Matthew Henry, in commenting on Psalm 95 says that “[t]his psalm must be sung with a holy reverence of God’s majesty and a dread of his justice, with a desire to please him and a fear to offend him.” I’m wondering just how that was derived from this Psalm. I don’t doubt that there we…
I provide some devotional thoughts (not particularly exegetical!) that I gleaned from this passage in my post today for my wife’s devotional list.
One of the major elements of the new perspectives on Paul is the changing view of justification. In a broad sense, one could say that justification involves not a moment of personal salvation, but rather a moment of incorporation into a broad community, known as the people of God, kingdom of God, or the body…
The story of the temptation and fall (Genesis 3:1-7) is one of the stories that sustains some complentarians and advocates of male leadership and authority. I use “myth” here in the partial technical sense of a story that explains and reinforces a cultural norm. In particular, people point out that Eve was taken in by…
This is a short note on some implications of evil based on a reading of Genesis 2:15-17, which is the first mention of anything even potentially out of order with God’s wonderful new world. I’ve heard hundreds of arguments in church, including the question of why God would put just one tree in the garden…
Not too surprisingly, it’s not hard to find a common theme through the lectionary passages for February 10. This makes a second week in a row, as the Transfiguration texts also displayed many common themes. The texts are: Genesis 2:15-17 (the command about the tree in the midst of the garden), 3:1-7 (Temptation and Fall)….
This passage in 2 Peter is one of the most commonly cited in discussions of Biblical inspiration, along with 2 Timothy 3:16, Hebrews 4:12 and Psalm 12:6. One of the interesting things that I notice about them all is that they are often used as though they obviously say something that, on closer examination, they…
13Has Christ been divided? Surely it wasn’t Paul who was crucified for you, or into Paul’s name that you were baptized! 14I thank God that I didn’t baptize any of you except for Crispus and Gaius, 15So that nobody could say that you were baptized into my name. 16Well, I did baptize the household of…
19We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, steadfast and firm and entering the inner side of the veil. 20Jesus entered there as a forerunner for us, becoming a high priest eternally according to the order of Melchizedek. — Hebrews 6:19-20 When I joined the Air Force, my mother made me a quilt…
I want to make just a few remarks on the texts selected for Transfiguration Sunday, February 3. I like to find common themes in the lectionary texts even when they don’t seem all that coherent. In this case, the texts are quite carefully chosen. First is the story of the transfiguration from Matthew 17:1-9. There…
