Category Archives: Text Tuesday

Justice is an explosive word in our culture. Some people on left claim that justice evades certain people groups in our society while some on the right claim that the word is being used to liberally. I once heard a political commentator suggest that if a church goers preacher uses the term “social justice,” youContinue reading “Text Tuesday: Justice”

Matthew’s gospel mentions the term hypocrite (hypokrites) 13 times. Wow! That’s an alarming amount of times for one, particular term. Let’s take a deeper dive. A “hypocrite” was an actor who would wear a mask in Greek plays to portray two characters, or one character that acted in two different ways, who pretends to beContinue reading “Text Tuesday: Hypocrite”

One of the interesting categories in Scripture is the array of metaphors used to describe sin. Both sin against God and sin against one another. The dominant metaphor in the New Testament material is debt. Therefore, it is not uncommon to see NT authors use debt, obligation, payment in their material. The verb “to owe”Continue reading “Text Tuesday: Owe”

The New Testament word for “guarantee” (Greek arrabon) has a peculiar meaning. I’m not sure what you think of when someone gives you a guarantee, but it is usually a verbal promise of some sort. In the biblical world, a guarantee would usually be accompanied by a pledge, or a token, portion of the wholeContinue reading “Text Tuesday: Guarantee”

I am away from my office desk and without Mounce’s text for this week’s Text Tuesday post. Instead, I am working on sermons for the remainder of our Jonah series this month. As I work through Jonah 2, I’m struck by the language in Jonah’s prayer. Verse 5 says, “The engulfing waters threatened me, theContinue reading “Text Tuesday: Engulfed”

On Tuesdays, I scour Mounce’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament words to find some extra insight into the biblical text. Today’s word is “heavy,” or “to be/to make something heavy.” In the Hebrew Old Testament text, “heavy” (kabed) means “to honor.” This is an interesting Jewish idiom that we use today. WhenContinue reading “Text Tuesday: (Be, Make) Heavy”

Each Tuesday, I’ll try to text a word found in the Bible and draw some insight from it through some Hebrew and Greek study, using Mounce’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words. Today’s word: Enemy Both Old Testament words for enemy: verb (oyeeb) and noun (sar) give an underlying idea of “hate”Continue reading “Text Tuesday: Enemy”

On Tuesdays, I’ll try to provide a bit of background on a biblical word using William Mounce’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words. Today’s word: woe. In the Old Testament, “woe” (Hebrew hoy) expresses personal pain and anguish because of the dread of a situation. Woe is also used to express anxietyContinue reading “Text Tuesday: Woe”