Bible Study for Pentecost 12, 2009

Saturday after Pentecost 11
August 22, 2009

The Lord be with you

The adult Bible study at Lamb of God Lutheran (LCMS) in SC, continues its series “Puzzlers and Questions about the Bible” in which we examine questions submitted by members of our church. The upcoming study is titled “How Free from Sin are We?” It is based on a series of questions from 1 John. The questions are:

In 1 John 1:10 it says, “If we say we have not sinned we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.” (past tense, sinned). Now contrast that with sin in 1 John 5:18, “We know that whoever is born of God does not sin, but He … the wicked one does not touch him.” (-touches others and things around us?) (present tense those walking in God do not sin). Contrast this with verse that says “we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against …” and 1 John 5:19 – “… under the sway of the wicked one”
To what degree are we to be alert to the evil one and to [what] degree are we “touched” or is that only if we are “not in sin?”

This will require some examination of the Greek that underlies our English translations. This is because the Greek verb system is quite different from the English verb system. For example the word identified as “past tense” in the question, and is past tense in the English translation cited, is not past tense in Greek. Intrigued? Join us if you can Sunday morning at 9:00.

This study will be the last one out of 1 John (at least until some other questions are submitted from that book). After we finish this we are going to jump to the Old Testament and consider some questions about Balaam.


(Icon of St. John the Evangelist)

Blessings in Christ,
Pastor John Rickert