Can people change? Really change? Aristotle thought so. And here’s how he thought change can happen: “it is by doing just acts that the just man is produced, and by doing temperate acts the temperate man.” If you want to change, well then, perform righteous acts and you will become righteous. It’s ancient wisdom. But […]
It’s probably Paul’s quotation of Isaiah 64 that has become the best known version of this phrase: “As it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man…” (1 Corinthians 2:9) Such words can be the equivalent of the magician’s puff of smoke. When a bible teacher […]
No-one likes the phrase “laying down the law.” But that’s what the unseen LORD does on mount Sinai. God the Son has brought the people to God the Father and now they learn the law of the LORD. The order is important. They’re not told in Egypt “If you obey my commands I will redeem […]
Moses and Aaron deliver the LORD’s message: Let my people go. But Pharaoh is singularly unimpressed. “Who is the LORD?” (Exodus 5:2) “I’ve heard of Ra, Amun, Osiris, Isis, Seth, Nephthys, these gods I know. Who is this LORD??” Pharaoh has no time for weak men preaching a weak message about an unknown God. Baffled […]
In popular usage the phrase “fig leaf” refers to a hasty and inadequate cover-up for something shameful. And that’s precisely how fig leaves function in Genesis 3. An hour earlier, Adam and Eve were walking around paradise as king and queen. They were naked and unashamed. But the minute they eat the forbidden fruit, sin […]
