What is your take on Rahab the harlot of the book of Joshua being a different person than the Rahab of Matthew that married Salmon? According to R.K.Phillips, they are two distinctly different individuals. He backs his statement up using the Hebrew, and the Greek Septuagint, and the Greek of The New Testament. I have always heard they were one in the same. But there is a large gap of time that has never been accounted for. Please give me your take on this subject.

Of all the gospel accounts, Luke goes into the most detail about the life of Jesus’ earthly dad, Joseph. In Luke, it talks about how he and Mary had to go back to Jerusalem to find the 12 year old Jesus who ended up being left behind. Of course, we know they found him in the temple; talking to the teachers. After that, nothing is said. What do the Bible scholars say happened to Joseph?

I have believed on Jesus the Christ for many, many years. Through out my years of faith, I’ve sat under teaching of our position in Christ and the favor of the Father as He delights in those who believe, and I’ve sat under teaching that the Father does not look favorably upon our personal sins (not Sin) – like spiritual pride, fear of man, independence, etc. That the Father does not wink at my sins. I’ve also read that the closer a Believer draws to the Father, the clearer that Believer sees the sins in their life.

I lean toward living under repentance of sins (probably from all the hell-fire-and-brimstone preaching from my youth), but I also am pulled towards realizing just how much the Father loves and adores me as His child. How should a Believer hold these two practices (living within our victorious position in Christ vs. living in repentance of sins) in tension?