Synonyms: responsibility, obligation, commitment, obedience, allegiance, loyalty, faithfulness, fidelity, respect, deference, reverence, homage, job, task, chore, assignment, commission, mission, function, charge, part, place, role, concern, requirement, tax, levy, tariff, excise, toll, fee, imposition, impost, exaction, tithe, payment, rate
Showing 1 to 25 of 105 results
Teach the Text
C. Hassell Bullock
... of people claim to be Christian. The reality is that Christians often compare their lives to the norms of our culture rather than to the standard of biblical truth. An example of this is the divorce rate in America. We often hear the claim that Christians divorce at roughly the same rate as non-Christians. Actually, this is misleading. According to Bradley Wright, a sociologist at the University of Connecticut, people who identify themselves as “Christian” but rarely attend church have a divorce ...
2. 1 Samuel 3:1-10
1 Samuel 3:1-10
Sweet
Leonard Sweet
... In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the Puritans briefly regained the tendency to think in terms of "we" rather than "me," but when Puritanism collapsed at the turn of the nineteenth century, the "me" spirit took off at an exponential rate - a rate that continued throughout the "Me Decades" of the seventies and eighties. As God sought out and persistently called Samuel, Jesus actively chose his disciples by issuing a call that was sometimes hospitable (such as this week's text), sometimes haunting ...
3. 2 Corinthians 7:3-15
2 Corinthians 8:1-15
Sweet
Leonard Sweet
... expectations (vv.2-3, 5) he does not expect the Corinthians to give at that same level. Here, then, is another difference between Paul’s “collection” and the legally established rates required according the Jewish temple tax. The amount given here is determined not by some exterior authority, but rather is a “heart-rate,” an amount determined by the individual’s own ability to give and the convictions of their heart. It is the generosity of spirit, not the plumpness of the pocketbook, which ...
Understanding Series
Michael S. Moore
... town was stirred. The Hebrew root for “stirred” (hom/hamam) denotes significant social upheaval (1 Sam. 4:5; 1 Kgs. 1:45). Some lexicographers think that the Hebrew word for “the deep” (tehom, Gen. 1:2) derives from this same root. “Upheaval,” at any rate, sums up well not only this incident but also the incidents that precede it. In Judges 18, for example, the Danites throw the hamlet of Laish into such traumatic upheaval that it never fully recovers. In Judges 19–21, the rape of the Levite ...
5. Grain Offerings
Leviticus 2:1-16
Teach the Text
Joe M. Sprinkle
... When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice lame or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you? (Mal. 1:6–8) One would never serve a fifth-rate meal to a chief of state, so how can people expect to impress and find favor from God when they are offering him a meal of sickly animals that they would never dare serve to anyone whom they regarded as important? They clearly have more respect for ...
6. Keeping Promises
Numbers 30:1-16
Teach the Text
Joe M. Sprinkle
... yourself only unto her as long as you both shall live? To this the groom affirms, “I will.” The minister then asks the bride similar questions, and she affirms, “I will.” The high rate of divorce, even among Christians, shows that many people, unlike ancient Israelites, fail to take vows or oaths seriously. The high failure rate of marriages has led to a trend in wedding ceremonies to replace “as long as you both shall live” with words such as “for as long as we continue to love each other ...
Teach the Text
C. Hassell Bullock
... God has done” for humanity (v. 5) and then issues a call to “come and hear, all you who fear God; let me tell you what he has done for me” (v. 16). Vows are important. Cultural Institution: According to divorce statistics from 2013, the actual rate of divorce in America approaches 50 percent of all marriages.14Add to this statistic that it is estimated that between 30 and 60 percent of all married men in the United States will engage in infidelity at some point during their marriage. With women the ...
8. Marriage
1 Corinthians 7:1-40
Understanding Series
Marion L. Soards
... inappropriate criticism of his teachings. 7:17 Paul refocuses the deliberations in this verse. Quite literally he writes, “At any rate, to each as the Lord allotted, each as God has called; thus let one walk—and thus in all the churches ... Perhaps the best paraphrasing translation of what Paul writes here is “Whatever the case” or “Be that as it may” or “At any rate.” Paul’s verb, lit. “I direct” (Gk. diatassō), translated as This is the rule I lay down, is ambiguous. It is middle in ...
Understanding Series
Craig C. Broyles
... loans was to help one “who is needy” (Exod. 22:25; Lev. 25:35–37; Deut. 23:19–20). Thus, lending in the OT should be understood as a means of extending help to the needy, not as a means of investing for the lender. These laws curbed the interest rates current elsewhere in the ancient Near East (Kraus, Psalms 1–59, p. 230, mentions ...
Sweet
Leonard Sweet
... from the Pharisaic ideal of religious correctness, without any apparent concerns. Jesus and his disciples sit down with this rabble, sharing food and swapping stories, hardly a good example of Jewish purity and piety. Indeed, this situation is shocking enough to rate a pharisaic rebuke, but not yet addressed to Jesus directly. The Pharisees’ query may be directed to his disciples, but Jesus overhears and interjects his answer. Jesus’ first comeback has a proverbial ring to it, and in fact both Plutarch ...
11. 1 Corinthians 15:1-11
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Sweet
Leonard Sweet
... " portion of their lives, Jesus touched the heart of these men, bringing the revealing light of his presence to all the disabled and disabling aspects of their lives. Jesus then gives Simon a new vision for his life. The failing, flailing life of a fourth-rate fisherman is to be transformed by Jesus' word and presence into a 'fisher of men." No longer will Simon Peter, James and John struggle and labor to catch fish for the table. Now they will be "catching people" with the power flowing through their ...
12. 2 Timothy 1:1-14
2 Timothy 1:1-14
Sweet
Leonard Sweet
... in their appetite for even more land-holdings, that Amos' ominous message is directed. The verses read from chapter 5 this week form a series of exhortations, accusations and promised punishments based on the illicit behavior of these landowners. By charging exorbitant rates of interest on rented properties, or taxing small landowners out of all profit they produced on their own lands, the large landowners in this region force more and more of the poor farmers and shepherds to leave their lands and labor ...
13. 1 Corinthians 15:1-11
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Sweet
Leonard Sweet
... " portion of their lives, Jesus touched the heart of these men, bringing the revealing light of his presence to all the disabled and disabling aspects of their lives. Jesus then gives Simon a new vision for his life. The failing, flailing life of a fourth-rate fisherman is to be transformed by Jesus' word and presence into a 'fisher of men." No longer will Simon Peter, James and John struggle and labor to catch fish for the table. Now they will be "catching people" with the power flowing through their ...
14. 2 Timothy 1:1-14
2 Timothy 1:1-14
Sweet
Leonard Sweet
... in their appetite for even more land-holdings, that Amos' ominous message is directed. The verses read from chapter 5 this week form a series of exhortations, accusations and promised punishments based on the illicit behavior of these landowners. By charging exorbitant rates of interest on rented properties, or taxing small landowners out of all profit they produced on their own lands, the large landowners in this region force more and more of the poor farmers and shepherds to leave their lands and labor ...
15. Mark 16:1-8
Mark 16:1-8
Sweet
Leonard Sweet
... . This would indicate that Joseph was convinced of Jesus' criminal status and that he rushed the burial in order to keep the law, not out of respect for Jesus or any concern for the approaching Sabbath. Since Jesus was a criminal, his body would not rate any special attention or anointing. It would simply be entombed as quickly as possible. In this case, the women's determination to supply spices and offer him an anointing would serve to bring honor back to Jesus' name. It is also no small irony that the ...
16. Matthew 15:(10-20) 21-28
Matthew 15:(10-20) 21-28
Sweet
Leonard Sweet
... only is this stranger an unescorted Canaanite woman, she has a daughter who is possessed by a demon. In an age where it was a commonly held conviction that all diseases - but especially demonic possession - resulted from past sinfulness, this woman's character rating slips even further. What has she done in her life to have earned such a curse on her daughter? But if her presence is thoroughly disreputable, the woman's words are theologically correct. Her first address to Jesus is "Lord," the title given ...
17. Acts 19:1-7
Acts 19:1-7
Sweet
Leonard Sweet
... make this request (John 14:12-14). Thus the Ephesian believers are baptized "in Jesus' name" in order that they may be assured the gift of the Holy Spirit. It is the lack of the Holy Spirit's presence in their lives, not some inherent second-rate quality in John's baptism, that prompts Paul to re-baptize this band of Ephesian Christians. That Jesus' promise of the Holy Spirit is kept is evident by the little Pentecost that immediately ensues. The Holy Spirit is manifested among these men with the gifts of ...
18. Matthew 5:38-48
Matthew 5:38-42
Sweet
Leonard Sweet
... . All stand equally before this mandate. The value of each “eye,” each “tooth” is the same before the law. Most scholars agree that by Jesus’ time this rule was enforced fiscally, not physically. The offender was forced to pay the “going rate” for the injury that had been suffered. But Jesus’ commentary on this system of justice is not interested in balancing the books. Jesus calls his listeners to a different standard, and pulls out a different scale. The scene Jesus depicts, that of ...
Sweet
Leonard Sweet
... out in bearing fruit and resulting in a tangible “yield.” Note that while all the “seeds” in this final group fall on “good soil,” there are different results. Good soil, a genuine hearing and understanding, will still produce different rates of production in different disciples. Yet these “good soil” disciples produce all they are each capable of according to their abilities. Whether it is one hundred-fold, sixty-fold, or thirty-fold, these yields are success stories. They have “heard ...
20. Matthew 20:1-16
Matthew 20:1-16
Sweet
Leonard Sweet
... hour” would be about six o’clock in the morning. The work day concluded at sunset, or about six in the evening. The first set of laborers are hired for the entire work day and the landowner agrees to pay the traditional “going rate” for a full day’s work, “one denarius.” There is some suggestion among scholars that the hiring of extra day laborers indicates that it is harvest time for this vineyard. For Jesus’ listeners the suggestion of “harvest time” would surely have an eschatological ...
21. Luke 16:1-13
Luke 16:1-15
Sweet
Leonard Sweet
... that his world is about to change big time. With his “squandering” (“diakorpizein”) ways found out by his employer, this business manager acts in accordance with the ways of the world. He offers those who are in debt to his master a cut-rate, one-time “deal.” It’s an offer designed to get in their good graces. The dishonest manager continues with dishonesty by offering to “cook the books” in favor of those who owe substantial amounts to his master. What is shocking about this parable ...
Understanding Series
David J. Williams
... . He defines these hours himself in 1 Thessalonians 2:9 (where “night” is the hours before daybreak). If indeed it was between the fifth and the tenth hour that he had the hall, it may have been because Tyrannus had offered him “off-peak” rates. We know nothing of Tyrannus. His appearance here unannounced is one of those pieces of otherwise pointless information that inspire confidence in Luke’s sources. 19:10 Thus, for two years Paul labored in Ephesus, and from Ephesus the new faith radiated out ...
23. The Shipwreck
Acts 27:27-44
Understanding Series
David J. Williams
... and stormy, the breakers can be heard at some distance. Both the place and the time taken to reach it (a distance of about 475 nautical miles from Fair Havens) appear to be confirmed by Smith’s calculations. Assuming the wind direction (ENE) and the average rate of drift of a large ship on the starboard tack (approximately one and a half miles per hour), he concluded that “a ship, starting late in the evening … would, by midnight on the 14th, be less than three miles from the entrance of Saint Paul ...
Understanding Series
Arthur G. Patzia
... ; 7:26). The purpose of the ascension is that Christ will fill the whole universe (cf. 1:23). This could mean that Christ simply pervades everything with his presence or that, by doing so, he brings all things into subjection under his sovereignty. At any rate, the central truth about the ascension is that it makes Christ accessible “to all men everywhere at all time” (Mitton, p. 149). In the context of the gifts, this passage shows that the ascended Lord is the same person who descended to the earth in ...
Understanding Series
Arthur G. Patzia
... possession in Christ rather than the more common “kingdom of God,” which has a connotation of the future (1 Cor. 6:9; 15:50; Gal. 5:21; 2 Tim. 4:1, 18). Or, Paul simply may be preparing the way for the Christ hymn that follows. At any rate, it serves to remind the readers that they are no longer subject to evil forces; they have been delivered from these powers and are reminded to live victoriously in the power of Christ (3:1–4). 1:14 The third reason for rejoicing is the forgiveness of sins. Here ...
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