Language & Interpretation Archives ⋆ Bnonn Tennant (the B is silent)

God himself claims that private revelation will be cryptic

Numbers 12 makes clear that the quality and character of prophetic gifts will not be like the perspicuous public revelation of scripture.

Tongues in 1 Corinthians 14 were languages the speakers understood

If you’re speaking in tongues and you don’t know what you’re saying, you’re not speaking in tongues. You’re babbling like a baby.

Why is Lazarus in the tomb four days?

I don’t know for sure, but there are some patterns that might fit.

Seven things that are essential for understanding God’s creation & our place in it, but seem completely insane to the modern mind

A sort-of-manifesto about what Smokey and I are doing with our True Magic project—and why it matters.

Not veiling is a sin just like not baptizing your babies

Contrary to a common objection bandied about today, there is nothing sectarian about head covering, and to disallow it on such grounds is grossly inconsistent with how these very same people approach other important doctrinal disagreements.

The hair is not the only covering in 1 Corinthians 11

It is impossible for the covering that Paul is speaking about in 1 Corinthians 11 to be merely the woman’s hair. Verse 6 makes this reading incoherent, and verse 15 directly signals that it is wrong by using a different word for covering than the rest of the chapter.

Prayer and prophecy are not just supernatural gifts in 1 Corinthians 11

Prayer and prophecy in scripture can be supernatural gifts. But they can often be exercises of our natural faculties too. Paul’s use of these terms is broad, and certainly encompasses what women do in worship today.

The calling of Nathanael and the symbolism of trees and high places

How did Jesus see Nathanael beneath the fig tree? Why does Nathanael respond with an amazed confession of Jesus’ identity? How does Jesus’ promise that Nathanael will see angels ascending and descending fit into this?

Is Psalm 82 depicting actual gods?

TL;DR: yes, but accusing someone who believes this of polytheism or liberalism is semantic mischief.

But what about Deborah?!

Deborah is widely regarded as a feminist icon; the only woman to rule God’s people well. But close attention to the text reveals that her rulership was a shame to Israel, rather than a glory.

When italics won’t cut it

In which I find a difference of emphasis with Doug Wilson, and proceed to emphasize its importance.

Straddling the stallion and the mare

In which I hope to sharpen some iron with Doug Wilson over whether 1 Corinthians 7 really gives a believing spouse license to separate from a nasty piece of work.

Did Ezekiel’s prophecy against Tyre fail?

A long-time reader asks for help explaining to an atheist how Tyre is now a populated city, though it was prophesied to be made desolate. I illustrate how an atheist is really better off studiously avoiding this particular prophecy.

Applying torque to opposing corners of my Bible

Fundamentalists claim that I am mishandling Deuteronomy 22:5 by going beyond its literal meaning. I illustrate how their literalist hermeneutic makes nonsense of not only this passage, but all of human discourse.

Can badass female characters ever be redeemed?

The problem of ubiquitous feminist icons in media is not that they violate God’s design for women, nor that they are often one-dimensional Mary-Sues—it is rather that they generally glorify that which God declares inglorious.

Why a woman bearing the sword is an abomination to the Lord

Despite modern, feminist-conditioned sensibilities, carefully trained by modern, feminist media icons, there is strong evidence from both nature and Scripture that women in combat or enforcement roles are the sort of thing the Lord spits out of his mouth.

Works-righteousness: a square contractual peg in a round covenantal hole

In antiquity, the key distinction between contract and covenant was one of performance versus loyalty. This was widely understood and accepted; so how plausible is it that first century Judaism treated God’s covenant as a contract requiring performance, rather than as what it claimed to be—a covenant requiring personal fidelity?

Faith across time: is final justification unchristian?

Final justification does not add anything to the conditions of justification; nor does it entail that God grounds his verdict in our works rather than in his Son’s. On the contrary, final justification is on account of the very same faith that first joined us to Jesus and his vindication—and our works are a proper part of that faith.

Am I toxically paranoid, or are you naïvely inured?

The frog is disputing the meaning of the bubbles as the pot comes to the boil.

The Last Jedi is the first successful leftist porno

Why did the latest Star Wars installment receive fawning critical adoration, but widespread contempt from average movie-goers? Because average movie-goers didn’t realize that it was a film made to stimulate the engorgement of virtue, rather than to tell a story.

Does 1 Corinthians 8:4–6 deny or affirm the existence of other gods?

This is commonly taken as an anchor point for proving that other gods do not exist—but in fact, it is saying the opposite.

What is the kingdom of God? Introduction: a tale of two kingdoms

Why do the gospels represent the good news as being about the “kingdom of God”? What is this kingdom, and how does it relate to us today? In this series I trace the surprising biblical narrative of kingdom, from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22, starting by showing that John 3:16 is actually about God transforming man’s ruined kingdom into his own eternal one.

Baptism as a pledge of allegiance

Baptism is (among other things) a public renouncement of one’s former enslavement to Satan and the other spiritual rulers of this present darkness, and a vow of fealty to the enthroned king, Jesus.

Who is the serpent in Genesis, and is it an actual snake?

Several different strands of evidence point to the serpent being not an animal, but a shining, serpentine angelic being.

Thorny problems with the serpent being a talking snake

This surprisingly common YEC interpretation of Genesis 3 is problematic for at least seven reasons.

Angels and ghosts

The common assumption that Matthew 18 and Acts 12 give us glimpses of guardian angels is probably mistaken. Rather, the term angel in these passages is referring to human spirits.

Presupposing freewill theism is the opposite of the Naked Bible method

Modern ideas about libertarian free will, conditioned by our culture and theological history, are completely foreign to the assumptions that ancient readers would have brought to the Bible.

Demonization and mental illness

Despite popular assumptions, ancient peoples could usually tell the difference—just like we usually can.

What is the kingdom of God? Part 5: when God began retaking Adam’s kingdom from Satan

Before we can understand how God is retaking Adam’s kingdom, we must first establish when he began to do it. Daniel 7 was fulfilled after Pentecost when Jesus went into heaven on a cloud and received kingship to place his enemies under his feet.

Why think the rulers of 1 Corinthians 2:8 are gods?

In which I outline two significant reasons based on the language used, and what Paul is actually talking about.

Are cherubs just palace guardians?

Steve Hays argues that my view of Eden as the divine council meeting-place trades on ignoring the role of cherubs as defensive rather than administrative beings. I reply with a three-pronged rebuttal.

What is the kingdom of God? Part 3: what happened in Eden

Adam was created as the first human member of the divine council. The serpent was a shining, serpentine being who didn’t like Adam being given dominion of the earth instead of someone higher up…like him.

What is the kingdom of God? Part 2: the divine council

Israel, like all ancient Near Eastern peoples, conceived of the world as being governed by a cosmic bureaucracy—a bureaucracy the Bible calls the divine council. Prophets were brought into this council when they were commissioned.

How to better profit from personal Bible reading

Some thoughts and questions to ponder when seeking to apply the Bible to your own life in your personal devotions.

Prelapsarian predation, part 4: the curse

Were animals bitey before the Fall? Or did they only start munching on each other afterwards? In the fourth part of this series I assess what we can infer about death and predation from the curse.

Word studies are not exegesis

Or, don’t bother learning the original languages if you don’t yet know how communication works in even your native tongue.

What is going on with Legion and the pigs?

Why does Legion beg to go into the pigs? Why does Jesus let them? Why do the pigs then rush into the sea?

What is hell, and is it biblical? Part 7: the early church

A response to Jacob McMillen and Josiah Pemberton. In this installment, I demonstrate how they must cite cherry-picked evidence from the most absurdly unqualified sources to make the case that eternal punishment wasn’t part of early church doctrine.

What is hell, and is it biblical? Part 6: argument from statistics

A response to Jacob McMillen and Josiah Pemberton. In this installment, I briefly demolish their “statistical argument” that if hell were in the Bible, it would appear more often.

What is hell, and is it biblical? Part 5: exegetical fumbles

A response to Jacob McMillen and Josiah Pemberton. In this installment, I show the blunders and gymnastics required to so comprehensively misunderstand the obvious “hell passages”.

What is hell, and is it biblical? Part 4: is hell eternal or age-long?

A response to Jacob McMillen and Josiah Pemberton. In this installment, I show that if you believe hell’s duration should be translated as “age-long” rather than “eternal”, you not only mangle basic language, but eviscerate the gospel and spiral into heresy on the nature of God himself.