Synonyms: replica, copy, representation, mock-up, dummy, imitation, double, duplicate, lookalike, reproduction, prototype, stereotype, archetype, type, version, style, ideal, paragon, perfect example, specimen, perfect specimen, fashion model, supermodel, mannequin, sitter, poser, subject, artist's model, photographic model, design, mark, configuration, variety, kind, sort, original, original design, exclusive, toy, miniature, facsimile, prototypical, prototypal, archetypal, illustrative, perfect, exemplary, classic, flawless, faultless, consummate, impeccable
Antonyms: deficient, imperfect
Showing 351 to 375 of 3852 results
Teach the Text
C. Marvin Pate
... Isa. 60:6; Joel 2:32; Nah. 1:15). Such a message of good news also included the conversion of the Gentiles (see Isa. 2:2–4; Mic. 4:1–3; Rom. 9:25–27; 15:16–33). This is the gospel of “God” in Christ because it originated in the Old Testament as the divine promise to Israel and is fulfilled in Jesus Christ. 1:2  the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets. Commentators agree that “prophets” here refers to the whole of the Old Testament. Thus, Paul is saying that the Old Testament ...
Teach the Text
Preben Vang
... say such a Christian is free to remarry,” but the social situation in Corinth was “such that remarriage was a likely possibility.”11 God has called us to live in peace. Some manuscripts read “you” instead of “us,” and this may be the original reading. Early copyists may have changed it to “us” because the sentence reads like a summary statement. Paul’s aim, however, is likely not to give a sweeping statement about a general Christian truth. Nor is he writing from a modern psychological ...
Teach the Text
Preben Vang
... to buy Christmas presents for a sibling, or an organization trusted you to spend a gift budget on a peer. In any case, you shopped with your own preferences in mind, bought something you would have wanted, and then felt distressed to see it go to the originally intended recipient. In the same way, we often ask for spiritual gifts that would be of benefit to us in increasing our sense of worth, solving our problems, or gaining the respect of others. If we do receive such gifts, we often feel tempted to use ...
354. Message to Laodicea
Revelation 3:14-22
Teach the Text
J. Scott Duvall
... 19:11). Jesus is also the ruler (arch?) not just of the kings of the earth but of the whole of creation (cf. Col. 1:15–20). While “ruler” can be taken temporally as the “beginning” of creation, it can also be understood causally as the “origin” or “source” of creation, and that seems to be the case here. Since Isaiah 65:17 speaks about the creation of new heavens and a new earth, and because of the parallels with Colossians 1:15–20, “God’s creation” here points to the new creation ...
Teach the Text
Joe M. Sprinkle
... and should use the special occasions on the calendar for spiritual purposes. If the early church essentially modified the winter solstice to celebrate the birth of Jesus, it was a wonderful idea. The same sort of thing might be done for Halloween. Originally, it had a religious connection, being called “All Hallows Eve”—that is, the evening before the medieval church holiday of All Saints Day. In modern times that religious connection has been lost, but there is no reason why Christians cannot try to ...
Teach the Text
Joe M. Sprinkle
... occur every forty-nine years (see Lev. 25:8-55), though it is not clear whether Jubilee is ever actually carried out (see “Teaching the Text” at Lev. 25:1–55 for a discussion). At Jubilee all lands that have been sold will return to the original owners or their descendants. If a husband of a daughter of Zelophehad were from another tribe and he were economically forced to sell some of the land obtained from Zelophehad’s daughter, this land might easily revert to his family’s tribe rather than to ...
Teach the Text
Robert B. Chisholm Jr.
... Davidic oath recorded in the immediate context, except for the one in verse 3, where the oath simply emphasizes David’s belief that his life is in grave danger. If we retain the Hebrew text, the prior oath must be one made in conjunction with the original covenant Jonathan made with David, recorded in 18:3. (2) The relationship of 20:17b to the statement is unclear. How would Jonathan’s intense loyalty to David (already affirmed in 18:1, 3) motivate him to make David swear an oath promising to protect ...
Teach the Text
C. Hassell Bullock
... you, you only, have I sinned.Wilson explains: “The measure of the psalmist’s sin in this case is ‘what is evil in [God’s] sight’ (51:4)—a much higher standard than the world holds.”8 51:5  sinful at birth.While the doctrine of original sin may not be in mind here—nor is it a doctrine in Judaism—David may be thinking of the sinful nature and sinful tendencies of humanity, from the very beginning of the biblical story. In truth, this affects human beings “at birth,” inclining them in ...
Teach the Text
Ronald W. Pierce
... your citizenship. Consider the discomfort or uneasiness of knowing that you may be forbidden to enter or imprisoned if you are attempting to enter a place where you do not have citizenship. By contrast, upon entering into God’s kingdom, our human country of origin will neither advantage nor disadvantage us, for our right to enter is established by our inclusion as God’s children in Christ, which makes us citizens of heaven—the only kingdom that truly matters. It is in God’s kingdom that we will ...
One Volume
Gary M. Burge
... 11). His reasons for doing so are not entirely clear, but later on even Ish-Bosheth suspects that Abner wanted the throne for himself (3:6–8). The name Ish-Bosheth means “man of shame,” but this was a later development, a sort of derogatory nickname. Originally his name was apparently Ish-Baal, or Esh-Baal, meaning “man of Baal” (1 Chron. 8:33). Baal was the name of a prominent Canaanite god, but in Hebrew the word also meant “lord” or “master”; it was even sometimes used to refer to God ...
One Volume
Gary M. Burge
... to her lovers (8:20–21). 8:22–31 · A new section commences by associating wisdom not with earthly rulers (as in 8:15–16) but with Yahweh, the Creator of the universe (8:22). This section then proceeds to describe wisdom’s ancient origin and earliest activities. Although God is the subject of all verbs in verses 22–29, wisdom’s close association with him is emphasized repeatedly. A number of interpretive difficulties are found in this section. God’s first action is to create/bring forth or ...
One Volume
Gary M. Burge
... four women hints at an important theme to come: Gentile inclusion. Tamar and Rahab, both Canaanites (Tamar likely so: Gen. 38:1–6; Rahab: Josh. 2:1), and Ruth, a Moabite (Ruth 1:4), are surprising ancestors of Jesus, given their Gentile origins (see “Theological Themes” in the introduction). While there is no biblical evidence for the ethnic identity of Bathsheba, the fact that Matthew refers to her as “Uriah’s wife” rather than by her name provides evidence that he is highlighting precisely her ...
363. Jesus’s Birth
Matthew 1:18-25
One Volume
Gary M. Burge
... his people from their sins” (1:21). The latter pronouncement fits the exilic motif already introduced in the genealogy (1:11–12). The Old Testament motif of Israel’s exile and return is theologically connected to the forgiveness of Israel’s sin that originally brought about exile (cf. Jer. 31:27–34). In 1:18–25, Matthew emphasizes Joseph’s naming of Jesus. The angel commands Joseph to name the child and explains the meaning of “Jesus” (1:21; Hebrew: Joshua, meaning “salvation”). At the ...
One Volume
Gary M. Burge
... of the second century, consists of a resurrection harmony excerpted from the other three Gospels. The various excerpts appear to have been selected and edited in the secondary ending in accordance with the theme of the unbelief of the disciples. If the Gospel of Mark originally ended at 16:8, then readers, like the women, are left in a state requiring a response of faith, which must be elicited by hearing rather than by sight. This is the conclusion that a majority of modern scholars draw with regard to the ...
One Volume
Gary M. Burge
... Jewish leadership (7:32–36). On this last day the same applies: the people and the leaders are divided (7:40–52). Some express incipient faith (7:40–41, 46); others show contempt (7:41, 44, 47–49). In both cases the issue of Jesus’s inferior Galilean origin is a problem (7:41–42, 52). In John 1:46 this same concern troubled Nathanael, but there was a difference. He had the courage to “come and see” Jesus for himself. This too is the counsel of Nicodemus in 7:51. A true verdict requires an ...
One Volume
Gary M. Burge
... 14:5; 20:24), the name of Simon’s father in 21:15 (see 1:42), and the double use of “truly/amen” in 21:18 (see, e.g., 5:19; 6:26; 8:34). This evidence suggests that chapter 21 is authentically Johannine but secondary to the original format of the Gospel (but see Smalley 1974). John 21:20–23 implies that John the apostle has died and that the community he founded is wrestling with his absence. Disciples who have survived their master identify themselves in 21:24 (“we know that his testimony is true ...
One Volume
Gary M. Burge
... condition (3:21–5:11). In 5:12 Paul sets up a contrast between two men. One man is responsible for sin in the world, resulting in death, which has spread to all people. Death is described as an unnatural state: it was not originally part of the world; it entered God’s creation through Adam (whose name means “man”). Death is both physical and spiritual (cf. 5:16, 18, the reference to condemnation). When Adam sinned, he was separated from God’s immediate presence (Genesis 3). Adam is responsible ...
One Volume
Gary M. Burge
... live specifically in Ephesus is unclear. Re-creating the Human Family: What God Has Done (1:3–3:21) 1:3–14 · This opening section, setting the agenda for the rest of the letter, is itself opened in verses 3–6. God, who in Jesus Christ originated the solution to the dilemma of our sin, is praised (blessed) for blessing us in Christ with every spiritual blessing (1:3). The word “bless” carries here two different senses, depending on whether God or a human being is the one who blesses. “In the ...
Understanding Series
Larry W. Hurtado
... the question of ritual washing; instead he replies with a counteraccusation (7:6–8) and then an illustration of what he considers to be the perverse effect of the accumulated body of Jewish tradition (vv. 9–13). It is only in 7:14–23 that the original question of “clean/unclean,” which lies at the base of the hand-washing practice, is taken up by Jesus. But Jesus’ words in 7:6–13 really are relevant to the Pharisees’ criticism of the disciples (7:1–5), because he attacks the basis of their ...
Understanding Series
Craig A. Evans
... pointed out, is that the rich man lived like a king (see Prov. 31:22). Consequently Leaney (p. 225–226) wonders if the rich man was supposed to have been Herod Antipas. According to v. 28 the rich man had five brothers, as had Herod when the parable was originally told. 16:20 There are at least two issues related to the name of the beggar. (1) It is sometimes wondered why a figure in a parable would be assigned a proper name. In no other parable of Jesus is this the case. It has been suggested that there ...
Understanding Series
James R. Edwards
... change Christ (or the gospel) to fit our culture and mores, but we must be changed and converted by it. Only thus are we set free from sin. This freedom, which Paul introduces for the first time in Romans (and again in vv. 20, 22), originates from the cross of Christ and from the believer’s engrafting into Christ at baptism. 6:19 Paul was not unaware that comparing Christianity to the brute conditions of slavery risked offense to the gospel. He defends the analogy, however, because you are weak in your ...
Understanding Series
James R. Edwards
... of the OT, the so-called Demiurge, was an inferior and evil God in contrast to the God and Father of Jesus Christ. To this day anti-Semitism more often than not reasserts this claim. Paul naturally recoils from this terrible idea. The law, to be sure, is of divine origin and is holy and good (vv. 12, 14), but it cannot rescue humanity from its bondage to sin. Paul then repeats a position he has stated before: I would not have known what sin was except through the law (v. 7; also 3:20). It is true that in ...
Understanding Series
James R. Edwards
... 1:10. A Targum on this text reads, “I (God) will love the unloved because of their works” (Str-B, vol. 3, p. 273). Paul, by contrast, says that the Gentiles, like the Jews, belong to the covenant not by works but by grace. In its original context Hosea applied the saying to the Israelites who had forsaken the kingdom of God for the affluent and indulgent northern kingdom of Jeroboam II. But, with no little audacity, Paul applies it here to the Gentiles! A Jewish apocalypse a generation later would scorn ...
374. Wisdom from the Spirit
1 Corinthians 2:6-16
Understanding Series
Marion L. Soards
... ; he is thinking about what can and cannot be known. 2:15 While Paul does not explicitly say that he is quoting Scripture here, it is certain that he freely reworked lines from Isa. 40:13 into his argument. Nevertheless, Paul omits some words from the original statement. The LXX of Isa. 40:13 literally reads, “Who knows the mind of the Lord, and who is his counselor, that he may instruct him.” Paul alters the form of the verb “to instruct” in a minor manner, but he completely drops the phrase that ...
Understanding Series
Marion L. Soards
... seems prudent in its choice of texts, since the pronoun “our” is appropriate to the situation and compatible with the other usages in this section. But the title “Christ” was more likely added than omitted from so solemn a pronouncement as Paul makes here. Had he written “Christ” originally, it would not likely have been omitted. 5:5 The mention of Satan in this verse is one of ten references to this figure in the Pauline corpus: Rom. 16:20; 1 Cor. 5:5; 7:5; 2 Cor. 2:11; 11:14; 12:7; 1 Thess. 2 ...
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