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Thinking on Scripture with Dr. Steven R. Cook

Thinking on Scripture with Dr. Steven R. Cook

De: Dr. Steven R. Cook
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Dr. Steven R. Cook is the founder of Thinking on Scripture, a platform that has attracted over one million visitors. Steven is a Christian educator who has taught undergraduate theology at Tyndale Theological Seminary and recently joined the faculty of Chafer Theological Seminary. He is a Protestant, traditional dispensationalist, and a traditional Free Grace Bible teacher. His studies in the original languages of Scripture, ancient history, and systematic theology have been the foundation for his teaching and writing ministry. Steven has written several Christian books, dozens of articles on Christian theology, and recorded more than fifteen hundred hours of audio and video messages. He hosts a weekly Bible study at his home in Arlington, Texas, where he records most of the Bible lessons for his podcast and YouTube channel. Steven’s ministry activity is freelance and entirely voluntary, and he appreciates donations to help with ministry expenses. Since 2004, he has served as a full-time Case Manager with a local nonprofit agency dedicated to assisting poor, elderly, and disabled members of the community.

Copyright 2013 Steven Cook. All rights reserved. Ciencias Sociales Cristianismo Espiritualidad Ministerio y Evangelismo
Episodios
  • The Spiritual Life #57 - The Suffering of the Psalmist, Joseph, and Moses

    The Spiritual Life #57 - The Suffering of the Psalmist, Joseph, and Moses
    Nov 16 2025
    The Suffering of the Psalmist The Psalmist wrote, “Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now I keep Your word” (Psa 119:67). The word translated “went astray” is שָׁגַג (shāgag). According to HALOT it means “to make a mistake inadvertently, unwittingly…to go astray.”[1] It connotes moral or spiritual deviation (cf. Prov 5:23; Isa 53:6). Ross states, “The verb (שָׁגגַ) is used in Leviticus for unintentional sins; but here it probably includes rationalized, deliberate sins because he was wandering from the way of God. He was not walking by faith in obedience to the word, and so he suffered some affliction at the hands of the wicked; but now he was keeping God’s oracle, the word “keep” (שָׁמַר) referring to a meticulous observance of all that God required in his covenant.”[2] The significance is that the psalmist admits he was drifting from obedience, not necessarily into outright rebellion, but into carelessness or neglect of God’s Word. The affliction became God’s means of correction, turning his wandering into renewed obedience. Thus, the term highlights human tendency to stray and God’s faithful use of discipline to restore. A few verses later he states, “It is good for me that I was afflicted, so that I may learn Your statutes” (Psa 119:71). Affliction is seen as a teacher that drives God’s people back to His Word. Ross adds, “The psalmist is able to acknowledge that his affliction worked for his good because it forced him to learn more of God’s plan revealed in his word. In learning through adversity, he discovered the word God personally revealed in human language was far more valuable than silver or gold [Psa 119:72].”[3] Then, the psalmist states, “I know, O LORD, that Your judgments are righteous, and that in faithfulness You have afflicted me” (Psa 119:75). Ross states: "The affliction he has been experiencing came from God, even though it was through arrogant oppressors. The principle was laid down in the experience of Israel in the wilderness: God tested them to see if they would obey or not (Deut 8:16). Those who understand the ways of God know that ultimately it is his plan to exalt the righteous and destroy the wicked, but that in his wisdom he often humbles the righteous before exalting them."[4] Taken together, these verses trace the movement from wandering, to correction, to obedience, and finally to worshipful recognition of God’s faithful purposes. They teach that affliction, far from being wasted, is a tool in God’s hand to sanctify His people and anchor them more firmly in His Word. We don’t like trials or suffering, and we often ask God to remove them, much like Paul asked God to remove his “thorn in the flesh” (2 Cor 12:7). However, we find that most of the time God chooses not to remove our difficulty, like He did not remove Paul’s (2 Cor 12:8-9), and we must learn that what He does not remove, He intends for us to deal with, and this by faith (2 Cor 12:10; cf. 2 Cor 5:7; Heb 10:38; 11:6). The Suffering of Joseph Joseph’s life stands as one of Scripture’s clearest demonstrations of how God employs suffering to shape the faith and character of His people. Betrayed by his brothers and cast into a pit, Joseph was sold into slavery and carried away to Egypt (Gen 37:23–28). There he endured the humiliation of serving as a foreigner in Potiphar’s house, and though he prospered by God’s favor, his integrity in resisting Potiphar’s wife led to false accusations and unjust imprisonment (Gen 39:1–20). Even in prison, where he was forgotten by those he had helped (Gen 40:23), Joseph displayed remarkable faithfulness, refusing bitterness and maintaining trust in God’s providential hand. Each stage of his trial pressed him deeper into dependence upon the Lord, refining his character for the weighty responsibilities that awaited him. His hardships were not incidental but instrumental in God’s design, preparing him to serve as second only to Pharaoh and to become a channel of blessing to countless lives. Joseph consistently interpreted his life from the perspective of God’s providence, not merely in the well-known statement of Genesis 50:20. When he first revealed himself to his brothers, he sought to comfort them with the assurance that their sin, though grievous, was under divine control: “Do not be grieved or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life” (Gen 45:5). He went further, declaring, “God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on the earth, and to keep you alive by a great deliverance. Now, therefore, it was not you who sent me here, but God” (Gen 45:7–8). In both statements, Joseph acknowledged the reality of human betrayal but deliberately framed it within the larger purposes of God. He viewed his sufferings as divine instruments for the preservation of life and the fulfillment of...
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    59 m
  • The Spiritual Life #56 - The Suffering of Jesus Christ as Our Example

    The Spiritual Life #56 - The Suffering of Jesus Christ as Our Example
    Nov 9 2025

    The Suffering of Jesus Christ

    Jesus Christ, though perfectly sinless in His nature and conduct (1 Pet 2:22; 1 John 3:5), fully entered into the sufferings of humanity during what Scripture calls “the days of His flesh” (Heb 5:7a). As eternal God (John 1:1, 14; Col 2:9), He lacked nothing and possessed all knowledge, power, and authority. Yet in His humanity, He willingly submitted Himself to the limitations of human life, growing in wisdom and stature (Luke 2:40) and experiencing hunger, thirst, fatigue, grief, and rejection. This was not because of any imperfection in His being, but because the incarnation required Him to live in a fallen world where obedience to the Father necessarily brought conflict with the prevailing powers of darkness. Hebrews explains that He “learned obedience from the things which He suffered” (Heb 5:8). This does not mean He was ever disobedient, but rather that, through real human experience, He grew in the practical expression of obedience under pressure, culminating in His supreme submission when He “became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Phil 2:8). According to Fruchtenbaum, “The expression learned obedience does not mean that Jesus disobeyed; it means that He learned what obedience cost Him. It cost Him suffering. Philippians 2:8 makes the same point. He learned what obedience costs by means of the things He suffered.”[1] Jesus’ suffering, therefore, was the means by which He demonstrated in His humanity the perfection of obedience, leaving believers an enduring model of faithfulness amid adversity.

    As the Suffering Servant foretold by Isaiah (Isa 53:1–12), Jesus also bore the unique suffering of standing in the place of sinners to satisfy divine justice. He not only endured the hostility of men and the pressures of life in a fallen world but ultimately suffered as the substitute for humanity’s sins. In His sacrificial death, He bore the full weight of God’s wrath against sin, paying a debt that was not His own (Mark 10:45; Rom 5:8; 1 Pet 3:18). On the cross, He suffered in the most profound sense, not for His failures, for He had none, but for ours, offering Himself as the once-for-all atonement. His suffering secured forgiveness, reconciliation, and eternal life for all who believe in Him. Thus, Jesus’ sufferings were both exemplary and substitutionary: exemplary, in that He showed how perfect obedience is forged and displayed through hardship in a fallen world; substitutionary, in that He willingly endured the judgment we deserved so that we might be brought to God. Peter tells us, “Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust” (1 Pet 3:18). Through His suffering, believers find both a model to follow and a Savior to trust, knowing that the One who triumphed through trials now intercedes for them and assures their salvation (1 John 2:1). Sanders states, “Serving and suffering are paired in the teaching and life of our Lord. One does not come without the other. And what servant is greater than the Lord?”[2]

    Steven R. Cook, D.Min., M.Div.

    [1] Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum, The Messianic Jewish Epistles: Hebrews, James, First Peter, Second Peter, Jude, 1st ed. (Tustin, CA: Ariel Ministries, 2005), 66.

    [2] J. Oswald Sanders, Spiritual Leadership: Principles of Excellence for Every Believer (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2007), 24.
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    1 h y 21 m
  • The Spiritual Life #55 - Suffering as a Means of Spiritual Growth

    The Spiritual Life #55 - Suffering as a Means of Spiritual Growth
    Nov 2 2025
    Scripture identifies two main forms of suffering that promote spiritual growth: corrective suffering, which restores the disobedient to fellowship, and perfective suffering, which refines the obedient toward greater maturity in Christ. Corrective suffering arises from divine discipline when believers deviate from God’s will and wander into disobedience. Such discipline is the measured response of a loving Father who seeks to restore His children to fellowship and fruitfulness. Israel’s history provides a vivid backdrop to this principle. When the nation violated the Mosaic covenant, God responded with covenant curses designed to bring them back to Himself (Deut 28:15–68). Hosea depicts God hedging up Israel’s path with thorns, frustrating her sinful pursuits so that she might return to Him (Hos 2:6–7). The author of Hebrews interprets such experiences as evidence of divine love: “For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives” (Heb 12:6). According to Warren Wiersbe: "Chastening is the evidence of the Father’s love. Satan wants us to believe that the difficulties of life are proof that God does not love us, but just the opposite is true. Sometimes God’s chastening is seen in His rebukes from the Word or from circumstances. At other times He shows His love by punishing us with some physical suffering. Whatever the experience, we can be sure that His chastening hand is controlled by His loving heart. The Father does not want us to be pampered babies; He wants us to become mature adult sons and daughters who can be trusted with the responsibilities of life."[1] Divine correction is not rejection but affirmation of sonship. Paul also recognized this principle at work in the Corinthian church, where some believers suffered weakness, sickness, and even premature death because of their irreverence and selfishness at the Lord’s Table (1 Cor 11:30–32). Even kings were not exempt, as seen in Solomon’s later years when God raised up adversaries against him after his heart was turned away to idols (1 Kgs 11:14, 23–25). Corrective suffering, therefore, functions as God’s gracious intervention to arrest further decline and restore obedience. It is the shepherd’s rod that redirects the straying sheep. Yet this discipline, though loving in design, can be resisted if the believer hardens his heart. Still, the intention remains clear: corrective suffering seeks to break the power of rebellion, humble the soul, and lead God’s child back into the blessing of fellowship with Him. Perfective suffering, by contrast, is not punitive but refining. It does not arise from disobedience but from God’s sovereign intention to deepen faith, expand endurance, and produce spiritual maturity. When a believer is walking faithfully with the Lord, obeying His Word, God may still permit suffering in order to shape character, purify motives, and equip His servant for greater usefulness. Job exemplifies this reality. Though declared blameless and upright, Job was permitted to endure severe affliction under Satan’s hand, yet through the ordeal he came to a fuller appreciation of God’s majesty, confessing at the end, “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; but now my eye sees You” (Job 42:5). Job’s knowledge of God had grown because of what he’d learned through his sufferings. Paul’s thorn in the flesh illustrates this same category. Though he prayed repeatedly for its removal, God left it in place to keep him humble and dependent, declaring, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness” (2 Cor 12:9). Rather than crushing Paul, this suffering became the very platform by which God’s strength was displayed through his weakness. Perfective suffering, then, is a divine gift, the furnace in which faith is purified and the believer is transformed into greater conformity to Christ. While suffering in Scripture may be manifold, the categories of corrective and perfective suffering provide a helpful lens for understanding God’s purposes. In both, His love and sovereignty are evident. Corrective suffering restores us when we stray, and perfective suffering strengthens us as we obey, with the unifying aim that we be conformed to the image of His Son (Rom 8:28–29). The Integration of Blessings, Trials, and Sufferings In God’s perfect plan, blessings, trials, and sufferings are divinely orchestrated means for advancing the believer toward spiritual maturity. Blessing manifests the very essence of God’s goodness and generosity, cultivating gratitude, humility, and faithful stewardship in the believer’s life (Jam 1:17; 1 Tim 6:17–18; 1 Pet 4:10). Trials test faith under pressure, refining endurance and strengthening spiritual stability (Jam 1:2–4; 1 Pet 1:6–7). Sufferings train the soul to be dependent upon divine grace (1 Pet 5:10; 2 Cor 12:9). Each is a facet of divine ...
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    1 h y 3 m
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