But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, (John 1:12, ESV) There are a few words in this verse that need some explanation. Let's think about the word, "receive" first. It is a word that is quite often translated "take". It means to grab ahold of or hold on to. In other words, all sorts of people who grab ahold of Jesus... What about "believe"? It is the verb form of "faith". Sort of like, "they faithed in his name." Trust is a part of this word, but it also includes perspective. This is how you see things. How you view things. Your core understanding of the universe. To believe in the name of Jesus is not to simply believe that He existed and that He did the things that He did. No. It is to see Jesus for who He is... Lord and Savior of all. God of very God. Creator, Sustainer, our only Hope. How about the word, "right"? Nea...
Yes. Or, to put it another way, Genesis 1-3 don't tell us when, how, or why things began, but they do tell us Who started them.
ReplyDeleteI have to slightly disagree.
ReplyDeleteI think that even though Genesis doesn't tell us exactly when... it does tell us how: By God's Word. He spoke, and the world began.
In the Hebrew, the word for "word" is the same as the word for "deed," so God does what he says. Word and Deed are so closely related. God speaks and birds exist, waves form, and trees begin to wave in the newly formed breeze.
As to the "why" we learn later in the Bible that it all exists for His glory and honor.