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Showing 451 to 475 of 4963 results

451. Spiritual Blindness

John 9:35-41

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... for their sin.… If I had not done among them what that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin” (15:22, 24; cf. 9:32: “Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind”). With the words your guilt remains (v. 41), Jesus exercises the divine authority he will eventually confer on his disciples, to “retain” (20:23, RSV) the sin of the Pharisees. The verdict passed in the synoptic Gospels that they are “blind guides” (Matt. 23:16, 17, 19) or “a blind man leading a blind ...

452. Jesus Washes His Disciples’ Feet

John 13:1-17, John 13:18-30

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... community that will continue his work in the world. The key to their identity and their mission in the world is somehow represented in the symbolic act of footwashing, but Jesus defers his explanation of how that is so until verses 12–20. For the moment, one obstacle remains. It is not quite true that all of you are clean (v. 10). Jesus had spoken earlier of the ones that “did not believe” and also of one who “would betray him” (6:64). The former had been unmasked and had gone away (6:66), but the ...

453. The Impending Departure II

John 16:5-16, John 16:17-33

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... already on his way to the Father (cf. v. 5: “Now I am going”). The impression of distance is stronger in chapter 17, where consistently Jesus speaks of the disciples in the past tense (e.g., 17:12, “While I was with them”; cf. 17:11, “I will remain in the world no longer … and I am coming to you”). In Luke, it is the risen Jesus who speaks this way (Luke 24:44). In John’s Gospel, at first (lit., “the beginning”) when Jesus was with his disciples probably refers to the time of his public ...

454. Pressing on Toward the Goal

Philippians 3:12-4:1

Understanding Series

F. F. Bruce

... lies ahead. He will never in this life attain perfection in the sense that no further spiritual progress is possible and nothing is left to aim at beyond the point he has reached. The purpose for which Christ Jesus took hold of him on the Damascus road remains for Paul to grasp. Paul recalls his conversion as the occasion on which a powerful hand was laid on his shoulder, turning him right round in his tracks, and a voice that brooked no refusal spoke in his ear: “You must come along with me.” Paul was ...

455. Assured by the Certainties of Faith

1 John 5:13-21

Understanding Series

Thomas F. Johnson

... grasp for things for oneself. The most serious problem affecting the community is the split between those who have remained loyal to the Elder and his teaching and those who have followed the false teachers and seceded. How does one ... the Son of God, then the Son of God has not come, and it is likely that this is what the schismatics had told the remaining Johannine Christians who were loyal to the Elder. The Elder flatly denies it. In John 8:42, Jesus tells his interlocutors, “I proceeded forth [ex ...

456. The Table of Nations

Genesis 10:1-32

Understanding Series

John E. Hartley

... war god and the god of the hunt. 10:11–12 Rehoboth Ir, which means “city squares,” may have been an area in Nineveh or another name for that great city (J. Davila, “Rehoboth-Ir,” ABD 5:664). Resen, said to be between Nineveh and Calah, remains unidentified. 10:13–14 Ludites are generally presumed to be settlers in North Africa, since they are named with African peoples in Jer. 46:9 and Ezek. 30:5 and with peoples in Asia Minor in Isa. 66:19. Anamites are unknown. Lehabites may be an alternate ...

457. Driving Out the Nations

Deuteronomy 7:1-26

Understanding Series

Christopher J. H. Wright

... among the nations. Economic arrogance is targeted in 8:17; they owed everything to the gift of God. Finally, moral self-righteousness is trounced most heavily of all in 9:4–6; the Israelites were a congenitally stiffnecked people. The bottom line remains, as it always does in the OT, the inexplicable, self-motivated love of God. Having decided to love Israel’s forefathers, and having made them specific promises under oath, God proved faithful to that promise in the exodus (v. 8). Earlier, we described ...

458. Love and Obey the Lord

Deuteronomy 11:1-32

Understanding Series

Christopher J. H. Wright

... 6–10). In verses 11–12, the land is portrayed as enjoying the blessing of Yahweh by itself, as it were, simply as the object of his lavish care. But for Israel to enter into the enjoyment of that blessing in the land they must remain committed to obedience to Yahweh (vv. 13–15). Thus, their obedience would not earn the blessing of fertility, nor would it somehow magically induce fertility. That blessing was already “there” in the very nature of the land and its relationship to Yahweh, but it could ...

459. The Year of Canceling Debts

Deuteronomy 15:1-11

Understanding Series

Christopher J. H. Wright

... in that year or a total cancellation of the debt itself. It may originally have been the former, but later Jewish tradition certainly took it in the latter sense. The law, of course, assumes that repayments of the loan would have been going on, scheduled over whatever period of years remained until the next š e miṭṭâ. Even cancellation (as distinct from merely a suspension of payment) in the seventh year, therefore, would not have meant a forfeiture of the total debt, but a writing off of whatever ...

460. Solomon's Adversaries

1 Kings 11:14-25

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... 11 to suggest that the seeds of what occurred later in Solomon’s reign were already present earlier. The fact that Rezon and Hadad (and indeed Jeroboam) may have been Solomon’s adversaries from early on (if “all his days” does not simply mean “all the remaining days of his old age,” cf. 11:34) does not logically entail that they were a problem to him as such (“adversaries” worthy of the name) or that their activities were so significant in Solomon’s earlier period that the general state of ...

461. Jehoahaz King of Israel

2 Kings 13:1-9

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... caught by the wind and blown away. But there is no rejection (2 Sam. 7:14–15). Although he is an idolater, God responds to Jehoahaz’s plea for favor (v. 4), and Israel is saved from complete destruction (v. 5). The precise means by which salvation occurs remains obscure. Who is the deliverer? It is a strange way of referring to Elisha, if that is who is meant. Is it perhaps a gifted Israelite general? Or a foreign king, distracting Aram from its war with Israel? We are not told. But we are told that God ...

462. Jehoahaz King of Judah

2 Kings 23:31-35

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... flows into the coffers of the new imperial power in Babylon. As people used to come from all over the world to Solomon’s court, so now all the notables of Jerusalem journey on enforced pilgrimage abroad (vv. 14–16; cf. 1 Kgs. 10:23–25). A remnant still remains—but only the poorest in the land (v. 14; cf. 2 Kgs. 19:4, 30). Among the exiles, although Kings does not tell us this, is the prophet Ezekiel, whose prophetic ministry begins a few years later in Babylon (Ezek. 1:2–3). 24:18–25:7 As the ...

463. Signs, Sayings, and Oracles of Judgment

Ezekiel 12:1-28, Ezekiel 13:1-23, Ezekiel 14:1-11, Ezekiel 14:12-23

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

... of my people or be listed in the records of the house of Israel, nor will they enter the land of Israel” (v. 9). None of the false prophets will survive to return to the land in the day of restoration. Indeed, no record of them will remain, so it will be as though they never existed. In the second section of this oracle, Ezekiel’s accusation against the prophets of Jerusalem is more specific. The prophets do not even attempt to address the disastrous state of Jerusalem in its final days. Rather, they ...

464. Jerusalem’s Siege, in Parable and Sign

Ezekiel 24:1-14, Ezekiel 24:15-27

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

... (v. 6). Jerusalem’s corruption had not departed with the exiles (despite the claims of those who remained in the city, see 11:15). Rather, it remained like the baked-on grime on an overheated pot. Despite their claims to superiority, the Lord will now take the gentry themselves ... out and throw them away, together with all who remain in the city, without distinction (without casting lots for them, v. 6). The reason for this judgment is bloodshed: the ...

465. Egypt

Ezekiel 29:1-21, Ezekiel 30:1-26, Ezekiel 31:1-18, Ezekiel 32:1-32

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

... prophets are not accurate fortune-tellers, presenting to us their infallible visions of a fixed and unchangeable future. They are not fortune-tellers at all. Rather, the prophets are the obedient messengers of God, passing on to us what God has shown to them. God remains God, sovereign and free, but also caring and responsive to the world that God made and loves (see Jonah 4:1–2, 11). So Jeremiah delivers to his people God’s challenge, “If you really change your ways and your actions . . . then I will ...

466. Prologue to the Law of the Temple: The Lord Comes Home

Ezekiel 40:1--43:12

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

... present and accessible in the midst of God’s people, and will ever be so. The loss of the massive gilded chair that had stood in Solomon’s temple makes no difference; nor does the loss of the ark itself. God’s throne and footstool remain here among the Israelites, even though their symbols have been lost. The Lord has come home. The present form of the text immediately qualifies this unconditional promise: “The house of Israel will never again defile my holy name—neither they nor their kings” (v ...

467. Jesus Tempted in the Wilderness

Matthew 4:1-11

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

... me, Satan!” (16:23). In 26:36–46 Jesus gains strength from prayer in the face of a fate that he does not desire. And at the climactic moment on the cross Jesus resists any temptation to call upon God to rescue him (27:43). Jesus remains faithful to God and God’s purposes from the beginning to the end of Matthew’s narrative. wilderness . . . forty days and forty nights. Matthew signals that he wants readers to compare Jesus’ temptation to Israel’s testing in the wilderness. In addition to the use ...

468. Parables Discourse: Importance of Response to the Kingdom Message

Matthew 13:1-23

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

... of Jesus finds soil in which to take root, more is revealed, which then provides opportunity for greater faith and trust. When Jesus’ message of the kingdom does not find fertile soil to take root, this revelation of God through Jesus cannot find a place to remain and grow. This passage also warns about the ways in which wealth and worry can inhibit the gospel finding a place to grow in our lives. God does not snatch the gospel away from people, but wealth and worry about daily life can do this damage ...

469. Through His Faithful Death, Jesus as Messiah Redefined Brings Life

Matthew 27:27-31, Matthew 27:32-44, Matthew 27:45-56, Matthew 27:57-61, Matthew 27:62-66

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

... of life, and his resurrection confirms that we too will be raised (1 Cor. 15:20–22). 3. Matthew highlights discipleship as “being with” Jesus and serving him. Joseph of Arimathea and the women at the cross and tomb model true discipleship by serving Jesus and remaining “with Jesus” when the Twelve desert him (27:55). Matthew holds up these and other followers of Jesus as exemplars for his readers (e.g., those with [great] faith who trust Jesus for healing [8:8–10; 9:2, 22, 29; 15:28]). Preaching ...

470. Parables of the Kingdom

Mark 4:1-20

Teach the Text

Grant R. Osborne

... the heart is not receptive and fruitful, there will be no comprehension and no life change. The “outsiders” are such because they remain closed to God’s truths. 4:12 so that . . . otherwise. This has occasioned a great deal of discussion because it seems ... be comfortable with mere interest in Christ. The crowds are the seekers in Jesus’s ministry, and clearly they remain unbelievers throughout. Until interest turns into commitment, there is no spiritual life and no hope for eternity. The crowds are ...

471. Getting Ready for the Passover

Luke 22:7-38, Luke 22:1-6

Teach the Text

R.T. France

... of continuity and of discontinuity between the Israel of the Old Testament and the international people of God now to be constituted through their faith in Jesus? How does the Passover imagery help us in clarifying this issue? The fateful decision of Judas remains a puzzle to many Christians, and there are (especially since the publication of the apocryphal Gospel of Judas in 2006) some scholars who try to rehabilitate Judas as a genuine supporter of Jesus whose plan to force Jesus to declare his hand went ...

472. The Gospel of God in Christ through Paul

Romans 1:1-17

Teach the Text

C. Marvin Pate

... 1894), Spurgeon illustrates the concept of obedience of faith by noting that justification without sanctification is not salvation at all. “It would call the leper clean and leave him to die of his disease; it would forgive the rebellion and allow the rebel to remain an enemy to his king. . . . It would stop the stream for a time but leave an open fountain of defilement which would sooner or later break forth with increased power.”4 Quote: Seneca. The Roman philosopher Seneca (ca. AD 4–65), whose life ...

473. Exile for National Israel, Restoration for Spiritual Israel

Romans 11:1-10

Teach the Text

C. Marvin Pate

... that Paul is Jewish, and, as a Christian, he is one of the remnant. Indeed, the first believers in Jesus were Jews and therefore also constituted the remnant. The second example that Paul provides is the remnant in the Old Testament—Elijah and the seven thousand who remained faithful to Yahweh when the rest of Israel acquiesced to the worship of Baal (compare 11:3–4 with 1 Kings 19:10, 14, 18). 11:5–6 there is a remnant chosen by grace . . . it cannot be based on works. Verses 5–6 make clear that ...

474. Wisdom and Foolishness

1 Corinthians 1:18--2:5

Teach the Text

Preben Vang

... , a full day was used to teach how to dress for success. Obviously, there is nothing wrong with knowing how to dress appropriately. However, how a culture’s current norms for color coordination, tie knots, and belt width have anything to do with Christian discipleship remains a mystery, unless, of course, cultural wisdom is the guide to success. If that were the case (though it is not), all we would need to do is to “Christianize” secular self-help books and include a few Bible verses to back up our ...

475. Separation of Faith and Life

1 Corinthians 5:1-13

Teach the Text

Preben Vang

... on Christ, their true patron, and the man will be brought to repentance, his incestuous relationship destroyed, and he himself restored to the community—not as patron, but as a client (servant) of Christ. In this way, the spirit is saved; the full community will remain strong and vibrant in the day of the Lord. 5:7–8 Get rid of the old yeast. As Mitton points out, making a distinction between yeast and leaven proves helpful for this passage.9 Whereas yeast is a distinct substance added to bread dough ...

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