Love Truth Blog

Sometime ago I came across the following statement by liberal New Testament scholar Bart Ehrman: “The creation account in Genesis 1 is very different from the account in Genesis 2. Not only is the wording and writing style different, as is very obvious when you read the text in Hebrew, and not only do the chapters use different names for God, but the very content of the chapters differs in numerous respects” [1] This is not the first time I heard the assertion, but Ehrman has the knack of taking this idea from the scholarly ivory tower and repacking it for popular readership. Still the question remains: Are the first two chapters in Genesis two different creation accounts? I’d say that Genesis begins with looking at the creation from two different angles and chapters 1 and 2 are far from contradictory. It is true that in Genesis chapter 1, the word “God” is used to translate the Hebrew word elohim and in chapter 2 the same word elohim is used is coupled with YaHWeh , which is tran...

I looking again at the parable at the talents and one of the things that strikes me is the refrain: “You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things” (Matt. 25:21, 23). The point is straightforward, just as the earthly master gave talents to each servant (one talent being about 15 years wages for the average laborer at the time) with the expectation that each servant would return a profit, God lavishes us with spiritual blessings and those whom God has blessed are to be faithful with what they have received. Conversely, the servant who failed to be faithful to what he had been entrusted with from the master was condemned, in the same way, those who despise the blessings of God are rightly condemned. This is really an important principle that recapitulates throughout the Scriptures. I think of Rahab, a prostitute living in the Canaanite city of Jericho. In spite of being deeply immersed in paganism, she somehow came to the realization that “the Lord Go...