Sermon and Worship Resources

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Proverbs 3:1-35

Understanding Series

Roland E. Murphy

... :9; 3:3). This is conveyed by the metaphors of walking and sleeping (vv. 23–24; cf. 6:22). The admonition not to fear (v. 25) is motivated by the divine protection (v. 26; cf. 2:7–8). 3:27–28 The NIV indicates by format that the style reverts to the couplets that marked verses 1–12. The admonitions specify doing good to those who have a valid claim (a decision is called for here), provided one has the resources. Verse 28 sharpens this advice by prohibiting delay in helping the neighbor. 3:29–30 In ...

1477. Proverbs of Solomon

Proverbs 12:1-28

Understanding Series

Roland E. Murphy

... occurs only in v. 2a, but it is to be understood in v. 2b. The root ršʿ, “condemn,” is a key word uniting vv. 2–3. 12:9 The suggested change in vocalization is ʿōbēd. The “better” saying is an expression typical of the wisdom literary style. See also Sir. 10:27. In v. 9a a change in vocalization yields better sense: “and be self-supporting” (Hb. weʿōbēd lô). 12:12 The LXX reads, “Desires of the wicked are evil, but the roots of the just are in strongholds (i.e., endure?).” The ...

1478. Proverbs of Solomon

Proverbs 16:1-33

Understanding Series

Roland E. Murphy

There is a noticeable change here. The antithetic style of previous sayings starts to give way to synonymous and synthetic or progressive parallelism. More important, there are indications of a deliberate arrangement. The Lord is the subject of verses 1–7, 9, 11, 20, 33, and the king is the topic in verses 10, 12–15. Moreover, the Lord ...

1479. Proverbs of Solomon

Proverbs 18:1-24

Understanding Series

Roland E. Murphy

... there is no connective between 4a and 4b. 18:6 For NIV bring, the MT has lit. “comes with,” or “enters into.” The NIV seems to read the Hiphil yābîʾû, with the LXX. 18:11 Hb. maśkît seems to mean “image,” and then imagination. 18:13 The style is unusual; the subject is in v. 13a, a casus pendens, that is then taken up in v. 13b by the pronoun. 18:16 Hb. mattān, or gift, is in effect a bribe in 15:27b. In 17:8, 23, another word for bribe is used, šōḥad. In 19 ...

1480. Sayings of the Wise

Proverbs 22:17--24:22

Understanding Series

Roland E. Murphy

... itself is an emendation. The dependence is by no means slavish. Moreover, the influence of Amenemope is not restricted to these chapters; it also appears elsewhere in the book of Proverbs (e.g., 15:16; 17:1). Although the discrete sayings prevail in 10:1–22:16, the style now changes in 22:17 to admonitions, much like the genre of the teachings in Proverbs 1–9. The NIV printing of 22:17–24:22 is laid out in a manner to suggest thirty units. The commentaries of A. P. Ross (“Proverbs” in EBC [ed. F ...

1481. More Proverbs of Solomon

Proverbs 25:1-28

Understanding Series

Roland E. Murphy

These chapters are introduced by a superscription indicating that they are from Solomon by way of the “men of Hezekiah.” The sayings break from the admonitory style of 22:17–24:34 and resemble those of chapters 10–22:16. However, these sayings are much more vivid, and in chapters 25–27 they form larger units (“proverb poems,” as they have been called). Explicit comparisons are frequent. We are unable to say much about the general setting ...

1482. More Proverbs of Solomon

Proverbs 26:1-28

Understanding Series

Roland E. Murphy

1483. More Proverbs of Solomon

Proverbs 29:1-27

Understanding Series

Roland E. Murphy

Many consider chapters 28 and 29 to be a collection separate from chapters 25–27. In contrast to the latter, which has many groupings, the style here returns to the (apparently) discrete sayings of earlier chapters (e.g., chapters 10–15). Antithetic sayings are the most frequent. See comment on 29:27. 29:1 Synthetic. On the downfall of the stiff-necked, see 28:14b; verse 1a repeats 6:15b. See comment on 28:23. 29: ...

1484. All Night Long

Song of Songs 3:1-11

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Huwiler

... the interests and laws of love’s passion which sent the woman out on her search (Song, p. 124). “Have you seen”: The woman quotes herself without introducing the quotation with an expression such as “I asked them.” As Bloch and Bloch note, the abbreviated narrative style combines with unusual word order (lit. “The one my heart loves—you’ve seen him?”) to heighten the urgency of the woman’s search (Song, p. 158). 3:4 I held him and would not let him go / till I had brought him: Fox argues ...

1485. The Recabites

Jeremiah 35:1-19

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

... are best understood against the background of other groups through history who have frozen a particular cultural form. In modern times, one might think of the hasidic Jews who still wear the dress that was current in Polish ghettoes rather than wearing modern styles. Or among Christians we might think of the Amish who wear shirts without buttons and ride in a horse-driven buggy. The Recabites seem to consider the lifestyle of the nomad as appropriate to their religious expression. It may be that they ...

1486. Hosea's Wife and Children

Hosea 1:1-2:1

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... would also be “children of harlotry” (RSV), not because they were illegitimate, but because they were born of a harlotrous mother: like mother, like children. In the verses that follow, only the first child is attributed to Hosea’s fatherhood (v. 3), but the style becomes increasingly succinct in vv. 6 and 8, and that may be the reason for the omission from those verses of the Hebrew lô, “to him.” Hosea’s marriage is a “sign.” The naming of the children that follows is prophetic “symbolic ...

1487. Don't Just Stand There!

Acts 1:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

... quirky statistic. But as long as Elvis was alive, there was no need for impersonators. We could see the real thing . . . in case you had a longing for Elvis’ brand of music. But, after his death, there was an explosion of people who could bring his style of performance to their own community. At the ascension, Christ’s body was carried away by a cloud into heaven. Yet the New Testament clearly teaches that Jesus continues his ministry in the world today. Does he do it without a body? No. The Bible says ...

1488. The Word Became Flesh

John 1:1-18

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... , a capsule summary of the Gospel story, beginning in eternity and reaching as far as the present experience of Christian believers (vv. 1–13), and second, the confessional response of these believers to this revelation in history (vv. 14–18). The distinct style and vocabulary of the prologue has led many scholars to the conclusion that the writer has incorporated into his Gospel, right at the beginning, an early Christian (or pre-Christian) hymn. Pliny, the Roman governor of Asia Minor early in the ...

1489. Jesus Talks with a Samaritan Woman

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

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... the well. The adverb is used similarly in 13:25. About the sixth hour: See note on 1:39. 4:9 Jews do not associate with Samaritans. A few ancient manuscripts omit this parenthetical remark, but such explanatory asides are entirely characteristic of the narrator’s style. The words belong in the text, and refer quite specifically to laws of purity: Jews and Samaritans do not drink from the same cup! 4:16 Come back: or “come back here.” The repetition in Greek of the adverb enthade (“here”) in vv. 15 ...

1490. Jesus the Bread of Life

John 6:25-59

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... feeds. Some say John has chosen this crude term deliberately to lend realism to the idea of eating Jesus’ flesh. But in the present tense he uses only this word for “eat” (cf. 13:18), and it is therefore best regarded simply as a peculiar feature of his style. 6:56 Remains in me, and I in him: This word for remains (Gr.: menein) is not used elsewhere in the chapter. It is used most conspicuously in Jesus’ farewell discourses (e.g., 15:4–10). 6:57 I live because of the Father … will live because ...

1491. The Last Day of the Feast

John 7:45--8:11, John 8:12-30

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... it ad hominem. Jesus’ opponents are refuted by the very scripture that they themselves acknowledge and proclaim to be true; the fact that Jesus also acknowledges it is assumed but is not crucial to the argument. (b) Jesus may be speaking in the style of OT prophets who at times, in the name of God, stood over against Israel and pronounced judgment on Israel’s institutions (e.g., Isa. 1:13–14: “your incense … your evil assemblies … your New Moon festivals … your appointed feasts”). 8:20 Near ...

1492. Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind

John 9:1-12

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... we must do the work of him who sent us.” The more difficult reading found in the text is probably correct; the second variant (in which both pronouns are plural) is also difficult, but its wording “him who sent us” is so uncharacteristic of the style of John’s Gospel as to make it suspect. “He who sent me” is a fixed Johannine expression, equivalent to “the Father.” Its very fixity is what seems to have created the discrepancy between singular and plural in a sentence in which Jesus draws ...

1493. The Jews Continue in Their Disbelief

John 12:37-50

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... was selective in assembling the material for these discourses (as he surely was in narrating Jesus’ deeds: 20:30 and 21:25), there would have been a stock of sayings known to him but not included in the great discourses. Though the writer’s style testifies that he is not afraid of being redundant, the similarity of these sayings to material already included would probably have produced more redundancy than he wanted. It is likely that verses 44–50 are drawn from such a stock of “leftover” sayings ...

1494. Jesus Washes His Disciples’ Feet

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

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... 56–58 and have proposed that John has chosen this word (instead of the common word found in the LXX of Ps. 41:10) for the sake of supposed eucharistic implications. More likely it is either a word he was in the habit of using purely as a matter of style, or else the LXX manuscripts with which he was familiar had it in their texts of Ps. 41:10. It is true, however, that what was violated, both by Judas and by subsequent betrayers in the ancient church, was (at least at one level) the fellowship of the Lord ...

1495. Crucified, Dead, and Buried

John 19:17-27, John 19:28-37, John 19:38-42

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... as evidence that the anonymous eyewitness of verse 35 is none other than the “beloved disciple” (21:20–23), himself the author and narrator of the whole Gospel. Yet the parallels prove little, for they rest simply on common characteristics of the author’s style. Jesus had spoken of John the Baptist, for example, in similar terms: There is another who testifies in my favor, and I know that his testimony about me is valid … he has testified to the truth. Not that I accept human testimony; but I ...

1496. Thanksgiving and Prayer

Philippians 1:1-11

Understanding Series

F. F. Bruce

... clause I thank my God … for you, in which case they would stand in parallel construction with every time I remember you. The repetition of all and every time/always (one and the same root in Greek) is noteworthy; it is a characteristic feature of Paul’s style throughout his correspondence and not least in this letter. There are four occurrences in verses 3 and 4, which could be brought out in the rendering: “I thank my God for you in all my remembrance of you at all times in all my prayer for you ...

1497. Pressing on Toward the Goal

Philippians 3:12-4:1

Understanding Series

F. F. Bruce

... .” W. Lütgert (Die Vollkommenen im Philipperbrief und die Enthusiasten in Thessalonich, p. 19), W. Schmithals (Paul and the Gnostics, pp. 99–104), and others take the people so designated to be those of a Gnosticizing tendency, like the self-styled “spiritual persons” (pneumatikoi) at Corinth (cf. 1 Cor. 2:13, 15; 3:1, etc.). According to them, Paul’s ostensible association of himself with them in the first person plural is at most a captatio benevolentiae. This is a strained interpretation ...

1498. The Word of Life

1 John 1:1-4

Understanding Series

Thomas F. Johnson

... Word (a masculine noun) of life. Then, in v. 2, he calls it the life, a feminine noun, and the eternal life. The original readers of the letter, who not only knew the prologue to the Gospel of John but were familiar with the author’s vocabulary and style, would have had no difficulty in identifying the subject as God’s Son, Jesus Christ (v. 3), the Word who “became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (John 1:14), who is also the life (John 14:6). All of these ways of speaking of Jesus highlight ...

1499. Warning Against Antichrists

1 John 2:18-27

Understanding Series

Thomas F. Johnson

... theological nuances in the NT. Peter denied Jesus (John 18:17, 25, 27), and those who deny him risk being themselves denied when he returns (Matt. 10:33). John the Baptist “confessed” and did not “fail to confess” (note the typical Johannine antithetical style) that he was not the Christ (John 1:20). The “Men of Israel” denied Jesus, “the Holy and Righteous One” before Pilate (Acts 3:12, 14). Second Peter 2:1 speaks of false prophets and false teachers who “deny the sovereign Lord who ...

1500. Children of God

1 John 2:28--3:10

Understanding Series

Thomas F. Johnson

... :24; 4:13, 16). The author continues to use present tense forms of the verb (keeps on sinning: hamartanei; continues to sin: ho hamartanōn) to underline that he is talking about the habitual, unrepented of, practice of sin. “His objection is to a continued life-style and outlook on sin that is incompatible with being a Johannine Christian” (Brown, Epistles, p. 403). Far from abiding in Christ, those who practice sin as a way of life have neither seen him nor known him. It is possible that no one in the ...

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