I know I’m beating this topic to death, but I can’t help it. Really I can’t. Or at least I won’t. I was reading Hebrews today, and I ran into some interesting examples, both of positive and (in my opinion) negative uses of italics. Before I look at a couple of cases, however, I do…
From Homilies on the Epistle to the Hebrews (Christian Classics Ethereal Library), commenting on Hebrews 11:13-16. All emphasis is mine. What then? Did they mean that they were “strangers” from the land that is in Palestine? By no means: but in respect of the whole world: and with reason; for they saw therein none of…
Some time ago I wrote an essay titled A Fruitful Faith, in which I maintained that there is a pattern of grace before law that is consistent throughout scripture, both Old Testament and New. One can also express this idea as call before response, or, as I’ve been thinking today especially, faith before works. Frequently faith…
From St. John Chrysostom, On the Epistle to the Hebrews 20.5, from Hebrews: Ancient Christian commentary on Scripture, New Testament X p. 167 Knowing then these things, let us be patient when we suffer evil and forthright in offering kindness. This is all the stronger if we think lightly of wealth and honor. He that…
The first is an interview at Euangelion with Andrew Pitts regarding his forthcoming essay on Hebrews (in a collection). It discusses the authorship and proposes Paul as the author, but in a speech rather than a letter, and Luke as stenographer, which he differentiates from an amanuensis. I didn’t get a completely clear picture of…
I thought this was one of the most beautiful ways I have heard this expressed: “For” (he says) “the Law having a shadow of the good things to come, not the very image of the things”; i.e. not the very reality. For as in painting, so long as one [only] draws the outlines, it is…
Nijay Gupta has a short interview with Gordon Fee regarding his new commentary on Galatians (HT). Since I have an extremely high regard for Gordon Fee’s work in general, and for his commentary on 1 Corinthians (which I cite frequently) in particular, I’m certainly planning to get my hands on a copy of his work…
I was looking at this week’s lectionary passages, and a relationship with my current study of Leviticus struck me. How precisely do our actions and rituals symbolize what we’re trying to represent? Is it possible that all they do is open up the questions for us? I wrote about some of the oddness of God’s…
When I’m teaching church members, I like to emphasize service in one’s choice of a church congregation. The best congregation for you is the one where you can best fulfill your call to minister to others. I believe everyone has such a call. That’s a generalization that often doesn’t answer that many questions, but it…
What meaning is evoked in people’s minds by the word “sacrifice?” One of the things I like to do when teaching is to simply write a word on the board that is commonly used in Biblical and/or Christian discourse and get people to give me various things that this word means to them. I try…
