The other day I was just waking up and realizing that I faced a challenging day. I decided to do a little scripture reading before even getting up. I chose to read a language I read only very slowly and with difficulty (Syriac), because that usually gives me more time to meditate. I have a…
Sometimes the process of preparing to teach Sunday School takes interesting turns, at least for me. I’m currently teaching from the Sermon on the Mount, and I was thinking about the transition from the beatitudes to the discussion of fulfilling the law. Sometimes we get so used to the way Scripture passages read that we…
Most of the time I’m suggesting that people lighten up when they get too deep into theology, so today, when people are lightening up, I want to talk a bit of theology. This day represents the core of my Christian faith in so many ways. When I get into discussions about what is essential in…
I recorded this on 10-21-30 because of the approach of Hurricane Zeta on the evening of the 28th. Video PowerPoint This is an embedded Microsoft Office presentation, powered by Office. PDF
I’m a bit behind posting these, but here are the files from the last Perspectives video. Note we will be continuing the discussion this coming week, as I only completed about half of what I had planned. The key theme text will be Jeremiah 31:31-34. Remember that a good deal of the material I’m covering…
… or any scripture, for that matter. In graduate school I became progressively less interested in listening to sermons or in reading devotional items. While I was very interested in reading poetry, fiction and other non-technical materials, I applied a largely technical approach to scripture and theology. I say this to make clear that I…
I’m continuing to read Guthrie’s commentary on Hebrews (George H. Guthrie, Hebrews, The NIV Application Commentary, Kindle edition) and I am enjoying his approach. That doesn’t mean agreeing with everything, but I find that his approach is likely to be particularly helpful to preachers and teachers as he attempts to bridge the cultural differences. In the…
I took note of this quote from George Guthrie’s discussion of authorship: As with other matters of background we are almost entirely dependent on evidence internal to the book. So, what does the work reveal of its maker? George H. Guthrie, Hebrews, The NIV Application Commentary, Kindle edition In a way, this is the key…
Hebrews 11:1-3 begins thus: “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (KJV). Most of the words here are at least a bit controversial. It may be easier to understand the passage if we accept that the writer is not trying to define “faith” or the Greek word “pistis,”…
Evangelical Textual Criticism has a post with the following graphic: While I imagine there might be minor variations in a survey of American scholars, I think the results would be similar. It’s always fun to see the numbers on Hebrews, since I would describe myself as uncertain (with the nine and not the 100), but…
