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Bible Q

Does “beginning” in John 1:1 refer to Genesis and the old creation, or to Christ’s work and the new creation?

It is probably clear to anyone who has got as far as asking this question that “In the beginning was the word” does not mean “In Genesis 2:7 Jesus created Adam”. But what does it mean? This is one of those questions where there are three possible answers: “old”, “new” and “both”. If the answer […]

What does the word ‘beguiled’ mean in Genesis chapter 3?

And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat (Gen 3:13 [KJV]) The English word “beguiled” means “to charm someone, perhaps deceptively”. The Hebrew word here is nasha meaning “to lead astray”, “to delude” or “to seduce”. […]

Can you tell me what “shaddai” means?

Even though El Shaddai is generally translated God Almighty, shaddai is from the same root as “breast,” with reference to nurturing. This title occurs significantly in Genesis referring to God’s development of Abraham’s descendants. Exod. 6:4 affirms this: “I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as El Shaddai, but by my name yhwh I did […]

What evidence is there for the earth being billions of years old?

Bible evidence? None, because the Bible is not a geology textbook. The scientific evidence is strong, however. It was known by geologists that the earth is “ancient” even before the 19th century. In the early 19th century, names were given to the strata, e.g. Devonian, named after the British county of Devon where the Devonian […]

Did the serpent of Eden have legs before the Fall?

We are given no description of the serpent prior to the Fall except that he was “crafty” (Gen 3:1). The curse upon the serpent to go on his belly and to eat dust (Gen 3:14) could be reasonably interpreted as saying that the serpent did not go on his belly before the Fall. If we […]

How could the serpent of Eden talk?

We are not told how the serpent could talk so we can only speculate, but here are some ideas: The serpent is described as being “more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made” (Gen 3:1). This may indicate a higher level of intellect than normal animals. So one […]