13:1–20:31 Review · The Book of Glory: With chapter 13 we move to another major literary division in the Fourth Gospel, which contrasts directly with the Book of Signs (1:19–12:50). The contrast is chiefly one of perspective. In the Book of Signs, for instance, Jesus addresses a public audience. His teaching provokes a crisis of faith, as some believe while others reject him. Here, though, the audience is narrowed to the circle of disciples who follow him to the cross. We noted how in chapter 12 Jesus “hid ...
The author of the Twenty-third Psalm is quite possibly an old man who has lived the better part of a lifetime. In his day he may have been a shepherd. But now the years have siphoned his stamina. So he sits and reminisces on what used to be. And as he does so he observes another shepherd silhouetted against the sky leading a flock to a greener pasture. Instinctively, the sight turns the poet’s mind to the numberless days and nights he tended his own flocks under God’s watchful eye; and once again, as has ...
Big Idea: Paul presents another new-covenant blessing: Christians are part of the new humanity created by Christ, the last Adam. Sin and death, instigated by the old-covenant law, began with the fall of the first Adam. This is the curse of the covenant. But Christ has undone the consequences of Adam’s sin by obeying God and thereby creating the new humanity. Understanding the Text Romans 5:12–21 continues the theme begun in 5:1–11: the blessings of the new covenant have replaced the ineffective old ...
Despite the fact that modern Bibles present 2 Samuel as a separate book, there is no clear break from what goes before. First and Second Samuel must be seen as a unit (see pp. 1, 2 of the introduction). 1:1–3 These verses clarify the timing of events. The opening phrase after the death of Saul is an editorial comment showing that a new section is beginning. Allowing for traveling time, the death of Saul in the north must, ironically, have taken place about the same time as David in the south was completing ...
