Dr Paul Allen

William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905) - The Flagellation of Our Lord Jesus Christ (1880) (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) James 2:1 “My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ , the Lord of glory” ( v. 1 ). We turn today to the first verse of the second chapter of James, wherein the apostle refers to Jesus as “the Lord of glory.” Even though this is an acceptable translation of the original Greek text, it is not necessarily the most accurate way to render the verse in English.  It is also possible to translate “the Lord of glory” as simply “the glory.” However, to say Jesus is “the glory” is a good way to encapsulate a portion of the New Testament ’s description of the majesty of Christ . As someone from a Jewish background, James undoubtedly had the Hebrew term kabod in mind when he penned his epistle. “Glory,” or kabod in the original text, usually deals with weightiness or substance. When the Old Testament declares that God ’s name is “gl...

English: This is a map of first century Iudaea Province that I created using Illustrator CS2. I traced this image for the general geographic features. I then manually input data from maps found in a couple of sources. Robert W. Funk and the Jesus Seminar. The Acts of Jesus. HarperSanFrancisco: 1998. p. xxiv. Michael Grant. Jesus: An Historian's Review of the Gospels. Charles Scribner's Sons: 1977. p. 65-67. John P. Meier. A Marginal Jew. Doubleday: 1991. p. 1:434. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Matthew 5:4 –5 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth ” (vv. 4–5). Some translators render the Greek term for blessing (makarios) as “happy,” but this is not entirely accurate. Of course, happiness is often linked to blessing, but God ’s favor brings far more than mere happiness. To be blessed by our Creator is to find His approval. God claims us as His child when He blesses us. Jesus has said ou...

The Pharisees Question Jesus (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Matthew 12:9–14 “Of how much more value is man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath” ( v. 12 ). We dare not miss the christological significance of our Lord’s teaching on the Sabbath ( Matt. 12:1–14 ). Scripture emphasizes the Sabbath as God ’s special possession; Israel was given a day of rest in order to imitate our Creator’s own cessation of work ( Ex. 20:8–11 ). Furthermore, God asserted His right to determine what can and cannot be done on the Sabbath day ( Isa. 56:4–5 ). Jesus equates Himself with God, the owner and ruler of the day of rest, when He claims, as the Son of Man , to be lord of the Sabbath ( Matt. 12:8 ). Jesus continues to display His authority as lord of the Sabbath when, in a synagogue, He meets a man with a “withered hand.” Seeking a chance to show that Jesus is a Sabbath-breaker, the Pharisees ask Him if it is right to heal on the day of rest ( vv. 9–10 ). Should He do a healing...

Our Lord Jesus Christ (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) James 2:1 “My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ , the Lord of glory” ( v. 1 ). We turn today to the first verse of the second chapter of James, wherein the apostle refers to Jesus as “the Lord of glory.” Even though this is an acceptable translation of the original Greek text, it is not necessarily the most accurate way to render the verse in English. As the note in the Reformation Study Bibleindicates, it is also possible to translate “the Lord of glory” as simply “the glory.” In reality, it does not really matter which one we choose because the two translations are synonymous. However, to say Jesus is “the glory” is a good way to encapsulate a portion of the New Testament ’s description of the majesty of Christ . As someone from a Jewish background, James undoubtedly had the Hebrew term kabod in mind when he penned his epistle. “Glory,” or kabod in the original text, usually deals with w...