Underline that phrase in each verse. WHERE in the text does each day begin?
Circle the numbers of these verses with “And God said…”
We have verse 3, verse 6, verse 9 (&11)
Verse 14, verse 20, verse 24…
Thus, we have WHEN Each Day Begins in the Text
“And God said…”
“AND…”signifies a continuation; here, from a previous act of creation. “Then God Said…”
Some versions translate “And” as “Then” which makes it more clear. Three modern versions just drop “And” thus taking away the context.
WHAT is the previous creative act prior to Day One– which begins in verse 3?
Verse 1: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
Verse 2 tells us the condition of this created Earth.
THUS we have an unknown period of time between the creation of (the beginning of) the universe in verse1, and the beginning of Day One, in verse 3, which begins the preparation of the newly created Earth for the creation of man.
The last condition in verse 2 is “darkness”
On Day 1 of preparing Earth for the creation of man, God dispels that darkness with light (verse 3).
[A note of interest—The Hebrew text uses cardinal numbers–one, two, three…for the days, not ordinal numbers– first, second, third…]
Now, you should be able to follow the exposition of Genesis 1, HERE
Now to the married I command, yet not I but the Lord: A wife is not to separate from her husband. (But if indeed she is separated, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to the husband) And a husband is not to divorce his wife.” 1 Corinthians 7:10,11
In First Corinthians, the Apostle Paul confronts sins of the Christians, the saints, at Corinth.
He begins, “I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ…”
The first sin he confronts is the division caused by a ‘spiritual’ party spirit. “I am of Paul”…”I am of Apollos”…”I am of Cephas”…”I am of Christ.”
The next sin confronted: “It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you…”
When he comes to marriage, the Apostle Paul clearly distinguishes between his mature advice for the unmarried, and the clear command of Christ Jesus to the married.
“Now to the married I command, yet not I but the Lord: A wife is not to separate from her husband and a husband is not to divorce his wife.”
That is the whole of the Lord’s command, no more, no less. That is the word of the Lord Jesus.
The Corinthians did not know this teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul, here, reveals it to them. Today, everyone with a Bible knows this command.
Chapter Seven begins, “Now concerning the things you wrote to me…”
Paul is addressing the situation in Corinth, and thus, in the middle of the quote of our Lord’s explicit command he gives his own command regarding a Corinthian wife who had already left her husband—Greek aorist, i.e. past tense. The New International Greek Testament Commentary notes that “unless the middle clause is placed in parenthesis, the sense becomes confusing, and even risks misleading.”
Many of today’s Christians use that situation to detract from and condone or even to counsel disobedience to our Lord Jesus Christ’s clear command to the church and to the married.
Eric Metaxasinterviewed Michael Youssefwho confronts the evil gender ideology of our present day while speaking the truth in love. And Metaxas makes an astute observation on the state of our church in America, today:
“Actually, where this all started in the church, I would say, is with divorce….When the church allowed that, or looked the other way, you began to see the creep…the idea that people start saying, ‘you know what, it’s sort of true, you only go around once…let’s not worry too much about right and wrong’…how can you blame somebody with same sex attraction, saying, ‘hey, I don’t want to be celibate…I want to enjoy life’ because the heterosexuals have done precisely that, and that is the failure of the church…”
Metaxas goes on to note his shock at news of friends divorcing, and asks, “Where did you get the idea that this was permissible? What church do you go to? What kind of pastor do you have…?”
Michael Youssef responds to this present day scenario in the church as “exactly the secular thinking.”
TITUS 2: But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine.2 Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. 3 Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, 4 and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, 5 to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. 6 Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled. 7 Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, 8 and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us. 9 Bondservants are to be submissive to their own masters in everything; they are to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, 10 not pilfering, but showing all good faith, so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior.
11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, 12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, 13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.
In our American memory-verse world, few Christians bother with reading texts of God’s word in context. Thus, the “Beam me up, Scotty!” crowd grabs onto “waiting for our blessed hope” as a tag-line for their extra-biblical doctrine in which God whisks them away from Earth, leaving their clothes, cars, and mid-air airplanes behind, lest they suffer God’s wrath (Link, read). Apparently, they do not trust the Blood on their door posts.
Corrie ten Boom:
The New International Greek Testament Commentary gives this section from Titus the headline “Motivations For Appropriate Conduct”
And the primary motive driving our “obedient response,” is that “we look expectantly for the hope and glory of the Second Coming of ‘our Savior Jesus Christ.’”
Titus Two begins “teach what is in accord with sound doctrine…” Its purpose is to illicit “our obedient response”
“…as to how we should live ‘in the present age.’”
“We live from the vantage point of ‘expectantly awaiting’ and ‘looking forward to’ Christ’s appearing.” [Expectantly waiting] “has as its object two nouns [Grk] ‘hope,’ and [Grk] ‘appearing’…”
“Paul uses the concept of ‘hope’ of the expectancy that Christians have for the unseen and sure, but not yet realized…Paul speaks of this hope in 1 Thess. 4:13-18…Christ’s return...”
“The ‘hope’ and the ‘appearing’ are one event…Jesus’ second appearance…”
“Jesus’ second coming.”
Verse 11 pointed to Christ’s First Appearing in the Incarnation, bringing salvation. Verse 13 points us to His future Appearing in Glory, bringing consummation.
Therefore, be “a people for himself…zealous for good works” based on “sound doctrine.”
Quotes from The New International Greek Testament Commentary, Titus, George W. Knight III, Eerdmans, 1992.
In Second Thessalonians, Chapter 2 (the body and main focus of this letter), Paul addresses some sort of misunderstanding that has disturbed these new Christians. He does not know the source of that confusion, whether it be a prophetic or a written word (verse 2), but he comes right to the point to set them straight. “Do not let anyone deceive you in any way…”
“The epistle attacks those who claimed present experience of events which were in reality still future. This leads Paul to give a vehement warning of Satan and the parousia of the lawless one which will take place before the parousia of Christ.”
—The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, Colin Brown, ed. (1976) s.v. “Present”
Their confusion is about the “when?” of the Parousia (verse 1). The prepositional phrase–”Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him”— is the subject of their befuddlement. This phrase is “a reference to the event described in 1 Thess 4:17, [also 2:19; 3:13] when the people of Christ (whether resurrected or surviving to the Parousia) will be transported to meet him and be eternally with him.”–F. F. Bruce, WBC.
That “coming” (parousia) and “gathering” (episynagoge) are one event as the single article (the) makes plain. “Indeed, they are the two parts of one great event.”–Leon Morris, New International Commentary on the New Testament.
“The noun episynagoge in 2 Thess. 2:1 refers to the ‘gathering together’ of believers to Christ at the Parousia.”–Dictionary of New Testament Theology What has disturbed these Thessalonian Christians is the question of “when”–the question of timing. The new “word” they had received from somebody (verse 2) confused some and led others astray–What? “ …the Day of the Lord has already come”??? Now? Later? Already?
Paul makes it crystal clear to them: Before the Parousia (verse 1), in the proper order of these things, FIRST (πρῶτον) must come the rebellion and the man of lawlessness (verse 3).
Justin Martyr clearly understood this in the early 2nd Century: “…the two advents of Christ have been announced, the first, in which he is shown as suffering, without glory, without honor, subject to crucifixion, and the second, in which he shall come from the heavens in glory, when the man of apostasy, who utters arrogant things against the Most High, will boldly attempt to perpetrate unlawful deeds against us Christians.“
Paul laid out that sequence of events. First—the apostasy and the man of lawlessness. Then—“the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him.”
“Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction” 1 Thess. 2:3
Matthew 24. Jesus: “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. “
Addendum
The million dollar Left Behind Industry either ignores this text, or explains away this passage of Scripture by juggling the text out of context and imposing the traditions and imaginations of men upon the Sacred Text (eisegesis), but when we allow God’s word to speak in context (exegesis), this sequence of events is crystal clear here.
One of the historical consequences of false or confused teaching is the tragic effect on everyday believers. Corrie Ten Boom quoted a Chinese bishop on one such heart-rending consequence:
“God did not appoint us to wrath”–1 Thessalonians 5:9a.
“These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” –Rev. 7
Left Behind enthusiasts, when told that First Thessalonians does not teach their Left Behind scenario (but rather the parousia, the Second Advent) quickly respond with that half of a verse taken from its whole context, which they left behind. “God did not appoint us to wrath”
Social media are replete with Christians crying for that day, while rejecting any thought that they might have to face the great tribulation. “God did not appoint us to wrath.”
Yet, many Left Behinders point to their preparations for those who will be left behind. Years ago, a lady in our church stated that she had videos on her desk for family that would explain why they were left behind when she was gone. R. C. Sproul recounted a tour given by Kathryn Kuhlman of her office. She had a large closet safe with her radio program recordings so that the Gospel would still be preached should the Rapture come in her lifetime. (Apparently, she did not expect all of her staff nor all the Christian radio personnel to be raptured.)
Kevin Sorbo in his movie, The Rise of the Antichrist (2023), is left behind and convinced of the Gospel by a video left behind by the pastor of his ‘raptured’ wife. (Details and review of that movie, here—LINK)
Typically, a Jack Graham Powerpoint sermon, The Blessed Hope, turns Titus’ expectation of the Second Coming into The Rapture. “When the salt and light is (sic) gone, that is, true believers, then decay and darkness sets in….Hell will be unleashed on earth….then, terrible retribution…you don’t want to be left behind for the great tribulation.”
BUT what about those videos and books and letters left behind for families and friends by these Left Behinders? You mean none of them will be saved? What about Kevin Sorbo? Oh, you say, ‘yes, some will be saved during the great tribulation.’
The end result of the Left Behinder’s escape hatch exit to miss the great tribulation is that there will be no salt nor light nor shepherds for those new Christians like the Kevin Sorbos who will be saved after the ‘Rapture’ but who are condemned to suffer God’s wrath a la the Left Behind scenario.
End Result a la Left Behinders: 1) Christians will not suffer God’s wrath (a la the purpose of “Beam me up!” theology)……………………………… 2) New Christians saved during the Great Tribulation will suffer God’s wrath.
The traditions of men of the last 2,000 years, using an old typology which many Christians still follow, wrongly claim that Isaiah 14 describes the fall of Satan.
CONTEXT. Remember that word.
Prof. Gentry, in this outstanding video, gives us rock solid exegesis of Isaiah 14. For an equally outstanding exposition of Isaiah 14, in print, see John Oswalt‘s magnum opus, Isaiah, in The New International Commentary on the Old Testament series (NICOT).
Franz Delitzsch, Isaiah (1890), quotes Luther on this tradition of Isaiah 14:12 referring to Satan, as “insignis error totius papatus” i.e. “a noteworthy error of the papacy” … Calvin’s commentary also repudiates this error as “arising from ignorance.”
What the expositors rejected during the Reformation, had a comeback with the publication of the Schofield Bible in 1908, which took up the old typology. The tradition of men lives on.
Strongs: “the morning star” lucifer (note NOT capitalized in Strongs) is simply the Latin translation (Jerome, 4th Century A.D.)
From the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (free online) They give just one sentence under the entry for lucifer: “lu’-si-fer, loo’-si-fer: The morning star, an epithet of the planet Venus.”
From the Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, Harris, Archer, Waltke (pub by Moody Press) “Our root represents the giving off of light by celestial bodies [i.e. planets, stars]”
“It is natural for a heathen king to boast that he would exalt himself above the gods or above the mountain where he believed the gods assembled.” “sapon (Isa 14:13) is well known in Ugaritic as the mountain of the gods. The God of Israel is not enthroned on Saphon; he reigns from heaven itself (cf. hekal).”
The Latin, lucifer (morning star) is the translation (4th Century A.D. in [Latin] Vulgate) of the Greek heosphoros (Venus, ὁ ἑωσφόρος) used in the LXX –(the Greek translation of the Old Testament made by Jews in the 3rd Century B.C.)– to translate the Hebrew, heylel
And never has it been a bigger problem than, today, with American Evangelicals on “Forgiveness.”
The latest example (of many from Christian social media and radio) of this illiteracy is given to us by Tim Challies, whose blog links us to a PCA Women’s Ministry article, “Forgive.” In the wake of what has been labeled Therapeutic Deism, this corollary might be called Therapeutic Forgiveness. It focuses on “me.”
That article begins by noting that “Matt. 18:21-35” requires forgiveness. (No verses in Matthew are quoted.) Verse 21 is Peter’s famous question, “Lord, how many times shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him?”
Jesus famous answer: “seventy times seven.”
[Let us note not to confuse unlimited forgiveness with unconditional forgiveness.]
BUT the context begins at verse 15. with Jesus’ teaching: “If your brother sins against you, go to him and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother.”
And the next steps in verses 16 and onward, involve the church.
Luke 17:3f makes Jesus’ condition clear, “Take heed to yourself, if your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents forgive him.”
“If.”
The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia states: “Jesus recognized that there are conditions to be fulfilled before forgiveness can be granted. Forgiveness is part of a mutual relationship; the other part is the repentance of the offender. God does not forgive without repentance, nor is it required of mankind.”
(Some will exclaim , “Father forgive them for they know not what they do…”–from an extreme circumstance, the Crucifixion, never to be repeated, which does not negate Jesus’ clear teaching and command about forgiving.)
Let us pause, here, and note that Jesus does not command us to forgive our enemies. He commands us to love them. That is what he did for us. Romans 5 declares, “…Christ died for us….when we were enemies…”
Now, back to “Matt. 18:21-35” cited at the beginning of the article, which few, if any, will take up their Bibles and read, let alone in context. In response to Peter’s famous question, after Jesus’ exhortation to forgive “seventy times seven” times, Jesus gives us a parable.
A king calls in a servant to account for a large debt that is owed. (An impossible debt to pay. Fuller exposition here.) The servant pleads [repents] for mercy, and the king pardons him, erasing the debt [forgiveness}.
Then, this same servant goes to a fellow servant and demands payment of a much smaller debt to himself. The fellow servant begs for mercy but receives none. The forgiven servant has his fellow servant thrown into prison. This first servant’s position is now worse than at the beginning as the king deals with him.
Two servants—each pleads for mercy, i.e. each repents. That point seems hidden behind the cloud of the cultural moment of our day. (That ever present cloud of Biblical Illiteracy.)
All of this is missing from the article. It makes forgiveness a solitary, individualistic act performed for self “healing.” Therapy, not reconciliation (as in Mat. 18:15) is the intention of this new ‘forgiveness’ awash in the philosophy of our day.
We display a sloppy and lazy use of words in our day. Just look at “love.” We have lost whole Christian denominations to the “love is love” mantra.
Evangelicals display a similar slothfulness, giving us an unholy distortion in today’s use of “forgive.”
Pastor Robert Jeffress, one of a few good Bible teachers who promote “the Rapture” on Christian radio, made a clear, insightful point of exegesis: Jesus did not speak of the “Rapture.” But rather, of the Second Coming.
[But Pastor Jeffress does think that Paul did– For Jeffress, the “Rapture” being a distinct, separate event from the Second Coming/Advent]
In Matthew 24,Jesus teaches about “the coming [parousia] of the Son of Man” v. 27, that “all the nations…will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
“…He will send his angels with a loud trumpet call and they will gather his elect…”
[His elect that were already gathered at a previous ‘Rapture’ ?!]
In 1 Thessalonians, Paul greets his converts with the praise that they “turned to God from idols to server the living and true God and to wait for his Son from heaven…” (1:10)
These Thessalonians are his hope and joy, to be fulfilled “in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming [parousia].” (2:19)…with the trumpet of God (4:15).”
Paul was clearly drawing on Jesus’ teaching.
F. F. Bruce: “What is called the ‘day of Christ’ in Phil. 2:16 is referred to here as Christ’s Advent [parousia]. This is the earliest occurrence in literature of παρουσία [parousia] in its distinctive Christian sense of the advent of Christ in glory.”
“This Christian sense of παρουσία occurs six times in the Thessalonian letters…” and in 1 Cor. 15:23.
“It occurs four times in… (Matthew’s) discourse (Mat. 24:3, 27, 37, 39).”
“That the Thessalonians had been taught to expect this great event is plain from [1 Thess.] 1:10.” ***
The KEY CONTEXT, of 1 Thessalonians 4:
v.13f But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers,about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming [parousia] of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.
Chapter 5: Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. 2 For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night *….whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. 11 Therefore encourage one another…
* “…the night the thief was coming…”–Jesus, Matthew 24
***F. F. Bruce, 1 & 2 Thessalonians, Word Biblical Commentary, 1982. {Rapturists are oblivious to the fact that Evangelical New Testament scholars and reference works do NOT espouse the Rapture. Not in this noted commentary, nor in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, nor The New International Commentary on the New Testament, The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, etc.}
Like those Christians who believe in Purgatory, nothing this side of Heaven is apt to convince Left Behinders to truly take the Bible in context on this subject. What we can do is help keep others from being misled as we share God’s word in context.
Parousia. In the NT, parousia, with reference to Christ, refers to Christ’s Second Advent, his Second Coming, “…the coming of Christ at the end-time for the general resurrection, last judgment and the creation of the new heaven and earth.”--The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, s.v. “present” (II:899ff).
There are real consequences to mistaken beliefs. Corrie Ten Boom pointed out one very sad example (the result of American missionaries with their Scofield Bibles):
“Romans 13”-Quoting-Christians do so oblivious to the key context of the that text:it is addressed to Christians who are called to fear the sword of God-instituted government.
“But if you do wrong, [Christians], be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain.”
Paul has just asked these Roman Christians:
“Would you have no fear of the one in authority? Then do what is good…”
The key backdrop, standing behind these verses, involves the Zealots, the 1st Century insurrectionists who picked up the sword against Roman soldiers whenever they found an opportune moment. They sought to overthrow their occupiers, their Roman enemy, and they would bring down the house with the Jewish War which would begin in A.D. 66.*
Paul writes to the Roman Christiansin the Year of Our Lord 57, three years after the Jews began their return to Rome following the death of Claudius, who had expelled the Jews from Rome c. A.D. 49, following the insurrections of A.D. 46-48, and the execution of the sons of Judas the Galilean.
Judas had led an insurrection (Acts 5:37) in A.D. 6 when Judea became a Roman Province. Varus crushed that revolt with the sword, and crucified 2,000 Jews around Jerusalem (see Josephus).
In this pain-filled milieu, Paul writes to the Roman Christians, Jew and Gentile:
“Do not be conformed to this world…Bless those who persecute you…Do not repay anyone evil for evil…Do not take revenge…If your enemy is hungry, feed him…Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities…”
36 “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven,but My Father only.37 But as the days of Noahwere,so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.38 For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark,39 and did not know until the flood cameand took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.40 Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left.41 Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left.42 Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.43 But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into.44 Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. Matthew 24
[Text highlighted to show the parallels: came…coming…took…taken…]
The flood ‘came’ and ‘took’ them. “So also” The Son of Man comes and one will be ‘taken’…clear parallels. W. F. Albright, Matthew, AB, notes on v. 31: “…this saying refers to the final judgment.” This section, “looks to a final judgement and triumph when the reign of the Messiah will be finally declared and made open.”
[The other clear parallel between the days of Noah and the days of the coming of the Son of Man: people will be going about their normal business.]
As NICOT, Genesis, notes regarding Noah: “He is saved because he is left behind.”
New Testament scholars see the “taken” as being “to judgment.” Robert H. Mounce (New International Biblical Commentary), sees this “taken” as parallel with the ‘”taken away” by the flood’ (v. 39). Others think it is ‘left for judgment (e.g. NICNT) [But this seems to be based on some presupposition rather than on the context which seems to be blatantly ignored]. Context makes clear the parallels. But here is the key point–“The coming of Jesus marks a complete and permanent division” (Leon Morris) “. . . the decisive moment.”
“The sayings emphasize the completely unexpected nature of the Man’s coming” (AB).
THIS is the Parousia, “the coming of the Son of Man,” the Second Advent, the final judgment, (vv. 27, 29-31, 44), not some secret “beam me up Scotty!” fiction. This context leaves “Left Behind” out in the cold. [The enigmatic saying about the vulturesreceives a variety of educated guesses. HERE is the best exposition that I have read.] And the context of the primary passage (which is distorted to fit the modern “Rapture” doctrine) also leaves the fiction behind. See the clear context of 1 Thessalonians– https://textsincontext.wordpress.com/2013/05/11/second-coming-rapture-vs-scripture-christian/
TextsInContext 