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1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Teach the Text

Preben Vang

... but rejoices with the truth. That Paul uses forensic terminology suggests that love’s transforming power reaches even to legal matters (see comments on 6:1–4). Misery and injustices done toward others cannot be a source of joy, even if those others are opponents. To sophists, combatant patrons, and others, winning a case superseded the pursuit of truth (cf. 5:8; Rom. 1:18, 25; 2 Cor. 13:8; Gal. 4:16; Phil. 4:8). Levels of wealth usually determined the outcome of a case, often at the expense of justice ...

2. Acts 17: 22-31

Acts 17:16-34

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... his message accordingly. Paul’s ambition to be “all things to all” ( 1 Corinthians 9:22) for the sake of the gospel takes concrete form as he now inhabits the persona of learned Roman citizen, not pious Jew, in order to speak to the sophisticated, pagan listeners gathered at the Areopagus in the great city of Athens. Where did the speech take place? The text does not make it absolutely clear. Perhaps it was in front of the gathered court of the Areopagus, a juridical body that passed judgment on ...

3. Christian Maturity

1 Corinthians 3:1-23

Teach the Text

Preben Vang

... orators spent much of their time ridiculing rival teachers and attempting to create jealousy and strife.[6] Paul picks up these two words precisely because they perfectly compare the Christians who claim special allegiance to a specific teacher with the disciples of Corinthian sophists. It is Paul’s shorthand for “you have become like the surrounding culture” (cf. Rom. 13:13; 2 Cor. 12:20; Gal. 5:20). They are following not God’s will but their own desires. acting like mere humans. The Greek verb ...

4. Christian Success and Christlikeness

1 Corinthians 4:1-21

Teach the Text

Preben Vang

... of hard work, he remains like an outcast without a place to call home (cf. Matt. 8:20). We work hard with our own hands. Paul’s somewhat awkward reference to his personal participation in manual labor is likely designed to contrast him with the sophists and others who considered manual labor beneath them and a sign of unworthiness. Opposite those who charged for their “wisdom,” Paul behaved like a godly rabbi, exercising a trade that enabled him to share God’s wisdom for free (2 Cor. 11:7). How much ...

5. Imitation and Role Modeling

1 Corinthians 10:23--11:1, 1 Corinthians 10:14-22

Teach the Text

Preben Vang

... be saved.” 11:1 Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ. This short verse concludes the preceding section rather than opening the following. The theme of imitation proves especially powerful when compared to the Corinthian love for sophist rhetoric. Sophists mastered the art of separation between word and deed (contrast to 4:16). Paul’s biblical examples (10:1–12) patterned how not to live before God; Paul’s own life exemplifies the pattern of a true Christ follower.9The Corinthians ...

6. Paul’s Ministry in Thessalonica

1 Thessalonians 2:1-16

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... with the Thessalonians because of their care for them (2:8). They longed deeply for the Thessalonians and committed themselves to them (cf. 3:1). They shared the gospel of God (see 1 Thess. 1:5; 2:2, 4, 9; 2 Thess. 2:14). Unlike those sophists who would come to town just for gain or glory, the apostles gave both the message and themselves to their hearers. Indeed, they made sure that their presence would not be a financial burden for these new believers: “Surely you remember, brothers and sisters, our ...

7. On Divisions in the Church

1 Corinthians 3:1-23

Understanding Series

Marion L. Soards

... stern warning, If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age. The matter over which the Corinthians might have been in danger of self-deception or delusion was worldly wisdom. Some of the Corinthians were persuaded that they were sophisticated in terms of wisdom, so that one should not miss the deep irony of Paul’s remark. Paul has had to labor assiduously to bring the Corinthians to their proper Christian senses precisely because some of them have gone off the foundation of the gospel ...

8. Matthew 10:24-39

Matthew 10:1-42

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... executed as much as possible. To that end the Romans enjoyed forcing the condemned to walk to their execution site carrying their own cross-piece. The trek was part of the torture. It is no exaggeration to call “crucifixion” the most sophisticated, complex form of torture the human mind has ever invented. This horrible prospect is what a “worthy” disciple looks forward to, indeed must be willing to whole-heartedly embrace. But again, Jesus consoles his followers with the assertion that this death ...

9. Mark 1:1-8

Mark 1:1-8

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... highlighted by Mark’s physical description of him. In 1 Kings 1:8 Elijah is described wearing a garment of hair and a leather belt. Mark’s similar description not only reasserts John’s prophetic lineage, but places John firmly outside the more sophisticated cultic culture of the Jerusalem temple priests. Everything about John the Baptist, his looks, his locution, his message, and his actions, are new workings of God. As Mark records John-the-Baptist’s personal proclamation in v.7, the focus is on ...

10. Genesis 11:1-9

Genesis 11:1-9

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... God makes no specific judgment against this form of tremulous boasting, note that God's covenant with Abram in 12:2 includes the promise to make Abram's name "great." Thus God freely bestows on the scruffy bumpkin Abram what these sophisticated city builders had so anxiously sought as their own crowning glory. There is further wonderful irony in verse 5's anthropomorphic observation that "the Lord came down" to examine the handiwork of those involved in this construction project. While the city inhabitants ...

11. Romans 5:1-5

Romans 5:1-5

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... not justified by our works. But our justification should issue forth in certain attitudes and actions, habits and habitats. Paul's interrelated list of virtues begins with suffering. Like our hope, suffering is something we may "boast" about. Modern psychological sophistication may find this concept of suffering-as-a-virtue a red flag for a masochistic, self-despising faith. But Paul is not touting suffering as a virtue in and of itself. Suffering is only worthy of a positive, boastful interpretation when ...

12. Matthew 1:18-25

Matthew 1:18-25

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... about AD 90-95) a virtually anonymous literary artist whom we know as "Matthew" wrote his version of the gospel. The style and grace of his writing tells the story of Jesus' birth, life, crucifixion and resurrection with a unique kind of sophistication and artistry. Luke is a master storyteller, John a consummate theologian, Mark an emotional eyewitness, but Matthew is the creation of a closely woven literary masterpiece. Yet Matthew's genius is only interested in one thing - presenting a written version of ...

13. John 11:1-45

John 11:1-45

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... that because of Jesus' great love for Martha (v.5), she should be included with the Beloved Disciple as a full-fledged disciple of Jesus. But what is most revealing about Martha's status in this text is that she makes the most insightful and sophisticated Christological confession in John's entire gospel. Martha is already an example of faith when she runs out from her house of mourning to meet Jesus as he journeys toward them. Her initial confession of faith is in Jesus's healing abilities (v. 21). Yet ...

14. Romans 5:1-5

Romans 5:1-5

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

15. Deuteronomy 18:15-20

Deuteronomy 18:9-13, 14-22

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... and fates. Jeremiah, Isaiah, Amos, Hosea all spoke the truth about God's will and nature rather than lay down itemized lists of future events. In the case of these prophetic witnesses, judging the genuine nature of the word they proclaimed required a more sophisticated litmus test than the one offered here in verse 22. This is where the fate of a false-speaking prophet comes in. Verse 20 condemns to death anyone who would misrepresent God and engage in false prophesying. This death sentence extends to two ...

16. Ephesians 5:15-20

Ephesians 5:15-20

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... community, the environment in which these believers lived was enough to cause concern. As a thriving city on the crossroads of the cultural superhighway of its day, Ephesus drew people from all over. It felt itself to be urbane and sophisticated. Its easy accessibility made it a center for various cultural and religious activities. The allure of these cosmopolitan traditions and the common acceptance of some of the wildest of the competing "mystery religions" put new Christian believers at risk. Our ...

17. Genesis 32:22-31

Genesis 32:22-31

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... . While a few rabbinic scholars declare this ish simply to be Esau, confronting his brother under cover of darkness, most Jewish traditions define the visitor as an angel - a heavenly being watching out for Esau's interests. A more psychologically sophisticated interpretation declares this opponent to be Jacob's own angel - suggesting that Jacob must wrestle with himself (his old identity) in order to cross the river into his future and his new role as Israel. Early Christian tradition posited that this ...

18. Romans 13:8-14

Romans 13:8-14

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... awake. The alarm to "wake from sleep" was also a familiar idiom to Paul's listeners, reminding them that the age of wickedness was about to end. Wakefulness was the condition demanded by the approaching Messianic era. Even Paul, with all his theological sophistication, still finds it difficult to put something as radical as the approaching kingdom of God into terms humans can understand. When the apostle declares that salvation is now closer than it was at the moment of his conversion, he falls back on the ...

19. Mark 10:17-31

Mark 10:17-31

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... man's personal address to Jesus, not part of his question about eternal life (see Matthew 19:16ff). Instead, Mark's version highlights the man's respect for Jesus and adds a storehouse of poignancy and tenderness that Matthew's more theologically sophisticated text misses. Second, the man asks Jesus what he must do to "inherit" the eternal life he desires. "Inherit" is a good translation choice here, for the term klerononea literally means "to receive by lot." Jewish tradition understood Israel's chosenness ...

20. Acts 2:1-21

Acts 2:1-13

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... God’s saving work for the world through the gift of Jesus Christ. Whatever particular language Peter may have been speaking before, he now stands before this first Pentecost crowd and speaks a new language, never before heard by any sophisticated Jerusalem Jew. Peter speaks with the power of the Holy Spirit, revealing the fulfillment of prophecies, declaring the messianic mission of Jesus Christ, and pointing towards the eschatological finale that God has promised. In the first portion of Peter’s ...

21. In Lystra and Derbe

Acts 14:8-20

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... of together, Hermes would naturally be thought of as spokesman. He was, after all, the patron of orators. That the people reacted as they did is entirely consonant with what we know of their beliefs, bearing in mind that Lystra was no sophisticated metropolis. Ovid tells how Jupiter and Mercury (the Latin counterparts of Zeus and Hermes) once visited an aged couple, Philemon and Baucis, in the neighboring district of Phrygia (Metamorphoses 8.611ff.). On the basis of this legend, the people of Phrygia and ...

22. False Teachers and Their Destruction

2 Peter 2:1-22

Understanding Series

Norman Hillyer

... by Paul, 1 Tim. 1:13). Blasphemy will be characteristic of the last days (2 Tim. 3:2; Rev. 13:1; 17:3). See Turner, pp. 46–48; TDNT, vol. 1, pp. 621–25; NIDNTT, vol. 3, pp. 340–47. 2:3 Greed was a notorious mark of itinerant sophists in the Greek world, a failing repudiated by Paul in his apostolic work (1 Thess. 2:5; cf. 1 Tim. 6:5). Exploit (emporeuesthai): to traffic in (cf. “emporium”). Made up is Greek plastos, from the verb plassein, to mould, as in wax or clay; cf. 1:16, “cleverly ...

23. Ezra's Prayer about Intermarriage

Ezra 9:1-15

Understanding Series

Leslie C. Allen

... consciences. He preferred not to parade his authority as a Persian administrator, functioning rather as a Judean religious leader, only too aware that he was a newcomer and did not belong to the established Jewish hierarchy. 9:1–2 The hermeneutical sophistication of the leaders’ report is a clue that the speakers were siding with Ezra and echoing lessons already learned from their teacher. Basically the complaint is of marriage to women from outside the community. It is branded as unfaithfulness, a term ...

24. The Call of Jeremiah

Jeremiah 1:1-19

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

... to think of the Babylonians. Thus, some scholars (H. H. Rowley, “The Early Prophecies of Jeremiah and their Setting,” BJRL 45 [1962–1963], pp. 198–234) pick up on a statement by the Greek historian Herodotus and suggest the Scythians (a sophisticated nuance of this position may be found in H. Cazelles, “Zephaniah, Jeremiah, and the Scythians in Palestine,” in Perdue and Kovacs, pp. 129–49). However, doubt is now cast on Herodotus’ assertion that the Scythians made such a deep penetration at ...

25. A Message About Babylon

Jeremiah 50:1--51:64

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

... uninhabitable. But “sea” also can have the symbolic value of chaos. When God comes as warrior, sources of water dry up; he subdues the chaos (Isa. 24:4; Nah. 1:4). That Babylon’s desolation is in view is explicit in verse 37, where this once prosperous, sophisticated city will be a heap of ruins, like an archaeological tell. It will also be a place where jackals move about freely, just like the wilderness (see this language in reference to Jerusalem in 9:11; 10:22, Lam. 5:18 and in reference to Hazor ...

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