Synonyms: Levi, disciple, evangelist, tax collector, the 12, the twelve, apostle, sermon on the mount, jewish audience, beatitudes, lord's prayer, great commission, parables, olivet discourse, mount of olives, olivet, synoptic
Showing 201 to 225 of 344 results
201. Favoritism Forbidden
James 2:1-13, James 2:14-26
Understanding Series
Peter H. Davids
... is found in Scripture, for Jesus generally interpreted the Old Testament rather than speaking without any reference to previous revelation. The specific command that James cites, Love your neighbor as yourself, is a favorite of both Jesus (he cites Lev. 19:18 six times in the synoptic Gospels) and the church (Rom. 13:19; Gal. 5:14). It was frequently seen as summing up the law, but James’ reason for citing it may be in Proverbs 14:21: “He who despises his neighbor sins, but blessed is he who is kind to ...
Understanding Series
Norman Hillyer
... :1, etc.), to which subject Peter is about to refer (v. 5). The living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God introduces the theme of these verses: the “stone,” as relating to Christ, and to those who accept him, and to those who reject him. All three Synoptic Gospels record that Jesus applied Psalm 118:22 to himself: “The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone” (Matt. 21:42; Mark 12:10; Luke 20:17). Peter quotes the Psalmist’s words in Acts 4:11, as well as here and in verse 7. A ...
203. The Passover
Exodus 12:1-30
Understanding Series
James K. Bruckner
... applying the blood to their house. The blood of the lamb, through the protection of the Lord, provided them with victory over certain death and over the evils of Egyptian enslavement. The NT uses the theme of the Passover lamb in relation to Jesus’ death. The Synoptic Gospels describe the Passover Feast that became the Last Supper (Mark 14:12–16; Matt. 26:17–19; Luke 22:7–13). John alludes clearly to the death of Jesus as the Passover lamb (19:14, 31–33, 42). Paul tells the Corinthians that they ...
Understanding Series
Elizabeth Achtemeier
... 1–5; Josh. 5:10–11; 2 Kings 23:21–23; 2 Chron. 30; 35:1–19). Early Christians associated Jesus’ death with that of the Passover (Paschal) lamb (1 Cor. 5:7–8), encouraged by Jesus’ comments at the Last Supper (described by the Synoptic Gospels as a Passover meal [e.g., Matt. 26:17–30]). Perhaps Jesus meant to emphasize that just as Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread reminded God’s people of his deliverance and provision, his followers would find true freedom and full provision in ...
Understanding Series
J. Ramsey Michaels
... the baptism of Jesus. The term One and Only (monogenēs) focuses not on birth (as the KJV translation, “only-begotten,” suggests) but on being uniquely the object of a father’s love. It is used in much the same way as “beloved” (agapētos) in the synoptic accounts of the voice from heaven at Jesus’ baptism (Mark 1:11; Matt. 3:17; Luke 3:22). The author of John’s Gospel speaks as if he and his community, like John the Baptist, were eyewitnesses to the baptism of Jesus (cf. “we saw” in v. 14 ...
206. Jesus' First Disciples
John 1:35-42, John 1:43-51
Understanding Series
J. Ramsey Michaels
... originated with Jesus. “Amen” was customarily used to conclude a statement or a prayer, but Jesus used it instead as an introduction. The doubled “amen” occurs only (and always) in the fourth Gospel, but appears to have the same meaning as the single “amen” of the Synoptics. On the Son of Man: In the Greek translation of Gen. 28:12, Jacob saw the angels going up and down “on it” (i.e., on the ladder or stairway), but the original Hebrew is ambiguous and some of the rabbis read the text as ...
Understanding Series
J. Ramsey Michaels
... a kind of epitome or scale model of Jesus’ entire Galilean ministry, in which he turns the water of traditional ritual cleansing (v. 6) into the wine of a new and joyous messianic age. Jesus’ ministry is seen in much the same way here as in certain synoptic parables. When asked why his disciples did not fast, he once asked in return, “How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them” (Mark 2:19). Jesus was not, of course, the bridegroom ...
Understanding Series
J. Ramsey Michaels
... addressed by Jesus to his opponents (or to Nicodemus in particular) in the manner of 2:19, a riddle solved for Christian readers by the reflection on Jesus’ redemptive death in verse 16. Formally, the pattern, as Moses … so the Son of Man, recalls a synoptic saying about Jonah: “As Jonah … so the Son of Man will be” (Matt. 12:40; cf. Luke 11:30). In each case a biblical incident is made the point of comparison for a veiled reference to Jesus’ death or resurrection. Here the bronze snake raised ...
Understanding Series
J. Ramsey Michaels
... 1:32, 33), and John testified and continues to testify, that this was the case. The last two verses of the chapter are a brief meditation on Jesus’ baptism. The statement that the Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands (v. 35) echoes the synoptic tradition of the voice from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love” (Mark 1:11; cf. the use of “One and Only” in John 1:14, 18; 3:16, 18). Also, the picture of God’s wrath “remaining” on those who reject the Son (v. 36) stands ...
Understanding Series
J. Ramsey Michaels
... me to finish and they show that the Father has sent me (v. 36). Are the works then the Father’s testimony on Jesus’ behalf (v. 37), or is something more specific in mind? The thought of the Father testifying directly on the Son’s behalf recalls the synoptic accounts of the divine voice at Jesus’ baptism and especially at the transfiguration (“This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” Matt. 17:5; cf. also 1 John 5:9). But the primary point of reference (and one to ...
Understanding Series
J. Ramsey Michaels
... time (cf. 5:1; 6:1) a narrative begins vaguely with the words after this. The remark that Jesus went around in Galilee (v. 1) is probably intended as a summary or a general characterization of his ministry, acknowledging the truth of the synoptic witness that Galilee was indeed the location of most of Jesus’ teaching and healing activities. The narrator probably assumes that Jesus lived in Capernaum with his mother, brothers, and disciples (2:12; cf. 6:59), using that town as the base for his Galilean ...
Understanding Series
J. Ramsey Michaels
... in two: “Then each went to his own home. But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. At dawn he appeared in the temple courts” (8:1–2a). Instead of connecting the theme of Jesus teaching in the temple with Passion week in particular, as the Synoptics have done, John has used it as a conspicuous feature of Jesus’ ministry prior to the Passion. This is perhaps a natural corollary of the fact that in John’s Gospel Jesus visits Jerusalem several times. Teaching publicly in the temple is not an occasional ...
213. Jesus and Those Who “Believed”
John 8:31-41, John 8:42-47, John 8:48-59
Understanding Series
J. Ramsey Michaels
... to be speaking with the voice of God, as if he himself were “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob” (cf. Exod. 3:6). The use of the “I am” form in relation to Abraham recalls Jesus’ dispute with the Sadducees in the synoptic Gospels, where he defended the belief in a future resurrection (Mark 12:18–27 and parallels). Jesus’ argument on that occasion was that God had said to Moses, “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,” and that God was “not ...
Understanding Series
J. Ramsey Michaels
... question and shifts the focus from the cause (i.e., origin) of the man’s affliction to its purpose (v. 3), the fact that the man was not only blind but blind from birth remains a highlight of the narrative. This is what sets the story apart from all the synoptic accounts of the giving of sight to the blind (Mark 8:22–26; 10:46–52 and parallels; Matt. 9:27–31). If a man is blind from birth, then the restoring of his sight is nothing less than a new birth. The incident becomes a case study in the ...
215. The Death of Lazarus
John 11:1-16, John 11:17-37
Understanding Series
J. Ramsey Michaels
... ” (12:23; 13:31), “your Son” (17:1), “Jesus” (7:39; 12:16), or with a first person pronoun (17:5). This verse is one of the few instances in which the full confessional term God’s Son occurs on the lips of Jesus himself (never in the synoptic Gospels, and in John’s Gospel only here and in 3:18; 5:25; and 10:36; Jesus avoids it even in eliciting a confession of faith from the man born blind in 9:35). The term is implicit, however, in Jesus’ characteristic language about “the Father” and ...
Understanding Series
J. Ramsey Michaels
... the experience of Jesus (cf. 15:18–21). The second stage of his argument is that the people did not believe because they could not do so (v. 39). In support of this stark judgment, he appeals to Isaiah 6:10 (v. 40). Jesus himself is represented in the synoptic Gospels as quoting this verse from Isaiah in connection with his practice of teaching in parables (Mark 4:12; Matt. 13:13–15; Luke 8:10). There are two differences in the narrator’s use of it in John’s Gospel: It refers to the whole of Jesus ...
217. The Impending Departure II
John 16:5-16, John 16:17-33
Understanding Series
J. Ramsey Michaels
... in the sermons of Acts (where it is characteristically future, Acts 10:42; 17:31). Judgment is identified here, as elsewhere in this Gospel (5:29 being the only exception), with Jesus’ victory over Satan, especially in his Passion (12:31; cf. 14:30; in the Synoptics, cf. Mark 3:23–27). Because the Passion is almost upon him, Jesus can claim that the world’s evil ruler now stands judged (v. 11; cf., “now” in 12:31). What is this world that the Counselor and the disciples will confront? Is it the ...
218. The Arrest of Jesus
John 18:1-11, John 18:12-14
Understanding Series
J. Ramsey Michaels
... the long prayer in chapter 17, there is no prayer in the garden, no exhortation to the disciples to stay awake and pray, and consequently no failure on their part. Attention is centered entirely on Jesus’ arrest by the Roman soldiers and the temple guards. The synoptic Gethsemane scene is echoed only in Jesus’ rebuke to Peter for trying to defend him with a sword: Put your sword away! Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me? (v. 11; cf. Mark 14:36 and parallels). The “garden” is described ...
219. Crucified, Dead, and Buried
John 19:17-27, John 19:28-37, John 19:38-42
Understanding Series
J. Ramsey Michaels
... (i.e., probably the crossbeam; in all likelihood, Golgotha was a customary place for crucifixions, where large vertical stakes were permanently in place). There is no interest in the Via Dolorosa as such, and therefore none in Simon of Cyrene, who, according to the Synoptics, was at some point conscripted to help Jesus carry the cross (Luke 23:26) or to carry it for him (Mark 15:21; Simon and his sons are evidently known to Mark’s readers). Instead, the action shifts immediately to the place of execution ...
Understanding Series
J. Ramsey Michaels
... see: two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot (v. 12). This second experience of Mary, 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 the Lord came down from heaven”; Luke 24:4, “suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them ...
Understanding Series
J. Ramsey Michaels
... of the group in verse 25, a postscript modeled to some extent on 20:30. Its apparent purpose is to defend the Gospel against charges of incompleteness, or criticisms that this or that favorite or familiar story about Jesus (perhaps especially from the synoptic traditions) has been omitted. The I suppose with which the scribe brings the Gospel to an end allows him to stand out momentarily from the we of verse 24, and even indulge himself in a bit of literary imagination: Jesus’ deeds could fill enough ...
222. Do Not Forget the Lord
Deuteronomy 8:1-20
Understanding Series
Christopher J. H. Wright
... . It is, of course, impossible to read verses 8:1–5 without thinking of Jesus and his use of Deuteronomy 8:3 when tempted by Satan in the wilderness. In fact, it is worth reading the whole paragraph through the eyes and mind of Jesus. The Synoptic Gospels all portray the temptations of Jesus as following directly from his baptism. At his baptism, Jesus received affirmation of his identity and mission as the Son of God, in words that quoted at least two scriptures, Psalm 2:7 and Isaiah 42:1. The burden ...
Teach the Text
Jeannine K. Brown
... pair of stories about two blind men (9:29; 20:34). Here Jesus touches his disciples to provide comfort and alleviate their fears. 17:9  Don’t tell anyone what you have seen, until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead. In all three synoptic Gospels the transfiguration account prefigures Jesus’ resurrection by providing a glimpse of his coming glory (Matt. 17:2; 28:18; cf. Mark 9:2–8; Luke 9:28–36). The warning in 17:9 ties the two together explicitly. 17:10  Why then do the teachers of ...
Teach the Text
Grant R. Osborne
... (i.e., just part of the story) and when it has theological relevance. The context must guide in this.1 Teaching the Text 1. All saints are sowers of the word. The disciples were to join Jesus in sowing the kingdom teachings in Galilee. For the Synoptic Gospel writers this clearly meant that proclamation is the task of all Christians, not just the leaders of the church. Moreover, the field is the world, and the whole gospel is the product. It is common in our megachurch era to center on a truncated gospel ...
225. Hearing and Responding
Luke 8:19-21, Luke 8:16-18, Luke 8:1-15
Teach the Text
R.T. France
... in some of the seed falling into unsuitable places. The sobering experience of Isaiah’s mission to an unresponsive people (Isa. 6:9–10) was taken by the early church as a precedent for widespread Jewish rejection of the Christian gospel. In addition to the Synoptic parallels here, see John’s editorial comment in John 12:37–43 and Paul’s verdict on the Jews in Rome in Acts 28:24–28. Interpretive Insights 8:5  some fell along the path. The traditional title “parable of the sower” (taken from ...
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