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Antonyms: keep, claim, continue, stick by, self-control, power through, achieve, defend, bear, hope, acquire, quick visit, adopt, continue along, adhere, remain, pursue, support, take up, keep up, reuse, advocate, stay, persevere, cherish, keep going, carry on

Showing 3851 to 3875 of 4957 results

3851. 2 Samuel 7:1-17

2 Samuel 7:1-17

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... modern translations have the doubting crowd identifying Jesus as The carpenter, the son of Mary ...," some very ancient versions of this pericope read "son of the carpenter and of Mary" in other words, they were thereby denying the possibility of Jesus claiming any divine parentage. As verse 3 concludes, these people who have known Jesus since childhood dismiss Jesus' teachings and take "offense," "stumbling" at the sound of his message. Mark now has Jesus recite in verse 4 the well-known reflection about ...

3852. James 1:17-27

James 1:17-27

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... into wrongdoing. Verse 17 restates James' earlier point in verse 5 that wisdom and all other good gifts do come from God. Although somewhat mangled to fit more perfectly into his line of reasoning, verse 17 is actually James' reworking of a pagan proverb which claimed in essence, "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth." The God James defines in verse 17 is utterly trustworthy. This God has distributed only goodness since the time of creation for God the Creator is the "Father of lights" and is unfailing in ...

3853. James 3:13-18

James 3:13-18

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... in to self-serving counsel is "false to the truth" and will ultimately splinter the community into bickering, self-absorbed factions. The "wisdom" that encourages divisive actions and destructive attitudes is not divine insight to some higher truth, James claims, but "earthly, unspiritual, devilish" quarrelsomeness. According to Jewish tradition, true wisdom is received from God's Spirit, making the leader who is truly "spirit-filled" a receptacle for the highest wisdom. So it is that in verse 15 James ...

3854. Jeremiah 31:7-14

Jeremiah 31:7-14

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... ." (For this insight see John B. Rogers,Jr., "Jeremiah 31:7-14," Interpretation 42 [July 1988]: 281-85). Verse 9 declares, "I will lead them back," and "I will let them walk by brooks of water." Verse 10 continues to insist that the God who has claimed Ephraim as "first-born" "will gather him" and "will keep him." As part of the new prosperity and abundance that will be poured out on those who had been suffering (vv. 12-14), God continues to promise: "I will turn their mourning into joy," "I will comfort ...

3855. 1 Corinthians 15:1-11

1 Corinthians 15:1-11

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... 15th chapter, however, Paul takes pains to create the atmosphere of a coalesced community, bound together by firm faith, despite the fact that they may still be confused about where that faith may be taking them. Paul begins this chapter by claiming the Corinthians as his kin, joined to him through their mutual experiences with the "good news." Though he phrases his introductory greeting in a somewhat flowery, ceremonial pattern, he nonetheless affirms that he and his readers share a common experience of ...

3856. Luke 16:1-13

Luke 16:1-13

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... to balance his books. He is seeking a way to recover his lost honor and to polish his tarnished image in the community. Scholars debate over the economic impetus behind the steward's next step. Some give the steward the benefit of the doubt and claim that by lowering the amount of debt on the books, the steward is subtracting the usurious percentage he had added for his own ill-gotten profits. Others simply indict the manager as committing yet another act of fraud against his master. In either case the ...

3857. Ephesians 1:3-14

Ephesians 1:3-14

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... to be part of God's eternal plan of redemption. Although it becomes known only now, through Christ's saving work, this is a "mystery of his will" that is no longer a secret. In the first century, "mystery religions" were extremely popular. Each sect claimed they possessed some secret "key" (knowledge) that would open the door to eternal life for a chosen few. The Ephesians text plays on this popular language by calling God's revealed plan for our salvation a "mystery." But it is a "secret" that believers ...

3858. Mark 1:4-11

Mark 1:4-11

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... Spirit. In case all the previous evidence has not yet conveyed the secret of Jesus' true identity to his reader, Mark records the message of the heavenly voice that personally addressed Jesus at this moment. Again, these words are a private revelation to Jesus' claiming "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased." Only here and at the Transfiguration does a divine voice directly address Jesus, both times identifying him as "my Son." The phrase Mark records appears to be a combination of Psalm ...

3859. Mark 1:14-20

Mark 1:14-20

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... he had come to proclaim: Jesus. At first hearing, however, Jesus' mission does not appear all that different from John the Baptist's. The message he proclaims sounds remarkably similar: "Repent." Yet this call to repentance is now being sounded by one who also claims that all the anxious waiting and watching for God's new movement into the world is over. Jesus declares that "the time is fulfilled," and the long-anticipated kingdom of God "has come near" (v.15). While these two "hinge" verses may at first ...

3860. John 2:13-22

John 2:13-22

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... demand by declaring, "Destroy this temple (Greek ton naon) and in three days I will raise it up." In a typically Johannine touch, Jesus is completely misunderstand. His words are taken with wooden literality. They hear Jesus' challenges in verse 19 only as a claim to rebuild the actual building (the hieron of vv.14-15), while missing the inference that the naon of God now dwells within Jesus himself. "The Jews" reject Jesus' word completely. The Greek text places emphasis on their denial of Jesus' role in ...

3861. Ephesians 2:1-10

Ephesians 2:1-10

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... completes the author's portrait of those "bad old days" before any of his readers found and followed Christ. Foreshadowing the undifferentiated unity of the saved, this text emphasizes the common polluted gene pool all humanity now shares. All can claim the heritage of being "children of wrath," a Hebrew phrase that indicts humanity as deserving of God's condemnation, since human nature is naturally impaired, wasted and weakened by a common state of sinfulness. Suddenly, the doom and gloom session concludes ...

3862. Mark 11:1-11

Mark 11:1-11

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... , Mark has Jesus simply slip off into the night. The grand procession into Jerusalem seems to be all "sound and fury." Mark's conclusion in verse 11 is almost comical. Jesus, who has just celebrated a messianic-type entrance into the city, symbolically "claiming" Jerusalem as his own, calls a sudden halt to his messianic mission because it is past his bedtime: "It was already late." Jesus and his disciples go back outside the city to Bethany and retire for the night. Mark's highly ironic sense highlights ...

3863. Luke 24:36b-48

Luke 24:36b-48

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... last appears to all his gathered disciples. It is in this final appearance that the central theme that has run throughout Luke's gospel is once again made explicit. This risen Christ, the Messiah, is the fulfillment of God's plan and promise. The first verse claims a unique pedigree shared by only a small number of other texts in Luke's works. Luke 24:36, along with Luke 24:40, are among nine verses that until fairly recently had been thought to be "short versions" in their most original Greek form. First ...

3864. John 10:11-18

John 10:11-18

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... message was viewed by the Jewish establishment as a direct attack on their unique relationship between God and God's chosen people. Little wonder that these "I am" statements were heard as first-century fighting words. In verses11-14, Jesus follows his claim to being a "good shepherd" by defining the first characteristic such a shepherding one bears: "The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep." What we are used to translating as "good" here (kalos) would be more fully understood as "model," "ideal ...

3865. 1 John 5:9-13

1 John 5:9-13

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... us eternal life." Just as verse 10 assures us that the believer already has an internalized relationship with God, verse 12 declares that this relationship is characterized by the gift of eternal life. To have belief is to have life. Likewise, 1 John unabashedly claims that for those with no belief in God's witness to the Son, there is no life. Verse 13 closes this discussion with the writer's attempt to instill confidence and clarity in the hearts of the Christians he is addressing. Theological nuances and ...

3866. Acts 2:1-21

Acts 2:1-21

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

We have inherited from a long tradition the images that flash across our minds during today's reading of Acts 2:1-21. The church claims Pentecost as its natal date. The birthday of the church is the day on which the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus' frightened and furtive disciples, transforming them into power players and proclaimers of the gospel. Ecclesial tradition envisions Pentecost as a miracle of language. The miracle was not one of ...

3867. Mark 2:23-3:6

Mark 2:23-3:6

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... continued to safeguard the uniquely divine nature of the Sabbath itself. It is not common men and women who hold control of the Sabbath in their hands. Rather it is the divine one the Son of Man who legitimates the sacredness of that day. This claim took the responsibility for explaining their Sabbath-day practices out of the hands of believers and put it into the lap of the one already confessed as divine. The second pericope read today (3:1-6) is a miracle story transformed into a Markan controversy ...

3868. Mark 6:30-34, 53-56

Mark 6:30-34, 53-56

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... the time Mark's gospel was compiled, the term "apostle" had taken on a special, technical definition which identified the uniquely chosen first twelve disciples of Jesus. Certainly, for Mark's readers, the term "apostle" denotes one who operated in the name of another. An apostle claimed the authority of the one who sent him out, which is why the Twelve are so eager to relate to Jesus "all that they had done and taught." The mission they had carried out was none other than Jesus' own. Jesus' response to his ...

3869. John 6:24-35

John 6:24-35

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... walkway to join his disciples aboard their boat. Now, as the crowd specifically cites Moses by name and calls for a repetition of the manna-miracle, the relationship between Moses and Jesus is drawn ever sharper. When the crowd cites Scripture to Jesus, claiming that Moses "gave them bread from heaven to eat," they are undoubtedly recalling the Midrashic teaching: "As the first Redeemer brought down the manna ... so will also the last Redeemer cause the manna to come down." (Midr.Qoh. 1:9). If Jesus is the ...

3870. Mark 9:38-50

Mark 9:38-50

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... seem the disciples reaction may be justified. But Jesus' response flings wide the doors of discipleship. Jesus includes within his domain individuals his own disciples would never dream of embracing. Some commentators explain Jesus' acceptance of this unknown healer's activities by claiming he must have been one of John the Baptist's disciples, or one of the 70 sent out by Jesus. But the text itself makes no such stipulation. Jesus' only explanation rests in his declaration that "Whoever is not against us ...

3871. Luke 3:15-17, 21-22

Luke 3:15-17, 21-22

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... For more on this distinction, see Robert L. Webb, "The Activity of John the Baptist's Expected Figure at the Threshing Floor," Matthew 3:12, Luke 3:17," Journal for the Study of the New Testament, 43, 1991, 103-111.) The image suggests that by claiming or rejecting the Baptist's prior message of repentance, his listeners have already been designated as "wheat" or "chaff." The Messiah's task, as he clears the threshing floor, is to offer judgment (the all-consuming fire) or salvation (the safe haven of the ...

3872. 1 Corinthians 12:1-11

1 Corinthians 12:1-11

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... difficulty with the Corinthian Christians was their inability to see the substantive differences between living as a Spirit-based Christ-body community and living as part of one of the dozens of other pagan cultic communities which also claimed to give their members a deity-directed existence. From their previous experience with other ecstatic cults (such as the riotous Dionysians), the Corinthians knew firsthand the many different kinds of behaviors that believers readily attributed to outside spiritual ...

3873. Philippians 3:4b-14

Philippians 3:4b-14

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... had trod. For a Gentile to move directly to a confession of Christ was deemed "skipping a step." Paul trumps the Judaizers' hand by showing off his own pedigree. He was circumcised, but on his eighth day of life not as an adult. He could claim hereditary identification not only with the nation of Israel, but also with the king-producing tribe of Benjamin. He spoke and read the sacred Hebrew language; it was taught in his home. And he was a member of the most scrupulously Law-abiding segment of observers ...

3874. Acts 10:34-43

Acts 10:34-43

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... . But on this one point of an impartial God, even if played with a different theological nuance by each author, the two agree. The legitimacy, indeed the urgency, of the church's mission to the Gentiles is found and fostered by this claim "God shows no partiality." (See Jouette M. Bassler, "Luke and Paul on Impartiality," Biblica, 66, [1985], 546-552 for a more complete examination of the differences between the Lukan and the Pauline understanding of divine impartiality.) The Lukan author takes great pains ...

3875. Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31

Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... , that of a young, dependent child, gleefully applauding Yahweh's creative genius. All this recalls the presence of the "logos" in the prologue to John's gospel, 1:1-3 and Colossians 1:15-16. Wisdom and the Word had a creative presence at creation and thus justify an impressive claim upon our lives: "Whoever fails to find me harms himself; all who hate me love death" (8:36 NIV).

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