Dr Paul Allen

The climax comes when God says, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness” (Genesis 1:26). Though nothing is said about the Holy Spirit here, the Bible shows that the image and likeness have to do with the spiritual and moral nature of man. Paul prays that God would “strengthen [believers] with power through his Spirit in [their] inner being” and goes on to urge them to “put on the new self, created to be like God [in the image and likeness of God] in righteousness and holiness” ( Ephesians 3:16; 4:24). It is reasonable, therefore, to believe that the Holy Spirit was just as active in Genesis 1:26–28 as He was in Genesis 1:2 , if not more so. Genesis 2:7 gives more details. “The LORD God formed [molded, shaped as a potter would] the man from the [moist] dust of the ground [red earth], and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life [ Hebrew , “lives”], and the man became a living being [person, individual].” Again, though the Holy Spirit is not mentioned, it is reasonabl...

St Paul's Cathedral (Photo credit: J.Salmoral ) There are four reasons why I think Hebrews should be left in anonymity: No one signed it. 1. Paul begins all thirteen of his letters with the same word — “Paul.” Every time . Without exception. Hebrews is the exception you say? This is possible, but I find it even more noteworthy that Paul explicitly states that he wrote all of his letters in the same way, so as to weed out any impostors ( 2 Thes. 3:17). If Paul wrote Hebrews, it seems likely that the evidence from the early church would be as overwhelming as it is for his other letters, but alas, it is not. In fact, some argue that Pauline authorship was only ascribed to Hebrews to make sure it was included in the canon of Scripture (It was not included in the Muratorion canon, 170 A.D.). 2. Hebrews 2:3-4 is inconsistent with Paul’s apostolic argumentation. The author of Hebrews places himself apart from those who received the gospel directly from Jesus and does not i...

English: Jacob Wrestling with the Angel. Česky: Jákob zápasící s andělem. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Judges 2:1-5. Yahweh speaks because the people inquired of him (1:1, which we shall call oracular divine speech ). But now Yahweh speaks, via his intermediary, on his own initiative (which we shall call non-oracular divine speech, and which occurs again in Judges only in 2:20–21; 6:7–10; 10:11–14). As with other passages of Scripture, Yahweh and his angel/messenger are interchangeable: “Now the angel of the Lord … said, ‘I brought you up from Egypt .’ ” Compare, for example, the story of the angel/messenger finding Hagar in the wilderness (Gen. 16:7), the conversation that follows between the two (Gen. 16:8–12), and Hagar’s words, “So she named the Lord who spoke to her” (Gen. 16:13). Here is a case where God himself appeared in the form of a human being, one who could be seen by a mortal. One instance of oscillation between Yahweh and his angel/intermediary that includes an a...

Is everything we do at church called Ministry? 1.  Let’s see where “ministry’ appears in the Old Testament .  We’ll start by looking up the occurrences of the word in the major English translations on  www.Biblegateway.com : ESV  – 3x – Numbers   4:47 ; 2 Chron . 7:6, 2 Chron.  8:14 NIV  – 2x – 1 Chron. 25:1, 6 NASB  – 2x – 1 Chron. 24:3, 19 NKJV  – 5x – Ex. 31:10, 35:19, 39:1, 39:41; 2 Chron. 7:6 KJV  – 4x – Num.  4:12 ,  4:47 ; 2 Chron. 7:6, Hosea  12:10 . I know there’s other translations, but this will more than suffice our needs since “ministry” doesn’t appear hundreds of times in the OT. 2.  Let’s check our references at  www.blueletterbible.org  and discover the Hebrew term in each verse: Ex. 31:10 –  Kahan Ex. 35:19 –  Kahan Ex. 39:1 –  Serad  &  Sharath Ex. 39:41 - Kahan Num.  4:12  -a derivitive of  Sharath Num.  4:4...

English: God's Promises to Abram, c. 1896-1902, by James Jacques Joseph Tissot (French, 1836-1902), gouache on board, 4 13/16 x 5 7/8 in. (12.3 x 15 cm), at the Jewish Museum, New York (Photo credit: Wikipe dia ) When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking fire pot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces ( Genesis 15:17). When God made His promises to Abram, Abram asked God to assure him that He would keep those promises: “O Sovereign LORD, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?” (v. 8). God’s affirmation came in a dream during which Abram was instructed to cut certain animals in half. After he had done this, God repeated His promises. Then God, in the form of a smoking fire pot and blazing torch, passed between the pieces of the animals. What did this mean? It meant that God was making a covenant with Abram. Among the ancient Hebrews , when a covenant was made, it was not done the way we do it today. Covenants were not written; ...