Need a new search

If you didn't find what you were looking for, try a new search!

Image and Likeness

In the first chapter of Genesis, Scripture records that God states He would make man in His image and likeness, Genesis 1:26. However, by Genesis 5:3, after the fall of Adam, the likeness and image of humans is that of Adam, for he passed on his corrupt nature to his children, Genesis 5:3.

The concept of image (צֶ֫לֶם – tsĕ-lĕm) is that which has a similar appearance. When examining God’s appearance, we find that He dwells in light, 1 Timothy 6:16; therefore, when God created Adam, He wrapped him in light so that Adam would have a similar image. When Adam and Eve ate from the forbidden tree, they were stripped of this image, Genesis 3:7. It is worthy to note here that the word used in Genesis 3:7, often translated as naked (עֲרוּמִּ֔ים), actually means stripped (עֵֽירֻמִּ֖ם). They both knew they were stripped, for they could visibly see that they had lost their covering. However, this does not mean that the similarity to God was lost entirely to humans, for Adam was made in the image of God. This is why, after the Noahic flood in the dispensation of government, a new rule is placed upon the household that if a man sheds the blood of another man, his life is to be forfeit, Genesis 9:6. Although Adam was created in a state of innocence (not knowing good and evil) and resided in the garden during a time when there was no sin upon the earth, his offspring inherit his corrupt nature resulting from the penalties of spiritual and physical death for his trespass and sin, which brought death into this world, Romans 5:12, 17.

In the realm of false religions, an image refers to the […]

Image and Likeness2023-12-14T08:08:24-08:00

Testing for Approval (δοκιμάζω)

Testing for approval (δοκιμάζω) is to make a critical examination of a person or thing to determine its authenticity, drawing a conclusion about its worth. Therefore, it is testing to establish whether or not there is something of value within who or what is put to the test.

Today, the wrath of God is upon all ungodliness and those holding down the truth in unrighteousness, for they consider the knowledge of God to be of no value and are therefore given over to a mind that, when tested, fails because it is found to be full of unrighteousness, Romans 1:28. This lack of worth is seen in the conclusions that this type of unapproved mind makes, for they go against the facts presented and are not base on reality. Such as a man who claims there is no God; however, he is fully aware that the universe is more expansive than humans have currently examined, and therefore, making such a statement shows that his conclusions are not of any value. Or a scientist who claims humans came from evolution. A hypothesis that is its own worst enemy, for within its declarations, it ignores the facts and presents evidence for support that is contrary to its own theories, because the evidence actually shows that humans were created. Therefore, the mind can be in such a state from the result of rejecting truth and reality that when put to the test for approval, it fails.

A Jew who claims to rest upon the law and makes his boast in God, asserting he knows His desirous will and is able to discern for good all things for he is instructed in the law, yet breaks the very rules he states […]

Testing for Approval (δοκιμάζω)2023-12-23T06:39:18-08:00

To be strengthened (ἐνδυναμόω)

To be strengthened (ἐνδυναμόω) is giving a person the ability or function to do something.

Because Christ manifested Himself to Paul and corrected his path, after spending three years in the desert learning, he returns to Damascus and immediately begins preaching the Messiah is the Son of God. The Jews were astonished that Saul was proclaiming Christ because he was known to be the one who had come to Damascus with orders from the Chief Priests so that he could destroy those who called on the name of Christ. However, Paul was strengthened against their astonishment and confounded them, proving that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God, and therefore God in the flesh, Acts 9:20-22. Paul did this through the evidence provided in the Old Testament.

Abraham was strengthened in his faith concerning God’s promise of a son, not counting the condition of his own body or the deadness of Sarah’s womb but was fully convinced that God would do what He said He would perform, Romans 4:19-21. Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. God strengthened his faith when He rejected Ishmael and informed him that the promise of his seed would come through Sarah.

When it comes to defeating an attack from Satan, we are to be strengthened in the Lord. We are not to try and take him on by our own means or through the traditions of men. Rather, our victory over Satan is in Christ and therefore we need to be strengthened in the Lord as we go into battle against him, Ephesians 6:10. This means we are recognizing the fact that our defense against Satan is because God has taken us out of Adam and placed […]

To be strengthened (ἐνδυναμόω)2023-12-23T11:41:20-08:00

Submission (ὑποτάσσω)

The Scriptural concept expressed by the word translated as “submission” communicates a type of yielding that relates to being under the authority of another in an orderly fashion. This has a military emphasis along with governmental structures, for both require submission in order to bring order and provide benefits to those under their authority. This is not the same concept as serving as a slave and therefore submitting is not servitude, Titus 2:9. In many cases, this type of submission has to be done voluntarily.

Christ submitted to His earthly parents because it was the right thing to do according to the law and righteousness, Luke 2:51. He was in the right in what He was doing, but at that time Joseph and Mary did not understand that Jesus would be about His Father’s business, for He had stayed in the Temple listening and questioning the teachers, so He submitted and went back to Nazareth, for the benefit it would bring to them.

A fleshly framed mind will not submit itself to the law of God, for it does not have the ability to submit. Romans 8:7. This is not referring to the Mosaic Law, but the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, Romans 8:2. A carnal mind will want to submit to the Mosaic Law so that it can justify itself through works, for it is not out from faith, Galatians 3:12, but a Christian is to live out from faith, Galatians 3:11, which requires a mind framed on the Spirit, Romans 8:5. Therefore, when we are Spiritual we will submit to the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus which will produce righteousness in our lives through faith. We see […]

Submission (ὑποτάσσω)2023-11-25T07:39:00-08:00

The Spark of Life ( נְשָׁמָה- Neshamah)

When God created Adam, after forming him from the dust of the ground, He breathed the breath of lives into his nostrils and Adam became a living soul1. Neshamah is used twenty-five times in Scripture to describe the breath of those who are living; however, it is only used twice with lives. God breathed the breath of life into Adam and during the description of the devastation of the flood upon the earth, all flesh that was upon the dry land died; all that had the breath of the spirit of lives within it, Genesis 7:22. This includes humans, birds, cattle, and beasts along with the Nephilim, who would also have possessed the breath of lives because they are a perversion of spirit and human beings that have a physical body. Animals are included because they have a fleshly based body and therefore must breathe just as the human body requires breath to live.

Breath by itself is primarily used concerning the breath in humans. In Joshua 11:11-14 all those who had breath were destroyed, but the animals were not. When God brought Israel into the land, the wicked inhabitants of the land was destroyed. As Joshua led them into the land, they fought against the kings and left none with breath alive2. Sometimes they wiped out the animals along with the humans, and other times they were permitted to take possession of the animals.

Ruach (רוּחַ) describes the spirit of a human, Job 32:8, Nephesh (נֶפֶשׁ) describes the soul, and Neshamah (נְשָׁמָה) relates to the life within the physical body. When God breathed the breath of lives into Adam, he became a living soul; therefore, the breath of life is not the […]

The Spark of Life ( נְשָׁמָה- Neshamah)2023-11-23T18:04:53-08:00
Go to Top