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Showing 951 to 975 of 1185 results

951. Jesus Comforts the Sisters

John 11:17-37

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... 11:21, 32). Jesus is the Lord of life (11:25), but the women despair. Their hope is in a healing miracle because resurrection is so far beyond their comprehension (11:26–27). While Mary is overcome (11:35; cf. 12:3; Luke 10:39), Martha pursues a conversation. “Even now” in 11:22 implies faith—even now in death Jesus may be able to do something. But is the only comfort in the last days, the future resurrection? Ironic misunderstanding (11:23–24) gives the conversation its classic Johannine form and ...

952. Israel’s Unbelief

Romans 9:30--10:21

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... have the law. And yet they have attained righteousness—through faith in Jesus Christ (9:30). The situation of the believing Gentiles is contrasted with the situation of the unbelieving Jews. The members of God’s people according to the flesh (Israel) who pursued righteousness by observing the law did not attain righteousness. The reason for this failure is that they did not fulfill the law (9:31). Paul explains in verse 32: Israel insisted on expunging the curse of the law through observance of the law ...

953. The Resurrection of the Dead

1 Corinthians 15:12-34

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... lay at the heart of the gospel that was proclaimed to them. But was it necessarily the center, or did the call to a spiritual life in union with the risen Christ demonstrate that, unlike Christ, Christians were called to be those who pursued and received spiritual immortality rather than resurrection from the dead? Some such question appears to have led various persons within the church to deny any connection between the fact “that Christ has been raised from the dead” and their idea “that there is ...

954. Follow the Example of Paul As He Follows the Example of Christ

Philippians 3:12-4:1

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... purpose toward which his whole life is oriented. One of the most striking aspects of this account of Paul’s life is that Paul sees “knowing Christ Jesus” (3:8) not only as something in which he already participates but also as a goal he continues to pursue. This double sense of purpose, Christ as both motivation and goal, is explained in these verses: Christ has grasped Paul, so Paul presses on to grasp Christ, the goal of his life. Paul is fully aware that he has not yet reached this goal, nor is he ...

955. Rules for Christian Households

Colossians 3:18-4:1

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... in context, the passage supports and fills out Paul’s previous explanation of life in the church. It might be possible to fool the public, but your family knows you well. Paul realizes this common human trait, and so after encouraging the Colossians to pursue peace in their community, he applies the truth of the gospel to the household. What one does in the privacy of one’s most intimate relationships will reveal whether the “new self” is living up to its full potential. The family in the ancient ...

956. Leadership

1 Timothy 3:1-16

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... are to be trusted go-betweens, it is especially important that they be “sincere” (the Greek term is “not double-worded” or “not duplicitous”). If widows (see 1 Timothy 5) are under their care, it is particularly important that deacons are “not pursuing dishonest gain” (3:8). Sandwiched between verses 10 and 12 is a discussion of women. The Greek text says, “In the same way, the women are to be worthy of respect” (the Greek word gynē means “woman” or “wife,” depending entirely on ...

957. Paul’s Charge to Timothy

1 Timothy 6:11-21

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... indicate his confidence that in Timothy’s character, the Ephesian church will find an antidote to the greed and power-grabbing that is plaguing them. Paul tells Timothy to flee the entrapment of greed that is crippling the Ephesian church. He instructs Timothy to pursue a range of virtues to display what “godliness with contentment” (see 6:6)—in a word, what living in Christ—looks like (6:11). Timothy himself is to be the opposite of those who desire the short-term gain that ministry could bring ...

958. Warning against Falling Away

Hebrews 5:11-6:12

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... , attempts to gain righteousness by means of works of the law or cultic performances but simply sins in general, all evil thoughts and actions from which the conscience must be cleansed (Heb. 9:14; cf. Rom. 6:21). Though the believer is obliged to pursue maturity, God’s grace and action are necessary (6:1 reads, literally, “let us be carried to perfection”). The NIV omits the “for” with which verse 4 begins and which indicates that in the case of apostates, God is unwilling and not permitting (6 ...

959. Concluding Exhortations

Hebrews 13:1-25

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... sustained the faith of the saints of old (11:26) and of their former leaders just mentioned will not forsake them. In verse 9 the author returns one last time to the great interest of his letter: to warn his readers of the fatal error of pursuing a compromise with Judaism. Since salvation is by grace through faith in Christ, putting confidence once again in the saving virtue of ceremonial regulations regarding food and drink would amount to a repudiation of the gospel (Heb. 9:9–10; cf. 1 Cor. 8:8). The ...

960. Final Exhortations and Greetings

1 Peter 5:1-11, 1 Peter 5:12-14

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... Then in three pairs of balancing phrases (“not . . . but,” 5:2–3) Peter tells them how they should exercise their pastoral care as far as inner motivation (“not because you must, but because you are willing”) and outward incentive (“not pursuing dishonest gain”) are concerned. With the third “not . . . but” (5:3), Peter’s second theological concern surfaces clearly. He uses here the same word that Mark records Jesus as having used when discussing this very issue with his disciples (Mark ...

961. Making One’s Calling and Election Sure

2 Peter 1:1-11

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... and is the root of evil.) One cannot participate in the divine nature without escaping from the corruption in the world. Therefore, the second part (1:5–11) is about the virtues (not listed in any particular order) that will make us more like Jesus. Pursuing these virtues (many of them community-preserving virtues) does not only make one’s commitment to Jesus better; it also makes it more secure, preventing one from falling away. If we are moving toward the center, Jesus, we are in no danger of slipping ...

962. Prophecy of Scripture

2 Peter 1:12-21

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... Arguments in Support of His Position: Given 2 Peter’s thesis (1) that God has intervened by means of Jesus to free human beings from the power of evil that is rooted in desire and (2) that in order to live in this deliverance one needs to pursue virtue, one would then expect support for this assertion. The author does this by means of a series of arguments, which he introduces by his polite assertion that his addressees know and are practicing all this but that, given his impending death, it is his duty ...

963. No Greater Love

John 13:1-17, 31b-35

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

... his neck in the Flossenburg concentration camp in Nazi Germany. Son of a leading authority on psychology, neurology, and a university professor, as a young man Dietrich had turned away from the life of prestige and privilege that would naturally befall him in order to pursue his sense of call to become a pastor. When the Third Reich came into power, Bonhoeffer could have chosen to stay in the United States and teach at the seminary where he had just earned his doctorate. Instead, he was moved with love for ...

964. Dealing with Difficult People

1 Peter 3:8-18

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... a blessing by responding this way. What is the blessing? Let’s keep reading: “For whoever would love life and see good days must keep their tongue from evil and their lips from deceitful speech. They must turn from evil and do good; they must seek peace and pursue it.” (1 Peter 3:10-11) The writer of 1st Peter is quoting Psalm 34. It seems like a tall task to always seek peace, especially when you are faced with a difficult person. How can you do it? Well, read what 1st Peter says next. For the ...

965. The Beatitudes

Matthew 5:1-12

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

... see God. 5:9–10 The next blessedness is pronounced upon the peacemakers. The peace that Jesus enjoins is not a passive acceptance of whatever comes along, but an active involvement that confronts the problem and works through to a satisfactory reconciliation. “Seek peace and pursue it” is the admonition of the psalmist (Ps. 34:14). “He who practices peace,” says the Jewish commentary Sifra (on Num. 6:26), “is a child of the world to come.” The peace that we are to make is (in this context) the ...

966. Jesus Sends Out the Twelve

Matthew 10:1-42

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

... soul. On the other hand, willingly to accept martyrdom for Christ’s sake is to gain the higher life (life in v. 39 is used in a double sense—physical, and true or spiritual). The saying of Jesus is also true in a more general sense; to pursue selfish interests is to lose out on what life is all about, whereas to devote oneself to Christ brings deep and lasting satisfaction. 10:40–42 At the end of the discourse Matthew once again emphasizes the mission setting. Jesus instructed the Twelve to stay in ...

967. The Greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven

Matthew 18:1-9

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

... their question by summoning a child to stand before them. He then said that if they did not change and become like little children they would never enter the kingdom of heaven. The Greek strephō means “to turn around.” As long as they were pursuing rank and status in heaven, they were heading in the wrong direction. Before they could even qualify for entrance into the kingdom, they would have to change completely their way of thinking. The answer to the disciples’ question is that the greatest in the ...

968. Hallelujah! Come On, Get Happy

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

David G. Rogne

... visit and partake of the happiness it was designed to create. Happiness is something that humans seek naturally. We are all on a pleasure hunt. We Americans even wrote the pursuit of happiness into our constitutional rights. Yet the more earnestly we pursue happiness, the more elusive it becomes. June Callwood, in her article "One Sure Way to Happiness" (Reader's Digest, October 1974), tells us that the historian Will Durant wrote how he looked for happiness in knowledge and found only disillusionment. He ...

969. Signs of the End of the Age

Mark 13:1-31

Understanding Series

Larry W. Hurtado

... ; cf., e.g., Rom. 8:18–23. 13:9 You will be handed over to the local councils and flogged in the synagogues: Local councils here translates the Greek word synedria, referring to Jewish councils in local cities where disciplinary action against Jews could be pursued. Flogged in the synagogues refers to the floggings that could be administered to Jews who were found guilty of serious breaches of conduct. The floggings were to consist of thirty-nine blows with a whip across the back, based on Deut. 25:1–3 ...

970. Jesus Sends Out the Seventy-two

Luke 10:1-24

Understanding Series

Craig A. Evans

... . Luke, then, sees the journey as the first part of that ascent to heaven via death and resurrection.) David P. Moessner (“Jesus and the ‘Wilderness Generation’: The Death of the Prophet like Moses according to Luke,” in SBL Seminar Papers [1982], pp. 319–40) pursues this parallel even further by concluding that just as Moses had to die in behalf of his people, before they could enter the promised land, so Jesus had to die “to effect deliverance for his people” (p. 339; see also D. P. Moessner ...

971. Jesus at a Pharisee's House

Luke 14:1-14

Understanding Series

Craig A. Evans

... explicitly in 6:5, that Jesus is “Lord of the Sabbath” and can act as God’s anointed representative. Jesus then takes the man, heals him, and sends him away. What reaction to this the Pharisees had we are not told. Jesus himself, however, pursues the matter further by putting a second question to them, a question which recalls 13:15 (the saying about helping one’s ox or donkey on the Sabbath). The answer to this question (unlike the first one) is more readily apparent, even to his opponents ...

972. The Parable of the Shrewd Manager

Luke 16:1-15

Understanding Series

Craig A. Evans

... see note on 5:17 above. Fitzmyer (p. 1113) has noted that T. W. Manson thought that Jesus originally addressed the Sadducees rather than the Pharisees, since the former were aristocratic and wealthy and would have indeed sneered at the idea of pursuing heavenly wealth rather than earthly wealth. There is no evidence, however, that Jesus (or Luke) had anyone else in mind. Moreover, the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, with its emphasis on the afterlife, would hardly be meaningful to Sadducees who ...

973. The Coming of the Kingdom of God

Luke 17:20-37

Understanding Series

Craig A. Evans

... [p. 655] supposes), but it is among people in the sense of Jesus’ presence (so Fitzmyer, p. 1161; Tiede, p. 300). 17:22 Son of Man: See note on 5:24 above. 17:23 Do not go running off after them: Lit. “Don’t go out, nor pursue [it].” Some manuscripts read: “Don’t believe [it].” Such announcements regarding the kingdom are unfounded. The disciple will do well to ignore them. In Luke’s church the tragic war with Rome (A.D. 66–70) may very possibly be in mind. Many Jews followed a would ...

974. God's Righteous Judgment

Romans 2:1-16

Understanding Series

James R. Edwards

... in life, which, in the case of good works, he identifies as glory, honor, immortality, and peace. Thus the first characteristic of good works consists in an altruism beyond self and orientation to others and God. Moral ends, of course, must be pursued by moral means. Paul expresses it thus: Those who by persistence in doing good works seek such things will receive eternal life. This constitutes the second characteristic of good works, which is contained in two key words. The first, seek, occurs in ...

975. Struggling with Sin

Romans 7:7-25

Understanding Series

James R. Edwards

... the base camp of an expedition.” Thus, far from checking sin, the law actually triggers it. It might appear that Paul anticipates the findings of modern psychology here. It is well known that the prohibition of a course of action is normally an invitation to pursue it. When a mother orders her son not to wash his face—only to watch him run to the bathroom and do the opposite—she is using this phenomenon to her own advantage. “Reverse psychology” may approximate Paul’s thought, but it does not ...

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