You and I Are Barabbas

By Chuck Ness

Like our sin that goes away never to be brought up again by God, so too is Barabbas to history. Neither Christian nor Jewish writings, ever mention Barabbas again. Barrabas was the scapegoat which was released into the wilderness, so that the Levitical ceremonial law of sacrifice  could be fulfilled by Christ. 

The word scapegoat means something entirely opposite from what it meant at the time the King James version of the Bible was wrote. Today, the word is used most often in sports media. It 's used when a particular player or coach is being blamed for a team's poor performance in a game or season. The person receiving the brunt of the blame game is called the scapegoat. The rest of the team is free from blame and the scapegoat is blamed as the reason for a lack of success.

My Thoughts on the Epistle to the Hebrews

By Chuck Ness

I can truly say that my understanding of the salvation I received from Christ has been made abundantly clearer thanks to this letter. I would love to thank the author for the growth I gained in studying this letter. However the identity of the author is unknown, but there is no lack of ideas as to who wrote it. The list goes on and on as to who the author was. The opinions run the gamut from Barnabas, Paul, and Apollos (whom I personally go back and forth in awarding my vote to) some scholars even suggest that either Priscilla or Mary the mother of Jesus was the author. I have my reasons why I do not think the author was a woman, however even if we knew who wrote this, a most excellent of epistles, it would not add, nor take from, one iota of importance to its contents.

That being said, I shall not get into the many minutia of who the author is, except to say the letter is truly inspired by the Holy Spirit and that is really all that matters.