Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1051 to 1075 of 1182 results

Matthew 25:1-13

Sermon

David G. Rogne

... in the history of the world, a nation... declared, as a self-evident truth that all nations are created equal." These are phrases that appear in the Gettysburg Address, showing that more than four months before the Gettysburg Address Lincoln was already sharpening the classic wording contained in the speech. Lincoln had oil in his lamp. He'd been storing it for months, and when the occasion arose he was ready for the task. Successful people may have gifts that contribute to their success, but even they have ...

1052. Jesus Feeds the Four Thousand

Mark 8:1-13

Understanding Series

Larry W. Hurtado

... Christian writing known as the Didache [9], accessible in multi-volume scholarly editions such as J. B. Lightfoot, The Apostolic Fathers, reprint [Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1989; 1 vol. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1965] and K. Lake, The Apostolic Fathers [Loeb Classical Library, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1912]). The term basketfuls is a different Greek word from that translated in 6:43, the latter being a small basket more associated with ancient Jewish life and the term here representing a larger ...

1053. Introduction

Luke 1:1-4

Understanding Series

Craig A. Evans

... that follows. Luke’s preface is also unique among the Gospels (indeed, among all of the writings of the NT) in that it is written in a very sophisticated literary style that is reminiscent of the prefaces of some of the classical historians of antiquity, such as Herodotus, Thucydides, and Polybius (see Talbert, pp. 7–11). The most instructive parallel, however, may be the prefaces with which the first-century Jewish historian Josephus introduces his two-volume work, Against Apion. Portions of the ...

1054. The Temptation of Jesus

Luke 4:1-13

Understanding Series

Craig A. Evans

... he uses the “Satan” (lit. “adversary”) elsewhere (see Luke 10:18; 11:18; 13:16; 22:3, 31). Satan was thought of as the ruler of the demons and powers of darkness. His mission is to oppose God’s will. The temptation story thus paints a classic picture of the clash between Good and Evil. 4:3 If you are the Son of God (see also 4:9): In this type of sentence construction the word translated “if” actually has the meaning of “since.” The devil has no doubts regarding Jesus’ identity, for ...

1055. Paul's Longing to Visit Rome

Romans 1:1-17

Understanding Series

James R. Edwards

... be rendered by either “righteousness” or “justification.” The former word usually refers to the character and activity of God, whereas the latter usually refers to the justified condition of the believer. Context alone determines how it should be understood. In classical Greek, dikaiosynē usually meant ethical rightness or goodness. In the OT righteousness refers above all to God’s faithfulness to the covenant with Israel, an understanding reflected several times in Romans (3:3–5, 25; 9:6; 10:3 ...

1056. No One Is Righteous

Romans 3:9-20

Understanding Series

James R. Edwards

... more sovereign, and whose mercy and justice cannot be separated or claimed for some and against others. Bunyan offers an effective allegory on the inexorable demands of the law in the waylaying of Faithful. See John Bunyan, Pilgrim’s Progress (New York: New American Library, Signet Classics), pp. 69–70. Themes in v. 20 which Paul will subsequently develop are “Observing the law,” 3:27, 28; 4:2, 6; 9:11; “declared righteous,” 3:24, 26, 28, 30; 4:2, 5; 5:1, 9; 6:7; 8:30, 33; and “through the law ...

1057. Righteousness Through Faith

Romans 3:21-31

Understanding Series

James R. Edwards

... the means of forgiveness of sin, finally and forever! Exactly how God removes sin by Christ’s sacrifice remains unresolved in theology. Various theories of the atonement attempt to present models or images of this divine mystery. That the same theories—ransom, classical, substitutionary, and moral—continue to be debated millennia after they were first proposed is evidence that each contains a germ of truth. But none exhausts the mystery. Paul’s use of hilastērion is itself a model of a high priest ...

1058. Death Through Adam, Life Through Christ

Romans 5:12-21

Understanding Series

James R. Edwards

... and M. Harris (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1980), pp. 67–79. 5:13–14 On the idea that sin precedes death, but that only death reveals sin, see Bengel, Gnomon, vol. 3, p. 68. Faithful’s meeting with Adam the First in The Pilgrim’s Progress remains a classic of Adam-typology. The aged Adam promises Faithful “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” (1 John 2:16) in an attempt to lure him from the pathway. But the truth finally breaks upon Faithful, “Then it came burning ...

1059. Slaves to Righteousness

Romans 6:15-23

Understanding Series

James R. Edwards

... victim to such a patent misinterpretation Paul often reacted sharply, as he does here, mē genoito, By no means! Freedom from law does not mean license to do whatever one pleases. That is wide of the mark, and “missing the mark” is exactly what sin meant in classical Greek. Sin, of course, is often a willful offense against the moral law of God, but it is also a falling short of God’s glory (3:23), a failure to inherit the high calling of God in Christ Jesus (Phil. 3:14). There are sins of commission ...

1060. Life Through the Spirit

Romans 8:1-17

Understanding Series

James R. Edwards

... of the Spirit is now effecting Christ’s victory throughout creation. The future is assured even if the present is still uncertain. “He must win the battle” proclaimed Luther in the hymn, “A Mighty Fortress is Our God.” 8:3–4 Verse 3 is a classic formulation of redemption. The beginning of the verse lacks a verb in Greek and is somewhat defective, reading literally, “For the inability of the law because of the weakness of the flesh.” But there is no doubt of its meaning: the law was rendered ...

1061. Paul the Minister to the Gentiles

Romans 15:14-22

Understanding Series

James R. Edwards

... ’s missionary consciousness. As a pioneer evangelist who desired to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, Paul determined his strategy, which was to establish Christianity in urban centers and to allow his converts to evangelize outlying areas. A classic example of this was his ministry in Ephesus, from which converts moved up the Lycus valley to plant churches in Laodicea, Hierapolis, and Colossae (Acts 19:8–10; Col. 1:7; 4:12–16). A nineteenth- and twentieth-century missionary aspiration ...

1062. Personal Greetings

Romans 16:1-27

Understanding Series

James R. Edwards

... the fact that among various manuscripts the doxology occurs at the close of chapters 14 or 16 (or both 14 and 16), in one manuscript at the end of chapter 15, and in others not at all. Among recent interpreters T. W. Manson has given classic proportions to the Ephesian theory. Whatever the merits of the theory, it appears destined to play only a minor part in the exegetical history of Romans. The evidence which can be orchestrated against it (see Additional Notes) makes it virtually certain that chapter 16 ...

1063. Various Laws

Leviticus 19:1-37

Understanding Series

W. H. Bellinger, Jr.

... sort of cultic setting, here by the Priestly tradents, and addressed to the whole people. Care for all of society and for justice are central to the chapter, as is concern with specific harmful practices. 19:1–4 The chapter opens with a classic statement from the Holiness Code, to be holy because Yahweh is holy, followed by statements in the tradition of the Decalogue. Yahweh is different, and so Israel as Yahweh’s people is called to be different. This kind of holiness includes orderliness and justice ...

1064. Offerings at the Dedication of the Tabernacle

Numbers 7:1-89

Understanding Series

W.H. Bellinger, Jr.

... of the culture. The liturgical practice of the presence is more difficult to quantify and evaluate, but without it at the center, the life of a faith community is hollow and expendable. Without vibrant worship, “church” is a misnomer. In classic Priestly style, these emphases are not abstract or propositional but pragmatic and material. The details of the Priestly version of the community’s history become proclamation for a later audience. The repetitious style of this chapter demands much from ...

1065. Balaam’s First Oracle

Numbers 23:1-12

Understanding Series

W.H. Bellinger, Jr.

... privately with God to receive a word and then returns to Balak at the altars with the princes of Moab. This time (v. 17) the king asks, What did the LORD say? Balaam then pronounces his second oracle. 23:18–26 The oracle is addressed to Balak and, in classic Hebrew poetry, it indicates that God will not change the blessing intended for Israel. God is not human and subject to deception or frequent changes of mind. God is not a man, . . . nor a son of man, that is, not born of a human and so not a mortal ...

1066. Eliphaz

Job 4:1-5:27

Understanding Series

Gerald H. Wilson

... this world without some form of repentance. The use of the question format prevents Job from ignoring Eliphaz’s claims and presses him to acknowledge both their truth and their implications for his own situation. 4:8–9 The second aphorism is a variation on the classic observation “you reap what you sow” (Gal. 6:7 [KJV]; see also 2 Cor. 9:6). Eliphaz’s observation is that evil (ʾawen) and trouble (ʿamal) come only to those who plow and sow them (see Prov. 11:18; 22:8). The sideways implication is ...

1067. Job's Second Reply to Zophar

Job 21:1-34

Understanding Series

Gerald H. Wilson

... live long, prosperous lives while the righteous experience desperation, loss, and torment. 21:19–21 In these verses, Job seeks to head off what must have been a common contemporary explanation for the delayed (or nonexistent!) punishment of the wicked. Drawing on the classic picture of YHWH as the “jealous, but compassionate God,” the friends offer Job one answer that he wishes to confront here and now. Their answer is most likely based on Exodus 34:6–7 and Numbers 14:18, which describe YHWH as ...

1068. Rest for the Weary

Matthew 11:25-30

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

... ) expresses a state of weariness from having carried a heavy load. 11:29 Yoke: A symbol of obligation and subjection (cf. Moore, Judaism, vol. 1, p. 465). In Pirke Aboth (3.6) the law is described as a yoke. Humble: In classical literature the idea of humility was generally held to be a vice. The Gk. tapeinos means “undistinguished/subservient.” The Christian virtue of humility (tapeinophrosynē) is an outgrowth of the gospel. Since true greatness is holiness, we are “lowly” because we are ...

1069. God Judges the Gods

Psalm 82:1-8

Understanding Series

Craig C. Broyles

... is evident in the NIV’s rendering of this psalm. In verse 1 the literal phrase “the assembly of El/God” is translated as “the great assembly,” and “gods” is placed in quotation marks (likewise v. 6), though not indicated in the Hebrew text (Classical Hebrew does not have such punctuation marks). In verse 7 the words “mere” and “other” are not present in the Hebrew text. The most obvious reading of this psalm, especially from the Hebrew, is to understand the ʾelohîm and “sons of the ...

1070. Daniel’s Dream of Four Beasts

Daniel 7:1-14

Understanding Series

William Nelson

... following) related by Daniel in the first person. The text also gives the date for the dream: in the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon (7:1). It is significant that Daniel wrote down his dream, because this book is apocalyptic. The classical prophets were predominantly preachers whose words were mostly collected and edited by their disciples. This is not to deny that they ever inscribed or dictated words, however. Isaiah, for example, narrated the account of his call vision in his own words (Isa. 6 ...

1071. Daniel’s Prayer

Daniel 9:1-19

Understanding Series

William Nelson

... to the surrounding material: the remainder of the chapter fits with chapters 8 and 10–12 by being rougher and containing Aramaisms (Hartman and Di Lella, Daniel, p. 246). In response, one could argue that the author of the book chose a stock prayer in more classical Hebrew and inserted it here. If such is the case, then while he did not compose the prayer, it is still “original” in the sense that it was not added by a later redactor but was part of the first edition (Collins, Daniel, p. 347). Next ...

1072. Daniel’s Vision of a Man

Daniel 10:1--11:1

Understanding Series

William Nelson

... ” (thus NRSV, Hartman and Di Lella, Daniel, p. 265). The repetition of “Be strong” twice here is unusual. We expect “Be strong and courageous,” as elsewhere (see the Additional Note on 10:19). This last is often used in farewells in Hebrew and classical tradition (Deut. 31:6, 7, 23; see Montgomery, Daniel, p. 415). It is interesting, then, that we find both the Hebrew “Hello” and “Good-bye” in this one verse. Next, Daniel encourages the heavenly visitor to speak, now that he has given him ...

1073. The Baptism and Temptation of Jesus

Mark 1:9-13

Understanding Series

Larry W. Hurtado

... days on Mount Sinai waiting to receive the law (Exod. 24:18). The point of the probable allusions to these traditions is to make Jesus’ desert period a time of new revelation and salvation equivalent to the revelation given to Moses and Israel in the classical, Exodus time. Acclaimed by God at his baptism, gifted with the Spirit of God, and directed by the Spirit into this testing, Jesus is also helped by angels (v. 13). Matthew (4:1–11) and Luke (4:1–13) both devote greater space to the temptation ...

1074. The Birth of Jesus Foretold

Luke 1:26-38

Understanding Series

Craig A. Evans

... . The angel explains that her pregnancy will result from the Holy Spirit, and for this reason her child will be called the Son of God (v. 35). As evidence for the possibility of this extraordinary promise, Gabriel tells Mary about Elizabeth’s pregnancy. Mary gives her classic response: I am the Lord’s servant … may it be to me as you have said (v. 38). Additional Notes 1:26–38 For a discussion of divine/angelic annunciations and their OT antecedents see Talbert, pp. 18–21. 1:27 Luke uses the form ...

1075. Six Woes

Luke 11:37-54

Understanding Series

Craig A. Evans

... practice from beginning to end.” J. T. Sanders (pp. 186–88) thinks that the polemic of this passage is thoroughly anti-Semitic. Again, however, he has failed to distinguish intramural polemic from racial hatred. Tiede (p. 225) is correct when he says: “This is not anti-Jewish polemic. It is classic prophetic indictment and call to repentance. Israel knew well that the struggle of wills between God and the people had a long history.”

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