The Mileses

Paul and Olena Miles with Grace Abroad Ministries

word study

Read the Bible like an Architect Part II

This is Part II of a two-part series.   Read Part I.

We are reading the Bible like architects by using what we know to find what we don’t know. In the last article, we looked at the core of Jas 2:14-26 and saw that “justify” only means “to declare righteous.” God calls someone righteous when he believes and people call someone righteous when they see his good works. For example, Abraham was justified by and before God by faith and he was justified by and before men by works.

Here are nine easy things we noticed about Jas 2:21-25 in Part I:
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Read the Bible like an Architect Part I

​When I was in High School, I took an architecture class that I especially enjoyed. We got to use paper, right angles, compasses, and other cool instruments that architects use along with our knowledge of geometry to solve whatever problems the teacher presented to us. Often the problems involved taking limited information and using it to extract other information. He would always say the same thing:

​Use what you know to find what you don’t know.

​That’s some solid advice. Once we establish that something is true, we can use it to make sense of things that we don’t know or don’t understand. The applications of this advice go far beyond High School architecture; it’s essentially how we progress in science and technology. It is also a fundamental concept to interpreting documents, whether they be laws, historical records, or even the Bible.
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“Satan” in New Testament Aramaic

​Have you ever noticed how every now and then, New Testament authors will throw in an Aramaic phrase?

Taking her by the hand he said to her, “Talitha cumi,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.” (Mark 5:41 ESV)

And looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” (Mark 7:34 ESV)

And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34 ESV)

In these three verses, the Aramaic is complicated, so Mark follows Jesus’ quotes with translations. Consider the word, ephphatha. This would not have been a common saying. I mean, how many times have you told something, “be opened!” The readers probably didn’t know the word, ephphatha, so it makes sense that Mark notes that ephphatha means “be opened.” The same goes with sabachthani (literally, “you have forsaken me”). The average Greek-speaking Christian in the first century wouldn’t know these words, so Mark translates them.
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Christian Pluralism

In an earlier post, we discussed panmillennialism (the belief that in the end, everything will somehow “pan out”). Panmillennialism is probably the most commonly held view of eschatology (doctrine of end times) in the Bible Belt, and if we get to the core of it, what we’ll find is that panmillennialism is driven by theological apathy. Unfortunately, many Christians don’t see the value in studying prophecy. I maintain that there is a lot to benefit from eschatology, but you can read the original post and decide for yourself.

Today, I’d like to look at Christian Pluralism. If panmillennialism is the apathetic approach to eschatology, then Christian Pluralism is the apathetic approach to soteriology (doctrine of salvation). It teaches that there are many different ways to be saved, so long as those ways involve Jesus somehow.
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In 2 minutes, you will know 30% of NT word occurrences.

Say, “kai.” Now, say, “ho.” “Kai. Ho.” Kinda like that song from Slumdog Millionaire.

In Greek, “ho” means “the” and “kai” means “and.” In the New Testament, these two words are used 29,028 times (technically, ho will change forms in different situations, but it’s still basically the same word). Since there are only 138,162 words in the New Testament, you now know 21% of word occurrences in the NT. Congratulations!
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Three reasons that James 5:19-20 does not teach that we can lose our salvation

A ​brother in Christ has recently heard a preacher on the radio say that the last two verses of James prove that a Christian can lose his salvation. Let’s take a look at this passage and see how they fit in with the rest of the Bible’s teaching on God, man, and eternal life:

​My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins. (Jas 5:19-20 ESV)

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