Biblical Thoughts

  Paul wrote to Corinthians famously; the letter kills but the Spirit gives life (2 Cor 3:4). Paul, who was once a student of Gamaliel writes that the law of Moses kills but the Spirit of God gives life. What led him to make such a bold declaration? Why did he decide to deny his whole Jewish background once he met with Jesus? The answers to these questions could best be found by studying the life of Paul besides his epistles. Paul was born in the cultural, commercial, cosmopolitan capital of the Roman province of Cilicia, Tarsus. He was born to the dispersed Jews who settled outside the Holy land. Tarsus equaled Athens in Greece and Alexandria in Egypt as a dominant center of education. All of them stood out like bright jewels around the shores of the magnificent Mediterranean Sea. Being situated at a cross junction of civilizations, Tarsus had traders and learned people bustling the streets where a young and aspirant Saul (Paul’s Hebrew name) grew up. Though he grew up in a ...

Bible begins with the expression “In the Beginning”. Fiction writers invented the expression “Once upon a time” and we read them in bedtime stories from childhood days. The expression “Once upon a time” suggests that according to the author the event happened at a certain point in time in history and is unsure when it happened. Such an expression also suggests there are events that have happened prior to this moment. If Bible began with an expression, ‘Once upon a time God created heavens and earth’, it would have led to the obvious question what God created prior to this moment. The expression “In the Beginning” refers to the very beginning of time. It was a point in time where time itself was introduced. It was a point in time where the Spiritual initiated the physical. Time is necessary for the physical world to function unlike the spiritual world which is not time bound. For them a thousand years is like a day (2 Pet 3:8) of ours. This expression was well endorsed by John...

  Abraham Maslow was an American Psychologist who developed a hierarchy of needs to explain the innate needs of man from a basic level to the highest level. At the lowest level are the Physiological rather the physical needs such as air, water, or food. Once the physical needs are met, mankind go beyond to look for safety needs which cover personal security, employment, health..etc. Once they are met, he or she looks for a sense of love and belonging. Beyond this, one seeks esteem which covers respect, self-esteem, status, or recognition. The final stage according to Maslow is the self-actualization where a person finds fulfilment by trying to reach his or her full potential. While this hierarchy of needs suggests that higher levels of needs arise only after the lower ones are met, it does not suggest how they could be met. How does Bible deal with the subject of human needs? Does it suggest a similar pattern? When God cre...

When God placed Adam in the garden of Eden, he was designed to live in absolute victory. Why would God who is full of love create an earth and allow his children to live in defeat? He authorized him to subdue and reign. He ate from the bounties of Eden, played with the animals, swam in the streams, and enjoyed the companionship of Eve and an unceasing communion with the Father. He lived in utmost freedom and utmost victory. Slavery and defeat were unknown to him. He lost his authority the moment he submitted to satan and was driven out of the garden. Instead of living by God’s Word in God’s world, he had to live by his own sweat (Gen 3:19). Instead of relishing the golden bounties of Eden, he had to till the land for his living. Toil took a toll of his life.  Fatigue, and stress came into his life. Poverty and lack followed as his sweat could not suffice. He lost his mastery over life, lost his divine health and sickness stole into his flesh. Pain became his partner. For Adam and...

    Psalms 91: 4 says His truth shall be a shield and a buckler. How can truth become a shield? Natural mind can see a piece of metal becoming a shield, not a piece of truth. First let’s look at how we turn a piece of metal into a shield? We shape them into a shield, hook them onto our hand and then use them against the fiery arrows. A piece of metal becomes a mighty weapon in the hands of one who decides to use it. A piece of truth can play a similar role. The best example is found in the life of Jesus. When satan came to tempt him saying, Turn the stone into bread (Math 4:3), he refuted him by quoting the Truth from Deuteronomy, that Man shall not live by the bread alone but my every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord (Deut 8:3). He kept quoting from scripture till satan fled. Here Jesus used an Old Testament Truth against satan. Adam faced a similar situation in the Eden Garden. In both the cases the temptation was about eating the forbidden food. But Adam...

  Jesus was both divine and human. He is one among the trinity who took the human form. He was on the earth, in flesh facing life. He descended into a fallen world from heaven where pain, sorrow, appetite, and hardships are not. How did he cope with this transition? How could he be divine while being human? How did he remain divine through the earthly ordeals? He lived an extremely short but disciplined life of Godly habits. Those are radically different from what the world teaches. What shall we learn from those habits of Jesus? ·          He stayed on God’s will Jesus’ parents took him to Jerusalem when he was twelve years old for the Passover feast. On the way back they found him missing in their company. They returned to Jerusalem in search of him. When they found him, he said to them, why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business? (Luke 2:49). Jesus was focused on being in his Father’s wi...

  Who was Pontius Pilate? Since AD 6, Romans have been appointing their own governors or perfects to rule over the tumultuous terrain of Judea once it became a Roman province after the deposition of Archelaus, one of the sons of Herod the Great. Pontius Pilate was the fifth governor appointed by Emperor Tiberius from AD 26 who grabbed a permanent place in the crowded pages of human history as a person who approved the crucifixion of Jesus.      Pilate’s long tenure of ten years as a governor suggests that he did what fairly pleased the Roman empire. The office of Pilate exercised military, political, social, judicial, and economic power. He ratified capital punishments, even appointed the Jewish high priest, and collected taxes & tributes for Rome. Pilate was based in Caesarea a city 90 km away from Jerusalem. When he visited Jerusalem, he stayed in Herod’s palace built by Herod the Great which served as...