Bible Interpretation

/Category Archive for "Bible Interpretation"

wrote in Bible Interpretation, General, Other Religions, Q & A, Reliability of the Bible .

Question: According to 1 Samuel 15:22, “Samuel said, Does the Lord take pleasure in whole-burnt-offerings and sacrifices, as in hearing the words of the Lord? behold, obedience better than a good sacrifice.” Therefore, the whole story of Jesus’ crucifixion is bogus and God didn’t order Jesus to do it.  Your response? Answer: This statement is riddles […]

Read More

wrote in Bible Interpretation, General, Q & A, Theology and Doctrinal Questions .

Question:  I have a question regarding a man who was baptized in my local church for the forgiveness of his sins. We found out later that this man did not know about the passage in Romans 6:1-7 when he was baptized. How does this lack of knowledge of Romans 6:1-7 affect his baptism? Should this […]

Read More

wrote in Bible Interpretation, Church History, General, Miracles, Q & A, Theology and Doctrinal Questions .

Question: Is there any scripture evidence for the way that Apostolic/Pentecostal churches operate in tongues today? Is it biblical for people to gather and have many different people in the congregation speaking in tongues at the same time? Answer: Let me be honest with you.  This is a debatable matter.  I have a rather strong […]

Read More

wrote in Bible Interpretation, General, Historical and Messianic Prophecy, Other Religions, Q & A .

Question: I read that:  Deut. 18:15 is about Muhammad because he was similar to Moses, i.e. he brought law to, and war against non-believers, etc. The same is true of Isa. 2:2-3, which is about Mecca, not Zion, because millions of pilgrims visit Mecca but nothing like that happens at Jerusalem. Isa. 42:4 is not […]

Read More

wrote in Bible Interpretation, General, Historical and Messianic Prophecy, Q & A, Reliability of the Bible .

Question: Jesus failed to bring universal peace (Mic. 4:1-4; Isa. 11:6-9) because, after him, bloodshed occurred multiple times in Jerusalem. Former dominion was not restored nor was kingship established as predicted (Mic. 4:6-8).  What’s your response? Answer: Jesus fulfilled Micah 4:1-4 word-for-word and in detail.  He died to establish the Church, which is the Mountain […]

Read More

wrote in Bible Interpretation, End Times, General, Q & A, Theology and Doctrinal Questions .

Question: Is the New Covenant everlasting? Will we be under the New Covenant in heaven? Answer: Believe it or not, this is a difficult question.  Logically, it would seem that if the answer to the first question is yes, then the answer to the second question also needs to be yes, but this is not […]

Read More

wrote in Bible Interpretation, General, Historical and Messianic Prophecy, Other Religions, Prefigures and Foreshadows, Q & A .

Editor’s Note: This question comes from a Muslim, which might explain the tone of the question. Question: 1. The Christian Zionists claim that the modern Israelite state is made according to the Biblical prophecies for e.g., Ezek. 37:21-22, but the problem is: where is that king who will rule over them? Did all Jews return to Israel? […]

Read More

wrote in Bible Interpretation, General, Practical Christianity, Q & A .

Question: My question is going to be about Romans 13:1-7.  Here, Paul talks about submission to authorities. My question is this… Is Paul only referring to authorities in the time of him writing Romans, (especially when he says the authorities have been established by God) or does this apply to today as well?  If this […]

Read More

wrote in Bible Interpretation, End Times, General, Q & A, Theology and Doctrinal Questions .

Question: Where does your soul go when you die? Some say heaven (or hell) but if that’s true then the people that were raised from the dead were taken out of heaven and brought back to earth…? Jesus raised people before his crucifixion and Peter and Paul did too after Jesus died and rose again. […]

Read More

wrote in Bible Interpretation, Daniel, General, Historical and Messianic Prophecy, Other Religions, Q & A, Versions of the Bible .

Question: Why do Christians and Jews have different interpretations for the meaning of the word “Moshiach” in Daniel chapter 9 verses 25-26? Why do Jews translate “Moshiach” as “the anointed one” but Christians translate it as the word “Messiah”? Answer: If we transliterate the Hebrew word Moshiach, we get Messiah.  If we translate it, we […]

Read More

wrote in Bible Interpretation, General, Q & A, Theology and Doctrinal Questions .

Question: What is the relationship between the Abrahamic Covenant and the Mosaic Covenant? Also, what is the relationship between the Abrahamic Covenant and the New Covenant? Are Christians still under the Abrahamic Covenant? Answer: This is a good question.  I believe that it is (more or less) answered in Galatians 3:10-22.  In this passage Paul […]

Read More

wrote in Bible Interpretation, General, Q & A .

Question: What do Isaiah 66:17 and Isaiah 65:3-4 mean?  What are these passages about?  How should we understand these passages as Christians? How would you respond to someone who says Christians shouldn’t eat pork based on these verses and that Christians will be judged by God for eating pork based on these verses?  Those who […]

Read More

wrote in Bible Interpretation, Daniel, General, Historical and Messianic Prophecy, Q & A, Reliability of the Bible .

Question: Jesus did not fulfill Zech. 9:9 because a significant part of the verse speaks about the person riding as the “victorious king of Israel”. The passage explains that at that time, universal peace will be established. This is a key feature of the Messianic age, as we see in passages like Isa. 2:4; 11:1-9 […]

Read More

wrote in Bible Interpretation, General, Historical and Messianic Prophecy, Q & A, Reliability of the Bible, Supposed Inconsistencies in the Bible .

Question: 1. If Jesus’s mission was to the lost sheep of Israel, why did he fail in his mission? And why did Jesus prohibit the gfrom being preached to the Gentiles during his ministry but after his ‘resurrection’ tell them to preach the Gospel to the whole world? If Jesus really had made the latter […]

Read More

wrote in Bible Interpretation, General, Q & A, Theology and Doctrinal Questions .

Question: Trinitarians claim that Christ was declaring Himself to be God in John 8:58, but this sentence is not translated accurately. The New Jerusalem Bible has translated the phrase in Exodus 3:14 “I am that I am” from “Ehe’ye asher ehe’ye” (Hebrew) as “I am He who is: Ego eimi, Ho on” (Greek). The Divine […]

Read More

wrote in Bible Interpretation, General, Historical and Messianic Prophecy, Q & A .

Question: Zechariah Ch. 9:8 says:  “But I will encamp at my temple to guard it against marauding forces. Never again will an oppressor overrun my people, for now I am keeping watch.”  But in reality, Jerusalem was soon overrun by the Persians, the Greeks, and the Romans, who utterly destroyed the second temple in 70 […]

Read More

wrote in Bible Interpretation, General, Historical and Messianic Prophecy, Q & A .

Question: Sir,  George Athas writes in his book “Deuteronomy: One Nation under God” that Yahweh continued to send prophets to Jews even after they returned from exile. However, they were never able to reinstall a Davidic heir as king. Foreign kings ruled over the Jews at that time. This frustrated Deuteronomy’s condition that Israel’s king […]

Read More

wrote in Bible Interpretation, General, Q & A, Theology and Doctrinal Questions .

Question: What is the meaning in Genesis 1:26 where God says, “Let us make man in our image”? My NIV study notes that “us” refers to members of His heavenly court? I was always led to believe it referred to the Trinity.  Thank you Answer: Commentators give three possible interpretations of the words “us” and […]

Read More

wrote in Bible Interpretation, Creation, General, Q & A .

[Editor’s Note:  This Q & A is a follow-up to an earlier question regarding Genesis 1:30 in which the questioner proposes that before the “Fall” of Adam and Eve, both humans and animals were vegetarian.] Question: Isn’t Genesis 9:3 problematic?  God says that “Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as […]

Read More

wrote in Bible Interpretation, General, Prefigures and Foreshadows, Q & A .

Question: Thank you for taking my question, My question is about the meal talked about in Exodus, that was eaten in haste, in which they ate the lamb they sacrificed. My question is this: in Jesus’s day, would that meal have been eaten on Friday night? Is that called the Passover meal? If it was […]

Read More

wrote in Bible Interpretation, General, Q & A .

Question: Why don’t Christians need to follow the Old Testament Laws (especially the Old Testament Civil Laws) anymore? Answer: Christians do not need to follow the Old Testament law because Jesus fulfilled the Law (Matthew 5:17).  Jesus replaced the Law of Moses with the Law of Christ (1 Corinthians 9:21, Galatians 6:2).  The requirements of […]

Read More

wrote in Bible Interpretation, General, Historical and Messianic Prophecy, Q & A .

Question: I have some questions regarding the interpretation and fulfillment of Joseph’s second dream.  1. What do the sun, moon and 11 stars represent in the dream?  2. Was Jacob right at the interpretation of Joseph’s second dream?  3. If Jacob was sun, 11 stars were 11 sons of Jacob, then who was moon?   Do […]

Read More

wrote in Bible Interpretation, Creation, General, Q & A, Science and the Bible .

Question:  I have a few questions about evolution. First of all evolution means death of animals before sin and that is super inconsistent with the Bible and there is no way God would allow death and suffering. And the last thing is if we evolved over time couldn’t we humans evolve into something else? Would […]

Read More

wrote in Bible Interpretation, General, Historical and Messianic Prophecy, Other Religions, Q & A .

Question:  Isaiah 42 does not talk about Jesus if you read with a broad mind, because KJV says.  “and the isles shall wait for his law.”  But the truth is Jesus did not bring new laws for Jews and he never nullified the laws of the Torah. Paul, who never met Jesus, distorted the true […]

Read More

wrote in Bible Interpretation, General, Q & A, Theology and Doctrinal Questions .

Question: I was reading your article on baptism and have a question. What happens to believers who are not baptized e.g the person who repented on the cross next to our Saviour? Answer: The person who repented on the cross is not a particularly helpful example for your question for a couple of reasons.  First […]

Read More

wrote in Bible Interpretation, End Times, General, Q & A .

Question: Mark 13:30 has bugged me for some time now. For context, in chapter 13 Jesus predicts the Temple’s destruction, then lists events that signal the end times, saying, “Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.” (NIV)  But this doesn’t make sense: how can Jesus’ […]

Read More

wrote in Bible Interpretation, Bible Manuscripts and Textual Questions, General, Other Religions, Q & A, Reliability of the Bible, Versions of the Bible .

Question: I’ve been comparing some “Messianic passages” from the Tanakh (the Hebrew Bible) to the corresponding verses in our Christian Bible (KJV, NKJV, NASB).  And I’ve noticed that, in many passages, the Tanakh translation differs significantly from our OT/NT translations.  Psalm 22, Isaiah 53, and Zechariah 12, for example, are quite different in the Tanakh, […]

Read More

wrote in Bible Interpretation, General, Historical and Messianic Prophecy, Other Religions, Q & A, Reliability of the Bible .

Question: Jesus is not from the “David Lineage” and he did not fulfill the Hebrew scriptures. Proofs are:  1) Messiah must be a descendent of David through his son Solomon (2 Sam. 7:14; 1 Chr. 17:11-14, 22:9-10, 28:4-6) but Luke 3:31 describes the lineage of David’s son Nathan, not Solomon.  2) Ezekiel (37:26-28) said “he […]

Read More

wrote in Bible Interpretation, General, Q & A, Science and the Bible .

Question: I see in the Bible lots of references to God stretching out the heavens l.e, Isaiah 44:24, Isaiah 42:5 etc. Is this a potential reference to the universe’s expansion as approved by the vast majority of scientists today?  Is there any Hebrew to support this view in these “heaven stretching” passages with the universe’s […]

Read More

wrote in Bible Interpretation, General, Historical and Messianic Prophecy, Other Religions, Q & A, Reliability of the Bible .

Question: Israel, in the singular, is called God’s servant throughout the Bible, for e.g. Isa. 45:4; 48:20; 49:3; Jer. 30:10. Also, note that in Jer. 30:17, the servant Israel is regarded by the nations as an outcast, forsaken by God, as in Isa. 53:4; Jer. 46:27-28; Ps. 136:22, a messianic reference. Also, given the Christian […]

Read More

wrote in Bible Interpretation, General, Prefigures and Foreshadows, Q & A .

Question: Is Israel God’s firsborn son (Exodus 4:22) or Jesus (Hebrews 1:6)? My understanding is it’s both but in different senses. Would this be correct? In what sense is Israel God’s firstborn? Is it in the sense that Israel was chosen among the nations? In what sense is Jesus God’s firstborn? Is it in the […]

Read More

wrote in Bible Interpretation, General, Q & A, Theology and Doctrinal Questions .

Question:  It is impossible for any part of God, even if incarnate, to decompose in any way and still be considered God. The everlasting, one God, in whole or in part, does not die, disintegrate, or decompose: ‘For I the Lord do not change.’ (Malachi 3:6).  Did Paul invent God-Son concept to attract Romans? Answer: […]

Read More

wrote in Bible Interpretation, General, Q & A, Theology and Doctrinal Questions .

Question: How would you respond to someone who asked whether Jesus was born again? If He wasn’t, what about His statement, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3)?  What does it mean to be born again? And what is “circumcision of the […]

Read More

wrote in Bible Interpretation, Bible Manuscripts and Textual Questions, Church History, Daniel, General, Historical and Messianic Prophecy, History, Other Religions, Q & A, Reliability of the Bible, Supposed Inconsistencies in the Bible .

[Editor’s note: This is a series of challenges from a Muslim regarding Jesus to be the fulfillment of Old Testament messianic prophecies.  My answers are interspersed among the questioner’s examples in italics] Claim: There are many biblical prophecies which do not fit into Jesus, for e.g. Response: Whether Jesus fulfilled all potential messianic prophecies is […]

Read More

wrote in Bible Interpretation, General, Q & A .

Question: Could you explain what Romans 10:9 means? Obviously we can’t interpreted it in isolation or literally.  There are many discussions and opinions on this verse. Answer: Whether we take Paul “literally” here or not depends on your definition of literally.  Clearly, anyone–even a total heathen–can say the words “Jesus is Lord.” Simply mouthing the […]

Read More

wrote in Bible Interpretation, General, History, Q & A, Theology and Doctrinal Questions .

Question: The theology of the Prophets before the exile had no place for the priestly blood sacrifice system. There was no atonement. The law of forgiveness worked directly and without any ritual. If Abraham, Moses, David, etc. were saved without sacrifice, it is hard to understand how blood sacrifice became necessary for salvation from the […]

Read More

wrote in Bible Interpretation, General, Practical Christianity, Q & A .

Question:  1) Are Christians supposed to love everyone?   Are Christians supposed to love the following:  a) false prophets in general  b) the false prophet mentioned in the book of Revelation c) the antichrist mentioned in the book of Revelation d) Satan   2) Does God love (or hate) a) false prophets b) the false prophet mentioned […]

Read More

wrote in Bible Interpretation, General, Historical and Messianic Prophecy, Other Religions, Q & A, Reliability of the Bible .

Question: I am Christian, but am also a very skeptical person.  I always challenge what I believe for the sake of truth and if it is truth it will stand. I would like to ask about Isiah 7:14. There is a lot of discussion about the use of the word “almah“. Does it imply virginity […]

Read More

wrote in Bible Interpretation, General, Q & A .

Question: Paul admitted that he’s a liar in 1 Cor. 9:19-22 for luring the Jews. He further testified that he’s a liar in 2 Cor. 12:16 where he used the word “trickery” (dolos in Greek), mainly used in bad sense. What’s the Christian response? Answer: This is a rather blatant misinterpretation of 1 Corinthians 9:19-22.  […]

Read More

wrote in Bible Interpretation, General, Q & A, Theology and Doctrinal Questions .

Editor’s note:  In this Q & A, I am interspersing the answers in italics among the four questions. 1) What does it mean to say Jesus is the ‘Messiah’ or ‘Christ’? What are some good Bible verses that show the meaning of the word ‘Messiah’ or ‘Christ’ when applied to Jesus? The Hebrew word for […]

Read More

wrote in Bible Interpretation, General, Q & A, Reliability of the Bible, Supposed Inconsistencies in the Bible .

Question: What is the Abrahamic covenant mentioned in Genesis 17:7, 17:13 and 17:19? What aspect of the Abrahamic covenant is everlasting? Why don’t Christians practice circumcision if the Abrahamic covenant is everlasting? Answer: I wish that this was a simple question with a simple answer.  One difficulty here is that the Jewish concept of the […]

Read More

wrote in Bible Interpretation, General, Practical Christianity, Q & A .

Question: What is an “altar offering”? Should we give it separately from the usual offering on Sunday? Is it biblical? Answer: I may be wrong, but I am guessing you are referring to Matthew 5:24 in which Jesus is talking to Jewish people.  He says to these Jewish people that if they are presenting a […]

Read More

wrote in Bible Interpretation, General, Historical and Messianic Prophecy, Q & A, Reliability of the Bible .

Question: Jer. 30:8-9 and Ezek. 34:23-27 clearly speaks about a king who will rescue the Jews from the hands of those who enslaved them. Obviously, Jesus did not fulfill these prophecies. Are these prophecies are made-up? Response: You say that Jesus “obviously” did not fulfill these prophecies.  Forgive me, but this is not obvious at […]

Read More

wrote in Bible Interpretation, General, Q & A, Theology and Doctrinal Questions .

Questions: 1. How do you respond to the argument that even Christianity is ultimately deed-based? In other words, even if we believed Jesus Christ, got baptized, a believer must keep his moral character and should maintain the discipline in order to inherit the eternal life in heaven. Even if someone believed in Jesus Christ and […]

Read More

wrote in Bible Interpretation, General, Practical Christianity, Q & A .

Question: Biblically, is it a sin to not remember and keep the 7th day Sabbath set apart? If not, then why would the remaining commandments still be binding for believers in Messiah such as: you shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not bear false witnes, etc.  For example in Revelation 21 […]

Read More