Russian
Konstantin Chernushenko
Senior Producer
Russian
“Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh.
Nor of the will of man, but of God" (John 1:13)
These words have a dependence on what goes before, and therefore
we must direct you to it for the right understanding of them. You
have it thus: ""He (Christ) came unto his own, and his own received
him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become
the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: which were born,
not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but
of God." In the words before us, you have two things. 1. Some of Christ's
own nation rejecting him when he offered himself to them. 2. Others of
his own receiving him and making him welcome. Those that reject him, he
also passes by; but those "that receive him, he gives them
power to become the sons of God." Now, lest anyone should look upon it as
good 1luck or fortune, he says, "They were born, not of blood, nor of the
will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." They that did not
receive him, were only born of flesh and blood; but those that did receive
him, they that receive the doctrine of Christ with a vehement desire, they
have God to their father.
Why must we forgive? Jesus was unequivocal on this point: As his followers, we are required to forgive those who sin against us (Matthew 6:15). But what if we don’t feel like we’ve forgiven them? How do we know, then, if we have truly forgiven? The Holy Spirit, thank God, often enables people to forgive even though they are not sure how they did it. But forgiving and knowing that we’ve truly forgiven comes easier when we understand the realities of forgiveness. In our discussion of this subject, we give your prospective from the New Testament point of view.
We continue to study the New Testament in the ongoing series “Book of Books”. The Book of Acts, like the four Gospels, does not name its author. However, the widespread belief that this book, along with the third Gospel, was composed by a man named Luke who was a companion of the apostle Paul (Col. 4:14; 2 Tim. 4:11; Philem. 24), has persisted from early times, particularly since the late second century. Both the third Gospel and Acts have prologues that tie the two together with references to a man called Theophilus and lead one to believe that they are the first and second volumes of a continuous history. The "we sections" of Acts (16:10-17; 20:5-21:18; 27:1-28:16) imply that the writer of Acts was a companion of Paul part of the time, and after one eliminates most of the people the author mentions by name in Acts, the most logical identification is Luke the physician. Thus, the strong testimony of the earliest Fathers and this internal evidence, reinforced by the presence of medical language (which alone is not decisive), have led the majority of scholars, ancient and modern, to consider Luke the author. Luke puts his narrative together from his own observations (thus the "we sections") as well as other possible eyewitness accounts, written and oral. This is implied by the statement of Luke 1:3, where the author refers to his investigations. The style and vocabulary of the speeches of Paul and Peter conform remarkably to their own writings, so that one gets the impression that someone, probably Luke in the case of a few of Paul's sermons, took careful notes during their delivery.
We have several projects under development that might be interesting to you. Come and download numerous Christian books, listen to our programs, see several video lessons based on Russian Christian art, take a look at pictures of beautiful Alaska. Do you have critical remarks or brilliant ideas about improving our broadcasting? Send us your suggestions and we will do our best to make the programs better.
January, 2026
We continue our discussion of the New Testament, and this month we are focused on the Letter to the Ephesians.
The most crucial problem in the study of Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians is whether Paul wrote it. It claims unambiguously to come from Paul's hand, both in the very first word of the letter and in numerous other personal references. Doubts among scholars as to the literal truth of these claims have arisen due to several factors.
Some of these include the author's obviously limited acquaintance with his readers, something highly puzzling if Paul is writing to his friends in Ephesus, where he spent nearly three years. Likewise, the literary relationship between this letter and that to the Colossians shows that if they were not written at the same time by the same person, then one was modeled on the other. Yet, the vocabulary and style of Ephesians are considerably different from that in Colossians, suggesting that the two documents were not authored by one person.
Furthermore, the teaching of Ephesians is thought to reflect situations in the early church which postdate the death of Paul by several decades in some cases (e.g., the references to "apostles and prophets" in 2:20; 3:5). These factors add up to the possibility that Paul himself is not the author of Ephesians. Nevertheless, taken one by one, the separate pieces of evidence can be adequately explained on the assumption of Pauline authorship. It is their cumulative effect which carries the greatest weight against authenticity. Yet even the accumulation of evidence is not a watertight case, but only a case for probability, and history is replete with the improbable. Without being either dogmatic or credulous, we may with good conscience approach Ephesians as a letter from the apostle Paul.
In our study of the Old Testament, we focus on the book of Amos (the prophet).
This exemplary composition, dealing with the ethical and moral implications of the Israelite covenantal religion, has been attributed consistently through the ages to Amos of Tekoa. His name, which may mean "burden-bearer" or "burdensome," is distinctive in that it does not occur anywhere else in the Old Testament. The name is mentioned once in the New Testament (Luke 3:25), but an entirely different person is involved. Jewish tradition suggested that the name was a shortened form of Amaziah (see Amos 7:10, where the two are contrasted), or Amasiah, which itself occurs only once in the Old Testament (2 Chron. 17:16).
The prophet Amos was born in Tekoa, a village located on a hill some twenty-eight hundred feet above sea level, overlooking the wilderness of Judah. It was somewhat isolated from Jerusalem, the capital of the southern kingdom, situated six miles south of Bethlehem. The ancient name has survived in the modern Arabic Tequ, an area that is well suited to the rearing of sheep and goats. From this elevation the prophet could contemplate the significance of God's message for the nation as he looked beyond the nearby caravan trails to the desolate Judean wilderness. The wasteland would obviously serve as a reminder of his nation's future if covenantal law was continuously disobeyed.
Although Amos disclaimed any connection with prophetic guilds and was not a priest (as were Jeremiah and Ezekiel) or an aristocrat (as was Isaiah), he should not thereby be dismissed as an ignorant peasant just because he made a living from shepherding animals and from seasonal work in the fig groves. His prophecies show him to have been a thoughtful, spiritually minded person who was alarmed at the fate in store for the nation if its light did not reflect the justice and righteousness that were basic to covenantal law. Like many other Hebrews, Amos exhibited poetic gifts, and his oracles are models of articulate speech, beautifully crafted literary idioms, and a passionate concern for the nation to turn away from idolatry and worship the Lord of Sinai as Israel's one and only true God.
We have several projects under development that might be interesting to you. Come and download numerous Christian books, listen to our programs, see several video lessons based on Russian Christian art, and take a look at pictures of beautiful Alaska. Do you have critical remarks or brilliant ideas about improving our broadcasting? Send us your suggestions and we will do our best to make the programs better.
We will endeavor, our dear listeners, in search of the connection
between the different parts of these verses.
First, the apostle lays down a Christian’s duty- “Let every one of us please his neighbor for
his good to edification.” After that he brings forward as the sanction of that duty, the spirit
of the Life of Christ– “For even Christ pleased not Himself.” Next, he adds an illustration of
that principle by a quotation from Psalm 69: – “It is written, the reproaches of them that
reproached thee fell on Me.” Lastly, he explains and defends that application of the psalm, as if he had said, I am perfectly justified in applying that passage to Christ, for whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning.'”
So that in this quotation, and the defense of it as contained in these verses, we have the principle of Apostolic interpretation; we have the principle upon which the apostles used the Old Testament Scriptures and we are enabled to understand their view of inspiration, This scriptures, is one of the most important considerations upon which we can be at this moment engaged. It is the deepest question of our day: the one which lies beneath all others, and in comparison, of which the questions just now agitating the popular mind– whether of Papal jurisdiction or varieties of Church doctrine in our own communion–are but superficial: it is this grand question of Inspiration which is given to this age to solve.
Our programs will break itself up into questions such as these-What the Bible is, and what the Bible is not? What is meant by inspiration? Whether inspiration is the same thing as infallibility? When God inspired the minds, did He dictate the words? Does the inspiration of men mean the infallibility of their words? Is inspiration the same as dictation? Whether, granting that we have the Word of God, we have also the words of God? Are the operations of the Holy Spirit inspiring men, compatible with partial error, as His operations in sanctifying them are compatible with partial evil? How are we to interpret and apply the Scriptures?
As always, we have other projects under development that might be interesting to you. Come and download numerous Christian books, listen to our programs, see several video lessons based on Russian Christian art, look at pictures of beautiful Alaska, the home of our first radio station, KNLS.
Thanks for reading and for listening.
