Tag: Languages

Wordplay, the Flood, and God’s Judgment of Sin

Noah’s Ark is told as a children’s flannel-graph story, with cartoon animals, a cheerful Noah, and a stylized rainbow decorating baby’s rooms and storybook Bibles. However, the story of the flood provides a devastating description of God’s hatred and wrath expressed against pervasive, rampant human sin. The Babylon Bee has capitalized on this irony multiple times. As you read Genesis 6:5–22, in which God describes the reasons for the flood and commissions Noah to build an ark for his own salvation, several instances of wordplay reveal the nature of sin and the nature of God’s judgment on sin. This occurs along the lines of two themes: God’s grief over sin and sin’s corruption of creation.

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When Heaven Helped Those who Helped Themselves

Words matter. As a self-identified writer, I at least sometimes try to pick my words intentionally so that they create specific informational and emotional effects in the minds of my readers. The biblical authors of course did the same thing. Unlike me, they wrote in Hebrew and Greek, with at least the first of these two being a heavenly language. Their specific word choices in the original languages matter. Continue reading “When Heaven Helped Those who Helped Themselves” →

Ministry Updates, Part II: Seminary

I am now in my spring semester of my second year of seminary. If I had always been on a 3 year plan, I’d be half done now. However, by unit count, I’m currently more like 40% done. This is unimportant; I’d rather talk about some things I’ve learned and the surprising unity of my seminary experience thus far. Having recently finished my survey courses, I have now had the privilege to read through the entire Bible for class, including reading the entire New Testament twice and large sections of the Old Testament two or more times. This alone has been incredibly beneficial.

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