2 Timothy 1-4.

There is a lot in today’s passage which I want to write about.  I am not sure I will be able to fit it all together.  Paul writes that God has given us a Spirit which does not make us timid.  Rather, it gives us power, love, and self-discipline.  Paul then says something which expands on that.  Because of the Spirit which God has given us we know the God whom we have believed and can be confident that He will guard that which we have entrusted to Him.  And because we know those things we should embrace the self-discipline to which His Spirit leads us.  The self-discipline, power, and love God’s Spirit gives us are intertwined. The love compels us to have self-discipline and the power both allows us to have that self-discipline and is only fully expressed when we exercise that self-discipline.  Paul goes on to write that love and self-discipline should keep us from godless chatter and stupid, foolish arguments.  So, while God’s Spirit does not make us timid, it also does not make us quarrelsome.  Let us be kind to everyone and neither resentful of others, nor stirring up resentment within them.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

December 14, 2021 Bible Study — Do Not Be Fooled By Those Who Claim Knowledge Which Shows The Gospel Is False

Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Timothy 5-6.

Paul instructs Timothy to treat everyone with appropriate respect, those older than himself as his mother or father, those his age or younger as brothers and sisters.  We should take this advice to heart and treat our fellow believers with similar respect.  I wanted to start off with that just as this passage does.  However, the main thing which struck me is Paul'[s final instruction to Timothy in this letter.  Paul finishes his instruction to Timothy by telling him to turn away from godless chatter and from ideas which some falsely call knowledge.  From this we see that even in the early Church there were those who styled themselves intellectuals who sought to deny the Gospel in the name of “{knowledge”, or “science”.  There will always be those who are sure that they know something which proves some aspect of what has always been taught as part of the Gospel is not so.  We should not get caught up in debating what such “{knowledge” says about our faith, instead trust that God has made His will made known and that those who went before us in faith were not fooled by man-made stories.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

December 13, 2021 Bible Study — We Should All Aspire To Meet The Qualifications Paul Lays Out For Church Leaders

Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Timothy 1-4.

One thing that has often taken my attention, and that of many other commentators, is what Paul means when he tells Timothy to command certain people to not devote themselves to “myths and endless genealogies.”  I have seen several different interpretations of what sort of genealogies Paul meant.  However, today it struck me that it does not matter, because in his next sentence Paul tells us what the problem with them was.  They promoted controversial speculations which distracted from advancing God’s work.  So, any debate which does not promote the love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith should be avoided.  If we look for a reading of Scripture, for a loophole, to find how what we want to do does not violate God'[s law, we have missed the point.  If we do not see how what we want to do advances God’s work, we should do something else.

Paul goes on to give instructions for how we should behave and the qualifications for Church leaders.  He gives somewhat different instructions for men and women and we can debate whether what he writes means that Church leadership roles should only be filled by men.  However, I want to note that ALL of the things he describes can apply to all Believers.  Paul starts this section by requesting that we pray for, intercede for, petition God for, and offer thanksgiving to God for all people, but especially for those in positions of government authority.  Then he writes that men should pray and women should dress modestly, but really both men and women should pray and dress modestly.  We should adorn ourselves with good deeds rather than with fancy hairstyles, attention grabbing jewelry, or high fashion clothes.  Paul goes on to describe the attributes we should look for in elders (overseers as translated here) and deacons in the Church.  Even in the context it is clear that all of the qualifications he gives are so that those holding these positions of authority in the Church can be held up as examples for other Believers, especially new Believers, to follow.  We should be faithful to our spouse, self-controlled, respectable, and hospitable. We should be gentle rather than violent or quarrelsome.  We should not be lovers of money nor drink to excess.  We should strive to be worthy of respect and not talk maliciously about others.  Even the one qualification for the position of Church elder which not everyone should have is one at which we should all seek.  That one is the ability to teach.  We may not all be called upon to teach, but we should seek to be able to do so in case the occasion arises where we need to do so.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.