Peter Goeman
Peter serves at Shepherd's Theological Seminary in Cary, NC as the professor of Old Testament and Biblical Languages. He loves studying the Bible and helping others understand it. He also runs The Bible Sojourner podcast and Youtube channel.
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You Shall Not Steal—Respecting Ownership
In the series of Ten Commandments, the 8th commandment often seems very simplistic. However, like the other commandments, the commandment, “You shall not steal” has an entire theology behind it. As we have seen in other commandments, one way we can helpfully discern the principle behind a commandment is to reverse it. If we reverse the negative command to a positive command we could summarize the prohibition “You shall not steal” as follows: You must respect the right of lordship in the created order. Lordship carries the ideas of authority and ownership. A man is the lord of his household, and a boss is the lord of his company. In Genesis 3 Adam and Eve did not respect God’s lordship in His right to withhold the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They took, they sinned. In addition to the concept of lordship in the…
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Does God Command Believers to Fast?
I remember listening to a sermon one time and the preacher was telling us that he would fast to reprioritize his life. He said that one time he experienced a fast for 30 days, leading to a tremendous religious experience. In relating this story, he seemed to imply that we ought to fast in order to experience that as well. This kind of belief is not uncommon. In fact, with simple searches you can find guides on Christian fasting. Of course the assumption is that this is something we should intentionally be pursuing. However, I am convinced that the church is not commanded to fast. Rather, fasting is a natural consequence of sinners living in a fallen world. New Testament Commands to Fast? The first observation that supports this argument is that there is no command in the New Testament to fast. Although the word for fasting is used twenty…
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Christian Ethics and Worldview Systems
Everyone is responsible for their actions, thus ultimately everyone has to decide whether an action is right or whether it is wrong. Even those who reject God must still have a system for determining whether something is right or wrong. One name for this systematic reasoning is called ethics. Ethics is simply a philosophy of determining what is morally right and what is morally wrong. There are two basic systems which people hold to in determining right and wrong. Consequential Ethics The first kind of system is called consequential ethics. Consequential ethics determines what is right or wrong based on the outcome. According to this system of thinking, no act is inherently good or bad in and of itself. It is the result that matters. In other words, consequential ethics believes that the end justifies the means. The underlying assumption of consequential ethics can take various forms, but ultimately proponents…
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God’s Design for Sexual Purity in the Law
The seventh commandment is a well known part of the Ten Commandments, partially due to its brevity, “You shall not commit adultery” (Exod 20:14). Sexual purity is often viewed by the culture as an outdated ethic, but the concept of purity has an even greater significance today as the culture fails model any semblance of purity, duty, or devotion. If there was ever an appropriate discussion for the current generation of Americans it has to do with the seventh commandment. The theological reality behind the seventh commandment is purity. Purity has the idea of being unmixed. In the case of adultery, a husband or wife is not completely devoted to his or her spouse. Adultery is the absence of complete devotion. In adultery there is a mixing of different desires and lusts. The absence of purity (i.e., unmixed devotion) is why Israel is commonly condemned in the prophets. Israel is…
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The Law and the Sanctity of Life
When thinking about the issue of the sanctity of life, the Law is a welcome teacher. When one explores the Ten Commandments, one quickly realizes that there is a depth and profundity to them that extends beyond mere prohibitions. After all the laws themselves embody principles which reflect God’s character and His design for creation. Thus, it should come as no surprise that the command “You shall not murder” is a guideline for acting in light of the sanctity of human life. The Sanctity of Human Life in Matthew 5 An illustration of the depth of the sixth commandment, and its relationship to the sanctity of human life is found in Matthew 5:21-26. Some people think that Jesus is changing the Law in this passage and raising the standard. However, Jesus is simply redirecting people from a narrow view of the Law to the true purpose of the Law. This…
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What is the Catholic View of Salvation?
A question I occasionally get is what the difference is between the Catholic Church and the Evangelical church. Isn’t the Catholic Church just another option for where to go to church, based on the preference of the individual? To many people it is. However, the Catholic Church officially holds to beliefs which do not align with what the Bible teaches, and therefore it is not a true church. In fact, the Catholic Church is a pseudo-church which is leading millions of people to hell. Whoa now, is that a little strong? Now, I have many friends and relatives who go to the Catholic Church. So I don’t write this without knowing friends who are in the Catholic Church. But that personal experience does not affect what is objectively true—the fact that the Catholic Church teaches a different way of salvation. The Catholic View of Salvation In Catholic belief, one must enter into…
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Connecting God’s Authority and Human Authority
Within the Ten Commandments, commandments 1-4 deal with God’s relationship with man, a vertical component; and commandments 5-10 deal with man’s relationship with man, a horizontal component. The fifth commandment specifically is a bridge which connects the authority of God with human authority. Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you. Exodus 20:12 God’s Delegated Authority The essence of the fifth commandment is that God has created the world and has designed authority structures inherent within it. Thus, Israel is to respect those authority structures. The most foundational and important of which is the parent-child relationship. A good way to illustrate that this commandment is broadening its scope beyond just parent-child relationships is to examine Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy’s structure is in the form of a suzerain-vassal treaty, which contains general stipulations (Deut 5-11) and specific stipulations (Deut…
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The Purpose of the Sabbath Commandment
The Sabbath commandment is the subject of many controversial debates. Those who hold to the Ten Commandments as the standard of God’s moral law have difficulty explaining how this commandment fits into that system because the command to keep the Sabbath does not have a moral nature intrinsic to it. We need to remember that the Ten Commandments are not a moral standard. Rather, they are specific applications of creation principles that are built into the fabric of creation. Further evidence that this command is not inherently moral is a comparison of Exodus and Deuteronomy. Note that both texts discuss the Sabbath command differently. Exodus 20:8-11 Deuteronomy 5:12-15 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son…
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Posts about Prophets, Apostles, and Spiritual Gifts
The topics of prophets, Apostles, and spiritual gifts are of interest to many people. For ease of reference, this post will serve as an index of sorts, pointing inquiring individuals to some of my thoughts on spiritual gifts, and more specifically, the cessation of the miraculous gifts. What follows is a listing of the various post titles with a brief description of the contents. Are Apostles for the Church Today? Historically it has been common to acknowledge that the office of Apostle has passed from the church. However, there are more and more individuals today who are arguing for the continuation of Apostolic authority. There are at least four reasons why there are no Apostles in the church today. Prophets and Prophetic Revelation Prophets are closely tied to the office of Apostle (cf. Eph 2:20; 4:11), so this is another important discussion. It is in vogue today to redefine prophecy,…
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Why James Translates Jacob in the New Testament
In James 1:1 we read, “James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad: Greetings.” James is the English word for Ἰάκωβος in the Greek. However, Ἰάκωβος is simply a Greek form for the name of Jacob in the OT (יַעֲקֹב). Why do we use the name James for the name Jacob in the New Testament? Why James Rather than Jacob? One theory is that during that translation of the King James Bible, the king forced the translators to substitute the king’s name for Jacob in the New Testament because he wanted his name in the Bible. This view is assuredly incorrect, especially since the name James was used by the Wycliffe translation in the 14th century. One cannot be dogmatic on the issue, but the following seems to be the best reconstruction we can do as to why James…