Sermon and Worship Resources

Synonyms: Levi, disciple, evangelist, tax collector, the 12, the twelve, apostle, sermon on the mount, jewish audience, beatitudes, lord's prayer, great commission, parables, olivet discourse, mount of olives, olivet, synoptic

Showing 3076 to 3100 of 3314 results

3076. The Jews and the Law

Romans 2:17-29

Understanding Series

James R. Edwards

... than he despised circumcision. It was precisely because he valued them that he warned against their misuse (see 1 Cor. 10:20–22). When the sacraments dispense with obedience instead of obligate to obedience, they run into the same danger which Paul saw in circumcision. The apostle had an inveterate mistrust that signs and rituals could become substitutes for the will of God rather than signs of it (see 1 Cor. 13:3; 14:6; Gal. 5:2). As signs they remained expressions of the will of the believer, and hence ...

3077. God’s Faithfulness

Romans 3:1-8

Understanding Series

James R. Edwards

... 5–8 consider the second objection, whether the doctrine of justification makes God arbitrary and unjust and spells havoc for morality in general. This objection is also discussed with questions and an answer. The questions, which quite likely repeat questions posed to the apostle in the mission field, are presented in verses 5–7, again (for the first time since 1:16) in the first person. The defense comes in the final dictum, “Their condemnation is deserved” (v. 8). The abrupt diatribe may leave the ...

3078. Righteousness Through Faith

Romans 3:21-31

Understanding Series

James R. Edwards

... . Here is a veritable glossary of the Christian faith, and surely the most succinct and profound expression of the gospel in the Bible. The presence of so many terms otherwise unusual or foreign to Paul—and without explanation—indicates that the apostle is here resorting to familiar concepts, perhaps even to an early Christian formula. Paul employs a wide variety of vocabulary in developing the theme of righteousness by faith. One set of terms comes from the law courts, consisting of “righteousness ...

3079. An Illustration from Marriage

Romans 7:1-6

Understanding Series

James R. Edwards

... written code: “Christianity is not just a Jewish sect which believes in Jesus as the Messiah. It is the breaking in of the new world of God characterized by the lordship of the Spirit. The intensification of the Torah which shaped Judaism in the days of the apostle is impossible for Paul even in the form of an internalizing of the law.… The presence of the risen Lord in the power of the Spirit takes the place of the Torah of Moses and makes holy the world which otherwise, even in its piety and ethics ...

3080. Future Glory

Romans 8:18-27

Understanding Series

James R. Edwards

... of glory awaiting believers. Moreover, it is only “for a season.” The Greek word for present, kairos, means a momentary, limited duration of time. Suffering is limited to this life and pales in comparison to God’s coming glory. The apostle is not minimizing suffering but maximizing glory. 8:19 Verse 19 is charged with all the expectation of children on Christmas eve, and in Greek it nearly collapses under the weight of anticipation. The noun translated eager expectation, apokaradokia, appears only ...

3081. The Remnant of Israel

Romans 11:1-10

Understanding Series

James R. Edwards

... in his subsequent understanding of the gospel. Would God have chosen a Jew to be his special envoy to the Gentiles if he were finished with the Jews? As Luther notes, “if God had cast away his people, then above all he would have cast away the apostle Paul who fought against him with all his strength” (Lectures on Romans, p. 305). The Damascus road experience was, of course, a demonstration of grace to Paul personally. But it was more than that. Paul saw it also as an example of grace to his people ...

3082. Submission to the Authorities

Romans 13:1-7

Understanding Series

James R. Edwards

... and preserve love of others (Romans, pp. 484–85). 13:1–5 The question under consideration is a practical one: what ought to be the attitude of believers toward governing authorities? At the outset we must note the obvious: the apostle was not writing for Americans nurtured by the Declaration of Independence and modern ideas of civil rights, or for any constitutional and participatory democracies. Paul was addressing first-century Christians who were a quite powerless minority under a Roman oligarchy ...

3083. Divisions In the Church

1 Corinthians 1:10-17

Understanding Series

Marion L. Soards

... others (including ʾ2, C, D) include “to God” in the statement. 1:17 When Paul says, Christ did not send me to baptize, he constructs a negative formula using the verb “to send” (Gk. apostellō) that is related to his normal assertion that he is “an apostle [a sent one] of Christ” (1:1). Paul was one who was sent by Christ (to preach), but Christ did not send him primarily to baptize or to preach an ostensibly erudite message. On this issue of the congruence of the messenger with the message ...

3084. On Divisions in the Church

1 Corinthians 3:1-23

Understanding Series

Marion L. Soards

... s will. As God’s servants Paul and Apollos are equal, and they are paid according to their labor. God’s servants do not form competitive groups, for they are united in their efforts under the sole authority of God. Paul recognizes God’s authority over the apostles and over the church in Corinth, which he calls “God’s field.” At the end of 3:9 Paul shifts metaphors. The Corinthians are “God’s field,” but they are also “God’s building.” Using this new image Paul speaks in the role of a ...

3085. Sexual Immorality

1 Corinthians 6:12-20

Understanding Series

Marion L. Soards

... into an inappropriate relationship. How exactly Paul understands this particular illegitimate alliance to be different from other unacceptable unions is not clear from his comments. His sweeping rhetoric is not detailed, but there can be no doubt about the apostle’s basic point—fornicating or sexual involvement with a prostitute is not appropriate conduct for the believer, who is united with Christ in spirit and so defiles the body (perhaps the body of Christ) with such sinful behavior. In chapter ...

3086. Marriage

1 Corinthians 7:1-40

Understanding Series

Marion L. Soards

... Paul’s own position. Verses 4–7 explicates Paul’s point. At the outset, one must recognize that Paul is taking up the letter sent to him from Corinth with its variety of inquiries. In replying to the Corinthians’ questions, the apostle employs common rhetorical features that his readers would have followed easily, although many generations of translators and commentators, as well as everyday readers of the Bible, have not succeeded in tracking Paul’s line of reasoning. 7:1 Paul explicitly refers ...

3087. Food Sacrificed to Idols

1 Corinthians 8:1-13

Understanding Series

Marion L. Soards

... , biblical scholars, and historians of psychology. Such interpreters of antiquity agree that ancients were not introspective in the sense that moderns (or post-moderns) are. K. Stendahl makes and explains this point persuasively in his essay, “The Apostle Paul and the Introspective Conscience of the West,” HTR 56 (1963), pp. 199–215; repr. in Paul among Jews and Gentiles (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1976). Ancients were egocentric, but they were not introspective. The Delphic inscription that reads ...

3088. The Believer's Freedom

1 Corinthians 10:23--11:1

Understanding Series

Marion L. Soards

... , the Christian life aims to achieve the glory of God. Second, Paul states his position in the form of a negative admonition: Do not cause anyone to stumble; and he elaborates: Jews, Greeks or the church of God. Here one sees the missional concern of the apostle and the way that his interest in the well-being and life of the church focused on both those outside and those inside the congregation. Such was Paul’s understanding of the purpose of Christian life. 10:33 As he took a seemingly imaginary personal ...

3089. Propriety in Worship

1 Corinthians 11:2-16

Understanding Series

Marion L. Soards

... of a sign is related to the angels. The allusion to the creation of man before woman may be clear, but what does Paul mean by “because of the angels”? The statement is obscure and theories abound. Two sensible suggestions merit attention. Perhaps the apostle is thinking of the fallen angels of Genesis 6 who took human women for wives; or perhaps he means the angels who were thought to be protectors of the order of creation and who were present, according to early Christian thought, in the assembly of ...

3090. The Lord's Supper

1 Corinthians 11:17-34

Understanding Series

Marion L. Soards

... would author such divisions as an end in themselves. Nevertheless, Paul may mean to say that given the problems in Corinth, God must be at work to differentiate those who are faithful from those who are behaving inappropriately. The reader has seen repeatedly that the apostle thought and taught from an apocalyptic-eschatological point of view. If he writes in that vein at this point, he understands God’s power to be at work in the separation of the Corinthians into groups to show which of you have God’s ...

3091. Orderly Worship

1 Corinthians 14:26-40

Understanding Series

Marion L. Soards

... revelation. 14:31 The degree of concern in the early church with prophecy and with discerning authentic and inauthentic revelation is seen in the Didache, a second-century church handbook that claims to be a collection of teachings by the twelve apostles on issues of relevance to the ancient church. In chs. 10–13 of the Didache there are extensive observations and elaborate instructions for dealing with prophets and prophecy. Paul’s words here are the earliest preserved discussion of this phenomenon in ...

3092. 144,000 Sealed

Revelation 7:1-8

Understanding Series

Robert W. Wall

... for centuries. Most agree that 144,000 is symbolic of a remnant of “true” believers. Both Jewish and Christian interpreters link the history of God’s salvation to the history of a covenant community that numbers twelve (e.g., twelve tribes of Israel; twelve apostles of the church), or multiples of twelve, as here. The contested issue is whether to take the phrase all the tribes of Israel as a literal reference to historical Israel or as a symbol of eschatological Israel (cf. Rev. 21:12). If one ...

3093. The Fall of Babylon

Revelation 18:1-24

Understanding Series

Robert W. Wall

... only self-destruct. 18:20 The somber tone of the laments over Babylon quickly changes to celebration as the angel concludes its speech by moving John’s attention back to heaven, where God’s victory has already been secured for Babylon’s saints and apostles and prophets. The language of the angel’s final commentary on Babylon’s fate is terse and forensic, typical of a sentence issued in a Roman courtroom. Its meaning, however, is ambiguous and contested. At the very least, it intends to justify God ...

3094. The Calling of Matthew

Matthew 9:9-13

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

... ceremonially unclean, their involvement with pagan currency and their reputation for dishonesty caused law-abiding Jews to keep their distance. In both Mark (2:14) and Luke (5:27) Matthew is named Levi, although this latter name occurs in none of the listings of the twelve apostles (Matt. 10:3; Mark 3:18; Luke 6:15; Acts 1:13). Either Matthew is the name given to Levi when he became a disciple or both names belonged to the same person from the beginning. When Jesus says to the tax gatherer, Follow me ...

3095. A Mother's Request

Matthew 20:20-28

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

... 2, p. 229). However, the fact that when the others hear about it they are “indignant with the two brothers” (v. 24) shows that the mother was no more than a spokeswoman. That the Gospel writers include an account that puts two leading apostles in such an unflattering light strengthens one’s confidence in the historical reliability of the narrative. Incidentally, the account shows that there were women among the followers of Jesus. The request for positions of honor and authority (on either side of the ...

3096. The Calling of the First Disciples

Mark 1:14-20

Understanding Series

Larry W. Hurtado

... mentioned in Christian tradition than Andrew or James (mentioned as martyred in Acts 12:2). Simon Peter is prominent among the disciples in all the Gospels and in most Christian tradition is regarded as the representative and chief of the twelve apostles. Casting a net … fishermen: Fishing was a major industry in Roman times around Lake Galilee, and the impression one gets here is that these four men were partners of small (or perhaps large!) businesses. They were in all likelihood “middle class ...

3097. Jesus Heals Many

Luke 4:38-44

Understanding Series

Craig A. Evans

... important theme in Luke’s Gospel and has been variously interpreted, but these options will not be discussed at length here. Suffice it to say that the Third Evangelist sees in Jesus’ constant traveling and preaching a foreshadowing of the later travels of the apostles and preachers of the gospel in the Book of Acts. Additional Notes 4:38 To Mark’s parallel account (1:30) Luke adds the word high (lit. “great”) in describing the fever. He emphasizes that Jesus has cured a serious, perhaps even life ...

3098. Blessings and Woes

Luke 6:17-26

Understanding Series

Craig A. Evans

... to enter the kingdom of God, but what is expected of one who is already in the kingdom. This is seen not only in the sermon’s actual contents, in what it seems to presuppose, but also in the fact that Jesus’ sermon is intended primarily for his apostles and disciples (see vv. 17, 20). This sermon calls for the implementation of those ideals contained in Isa. 61:1–2, the passage which Jesus quoted at the beginning of his Nazareth sermon (Luke 4:16–30). The major thrust of the sermon is found in the ...

3099. The Transfiguration

Luke 9:28-36

Understanding Series

Craig A. Evans

... Judaica 18 (New Haven: Yale University, 1968), vol. 2, pp. 84–85. In Luke’s account of Jesus’ ascension (Acts 1:2–11), there are possible points of contact with both the Elijah and Moses ascension traditions. Just before the risen Christ ascends, his apostles asks: “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” (v. 6). This question probably echoes Elijah tradition (see Mal. 4:5–6, where Elijah will “restore the heart of the father to the son”; and Mark 9:12, where ...

3100. Six Woes

Luke 11:37-54

Understanding Series

Craig A. Evans

... themselves responded to the message of the prophets. Because of this sad history and tradition of rejecting, persecuting, and murdering the prophets, from Abel (Gen. 4:8) to Zechariah (2 Chron. 24:20–21), future prophets and messengers (i.e., Christian apostles and evangelists) will be mistreated as well. Although the warning of judgment and punishment that were to come probably originally had in view the Last Day, it is quite possible that Christians in Luke’s time believed the warning to be fulfilled ...

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