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Showing 1026 to 1050 of 1354 results

1026. Oracles of Restoration

Ezekiel 34:1-31, Ezekiel 35:1-15, Ezekiel 36:1-38, Ezekiel 37:1-14, Ezekiel 37:15-28

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

... from Codex Wirceburgensis, the different character of the LXX translation through this same section, or the curious coincidence of an Egyptian lectionary regarding 36:16–23a as a complete unit. Scholars who have noted its close connection with its context have defended the authenticity of 36:23b–38. In particular, scholars often observe that, without these verses, God’s defense of God’s name is left undefined (esp. Block, Ezekiel 25–48, pp. 339–43; Greenberg, Ezekiel 21–37, pp. 738–40; and ...

1027. Jesus Demonstrates Messianic Authority over the Temple

Matthew 21:12-17, Matthew 21:18-22

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Jeannine K. Brown

... King David (note Jesus in Matt. 21:15 as “Son of David”) fights to claim Jerusalem and is taunted that “even the blind and the lame” could keep him out (5:6 LXX: hoi typhloi kai hoi oi choloi). David, in turn, calls his enemies defending Jerusalem “those ‘lame and blind’” (5:8). The narrator of 2 Samuel then indicates that this is the origin of the saying “The ‘blind and lame’ will not enter the palace [house]” (5:8). As R. T. France suggests, “Here, in ‘the house,’ Jesus the ...

1028. Eschatological Discourse: Being Faithful and Merciful

Matthew 25:14-30, Matthew 25:31-46

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Jeannine K. Brown

... –46), it is crucial that we preach this passage and preach it well. Yet given potential concern, at least within Protestant circles, over its emphasis on judgment based on actions done, it is easy to go off point and preach this text by defending justification by grace through faith.8Against this tendency, we might preach a holistic message that attends to the covenantal balance of trust and loyalty across the Gospel. Matthew makes clear that grace comes in Jesus, “God with us” (1:23 [cf. 28:20]), and ...

1029. Jesus Is God’s Faithful Son in Gethsemane and at His Arrest and Trial

Matthew 26:31-35, Matthew 26:36-46, Matthew 26:47-56, Matthew 26:57-68, Matthew 26:69-75

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Jeannine K. Brown

... of the temple’s destruction, and he speaks figuratively), the high priest accepts their testimony, probably because it comes from the mouths of “two or three witnesses” (see Deut. 19:15). 26:63 But Jesus remained silent. Jesus chooses to remain silent rather than defend himself (again at 27:14). Those prone to hear allusions to Isaiah 53 elsewhere in Matthew (20:28; 26:28) also suggest an echo of Isaiah 53:7 here: “He [the servant] was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth.” I ...

1030. Jesus Claims God-Given Authority to Condemn the Leaders

Mark 12:1-12, Mark 11:27-33

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Grant R. Osborne

... are forced to take evasive action and say, “We don’t know.” In reality they do think that they know and should answer that John and Jesus are false prophets. However, they let their fear of losing their support base trump their obligation to defend the temple against Jesus. Craig Evans calls it “an embarrassing public display of cowardice.”3 Jesus then refuses to name the source of his authority and has won the first round handily. 12:1 Jesus then began to speak to them in parables. There has ...

1031. Testing in the Wilderness

Luke 4:1-13

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R.T. France

... anger at Christ for how he handles people. Christ will not manipulate people with bread, power, or authority as the inquisitor has done with those he has enslaved in the name of the church. Ivan’s story, ironically, turns on itself, and he becomes a great defender of Christ. It is important to read the chapter just prior to this section to more fully understand the nature of Ivan’s grief, which is about the terrible plight of children he has seen abused, even murdered, something for which he has trouble ...

1032. Jesus’s Manifesto

Luke 4:14-30

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R.T. France

... recorded about Greek philosophers. We have the proverb “Familiarity breeds contempt.” The better you think you know a person, the more difficult it is to accept that person as being out of the ordinary. 4:25–27 there were many widows in Israel. Jesus defends his concern for people away from home by taking as a precedent stories about two of the most famous miracle workers of the Old Testament, Elijah and Elisha (1 Kings 17:7–24; 2 Kings 5). Both Sidon and Syria were traditional enemies of Israel ...

1033. Jesus’s Fallible Followers

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

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R.T. France

... 19:13. Jesus’s reputation as an exorcist tempted other Jewish exorcists (see 11:19) to try to “get in on the act.”1John’s instinct was to protect the distinctiveness of the Jesus “brand,” but this too was a worldly motivation, defending the group’s own interests. Is John’s attitude also perhaps motivated by jealousy over this man’s success as compared with the disciples’ failure (9:40)? Jesus, by contrast, welcomes all who are “on the right side,” whether formally affiliated with ...

1034. God and Mammon

Luke 16:16-18, Luke 16:1-15

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R.T. France

... lending money at interest). The manager uses his unsupervised authority to remove the “interest” element from those debts, thus pleasing the debtors but leaving his employer unable to protest because that part of the bill could not be legally defended. Numerous variations on these basic approaches have also been suggested. The following notes assume the first of these options. Interpretive Insights 16:1 accused of wasting his possessions. The charge is not merely of incompetence but of dishonesty (16 ...

1035. Challenge and Counterchallenge

Luke 20:9-19, Luke 20:1-8

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R.T. France

... a small black girl who is brutally raped and left to die (she does not) by a group of drunken white men, members of the Ku Klux Klan. Her father, expecting their acquittal, takes vengeance and shoots the men. A young lawyer (played by Matthew McConaughey) defends the father at great danger to his own life. Nevertheless, he persists in the face of what looks like a losing battle. This young lawyer’s closing speech is memorable and moving. In it, not only does he ask pertinent questions, but also he leads ...

1036. Two Testing Questions

Luke 20:27-40, Luke 20:20-26

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R.T. France

... into his understanding of the need for civil disobedience. When he was twenty-seven, he wrote an essay entitled “The Church and the Jewish Question” after the Nazi regime had effected a boycott of Jewish businesses. He contended that the church had to defend and stand with the Jews; they could not sit by in neutrality, which would be simply cowardice and passivity. He paid for his civil disobedience with his life. The Nazis executed him in 1945. A very fine documentary called Bonhoeffer is available ...

1037. The Trials of Peter and of Jesus

Luke 22:66--23:25, Luke 22:63-65, Luke 22:54-62

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R.T. France

... and rules of law in order to convict a good man, even in the face of overwhelming evidence. Tom’s attorney, Atticus Finch (played by Gregory Peck in the film version), confronts the prejudice in an articulate and moving defense, in which he declares, The defendant is not guilty. But somebody in this courtroom is. Now, gentlemen, in this country our courts are the great levelers. In our courts, all men are created equal. I’m no idealist to believe firmly in the integrity of our courts and of our jury ...

1038. The Gospel of God in Christ through Paul

Romans 1:1-17

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C. Marvin Pate

... Testament to the faith of the New Testament; from the faith of the law to the faith of the gospel; from the faithfulness of God to the faith of human beings; from beginning to end, salvation is by faith. The last-mentioned possibility is the one most defended today because of the emphasis in Romans 1:16–17 on faith and believing. I agree with this conclusion and would add one important detail: for the Old Testament covenant, keeping the law of Moses was the way to ensure that the Israelite remained in a ...

1039. The Story of Israel and the Story of Gentiles

Romans 1:18-32

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C. Marvin Pate

... evidence of transcendence, it comes in the form of a tornado bearing down on the house, what looks like a final judgment. After introducing your congregation to the premise, you could show or describe a film clip, and the audience could be prompted to defend Paul’s statement. Paul does not condone same-sex relations. Chart: Comparing Romans to Modern Laws. While one must be prepared for what follows because it may be provocative, one could create a chart setting Romans 1:18–32 beside those state laws ...

1040. The Story of Israel Now and Later

Romans 2:1-16

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C. Marvin Pate

... the falls where they live, at first want to kill him, but then they finally cut his burden loose and show him utter forgiveness. Mendoza, completely overcome by the goodness of God that he sees in this act, weeps and then goes to live with them. Later, he defends them, at the expense of his life, against those who would do what he had previously done. The film clip of his climb up the falls is worth showing. The Story of the Gentiles Now and Later Big Idea: Gentiles, like Israelites, are a part of the story ...

1041. Paul Reinterprets the Story of Israel

Romans 2:17-29

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C. Marvin Pate

... her loneliness. Although Tom’s innocence is evident after his defense, and his accuser is the town drunk, a white jury convicts Tom, and he is to be hanged. Through the voice of the protagonist, Tom’s lawyer, Atticus Finch, who defends Tom eloquently, Harper Lee challenges every authority in Maycomb: the school and its teachers, the criminal justice system, and the religious establishments, all of which are closed, ingrown, and rigid. Maycomb embraces racism and still tries sincerely to remain a decent ...

1042. New Dominion as a Blessing of the New Covenant: Dead to Sin

Romans 6:1-14

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C. Marvin Pate

... a nice illustration for grasping the spiritual parallel life of the Christian in union with Christ. The lead character in the movie undergoes moral struggle in deciding between being faithful to his military commander’s orders to forcibly relocate the “Na’vi” people and defending these creatures he has now come to love. That struggle is intensified by the fact that the hero of the story can change from his earthly body into the incredible body of the Avatar. But the more he lives in his newly found ...

1043. Freedom from the Law through Christ, Enslavement to the Law through Adam

Romans 7:7-25, Romans 7:1-6

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C. Marvin Pate

... , and seek to mend; That I may rise, and stand, o’erthrow me, and bend Your force, to break, blow, burn, and make me new. I, like an usurp’d town, to another due, Labour to admit you, but O, to no end. Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend, But is captived, and proves weak or untrue. Yet dearly I love you, and would be loved fain, But am betroth’d unto your enemy; Divorce me, untie, or break that knot again, Take me to you, imprison me, for I, Except you enthrall me, never shall be free, Nor ...

1044. Paul, Phoebe, Patronage, and Spain

Romans 16:1-27

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C. Marvin Pate

... , likely were of slave origin. Paul’s praise for their work in the Lord probably stemmed from their ministry with him in the eastern provinces. 16:13 Greet Rufus . . . and his mother. Rufus and his mother were Jewish Christians. Long ago, J. B. Lightfoot defended the plausible theory that Rufus and his brother (see Mark 15:21) were sons of Simon of Cyrene, who was forced to carry Jesus’ cross.12 That Paul calls Rufus “chosen in the Lord” may be because his father helped Jesus carry the cross. This ...

1045. Marriage, Sexual Intimacy, and Spiritual Devotion

1 Corinthians 7:1-40

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Preben Vang

... little band of characters trudging through life sharing diseases and toothpaste, coveting one another’s desserts, hiding shampoo, borrowing money, locking each other out of our rooms, inflicting pain and kissing to heal it in the same instant, loving, laughing, defending, and trying to figure out the common thread that bound us all together.”13 Home is a place marked by close proximity, where people see you at your most unadorned, unspectacular, and human. If you are a false or superficial Christian ...

1046. Personal Rights and Christian Testimony

1 Corinthians 9:1-27

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Preben Vang

... the Greek “this” (haut?) concludes the sentence rather than beginning it. Paul does not suggest that what he just said was a defense. To the contrary, what follows becomes his explanation or argument (apologia; NIV: “defense”) against the “strong” when they question why he defends the “weak.” Verses 1 and 2 function as a reminder that gives the basis for what he is about to argue in the following verses. 9:4–7 Paul’s list of rights uses the case in point as the springboard for a larger ...

1047. Resurrection and History

1 Corinthians 15:1-11

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Preben Vang

... :17). “All the apostles” is a broad term that includes the Twelve, James, and others (Gal. 1:19). 15:8–9 last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born. Paul’s inclusion of himself does not suggest that he needed to defend his apostleship to the Corinthians, but it affords him an opportunity to stress the gracious character of God’s call and its effect on his own life (15:10). Paul calls himself a “miscarried child” (ektr?ma; NIV: “abnormally born”), a term that refers to ...

1048. Message to Ephesus

Revelation 2:1-7

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J. Scott Duvall

... gauge its authenticity. One primary caution is in order. Many people in our day have a cultural, rather than a biblical, understanding of love, confusing it with sentimentality or merely being nice. When we teach about the importance of returning to love and defending truth in love, we should carefully define and clarify what love is and isn’t (see 1 Cor. 13). Otherwise, due to the confusion surrounding the word “love,” people could begin to judge others as unloving when, in fact, they have been very ...

1049. The Woman, the Son, and the Dragon

Revelation 12:1--13:1a

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J. Scott Duvall

... rule all the nations with an iron scepter.” And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. The allusion to Psalm 2:7–9, which speaks of the Lord’s son ruling the nations, points to Jesus’s role as the defender of his persecuted people (see also Rev. 2:27; 19:15). John assumes, rather than describes, Jesus’s life and ministry, crucifixion and resurrection, before moving straight from his birth to his ascension.6This “apocalyptic abbreviation,” or telescoping, is common elsewhere in the ...

1050. Blood: Right and Wrong Uses

Leviticus 17:1-16

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Joe M. Sprinkle

... first before the Israelites are instructed. 17:3 Any Israelite who sacrifices. The verb shahat (“sacrifices”) is usually rendered “slaughters” (NASB, NRSV) or “kills” (ESV, KJV, NKJV). The NIV here takes it to mean “slaughter as a sacrifice,” a view defended by Rabbi Akiba (see “Additional Insights” following this unit). Verse 5 calls what they had been doing in the open field “sacrifices.” Verse 7 adds that these sacrifices were to demons or gods. an ox, a lamb or a goat. These ...

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