It brings a smile to some faces to hear the line: "Everything in the Bible is true, and some of it actually happened." Others find that line irreverent. How much of what is recorded in the Bible actually happened as it is written?
The quote, "There, but for the Grace of God, go I" has bothered me for a long time. The phrase seems to imply that God's grace is with me, but not with the unfortunate person whose life and circumstances occasion the comment. Does that phrase have any biblical basis, either directly in the text or in the implied theology?
Is John the Theologian - of Isle of Patmos fame, who wrote Revelation, one and the same person as John the Evangelist, John the gospel writer, or are these two different Johns?
What was Paul's "thorn in the flesh"?
Did Paul and his world have any conception of faithful monogamous same sex love?
Ezekiel 34 uses the metaphor of a shepherd for the kings of Israel. What is the origin of that metaphor? David?
Job 13:15 in the KJV reads: "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him." The same verse in the NRSV reads: "See, he will kill me; I have no hope." The sentiment of the first is the polar opposite of the second. Which is the better translation?
My question concerns the NRSV and Matthew 9:2. In the Greek and in the other English editions that I consulted, the words "to him" are included. This makes clear that the companions of the paralyzed man are bringing him to Jesus in the hopes of a miracle. This then makes sense of what follows when Jesus credits their action as based on faith. However, the NRSV omits the "to him" and seems to go out of its way to make it sound as if the encounter between Jesus and the paralyzed man was mere happenstance. This makes the claim of faith that follows inappropriate. I was wondering why the editors of the NRSV have chosen to take their unique path of translation.