Ephesians like Romans and Galatians splits neatly into two parts, with the second giving the practical outworkings of the first. Here opening (chs. 1-4) is “indicative” – it tells us what is – the second (chs. 5-6) is “imperative” – it tells us what to do. The letter has strong similarities to Colossians, some think [&hellip...
Unlike the theological treatise in Romans, Galatians seems to be written to particular people known to Paul, and with a particular situation in mind – Jewish Christian preachers who were calling for restoration of Biblical Principles (observance of the Old Testament law). So after the greeting, Paul starts combatitively in Gal 1:6-10. In the light [&hellip...
Romans is a long letter, and the divisions between “sections” are often not clear. So the end of the opening greeting is not obvious somewhere in Rom 1:14-17, but where? Nor is it clear that the division between Rom 1 and Rom 2 is in the right place. ((Remember that chapter divisions were only added [&hellip...
As soon as Christian faith began to spread beyond its first (Jewish) homeland it became a faith based on community sustained by travel and letters. A bit just like blogs and FaceBook today, letters nourished community, and sustained arguments or brought them to peaceful conclusions. The combination of new(ish) technology and Roman roads and sea [&hellip...
In the legal manouvreing at the start of this reading Paul quotes Isaiah: “Listen and listen but not understand look and look but not see!” But if the Bible is perspicuous (listen to The Perspicuity of Scripture) so is creation: we can’t miss evidence of God, but sometimes we don’t want to hear… And what [&hellip...
These five chapters describe Paul’s second and third missionary journeys, amid many trips covering between them about a decade there are lots of exciting stories. The approach Paul took in Athens is of particular interest, it’s a very early example of Christianity not merely translating but contextualising – expressing the message not only in the [&hellip...
Oh, boy! Oh, boy 🙂 What a chapter!? This chapter, full of the minutes of, or rather a report on, the first recorded business meeting of the Christian church, both raises and solves a huge problem Christians have with Scripture, and comes close to, but avoids two of the commonest contemporary (in New Zealand Baptist [&hellip...
Paul’s summarises the Old Testament story from a Jewish-Christian perspective as a world looking for a saviour. Then John showed that still “today” not just in ancient times people are looking for a saviour. Jesus not only died, but rose, and this is the keeping of God’s ancient promises. In Jesus God fills out, fully, [&hellip...
“The Road” or “The Way” common Biblical picture language for a way of life or the direction we are “going”, but it is also used several times in Acts (almost, or probably, only in Acts) as a name for being a Christian. It is a good name because metanoia, repentance, is about turning round and [&hellip...
This week’s readings tell the exciting story of how the Church broke loose. Till this time faith and culture had been intimately related. So if you wanted to convert to Judaism you became Jewish and adopted the rules and customs of Jewish life. In particular you adopted the 613 rules of the Torah. The first [&hellip...
