The Eternal Life Series offers a look at eternal life based on John 17:3 and related New Testament scriptures.
Most or all of the New Testament was written in Greek, so Bible students often dissect scripture by minutely examining Greek words and philosophies. This is natural for Americans because the American education and culture is based on Greek ways of thought.
However, Jesus probably taught mostly in Hebrew, with some of his teachings in Aramaic. Jesus and his followers were well educated in the Hebrew Old Testament. For the first couple of decades after his death, the followers of Jesus were mostly practicing Jews. It seems likely that a better understanding of the teachings of Jesus can be attained by looking at them through a Jewish cultural viewpoint and a better understanding of Hebrew words.
The impetus for this series were some of the episodes of the Bema Discipleship podcast, along with personal study times with Hebrew experts Elle Grove Fricks and Brad H. Young. Working with them, we developed a dictionary of some Hebrew words that you can find in Reference 7 of the Reference section of this website.
Although each episode in this series can be approached individually, the Eternal Life Series is written for viewers to watch all of the episodes in the order in which they are presented.
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The word “prodigal” is not commonly used in modern English. It has two primary meanings. The first meaning is to spend money freely and recklessly. The second meaning is to give something on a lavish scale.
One of the most famous of Jesus’ teachings is the story told in Luke 15:11-31 of a father with two sons. The teaching is often called “The Prodigal Son” because the younger son in the story spent money freely and recklessly. The teaching could easily be called “The Prodigal Father” since the father lavishly gave forgiveness and mercy.
The story cannot be well understood without knowledge of the structure of family dynamics during the time of Jesus. Traditionally, the father of the household owned all the assets of the family until his death. All of his children were expected to be completely obedient to his wishes, with the final goal of showing their love for him by respecting his legacy and imitating him in every way. Upon the father’s death, the oldest son would become the new head of the house while typically inheriting a double portion of the assets compared to the other brothers. At that time, the other brothers could choose to leave the household and strike out on their own, or negotiate a settlement with the oldest brother to stay. It was unthinkable for a child to ask for its inheritance while the father was alive.
