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776. Making One's Calling and Election Sure

2 Peter 1:1-11

Understanding Series

Norman Hillyer

... –66; TDNT, vol. 1, pp. 21–55; NIDNTT, vol. 2, pp. 538–51. 1:8 Ineffective (argos): The same Greek word is used in James 2:26, “Faith without deeds is dead (argos).” Unproductive (akarpos, unfruitful) also occurs in the Parable of the Sower (Matt. 13:22; Mark 4:19), where it describes the fate of the good seed of God’s word choked by worldly anxieties and the lure of wealth. According to Eusebius (Eccl. Hist. 5.1.45), the churches at Lyons and Vienne in A.D. 177 used the same expression to praise ...

777. The Day of the Lord

Joel 2:1-11

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... , the whole cosmos is shaken and trembles at God’s coming (v. 10; cf. Exod. 19:16–19; Ps. 97:1–5; Hab. 3:3–11; Matt. 27:45, 51–52; 28:2). When God leads the apocalyptic forces against his foes, sun and moon are darkened (v. 10; cf. Mark 13:24–25; Luke 23:44–45). The fire of judgment goes before God (Joel 2:3), and the land that was like Eden becomes a desolation (v. 3; a reversal of the thought of Isa. 51:3 and Ezek. 36:35). We cannot conclude from this passage that we ...

778. Jesus' First Disciples

John 1:35-42, John 1:43-51

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... is no definite time at which the disciples literally saw Jesus re-enacting the dream of Jacob, any more than there is a definite time at which the Jewish high priest saw Jesus “sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven” (Mark 14:62). Nor do angels play any significant role in the fourth Gospel (cf. only 12:29; 20:12). Yet angels … ascending and descending on the Son of Man is just as much a reality as Jesus seated at God’s right hand and coming to earth again. It ...

779. Jesus Talks with a Samaritan Woman

John 4:1-26, John 4:27-38, John 4:39-42

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... she is from the Jewish standpoint an outsider, a hated Samaritan. Jews and Samaritans, the writer explains, will not even touch the same utensils (v. 9). In reaching out to her, Jesus in this narrative is recognizably the Jesus of the Synoptics (cf., e.g., Mark 7:24–30; Luke 7:36–50; 10:25–37), the one who came to show mercy to tax collectors, prostitutes, and all such outcasts of Jewish society. The encounter begins surprisingly, not with Jesus granting mercy to the woman, but with him asking mercy ...

780. Jesus the Bread of Life

John 6:25-59

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... Jesus began to predict his Passion he added, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it” (Mark 8:34–35). Later in John’s Gospel, Jesus will speak simultaneously of his own death and of what it means to be his disciple; “I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it ...

781. The Death of Lazarus

John 11:1-16, John 11:17-37

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... and Lazarus, all of whom he dearly loved (vv. 3, 5), than by his own mother (2:4) or his brothers (7:6–10). The account preserves the authentic memory that Jesus often responded to the initiatives of those in need (cf., e.g., 4:46–54; Mark 1:40–45; 7:24–30) but does so with a characteristically Johannine insistence that even when this was the case he still maintained his independence from all human pressures and his accountability to the Father alone. He responds to every cry for help, but in his ...

782. Jesus and the High Priest

John 18:15-18, John 18:25-27, John 18:19-24

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... interrogation of them one by one, was necessary. The high priest could question anyone who had heard Jesus on any number of occasions—his own priestly associates in fact—and draw his own conclusions. The exchange ends, like the Sanhedrin trial in Mark (14:65) and Matthew (26:67), with Jesus being subjected to physical abuse (v. 22). The reasons, however, are different. There is no “mocking” scene here. Instead, one of the guards, interpreting Jesus’ response as a refusal to answer the high priest ...

783. The Empty Tomb and the First Appearance

John 20:1-9, John 20:10-18

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... even more than her initial discovery of the open tomb, corresponds to that of the women as a group in the synoptic Gospels (cf. Mark 16:5, “they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side”; Matt. 28:2, “an angel of ... establish a new and more intimate relationship with his disciples as well. From now on they will be his “brothers” and “sisters” (cf. Mark 3:35), united to him by faith and privileged, with him, to call God Father. Mary Magdalene was to bring this good news ...

784. Jehoahaz King of Israel

2 Kings 13:1-9

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... between the two, however, are frequent in the Gospels. Jesus heals lepers, just like Elisha (2 Kgs. 5; Matt. 8:1–4; 10:8; 11:5; Mark 1:40–45; Luke 5:12–16; 7:22; 17:11–19; cf. also John 9:1–12 for a different kind of healing story ... than are the great. He mediates salvation, but he also brings judgment. He utters prophetic curses (2 Kgs. 2:23–25 and Matt. 21:18–22; Mark 11:12–14, 20–21, noting also Matt. 25:41). He comes so that those who see will become blind, even as those who are blind ...

785. Ezekiel's Call

Ezekiel 1:1-28, Ezekiel 2:1-3:15, Ezekiel 3:16-27

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

... 1:22–23, 25–26; 10:1), raqiyaʿ occurs only in the priestly account of creation in Genesis 1 (vv. 16–18, 14–15, 17, 20), in two of the Psalms (19:1 and 150:1), and in Daniel 12:3. The term describes the dome of the sky, which marks the outermost limits of the human cosmos; beyond this barrier lies the realm of God (see Exod. 24:9–10). Above the expanse Ezekiel sees a throne and, seated on the throne, a figure of flame and light, yet solid as metal. Despite his reticence and humility, Ezekiel knows ...

786. Riddles and Metaphors

Ezekiel 15:1-8, Ezekiel 16:1-63, Ezekiel 17:1-24

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

... a familiar one to any reader of Scripture. It figures prominently in the songs of Hannah (1 Sam. 2:1–10) and Mary (Luke 1:46–55). Further, the notion of dramatic and unexpected reversal is a common image in the parables of Jesus (e.g., Matt. 20:1–16; Mark 9:33–37; Luke 13:20–30). Indeed, Jesus plays off verses 22–24 when he describes the kingdom of God as a mustard plant: a common weed which “is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a ...

787. Tyre, Sidon—and Israel

Ezekiel 26:1-21, Ezekiel 27:1-36, Ezekiel 28:1-19, Ezekiel 28:20-26

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

... and Sidon” became a formulaic pair, connoting the Phoenician coast and its sea trade (Jer. 47:4; Joel 3:4; Zech. 9:2; see also 1 Macc. 5:15); it is in this way that the cities usually appear in the New Testament (e.g., Matt. 11:21–22; Mark 3:8; Luke 6:17; Acts 12:20). Likewise, with one exception (Jdt. 2:28), Tyre precedes Sidon when the Apocrypha mentions the two cities in the same context. 28:25–26 In sharp contrast to Ezekiel’s oracles against the nations, which speak of judgment and condemnation ...

788. Egypt

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

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

... But it does not happen. The people (and animals; Jonah 3:7) of Nineveh repent in sackcloth, and God changes God’s mind (Jonah 3:10). We might consider as well the many predictions in the New Testament that the end of the world would come soon (e.g., Mark 13:30; 1 Cor. 7:29–31; Rev. 22:12, 20), which, taking them at face value, clearly was not the case. The difference between the prophets of the Bible and modern charlatans who confidently claim to see the future is a difference not of degree, but of kind ...

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

Ezekiel 40:1--43:12

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

... unusual feature. Usually, the dates in Ezekiel consist of simply a numbered year, month, and day (though he applies the date in 1:2 to the exile of Jehoiachin). Only here and in 33:21, where Ezekiel learns of the city’s fall, does the date expressly mark the length of “our exile.” Rather than in a numbered month, this vision is said to have come “at the beginning of the year” (Heb. roʾsh hashanah). The first ten days of the year in the Jewish calendar are Days of Penitence, beginning with Rosh ...

790. Jesus Eats with Sinners and Heals the Sick

Matthew 9:9-13, Matthew 9:14-17, Matthew 9:18-26, Matthew 9:27-34

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

... hail him as “Son of David” (21:9, 15). 9:30–31 Jesus warned them . . . But they . . . spread the news. The two men ignore Jesus’ warning to keep news of their healing to themselves. While Matthew picks up this motif of the “messianic secret” from Mark (e.g., Mark 1:44; 3:12; 5:43; 7:36), its use makes sense in historical context. Jesus’ activity of healing begins to catch the attention of Jewish leaders (9:34) and will, according to Matthew, lead to a plot to kill him (12:14). Under Roman ...

791. The Authority of Jesus over Sickness and Death

Mark 5:21-43

Teach the Text

Grant R. Osborne

... they cannot, so she comes to a bold decision. Her faith is great, for other sick people want to be “touched” by Jesus (see on 5:23), but she has faith that touching his garment (even without him knowing it) will be enough (the clothing of both Jesus [Mark 6:56] and Paul [Acts 19:12] did have healing power).3She may be afraid that he, like everyone else, will recoil if aware that so unclean a person is approaching him. So she sneaks through the crowd (probably hiding her face because many in the town ...

792. The Rejection of Jesus in His Own Hometown

Mark 6:1-6

Teach the Text

Grant R. Osborne

... , so they hate both the light and the light-bearers. 2. The last to recognize a prophet are those closest to the prophet. Mark tells the story of Jesus’s home and neighbors to highlight what has already been seen in 3:1–6, 20–21: the ... sinners, and clearly God loves all those he has created. Still, there can come a time when a final rejection takes place, an “eternal sin” (Mark 3:29) or “sin that leads to death” (1 John 5:16–17), and then such a person cannot be brought to repentance (Heb. 6 ...

793. God’s Miraculous Provision: Caring for the Needy

Mark 6:30-44

Teach the Text

Grant R. Osborne

... mute (7:24–37); and then back to failure, with a chiastic reversal from the failure of the leaders (8:11–13) connected to the failure of the disciples (8:14–21). The two in the middle section (7:24–37) introduce us to the “little people”1in Mark, those characters we meet only once in the book yet who show the true path to discipleship (also 5:18–19, 32–34; 9:14–29; 10:45–52) in contrast to the failures and misunderstandings of the disciples. This will dominate discipleship in the rest of ...

794. The Exorcism of a Child Develops a Humble Model for Faith

Mark 9:14-32

Teach the Text

Grant R. Osborne

... of four descriptions (vv. 17–18, 20, 22, 26) of the horrific effects of the demonic possession. None of them are picked up by Matthew (who knows of this, for he mentions the demon in Matt. 17:18), who centers instead on the healing of the child. Mark clearly wants his readers to know of the destructive impulses that drive unclean spirits. Demons possess people not because they wish they had a body but rather to torture and kill those who are made in God’s image. This is a central element in their war ...

795. Jesus’s Entry as the Messiah Who Triumphs through Suffering

Mark 11:1-11

Teach the Text

Grant R. Osborne

... blatant fashion in a “decisive confrontation” with the Jewish leaders, “throwing down the gauntlet” in such a way that it forces them to respond to his claims.5The “Son of David” (10:47–48) is truly the Royal Messiah. 2. Jesus is the humble Messiah. Although Mark does not cite Zechariah 9:9 (cf. Matt. 21:5; John 12:15), he does show in Jesus’s extensive preparations that he intended the people to see the gentle, humble Messiah who enters the holy city on a donkey (the symbol of peace), not a ...

796. The Necessity of Vigilance in Light of the Parousia

Mark 13:32-37

Teach the Text

Grant R. Osborne

... Jesus is one with the Father, but as the Son he is characterized by obedience and leaves the future in his Father’s hands. The angels are mentioned because of their place in the final Day of the Lord (Dan. 7:10; 12:1; Zech. 14:5; Matt. 13:41; Mark 8:38). 13:33 Be on guard! Be alert! In light of the uncertainty and suddenness of the time of the end, believers must at all times be alert and ready for the parousia. This is one of the major themes of the Olivet Discourse and demands constant vigilance, as ...

797. Feasting and Fasting

Luke 5:33-39, Luke 5:27-32

Teach the Text

R.T. France

... will fast. There is no suggestion that fasting per se is wrong, but rather that it is simply inappropriate to the present time of celebration. For Christian fasting, see Matthew 6:16–18. 5:36 the patch from the new will not match the old. In Mark and Matthew this saying focuses on damage to the old cloth, but Luke’s version stresses incompatibility. New and old in religion do not mix. 5:37 the new wine will burst the skins. Here the theme of damage is added. The (powerful, effervescent) new wine ...

798. Jesus’s Fallible Followers

Luke 9:51-56, Luke 9:46-50, Luke 9:37-45

Teach the Text

R.T. France

... just the leading three, had been given authority to exorcize in 9:1 (and compare the experience of the seventy-two in 10:17), so this failure is surprising. In Matthew 17:20 it is attributed to a lack of faith on the disciples’ part, and in Mark 9:29 to a lack of prayer. Luke does not explain their failure, but this note warns against any automatic view of spiritual power. Even apostles can fail. 9:41 You unbelieving and perverse generation. Here we have an echo of Moses’s complaint in Deuteronomy 32 ...

799. The Roman Verdict

Luke 22:66--23:25

Teach the Text

R.T. France

... a Jewish religious teacher killed in this barbaric foreign way indicates the extent to which Jesus the Galilean had failed to win the support of the Jerusalem crowd. Luke does not say explicitly that the Jerusalem priests instigated this “popular” demand (so Matt. 27:20; Mark 15:11), but in the flow of his narrative the crowd and the religious leaders seem by now to have merged into one united opposition. 23:22 I have found in him no grounds for the death penalty. This third declaration of Jesus’s ...

800. At the Tomb

Luke 24:1-12, Luke 23:50-56

Teach the Text

R.T. France

... of supporters of Jesus at this time, see on 23:49. 24:10 Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them. For the first two names, see on 8:2–3. “Mary” was a common name, but comparison with Matthew 27:56 and Mark 15:40; 16:1 suggests that this “Mary of James” (a literal translation; the phrase more normally would indicate the wife of James) was the mother of one of the two disciples called “James” in 6:14–15. Only Luke indicates the presence of more than the ...

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