26 Then Paul took the men, and the next day purifying himself with them entered into the temple, to signify the accomplishment of the days of purification, until that an offering should be offered for every one of them.
27 And when the seven days were almost ended, the Jews which were of Asia, when they saw him in the temple, stirred up all the people, and laid hands on him,
Continue reading SCRIPUTRES OF THE DAY (ACTS 21:26-36)
Paul (or Saul, as he was also known) was a zealot, a staunch defender of the Jewish faith. He was especially zealous about exposing and punishing offshoots of Judaism that threatened to obscure its message.
He targeted the disciple of a rabbi named Jesus of Nazareth who were attempting to keep his message alive even after the rabbi himself had been crucified. They spread stories about seeing him risen form the dead. They claimed he was the Son of God and the way to everlasting life.
Continue reading MEN OF THE BIBLE (PAUL “THE UNLIKELIEST DISCIPLE”)
It’s impossible to think of Priscilla apart from her husband, Aquila. In six New Testament mentions, they are always named together. And while we don’t have a lot of information about them, some “forensic Bible study” uncovers one of the more fascinating and inspiring couples in Scripture
Continue reading WOMEN OF THE BIBLE (PRISCILLA “A MARRIAGE WITH A MISSIOIN”)
Physical or material image or form representing a reality or being considered divine and thus an object of worship. In the Bible various terms are used to refer to idols or idolatry: “image,” either graven (carved) or cast, “statue,” “abomination.” Both Testaments condemn idols, but with idols the OT expresses more concern than the NT, probably reflecting the fact that the threat of idolatry was more pronounced for the people of the OT.
Continue reading DEFINITON OF THE DAY (IDOL)
General term for religions marked by rites that reenact a myth accounting for the orderly change of the seasons and the earth’s fruitfulness. Such myths often involve a great mother-goddess as a symbol of fertility and a male deity, usually her consort but sometimes a son, who like vegetation dies and returns to life again. In Mesopotamia the divine couple was Ishtar and Tammuz (who is mourned in Ezek 8:14); in Egypt, Isis and her sons Osiris: in Asia Minor, Cybele and Attis. In Syria the Ugaritic myths of the second millennium B.C. pictured Baal-Hadad, the storm god, as the dying and rising god. (A local manifestation of this god is mourned in Zech
Continue reading DEFINITION OF THE DAY (FERTILITY CULT PT1)
1 Timothy 2:11 – Women are not to teach men in the church but are to submit and defer to male leadership (read 12, 13, 14).
1 Timothy 2:12 – I DO NOT PERMIT. Paul sell-consciously writes with the authoriy of an apostle (1 Thess 4:1; 2 Thess 3:6), rather than simply offering an opinion. This statement is given in the context of Paul’s apostolic instructions to the church for the ordering of church practice when the church is assembled together. In that context, two things are prohibited: (1) Women are not
Continue reading UNDERSTANDING WHY WOMEN SHOULD BE SILENT IN THE MEETING PLACE. BREAKING DOWN 1 TIMOTHY 2:11
Ancient city at the modern site of Izmir, Turkey. Smyrna surrounded a well-protected harbor on the Aegean Coast at the outlet of the Hermus River. The city lay at the foot of Mount Pagus and is located about 35 miles north of Ephesus. Extensive trade to and from Asia passed through the city. During the first century A.D. Smyrna reigned as one of the grandest cities of all Asia. Strabo (64 B.C- A.D. 20s), the Greek geographer, called Smyrna “the most beautiful city of all” cities along this coast. A large temple there, dedicated to Emperor Tiberius, boasted Smyrna’s close alliance with the Empire. Continue reading DEFINITION OF THE DAY “SMYRNA”