For the second part of this “A text without contexts is dumb” series we’ll think about cotext, the text that surrounds a text, providing context. The biblical examples come from Psalms and Ephesians. You might want to listen to Part 1 here first 😉 ...
Amos 7:14 is a striking problem for interpreters, not least because what Amos is reported as saying to Amaziah seems to contradict what he is reported to be doing in the rest of the book. This makes it fertile ground for us to incorporate either our presuppositions or rhetoric into the text. (I use the [&hellip...
Prophets and prophecy: the most misunderstood part of OT, “mysterious messengers”. A random chunk from a prophetic book will offer a confusing, seemingly muddled, confusion of vivid picture language. Yet, three simple principles can (usually) unlock the mystery and allow the prophets to speak: conversion not prediction context not timeless conversation not monologue As I’ll [&hellip...
“Head” is often used as picture language. Because such language is always deeply cultural and even personal it is vital to think about what someone else means when they say head – unless it clearly is just the lump that keeps one’s neck from fraying. Paul’s usage is particularly interesting and has more to do [&hellip...
The Sydney Anglicans are suggesting women might want to promise to -submit- to their husbands. I argue that they are not being biblical enough, and don’t go half far enough! I begin with Martyn Lloyd-Jones fine introduction to reading Ephesians 5 and suggest where half-hearted, partial readings go wrong. I’ll follow this up with a [&hellip...
In part one I drew attention to the problem that this verse seems to contradict what Paul himself approves and to some funny things going on in and around the verse. Here I’ll focus on my reason for mentioning this, how we should respond when a Bible passage seems to contradict what the [&hellip...
Ruth is a lovely story, it’s humour is (( Chapter three is a possible exception – and the humour there, if there is humour, is disguised and sexual, so very difficult to spot with confidence across cultures! )) gentle and subtle. Part of the subtlety is that most (though not all) of the signs of [&hellip...
David Ker, in one of the posts that stimulated this series, poses the serious and significant question: given the cultural gulf that separates us from the authors of Scripture how can we be sure something we see as funny tickled ancient Hebrew funny bones? Spotting humour is easier in speech than writing, and spotting humour [&hellip...
I have not focused these 5 Minutes on how Is 53 speaks so clearly about Jesus, it is the Old Testament passage that is most clearly, directly and simply fulfilled in Christ. But that status should not make it paradigmatic for undedrstanding how Jesus fulfills Scripture. For more on that (and there is nothing on [&hellip...
Perhaps the best known and popular psalm among both Jews and Christians but not easy to categorise, except that it expresses trust in God. The imagery makes even better sense when some geography and culture is understood: sheep follow shepherds, they are not left on the hills and then driven green pastures, means land where [&hellip...
