Jeremiah 32:39
I will give them singleness of heart and action, so that they will always fear me and that all will then go well for them and for their children after them.

Psalms 86:11
Teach me your way, Lord,
that I may rely on your faithfulness;
give me an undivided heart,
that I may fear your name.

Matthew 6:24
“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

Matthew 22:37
Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’”

James 1:5-8
If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. 6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 Those who doubt should not think they will receive anything from the Lord; 8 they are double-minded and unstable in all they do.

It looks like it can be viewed online and the web site has quite a few articles.

The Bible’s Buried Secrets Web Site

Update:
Live Blogging ‘The Bible’s Buried Secrets’ - Dr. Jim West
Thoughts on ‘The Bible’s Buried Secrets’ - Biblia Hebraica

If you go to their Preview page you will find some sample pages of the first issue and a video with a rundown of all the articles in the magazine by John Barry, Associate Manager and Project Editor. I’ll try not to repeat what’s already covered there in this review. I also will not be critiquing the content of each article.

This issue is 49 pages long. There aren’t an inordinate amount of ads. The multi-page articles are continuous and not broken up by full page ads or continuation later in the magazine which is nice.

Their statement of faith is the Apostles’ Creed. The magazine doesn’t seem to have a theological bent as far as I can tell at this point.

It’s interesting to see what Josh McDowell is up to these days. The article mentions how he became a Christian, how he got into apologetics and how it’s useful in different situations, how he prepares for speaking engagements and how he uses Logos Bible Software. This article is a generous five pages.

Daniel Wallace writes an article on Bible translations. This is a very short primer for those who may have used only one translation and are curious about what else it out there. Wallace briefly explains the difficulty of translating a language, basic translation philosophies and why translations are different. He seems to prefer formal equivalence over functional equivalence.

A paragraph each is written for the N/KJV, N/RSV, ASV/NASB, NEB/REB, T/NIV, NLT, HCSB, ESV, NET and he pulls no punches on the New World Translation (Jehovah’s Witnesses). He seems to prefer the ESV and NET.

The magazine is sprinkled with links to areas on the Logos web site, like Resources on the Book of Hebrews and outside resources like DeadSeaScrolls.org.

A few of the questions that are answered in this issue are:

• What is the Great Isaiah Scroll?
• What is the Areogapus?
• How do I find out more about the Greek word used for power (dunamis) as it’s used in Luke?
• Who is Cyril of Alexandria?
• Why is John 5:4 absent in many Bible translations?

As you can see, some of these things can be found on the Web. For those who like to read in print, these articles can be good starting points and provide new ideas for subjects to look into further. Other material will tend to be more exclusive, like the interviews, which tend to be the more extensive articles—and multi-issue articles.

I hope I don’t sound like I’m gushing, but I can’t remember the last time I read a magazine where I was interested in nearly every article and read the magazine from cover to cover (although the latter is partly because I’m doing this review).

In these times it’s extremely difficult to launch a magazine and keep it going. I hope this magazine will be helpful in getting people interested in Logos software and be profitable enough for it to be sustained for the long term.

Bible Study Magazine Web Site

Sometimes the more literal, but seemingly more odd to us translation can make a lot of sense to me. I like the passage above.

Sometimes when I read the English translation in a Greek interlinear it really doesn’t sound that awkward. Except for when it does. I’m glad I got a regular interlinear instead of a reverse interlinear.

Thank God for a variety of translations.

That’s all.

The rules state that I must pick up the book closest to me and:

1. turn to page 123
2. count the first five sentences
3. post the following three sentences

As I saw that I was tagged I have my whole bookshelf near me with no one book closest. So I picked the fifth book from the left on a shelf which is Trusting God by Jerry Bridges.

Rather, the story concludes with a conversation between God and Job in which Job acknowledges that through his trials he has come into a new and deeper relationship with God. He said, ‘My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you’ (Job 42:5). We may conclude that this deeper relationship was one (but probably not all) of the results God had in mind all along.

Sometimes afterward we can see some of the beneficial results of adversity in our lives, but we seldom can see it during the time of the adversity.

That worked out well.

I tag Esteban, Bryan and Matthew.

According to Paul in the Pastoral Epistles it looks to be both what conforms to the gospel and right behavior, not just teaching alone.

The quotes below are by Gordon Fee, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus. He uses the NIV which is bold in the commentary.

1 Timothy 1:8-11
We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. 9 We also know that law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious; for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, 10 for adulterers and perverts, for slave traders and liars and perjurers–and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine 11 that conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me.

Having mentioned behavior that is ‘contrary to sound doctrine,’ Paul concludes by describing the true source and measure for such teaching. It is that which conforms to the . . . gospel of . . . God. The gospel, as God’s good news over against the bad news of humanity’s grotesque sinfulness, is Paul’s favorite word for God’s activity in Christ Jesus on behalf of sinner. ‘Sound doctrine’ accords with the gospel message, both in content and resultant behavior; the ‘diseased’ teaching of the straying elders does not.

Titus 2:1-15
You must teach what is in accord with sound doctrine. 2 Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance. 3 Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. 4 Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, 5 to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.

6 Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled. 7 In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness 8 and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us.

9 Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, 10 and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive.

11 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. 12 It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, 13 while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.

15 These, then, are the things you should teach. Encourage and rebuke with all authority. Do not let anyone despise you.

… what is in accord with sound doctrine has not so much to do with the cognitive side of the gospel as the behavioral.

I need to remember that sound doctrine should always lead to right behavior and not just stop with teaching.

Beyond this there are creeds, catechisms, systematic theology, etc. which may also be sound doctrine.

Are there different types of sound doctrine?

Also see: Westminster Books Free Chapters

1 Corinthians 2:2
For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

C.K. Barrett:

Of all the epistles, those to the Corinthians are most full of Christian paradox–of strength that is perfect in weakness (…); and the heart of the paradox is the preaching of the feeble and stupid message of the crucified Christ, which nevertheless proves to have a power and a wisdom no human eloquence possesses, since it is the power and wisdom of God himself.

F.F. Bruce:

Paul’s insistence on ‘knowing nothing’ among the Corinthians ‘except Jesus Christ and him crucified’ (1 Corinthians 2:2) had some regard to the intellectual climate of the city. As he came to know something of the Corinthians’ reverence for the current wisdom, he stressed that element in the gospel for which current wisdom could have no place: what more abject spectacle of folly and helplessness could be imagined than a crucified man? A crucified deliverer was to Greeks an absurd contradiction in terms, just as to Jews a crucified Messiah was a piece of scandalous blasphemy. But as Paul persisted in preaching Jesus as the crucified Saviour and sin-bearer, the unexpected happened: pagans, as well as Jews and God-fearers, believed the message and found their lives transformed by a new, liberating power, which broke the stranglehold of selfishness and vice and purified them from within. The message of Christ crucified had thus accomplished something which no body of Greek philosophic teaching could have done for them.

John Calvin:

In adding the word crucified, he does not mean that he preached nothing respecting Christ except the cross; but that, with all the abasement of the cross, he nevertheless preached Christ. It is as though he had said: ‘The ignominy of the cross will not prevent me from looking up to him from whom salvation comes, or make me ashamed to regard all my wisdom as comprehended in him — in him, I say, whom proud men despise and reject on account of the reproach of the cross.’ Hence the statement must be explained in this way: ‘No kind of knowledge was in my view of so much importance as to lead me to desire anything but Christ, crucified though he was.’

Gordon Fee:

The ‘for’ that begins this sentence is explanatory; Paul is offering reasons for the behavior outlined in v. 1. (…) ‘To know nothing’ does not mean that he left all other knowledge aside, but rather that he had the gospel, with its crucified Messiah, as his singular focus and passion while he was among them.

David Garland:

…he [Paul] was content to be identified as a know-nothing who preached foolishness: Jesus Christ crucified. But announcing the gospel was his sole focus, and the cross molded his entire message and his whole approach. It was not a new development arising from some previous failure (cf. Acts 17:22-31) but his standard procedure everywhere* (cf. 1 Thess. 2:1-10; Gal. 3:1). Jesus Christ can only be preached as the crucified one, and no one can preach Christ crucified to win personal renowon.

R.C. Sproul:

he [Paul] told the Corinthians he had determined to know nothing except Christ crucified. Clearly Paul was determined to know all kinds of things besides the person and work of Jesus. He wanted to teach the Corinthians about the deep things of the character and nature of God the Father. He planned to instruct them about the person and work of the Holy Spirit, about Christian ethics, and about many other things that go beyond the immediate scope of Christ’s work on the cross. So why, then, did he say this? The answer is obvious. Paul was saying that in all of his teaching, in all of his preaching, in all of his missionary activity, the central point of importance was the cross.

Here is a traditional translation:

1 Corinthians 2:2 NRSV
For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.

I always took this to mean “Jesus Christ and the fact that he was crucified.” So his focus while he was with them would be Jesus Christ and his crucifixion, as does Tom (N.T.) Wright:

Wright: No: I decided to know nothing in my dealings with you except Jesus the Messiah, especially his crucifixion.

Or does he mean Jesus Christ—who was crucified? Who was crucified describing who he is as opposed to adding another subject of the crucifixion?

NLT: For I decided that while I was with you I would forget everything except Jesus Christ, the one who was crucified.

Lattimore: for I did not judge that, among you, I know anything except only Jesus Christ, that is, Jesus Christ crucified.

Or something in-between or both?

REB: I resolved that while I was with you I would not claim to know anything but Jesus Christ—Christ nailed to the cross.

This little book (256 pages long but small in dimensions) by Tom (also known as N.T.) Wright really is for everyone. Although it is “approachable and anecdotal in style”, even those who have read the bigger commentaries would benefit from this book.

Wright manages to combine personal anecdotes, exegesis, exposition and even a bit of Greek word study in an oblique way for every passage of 1 Corinthians. This is quite masterful.

He has written his own translation for the whole book of 1 Corinthians. Here is an example of 2:14-3:4:

Someone who is merely human doesn’t accept the things of God’s spirit. They are foolishness to such people, you see, and they can’t understand them because they need to be discerned spiritually. 15 But spiritual people discern everything, while nobody else can discern the truth about them! 16 For ‘Who has know the mind of the Lord, so as to instruct him?’ But we have the mind of the Messiah.

3:1 In my own case, my dear family, I couldn’t speak to you as spiritual people, but as people who were all too obviously merely human, little babies in the Messiah. 2 I fed you with milk, not solid food, because you weren’t able to take it — and you still can’t, even now! 3 You’re still determined to live in the old way! Yes, wherever there is jealousy and quarrelling, doesn’t that mean you’re living in the old way, behaving as any merely human being might do? 4 When someone says ‘I’m with Paul!’, and someone else says ‘I’m with Apollos!’ are you not mere humans?

That gives you an idea of how long each section of Scripture is. The exposition is typically about four pages.

His translation, like his exposition, is also a mixture of sorts being somewhat literal, dynamic and paraphrastic all in one where appropriate. One little annoyance is he says you see in almost every passage.

Another small annoyance is as he is wont to do, he let’s his political and social comments slip in now and then but it’s very infrequent and not very obvious.

This book is very well put together and although it’s very accessible for everyone, it’s deep and insightful enough to truly be for everyone.

There is a helpful glossary in the back of the book where he provides a paragraph description of select terms. I especially liked kingdom of God, kingdom of heaven.

Wright has a whole series of “For Everyone” books. Search for:
Tom Wright For Everyone
using the Amazon search box in the right sidebar here.

I think it would be great if there were Bible study guides to go along with these for group Bible study.

Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press (March 2004)
ISBN-10: 0664227910
ISBN-13: 978-0664227913

Buy it at:

• Amazon.com
• Westminster Bookstore
• Christianbook.com
• Barnes & Noble