RF Bible Study

Monday, February 23, 2026

Men of Violence PowerPoint

The New Way

Jesus the new Moses: Mat 2.15; cp. John 1.17.
The Golden Rule of Jesus redefines, summarizes “the Law and the prophets” (Matt 7:12).
Mercy now overrides sacrifices (Mat 9.13; 12.7; cf. Hos 6.6).
Mercy now overrides the old civil system: death penalty, Mat 5.27-28.
But justice is coming! Imprecatory Prayers answered.

Political Patriotic Parties

Gamaliel speech: Acts 5.35-39
Jesus attracted non-religious;
Religious “holy,” men!
Government officials (taxman);
Insurrectionists (Zealots);
“Simon the patriot,” Luke 6.12-16!

Paul: “a violent man”

Peter: a Christian-at-arms

The New Way

A direct, overt rejection of the tit-for-tat, quid pro quo under the Law of Moses!

The parading shift: Matt 26.52

"Whoever lives by the sword WILL DIE by the sword."

Jesus “overrules” Moses

Harnack, Militia Christi:

“We need say nothing more to confirm that the gospel excluded all force and had nothing warlike about it, nor would it allow it.”

Hays, Moral Vision:

“There’s no foundation whatever in the Gospel of Matthew for the notion that violence in defense of a third party is justifiable. In fact, Matt 26.51-52 serves as an explicit refutation of this idea.”

Imprecatory Prayers

James and John asked Jesus:

“Sir, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to destroy them?” Luke 9.54

“Wait until the Lord comes.”

1Cor 4:5

Apocalyptic/Judgment Parables

Enemies are “destroyed” at the Feast, Matt 22.1-10;
Wicked vineyard tenants “killed,” Lk 20.9-16, Mat 21.33-41;

Apocalyptic/Judgment Parables

Talented Christians “slaughter” the enemy, Lk 19.12-27;
The goats suffer “eternal punishment,” Mat 25.31-46.

Apocalyptic/Judgment Parables

Unfaithful servants “cut in two,” Mat 24:42-51; cp. Luke 12.46;
False prophets “cut down/burned,” Mat 7.19;
The whole book of Apocalypse!

‘The wicked were squeezed like grapes; their blood turned into a river 180 miles long, deep enough to cover a horse.’
Rev. 14.20

NOTE: one of the most used OT in NT:
Ps 21:9, “thrown in furnace, burned in fire”

Prayers will be answered!

Hays, Moral Vision of the New Testament:

“[Jesus] doesn’t commend the disciple who takes up the sword to defend him against unjust arrest; rather, uttering a prophetic word of judgment against all who ‘take the sword,’ he commands that the sword be put away.”

A Time to Kill!

Luke 19.27

Now is the time:

Where are my enemies? Where are the people who did not want me to be king? Bring my enemies before me and slaughter them. I will watch them die.

Bibliography

Bercot, The Kingdom that Turned the World Upside Down.
Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship.
Boyd, The Myth Of A Christian Nation.
Brensinger & Sider, Within the Perfection of Christ.
Camp, Mere Discipleship.
Clouse, War: Four Christian Views.
Dodge, War Inconsistent with the Religion of Jesus Christ.
Drescher, Why I Am a Conscientious Objector.
Egan, Peace Be With You: Justified Warfare or the Way of Non-Violence.
Ford, My Enemy is My Guest.
Gray, The Warriors: Reflection of Men in Battle.
Grossman, On Killing.
Harnack, Militia Christi.
Kalantzis, Caesar and the Lamb.
Claibourne, Jesus for President.
Joseph, The Nonviolent Messiah.
MacArthur, Why Government Can’t Save You.
McCarthy, Christian Just War Theory: The Logic of Deceit.
MLK, Strength to Love.
Roth, Choosing Against War.
Sprinkle, Fight: A Christian Case for Non-Violence.
Stassen & Gushee, Kingdom Ethics.
Taylor, A Change of Allegiance.
Tolstoy, The Kingdom Of God Is Within You.
Wink, Jesus and Nonviolence.
Yoder, The Politics of Jesus; What Would You Do.
York & Barringer, A Faith Not Worth Fighting For.
Allman, Who Would Jesus Kill?
Peck, We Who Would Not Kill.

Sunday, February 22, 2026

Verses Showing the Holy Spirit Is Not a Third Person of the Trinity

Most Christians assume that the Holy Spirit is the “Third Person of the Trinity,” co-equal and co-eternal with the Father and the Son. But when we look carefully at Scripture itself, we find a very different picture.
The holy spirit is God’s own presence, power, and mind in action, not a separate divine Person called “God the Spirit.”
The following is a list of both Old and New Testaments verses to show how the Bible consistently describes the Spirit of God.
The Spirit as God’s creative breath/power:
Gen 1:2–3 – “the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters… Then God said…”
Gen 2:7 – God breathes into Adam the breath (neshamah/ruach) of life.
Job 33:4 – “The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.”
Ps 104:29–30 – God hides His face and creatures die; “You send forth Your Spirit, they are created, and You renew the face of the ground.”
Spirit + God’s word = creative power, not “God the Spirit” acting separately.
The Spirit identical with God’s presence
Ps 139:7 “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?”
The poetic parallel shows “Your Spirit” = “Your presence,” not a distinct divine person beside Yahweh.
Isa 63:10–11 Israel grieved His Holy Spirit, yet the same section speaks of “the angel of His presence” and Yahweh Himself. God’s spirit is His own presence with His people.
Ezek 3:14; 8:1–3; 37:1 – “the Spirit lifted me up… the hand of Yahweh was on me.” “Spirit” and “hand of Yahweh” are used interchangeably.
The Spirit as God’s mind
Isa 40:13 – “Who has measured the Spirit of Yahweh, or who, as His counselor, has informed Him?”
Paul quotes this in 1 Cor 2:16 as “who has known the mind of the Lord?” So “Spirit of Yahweh” = “mind of the Lord.”
The Spirit Poured out like power, not approached like a second deity
Joel 2:28–29 – “I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh…”
Acts 2:17–18, 33 – Peter says this is fulfilled: God pours out “from” His spirit. Persons are not poured out; God shares His presence and power.
Acts 10:45 – “the gift of the holy spirit had been poured out also on the Gentiles.”
The Spirit Given from God and Christ – not a separate, distinct Person.
Rom 5:5 – “the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through holy spirit which was given to us.”
1 Thess 4:8 – “…God, who gives His holy spirit to you.”
John 15:26 – The spirit of truth “proceeds from the Father” and is sent by Jesus. A co-equal “third person” is not usually sent by the other two.
John 3:34 – “He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for He gives the spirit without measure.” – the Father “measures out” (or not) the spirit.
Gal 3:2, 5 – “Did you receive the spirit by works of law or by hearing with faith?… He who supplies the spirit to you…”
The spirit is something received from God, not another God receiving worship.
The spirit as power, not a separate “mind” alongside God’s. These verses explicitly link spirit and power:
Luke 1:35 – “holy spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.”
Parallelism: holy spirit = power of the Most High.
Luke 4:18 – “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me… to preach good news…” – the spirit is the anointing power enabling Jesus’ ministry.
Acts 1:8 – “You will receive power when the holy spirit comes upon you…”
Rom 15:13, 19 – “in the power of holy spirit… in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of God’s spirit.”
The Spirit = God’s mind at work in us:
1 Cor 2:10–12, 16 – “God revealed [spiritual things] to us through the spirit… no one knows the things of God except the spirit of God… we have the mind of Messiah.”
Spirit of God = knowing mind of God, shared with believers.
2 Tim 1:7 – “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and sound mind.”
This spirit is something God gives us (our inner disposition), not someone we pray to.
The Spirit can be quenched, grieved, resisted:
1 Thess 5:19 – “Do not quench the spirit.”
Eph 4:30 – “Do not grieve the holy spirit of God, by which you were sealed…”
Acts 7:51 – “You always resist the holy spirit.”
These are relational terms for God’s own presence being resisted or ignored—just as Israel “grieved His Holy Spirit” in Isa 63:10.
The Spirit as something filling people / being “in” them:
Eph 5:18 – “Be filled with the spirit.”
Acts 2:4; 4:8, 31; 9:17; 13:9 – people “filled with holy spirit.”
Luke 1:15, 41, 67 – John, Elizabeth, Zechariah “filled with holy spirit.”
We do not usually speak of being “filled with” a separate divine person; we speak of being filled with God’s power, wisdom, joy, boldness—His own life shared with us.
The Spirit as God’s gift, seal, and down payment:
Eph 1:13–14 – believers “were sealed with the holy spirit of promise, which is the down payment/earnest of our inheritance.”
2 Cor 1:21–22; 5:5 – God “sealed us and gave the spirit in our hearts as a pledge.”
Here the spirit functions like God’s signature and deposit, not another “I” beside Him.
The Apostolic greetings are always from God (the Father) and the lord Jesus, not the spirit
Scan the openings of Paul’s letters:
Rom 1:7 – “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the lord Jesus Messiah.”
Same pattern: 1 Cor 1:3; 2 Cor 1:2; Gal 1:3; Eph 1:2; Phil 1:2; Col 1:2; 1–2 Thess 1:1; Philem 3; 2 Jn 3.
The spirit is never listed as sender of grace and peace. Buzzard notes: “It is remarkable that greetings at the opening of Paul’s epistles are never sent from the Holy Spirit. Nor is the Holy Spirit ever addressed or prayed to.”
Nowhere in Scripture is the Holy Spirit prayed to or worshipped… nowhere is the Holy Spirit praised in song… nowhere is the Holy Spirit said to send his personal greetings… and nowhere is the Holy Spirit given a personal name.”
Yet in many churches today, the spirit is addressed, sung to, and treated as a third worship-object—something never modeled in the Bible.
The final throne scene: God and the Lamb—no third throne:
Rev 5:13 – “To Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.”
Rev 22:1, 3 – “the throne of God and of the Lamb.”
If a third co-equal Person existed, Revelation is a very strange place to leave him out of the worship and the throne.
“Another Comforter” – still Jesus and the Father, by spirit. Trinitarians often run to John 14–16. But notice the language carefully:
John 14:16–18 – “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper… I will not leave you orphans; I am coming to you.”
John 14:23 – “We will come to him and make our dwelling with him.”
John 16:13–14 – the spirit “will not speak from himself, but whatever it hears it will speak… it will glorify me, for it will take of mine and will declare it to you.”
The “Helper” language personifies the spirit’s role as Jesus and the Father continuing their work in the believers.
Summary
If you’re talking with your pastor or friends, you might boil it down like this. The Bible never says “one God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit,” but it does clearly say “one God, the Father” (1 Cor 8:6; John 17:3).
In the OT, “Spirit of Yahweh” means God’s own power, breath, presence, and mind, not a second Person:
Ps 139:7; Isa 40:13; Job 33:4; Ps 104:29–30; Ezek 37:1, etc.
The spirit is poured out, given, supplied, measured:
Joel 2:28–29; Acts 2:17–18; Acts 10:45; Rom 5:5; John 3:34; Gal 3:2, 5; 1 Thess 4:8.
That’s how you speak of God’s power, not a co-equal Person. The spirit is closely equated with power, word, mind:
Luke 1:35; Acts 1:8; Rom 15:13, 19; 1 Cor 2:10–16; 2 Tim 1:7.
The NT never has:
greetings from the Holy Spirit;
prayers to the Holy Spirit;
hymns to the Holy Spirit;
a throne for “God the Spirit” in Revelation.

Friday, February 20, 2026

“Imitate me as I Imitate Christ“

Same God: One God, the Father

Jesus

Mark 12:28–34 – Jesus affirms the Shema as the greatest commandment:
“Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord…”
John 17:3 – “This is the life of the age to come, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus the Messiah whom you sent.”

Paul

1 Corinthians 8:4–6 – “For us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one lord, Jesus Messiah, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.”
1 Timothy 2:5 – “There is one God, and one mediator between God and human beings, the man Messiah Jesus.”
Ephesians 4:4–6 – “One body… one Lord… one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”

1 Thessalonians 2:12 – God “calls you into His own Kingdom and glory.”
Colossians 4:11 – Co-workers are “fellow workers for the Kingdom of God.”
Galatians 5:21; 1 Corinthians 6:9–10; 15:50 – Paul warns that those who live in sin “will not inherit the Kingdom of God.”

So both Jesus and Paul:

Preach the same Kingdom.
Use “Kingdom of God” as the core of the Gospel.
Make inheritance of that future Kingdom the goal of salvation.

Same Terms of Salvation: Repentance, Faith, and Obedient Discipleship

Jesus

Mark 1:15 – “Repent and believe in the Gospel.”
Luke 24:47 – “Repentance for the forgiveness of sins” is to be preached in his name to all nations.
John 3:16 – Whoever believes in the Son has the life of the age to come.
John 5:24 – Whoever hears my word and believes Him who sent me has the life of the age to come.
Matthew 7:21 – “Not everyone who says to me, ‘lord, lord,’ will enter the Kingdom, but the one who does the will of my Father…”
Luke 6:46 – “Why do you call me ‘lord, lord’ and do not do what I say?”

Paul

Acts 20:21 – Paul testifies “of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Messiah.”
Romans 1:5; 16:26 – The goal of his apostolic mission is the “obedience of faith” among all nations.
Romans 2:6–13 – God will render to each according to his works; “the doers of the Law will be justified.”
Romans 6:16–18 – You were slaves of sin but have become “obedient from the heart” to the teaching delivered to you.
2 Thessalonians 1:8 – Judgment will come on those who “do not know God and do not obey the Gospel of our Lord Jesus.”

Paul’s own warning:

1 Timothy 6:3–4 – If anyone teaches differently and “does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Messiah, and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is conceited and understands nothing.”

Paul literally makes agreement with Jesus’ own words the test of true teaching.

Same View of the Law: The New Covenant Law of Messiah

Jesus – new lawgiver

Matthew 5–7 (Sermon on the Mount) – “You have heard that it was said… but I say to you…” – Jesus deepens and re-applies God’s will, pointing toward the New Covenant.
Matthew 28:19–20 – Make disciples of all nations, “teaching them to observe all that I commanded you.”
John 13:34 – “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another as I have loved you.”

Paul – under the Law of Messiah, not Torah

1 Corinthians 9:20–21 – Paul is not “under the Law” (of Moses), but is “under the Law of Messiah.”
Galatians 6:2 – “Fulfill the Law of Messiah” by bearing one another’s burdens.
Romans 10:4 – “Messiah is the goal/culmination of the Law,” resulting in righteousness to all who believe.
Romans 7:4, 6 – We died to the Law through Messiah to belong to another; now we serve “in newness of the spirit, not in oldness of the letter.”
Colossians 2:16–17 – Food laws, festivals, new moons, Sabbaths are a shadow; the substance belongs to Messiah.

Same Christology: Jesus the Human Messiah, God’s Exalted Agent

Jesus about himself

Matthew 16:16–17 – Peter confesses, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus blesses him and calls this the rock.
Luke 4:18–19; 4:43 – Jesus describes himself with Isaiah’s Spirit-anointed-servant language and as the one sent to preach the Kingdom.
John 5:19, 30 – “The Son can do nothing from himself, but only what he sees the Father doing… I can do nothing from myself…”
John 14:28 – “The Father is greater than I.”
John 20:17 – “I ascend to my Father and your Father, my God and your God.”

Paul’s matching view

Romans 1:1–4 – The Gospel concerns God’s Son, “born from the seed of David according to the flesh,” appointed Son of God in power by resurrection.
1 Corinthians 8:6 – One God, the Father… and one lord, Jesus Messiah.
1 Corinthians 11:3 – “The head of Messiah is God,” showing the Father’s superiority.
1 Corinthians 15:21–28 – Through “a man” comes resurrection; the Son himself will be subjected to God who subjected all things to him.
1 Timothy 2:5 – One God and one mediator, “the man Messiah Jesus.”
Acts 17:31 – God “has fixed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom He has appointed, having given assurance by raising him from the dead.”

Same Hope: Resurrection and the Coming Kingdom on Earth

Jesus

Matthew 5:5 – “The meek shall inherit the earth.”
Matthew 6:10 – “Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
Matthew 19:28–29 – In the “rebirth” of the world, the Son of Man sits on his throne, and the apostles sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
Matthew 25:31–34 – When the Son of Man comes in his glory, he invites the blessed to “inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”
John 5:28–29 – A future resurrection of the dead to life or judgment.

Paul

1 Corinthians 15 (whole chapter) – Resurrection of the dead, transformation, death swallowed up in victory.
1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 – The Lord descends, the dead in Messiah rise, and the living are caught up to meet him as he comes.
2 Thessalonians 1:5–10 – God will repay affliction and grant relief “when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven.”
Romans 8:17–23 – Creation waits for the revealing of the sons of God; believers wait for the redemption of their bodies.
2 Timothy 4:1, 8 – Jesus will judge the living and the dead at his appearing and his Kingdom; Paul anticipates the “crown of righteousness” in that Day.

Paul Explicitly Ties His Gospel to Jesus’ Gospel

A few keys where Paul directly insists his message is the same:

Galatians 1:6–9 – There is only one Gospel; if anyone (even an angel) preaches a different gospel from the one Paul preached, “let him be accursed.” Buzzard notes that if Paul had preached anything different from Jesus’ Kingdom Gospel, he would have cursed himself.
Hebrews 2:3 – (Whether Paul or another writer) – Salvation “was first spoken by the Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard.” The apostolic message is based directly on Jesus’ preaching.
1 Corinthians 7:10, 12 – Paul carefully distinguishes “not I, but the Lord” (where he repeats Jesus’ teaching on divorce) and “I, not the Lord” (where he gives apostolic application), showing his conscious dependence on Jesus’ prior teaching.
1 Timothy 6:3 (again) – True teaching must agree with “the sound words of our Lord Jesus.”

Summary

Start with monotheism: Mark 12:29 / 1 Cor 8:6; John 17:3 / 1 Tim 2:5.
Move to the Gospel: Mark 1:14–15; Luke 4:43 / Acts 19:8; 20:24–25; 28:23,31.
Then salvation & obedience: Mark 1:15; Matt 7:21; Luke 6:46 / Acts 20:21; Rom 1:5; 2 Thess 1:8; 1 Tim 6:3.
Then who Jesus is: Matt 16:16; John 20:17 / Rom 1:3–4; 1 Cor 8:6; 11:3; 15:21–28; 1 Tim 2:5.
Finally the hope: Matt 5:5; 6:10; 25:31–34 / 1 Cor 15; 1 Thess 4:13–18; Rom 8:18–23.

Tuesday, February 17, 2026

Did Paul Split the Shema? James Dunn Says No

In one of his final works, the preeminent British New Testament scholar on Christology, Dr. James D. G. Dunn, directly challenged the now-popular claim that Paul “split the Shema” in 1 Corinthians 8:6 — a proposal Dunn himself had significantly helped to popularize in earlier works such as Christology in the Making. In Did the First Christians Worship Jesus?, Dunn reconsidered that position and raised serious doubts about whether Paul ever intended to divide Israel’s foundational confession of strict unitary monotheism. Specifically, he questioned the idea that Paul distributed the divine name YHWH (LORD) to the Father and Elohim (God) to the Son, pushing back against fellow Trinitarian scholar Richard Bauckham:

“There is controversy at this point. Bauckham [in God Crucified, p. 38] insists: ‘the only possible way to understand Paul as maintaining monotheism is to understand him to be including Jesus in the unique identity of the one God affirmed in the Shema’ … He is identifying Jesus as the “Lord” whom the Shema affirms to be one … the unique identity of the one God consists of the one God, the Father, and the one Lord, his Messiah.’
However, the point is not quite as clear-cut as Bauckham suggests. For the question arises as to whether Paul did indeed intend to “split the Shema.” It is quite possible to argue, alternatively, that Paul took up the Shema, already quoted in 8:4 (‘there is no God but one’), only in the first clause of 8:6 (reworded as ‘for us there is one God, the Father’); and to that added the further confession, ‘and one Lord, Jesus Christ.’ Bauckham argues that ‘the addition of a unique Lord to the unique God of the Shema would flatly contradict the uniqueness of the latter.’ But, if anything, the fuller confession of 8:6 could be said to be a more natural outworking of the primary conviction that ‘the Lord (God) had said to the Lord (Christ), “Sit at my right hand …”’ (Ps. 110:1), a confession set precisely in contrast to the many gods and many lords of Graeco-Roman worship.” (pp 107-110)

Dunn’s final analysis marks a notable shift from his earlier formulation. Rather than portraying Paul as “splitting the Shema,” Dunn ultimately recognized that Paul was reaffirming it. The apostle identifies “one God” explicitly as “the Father” alone (1 Cor. 8:6), in harmony with Jesus’ own confession that the Father is “the only true God” (John 17:3). At the same time, Jesus is honored as the exalted “one Lord Messiah,” in accordance with Psalm 110:1 — the most frequently quoted or alluded-to Psalm in the New Testament:

YHWH says to my lord: “Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.”

Crucially, the second “lord” in this verse translates the Hebrew adoni, not Adonai. The term adoni occurs 195 times in the Hebrew Scriptures and is never used to refer to Deity. Thus, far from redefining the Shema or incorporating Jesus into the identity of YHWH (whatever that may be taken to mean), Paul’s confession reflects Jesus’ own strict unitary creed: YHWH, our one God and Father, is one YHWH.