Scripture Spotlight

The disciples’ question in John 9:2 reflects an explanatory framework widely attested in Second Temple Judaism: “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (RSV). Jesus’ response in John 9:3, however, raises an interpretive problem of considerable interest: “. . . but t...

Because Adam and Eve did not die on the exact day that they ate of the forbidden fruit, it is sometimes claimed that since one day is with the Lord as a thousand years (2 Pet 3:8) and Adam lived less than a thousand years (Gen 5:5), Adam, therefore, did die within that one-thousand-year “day.” An...

The subject with which Matthew 14 begins, the rejection and death of John the Baptist, is actually introduced in chapter 13 with the rejection of Jesus at Nazareth (Matt 13:53–58). The ministry of Jesus is summarized, this time by those from Nazareth, again as teaching and healing (“wisdom and mi...

In Hebrews 10:35 the readers are called not to throw away their confidence, for those who persevere will receive the promise, the focus of which is the second coming of Jesus and final salvation (10:36-39). How is this possible? By faith! Heb 11:1 stresses that faith is “seeing” the unseen. Faith...

I. What Is a Paradox? A recent newspaper article discussed the “paradox of plenty.” In the long run, resources in oil, gas, diamonds etc. lead to poverty in developing countries. Economists talk about the “Dutch disease.” Exports of resources strengthen the currency but weaken the national indust...

1 Peter 3:18-22 belongs to the more difficult passages in the NT. It has received various interpretations throughout church history. Some have concluded from this passage that there is an immortal soul, that people have a second chance of salvation after death, and/or that Jesus descended into he...

The idea of the end of the world or the invasion of planet earth by extraterrestrial beings has repeatedly been the topic of popular films. Already in 1974 a film about the second coming of Christ in the form of a documentary frightened hundreds of Canadians. Obviously many viewers regarded the b...

“Is death necessary?“, asked biologist G. R. Taylor and stated that in 1968 in the USA alone more than a thousand teams of scientists were working on the issue of growing old and the problem of death. Some people are frozen at their death. They want to be revived as soon as a cure for their disea...

In recent years a number of Seventh-day Adventists have begun to apply the time prophecies in Daniel 12:5-13 to the future. Rejecting the traditional Adventist understanding, which places the 3 1/2 times, the 1290 and 1335 days as prophetic times in the past, they claim these time periods are to...