[sws_grey_box box_size=”100%”]EDITOR’S NOTE: Words matter. When you’re penning a letter to someone, the words you use are chosen carefully to ensure that the right message gets across to your reader. The same thing is true for the Biblical authors—those who were inspired by the Spirit of God to pen words that would then be preserved […]
Josephus: Historical Evidence of the Old Testament Canon
The clearest testimony of the extent of the Hebrew canon comes from the first century writer Flavius Josephus (A.D. 37-100). He said that the Jews held as sacred only twenty-two books (which include exactly the same as our present thirty-nine books of the Old Testament). He wrote: We have but twenty-two [books] containing the history […]
How Firm a Foundation
Don’t you just love old hymns? We do. Every week at the Blue Letter Bible (Sowing Circle) staff devotionals, we usually begin by singing old hymns together. They tend to be filled with rich theological and praiseworthy truths! We share some of these great songs on the BLB website. You might notice that sometimes the […]
"Teach me, Oh Lord"
The following has been adapted from The History and Authenticity of the Bible, a free class available at the Blue Letter Bible Institute. In Psalm 119, we have a lot of beautiful statements. Let’s just highlight a few. In verses 26 and 27, we see a prayer. “I have declared my ways and Thou heardest […]
Emphatic Negations in Biblical Greek
When we read English translations of the Bible, or for that matter any other language other than the original Hebrew and Greek, we often do not get the fullness of the grammatical and syntactical structures that the Hebrew and Greek are actually stating and presenting. Over the next several weeks, we are going to focus […]
When the New Testament Uses the Old Testament
As we examine the evidence, we find that when the New Testament quotes the Old Testament, it does so as authoritative. In other words, the New Testament assumes the authority of the Old. There are over 250 quotations from Old Testament books that are found in the New Testament. Most of the books of the […]
7 Statements Regarding the Atonement
The atonement that Christ made upon the cross when He died is the: Source of all our spiritual blessing In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace (Ephesians 1:7) Separating power in holiness So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to […]
Spurgeon: It Is God Who Justifies
The following is taken from Spurgeon’s classic book All of Grace—an earnest word for those seeking salvation and God—available at the BLB bookstore. Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Romans 8:33 You cannot justify yourself A wonderful thing it is, this being justified, or made just. If we […]
Review: Psalm 23 with Justin Alfred
Just in case you missed it, you might want to check out our recent blog series with Biblical language expert Justin Alfred. Justin walked us through the Hebrew language and grammar found in a well-known psalm, Psalm 23, and showed us how to mine some rich theological truths among its lines. Here are the posts […]
Introducing… Emphatic Negations: What Are They?
Have you ever wondered if knowing a thing or two about the Bible’s original languages would help aid your personal Bible study? Wish you knew more about them? Well, this is how we aim to serve you with our new Biblical language series of blogs. So far, we have looked at the Hebrew in Psalm […]