Lee Harmon's Blog, page 50

Luke 16:19-26, Was Lazarus In Hell?

Read carefully the following parable:

“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day.At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with soresand longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.”

“The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried.In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus...

Luke 2:7, No Room at the Inn

And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

//This verse is about the birth of Jesus, of course. The story in Luke is that Jesus had to be born in the manger, because there was no room in the inn. There was no room because a decree from Caesar required all Jews to return to the city of their lineage for a tax census. Joseph, Jesus’ father, had to go to Bethlehem because he was of the lin...

Acts 2:46, Did Christians Worship in the Temple?

Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts

//Answer to today’s question: yes. Christianity was merely an offshoot of Judaism. It essentially was Judaism with one important claim: that the Messiah had arrived.

So long as there was a Temple in Jerusalem, Christians continued to visit there. It was at least a decade after the Temple was destroyed, and many decades after Jesus died, before the rift be...

Book review: Invitation to the New Testament

by Ben Witherington III

★★★★★

This is a beautiful, full-color university text, complete with Further Reading and Study Questions at the end of each section. It’s very well written in Witherington’s usual fascinating prose, though I did uncover a few editing errors.

The book does a very good job of immersing you into the culture of the first century. Praying for daily bread was a normal prayer for most ancients. You’ll get to know the Judaizers well, whom Witherington presents as subversive compe...

Matthew 16:18, The Gates of Hell

And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

//Ever wonder about this verse? What is it saying? That the fiery armies of the underworld cannot overcome the church?

Not likely. It’s actually sort of the opposite.

The word “hell” is a translation of the Greek word Hades, which in New Testament writings replaced the Hebrew concept of Sheol, so “hell”, here, should be understood as the realm of the dead....

1 Cor 15:55, Sheol becomes Hades

O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?

//Hades is the Greek word for the underworld, named after the god of the same name. It describes a dark, dreary, misty existence after death, down under the earth. Compare the above verse to this one:

O Death, I will be your plagues!* O Sheol, I will be your destruction! –Hosea 13:14

What we see is that the Old Testament concept of Sheol, a dark void where the dead slowly faded away, has morphed under the influence of Hellenism into Hades...

Book review: Cycles of Salvation History

by Ulrich Utiger

★★★★

An interesting theology! The idea is that the truths of the Bible repeat in cycles throughout history, culminating in the second coming of Jesus for a final fulfillment.

Utiger begins with the assumption that the Bible is of divine authorship, and then proceeds to make sense of it in light of history and scientific findings. In discussing the creation, for example, he notes that Genesis records the creation of birds before animals, though they actually appeared later in evo...

Ezekiel 14:11, The Three Most Righteous Men

A dollar says you can’t guess the three most righteous men in the Bible, according to God. I wouldn’t have guessed right.

Hint: They’re listed in Ezekiel, so that’s before Jesus’ time. Gotta be Old Testament fellas.

God was telling Ezekiel that if He has a mind to destroy a country, it’s going to happen—even if the three most righteous men in the world were living there:

[E]ven if these three men—Noah, Danieland Job—were in it, they could save only themselves by their righteousness, declares the...

2 Corinthians 12:7-9, Paul’s Thorn in the Flesh

Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

//These three verses have long been the topic of speculation among Bible readers. What is the “weakness” which torm...

John 19:28, I Thirst

After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst.

//Readers of my book about John’s Gospel are aware of the many parallels between the opening story, of Jesus turning water into wine, and the ending story, Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. But I was recently made aware of another simple parallel … one of theological importance that I can’t believe I missed! It is these two words: I thirst.

The story is this: Jesus attends...