Dr Paul Allen

By MT Cooper I learned early on in my Christian life that the shortest verse in the Bible was “Jesus wept” (John 11:35). It wasn’t until studying Greek that I discovered that John 11:35 is three words, although one of them is a single letter definite article. The actual shortest verse in the Greek NT is 1 Thessalonians 5:17. ln English it is often translated with three words, “pray without ceasing” (ESV) although in Greek it is only two. You can get it to two words in English easily enough, “pray unceasingly,” but then you have competition for the shortest verse. A Digression The real surprise, however, occurred when learning that the Bible was not divided into chapters and verses until the 1500s! And for good reason. With the emergence of the printing press making the Bible more accessible, chapter and verse divisions made studying and recalling the location of thoughts and stories easier. Yet, for most of the Bible’s history, people had no idea about the shortest verse because there ...

You’re in church for worship, and your pastor is preaching through the book of Acts. The day’s text is Acts 8, the part about Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch. Your pastor is reading from the ESV, and you’re following along in your NKJV. The translations are a little different, but you can usually follow. The pastor reads And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?” And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. ( Acts 8:36–38, ESV ) Following along in your NKJV, you see: Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, “See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?” 37 Then Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” 38 So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the...

When removed from its context, “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain” (NIV Philippians 1:21) appears to say that we can experience true life through knowing Jesus Christ personally and interacting with Him in all of our experiences. This truth is taught by other Bible passages (John 10:10; 17:3; Galatians 2:20). When Philippians 1:21 is interpreted this way, it beautifully expresses what many people have experienced. Perhaps that is why many people interpret this text this way. Yet, as we have discovered, the context indicates that Paul probably meant Philippians 1:21 to mean, “For to me, to continue to live means I will serve Christ more and will produce more fruit for Him. If I die, I will gain, because I will go to be with Him.” You might ask, “Is it wrong to interpret a Bible text differently than what the author intended it to say?” God often speaks to His people through His word about our lives. “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double edged ...