Believe it or not, not everything in the Bible can be understood by children; many passages are not even easy to understand for adults. Delve into a number of difficult passages with Dr. Heiser as he introduces key interpretive issues and the problems that are lurking in the background of these verses. He guides you through what needs the most attention and introduces you to several options for interpretation for each passage. Dr. Heiser focuses on the importance of being able to wrap our minds around and navigate through the difficult passages of Scripture, because although they may be challenging, they are still significant for theology. How you understand these verses will have an important ripple effect on the interpretation of other passages you will encounter in the course of your own personal Bible study.
“There are two types of clauses. There are independent clauses, and that is a group of words that contains a subject and a verb and in this case expresses a complete thought.” (source)
“The real issue is, how do we read Gen 1:1–3, the first three verses of the Bible? The issue is Hebrew syntax, and the Hebrew grammar, as we are going to see, will convey information to us in such a way that the way we look at what’s going on in these three verses will impact the way we think about the larger question of creation, evolution, long ages of time—just tremendous, tremendous amounts of time that we hear coming from modern science. There’s actually a way to accommodate Gen 1:1–3 to those ideas.” (source)
“The second kind of clause is a dependent clause. A dependent clause is a group of words that contains a subject and a verb but does not express a complete thought.” (source)
“‘When entering the water, we make profession of the Christian faith in the words of its rule; we bear public testimony that we have renounced the devil, his pomp, and his angels.’” (source)
“A clause is a group of related words containing a subject and a verb. A clause may or may not express a complete thought; we’re going to see the difference in a moment. The verb may be expressed or just sort of understood.” (source)