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1 Corinthians 4:1-21

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Preben Vang

... the same diet and training regimen as a Western gymnast, he might win approval and recognition from Westerners for weight loss and a svelte physique, but he would utterly fail at bouncing other sumos out of the ring. He would have won praise in a foreign culture but been exposed to utter ruin and ridicule in the arena in which he was pledged to compete. (The reverse would be true for a gymnast who adopted a sumo training regimen and ate over twenty thousand calories a day!) In the same way, believers who ...

2. Paul, Phoebe, Patronage, and Spain

Romans 16:1-27

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C. Marvin Pate

... Location: Rome Here Paul was imprisoned in 67 and martyred in 67/68, before which he wrote 2 Timothy. Luke may have helped Paul to write 2 Timothy (see 2 Tim. 4:11), since the apostle was confined in prison. Illustrating the Text The gospel was and is cross-cultural. Quote: Tom Cruise. Film star Tom Cruise discussed human unity in what he learned while filming The Last Samurai, an ode to Japan’s ancient class of warriors. He said, One of the great things about being an actor and what I do is that I get to ...

3. Job Hears the Whispers of God’s Works

Job 26:1--31:40

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Daniel J. Estes

... of God’s blessing. In 29:7–17 Job portrays his esteem in his community. In 29:18–20 Job recalls expecting blessing on his life to continue unabated. The chapter closes in 29:21–25 with Job depicting his positive effect on others around him. Historical and Cultural Background In 29:7, Job speaks about taking his seat in the gate of the city. In the ancient Near East, the gate of the city played a role similar to the later Greek agora and the Roman forum. As the center of community life, the gate ...

4. Table Talk

Luke 14:1-14

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R.T. France

... this out as a typical trait of scribes: they want to be noticed and admired (cf. also 11:43). To be placed close to the host was more prestigious, and one’s place in the social pecking order was perhaps even more significant in the honor/shame culture of first-century Palestine than it is in our (supposedly) more egalitarian society. “Showing off” was not a social taboo. he told them this parable. What Jesus says in 14:8–10 is a parable in that it depicts a specific situation from which one may draw ...

5. Being Wronged versus Claiming One’s Right

1 Corinthians 6:1-11

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Preben Vang

... to Christ was at stake. To win their case, the parties would be forced to resort to the “ways” of secular Corinth. The Christ community would lose its identity—their very actions would demonstrate that they considered the norms and methods of the culture more significant and powerful than the teachings and power of Christ. Interpretive Insights 6:1 do you dare to take it before the ungodly . . . instead of before the Lord’s people? The first word of this section, tolma, introduces a “dare.”[4 ...

6. Uncleanness Due to Childbirth

Leviticus 12:1-8

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Joe M. Sprinkle

... of life,” which is the God-intended overflow of his life in our world. He comments, in particular, on how God most clearly reveals life in the midst of death: We find ourselves in the midst of a dramatic conflict between the “culture of death” and the “culture of life.” But the glory of the Cross is not overcome by this darkness; rather, it shines forth ever more radiantly and brightly, and is revealed as the centre, meaning and goal of all history and of every human life. Jesus is nailed to ...

7. Unity of Life and Faith

1 Corinthians 6:12-20

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Preben Vang

... . It follows from the above that Christian ethics flows from Christ’s character and teaching. Because the historical impact of Christianity and the proliferation of churches, especially in the Western world, it proves almost natural to consider one’s cultural preferences and patterns as more or less synonymous with Christian behavior. Certain things may be suspect, but if everyone does it, it cannot be “altogether wrong.” The sexual immorality that occurred at regular dinner banquets among the elite ...

8. The Vision of the Great Prostitute

Revelation 17:1-18

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J. Scott Duvall

... to many who have grown up in the West. We may be tempted to ask, what’s so bad about Babylon anyway? This passage identifies four specific sins of Babylon. First, she rejects God through idolatry. How captivated are we by the idols of our culture (e.g., sports and entertainment)? Second, she promotes sexual immorality. How discerning are we about what we watch and listen to and laugh at? Third, she uses people and nations to indulge her passion for economic prosperity and luxury. Do we amass wealth for ...

9. Nabuchadnezzar’s Dream and Daniel's Interpretation

Daniel 2:1-23, Daniel 2:24-49

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Ronald W. Pierce

... Babylon (5:28) and retaining a dual heritage (6:8). A bear raised up on one side (7:5) and a ram with two uneven horns (8:20) appropriately represent this kingdom, in which Persia is dominant. Its inferiority (2:39) may relate to its government, culture, or morality—since silver is less valuable than gold (2:32). Greece (331–146 BC) is the third kingdom, ruling with authority (2:39; 7:6) from Egypt to India. Alexander’s conquests were swift like a winged leopard, and his empire was divided among his ...

10. The Writing on the Wall

Daniel 5:1-31

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Ronald W. Pierce

... Moses, God set his people apart as holy (Exod. 19:4–6) and expected them to treat him and his name as holy (e.g., Exod. 20:7; Lev. 19:12; Deut. 5:11). In today’s religiously pluralistic, secularly relativistic, and sometimes blatantly pagan culture, treating the one true God as common, or taking his name in vain, amounts to sacrilege. Guide your listeners toward holy living as children of God who clearly stand out from unbelievers, realizing we should live lives set apart from, yet in witness to, our ...

11. Message to Pergamum

Revelation 2:12-17

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J. Scott Duvall

... the process, the church in Pergamum needed to be firm and decisive in rejecting the teachings and practices of the false teachers in their midst. The sword image emphasizes the coming judgment of Christ on the church that encourages assimilation to and compromise with an ungodly culture.3 2:17 To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it. The overcomers are promised two ...

12. God Subjugates Judah under Babylon

Daniel 1:1-21

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Ronald W. Pierce

... this passage, the Hebrew names of the four Judean youths capture aspects of God’s person and work essential to the larger narrative of Daniel 1–6. God is just (Daniel) and incomparable (Mishael); indeed, Yahweh is gracious (Hananiah) and rescues in times of need (Azariah). Cultural pressures we face today—secular or pagan—can cause us to forget who God is and how he works in our lives. The book is not about the greatness of Daniel and his friends. Rather, it is intended to reveal God to us. What not ...

13. Rules for Christian Households

Colossians 3:18-4:1

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... in Christ and having a new self. He is emphatic that essentialist categories such as race or ethnic identity—things a person cannot change—are completely unimportant within the household of God. No Gentile or Jew, no barbarian or Scythian—these cultural categories are de-emphasized in Christ. (Paul declares the gender category is made obsolete under Christ in a similar phrase in Gal. 3:28.) In his argument, Paul expresses a key outworking of the incarnation—Christ as the perfect, complete, fully ...

14. Rules for Christian Households

Colossians 3:18-4:1

Understanding Series

Arthur G. Patzia

... Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:26–28). In Christ, all racial, religious, cultural, and social barriers have been removed (cf. disc. on 3:11). How were the slaves and the women in Paul’s day to understand and then translate their newly found freedom in Christ into daily life? The household rules are part of the apostolic response ...

15. Hebrew Servants

Exodus 21:2-11

Understanding Series

James K. Bruckner

... : I. 21:1–17; II. 21:18–36; III. 22:1–31; IV. 23:1–33. Olson has called this collection of laws in Exodus “jagged edged laws” (see additional notes). Many of these laws make the reader aware of the great historical distance between the ancient culture and our own. They reflect the setting of most of Israel’s history, that is, early agricultural life in Canaan. The lower status of women and implicit acceptance of slavery (in whatever form) are disturbing and require the reader to understand the ...

16. Miscellaneous Laws

Deut 23:15–25:19

Understanding Series

Christopher J. H. Wright

... expressed in 2 Timothy 3:16f. 25:5–10 The practice of levirate marriage (from the Latin word levir, “brother-in-law”) was widespread both in ancient Israel (cf. Gen. 38) and throughout the ancient Near East. Some forms of it are still found in some cultures. If a man died without a male heir, it was the duty of his brother to marry his widow and seek to produce a son, who would then inherit the deceased brother’s name and property. The institution thus (a) provided for the security of the widow ...

17. The Baptism of Jesus

Luke 3:21-38

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R.T. France

... of the Jewish people. So much is in common with Matthew, though the names listed are different (see the “Historical and Cultural Background” section above). But Luke then follows the Old Testament story right back to creation, thus showing Jesus’s solidarity with ... the echoes of Isa. 42:1; Ps. 2:7) with the assertion that he is in a special sense the Son of God. Other cultures might speak of important men, especially kings, as sons of the gods, but in the Old Testament, apart from a few references to ...

18. Wisdom and Foolishness

1 Corinthians 1:18--2:5

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Preben Vang

... . These are gifts from God leading to gratitude; they are not achievements or exercised virtues giving boasting rights. Theological Insights Worldly wisdom is usually oriented practically toward giving advice on how to do well (or gain prominence) in a certain culture. God’s wisdom, on the other hand, focuses on his purposes for his creation. Often, therefore, it runs contrary to the common pursuits of worldly wisdom. Teaching the Text The seeker-sensitive desire to make the biblical text relevant to ...

19. Elihu Makes His Appearance

Job 32:1--37:24

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Daniel J. Estes

... Elihu (32:1–5). Then Elihu describes himself in 32:6–22. He claims to be inspired by God (32:6–10), he expresses impatience with the friends and with Job (32:11–16), and he articulates how intent he is on speaking (32:17–22). Historical and Cultural Background In 32:19, Elihu compares his urgent intention to speak to wine bottled up in new wineskins and ready to burst. In the ancient world, wine was typically stored in animal skins (Jer. 13:12), which could expand as the wine fermented. In the New ...

20. Naomi and Ruth

Ruth 1:1-22

Understanding Series

Michael S. Moore

... the ‘Mother’s House’: A Feminist Look at Orpah,” Christian Century 108 [1991], pp. 428–30) imagines Orpah as a type of the “woman caught in the middle.” Whereas Ruth and Naomi are types of women in culture and against culture, Orpah is a type of the woman caught between cultures, a woman on the threshold between progressive and traditional female roles. 1:15 Back to her people: C. Jung advances his theories in Memories, Dreams, Reflections (New York: Random House, 1961), pp. 26–98. B. Morris ...

21. Ruth Meets Boaz

Ruth 2:1-23

Understanding Series

Michael S. Moore

... the plans of Balak the Moabite (Num. 24:10). Boaz, however, wants to emphasize a side of Yahweh that even Naomi seems to have forgotten: that Yahweh is a God of kindness as well as judgment, a God of refuge as well as war. Insight #2: The Redeemer as Cultural Gyroscope The word translated “kinsman-redeemer” in 2:20 (NIV) is the participial form of the verb ga’al, some form of which is repeated no fewer than twenty-one times in Ruth. This alone makes it one of the book’s most important concepts. Some ...

22. Cain and Abel

Genesis 4:1-26

Understanding Series

John E. Hartley

... . Such projects may place so great a demand on that society’s citizens that many become slaves to the project. As a result, human life is devalued. Or humans may become so arrogant about the monuments they build that God must bring some kind of judgment on that cultural center, as was the case with the Tower of Babel (11:1–9). Or the citizens of a city may use the urban environment for advancing the pursuit of pleasure, as was the case in Sodom (13:13; 18:20–21). Thus cities can develop such a self ...

23. Jesus, Not Jewish Leaders, Interprets the Torah Rightly

Matthew 15:1-20

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Jeannine K. Brown

... the last meal.4 Jesus teaches about how evil thoughts and actions defile a person. Quote: Parker Palmer, in A Hidden Wholeness, commends integrity to his reader—the unifying of internal and external worlds—and speaks of the problem of a divided life. In a culture like ours—which devalues or dismisses the reality and power of the inner life—ethics too often becomes an external code of conduct, an objective set of rules we are told to follow, a moral exoskeleton we put on hoping to prop ourselves up ...

24. Discipleship and Mission

Luke 10:1-24, Luke 9:57-62

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R.T. France

... that those who do not follow Jesus are spiritually “dead.” Jesus’s rejection of the man’s reason for not following him places the demands of the kingdom of God (and therefore of discipleship) above even the most basic of family duties—a radical break with cultural norms. 9:61 first let me go back and say goodbye to my family. This seems an even more natural and innocuous request (cf. Elisha in 1 Kings 19:20–21), and Jesus’s reply is deliberately extreme.2 A plowman who looks back is likely ...

25. The Gospel of God in Christ through Paul

Romans 1:1-17

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C. Marvin Pate

... that weighs so heavily in the meaning of Romans 1:16–17. I will call attention to these three components of the story of Israel repeatedly in my treatment of Romans. 2. Another key reference point for appreciating Romans 1:16–17 is to relate its message to the culture of the day, especially the mindset of the capital city of Rome. Paul declares in 1:15–16 that he is not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation. Such a bold assertion by the apostle came in the face of Rome’s ...

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