Halcyon

It's seems like you're saying that Jesus' death was more to set an example for us, the sinners, to die to our former selves? Not so much substitution, but example? This makes more sense to me, but I hadn't heard it before. It is always drummed into one's head "Jesus died for your sins".

This is a question that has been on my mind for a long time, but I never felt comfortable asking anyone about it. It seems like such an obvious thing, so obvious that I am perplexed as to why I don't understand it. It is said that Jesus died for our sins. That God sacrificed his only son for us, that he paid the ultimate price. The thing I don't get is....how does this work? How does the death of one release us from sin? The sins still happened. The consequences still resound. How does the son of God dying "pay" for this? What is "payment" in this context? Is it like an exchange? A barter? If it is, why would the death of God's son (which one could argue is not a good thing) pay for sins (again, not a good thing). It's like saying that crashing my new car will release me from mortgage payment on my house. I guess what's missing for me is the relationship, the thread, connecting Jesus' death with my sins. I am probably making no sense. If so, then forgive me. If you have any clue as to what I'm trying to get out here, perhaps you have insight.

Today I had a medical procedure which I have been dreading. All's well, thankfully. Home with the family for pizza and books. Tomorrow, we'll be attending son's hockey game and then going to watch a skateboard competition

THank you Jenell. I have the Oxford Bible Commentary, which I enjoy very much. I wonder how similar it is to your suggestion.

Interesting connection.

I too like the NRSV translation the best. However, I can't seem to find a study bible that I like using NRSV translation. I own a few study bibles which are really quite worthless to me (New Living Translation gifted to me) and am looking for something more informative and historical.

I have the NRSV and an ESV (not the one I linked) and I actually find them quite comparable in most places that I've compared so far. That said, if they had this study bible in an NRSV translation I would prefer that...but they don't. Thank you for your suggestion! I am looking at it now on Amazon and it looks very interesting. I am going to try to find a preview online so I can see some sample pages. Thank you.

Can I ask what people think of this study bible? I've had my eye on it for a while. I understand it's a bit more conservative than I'd probably like, but the maps and history look interesting.