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Nomina sacra (the Latin for sacred names) are a common system of abbreviations used, mainly, but not only, for sacred names in some New Testament manuscripts. The main ones are as follows, where the abbreviation gives the first and last letter of the word – usually ending in -S for nominative case, and -Y for […]

The fish symbol for Jesus is an early Christian symbol playing on the initials of the Greek word for fish, ichthys. In Greek capitals this is written ἸΧΘΥΣ where the letters stand for Ἰησοῦς Χρῑστός Θεοῦ Υἱός Σωτήρ, Iēsoûs Khrīstós, Theoû Huiós, Sōtḗr Jesus Christ God’s Son Saviour The single letters do not display the […]

A pangram is a sentence which uses every letter of a language – a famous example in English is “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog”. The only New Testament verse that is a pangram, a sentence which uses every Greek letter of the alphabet, is Matthew 5:30?  There is also another verse […]

Translation is consistent across all modern Bible versions Major modern versions read: 16 All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, (NRSV) 16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, […]

The question is a textual one. Revelation 1:6 reads: καὶ ἐποίησεν ἡμᾶς βασιλείαν, ἱερεῖς τῷ θεῷ καὶ πατρὶ αὐτοῦ— αὐτῷ ἡ δόξα καὶ τὸ κράτος εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων· ἀμήν. “and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” (NRSV) Revelation 5:10 […]

A parallel can be seen here between Zechariah’s prophecy about God himself standing on the Mount of Olives, and the angels telling the disciples in Acts 1:11 that Jesus would return to the Mount of Olives: Zechariah 14:3-4: Then the LORD will go out and fight against those nations as when he fights on a […]

John 16:28 (NRSV): I came from the Father and have come into the world; again, I am leaving the world and am going to the Father. In a word, no. This is is one of many verses in the Gospel of John which read very literally would mean that all the normal descriptions of Jesus […]