The Brown Bible

Ken Brown | July 24, 2010

I was listening to a preacher on the radio this week who was extolling the virtues of doing the many good works we as Christians are called to perform. I had no problem with his message up to that point, but then just as a brief side note, he commented that these works are how we gain God’s favor. Really? I thought I already had God’s favor.

Unfortunately, many Christians are unaware of how much God is already on their side so to speak. They think they must do something to gain (and/or keep) His favor, His willingness to act on their behalf. They sometimes even go so far as to play “Let’s Make a Deal” with the Creator of the universe. They tell God that if He will do such and such for them, then they will do this or that or will never again do whatever. Where does such thinking come from?

Category: 01) By Ken Brown, The Gift of Righteousness Series | No Comments »
Tags: Bible, charis, charitoo, Christianity, forgiveness of sins, God's favor, grace, Heaveny Father's love, Lord Jesus Christ, make a deal, redemption, religion, righteousness

Ken Brown | May 12, 2010

Many Christians have stumbled over the wording in Acts 8:22. The translation as it occurs in the vast majority of English versions indicates that when believers go to God to ask for His forgiveness for some particular sin, He might forgive them and might not. This contradicts every other New Testament verse on this subject as it pertains to the grace administration in which we live.

Acts 8: 22 Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee. [King James Version]

What is the story here?

Category: 01) By Ken Brown, The Gift of Righteousness Series | No Comments »
Tags: 1 John1:9, 1-John, Acts 8:22, aphiemi, Bible, Christian, Christianity, ei, forgive, forgiveness, forgiveness of sins, if perhaps, religion, righteous, righteousness

Ken Brown | July 4, 2009

In our introduction to Biblical research, the first two principles given for approaching God’s Word were: (1) Believe what you read and (2) think and be reasonable: you can’t throw logic out the window just because you are reading the Bible. Those who can stare a clear scripture in the face and deny what it obviously says because it disagrees with a previously held belief have ceased learning. Likewise, those who can accept two or more contradictory views at the same time will never come to an accurate understanding of God’s Word (or of much of anything else for that matter). On the surface, this seems so obvious to most of you (I hope) that you are probably scratching your heads, wondering why I am making an issue of it. As it plays out in practical application, however, relatively few people are completely consistent about this as it pertains to Biblical exegesis.

As one example, let’s look at 2 Corinthians 5:20, a familiar verse for many of us, but have you ever considered the fundamental problem with how the King James and a number of other versions translate this verse?

Category: 01) By Ken Brown, 21) How to Research the Bible | No Comments »
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Ken Brown | April 25, 2009

The Israelites could get forgiven of their sins, but they had to keep coming back to the temple year by year to get forgiven again. If they had had a sacrifice that made them perfect (teleios: lacking nothing necessary to completeness), the Children of Israel would not have needed to offer any more sacrifices; and having been “purged” (cleansed), they should therefore have had no more conscience of sins. The record goes on to say that we DO have such a sacrifice, a one-time sacrifice that perfects us forever.

Category: 01) By Ken Brown, The Gift of Righteousness Series | 8 Comments »
Tags: 1-John, 1-Peter, Acts, administration, Answer, Ark, believe, believers, Biblical, Biblical research, book, born, born-again, broken fellowship, child, Christ, church, Church Epistles, Colossians, confess, confession, confession of sin, confession of sins, conscience, Corinth, Corinthians, darkness, David, dead, deliver, den, doctrine, El, Ephesians, faith, Father, fellowship, forgiveness of sins, Fun, give, giving, God, God’s Word, grace, Hebrew, Hebrews, Idioms, Israel, Israelites, Jesus, Jesus Christ, John, just, justification, justified, justify, king, knowledge, Latin, law, liar, Light, logic, Love, mind, Moses, Offering, Old Testament, Peter, pray, Prayer, preach, reading, redemption, Research, revelation, rich, right, righteous, righteousness, righteousness of God, Roman, Romans, sacrifice, Science, Scripture, Scriptures, sin, sins, Son, Story, tender, Testament, think, time, Truth, understanding, Word, Word of God