Geoffrey's Notebook

Week 34 —1st John Bible Nerd-Study *Missed last week?  Click here  for 1st John Bible Nerd-Study - Week 33 DRB + Paraphrase 3:14-24 + John Wesley 1 John (DRB) 1 John (Wesley) Hey Bible nerds! Let's do some paraphrasing this time with a somewhat easily confused Scripture on the heart.  John Wesley's commentary is refreshing as a break from very thorough nerdy ones. Remember his life-story and work, his much preaching and passion for souls. Riding around from town to town by horse, this man of God studied the word much, but with the heart to preach the word. Some of the scholars study and make very neat discoveries that will never make it into messages it seems. But his commentary reads a little bit more devotional. Not saying one is better, but it is nice to get this variety. Some commentaries are so thorough (long) that we've suggested finding one section to read. This one is nice and short (at least on 1 John). It's just a few sentences for each verse. So we may all be...

Week 33 —1st John Bible Nerd-Study *Missed last week?  Click here  for 1st John Bible Nerd-Study - Week 32 Williams + Manna/Memory 1 John 3:18-24 + Jamieson-Fausset-Brown 1 John (Williams) 1 John (Jamieson-Fausset-Brown) Hey everyone! Back to a new and odd translation - Williams. This one is a thought for thought translation from 1937 (revised 1950). Moody Press published it so it automatically gains some respect. Williams wanted to have the translation in a language for the people (remember this is 1937), but without it being a paraphrase. This is before NIV, NCV, HCSB, etc. He followed the Westcott and Hort Greek text (not the Textus Receptus), so that may bother some. He even used a bit of the Vatican manuscript whenever there were real conflicts in the Greek texts. You may notice in some Bibles there is a footnote by the story of the adulteress from John's Gospel. It's not in some of the medieval manuscripts and some take issue with it. Others feel it was always there but ...

Week 32 —1st John Bible Nerd-Study *Missed last week?  Click here  for 1st John Bible Nerd-Study - Week 31 Normal translation + Paraphrase 2:29-3:17 + Scroggie's Unfolding Drama of Redemption  1 John (Scroggie UDR) The Unfolding Drama of Redemption is one of my go-to favorites of all time with Bible basics when studying. I ended up reading it 2x as part of a two-year study plan created by Christian Chen (which was awesome), and since that time I've referred back to different sections often. I love his style of organizing and charts. The concept of revealing throughout Scripture a larger plan that's all connected is wonderful. Scroggie was trained by Spurgeon and has that similar openness to all Christians that is so helpful for a bible student. Attached is a small portion on 1 John. It starts out with some general comparison with the Gospel of John. That type of parallel study has come up already here and it'd be great if someone pasted out all of the verses next to eac...

Experiencing Crosses Which side of the cross are you on?  Below are my quick notes just after some meditation on the Lord before going to bed. This ended up being the basis of a message shared in Queens NY (see below). CBM Message 06-21-20 - Experiencing Crosses - Geoffrey Pittman https://youtu.be/916yczZ6CUA

Week 31 —1st John Bible Nerd-Study *Missed last week?  Click here  for 1st John Bible Nerd-Study - Week 30 KJV vs NKJV + 3:13-17 memory + Robert Candlish 1 John (KJV vs NKJV) As a kid, I remember most adults using KJV but they would permit the kids and new people to use NKJV. There were other options but this one was encouraged and hadn't messed up too many things from the authorized. I was glad to read it since KJV had me lost. So what did the 130 scholars change after 7 years of work? By 1982 they had updated some vocabulary and grammar of the old text. But they couldn't help adding in some footnotes as well. You'll see them refer to the NU-text and the M-text. These are Greek texts that have something different than what KJV used. Here's a quote from the preface: NU-Text These variations from the traditional text generally represent the Alexandrian or Egyptian type of text [the oldest, but sometimes questioned text]. They are found in the Critical Text published in t...