How does the book of Ecclesiastes impact your view of inspiration? I’ll be asking folks to think about this in my Sunday School class at First UMC of Pensacola as we study Ecclesiastes. What do you think?
I’m embedding the YouTube of the session below. There were a couple of points on which I didn’t quite say everything I wanted to, or left things a bit unclear. I’m going to post on two topics, and link to them below: 1. Theological Development and Determining Date and Authorship 2. Extreme Basics of Textual…
Yesterday Adrian was apparently surprised that anyone would question that the suffering servant of Isaiah 53 (or better, Isaiah 52:13-53:12) was Jesus. He said: The answer to the first question is very straightforward if you believe the bible is without error and Jesus can be trusted. For he himself tells us who the prophet is…
In a practical sense, I have to agree on this. I’m not sure if that’s the reality behind everything.
I’m going to post next on the nature of the priesthood of Jesus, by looking at the major passages in the book of Hebrews. These especially chapter 2, 4:14-16, and 7. Obviously that list is not exhaustive, as priesthood is fundamental to most of the book, but those passages will get us started. First, however,…
The psalmist presents a lawgiver God, but also a creator who redeems and sustains.
. . . has been posted at Lingamish. Good job, pretty pictures, interesting stuff, nuff said!
The simple answer is that it doesn’t affect my view of inspiration at all. It might do if I thought that inspiration meant that I could easily and trivially synthesise Ecclesiastes with, for instance, the Psalms of rejoicing (rather than those of lament) or the suggestions scattered throughout the New Testament that God will do loads of good things for the believer.
I’ve spent some of my life living psychologically in a Matt. 6 world and some living in an Ecclesiastes/Job world. The inspirations are appropriate to the situation in both cases.
Of course, Matt. 6:26ff and Ecclesiastes agree about living in the moment, even if they don’t agree about what might happen next. This isn’t a synthesis, though, it’s just advice which works independently of your situation.