Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing all results

2 Timothy 1:1-2:13

Understanding Series

Gordon D. Fee

... gift, and that it was accompanied by the laying on of hands. Therefore, the dia (“through”) is either attendant circumstance (so Barrett) or simply a “telescoped” expression (like “by faith” for “by grace through faith”). Given the fully Pauline character of v. 7, it seems biased on Hanson’s part to say, “but the word the author uses here, sōphronismos, has a slight element of prudential ethic in it that is foreign to Paul’s way of thinking” (pp. 121–22). A similar thing could be ...

2. Advice About Widows, Elders and Slaves

1 Timothy 5:1-6:2

Understanding Series

Gordon D. Fee

... . But such an idea is certainly not substantively Philonic. Indeed, it is found also in Rev. 3:1. 5:7 The placing of this charge at such a point in the argument creates difficulties for those who deny Pauline authorship. Thus they must see it either as “a rather feeble connecting sentence” (Hanson) or simply fail to comment on it altogether (D-C). But like 5:21, the charge is such an urgent interruption, one wonders how a pseudepigrapher could have created it. 5:9–10 It has sometimes been argued ...

3. Titus' Task on Crete

Titus 1:1-16

Understanding Series

Gordon D. Fee

... made the good confession.” This probably explains why Paul says “God’s slave,” rather than “Christ Jesus’ slave,” as we might have expected (Rom. 1:1; Phil. 1:1). To suggest the usage is un-Pauline and would mean “authorized revealer of God” rather than “God’s own property” (as Hanson, following Hasler) is to move far beyond the evidence. The word order “Jesus Christ” occurs in the PE only here and at 2 Tim. 2:8, except for four occasions where it occurs in conjunction with ...

4. Paul's Charge to Timothy

1 Timothy 6:11-21

Understanding Series

Gordon D. Fee

... for a more strictly Jewish background for this term, see M. McNamara, The New Testament and the Palestinian Targum to the Pentateuch, AB 27 (Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute, 1966), pp. 246–52. 6:15–16 Hanson (pp. 112–13) minimizes Spicq’s attempt to argue for this doxology as a Pauline composition. But there are no good historical reasons for denying the possibility that Paul has borrowed heavily from the Hellenistic synagogue, where he himself spent so much time. A Word for Those Already Rich ...

5. What Must Be Taught to Various Groups

Titus 2:1-15

Understanding Series

Gordon D. Fee

... Hanson]). The Theological Basis for Christian Living This marvelous passage (vv. 11–14), like its companion in 3:4–7 (cf. 2 Tim. 1:8–10), displays so much theological grist that it is easy to analyze it solely on its own merits and thereby overlook its place in the context of the letter. Furthermore, the language employed, while reflecting Pauline ... in the crucifixion of Christ, in which he gave himself for us. This is thoroughly Pauline language (e.g., Gal. 1:4), echoing the words of Jesus in Mark 10:45 ...

6. Paul's Charge to Timothy

2 Timothy 3:10--4:8

Understanding Series

Gordon D. Fee

... mean “the prize awarded for a righteous life” (so Bernard, Barrett, Kelly), which some argue is uncharacteristic of Paul (D-C, Hanson)? Or does it mean “one which consists of the gift of righteousness, which only the Judge, as He who alone is ... such arguments tend to be stalemated, and considerable subjectivity tends to weight the final decision. Recently, D. Cook ( has argued for non-Pauline authorship on the basis of language and style. But all he has shown conclusively is that these verses are of a ...

7. Overseers and Deacons

1 Timothy 3:1-16

Understanding Series

Gordon D. Fee

... the church leader be a person who has a good reputation with outsiders. As noted in the discussion on 2:2, this is a genuinely Pauline concern in the NT. Indeed, this concern is what puts the foregoing list into perspective. That list has to do with observable behavior of a ... wife,” see C. H. Dodd, “New Testament Translation Problems II,” pp. 112–16. On the several options, see Hanson, pp. 77–78. For the tacit assumption of marital infidelity in Greco-Roman culture, see Demosthenes, Oration 59:122 ...

8. Doing What is Good

Titus 3:1-11

Understanding Series

Gordon D. Fee

... content, it is often described as hymnic (e.g., Guthrie) or liturgical (e.g., Hanson; cf. Kelly, p. 254). However, despite the exalted nature of its prose, it altogether lacks the poetic elements of a hymn. ... , see D-C, pp. 148–50, although their fascination with parallels in the mysteries seems to preclude their hearing the passage in terms of Pauline theology. 3:7 Beasley-Murray (Baptism in the NT) argues that the verb “to justify” has more a dynamic than a forensic sense in this ...

9. Warning Against False Teachers of the Law

1 Timothy 1:1-11

Understanding Series

Gordon D. Fee

... will lead in turn to a second digression (vv. 12–17; note how vv. 18–20 resume the argument of vv. 3–7). But in typical Pauline fashion it is a digression that bears significantly upon the point at hand. In response to the false teachers’ improper use of the “Law,” Paul ... of the “myths and endless genealogies” as reflecting Gnostic or Greek ideas, see the commentaries by D-C and Hanson. For the perspective adopted here, see further in F. J. A. Hort, Judaistic Christianity, pp. 132–33; and F. ...

10. The Law and the Promise

Galatians 3:15-25, Galatians 3:1-14

Understanding Series

L. Ann Jervis

... the Jewish tradition, reinterpretation and rewriting of Scripture was commonplace. On Paul’s use of Scripture, see A. T. Hanson, The New Testament Interpretation of Scripture (London: SPCK, 1980); E. E. Ellis, Paul’s Use of the Old Testament ... longer under the supervision of the law. Additional Notes 3:19 Paul, like other Jews, referred to Moses as mediator; see T. Callan, “Pauline Midrash: The Exegetical Background of Gal. 3:19b,” JBL 99 (1980), pp. 549–67, esp. p. 555. The Greek word for angels ( ...

11. The Lord's Grace to Paul

1 Timothy 1:12-20

Understanding Series

Gordon D. Fee

... before God and the fact of God’s grace lavished freely on him and God’s unconditionally accepting him despite his sin. It should also be noted that he says I am, not “I was.” Even one like Hanson who believes the letter to be a forgery admits that this is a “truly Pauline touch.” But it is so, not because of Paul’s abiding sense of sinfulness (as Bernard and others), but because he recognized himself as always having the status of “sinner redeemed.” With the addition of that last word ...

12. Faith or Observance of the Law

Galatians 3:1-14, Galatians 3:15-25

Understanding Series

L. Ann Jervis

13. Personal Remarks

2 Timothy 4:9-18

Understanding Series

Gordon D. Fee

... on which to conclude, given the continuing urgencies of his and Timothy’s present situation! Additional Notes Although is it certainly not impossible (see D-C or Hanson), the unlikelihood that a pseudepigrapher would have created this information, either from “whole cloth” or from sources, has caused many to opt for a theory of genuine Pauline fragments being worked into a pseudepigraphic work. For the classic presentation of this view, see P. N. Harrison, The Problem of the Pastoral Epistles, and ...

14. A Workman Approved by God

2 Timothy 2:14-26

Understanding Series

Gordon D. Fee

... them captive (lit., “having been captured alive by him”) to do his will. As noted in the discussion on 1 Timothy 4:1–2, this is a thoroughly Pauline view of what has happened to those who oppose the gospel. The emphasis in this sentence has been clearly redemptive. Paul wants Timothy to model a kind of ... in the Gk. text. On the whole, the NIV (cf. Kelly, Spicq, D-C, Hanson) is to be preferred. For a more extensive treatment of the issue, see J. P. Wilson, “The Translation of 2 Timothy 2:26,” and ...

15. Spiritual Blessings in Christ

Ephesians 1:1-14

Understanding Series

Arthur G. Patzia

... origin of the hymn. Those who take the Ephesian letter to be genuinely Pauline naturally attribute these verses to the great apostle. Scholars who question Pauline authorship suggest that an author writing in Paul’s name borrowed terms and ... that all humanity ultimately will be saved (see Stott, God’s New Society, pp. 42–45; Caragounis, The Ephesian Mysterion, pp. 143ff.; Hanson, on anakephalaiosis, in his The Unity of the Church in the New Testament, pp. 123–25). 1:11–12 On “we” and “you ...

16. Godlessness in the Last Days

2 Timothy 3:1-9

Understanding Series

Gordon D. Fee

... Thus the analogy has served a further useful turn. Just as the magicians were shown up for what they were, Paul cannot see the false teachers as ultimately triumphing. Additional Notes 3:2–4 Those rejecting Pauline authorship feel obliged to determine both the source and the function of this vice list. Hanson sees the source as Rom. 1:29–31, with most of the vices having “an exact or fairly close parallel” to that list (p. 144); he considers the function as irrelevant, “probably part of the author ...

17. Before the Sanhedrin

Acts 22:30--23:11

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... charge of causing a riot was a very serious one, and could have very grave consequences if it came to the procurator’s ears” (Hanson, p. 220). So Paul “was released”—whether from his chains or simply from his confinement in the Antonia—and taken to stand before the ... , “men, brothers”; see note on 1:16), Paul declared that he had a good conscience before God (a characteristically Pauline word; cf. 24:16 and twenty times in his epistles). The statement, I have fulfilled my duty to God … to ...

18. Instructions to Timothy

1 Timothy 4:1-16

Understanding Series

Gordon D. Fee

... the prayer (Hendriksen), or that it referred, in a most circuitous way, to the bread and wine of the Eucharist (Hanson). Timothy’s Personal Responsibilities Paul turns at last to say some things to Timothy personally, things we might have expected ... an example for the believers. That the people of God are to learn Christian ethics by modeling after the apostolic example is a thoroughgoing, and crucial, Pauline concept (see 1 Thess. 1:6; 2 Thess. 3:7, 9; 1 Cor. 4:6; 11:1; Phil. 3:17; cf. 2 Tim. 1:13). The ...

Showing 1 to 18 of 18all results