The First Letter of John describes perfect love—both its conditions and its benefits. This letter portrays perfect love as the Christian ideal and the goal toward which all Christians must strive. The concept, however, has become diluted due to the deterioration in meaning of the word perfect. What does it …

In reference to the light described in the prologue of the Gospel According to John, what does it mean that the darkness did not overtake it? In both the New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE) and translations of the Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE and RSV2CE), the Gospel According …

The difference between Israel and Judah confuses many people when they read the Old Testament. The Book of Jeremiah 23:5–8 (NABRE) calls attention to a linguistic peculiarity in the Scriptures. The word Israel in the Old and New Testaments can have at least four distinct meanings depending on context. How …

What has led to several books of the Catholic Bible being referred to as the Apocrypha? Several inspirational and uplifting readings can be found in the Second Book of the Maccabees. These powerful readings, however, have not gotten the exposure that some other texts have received because many Christians consider …

When the liturgical year begins to wind down, we encounter a passage in which Jesus informs us that at the end some people will be taken and some will be left. This passage in the Gospel According to Luke 17:34–35 (NABRE) and similar passages have caused a great deal of …

Jesus talks about the judgment as a looming and unpleasant event in this week’s reading from the Gospel According to Luke 10:13–16 (NABRE). Because of other passages in the Scriptures, we can feel fairly confident that we understand this passage. With further analysis, however, it’s possible that we don’t have …

One of our readers submitted the following question: “In our Bible study group last evening, we had a discussion about the word favorite. Our discussion centered on the favorite son of Jacob, and what that word’s meaning was in the Hebrew culture compared to our culture today. What are the …

In the First Letter to Timothy 3:1–13 (NABRE), Paul describes the roles of bishop and deacon in the early Christian community. These roles have carried over from that time into our Church today, and so it is instructive to look at how they originally were viewed. The Greek word ἐπίσκοπος …

The nature of the sabbath is the focus of an argument between Jesus and some Pharisees in the Gospel According to Luke 6:1–5 (NABRE). The central controversy they are debating is whether it is lawful for Jesus’ disciples to pick grain on the sabbath. The Hebrew word that comes to …

Tabernacle, sometimes called the tent of meeting to describe where the Israelites worshiped the Lord, is one of the major focuses in the Old Testament book of Exodus. This tent was significant to the Israelites because that’s where God dwelt. The Hebrew word mishkan is used to refer to the tabernacle. It …