Podcast appearances and mentions of gordon d fee

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 7, 2024 39:28

This is part 18 of the Read the Bible For Yourself. What tools can help you understand the bible better? Today we'll cover some recommended resources for you to deepen your study of the scriptures, including bible dictionaries, commentaries, bible software, AI, and more. Of course, it's impossible to cover everything in a reasonable time frame, so I'll just recommend two or three of each resource type, focusing primarily on tools that I personally have and use regularly. Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJOFFIkNdUg&list=PLN9jFDsS3QV2TrdUEDtAipF3jy4qYspM_&index=18 —— Links —— See other episodes in Read the Bible For Yourself Other classes are available here, including How We Got the Bible, which explores the manuscript transmission and translation of the Bible Get the transcript of this episode Support Restitutio by donating here Join our Restitutio Facebook Group and follow Sean Finnegan on Twitter @RestitutioSF Leave a voice message via SpeakPipe with questions or comments and we may play them out on the air Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library. Who is Sean Finnegan? Read his bio here —— Notes —— 18 Helpful Tools to Understand the Bible Why do we need extra-biblical tools to help us understand the Bible? Different geography Different history Different cultures (ancient Near Eastern, first-century Jewish, Greco-Roman) Different economics Different literacy rates Different scientific and philosophical knowledge Bible Dictionaries International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915) Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000) Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary (2015) The IVP Bible Dictionary Series Dictionary of OT: Pentateuch (2002) Dictionary of OT: Historical Books (2005) Dictionary of OT: Wisdom, Poetry, & Writings (2008) Dictionary of OT: Prophets (2012) Dictionary of NT Background (2000) Dictionary of Jesus & Gospels (2013) Dictionary of Paul & Letters (2023) Dictionary of the Later NT (1997) Commentaries Fee & Stuart: “Jesus says, ‘…It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.' You will sometimes hear it said that there was a gate in Jerusalem known as the “Needle's Eye,” which camels could go through only by kneeling, and with great difficulty. The point of this “interpretation” is that a camel could in fact go through the “Needle's Eye.” The trouble with this “exegesis,” however, is that it is simply not true. There never was such a gate in Jerusalem at any time in its history. The earliest known “evidence” for this idea is found in the eleventh century(!) in a commentary by a Greek churchman named Theophylact, who had the same difficulty with the text that many later readers do. After all, it is impossible for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, and that was precisely Jesus' point. It is impossible for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom. It takes a miracle for a rich person to get saved…”[1] Zondervan Illustrated Bible Background Commentary (ZIBBC - 10 vols.) New International Commentary (NICOT - 30 vols.; NICNT - 20 vols.) New International Greek Testament Commentary (NIGTC - 12 vols.) The New Testament for Everyone by N. T. Wright (18 vols.) Bible Project Videos Book Overviews (OT - 39 videos; NT - 26 videos) How to Read the Bible (19 videos) Themes (41 videos) Word Studies (21 videos) Many more at com/explore/ Software Lots of translations Original language resources Cross-references Outlines Search tools Accordance & Logos Search Tools Artificial intelligence chat bots (openai.com) Crowd sourced websites (info/topics) Review Bible dictionaries and encyclopedias provide short articles on places, individuals, and topics in the Bible. Older and free research tools sometimes contain inaccuracies that more recent scholarship has overturned or updated. A good commentary tells you the options for interpreting a verse, reasons for each of those options, and a suggestion for which one makes the most sense. The Bible Project's book overview videos are really helpful to get a general understanding of a book of the Bible. Bible software on PCs, tablets, and phones provide worldclass research tools to help you study scripture. When searching for a phrase, a topic, or something specific, you can use a Bible app, openbible.info, or AI. [1] Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2014). p. 29.

550 Read the Bible for Yourself 17: How to Choose a Bible Translation

Play Episode Listen Later May 31, 2024 59:13

This is part 17 of the Read the Bible For Yourself. After reviewing the resources you can use to learn Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, we delve into the sources that translators use for their work. Next, we'll look at translation philosophies, including formal and dynamic equivalence. Lastly we'll cover the controversial issues of gender accuracy and translation bias. Over all, this episode should give you a nice introduction to a deep answer for what translations you should use and why. Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsxuNfkTt-U&list=PLN9jFDsS3QV2TrdUEDtAipF3jy4qYspM_&index=18 —— Links —— See other episodes in Read the Bible For Yourself Other classes are available here, including How We Got the Bible, which explores the manuscript transmission and translation of the Bible Get the transcript of this episode Support Restitutio by donating here Join our Restitutio Facebook Group and follow Sean Finnegan on Twitter @RestitutioSF Leave a voice message via SpeakPipe with questions or comments and we may play them out on the air Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library. Who is Sean Finnegan? Read his bio here —— Notes —— 17 How to Choose a Bible Translation Translation basics Fee & Stuart: “Your Bible, whatever translation you use, which is your beginning point, is in fact the end result of much scholarly work. Translators are regularly called upon to make choices regarding meanings, and their choices are going to affect how you”[1] “Every translation is a commentary” -Lee Brice The Bible is in three languages. Hebrew: Old Testament except the Aramaic part Nearly 99% of the OT (22,945 of 23,213 verses) Aramaic: half of Daniel and two passages in Ezra Daniel 2.4b-7.28; Ezra 4.8-6.18; 7.12-26 About 1% of the OT (268 of 23,213 verses) Greek: New Testament (all 7,968 verses) How to begin learning Hebrew or Greek Immersion program in Israel or Greece Whole Word Institute offers a 9-month program. In-person college class (usually 2 semesters) Local colleges, RTS offers an 8-week summer program. In-person classes at a Jewish synagogue or Greek church or community center Online program with live instructor Biblical Language Center, Liberty University, etc. Digital program with pre-recordings Aleph with Beth (YouTube), Bill Mounce's DVD course, etc. How to improve your existing knowledge of Hebrew or Greek Reading group in-person or online Read a portion each week together. Daily dose of Hebrew/Greek/Aramaic Daily YouTube videos of one verse each (email list) Read every day. Read the Bible; read devotionals; read comic books (Glossa House produces great resources) Watch modern Hebrew and Greek shows. Izzy is like Netflix for Israel/Hebrew Greece has lots of channels streaming online. Translation process (1 Timothy 2:5 example) Greek New Testament (NA28)Εἷς γὰρ θεός, εἷς καὶ μεσίτης θεοῦ καὶ ἀνθρώπων, ἄνθρωπος Χριστὸς Ἰησοῦς Literal translationOne for god, one and mediator of god and men,man Christ Jesus Finished translationFor (there is) one God, and (there is) one mediator between God and mankind, (the) man Christ Jesus. New Testament critical editions Nestle Aland 28th Edition (NA28) based on the Editio Critica Maior (ECM), which employs the coherence based genealogical method (CBGM) Tyndale House Greek New Testament (THGNT) prioritizes trusted physical manuscripts over the CBGM. Old Testament critical editions Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (BHS) and the partially completed Biblia Hebraica Quinta (BHQ) print the Leningrad Codex in the main text, but include alternative readings in the footnotes. Hebrew Bible Critical Edition (HBCE) by Ronald Mendel is a project of the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) to develop a critical edition. Resources to see decisions about alternative readings NET Bible (accessible here) New Testament Text and Commentary by Philip Comfort A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament by Bruce Metzger Formal equivalence translation philosophy Fee & Strauss: “If the Greek or Hebrew text uses an infinitive, the English translation will use an infinitive. When the Greek or Hebrew has a prepositional phrase, so will the English…The goal of this translational theory is formal correspondence as much as possible.”[2] Ron Rhodes: “Formal equivalence translations can also be trusted not to mix too much commentary in with the text derived from the original Hebrew and Greek manuscripts. To clarify, while all translation entails some interpretation, formal equivalence translations keep to a minimum in intermingling interpretive additives into the text. As one scholar put it, ‘An essentially literal translation operates on the premise that a translator is a steward of what someone else has written, not an editor and exegete who needs to explain or correct what someone else has written.'”[3] Dynamic equivalence translation philosophy Ron Rhodes: “Dynamic equivalence translations generally use shorter words, shorter sentences, and shorter paragraphs. They use easy vocabulary and use simple substitutes for theological and cultural terminology. They often convert culturally dependent figures of speech into easy, direct statements. They seek to avoid ambiguity as well as biblical jargon in favor of a natural English style. Translators concentrate on transferring meaning rather than mere words from one language to another.”[4] Formal vs. dynamic comparison Formal Equivalence Dynamic Equivalence Formal Correspondence Functional Equivalence Word for Word Thought for Thought Literal Readable Transparent to Originals Replicates Experience Transfer Interpretation Interpretation Built In Accurate Easy to Understand Formal equivalence Bibles ESV: English Standard Version NASB: New American Standard Bible LSB: Legacy Standard Bible NRSV: New Revised Standard Version HCSB: Holman Christian Standard Bible Gender Accuracy[5] “Man” used to mean “men and women” “Men” used to mean “men and women” “he” used to mean “he or she” Translations are changing with the changes in the English language so that female readers recognize the relevance of scripture to them See Eph 4:28; Mat 11:15; etc. Combatting bias To combat bias, look at translations from different thought camps. Evangelical: NIV, NLT, ESV, NASB, NET, CSB, HCSB, LEB MSG, Passion, Amplified, LSB, CEV, TEV/GNT, NCV, NIrV Jewish: JPS, KJB, Stone, Robert Altar, Shocken Catholic: NABRE, NAB, RNJB, NJB, JB, Douay-Rheims Mainline: NRSV, NEB, RSV, ASV, KJV Unitarian: REV, NWT, Diaglott, KGV, Buzzard, NEV Review If you can, learn the biblical languages so you can read the actual words of scripture rather than depending on a translation. Translations of the New Testament depend on the Greek critical text known as the Nestle Aland 28th edition (NA28). Translations of the Old Testament depend on the Leningrad Codex, which is printed in the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (BHS) and the partially complete Biblia Hebraica Quinta (BHQ). In addition, translators of the Old Testament are expected to look through the footnotes and commentary in these resources to judge readings from other sources. Over generations, textual critics have developed strategies and computer tools to more closely approximate the original text. As a result, newer critical texts contain reconstructions of an older stage of the text. Translation is the art of rendering a source text into a receptor language accurately. Formal equivalence translations focus on transparency to the source text and a minimum of added interpretation. Dynamic equivalence translations focus on readability in the receptor language. They seek clarity over ambiguity. Formal equivalence translations are safer, because they leave it up to the reader to figure out what a text means. However, they can contain awkward English and be difficult to read. Gender accuracy refers to the translation practice of including the feminine when a hypothetical singular masculine pronoun can refer to either sex or when masculine plurals include both genders. Bias is intrinsic to translation, especially with reference to doctrines that are widely held by committee members. The best way to expose and combat bias is to check translations from different thought camps. Although evangelical translations are better known, checking Jewish, mainline, Catholic, and unitarian translations provides a helpful corrective. [1] Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2014), 23. [2] Gordon Fee and Mark Strauss, How to Choose a Translation for All Its Worth (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2007), p. 26. [3] Ron Rhodes, The Complete Guide to Bible Translations (Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers, 2009), p. 30. Quotation from Leland Ryken, Choosing a Bible (Wheaton: Crossway, 2005), p. 27. [4] Ron Rhodes, The Complete Guide to Bible Translations (Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers, 2009), pp. 32-33. [5] For a much deeper dive into this interesting topic, see session 15 from How We Got the Bible: Gender in Bible Translation, available on lhim.org or on YouTube.

The Matter-of-Fact Prophet (Audio)

North Main

Play Episode Listen Later May 26, 2024

The Matter-of-Fact Prophet (Micah) Yearly Theme: “Goodness is… Governing” Series Title: “Goodness in G minor” May 26th, 2024 Follow along in the Bible App: http://bible.com/events/49263120 As we continue our series today on the Minor Prophets, we come to the Prophet Micah. Micah was a prophet from the Southern Kingdom, Judah, and lived in the small town of Moresheth some 25 miles southwest of Jerusalem.[1] According to Scripture, he prophesied between 740 BC and 686 BC and spanned the reigns of Jotham and Hezekiah. In his lifetime, he witnessed the overthrow of the Northern Kingdom, Israel in 722 BC by the Assyrian Empire and foresaw the coming destruction of Judah and Jerusalem. [1] Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart, How to Read the Bible Book by Book, (Zondervan: Grand Rapids, Michigan; 2002), 235.

israel michigan scripture jerusalem prophet goodness bc governing minor prophets jotham northern kingdom bible app assyrian empire southern kingdom bible book series title gordon d fee

549 Read the Bible for Yourself 16: How to Read Revelation

Play Episode Listen Later May 23, 2024 58:28

This is part 16 of the Read the Bible For Yourself. Revelation is a complicated book of the Bible. It contains some of the most incredible and awe-inspiring descriptions of God's throne room and the final paradise on earth. It also describes sinister mayhem, wanton destruction, and toe-curling persecution. How can we make sense of it? In today's episode we'll go over the basics of authorship, audience, occasion, and purpose. Then we'll explore how Revelation uses visionary symbols to convey truth. Lastly, we'll go over five interpretive lenses through which you can understand the timing of the events in Revelation. We may not settle every issue, but my hope is that this overview will at least prepare you to read Revelation for yourself. Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts https://youtu.be/98OFG5OSjNE?si=jcN6wZnbeqavNFRi —— Links —— See other episodes in Read the Bible For Yourself Other classes are available here, including How We Got the Bible, which explores the manuscript transmission and translation of the Bible Get the transcript of this episode Support Restitutio by donating here Join our Restitutio Facebook Group and follow Sean Finnegan on Twitter @RestitutioSF Leave a voice message via SpeakPipe with questions or comments and we may play them out on the air Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library. Who is Sean Finnegan? Read his bio here —— Notes —— How to Read Revelation Authorship John is the author. (Rev 1:1-2) It is hard to say if this was the same John who wrote the Gospel of John and the Epistles. Later Christians generally believed Revelation was by the same John. The style, vocabulary, and themes are completely different. John was exiled to the island of Patmos because of his faith. (Rev 1:9) “The Roman government, beginning with the emperor Nero, no longer considered Christianity as a sect of Judaism, which was a legal religion in the empire. Instead, Rome began to view it as an undesirable foreign cult that was a menace to society. John's testimony about Jesus Christ was viewed as a political crime and hence punishable under Roman law. His suffering was the price paid for obeying a different King and testifying to a different Lord.”[1] Audience Rev 1:10 says John wrote to seven churches in the province of Asia Minor (western Turkey). These churches were in Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. Occasion Ephesus: enduring well, not growing weary, having discerned false apostles well, not loving Smyrna: afflicted, in poverty, slandered by Jews, facing imprisonment, and martyrdom Pergamum: holding fast, though Antipas martyred, tempted with sexual immorality and idolatry Thyatira: loving, faithful, serving, enduring, tempted with sexual immorality and idolatry Sardis: spiritually lethargic, lack vigilance Philadelphia: keeping faithful despite opposition Laodicea: arrogant, wealthy, complacent Did John learn what was going on in these churches? Was that why he wrote? Revelation is so visionary, it's more likely that God prompted John by giving him these visions than that he wrote to detail with specific situations like many of Paul's epistles. Purpose Encourage churches to endure through persecution as well as to correct them Revelation both threatens and encourages. Mode Symbols dominate the visions in Revelation (Rev 1:12-20) The seven golden lampstands = the seven churches (Rev 1:12, 20) The great red dragon = the devil = Satan = the ancient serpent (Rev 12:3, 9) Lake of fire that torments day and night = the second death (Rev 20:10; 21:8) The symbols in John's visions are like political cartoons. “Someone has drawn an analogy between the symbolism of Revelation and political cartoons in our culture, in which pictures represent a reality. They are not to be taken literally, but they are to be taken as pointing to a reality. …So, for instance, I ask my student to imagine a political cartoon in which there is a wagon full of money with ropes tied to both ends of the wagon. An elephant is pulling in one direction, and a donkey is pulling in another. I ask them, ‘Who in the room thinks that somewhere in America there is a literal elephant and a literal donkey fighting over a wagon full of money?' No one does, and I ask them, ‘What does this represent?' and they all know exactly what it represents because they are familiar with Republicans and Democrats in our political system. The picture is symbolic, but it points to a real situation in the world.”[2] The seven heads = seven mountains (Rev 17:9) “At the outset, the angel identifies the seven heads with “seven mountains,” a phrase often used for Rome in the ancient world because it was built on seven hills (see Cicero, 6.5; Pliny, Nat. Hist. 3.66–67; et al.; see Swete 1911: 220 for others). The city began with an amalgamation of groups living on the seven hills (Aventine, Caelian, Capitoline, Equiline, Palatine, Quirinal, Viminal), and during Domitian's reign a festival (the Septimontium) celebrated it. ”[3] Genre Revelation is an apocalypse, an unveiling. It peels back the curtain of reality to reveal God's perspective. Apocalyptic literature employs fantasy imagery to reveal truths about current and future realities. Structure Ch 1 Intro Ch 2-3 Seven letters to seven churches Ch 4-5 Throne room Ch 6-7 Seven seals Ch 8-11 Seven trumpets Ch 12-13 Dragon and the beast Ch 14 The 144,000 Ch 15-16 Seven bowls of wrath Ch 17-18 Judgement on Babylon Ch 19 Coming of Christ; Armageddon Ch 20 Millennium Ch 21-22:5 Paradise on earth Ch 22:6-21 Final exhortations Interpretive lenses Roman Empire (preterist): the visions have already all or partially been fulfilled in the past. “Our difficulties lie with that other phenomenon of prophecy, namely that the “temporal” word is often so closely tied to the final eschatological realities. This is especially true in the book of Revelation. The fall of Rome in chapter 18 seems to appear as the first chapter in the final wrap-up, and many of the pictures of “temporal” judgment are interlaced with words or ideas that also imply the final end as part of the picture. There seems to be no way one can deny the reality of this.”[4] Church History (historicist): Looks for fulfillment in the history of the church during the Roman Empire and afterwards Future Empire (futurist): Sees visions as pertaining to the future Struggles with timing statements “The time is near” (Rev 1:3) “I am coming soon” (Rev 3:11) “He knows that his time is short” (Rev 12:12) “See, I am coming soon” (Rev 22:7) “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near” (Rev 22:10) “See, I am coming soon” (Rev 22:12) “Surely I am coming soon” (Rev 22:20) Allegory: Interprets allegorically as the ongoing struggle between good and evil Two Horizons: Combine both Roman Empire and future empire views Encouragement Revelation contains a blessing for readers. (Rev 1:3) In the end, God wins. (Rev 21:3-4; 22:3-5) Review It's important to remember that John wrote Revelation within the realm of the Roman Empire when persecution from the government was a real threat. He was likely in exile on Patmos. John addressed the churches in Asia Minor, a province of the Roman Empire in western Turkey. Much like political cartoons, it is essential to recognize the distinction between the symbols in Revelation and the reality to which they point. Revelation is an apocalypse or an unveiling of God's perspective on current and future events. Preterists teach that the visions of Revelation, such as the seals, trumpets, and bowls refer to events that took place in the Roman Empire. Historicists see these same visions unfolding throughout the history of the church. Futurists believe these visions pertain to a future time when they will play out as described in Revelation. The two horizons view sees fulfillment in the Roman Empire, which foreshadows the future fulfillment at the end, just prior to Christ's return. Revelation contains many terrifying visions of human suffering and death, but also it has hope for the future when God makes everything wrong with the world right. [1] Mark L. Wilson, Revelation, vol. 4, Zondervan Illustrated Bible Background Commentary, ed. Clinton E. Arnold, vol. Hebrews to Revelation (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002). [2] George H. Guthrie, Read the Bible for Life (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing, 2011), 207. [3]Osborne, Grant R. Revelation Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament Accordance electronic edition, version 1.0. Baker Academic: 2002, Grand Rapids. [4] Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2014), 271-2.

How can I know I am genuinely saved?

Talk Truth

Play Episode Listen Later May 2, 2024 46:57

Join host Mark Bricker on the Talk Truth Podcast as he delves into the pressing question: Can I trust the reliability of the Bible? With insightful guests Nate Flood and David Miller, the episode explores the nature of biblical inspiration, the meticulous canonization process, and the rigorous preservation of ancient manuscripts. Listen as they tackle common objections, explain the concepts of inerrancy and infallibility, and discuss the intertwining of trust in scripture with personal faith. Whether you're a believer seeking affirmation or a skeptic with doubts, this episode provides a thought-provoking examination of the Bible's authority and sufficiency in guiding a Christian life. Resources "How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth" by Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart - Recommended by Nate Flood "Why Trust the Bible?" by Greg Gilbert - Suggested by David Miller "God's Word Alone" by Matthew Barrett - Mentioned by Mark Bricker Presented by McGregor Podcast 2024 Visit Our Website at https://TalkTruthPodcast.com

bible saved david miller all its worth gordon d fee

How to Love Your Bible | Tell Me More

In Motion Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 25, 2024 60:14

A lot of us respect the Bible but if we're honest with ourselves, we struggle to love it. We haven't learned to "consume" what's spiritually nourishing. Scripture is not just literature; it's spiritual fuel, essential for our growth and vitality. In this episode, Whit and Casey discuss how to learn and grow in our understanding and love of God's Word. Show notes: Check out the Message: How to Hear God Through His Word https://youtu.be/cZi3yfjiAO4?si=FTDQrxvMU6BkML3h Bible Resources: Eat This Book by Eugene Peterson How to Read the Bible for All It's Worth by Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart The Bible Project: https://bibleproject.com/ Bible Recap: https://www.thebiblerecap.com/ Bible Books in 30 Minutes Podcast: https://podcast24.co.uk/podcasts/bible-books-in-30-minutes-audio Study Scripture in Community: https://churchonthemove.com/cotmu

god community bible scripture whit bible recap minutes podcast study scripture messagehow bible books gordon d fee

545 Read the Bible for Yourself 12: How to Read Acts

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 25, 2024 49:44

This is part 12 of the Read the Bible For Yourself. Acts is an action-packed book full of excitement and wonder. We learn about the early expansion of the Church from a small group of ragged Christ-followers to dozens of house churches throughout major cities in the Mediterranean world. How did Christianity "go public"? The book of Acts tells that story. In this episode you'll learn four major emphases in Acts as well as how to think through application for us today. Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TIzpc3mfOg&list=PLN9jFDsS3QV2TrdUEDtAipF3jy4qYspM_&index=12&pp=iAQB —— Links —— For more about Family Camp visit LHIM Check out the UCA conferences for USA, UK, and NZ here See other episodes in Read the Bible For Yourself Other classes are available here, including How We Got the Bible, which explores the manuscript transmission and translation of the Bible Get the transcript of this episode Support Restitutio by donating here Join our Restitutio Facebook Group and follow Sean Finnegan on Twitter @RestitutioSF Leave a voice message via SpeakPipe with questions or comments and we may play them out on the air Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library. Who is Sean Finnegan? Read his bio here —— Notes —— Luke wrote Acts. Acts 1:1-2 Acts is the second volume. Luke is about the life of Christ. Acts is about the early expansion of the church. Major events of Acts 1:1-11 Jesus commissions and ascends. 1:12-27 Peter initiates replacing Judas. 2:1-47 Spirit is poured out, and Peter preaches. 3:1-26 Peter heals lame man and preaches. 4:1-6:7 Communal living in Jerusalem 6:8-7:60 Stephen's martyrdom 8:1-40 Philip's expansion to Samaria, Ethiopia 9:1-31 Paul's conversion, expansion to Damascus 9:32-9:43 Peter's mission to Lydda and Joppa 10:1-11:18 Peter converts Cornelius in Caesarea. 11:19-30 Barnabas brings Paul to Antioch. 12:1-24 Peter's arrest and miraculous escape 12:25-16:5 Paul's 1st missionary journey 16:6-19:20 Paul's 2nd missionary journey 19:21-21:17 Paul's 3rd missionary journey 21:18-28:31 Paul's arrest and trip to Rome Organization of the book The first half is about Peter (1-12). The second half is about Paul (13-28). Acts 1:8 outlines the book: they expanded from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria to the ends of the earth. Leading and experience of God's spirit Baptized with the spirit, filled with the spirit, pour out the spirit, receive the spirit, spirit fell upon: 1:5, 8; 2:4, 17; 4:31; 8:17; 9:17; 10:44-45; 11:15-16; 13:52 Speaking in tongues; prophecy: 2:4, 17-18; 10:46; 11:28; 19:6; 20:22-23; 27:21-22 Exorcisms: 5:16; 8:7; 16:18; 19:12-16 Healing and miracles: 3:6-7; 5:12, 15-16; 8:39; 9:17-18, 34-35; 12:7-10; 13:11; 14:10; 19:11; 20:9-10; 28:3-6, 8-9 Supernatural direction: 1:16, 26; 8:26, 29; 9:10-16; 13:2; 15:28; 16:7; 18:9-10; 20:28; 21:11; 23:11; 27:23-24 Rapid expansion through conversion Convert 3,000 on day of Pentecost (2:41) 5,000 after healing lame man at the temple (4:4) Conversions of whole towns: Samaria (8), Lydda, and Joppa (9) Conversions of key people: Ethiopian treasurer (8); Paul of Tarsus (9); Cornelius the centurion (10); Sergius Paulus, proconsul of Cyprus, (13); Lydia, a wealthy Philippian merchant, (16); Crispus, a synagogue leader in Corinth, (18); Publius of Malta (28) Perseverance through persecution Sadducees arrest Peter and John (4). Sadducees arrest apostles (5). A mob stones Stephen (7). Paul leads persecution in Jerusalem (8). King Herod executes James (12). King Herod imprisons Peter (12). Jewish leaders expel Paul and Barnabas from Pisidian Antioch (13). Jewish leaders stone Paul at Lystra (14). City magistrates arrest Paul and Silas at Philippi (16). Jewish mob attacks Jason at Thessalonica (17). Jewish leaders accuse Paul before Proconsul Gallio at Corinth (18). Demetrius instigates riot against Paul at Ephesus (19). Jewish mob attacks Paul at Jerusalem (21). Plot of Jewish leaders to murder Paul (23) Paul's trial before Felix (24) Paul's trial before Festus (25) Paul's defense before King Agrippa (26) Paul's shipwreck (27) Paul's house arrest at Rome (28) Respectful of Roman authorities Paul is respectful to his arresting officer, Claudius, (21:33, 37-40). He asserts his Roman citizenship (22:24-29). He cordially converses with Felix, Roman governor of Judea, (24). Paul appeals to have a trial before Caesar in Rome b/c he's afraid he won't get a fair hearing in Judea. Paul interacts respectfully with Festus and King Agrippa. King Agrippa says Paul should've been set free (26:31-32). Paul complies on the whole journey while under arrest. Including the Gentiles Originally, Christianity was 100% Jewish. Gentiles (non-Jews) began believing in Jesus, and God demonstrated his acceptance through his spirit (see Acts 10:44-45). Both Peter and Paul preached to Gentiles and accepted them as part of God's family. After a disagreement broke out over the Gentiles (Acts 15:1-2), the disciples decided Gentiles could be part of the church without keeping the law. Acts is the historical spine of the NT Acts tells you about how Christianity came to many places mentioned in other parts of the NT. On Paul's second missionary journey, he visited Galatia, Philippi, Thessalonica, Corinth, and Ephesus. These are all places to which he wrote Epistles. Prescriptive vs. descriptive Does Acts prescribe how we should live or describe what they did? Acts 2:44-46 talks about sharing all our possessions. Is this normative for all Christians for all time? Fee & Stuart: “Unless Scripture explicitly tells us we must do something, what is only narrated or described does not function in a normative (i.e. obligatory) way—unless it can be demonstrated on other grounds that the author intended it to function in this way.”[1] Review Acts is a history of the church that Luke wrote to follow his biography of Christ. Acts describes the spread of Christianity from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria to the ends of the earth (i.e. the Mediterranean world). In Acts, Luke is interested in the activity of God's spirit, missionary activity resulting in conversions, and how Christians are respectful to Roman authorities. The inclusion of Gentiles into the early Christian movement caused a significant controversy, resulting in the decision that they did not need to keep the law. Acts provides the historical backbone into which fit many of the Epistles of the NT. Luke tells of Paul's three missionary journeys, as well as his final treacherous journey to Rome under arrest. Although Acts shows us what is possible as we walk with God, it does not prescribe that Christians today must do everything the way they did it (descriptive not prescriptive). [1] Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2014), 124.

544 Read the Bible for Yourself 11: How to Read the Gospels

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 18, 2024 51:24

This is part 11 of the Read the Bible For Yourself. The Gospels are evangelistic biographies of Jesus. In today's episode you'll learn the basic storyline of the four biblical Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Then we'll go through them from shortest to longest to see how each brings a unique and helpful perspective in telling the life of Christ. We'll also hit some important concepts like the kingdom of God, parables, and the word of God. Lastly, we'll ask about application. How can you figure out which sayings of Christ apply to you today and which ones do not? Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts https://youtu.be/0iHhidbL4e8?si=3rs4fGGtQjsJAObB —— Links —— See other episodes in Read the Bible For Yourself Other classes are available here, including How We Got the Bible, which explores the manuscript transmission and translation of the Bible Get the transcript of this episode Support Restitutio by donating here Join our Restitutio Facebook Group and follow Sean Finnegan on Twitter @RestitutioSF Leave a voice message via SpeakPipe with questions or comments and we may play them out on the air Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library. Who is Sean Finnegan? Read his bio here —— Notes —— The Four Gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John Gospel = good news The Gospels are biographies about Jesus which seek to convince readers about the good news that he is the Messiah. Basic Storyline of the Gospels Birth narratives John's ministry John baptizes Jesus. Jesus calls the twelve. Teachings of Jesus Miracles of Jesus Conflict with critics Triumphal entry Intensified conflict Last supper Arrest, trial, execution Resurrection appearances Great commission Mark (11,305 words) Papias: “And the elder used to say this: ‘Mark, having become Peter's interpreter, wrote down accurately everything he remembered, though not in order, of the things either said or done by Christ. For he neither heard the Lord nor followed him, but afterward, as I said, followed Peter, who adapted his teachings as needed but had no intention of giving an ordered account of the Lord's sayings. Consequently Mark did nothing wrong in writing down some things as he remembered them, for he made it his one concern not to omit anything that he heard or to make any false statement in them.'”[1] John (15,633 words) Purpose statement: John 20:30-3130 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. 31 But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name. Matthew (18,348 words) Five blocks of teaching 5-7 Sermon on the Mount 10 Missionary Instruction 13 Parables of the Kingdom 18 Discourse on the Church 24-25 Olivet Discourse Luke (19,483 words) Luke's method: Luke 1:1-41 Since many have undertaken to compile a narrative about the events that have been fulfilled among us, 2 just as they were handed on to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word, 3 I, too, decided, as one having a grasp of everything from the start, to write a well-ordered account for you, most excellent Theophilus, 4 so that you may have a firm grasp of the words in which you have been instructed. Luke's historical precision: Luke 3:1-21 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, 2 during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. The Synoptic Gospels Matthew, Mark, and Luke Matthew and Luke quote Mark extensively. Both quote another source of sayings as well. Still, much of Matthew and Luke is unique to them. Fee & Stuart: “Take, for example, the fact that there is such a high degree of verbal similarity among Matthew, Mark, and Luke in their narratives, as well as in their recording of the sayings of Jesus. Remarkable verbal similarities should not surprise us about the sayings of the one who spoke as no one ever did (John 7:46). But for this to carry over to the narratives is something else again—especially so when one considers (1) that these stories were first told in Aramaic, yet we are talking about the use of Greek words; (2) that Greek word order is extremely free, yet often the similarities extend even to precise word order; and (3) that it is highly unlikely that three people in three different parts of the Roman Empire would tell the same story with the same words—even to such minor points of individual style as prepositions and conjunctions.”[2] Fee & Stuart: “The best explanation of all the data is …that Mark wrote his gospel first, probably in part at least from his recollection of Peter's preaching and teaching. Luke and Matthew had access to Mark's gospel and independently used it as the basic source for their own. But they also had access to all kinds of other material about Jesus, some of which they had in common. This common material, however, is scarcely ever presented in the same order in the two gospels, a fact suggesting that neither one had access to the other's writing. Finally, John wrote independently of the other three, and thus his gospel has little material in common with them. This, we would note, is how the Holy Spirit inspired the writing of the Gospels. …[W]ith the Spirit's help, they creatively structured and rewrote the materials to meet the needs of their readers.”[3] Kingdom of God Understanding what Jesus meant by the kingdom of God is critical Fee & Stuart: “[T]he major hermeneutical difficulty lies with understanding “the kingdom of God,” a term that is absolutely crucial to the whole of Jesus' ministry…”[4] Likely, Jesus was pulling from Daniel who prophesies extensively about God's kingdom coming to earth (Dan 2:44; 7:26-27) Parables Short fictional stories that make a point Get the main point; don't get lost in trying to find a meaning for every aspect of the story. Jesus told some parables to hide truth from those who didn't want it. He told others to teach his disciples important truth simply and effectively. Still others, he told as zingers to confront his critics. Word of God The Bible does not typically call itself “the word”. “The word” is the message Jesus preached to repent due to the coming Kingdom. He wasn't telling his Jewish listeners to repent and believe in the Bible, since they already believed in it. Compare Mark 4:13-15; Luke 8:11-12; Mat 13:19 Word = word of God = word of the Kingdom Application Must discern between the sayings Jesus limited to the people in front of him at that time and those that remain applicable to all his followers today Mat 10:9-11 tells his disciples not to carry any money with them. Does that mean true Christians don't use money and just mooch off their neighbors? Luke 6:27-28 tells us to love our enemies, a commandment repeated in Mat 5:43-48; Rom 12:17-21; 1 Pet 3:9-11 and exemplified by Jesus' actions. Review The NT begins with four evangelistic biographies of Jesus called Gospels. Mark is the shortest Gospel. Its action-packed narrative is probably derived from Peter's recollections as well as God's direction via his spirit. John is the most theologically developed, and it contains monologues where Jesus talks about himself and his relationship to his Father. Matthew showcases Jesus as a Rabbi who teaches his followers how to live in light of the Kingdom of God. Luke was a careful historian who made an effort to present a "well-ordered account" to present the life of Christ to a noble Roman audience. The Kingdom of God is the core of Jesus' message and ministry. It refers to a coming age when God sets everything wrong with the world right. Jesus' favorite self-title was "Son of Man," which could either mean a human being or the ruler of the coming Kingdom. Parables are short fictional stories told to make a point. In the Gospels, the "word" refers to the message Jesus preached about the Kingdom of God, not the Bible in general. Although it's hard to be sure, most think Matthew and Luke used Mark as a source as well as another sayings source. In order to discern what sayings of Jesus apply to you, consider the circumstances in which they were given, whether other parts of the NT repeat the statement, and what Jesus' example can tell you. [1] Fragments of Papias 3.15 in Apostolic Fathers, trans. Michael Holmes, 3rd ed. (Grand Rapids, Baker Academic, 2007). [2] Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2014), 141. [3] Stuart, 142. [4] Stuart, 132.

18: Helpful Tools to Understand the Bible

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 29, 2024

18 Helpful Tools to Understand the Bible – Notes Download Why do we need extra-biblical tools to help us understand the Bible? Different geography Different history Different cultures (ancient Near Eastern, first-century Jewish, Greco-Roman) Different economics Different literacy rates Different scientific and philosophical knowledge Bible Dictionaries International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915) Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000) Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary (2015) The IVP Bible Dictionary Series Dictionary of OT: Pentateuch (2002) Dictionary of OT: Historical Books (2005) Dictionary of OT: Wisdom, Poetry, & Writings (2008) Dictionary of OT: Prophets (2012) Dictionary of NT Background (2000) Dictionary of Jesus & Gospels (2013) Dictionary of Paul & Letters (2023) Dictionary of the Later NT (1997) Commentaries Fee & Stuart: “Jesus says, ‘…It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.' You will sometimes hear it said that there was a gate in Jerusalem known as the “Needle's Eye,” which camels could go through only by kneeling, and with great difficulty. The point of this “interpretation” is that a camel could in fact go through the “Needle's Eye.” The trouble with this “exegesis,” however, is that it is simply not true. There never was such a gate in Jerusalem at any time in its history. The earliest known “evidence” for this idea is found in the eleventh century(!) in a commentary by a Greek churchman named Theophylact, who had the same difficulty with the text that many later readers do. After all, it is impossible for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, and that was precisely Jesus' point. It is impossible for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom. It takes a miracle for a rich person to get saved…”[[Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2014). p. 29.]] Zondervan Illustrated Bible Background Commentary (ZIBBC – 10 vols.) New International Commentary (NICOT – 30 vols.; NICNT – 20 vols.) New International Greek Testament Commentary (NIGTC – 12 vols.) The New Testament for Everyone by N. T. Wright (18 vols.) Bible Project Videos Book Overviews (OT – 39 videos; NT – 26 videos) How to Read the Bible (19 videos) Themes (41 videos) Word Studies (21 videos) Many more at com/explore/ Software Lots of translations Original language resources Cross-references Outlines Search tools Accordance & Logos Search Tools Artificial intelligence chat bots (openai.com) Crowd sourced websites (info/topics) Review Bible dictionaries and encyclopedias provide short articles on places, individuals, and topics in the Bible. Older and free research tools sometimes contain inaccuracies that more recent scholarship has overturned or updated. A good commentary tells you the options for interpreting a verse, reasons for each of those options, and a suggestion for which one makes the most sense. The Bible Project’s book overview videos are really helpful to get a general understanding of a book of the Bible. Bible software on PCs, tablets, and phones provide worldclass research tools to help you study scripture. When searching for a phrase, a topic, or something specific, you can use a Bible app, openbible.info, or AI. The post 18: Helpful Tools to Understand the Bible first appeared on Living Hope.

384: Derek Vreeland — Centering Jesus

BEMA Session 1: Torah

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 28, 2024 49:52

Marty Solomon and Brent Billings are joined by Derek Vreeland, author of Centering Jesus. He is the discipleship pastor at Word of Life Church in St. Joseph, MO, where he lives with his wife, Jenni.Centering Jesus by Derek VreelandReview of Centering Jesus — Marty Solomon, GoodreadsMan Enough by Nate PyleGod's Empowering Presence by Gordon D. FeeBenefit of the Doubt by Gregory A. BoydSalvation by Allegiance Alone by Matthew W. BatesDaily Office Lectionary by Derek VreelandBook of Common Prayer — WikipediaDerek's website Special Guest: Derek Vreeland.

god jesus christ salvation doubt benefit goodreads centering life church common prayer man enough vreeland nate pyle gordon d fee matthew w bates gregory a boyd

17: How to Choose a Bible Translation

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 27, 2024

17 How to Choose a Bible Translation – Notes Download Translation basics Fee & Stuart: “Your Bible, whatever translation you use, which is your beginning point, is in fact the end result of much scholarly work. Translators are regularly called upon to make choices regarding meanings, and their choices are going to affect how you”[[Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2014), 23.]] “Every translation is a commentary” -Lee Brice The Bible is in three languages. Hebrew: Old Testament except the Aramaic part Nearly 99% of the OT (22,945 of 23,213 verses) Aramaic: half of Daniel and two passages in Ezra Daniel 2.4b-7.28; Ezra 4.8-6.18; 7.12-26 About 1% of the OT (268 of 23,213 verses) Greek: New Testament (all 7,968 verses) How to begin learning Hebrew or Greek Immersion program in Israel or Greece Whole Word Institute offers a 9-month program. In-person college class (usually 2 semesters) Local colleges, RTS offers an 8-week summer program. In-person classes at a Jewish synagogue or Greek church or community center Online program with live instructor Biblical Language Center, Liberty University, etc. Digital program with pre-recordings Aleph with Beth (YouTube), Bill Mounce's DVD course, etc. How to improve your existing knowledge of Hebrew or Greek Reading group in-person or online Read a portion each week together. Daily dose of Hebrew/Greek/Aramaic Daily YouTube videos of one verse each (email list) Read every day. Read the Bible; read devotionals; read comic books (Glossa House produces great resources) Watch modern Hebrew and Greek shows. Izzy is like Netflix for Israel/Hebrew Greece has lots of channels streaming online. Translation process (1 Timothy 2:5 example) Greek New Testament (NA28) Εἷς γὰρ θεός, εἷς καὶ μεσίτης θεοῦ καὶ ἀνθρώπων, ἄνθρωπος Χριστὸς Ἰησοῦς Literal translation One for god, one and mediator of god and men, man Christ Jesus Finished translation For (there is) one God, and (there is) one mediator between God and mankind, (the) man Christ Jesus. New Testament critical editions Nestle Aland 28th Edition (NA28) based on the Editio Critica Maior (ECM), which employs the coherence based genealogical method (CBGM) Tyndale House Greek New Testament (THGNT) prioritizes trusted physical manuscripts over the CBGM. Old Testament critical editions Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (BHS) and the partially completed Biblia Hebraica Quinta (BHQ) print the Leningrad Codex in the main text, but include alternative readings in the footnotes. Hebrew Bible Critical Edition (HBCE) by Ronald Mendel is a project of the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) to develop a critical edition. Resources to see decisions about alternative readings NET Bible (accessible at org) New Testament Text and Commentary by Philip Comfort A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament by Bruce Metzger Formal equivalence translation philosophy Fee & Strauss: “If the Greek or Hebrew text uses an infinitive, the English translation will use an infinitive. When the Greek or Hebrew has a prepositional phrase, so will the English…The goal of this translational theory is formal correspondence as much as possible.”[[Gordon Fee and Mark Strauss, How to Choose a Translation for All Its Worth (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2007), p. 26.]] Ron Rhodes: “Formal equivalence translations can also be trusted not to mix too much commentary in with the text derived from the original Hebrew and Greek manuscripts. To clarify, while all translation entails some interpretation, formal equivalence translations keep to a minimum in intermingling interpretive additives into the text. As one scholar put it, ‘An essentially literal translation operates on the premise that a translator is a steward of what someone else has written, not an editor and exegete who needs to explain or correct what someone else has written.'”[[Ron Rhodes, The Complete Guide to Bible Translations (Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers, 2009), p. 30. Quotation from Leland Ryken, Choosing a Bible (Wheaton: Crossway, 2005), p. 27.]] Dynamic equivalence translation philosophy Ron Rhodes: “Dynamic equivalence translations generally use shorter words, shorter sentences, and shorter paragraphs. They use easy vocabulary and use simple substitutes for theological and cultural terminology. They often convert culturally dependent figures of speech into easy, direct statements. They seek to avoid ambiguity as well as biblical jargon in favor of a natural English style. Translators concentrate on transferring meaning rather than mere words from one language to another.”[[Ron Rhodes, The Complete Guide to Bible Translations (Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers, 2009), pp. 32-33.]] Formal vs. dynamic comparison Formal Equivalence Dynamic Equivalence Formal Correspondence Functional Equivalence Word for Word Thought for Thought Literal Readable Transparent to Originals Replicates Experience Transfer Interpretation Interpretation Built In Accurate Easy to Understand Formal equivalence Bibles ESV: English Standard Version NASB: New American Standard Bible LSB: Legacy Standard Bible NRSV: New Revised Standard Version HCSB: Holman Christian Standard Bible Gender Accuracy[[For a much deeper dive into this interesting topic, see session 15 from How We Got the Bible: Gender in Bible Translation, available on lhim.org or on YouTube.]] “Man” used to mean “men and women” “Men” used to mean “men and women” “he” used to mean “he or she” Translations are changing with the changes in the English language so that female readers recognize the relevance of scripture to them See Eph 4:28; Mat 11:15; etc. Combatting bias To combat bias, look at translations from different thought camps. Evangelical: NIV, NLT, ESV, NASB, NET, CSB, HCSB, LEB MSG, Passion, Amplified, LSB, CEV, TEV/GNT, NCV, NIrV Jewish: JPS, KJB, Stone, Robert Altar, Shocken Catholic: NABRE, NAB, RNJB, NJB, JB, Douay-Rheims Mainline: NRSV, NEB, NKJ, RSV, ASV, KJV Unitarian: REV, NWT, Diaglott, KGV, Buzzard, NEV Review If you can, learn the biblical languages so you can read the actual words of scripture rather than depending on a translation. Translations of the New Testament depend on the Greek critical text known as the Nestle Aland 28th edition (NA28). Translations of the Old Testament depend on the Leningrad Codex, which is printed in the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (BHS) and the partially complete Biblia Hebraica Quinta (BHQ). In addition, translators of the Old Testament are expected to look through the footnotes and commentary in these resources to judge readings from other sources. Over generations, textual critics have developed strategies and computer tools to more closely approximate the original text. As a result, newer critical texts contain reconstructions of an older stage of the text. Translation is the art of rendering a source text into a receptor language accurately. Formal equivalence translations focus on transparency to the source text and a minimum of added interpretation. Dynamic equivalence translations focus on readability in the receptor language. They seek clarity over ambiguity. Formal equivalence translations are safer, because they leave it up to the reader to figure out what a text means. However, they can contain awkward English and be difficult to read. Gender accuracy refers to the translation practice of including the feminine when a hypothetical singular masculine pronoun can refer to either sex or when masculine plurals include both genders. Bias is intrinsic to translation, especially with reference to doctrines that are widely held by committee members. The best way to expose and combat bias is to check translations from different thought camps. Although evangelical translations are better known, checking Jewish, mainline, Catholic, and unitarian translations provides a helpful corrective. The post 17: How to Choose a Bible Translation first appeared on Living Hope.

538 Read the Bible for Yourself 7: How to Read Wisdom Literature

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 8, 2024 37:40

This is part 7 of the Read the Bible For Yourself. The Bible contains a treasure trove of wisdom literature that can help you navigate the ups and downs of life. Today you'll learn how to read and understand the books of Proverbs, Song of Songs, Job, and Ecclesiastes. Proverbs and Song of Songs teach us how to handle ourselves when the world is working the way it should while Job and Ecclesiastes address how to think and live when chaos strikes. Taken together these four books offer a full-orbed perspective on practical wisdom that you can incorporate into your life. Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MZCAxSSNzU —— Links —— See other episodes in Read the Bible For Yourself Other classes are available here, including How We Got the Bible, which explores the manuscript transmission and translation of the Bible Get the transcript of this episode Support Restitutio by donating here Join our Restitutio Facebook Group and follow Sean Finnegan on Twitter @RestitutioSF Leave a voice message via SpeakPipe with questions or comments and we may play them out on the air Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library. Who is Sean Finnegan? Read his bio here —— Notes —— Proverbs “[Proverbs] should not be read as promises but as guidelines, as principles for living. They show the way life works best 80 to 95 percent of the time. The Bible is clear throughout Scripture: if you live a life oriented to God, you will tend to have a good life.”[1] Proverbs 14:7: Leave the presence of a fool, for there you do not find words of knowledge. The Fool Mouth of a fool brings ruin near (10:14) Utters slander (10:18) Doing wrong for fun (10:23) Broadcasts folly (12:23) No restraint, careless (14:16) Despises parent's instruction (15:5) Does not receive a rebuke (17:10) Has plenty of personal opinions (18:2) Perverse speech (19:1) Quick to quarrel (20:3) Devours wealth (21:20) Despises wise words (23:9) Vents anger (29:11) Hasty in speech (29:20) The Wise Honoring your parents (1:8-9; 10:1) Handling money well, avoiding debt (3:9-10; 22:7 Discernment between right and wrong (3:21; 10:9; 28:5) Understanding (3:13; 4:7; 18:2) Fidelity in marriage (5:15-19; 6:32-35) Hard work instead of laziness (6:6-11; 15:19) Fearing the LORD (9:10; 24:21; 31:30) Teachability, humility (9:9; 11:2) Controlling what you say (10:19; 21:23) Righteousness, honesty, morality (11:3; 12:22; 29:6) Generosity (11:25; 19:17; 22:9) Choosing good friends (12:26; 13:20) Disciplining children (13:24; 22:15) Patience, slow to anger (14:29; 15:18) Self-control (16:32; 25:28; 29:11) Song of Songs This collection of romantic poems is a commentary on Proverbs 5:18-19 The focus of the book is a woman who pursues and fantasizers about romantic love. Her speech begins the book (1:5-6), ends the book, and utters the key truth of the book (8:6-7). Far from relegating women to a passive role, Song of Songs affirms a woman's desires and her pursuit of them. She does not ignore that her body has yearnings, nor is she ashamed of them. Our heroine knows who she is; she's in touch with her sexuality. She goes after him, attempting to woo him with her charms. Over and again, the two get separated, and one searches for the other until they find each other, panting with desire. Then, the section abruptly ends, and the two find themselves apart again, ready to repeat the cycle. “This poem should be read in light of Genesis 1 and 2. Following the command to “be fruitful and increase in number” (Gen 1:28), God plants a garden (2:8) in which he placed the man and woman he created in his own image. The narrative concludes with the words: “A man will … be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame” (2:24-25, emphasis added). The picture of sexual love in this book recaptures that scene, where the woman and the man take utter delight and pleasure in each other's bodies and do so without shame. This is thus God's way of recapturing both the fidelity and the unity and intimacy of marriage, which the enemy has tried to take away from God's people by making it seem either titillating outside of marriage or something shameful and unmentionable within marriage.”[2] Job Job 15:20–2420 The wicked writhe in pain all their days, through all the years that are laid up for the ruthless. 21 Terrifying sounds are in their ears; in prosperity the destroyer will come upon them. 22 They despair of returning from darkness, and they are destined for the sword. 23 They wander abroad for bread, saying, ‘Where is it?' They know that a day of darkness is ready at hand; 24 distress and anguish terrify them; they prevail against them like a king prepared for battle. Do the wicked “writhe in pain all their days?” No. Many wicked people are just fine. You must be careful with the book of Job. It is a philosophical treatise, dealing with the question of justice. The key question is whether Job did something wrong to deserve the calamities he experienced. The book answers with a resounding “No,” but does not explain why God allowed Job to suffer so much. Ecclesiastes Ecclesiastes 9:11–1211 Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to the skillful, but time and chance happen to them all. 12 For no one can anticipate one's time. Like fish taken in a cruel net or like birds caught in a snare, so mortals are snared at a time of calamity, when it suddenly falls upon them. “Vanity” הֶבֶל hevel (38x) is the key word in Ecclesiastes. Vapor, breath, smoke, pointless Smoke appears solid, but you can't grab it. Chasing the wind Pursuing money, success, or knowledge is hevel (temporary, fleeting). Ecclesiastes 12:13–1413 The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God, and keep his commandments, for that is the whole duty of everyone. 14 For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil. Review Proverbs offers conventional truisms that generally work in an ordered world. Pursue wisdom and avoid folly. Song of Songs is an anthology of poems celebrating the delights of physical beauty, romance, and sexuality. Job disproves the notion that those who suffer calamity deserved it by sinning in some big way. Ecclesiastes bemoans the futility of pursuing wealth, success, pleasure, or even wisdom. Life is uncertain, so fear God and keep his commandments. Although ultimately all one's achievements disappear like smoke in the wind, we can enjoy the blessing of enjoying a good meal, working hard, and the delights of marriage. Conventional wisdom offers principles that generally work, whereas subversive wisdom acknowledges that chaos and catastrophe strike, resulting in the righteous suffering. Reading just one of these books limits you to a partial view of wisdom. Reading them together presents a robust understanding of how to live wisely through the complexities of life in the real world. [1] George H. Guthrie, Read the Bible for Life (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing, 2011), 141. [2] Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart, How to Read the Bible Book by Book (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic, 2002), 163.

12: How to Read Acts

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 2, 2024

12 How to Read Acts Download Luke wrote Acts. Acts 1:1-2 Acts is the second volume. Luke is about the life of Christ. Acts is about the early expansion of the church. Major events of Acts 1:1-11 Jesus commissions and ascends. 1:12-27 Peter initiates replacing Judas. 2:1-47 Spirit is poured out, and Peter preaches. 3:1-26 Peter heals lame man and preaches. 4:1-6:7 Communal living in Jerusalem 6:8-7:60 Stephen's martyrdom 8:1-40 Philip's expansion to Samaria, Ethiopia 9:1-31 Paul's conversion, expansion to Damascus 9:32-9:43 Peter's mission to Lydda and Joppa 10:1-11:18 Peter converts Cornelius in Caesarea. 11:19-30 Barnabas brings Paul to Antioch. 12:1-24 Peter's arrest and miraculous escape 12:25-16:5 Paul's 1st missionary journey 16:6-19:20 Paul's 2nd missionary journey 19:21-21:17 Paul's 3rd missionary journey 21:18-28:31 Paul's arrest and trip to Rome Organization of the book The first half is about Peter (1-12). The second half is about Paul (13-28). Acts 1:8 outlines the book: they expanded from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria to the ends of the earth. Leading and experience of God's spirit Baptized with the spirit, filled with the spirit, pour out the spirit, receive the spirit, spirit fell upon: 1:5, 8; 2:4, 17; 4:31; 8:17; 9:17; 10:44-45; 11:15-16; 13:52 Speaking in tongues; prophecy: 2:4, 17-18; 10:46; 11:28; 19:6; 20:22-23; 27:21-22 Exorcisms: 5:16; 8:7; 16:18; 19:12-16 Healing and miracles: 3:6-7; 5:12, 15-16; 8:39; 9:17-18, 34-35; 12:7-10; 13:11; 14:10; 19:11; 20:9-10; 28:3-6, 8-9 Supernatural direction: 1:16, 26; 8:26, 29; 9:10-16; 13:2; 15:28; 16:7; 18:9-10; 20:28; 21:11; 23:11; 27:23-24 Rapid expansion through conversion Convert 3,000 on day of Pentecost (2:41) 5,000 after healing lame man at the temple (4:4) Conversions of whole towns: Samaria (8), Lydda, and Joppa (9) Conversions of key people: Ethiopian treasurer (8); Paul of Tarsus (9); Cornelius the centurion (10); Sergius Paulus, proconsul of Cyprus, (13); Lydia, a wealthy Philippian merchant, (16); Crispus, a synagogue leader in Corinth, (18); Publius of Malta (28) Perseverance through persecution Sadducees arrest Peter and John (4). Sadducees arrest apostles (5). A mob stones Stephen (7). Paul leads persecution in Jerusalem (8). King Herod executes James (12). King Herod imprisons Peter (12). Jewish leaders expel Paul and Barnabas from Pisidian Antioch (13). Jewish leaders stone Paul at Lystra (14). City magistrates arrest Paul and Silas at Philippi (16). Jewish mob attacks Jason at Thessalonica (17). Jewish leaders accuse Paul before Proconsul Gallio at Corinth (18). Demetrius instigates riot against Paul at Ephesus (19). Jewish mob attacks Paul at Jerusalem (21). Plot of Jewish leaders to murder Paul (23) Paul's trial before Felix (24) Paul's trial before Festus (25) Paul's defense before King Agrippa (26) Paul's shipwreck (27) Paul's house arrest at Rome (28) Respectful of Roman authorities Paul is respectful to his arresting officer, Claudius, (21:33, 37-40). He asserts his Roman citizenship (22:24-29). He cordially converses with Felix, Roman governor of Judea, (24). Paul appeals to have a trial before Caesar in Rome b/c he's afraid he won't get a fair hearing in Judea. Paul interacts respectfully with Festus and King Agrippa. King Agrippa says Paul should've been set free (26:31-32). Paul complies on the whole journey while under arrest. Including the Gentiles Originally, Christianity was 100% Jewish. Gentiles (non-Jews) began believing in Jesus, and God demonstrated his acceptance through his spirit (see Acts 10:44-45). Both Peter and Paul preached to Gentiles and accepted them as part of God's family. After a disagreement broke out over the Gentiles (Acts 15:1-2), the disciples decided Gentiles could be part of the church without keeping the law. Acts is the historical spine of the NT Acts tells you about how Christianity came to many places mentioned in other parts of the NT. On Paul's second missionary journey, he visited Galatia, Philippi, Thessalonica, Corinth, and Ephesus. These are all places to which he wrote Epistles. Prescriptive vs. descriptive Does Acts prescribe how we should live or describe what they did? Acts 2:44-46 talks about sharing all our possessions. Is this normative for all Christians for all time? Fee & Stuart: “Unless Scripture explicitly tells us we must do something, what is only narrated or described does not function in a normative (i.e. obligatory) way—unless it can be demonstrated on other grounds that the author intended it to function in this way.”1 Review Acts is a history of the church that Luke wrote to follow his biography of Christ. Acts describes the spread of Christianity from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria to the ends of the earth (i.e. the Mediterranean world). In Acts, Luke is interested in the activity of God’s spirit, missionary activity resulting in conversions, and how Christians are respectful to Roman authorities. The inclusion of Gentiles into the early Christian movement caused a significant controversy, resulting in the decision that they did not need to keep the law. Acts provides the historical backbone into which fit many of the Epistles of the NT. Luke tells of Paul’s three missionary journeys, as well as his final treacherous journey to Rome under arrest. Although Acts shows us what is possible as we walk with God, it does not prescribe that Christians today must do everything the way they did it (descriptive not prescriptive). Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2014), 124.The post 12: How to Read Acts first appeared on Living Hope.

12: How to Read Acts

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 2, 2024

12 How to Read Acts Download Luke wrote Acts. Acts 1:1-2 Acts is the second volume. Luke is about the life of Christ. Acts is about the early expansion of the church. Major events of Acts 1:1-11 Jesus commissions and ascends. 1:12-27 Peter initiates replacing Judas. 2:1-47 Spirit is poured out, and Peter preaches. 3:1-26 Peter heals lame man and preaches. 4:1-6:7 Communal living in Jerusalem 6:8-7:60 Stephen's martyrdom 8:1-40 Philip's expansion to Samaria, Ethiopia 9:1-31 Paul's conversion, expansion to Damascus 9:32-9:43 Peter's mission to Lydda and Joppa 10:1-11:18 Peter converts Cornelius in Caesarea. 11:19-30 Barnabas brings Paul to Antioch. 12:1-24 Peter's arrest and miraculous escape 12:25-16:5 Paul's 1st missionary journey 16:6-19:20 Paul's 2nd missionary journey 19:21-21:17 Paul's 3rd missionary journey 21:18-28:31 Paul's arrest and trip to Rome Organization of the book The first half is about Peter (1-12). The second half is about Paul (13-28). Acts 1:8 outlines the book: they expanded from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria to the ends of the earth. Leading and experience of God's spirit Baptized with the spirit, filled with the spirit, pour out the spirit, receive the spirit, spirit fell upon: 1:5, 8; 2:4, 17; 4:31; 8:17; 9:17; 10:44-45; 11:15-16; 13:52 Speaking in tongues; prophecy: 2:4, 17-18; 10:46; 11:28; 19:6; 20:22-23; 27:21-22 Exorcisms: 5:16; 8:7; 16:18; 19:12-16 Healing and miracles: 3:6-7; 5:12, 15-16; 8:39; 9:17-18, 34-35; 12:7-10; 13:11; 14:10; 19:11; 20:9-10; 28:3-6, 8-9 Supernatural direction: 1:16, 26; 8:26, 29; 9:10-16; 13:2; 15:28; 16:7; 18:9-10; 20:28; 21:11; 23:11; 27:23-24 Rapid expansion through conversion Convert 3,000 on day of Pentecost (2:41) 5,000 after healing lame man at the temple (4:4) Conversions of whole towns: Samaria (8), Lydda, and Joppa (9) Conversions of key people: Ethiopian treasurer (8); Paul of Tarsus (9); Cornelius the centurion (10); Sergius Paulus, proconsul of Cyprus, (13); Lydia, a wealthy Philippian merchant, (16); Crispus, a synagogue leader in Corinth, (18); Publius of Malta (28) Perseverance through persecution Sadducees arrest Peter and John (4). Sadducees arrest apostles (5). A mob stones Stephen (7). Paul leads persecution in Jerusalem (8). King Herod executes James (12). King Herod imprisons Peter (12). Jewish leaders expel Paul and Barnabas from Pisidian Antioch (13). Jewish leaders stone Paul at Lystra (14). City magistrates arrest Paul and Silas at Philippi (16). Jewish mob attacks Jason at Thessalonica (17). Jewish leaders accuse Paul before Proconsul Gallio at Corinth (18). Demetrius instigates riot against Paul at Ephesus (19). Jewish mob attacks Paul at Jerusalem (21). Plot of Jewish leaders to murder Paul (23) Paul's trial before Felix (24) Paul's trial before Festus (25) Paul's defense before King Agrippa (26) Paul's shipwreck (27) Paul's house arrest at Rome (28) Respectful of Roman authorities Paul is respectful to his arresting officer, Claudius, (21:33, 37-40). He asserts his Roman citizenship (22:24-29). He cordially converses with Felix, Roman governor of Judea, (24). Paul appeals to have a trial before Caesar in Rome b/c he's afraid he won't get a fair hearing in Judea. Paul interacts respectfully with Festus and King Agrippa. King Agrippa says Paul should've been set free (26:31-32). Paul complies on the whole journey while under arrest. Including the Gentiles Originally, Christianity was 100% Jewish. Gentiles (non-Jews) began believing in Jesus, and God demonstrated his acceptance through his spirit (see Acts 10:44-45). Both Peter and Paul preached to Gentiles and accepted them as part of God's family. After a disagreement broke out over the Gentiles (Acts 15:1-2), the disciples decided Gentiles could be part of the church without keeping the law. Acts is the historical spine of the NT Acts tells you about how Christianity came to many places mentioned in other parts of the NT. On Paul's second missionary journey, he visited Galatia, Philippi, Thessalonica, Corinth, and Ephesus. These are all places to which he wrote Epistles. Prescriptive vs. descriptive Does Acts prescribe how we should live or describe what they did? Acts 2:44-46 talks about sharing all our possessions. Is this normative for all Christians for all time? Fee & Stuart: “Unless Scripture explicitly tells us we must do something, what is only narrated or described does not function in a normative (i.e. obligatory) way—unless it can be demonstrated on other grounds that the author intended it to function in this way.”[[Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2014), 124.]] Review Acts is a history of the church that Luke wrote to follow his biography of Christ. Acts describes the spread of Christianity from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria to the ends of the earth (i.e. the Mediterranean world). In Acts, Luke is interested in the activity of God’s spirit, missionary activity resulting in conversions, and how Christians are respectful to Roman authorities. The inclusion of Gentiles into the early Christian movement caused a significant controversy, resulting in the decision that they did not need to keep the law. Acts provides the historical backbone into which fit many of the Epistles of the NT. Luke tells of Paul’s three missionary journeys, as well as his final treacherous journey to Rome under arrest. Although Acts shows us what is possible as we walk with God, it does not prescribe that Christians today must do everything the way they did it (descriptive not prescriptive). The post 12: How to Read Acts first appeared on Living Hope.

11: How to Read the Gospels

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 29, 2024

The Four Gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John Gospel = good news The Gospels are biographies about Jesus which seek to convince readers about the good news that he is the Messiah. Basic Storyline of the Gospels Birth narratives John's ministry John baptizes Jesus. Jesus calls the twelve. Teachings of Jesus Miracles of Jesus Conflict with critics Triumphal entry Intensified conflict Last supper Arrest, trial, execution Resurrection appearances Great commission Mark (11,305 words) Papias: “And the elder used to say this: ‘Mark, having become Peter's interpreter, wrote down accurately everything he remembered, though not in order, of the things either said or done by Christ. For he neither heard the Lord nor followed him, but afterward, as I said, followed Peter, who adapted his teachings as needed but had no intention of giving an ordered account of the Lord's sayings. Consequently Mark did nothing wrong in writing down some things as he remembered them, for he made it his one concern not to omit anything that he heard or to make any false statement in them.'”[[Fragments of Papias 3.15 in Apostolic Fathers, trans. Michael Holmes, 3rd ed. (Grand Rapids, Baker Academic, 2007).]] John (15,633 words) Purpose statement: John 20:30-31 30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. 31 But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name. Matthew (18,348 words) Five blocks of teaching 5-7 Sermon on the Mount 10 Missionary Instruction 13 Parables of the Kingdom 18 Discourse on the Church 24-25 Olivet Discourse Luke (19,483 words) Luke's method: Luke 1:1-4 1 Since many have undertaken to compile a narrative about the events that have been fulfilled among us, 2 just as they were handed on to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word, 3 I, too, decided, as one having a grasp of everything from the start, to write a well-ordered account for you, most excellent Theophilus, 4 so that you may have a firm grasp of the words in which you have been instructed. Luke's historical precision: Luke 3:1-2 1 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, 2 during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. The Synoptic Gospels Matthew, Mark, and Luke Matthew and Luke quote Mark extensively. Both quote another source of sayings as well. Still, much of Matthew and Luke is unique to them. Fee & Stuart: “Take, for example, the fact that there is such a high degree of verbal similarity among Matthew, Mark, and Luke in their narratives, as well as in their recording of the sayings of Jesus. Remarkable verbal similarities should not surprise us about the sayings of the one who spoke as no one ever did (John 7:46). But for this to carry over to the narratives is something else again—especially so when one considers (1) that these stories were first told in Aramaic, yet we are talking about the use of Greek words; (2) that Greek word order is extremely free, yet often the similarities extend even to precise word order; and (3) that it is highly unlikely that three people in three different parts of the Roman Empire would tell the same story with the same words—even to such minor points of individual style as prepositions and conjunctions.”[[Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2014), 141.]] Fee & Stuart: “The best explanation of all the data is …that Mark wrote his gospel first, probably in part at least from his recollection of Peter's preaching and teaching. Luke and Matthew had access to Mark's gospel and independently used it as the basic source for their own. But they also had access to all kinds of other material about Jesus, some of which they had in common. This common material, however, is scarcely ever presented in the same order in the two gospels, a fact suggesting that neither one had access to the other's writing. Finally, John wrote independently of the other three, and thus his gospel has little material in common with them. This, we would note, is how the Holy Spirit inspired the writing of the Gospels. …[W]ith the Spirit's help, they creatively structured and rewrote the materials to meet the needs of their readers.”[[Stuart, 142.]] Kingdom of God Understanding what Jesus meant by the kingdom of God is critical Fee & Stuart: “[T]he major hermeneutical difficulty lies with understanding “the kingdom of God,” a term that is absolutely crucial to the whole of Jesus' ministry…”[[Stuart, 132.]] Likely, Jesus was pulling from Daniel who prophesies extensively about God's kingdom coming to earth (Dan 2:44; 7:26-27) Parables Short fictional stories that make a point Get the main point; don't get lost in trying to find a meaning for every aspect of the story. Jesus told some parables to hide truth from those who didn't want it. He told others to teach his disciples important truth simply and effectively. Still others, he told as zingers to confront his critics. Word of God The Bible does not typically call itself “the word”. “The word” is the message Jesus preached to repent due to the coming Kingdom. He wasn't telling his Jewish listeners to repent and believe in the Bible, since they already believed in it. Compare Mark 4:13-15; Luke 8:11-12; Mat 13:19 Word = word of God = word of the Kingdom Application Must discern between the sayings Jesus limited to the people in front of him at that time and those that remain applicable to all his followers today Mat 10:9-11 tells his disciples not to carry any money with them. Does that mean true Christians don't use money and just mooch off their neighbors? Luke 6:27-28 tells us to love our enemies, a commandment repeated in Mat 5:43-48; Rom 12:17-21; 1 Pet 3:9-11 and exemplified by Jesus' actions. Review The NT begins with four evangelistic biographies of Jesus called Gospels. Mark is the shortest Gospel. Its action-packed narrative is probably derived from Peter’s recollections as well as God’s direction via his spirit. John is the most theologically developed, and it contains monologues where Jesus talks about himself and his relationship to his Father. Matthew showcases Jesus as a Rabbi who teaches his followers how to live in light of the Kingdom of God. Luke was a careful historian who made an effort to present a “well-ordered account” to present the life of Christ to a noble Roman audience. The Kingdom of God is the core of Jesus’ message and ministry. It refers to a coming age when God sets everything wrong with the world right. Jesus’ favorite self-title was “Son of Man,” which could either mean a human being or the ruler of the coming Kingdom. Parables are short fictional stories told to make a point. In the Gospels, the “word” refers to the message Jesus preached about the Kingdom of God, not the Bible in general. Although it’s hard to be sure, most think Matthew and Luke used Mark as a source as well as another sayings source. In order to discern what sayings of Jesus apply to you, consider the circumstances in which they were given, whether other parts of the NT repeat the statement, and what Jesus’ example can tell you. The post 11: How to Read the Gospels first appeared on Living Hope.

11: How to Read the Gospels

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 29, 2024

The Four Gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John Gospel = good news The Gospels are biographies about Jesus which seek to convince readers about the good news that he is the Messiah. Basic Storyline of the Gospels Birth narratives John's ministry John baptizes Jesus. Jesus calls the twelve. Teachings of Jesus Miracles of Jesus Conflict with critics Triumphal entry Intensified conflict Last supper Arrest, trial, execution Resurrection appearances Great commission Mark (11,305 words) Papias: “And the elder used to say this: ‘Mark, having become Peter's interpreter, wrote down accurately everything he remembered, though not in order, of the things either said or done by Christ. For he neither heard the Lord nor followed him, but afterward, as I said, followed Peter, who adapted his teachings as needed but had no intention of giving an ordered account of the Lord's sayings. Consequently Mark did nothing wrong in writing down some things as he remembered them, for he made it his one concern not to omit anything that he heard or to make any false statement in them.'”1 John (15,633 words) Purpose statement: John 20:30-31 30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. 31 But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name. Matthew (18,348 words) Five blocks of teaching 5-7 Sermon on the Mount 10 Missionary Instruction 13 Parables of the Kingdom 18 Discourse on the Church 24-25 Olivet Discourse Luke (19,483 words) Luke's method: Luke 1:1-4 1 Since many have undertaken to compile a narrative about the events that have been fulfilled among us, 2 just as they were handed on to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word, 3 I, too, decided, as one having a grasp of everything from the start, to write a well-ordered account for you, most excellent Theophilus, 4 so that you may have a firm grasp of the words in which you have been instructed. Luke's historical precision: Luke 3:1-2 1 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, 2 during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. The Synoptic Gospels Matthew, Mark, and Luke Matthew and Luke quote Mark extensively. Both quote another source of sayings as well. Still, much of Matthew and Luke is unique to them. Fee & Stuart: “Take, for example, the fact that there is such a high degree of verbal similarity among Matthew, Mark, and Luke in their narratives, as well as in their recording of the sayings of Jesus. Remarkable verbal similarities should not surprise us about the sayings of the one who spoke as no one ever did (John 7:46). But for this to carry over to the narratives is something else again—especially so when one considers (1) that these stories were first told in Aramaic, yet we are talking about the use of Greek words; (2) that Greek word order is extremely free, yet often the similarities extend even to precise word order; and (3) that it is highly unlikely that three people in three different parts of the Roman Empire would tell the same story with the same words—even to such minor points of individual style as prepositions and conjunctions.”2 Fee & Stuart: “The best explanation of all the data is …that Mark wrote his gospel first, probably in part at least from his recollection of Peter's preaching and teaching. Luke and Matthew had access to Mark's gospel and independently used it as the basic source for their own. But they also had access to all kinds of other material about Jesus, some of which they had in common. This common material, however, is scarcely ever presented in the same order in the two gospels, a fact suggesting that neither one had access to the other's writing. Finally, John wrote independently of the other three, and thus his gospel has little material in common with them. This, we would note, is how the Holy Spirit inspired the writing of the Gospels. …[W]ith the Spirit's help, they creatively structured and rewrote the materials to meet the needs of their readers.”3 Kingdom of God Understanding what Jesus meant by the kingdom of God is critical Fee & Stuart: “[T]he major hermeneutical difficulty lies with understanding “the kingdom of God,” a term that is absolutely crucial to the whole of Jesus' ministry…”4 Likely, Jesus was pulling from Daniel who prophesies extensively about God's kingdom coming to earth (Dan 2:44; 7:26-27) Parables Short fictional stories that make a point Get the main point; don't get lost in trying to find a meaning for every aspect of the story. Jesus told some parables to hide truth from those who didn't want it. He told others to teach his disciples important truth simply and effectively. Still others, he told as zingers to confront his critics. Word of God The Bible does not typically call itself “the word”. “The word” is the message Jesus preached to repent due to the coming Kingdom. He wasn't telling his Jewish listeners to repent and believe in the Bible, since they already believed in it. Compare Mark 4:13-15; Luke 8:11-12; Mat 13:19 Word = word of God = word of the Kingdom Application Must discern between the sayings Jesus limited to the people in front of him at that time and those that remain applicable to all his followers today Mat 10:9-11 tells his disciples not to carry any money with them. Does that mean true Christians don't use money and just mooch off their neighbors? Luke 6:27-28 tells us to love our enemies, a commandment repeated in Mat 5:43-48; Rom 12:17-21; 1 Pet 3:9-11 and exemplified by Jesus' actions. Review The NT begins with four evangelistic biographies of Jesus called Gospels. Mark is the shortest Gospel. Its action-packed narrative is probably derived from Peter’s recollections as well as God’s direction via his spirit. John is the most theologically developed, and it contains monologues where Jesus talks about himself and his relationship to his Father. Matthew showcases Jesus as a Rabbi who teaches his followers how to live in light of the Kingdom of God. Luke was a careful historian who made an effort to present a “well-ordered account” to present the life of Christ to a noble Roman audience. The Kingdom of God is the core of Jesus’ message and ministry. It refers to a coming age when God sets everything wrong with the world right. Jesus’ favorite self-title was “Son of Man,” which could either mean a human being or the ruler of the coming Kingdom. Parables are short fictional stories told to make a point. In the Gospels, the “word” refers to the message Jesus preached about the Kingdom of God, not the Bible in general. Although it’s hard to be sure, most think Matthew and Luke used Mark as a source as well as another sayings source. In order to discern what sayings of Jesus apply to you, consider the circumstances in which they were given, whether other parts of the NT repeat the statement, and what Jesus’ example can tell you. Fragments of Papias 3.15 in Apostolic Fathers, trans. Michael Holmes, 3rd ed. (Grand Rapids, Baker Academic, 2007).Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2014), 141.Stuart, 142.Stuart, 132.The post 11: How to Read the Gospels first appeared on Living Hope.

7: How to Read Wisdom Literature

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 14, 2024

Proverbs “[Proverbs] should not be read as promises but as guidelines, as principles for living. They show the way life works best 80 to 95 percent of the time. The Bible is clear throughout Scripture: if you live a life oriented to God, you will tend to have a good life.”[[George H. Guthrie, Read the Bible for Life (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing, 2011), 141.]] Proverbs 14:7: Leave the presence of a fool, for there you do not find words of knowledge. The Fool Mouth of a fool brings ruin near (10:14) Utters slander (10:18) Doing wrong for fun (10:23) Broadcasts folly (12:23) No restraint, careless (14:16) Despises parent’s instruction (15:5) Does not receive a rebuke (17:10) Has plenty of personal opinions (18:2) Perverse speech (19:1) Quick to quarrel (20:3) Devours wealth (21:20) Despises wise words (23:9) Vents anger (29:11) Hasty in speech (29:20) The Wise Honoring your parents (1:8-9; 10:1) Handling money well, avoiding debt (3:9-10; 22:7 Discernment between right and wrong (3:21; 10:9; 28:5) Understanding (3:13; 4:7; 18:2) Fidelity in marriage (5:15-19; 6:32-35) Hard work instead of laziness (6:6-11; 15:19) Fearing the LORD (9:10; 24:21; 31:30) Teachability, humility (9:9; 11:2) Controlling what you say (10:19; 21:23) Righteousness, honesty, morality (11:3; 12:22; 29:6) Generosity (11:25; 19:17; 22:9) Choosing good friends (12:26; 13:20) Disciplining children (13:24; 22:15) Patience, slow to anger (14:29; 15:18) Self-control (16:32; 25:28; 29:11) Song of Songs This collection of romantic poems is a commentary on Proverbs 5:18-19 The focus of the book is a woman who pursues and fantasizers about romantic love. Her speech begins the book (1:5-6), ends the book, and utters the key truth of the book (8:6-7). Far from relegating women to a passive role, Song of Songs affirms a woman's desires and her pursuit of them. She does not ignore that her body has yearnings, nor is she ashamed of them. Our heroine knows who she is; she's in touch with her sexuality. She goes after him, attempting to woo him with her charms. Over and again, the two get separated, and one searches for the other until they find each other, panting with desire. Then, the section abruptly ends, and the two find themselves apart again, ready to repeat the cycle. “This poem should be read in light of Genesis 1 and 2. Following the command to “be fruitful and increase in number” (Gen 1:28), God plants a garden (2:8) in which he placed the man and woman he created in his own image. The narrative concludes with the words: “A man will … be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame” (2:24-25, emphasis added). The picture of sexual love in this book recaptures that scene, where the woman and the man take utter delight and pleasure in each other's bodies and do so without shame. This is thus God's way of recapturing both the fidelity and the unity and intimacy of marriage, which the enemy has tried to take away from God's people by making it seem either titillating outside of marriage or something shameful and unmentionable within marriage.”[[Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart, How to Read the Bible Book by Book (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic, 2002), 163.]] Job Job 15:20–24 20 The wicked writhe in pain all their days, through all the years that are laid up for the ruthless. 21 Terrifying sounds are in their ears; in prosperity the destroyer will come upon them. 22 They despair of returning from darkness, and they are destined for the sword. 23 They wander abroad for bread, saying, ‘Where is it?' They know that a day of darkness is ready at hand; 24 distress and anguish terrify them; they prevail against them like a king prepared for battle. Do the wicked “writhe in pain all their days?” No. Many wicked people are just fine. You must be careful with the book of Job. It is a philosophical treatise, dealing with the question of justice. The key question is whether Job did something wrong to deserve the calamities he experienced. The book answers with a resounding “No,” but does not explain why God allowed Job to suffer so much. Ecclesiastes Ecclesiastes 9:11–12 11 Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to the skillful, but time and chance happen to them all. 12 For no one can anticipate one's time. Like fish taken in a cruel net or like birds caught in a snare, so mortals are snared at a time of calamity, when it suddenly falls upon them. “Vanity” הֶבֶל hevel (38x) is the key word in Ecclesiastes. Vapor, breath, smoke, pointless Smoke appears solid, but you can't grab it. Chasing the wind Pursuing money, success, or knowledge is hevel (temporary, fleeting). Ecclesiastes 12:13–14 13 The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God, and keep his commandments, for that is the whole duty of everyone. 14 For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil. Review Proverbs offers conventional truisms that generally work in an ordered world. Pursue wisdom and avoid folly. Song of Songs is an anthology of poems celebrating the delights of physical beauty, romance, and sexuality. Job disproves the notion that those who suffer calamity deserved it by sinning in some big way. Ecclesiastes bemoans the futility of pursuing wealth, success, pleasure, or even wisdom. Life is uncertain, so fear God and keep his commandments. Although ultimately all one's achievements disappear like smoke in the wind, we can enjoy the blessing of enjoying a good meal, working hard, and the delights of marriage. Conventional wisdom offers principles that generally work, whereas subversive wisdom acknowledges that chaos and catastrophe strike, resulting in the righteous suffering. Reading just one of these books limits you to a partial view of wisdom. Reading them together presents a robust understanding of how to live wisely through the complexities of life in the real world. The post 7: How to Read Wisdom Literature first appeared on Living Hope.

534 Read the Bible for Yourself 4: How to Determine Content and Application

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 8, 2024 51:46

This is part 4 of the Read the Bible For Yourself. Exegesis and application take work. Today you’ll learn how to grasp the content of scripture by asking the question, “What did this text mean to the original audience?” Looking for a book’s author, audience, occasion, and purpose will help you answer that question. Next, we’ll consider application and answering the question, “What does this text mean to me today?” We’ll follow Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart’s application strategy as well as their four warnings about extended application, particulars that are not comparable, cultural relativity, and task theology. Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts —— Links —— See other episodes in Read the Bible For Yourself Other classes are available here, including How We Got the Bible, which explores the manuscript transmission and translation of the Bible Get the transcript of this episode Support Restitutio by donating here Join our Restitutio Facebook Group and follow Sean Finnegan on Twitter @RestitutioSF Leave a voice message via SpeakPipe with questions or comments and we may play them out on the air Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library. Who is Sean Finnegan? Read his bio here —— Notes —— “If there was one bit of wisdom, one rule of thumb, one single skill I could impart, one useful tip I could leave that would serve you well the rest of your life, what would it be? What is the single most important practical skill I've ever learned as a Christian? Here it is: Never read a Bible verse. That's right, never read a Bible verse. Instead, always read a paragraph at least.”[1] What to Look For Author Audience Occasion Purpose Two Tasks Figure out what a text meant to its original audience. Figure out what it means to you today. Understand Then Apply Get the author's point before asking about application. What's the author's train of thought? Do not ask, “How does this affect my life?” Do not ask, “How does this fit into my theology?” Just focus on getting what the author is conveying in his own historical context. Paragraph style Bibles help with this tremendously, whereas verse paragraphs make it hard to see what is connected to what. Look up words and phrases that you don't understand like a “Sabbath day's journey”, “high places”, a “talent” or a “mina”. In most cases, a simple internet search will provide the answer. A paper study Bible or some apps will provide footnotes with helpful information. Have an Open Posture Toward the Text Accept that you are going to disagree with the scriptures from time to time. Also, accept that sometimes your understanding of the scripture is flawed. Recognize that you are imperfect in your understanding, morals, theology, and understanding of life. Adopt a posture of obedience. Pray, “God please change me by what I read.” Recognize the role of God's spirit to inspire, convict, encourage, etc. The spirit is both lurking beneath the surface of scripture and hovering over it as you read. Pray and ask God to show you what to do in light of what you just read. Covenants Covenant is an agreement between God and the people with clear expectations and commitments from both. Old covenant God established this with Israel at Mount Sinai after he brought them out of Egypt through Moses. They would follow his Torah (instruction or law) as taught by Moses. He would take care of their fertility and protect them. New covenant God established this with the Church at the cross. They would follow Jesus' and his apostles' teaching on how to live. God would make them (even non-Israelites) his people, forgive their sins, allow himself to be known, and put his law (as taught by Jesus) in their hearts. He would resurrect them to eternal life in the age to come when he establishes his eternal Kingdom. Application Rules “A text cannot mean what it never could have meant to its author or readers” (p. 77). “Whenever we share comparable particulars with the first-century hearers, God's word to us is the same as his word to them” (p. 78). “The great caution here is that we do our exegesis well so that we have confidence that our situations and particulars are genuinely comparable to theirs. This is why the careful reconstruction of their problem is so important” (p. 79). Application Problems The problem of extended application (1 Cor 6:1-6) The problem of particulars that are not comparable (1 Cor 10:24-11:1) The problem of cultural relativity (Rom 16:16; 1 Cor 16:20; 2 Cor 13:12; 1 Thess 5:26) The problem of task theology Three Questions to Help with Extended Application Does extending the application contradict other scriptural statements? Does extending the application align with general principles taught in scripture? Does extending the application align or contradict with the example of Jesus or the apostles? Moral vs. Custom “[O]ne should be prepared to distinguish between what the New Testament itself sees as inherently moral and what is not. Those items that are inherently moral are therefore absolute and abide for every culture; those that are not inherently moral are therefore cultural expressions and may change from culture to culture.”[2] Novel Doctrines If you've found a way of putting together verses to build a new doctrine no one in twenty centuries of Christianity has ever expressed, chances are you've made a mistake. See Restorationist Manifesto (Appendix 2-3) for simple methods of doctrinal synthesis and evaluation. Review: When reading scripture, look for clues about authorship, audience, occasion, and purpose. Figure out what a text meant to them first, then figure out what it means to you. Pray! Ask God to change you by what you read. Seek his wisdom in applying scripture to your particular situation. Understanding covenants is necessary to figure out if a particular command in scripture applies to you today. It’s easiest to apply scripture when your situation lines up closely with the biblical situation. Recognize that scripture has a limited application. Don’t extend application beyond the original intention. Sometimes our situations are so different that the best we can do is extract the principle behind a particular instruction. However, applying that principle in a new situation takes wisdom. Some instructions in scripture are culturally embedded and obeying them literally would result in new problems. Building general doctrines from biblical texts is sometimes problematic since scripture often addresses particular situations. [1] Dan Kimball, How (Not) to Read the Bible (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2020), 39. [2] Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2014), 85.

4: How to Determine Content and Application

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 30, 2024

Notes Download “If there was one bit of wisdom, one rule of thumb, one single skill I could impart, one useful tip I could leave that would serve you well the rest of your life, what would it be? What is the single most important practical skill I've ever learned as a Christian? Here it is: Never read a Bible verse. That's right, never read a Bible verse. Instead, always read a paragraph at least.”[[Dan Kimball, How (Not) to Read the Bible (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2020), 39.]] What to Look For author audience occasion purpose Two Tasks Figure out what a text meant to its original audience Figure out what it means to you today Understand Then Apply get the author's point before asking about application what's the author's train of thought do not ask, “How does this affect my life?” do not ask, “How does this fit into my theology?” just focus on getting what the author is conveying in his own historical context paragraph style bibles help with this tremendously whereas verse paragraphs make it hard to see what is connected to what look up words and phrases that you don't understand like a Sabbath day's journey, high places, a talent or a mina in most cases a simple internet search will provide the answer a paper study bible or some apps will provide footnotes with helpful information Have an Open Posture Toward the Text accept that you are going to disagree with the scriptures from time to time also accept that sometimes your understanding of the scripture is flawed recognize that you are imperfect in your understanding, morals, theology, and understanding of life adopt a posture of obedience pray, “God please change me by what I read” the role of God's spirit to inspire, convict, encourage, etc. The spirit is both lurking beneath the surface of scripture and hovering over it as you read pray and ask God to show you what to do in light of what you just read Covenants covenant is an agreement between God and the people with clear expectations and commitments from both old covenant God established this with Israel at Mount Sinai after he brought them out of Egypt through Moses they would follow his Torah (instruction or law) as taught by Moses he would take care of their fertility and protect them new covenant God established this with the Church at the cross they would follow Jesus and his apostles' teaching on how to live God would make them (even non-Israelites) his people, forgive their sins, allow himself to be known, and put his law (as taught by Jesus) in their hearts he would resurrect them to eternal life in the age to come when he establishes his eternal kingdom Application Rules “A text cannot mean what it never could have meant to its author or readers” (p. 77). “Whenever we share comparable particulars with the first-century hearers, God's word to us is the same as his word to them” (p. 78). “The great caution here is that we do our exegesis well so that we have confidence that our situations and particulars are genuinely comparable to theirs. This is why the careful reconstruction of their problem is so important” (p. 79). Application Problems The problem of extended application (1 Cor 6.1-6) The problem of particulars that are not comparable (1 Cor 10.24-11.1) The problem of cultural relativity (Rom 16.16; 1 Cor 16.20; 2 Cor 13.12; 1 Thess 5.26) The problem of task theology Three Questions to Help with Extended Application Does extending the application contradict other scriptural statements? Does extending the application align with general principles taught in scripture Does extending the application align or contradict with the example of Jesus or the apostles? Moral vs. Custom “[O]ne should be prepared to distinguish between what the New Testament itself sees as inherently moral and what is not. Those items that are inherently moral are therefore absolute and abide for every culture; those that are not inherently moral are therefore cultural expressions and may change from culture to culture.”[[Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2014), 85.]] Novel Doctrines If you've found a way of putting together verses to build a new doctrine no one in twenty centuries of Christianity has ever expressed, chances are, you've made a mistake See Restorationist Manifesto (Appendix 2-3) for simple methods of doctrinal synthesis and evaluation Review: When reading scripture, look for clues about authorship, audience, occasion, and purpose. Figure out what a text meant to them first, then figure out what it means to you. Pray! Ask God to change you by what you read. Seek his wisdom in applying scripture to your particular situation. Understanding covenants is necessary to figure out if a particular command in scripture applies to you today. It's easiest to apply scripture when your situation lines up closely with the biblical situation. Recognize that scripture has a limited application. Don't extend application beyond the original intention. Sometimes our situations are so different that the best we can do is extract the principle behind a particular instruction. However, applying that principle in a new situation takes wisdom. Some instructions in scripture are culturally embedded and obeying them literally would result in new problems. Building general doctrines from biblical texts is sometimes problematic since scripture often addresses particular situations.

4: How to Determine Content and Application

BridgePointe Christian Church

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 30, 2024

Notes Download “If there was one bit of wisdom, one rule of thumb, one single skill I could impart, one useful tip I could leave that would serve you well the rest of your life, what would it be? What is the single most important practical skill I've ever learned as a Christian? Here it is: Never read a Bible verse. That's right, never read a Bible verse. Instead, always read a paragraph at least.”[[Dan Kimball, How (Not) to Read the Bible (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2020), 39.]] What to Look For author audience occasion purpose Two Tasks Figure out what a text meant to its original audience Figure out what it means to you today Understand Then Apply get the author's point before asking about application what's the author's train of thought do not ask, “How does this affect my life?” do not ask, “How does this fit into my theology?” just focus on getting what the author is conveying in his own historical context paragraph style bibles help with this tremendously whereas verse paragraphs make it hard to see what is connected to what look up words and phrases that you don't understand like a Sabbath day's journey, high places, a talent or a mina in most cases a simple internet search will provide the answer a paper study bible or some apps will provide footnotes with helpful information Have an Open Posture Toward the Text accept that you are going to disagree with the scriptures from time to time also accept that sometimes your understanding of the scripture is flawed recognize that you are imperfect in your understanding, morals, theology, and understanding of life adopt a posture of obedience pray, “God please change me by what I read” the role of God's spirit to inspire, convict, encourage, etc. The spirit is both lurking beneath the surface of scripture and hovering over it as you read pray and ask God to show you what to do in light of what you just read Covenants covenant is an agreement between God and the people with clear expectations and commitments from both old covenant God established this with Israel at Mount Sinai after he brought them out of Egypt through Moses they would follow his Torah (instruction or law) as taught by Moses he would take care of their fertility and protect them new covenant God established this with the Church at the cross they would follow Jesus and his apostles' teaching on how to live God would make them (even non-Israelites) his people, forgive their sins, allow himself to be known, and put his law (as taught by Jesus) in their hearts he would resurrect them to eternal life in the age to come when he establishes his eternal kingdom Application Rules “A text cannot mean what it never could have meant to its author or readers” (p. 77). “Whenever we share comparable particulars with the first-century hearers, God's word to us is the same as his word to them” (p. 78). “The great caution here is that we do our exegesis well so that we have confidence that our situations and particulars are genuinely comparable to theirs. This is why the careful reconstruction of their problem is so important” (p. 79). Application Problems The problem of extended application (1 Cor 6.1-6) The problem of particulars that are not comparable (1 Cor 10.24-11.1) The problem of cultural relativity (Rom 16.16; 1 Cor 16.20; 2 Cor 13.12; 1 Thess 5.26) The problem of task theology Three Questions to Help with Extended Application Does extending the application contradict other scriptural statements? Does extending the application align with general principles taught in scripture Does extending the application align or contradict with the example of Jesus or the apostles? Moral vs. Custom “[O]ne should be prepared to distinguish between what the New Testament itself sees as inherently moral and what is not. Those items that are inherently moral are therefore absolute and abide for every culture; those that are not inherently moral are therefore cultural expressions and may change from culture to culture.”[[Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2014), 85.]] Novel Doctrines If you've found a way of putting together verses to build a new doctrine no one in twenty centuries of Christianity has ever expressed, chances are, you've made a mistake See Restorationist Manifesto (Appendix 2-3) for simple methods of doctrinal synthesis and evaluation Review: When reading scripture, look for clues about authorship, audience, occasion, and purpose. Figure out what a text meant to them first, then figure out what it means to you. Pray! Ask God to change you by what you read. Seek his wisdom in applying scripture to your particular situation. Understanding covenants is necessary to figure out if a particular command in scripture applies to you today. It’s easiest to apply scripture when your situation lines up closely with the biblical situation. Recognize that scripture has a limited application. Don’t extend application beyond the original intention. Sometimes our situations are so different that the best we can do is extract the principle behind a particular instruction. However, applying that principle in a new situation takes wisdom. Some instructions in scripture are culturally embedded and obeying them literally would result in new problems. Building general doctrines from biblical texts is sometimes problematic since scripture often addresses particular situations. The post 4: How to Determine Content and Application first appeared on Living Hope.

Abide Daily

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 7, 2024 40:31

Disciples live with Jesus as King, giving Him full authority over their lives. This allegiance is established not by power or force but by love. Jesus has demonstrated His love for us and He wants us to trust Him to lead us into life at its best. This kind of dependence and allegiance happens one day at a time. Jesus taught that our relationship with Him should be like that of a vine and its branches, meaning that we need a constant connection to He to thrive. This abiding relationship grows through the daily practices of prayer and Scripture reading. *Related Resources*- Use the buttons above for two messages from our Less is More series, "Mornings" and "Fasting" - Book: "How to Read the Bible for All it's Worth" by Gordon D. Fee- Book: "Women of the Word" by Jen Wilkin

jesus christ women bible scripture disciples fasting abide jen wilkin related resources gordon d fee

Abide Daily

BridgePointe Christian Church

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 7, 2024 40:31

jesus christ women bible scripture disciples fasting abide jen wilkin related resources gordon d fee

521 The Deity of Christ from a Greco-Roman Perspective (Sean Finnegan)

Olive Branch Community Church - Audio Podcast (Audio)

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 9, 2023 56:33

Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts Let's face it the New Testament probably calls Jesus God (or god) a couple of times and so do early Christian authors in the second century. However, no one offers much of an explanation for what they mean by the title. Did early Christians think Jesus was God because he represented Yahweh? Did they think he was God because he shared the same eternal being as the Father? Did they think he was a god because that's just what they would call any immortalized human who lived in heaven? In this presentation I focus on the question from the perspective of Greco-Roman theology. Drawing on the work of David Litwa, Andrew Perriman, Barry Blackburn, and tons of ancient sources I seek to show how Mediterranean converts to Christianity would have perceived Jesus based on their cultural and religious assumptions. This presentation is from the 3rd Unitarian Christian Alliance Conference on October 20, 2023 in Springfield, OH. Here is the original pdf of this paper. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5Z3QbQ7dHc —— Links —— See more scholarly articles by Sean Finnegan Get the transcript of this episode Support Restitutio by donating here Join our Restitutio Facebook Group and follow Sean Finnegan on Twitter @RestitutioSF Leave a voice message via SpeakPipe with questions or comments and we may play them out on the air Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library. Who is Sean Finnegan? Read his bio here Introduction When early Christian authors called Jesus “god” (or “God”) what did they mean?[1] Modern apologists routinely point to pre-Nicene quotations in order to prove that early Christians always believed in the deity of Christ, by which they mean that he is of the same substance (homoousios) as the Father. However, most historians agree that Christians before the fourth century simply didn't have the cognitive categories available yet to think of Christ in Nicene or Chalcedonian ways. If this consensus is correct, it behooves us to consider other options for defining what early Christian authors meant. The obvious place to go to get an answer to our initial question is the New Testament. However, as is well known, the handful of instances in which authors unambiguously applied god (θεός) to Christ are fraught with textual uncertainty, grammatical ambiguity, and hermeneutical elasticity.[2] What's more, granting that these contested texts[3] all call Jesus “god” provides little insight into what they might mean by that phrase. Turning to the second century, the earliest handful of texts that say Jesus is god are likewise textually uncertain or terse.[4] We must wait until the second half of the second century and beyond to have more helpful material to examine. We know that in the meanwhile some Christians were saying Jesus was god. What did they mean? One promising approach is to analyze biblical texts that call others gods. We find helpful parallels with the word god (אֱלֹהִים) applied to Moses (Exod 7.1; 4.16), judges (Exod 21.6; 22.8-9), kings (Is 9.6; Ps 45.6), the divine council (Ps 82.1, 6), and angels (Ps 8.6). These are texts in which God imbues his agents with his authority to represent him in some way. This rare though significant way of calling a representative “god,” continues in the NT with Jesus' clever defense to his accusers in John 10.34-36. Lexicons[5] have long recognized this “Hebraistic” usage and recent study tools such as the New English Translation (NET)[6] and the Zondervan Illustrated Bible Background Commentary[7] also note this phenomenon. But, even if this agency perspective is the most natural reading of texts like Heb 1.8, later Christians, apart from one or two exceptions appear to be ignorant of this usage.[8] This interpretation was likely a casualty of the so-called parting of the ways whereby Christianity transitioned from a second-temple-Jewish movement to a Gentile-majority religion. As such, to grasp what early postapostolic Christians believed, we must turn our attention elsewhere. Michael Bird is right when he says, “Christian discourses about deity belong incontrovertibly in the Greco-Roman context because it provided the cultural encyclopedia that, in diverse ways, shaped the early church's Christological conceptuality and vocabulary.”[9] Learning Greco-Roman theology is not only important because that was the context in which early Christians wrote, but also because from the late first century onward, most of our Christian authors converted from that worldview. Rather than talking about the Hellenization of Christianity, we should begin by asking how Hellenists experienced Christianization. In other words, Greco-Roman beliefs about the gods were the default lens through which converts first saw Christ. In order to explore how Greco-Roman theology shaped what people believed about Jesus as god, we do well to begin by asking how they defined a god. Andrew Perriman offers a helpful starting point. “The gods,” he writes, “are mostly understood as corporeal beings, blessed with immortality, larger, more beautiful, and more powerful than their mortal analogues.”[10] Furthermore, there were lots of them! The sublunar realm was, in the words of Paula Fredriksen, “a god-congested place.”[11] What's more, “[S]harp lines and clearly demarcated boundaries between divinity and humanity were lacking."[12] Gods could appear as people and people could ascend to become gods. Comprehending what Greco-Roman people believed about gods coming down and humans going up will occupy the first part of this paper. Only once we've adjusted our thinking to their culture, will we walk through key moments in the life of Jesus of Nazareth to hear the story with ancient Mediterranean ears. Lastly, we'll consider the evidence from sources that think of Jesus in Greco-Roman categories. Bringing this all together we'll enumerate the primary ways to interpret the phrase “Jesus is god” available to Christians in the pre-Nicene period. Gods Coming Down and Humans Going Up The idea that a god would visit someone is not as unusual as it first sounds. We find plenty of examples of Yahweh himself or non-human representatives visiting people in the Hebrew Bible.[13] One psalmist even referred to angels or “heavenly beings” (ESV) as אֱלֹהִים (gods).[14] The Greco-Roman world too told stories about divine entities coming down to interact with people. Euripides tells about the time Zeus forced the god Apollo to become a human servant in the house of Admetus, performing menial labor as punishment for killing the Cyclopes (Alcestis 1). Baucis and Philemon offered hospitality to Jupiter and Mercury when they appeared in human form (Ovid, Metamorphoses 8.26-34). In Homer's Odyssey onlookers warn Antinous for flinging a stool against a stranger since “the gods do take on the look of strangers dropping in from abroad”[15] (17.534-9). Because they believed the boundary between the divine realm and the Earth was so permeable, Mediterranean people were always on guard for an encounter with a god in disguise. In addition to gods coming down, in special circumstances, humans could ascend and become gods too. Diodorus of Sicily demarcated two types of gods: those who are “eternal and imperishable, such as the sun and the moon” and “the other gods…terrestrial beings who attained to immortal honour”[16] (The Historical Library of Diodorus the Sicilian 6.1). By some accounts, even the Olympian gods, including Kronos and Uranus were once mortal men.[17] Among humans who could become divine, we find several distinguishable categories, including heroes, miracle workers, and rulers. We'll look at each briefly before considering how the story of Jesus would resonate with those holding a Greco-Roman worldview. Deified Heroes Cornutus the Stoic said, “[T]he ancients called heroes those who were so strong in body and soul that they seemed to be part of a divine race.” (Greek Theology 31)[18] At first this statement appears to be a mere simile, but he goes on to say of Heracles (Hercules), the Greek hero par excellence, “his services had earned him apotheosis” (ibid.). Apotheosis (or deification) is the process by which a human ascends into the divine realm. Beyond Heracles and his feats of strength, other exceptional individuals became deified for various reasons. Amphiarus was a seer who died in the battle at Thebes. After opening a chasm in the earth to swallow him in battle, “Zeus made him immortal”[19] (Apollodorus, Library of Greek Mythology 3.6). Pausanias says the custom of the inhabitants of Oropos was to drop coins into Amphiarus' spring “because this is where they say Amphiarus rose up as a god”[20] (Guide to Greece 1.34). Likewise, Strabo speaks about a shrine for Calchas, a deceased diviner from the Trojan war (Homer, Illiad 1.79-84), “where those consulting the oracle sacrifice a black ram to the dead and sleep in its hide”[21] (Strabo, Geography 6.3.9). Though the great majority of the dead were locked away in the lower world of Hades, leading a shadowy pitiful existence, the exceptional few could visit or speak from beyond the grave. Lastly, there was Zoroaster the Persian prophet who, according to Dio Chrysostom, was enveloped by fire while he meditated upon a mountain. He was unharmed and gave advice on how to properly make offerings to the gods (Dio Chrysostom, Discourses 36.40). The Psuedo-Clementine Homilies include a story about a lightning bolt striking and killing Zoroaster. After his devotees buried his body, they built a temple on the site, thinking that “his soul had been sent for by lightning” and they “worshipped him as a god”[22] (Homily 9.5.2). Thus, a hero could have extraordinary strength, foresight, or closeness to the gods resulting in apotheosis and ongoing worship and communication. Deified Miracle Workers Beyond heroes, Greco-Roman people loved to tell stories about deified miracle workers. Twice Orpheus rescued a ship from a storm by praying to the gods (Diodorus of Sicily 4.43.1f; 48.5f). After his death, surviving inscriptions indicate that he both received worship and was regarded as a god in several cities.[23] Epimenides “fell asleep in a cave for fifty-seven years”[24] (Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers 1.109). He also predicted a ten-year period of reprieve from Persian attack in Athens (Plato Laws 1.642D-E). Plato called him a divine man (θεῖος ἀνήρ) (ibid.) and Diogenes talked of Cretans sacrificing to him as a god (Diogenes, Lives 1.114). Iamblichus said Pythagoras was the son of Apollo and a mortal woman (Life of Pythagoras 2). Nonetheless, the soul of Pythagoras enjoyed multiple lives, having originally been “sent to mankind from the empire of Apollo”[25] (Life 2). Diogenes and Lucian enumerate the lives the pre-existent Pythagoras led, including Aethalides, Euphorbus, Hermotimus, and Pyrrhus (Diogenes, Life of Pythagoras 4; Lucian, The Cock 16-20). Hermes had granted Pythagoras the gift of “perpetual transmigration of his soul”[26] so he could remember his lives while living or dead (Diogenes, Life 4). Ancient sources are replete with Pythagorean miracle stories.[27] Porphyry mentions several, including taming a bear, persuading an ox to stop eating beans, and accurately predicting a catch of fish (Life of Pythagoras 23-25). Porphyry said Pythagoras accurately predicted earthquakes and “chased away a pestilence, suppressed violent winds and hail, [and] calmed storms on rivers and on seas” (Life 29).[28] Such miracles, argued the Pythagoreans made Pythagoras “a being superior to man, and not to a mere man” (Iamblichus, Life 28).[29] Iamblichus lays out the views of Pythagoras' followers, including that he was a god, a philanthropic daemon, the Pythian, the Hyperborean Apollo, a Paeon, a daemon inhabiting the moon, or an Olympian god (Life 6). Another pre-Socratic philosopher was Empedocles who studied under Pythagoras. To him sources attribute several miracles, including stopping a damaging wind, restoring the wind, bringing dry weather, causing it to rain, and even bringing someone back from Hades (Diogenes, Lives 8.59).[30] Diogenes records an incident in which Empedocles put a woman into a trance for thirty days before sending her away alive (8.61). He also includes a poem in which Empedocles says, “I am a deathless god, no longer mortal, I go among you honored by all, as is right”[31] (8.62). Asclepius was a son of the god Apollo and a human woman (Cornutus, Greek Theology 33). He was known for healing people from diseases and injuries (Pindar, Pythian 3.47-50). “[H]e invented any medicine he wished for the sick, and raised up the dead”[32] (Pausanias, Guide to Greece 2.26.4). However, as Diodorus relates, Hades complained to Zeus on account of Asclepius' diminishing his realm, which resulted in Zeus zapping Asclepius with a thunderbolt, killing him (4.71.2-3). Nevertheless, Asclepius later ascended into heaven to become a god (Hyginus, Fables 224; Cicero, Nature of the Gods 2.62).[33] Apollonius of Tyana was a famous first century miracle worker. According to Philostratus' account, the locals of Tyana regard Apollonius to be the son of Zeus (Life 1.6). Apollonius predicted many events, interpreted dreams, and knew private facts about people. He rebuked and ridiculed a demon, causing it to flee, shrieking as it went (Life 2.4).[34] He even once stopped a funeral procession and raised the deceased to life (Life 4.45). What's more he knew every human language (Life 1.19) and could understand what sparrows chirped to each other (Life 4.3). Once he instantaneously transported himself from Smyrna to Ephesus (Life 4.10). He claimed knowledge of his previous incarnation as the captain of an Egyptian ship (Life 3.23) and, in the end, Apollonius entered the temple of Athena and vanished, ascending from earth into heaven to the sound of a choir singing (Life 8.30). We have plenty of literary evidence that contemporaries and those who lived later regarded him as a divine man (Letters 48.3)[35] or godlike (ἰσόθεος) (Letters 44.1) or even just a god (θεός) (Life 5.24). Deified Rulers Our last category of deified humans to consider before seeing how this all relates to Jesus is rulers. Egyptians, as indicated from the hieroglyphs left in the pyramids, believed their deceased kings to enjoy afterlives as gods. They could become star gods or even hunt and consume other gods to absorb their powers.[36] The famous Macedonian conqueror, Alexander the Great, carried himself as a god towards the Persians though Plutarch opines, “[he] was not at all vain or deluded but rather used belief in his divinity to enslave others”[37] (Life of Alexander 28). This worship continued after his death, especially in Alexandria where Ptolemy built a tomb and established a priesthood to conduct religious honors to the deified ruler. Even the emperor Trajan offered a sacrifice to the spirit of Alexander (Cassius Dio, Roman History 68.30). Another interesting example is Antiochus I of Comagene who called himself “Antiochus the just [and] manifest god, friend of the Romans [and] friend of the Greeks.”[38] His tomb boasted four colossal figures seated on thrones: Zeus, Heracles, Apollo, and himself. The message was clear: Antiochus I wanted his subjects to recognize his place among the gods after death. Of course, the most relevant rulers for the Christian era were the Roman emperors. The first official Roman emperor Augustus deified his predecessor, Julius Caesar, celebrating his apotheosis with games (Suetonius, Life of Julius Caesar 88). Only five years after Augustus died, eastern inhabitants of the Roman Empire at Priene happily declared “the birthday of the god Augustus” (ἡ γενέθλιος ἡμέρα τοῦ θεοῦ)[39] to be the start of their provincial year. By the time of Tacitus, a century after Augustus died, the wealthy in Rome had statues of the first emperor in their gardens for worship (Annals 1.73). The Roman historian Appian explained that the Romans regularly deify emperors at death “provided he has not been a despot or a disgrace”[40] (The Civil Wars 2.148). In other words, deification was the default setting for deceased emperors. Pliny the Younger lays it on pretty thick when he describes the process. He says Nero deified Claudius to expose him; Titus deified Vespasian and Domitian so he could be the son and brother of gods. However, Trajan deified Nerva because he genuinely believed him to be more than a human (Panegyric 11). In our little survey, we've seen three main categories of deified humans: heroes, miracle workers, and good rulers. These “conceptions of deity,” writes David Litwa, “were part of the “preunderstanding” of Hellenistic culture.”[41] He continues: If actual cases of deification were rare, traditions of deification were not. They were the stuff of heroic epic, lyric song, ancient mythology, cultic hymns, Hellenistic novels, and popular plays all over the first-century Mediterranean world. Such discourses were part of mainstream, urban culture to which most early Christians belonged. If Christians were socialized in predominantly Greco-Roman environments, it is no surprise that they employed and adapted common traits of deities and deified men to exalt their lord to divine status.[42] Now that we've attuned our thinking to Mediterranean sensibilities about gods coming down in the shape of humans and humans experiencing apotheosis to permanently dwell as gods in the divine realm, our ears are attuned to hear the story of Jesus with Greco-Roman ears. Hearing the Story of Jesus with Greco-Roman Ears How would second or third century inhabitants of the Roman empire have categorized Jesus? Taking my cue from Litwa's treatment in Iesus Deus, I'll briefly work through Jesus' conception, transfiguration, miracles, resurrection, and ascension. Miraculous Conception Although set within the context of Jewish messianism, Christ's miraculous birth would have resonated differently with Greco-Roman people. Stories of gods coming down and having intercourse with women are common in classical literature. That these stories made sense of why certain individuals were so exceptional is obvious. For example, Origen related a story about Apollo impregnating Amphictione who then gave birth to Plato (Against Celsus 1.37). Though Mary's conception did not come about through intercourse with a divine visitor, the fact that Jesus had no human father would call to mind divine sonship like Pythagoras or Asclepius. Celsus pointed out that the ancients “attributed a divine origin to Perseus, and Amphion, and Aeacus, and Minos” (Origen, Against Celsus 1.67). Philostratus records a story of the Egyptian god Proteus saying to Apollonius' mother that she would give birth to himself (Life of Apollonius of Tyana 1.4). Since people were primed to connect miraculous origins with divinity, typical hearers of the birth narratives of Matthew or Luke would likely think that this baby might be either be a descended god or a man destined to ascend to become a god. Miracles and Healing As we've seen, Jesus' miracles would not have sounded unbelievable or even unprecedent to Mediterranean people. Like Jesus, Orpheus and Empedocles calmed storms, rescuing ships. Though Jesus provided miraculous guidance on how to catch fish, Pythagoras foretold the number of fish in a great catch. After the fishermen painstakingly counted them all, they were astounded that when they threw them back in, they were still alive (Porphyry, Life 23-25). Jesus' ability to foretell the future, know people's thoughts, and cast out demons all find parallels in Apollonius of Tyana. As for resurrecting the dead, we have the stories of Empedocles, Asclepius, and Apollonius. The last of which even stopped a funeral procession to raise the dead, calling to mind Jesus' deeds in Luke 7.11-17. When Lycaonians witnessed Paul's healing of a man crippled from birth, they cried out, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men” (Acts 14.11). Another time when no harm befell Paul after a poisonous snake bit him on Malta, Gentile onlookers concluded “he was a god” (Acts 28.6). Barry Blackburn makes the following observation: [I]n view of the tendency, most clearly seen in the Epimenidean, Pythagorean, and Apollonian traditions, to correlate impressive miracle-working with divine status, one may justifiably conclude that the evangelical miracle traditions would have helped numerous gentile Christians to arrive at and maintain belief in Jesus' divine status.[43] Transfiguration Ancient Mediterranean inhabitants believed that the gods occasionally came down disguised as people. Only when gods revealed their inner brilliant natures could people know that they weren't mere humans. After his ship grounded on the sands of Krisa, Apollo leaped from the ship emitting flashes of fire “like a star in the middle of day…his radiance shot to heaven”[44] (Homeric Hymns, Hymn to Apollo 440). Likewise, Aphrodite appeared in shining garments, brighter than a fire and shimmering like the moon (Hymn to Aphrodite 85-89). When Demeter appeared to Metaneira, she initially looked like an old woman, but she transformed herself before her. “Casting old age away…a delightful perfume spread…a radiance shone out far from the goddess' immortal flesh…and the solid-made house was filled with a light like the lightning-flash”[45] (Hymn to Demeter 275-280). Homer wrote about Odysseus' transformation at the golden wand of Athena in which his clothes became clean, he became taller, and his skin looked younger. His son, Telemachus cried out, “Surely you are some god who rules the vaulting skies”[46] (Odyssey 16.206). Each time the observers conclude the transfigured person is a god. Resurrection & Ascension In defending the resurrection of Jesus, Theophilus of Antioch said, “[Y]ou believe that Hercules, who burned himself, lives; and that Aesculapius [Asclepius], who was struck with lightning, was raised”[47] (Autolycus 1.13). Although Hercules' physical body burnt, his transformed pneumatic body continued on as the poet Callimachus said, “under a Phrygian oak his limbs had been deified”[48] (Callimachus, Hymn to Artemis 159). Others thought Hercules ascended to heaven in his burnt body, which Asclepius subsequently healed (Lucian, Dialogue of the Gods 13). After his ascent, Diodorus relates how the people first sacrificed to him “as to a hero” then in Athens they began to honor him “with sacrifices like as to a god”[49] (The Historical Library 4.39). As for Asclepius, his ascension resulted in his deification as Cyprian said, “Aesculapius is struck by lightning, that he may rise into a god”[50] (On the Vanity of Idols 2). Romulus too “was torn to pieces by the hands of a hundred senators”[51] and after death ascended into heaven and received worship (Arnobius, Against the Heathen 1.41). Livy tells of how Romulus was “carried up on high by a whirlwind” and that immediately afterward “every man present hailed him as a god and son of a god”[52] (The Early History of Rome 1.16). As we can see from these three cases—Hercules, Asclepius, and Romulus—ascent into heaven was a common way of talking about deification. For Cicero, this was an obvious fact. People “who conferred outstanding benefits were translated to heaven through their fame and our gratitude”[53] (Nature 2.62). Consequently, Jesus' own resurrection and ascension would have triggered Gentiles to intuit his divinity. Commenting on the appearance of the immortalized Christ to the eleven in Galilee, Wendy Cotter said, “It is fair to say that the scene found in [Mat] 28:16-20 would be understood by a Greco-Roman audience, Jew or Gentile, as an apotheosis of Jesus.”[54] Although I beg to differ with Cotter's whole cloth inclusion of Jews here, it's hard to see how else non-Jews would have regarded the risen Christ. Litwa adds Rev 1.13-16 “[W]here he [Jesus] appears with all the accoutrements of the divine: a shining face, an overwhelming voice, luminescent clothing, and so on.”[55] In this brief survey we've seen that several key events in the story of Jesus told in the Gospels would have caused Greco-Roman hearers to intuit deity, including his divine conception, miracles, healing ministry, transfiguration, resurrection, and ascension. In their original context of second temple Judaism, these very same incidents would have resonated quite differently. His divine conception authenticated Jesus as the second Adam (Luke 3.38; Rom 5.14; 1 Cor 15.45) and God's Davidic son (2 Sam 7.14; Ps 2.7; Lk 1.32, 35). If Matthew or Luke wanted readers to understand that Jesus was divine based on his conception and birth, they failed to make such intentions explicit in the text. Rather, the birth narratives appear to have a much more modest aim—to persuade readers that Jesus had a credible claim to be Israel's messiah. His miracles show that “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power…for God was with him” (Acts 10.38; cf. Jn 3.2; 10.32, 38). Rather than concluding Jesus to be a god, Jewish witnesses to his healing of a paralyzed man “glorified God, who had given such authority to men” (Mat 9.8). Over and over, especially in the Gospel of John, Jesus directs people's attention to his Father who was doing the works in and through him (Jn 5.19, 30; 8.28; 12.49; 14.10). Seeing Jesus raise someone from the dead suggested to his original Jewish audience that “a great prophet has arisen among us” (Lk 7.16). The transfiguration, in its original setting, is an eschatological vision not a divine epiphany. Placement in the synoptic Gospels just after Jesus' promise that some there would not die before seeing the kingdom come sets the hermeneutical frame. “The transfiguration,” says William Lane, “was a momentary, but real (and witnessed) manifestation of Jesus' sovereign power which pointed beyond itself to the Parousia, when he will come ‘with power and glory.'”[56] If eschatology is the foreground, the background for the transfiguration was Moses' ascent of Sinai when he also encountered God and became radiant.[57] Viewed from the lenses of Moses' ascent and the eschaton, the transfiguration of Jesus is about his identity as God's definitive chosen ruler, not about any kind of innate divinity. Lastly, the resurrection and ascension validated Jesus' messianic claims to be the ruler of the age to come (Acts 17.31; Rom 1.4). Rather than concluding Jesus was deity, early Jewish Christians concluded these events showed that “God has made him both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2.36). The interpretative backgrounds for Jesus' ascension were not stories about Heracles, Asclepius, or Romulus. No, the key oracle that framed the Israelite understanding was the messianic psalm in which Yahweh told David's Lord to “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool” (Psalm 110.1). The idea is of a temporary sojourn in heaven until exercising the authority of his scepter to rule over earth from Zion. Once again, the biblical texts remain completely silent about deification. But even if the original meanings of Jesus' birth, ministry, transfiguration, resurrection, and ascension have messianic overtones when interpreted within the Jewish milieu, these same stories began to communicate various ideas of deity to Gentile converts in the generations that followed. We find little snippets from historical sources beginning in the second century and growing with time. Evidence of Belief in Jesus' as a Greco-Roman Deity To begin with, we have two non-Christian instances where Romans regarded Jesus as a deity within typical Greco-Roman categories. The first comes to us from Tertullian and Eusebius who mention an intriguing story about Tiberius' request to the Roman senate to deify Christ. Convinced by “intelligence from Palestine of events which had clearly shown the truth of Christ's divinity”[58] Tiberius proposed the matter to the senate (Apology 5). Eusebius adds that Tiberius learned that “many believed him to be a god in rising from the dead”[59] (Church History 2.2). As expected, the senate rejected the proposal. I mention this story, not because I can establish its historicity, but because it portrays how Tiberius would have thought about Jesus if he had heard about his miracles and resurrection. Another important incident is from one of the governor Pliny the Younger's letters to the emperor Trajan. Having investigated some people accused of Christianity, he found “they had met regularly before dawn on a fixed day to chant verses alternately amongst themselves in honour of Christ as if to a god”[60] (Letter 96). To an outside imperial observer like Pliny, the Christians believed in a man who had performed miracles, defeated death, and now lived in heaven. Calling him a god was just the natural way of talking about such a person. Pliny would not have thought Jesus was superior to the deified Roman emperors much less Zeus or the Olympic gods. If he believed in Jesus at all, he would have regarded him as another Mediterranean prophet who escaped Hades to enjoy apotheosis. Another interesting text to consider is the Infancy Gospel of Thomas. This apocryphal text tells the story of Jesus' childhood between the ages of five and twelve. Jesus is impetuous, powerful, and brilliant. Unsure to conclude that Jesus was “either god or angel,”[61] his teacher remands him to Joseph's custody (7). Later, a crowd of onlookers ponders whether the child is a god or a heavenly messenger after he raises an infant from the dead (17). A year later Jesus raised a construction man who had fallen to his death back to life (18). Once again, the crowd asked if the child was from heaven. Although some historians are quick to assume the lofty conceptions of Justin and his successors about the logos were commonplace in the early Christianity, Litwa points out, “The spell of the Logos could only bewitch a very small circle of Christian elites… In IGT, we find a Jesus who is divine according to different canons, the canons of popular Mediterranean theology.”[62] Another important though often overlooked scholarly group of Christians in the second century was led by a certain Theodotus of Byzantium.[63] Typically referred to by their heresiological label “Theodotians,” these dynamic monarchians lived in Rome and claimed that they held to the original Christology before it had been corrupted under Bishop Zephyrinus (Eusebius, Church History 5.28). Theodotus believed in the virgin birth, but not in his pre-existence or that he was god/God (Pseudo-Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies 7.35.1-2; 10.23.1-2). He thought that Jesus was not able to perform any miracles until his baptism when he received the Christ/Spirit. Pseudo-Hippolytus goes on to say, “But they do not want him to have become a god when the Spirit descended. Others say that he became a god after he rose from the dead.”[64] This last tantalizing remark implies that the Theodotians could affirm Jesus as a god after his resurrection though they denied his pre-existence. Although strict unitarians, they could regard Jesus as a god in that he was an ascended immortalized being who lived in heaven—not equal to the Father, but far superior to all humans on earth. Justin Martyr presents another interesting case to consider. Thoroughly acquainted with Greco-Roman literature and especially the philosophy of Plato, Justin sees Christ as a god whom the Father begot before all other creatures. He calls him “son, or wisdom, or angel, or god, or lord, or word”[65] (Dialogue with Trypho 61). For Justin Christ is “at the same time angel and god and lord and man”[66] (59). Jesus was “of old the Word, appearing at one time in the form of fire, at another under the guise of incorporeal beings, but now, at the will of God, after becoming man for mankind”[67] (First Apology 63). In fact, Justin is quite comfortable to compare Christ to deified heroes and emperors. He says, “[W]e propose nothing new or different from that which you say about the so-called sons of Jupiter [Zeus] by your respected writers… And what about the emperors who die among you, whom you think worthy to be deified?”[68] (21). He readily accepts the parallels with Mercury, Perseus, Asclepius, Bacchus, and Hercules, but argues that Jesus is superior to them (22).[69] Nevertheless, he considered Jesus to be in “a place second to the unchanging and eternal God”[70] (13). The Father is “the Most True God” whereas the Son is he “who came forth from Him”[71] (6). Even as lates as Origen, Greco-Roman concepts of deity persist. In responding to Celsus' claim that no god or son of God has ever come down, Origen responds by stating such a statement would overthrow the stories of Pythian Apollo, Asclepius, and the other gods who descended (Against Celsus 5.2). My point here is not to say Origen believed in all the old myths, but to show how Origen reached for these stories as analogies to explain the incarnation of the logos. When Celsus argued that he would rather believe in the deity of Asclepius, Dionysus, and Hercules than Christ, Origen responded with a moral rather than ontological argument (3.42). He asks how these gods have improved the characters of anyone. Origen admits Celsus' argument “which places the forenamed individuals upon an equality with Jesus” might have force, however in light of the disreputable behavior of these gods, “how could you any longer say, with any show of reason, that these men, on putting aside their mortal body, became gods rather than Jesus?”[72] (3.42). Origen's Christology is far too broad and complicated to cover here. Undoubtedly, his work on eternal generation laid the foundation on which fourth century Christians could build homoousion Christology. Nevertheless, he retained some of the earlier subordinationist impulses of his forebearers. In his book On Prayer, he rebukes praying to Jesus as a crude error, instead advocating prayer to God alone (10). In his Commentary on John he repeatedly asserts that the Father is greater than his logos (1.40; 2.6; 6.23). Thus, Origen is a theologian on the seam of the times. He's both a subordinationist and a believer in the Son's eternal and divine ontology. Now, I want to be careful here. I'm not saying that all early Christians believed Jesus was a deified man like Asclepius or a descended god like Apollo or a reincarnated soul like Pythagoras. More often than not, thinking Christians whose works survive until today tended to eschew the parallels, simultaneously elevating Christ as high as possible while demoting the gods to mere demons. Still, Litwa is inciteful when he writes: It seems likely that early Christians shared the widespread cultural assumption that a resurrected, immortalized being was worthy of worship and thus divine. …Nonetheless there is a difference…Jesus, it appears, was never honored as an independent deity. Rather, he was always worshiped as Yahweh's subordinate. Naturally Heracles and Asclepius were Zeus' subordinates, but they were also members of a larger divine family. Jesus does not enter a pantheon but assumes a distinctive status as God's chief agent and plenipotentiary. It is this status that, to Christian insiders, placed Jesus in a category far above the likes of Heracles, Romulus, and Asclepius who were in turn demoted to the rank of δαίμονες [daimons].[73] Conclusion I began by asking the question, "What did early Christians mean by saying Jesus is god?" We noted that the ancient idea of agency (Jesus is God/god because he represents Yahweh), though present in Hebrew and Christian scripture, didn't play much of a role in how Gentile Christians thought about Jesus. Or if it did, those texts did not survive. By the time we enter the postapostolic era, a majority of Christianity was Gentile and little communication occurred with the Jewish Christians that survived in the East. As such, we turned our attention to Greco-Roman theology to tune our ears to hear the story of Jesus the way they would have. We learned about their multifaceted array of divinities. We saw that gods can come down and take the form of humans and humans can go up and take the form of gods. We found evidence for this kind of thinking in both non-Christian and Christian sources in the second and third centuries. Now it is time to return to the question I began with: “When early Christian authors called Jesus “god” what did they mean?” We saw that the idea of a deified man was present in the non-Christian witnesses of Tiberius and Pliny but made scant appearance in our Christian literature except for the Theodotians. As for the idea that a god came down to become a man, we found evidence in The Infancy Gospel of Thomas, Justin, and Origen.[74] Of course, we find a spectrum within this view, from Justin's designation of Jesus as a second god to Origen's more philosophically nuanced understanding. Still, it's worth noting as R. P. C. Hanson observed that, “With the exception of Athanasius virtually every theologian, East and West, accepted some form of subordinationism at least up to the year 355.”[75] Whether any Christians before Alexander and Athanasius of Alexandria held to the sophisticated idea of consubstantiality depends on showing evidence of the belief that the Son was coequal, coeternal, and coessential with the Father prior to Nicea. (Readers interested in the case for this view should consult Michael Bird's Jesus among the Gods in which he attempted the extraordinary feat of finding proto-Nicene Christology in the first two centuries, a task typically associated with maverick apologists not peer-reviewed historians.) In conclusion, the answer to our driving question about the meaning of “Jesus as god” is that the answer depends on whom we ask. If we ask the Theodotians, Jesus is a god because that's just what one calls an immortalized man who lives in heaven.[76] If we ask those holding a docetic Christology, the answer is that a god came down in appearance as a man. If we ask a logos subordinationist, they'll tell us that Jesus existed as the god through whom the supreme God created the universe before he became a human being. If we ask Tertullian, Jesus is god because he derives his substance from the Father, though he has a lesser portion of divinity.[77] If we ask Athanasius, he'll wax eloquent about how Jesus is of the same substance as the Father equal in status and eternality. The bottom line is that there was not one answer to this question prior to the fourth century. Answers depend on whom we ask and when they lived. Still, we can't help but wonder about the more tantalizing question of development. Which Christology was first and which ones evolved under social, intellectual, and political pressures? In the quest to specify the various stages of development in the Christologies of the ante-Nicene period, this Greco-Roman perspective may just provide the missing link between the reserved and limited way that the NT applies theos to Jesus in the first century and the homoousian view that eventually garnered imperial support in the fourth century. How easy would it have been for fresh converts from the Greco-Roman world to unintentionally mishear the story of Jesus? How easy would it have been for them to fit Jesus into their own categories of descended gods and ascended humans? With the unmooring of Gentile Christianity from its Jewish heritage, is it any wonder that Christologies began to drift out to sea? Now I'm not suggesting that all Christians went through a steady development from a human Jesus to a pre-existent Christ, to an eternal God the Son, to the Chalcedonian hypostatic union. As I mentioned above, plenty of other options were around and every church had its conservatives in addition to its innovators. The story is messy and uneven with competing views spread across huge geographic distances. Furthermore, many Christians probably were content to leave such theological nuances fuzzy, rather than seeking doctrinal precision on Christ's relation to his God and Father. Whatever the case may be, we dare not ignore the influence of Greco-Roman theology in our accounts of Christological development in the Mediterranean world of the first three centuries. Bibliography The Homeric Hymns. Translated by Michael Crudden. New York, NY: Oxford, 2008. Antioch, Theophilus of. To Autolycus. Translated by Marcus Dods. Vol. 2. Ante-Nicene Fathers. Edited by Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2001. Aphrahat. The Demonstrations. Translated by Ellen Muehlberger. Vol. 3. The Cambridge Edition of Early Christian Writings. Edited by Mark DelCogliano. 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Atlanta, GA: SBL, 2018. Cotter, Wendy. "Greco-Roman Apotheosis Traditions and the Resurrection Appearances in Matthew." In The Gospel of Matthew in Current Study. Edited by David E. Aune. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2001. Cyprian. Treatise 6: On the Vanity of Idols. Translated by Ernest Wallis. Vol. 5. Ante-Nicene Fathers. Edited by Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1995. Dittenberger, W. Orientis Graecae Inscriptiones Selectae. Vol. 2. Hildesheim: Olms, 1960. Eusebius. The Church History. Translated by Paul L. Maier. Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2007. Fredriksen, Paula. "How High Can Early High Christology Be?" In Monotheism and Christology in Greco-Roman Antiquity. Edited by Matthew V. Novenson. Vol. 180.vol. Supplements to Novum Testamentum. Leiden: Brill, 2020. Hanson, R. P. C. Search for a Christian Doctrine of God. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2007. Hart, George. The Routledge Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses. 2nd ed. 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End Notes [1] For the remainder of this paper, I will use the lower case “god” for all references to deity outside of Yahweh, the Father of Christ. I do this because all our ancient texts lack capitalization and our modern capitalization rules imply a theology that is anachronistic and unhelpful for the present inquiry. [2] Christopher Kaiser wrote, “Explicit references to Jesus as ‘God' in the New Testament are very few, and even those few are generally plagued with uncertainties of either text or interpretation.” Christopher B. Kaiser, The Doctrine of God: A Historical Survey (London: Marshall Morgan & Scott, 1982), 29. Other scholars such as Raymond Brown (Jesus: God and Man), Jason David BeDuhn (Truth in Translation), and Brian Wright (“Jesus as θεός: A Textual Examination” in Revisiting the Corruption of the New Testament) have expressed similar sentiments. [3] John 20.28; Hebrews 1.8; Titus 2.13; 2 Peter 1.1; Romans 9.5; and 1 John 5.20. [4] See Polycarp's Epistle to the Philippians 12.2 where a manuscript difference determines whether or not Polycarp called Jesus god or lord. Textual corruption is most acute in Igantius' corpus. Although it's been common to dismiss the long recension as an “Arian” corruption, claiming the middle recension to be as pure and uncontaminated as freshly fallen snow upon which a foot has never trodden, such an uncritical view is beginning to give way to more honest analysis. See Paul Gilliam III's Ignatius of Antioch and the Arian Controversy (Leiden: Brill, 2017) for a recent treatment of Christological corruption in the middle recension. [5] See the entries for אֱלֹהִיםand θεός in the Hebrew Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament (HALOT), the Brown Driver Briggs Lexicon (BDB), Eerdmans Dictionary, Kohlenberger/Mounce Concise Hebrew-Aramaic Dictionary of the Old Testament, the Bauer Danker Arndt Gingrich Lexicon (BDAG), Friberg Greek Lexicon, and Thayer's Greek Lexicon. [6] See notes on Is 9.6 and Ps 45.6. [7] ZIBBC: “In what sense can the king be called “god”? By virtue of his divine appointment, the king in the ancient Near East stood before his subjects as a representative of the divine realm. …In fact, the term “gods“ (ʾelōhı̂m) is used of priests who functioned as judges in the Israelite temple judicial system (Ex. 21:6; 22:8-9; see comments on 58:1; 82:6-7).” John W. Hilber, “Psalms,” in The Minor Prophets, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, vol. 5 of Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary: Old Testament. ed. John H. Walton (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009), 358. [8] Around a.d. 340, Aphrahat of Persia advised his fellow Christians to reply to Jewish critics who questioned why “You call a human being ‘God'” (Demonstrations 17.1). He said, “For the honored name of the divinity is granted event ot rightoues human beings, when they are worthy of being called by it…[W]hen he chose Moses, his friend and his beloved…he called him “god.” …We call him God, just as he named Moses with his own name…The name of the divinity was granted for great honor in the world. To whom he wishes, God appoints it” (17.3, 4, 5). Aphrahat, The Demonstrations, trans., Ellen Muehlberger, vol. 3, The Cambridge Edition of Early Christian Writings (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge, 2022), 213-15. In the Clementine Recognitions we find a brief mention of the concept: “Therefore the name God is applied in three ways: either because he to whom it is given is truly God, or because he is the servant of him who is truly; and for the honour of the sender, that his authority may be full, he that is sent is called by the name of him who sends, as is often done in respect of angels: for when they appear to a man, if he is a wise and intelligent man, he asks the name of him who appears to him, that he may acknowledge at once the honour of the sent, and the authority of the sender” (2.42). Pseudo-Clement, Recognitions, trans., Thomas Smith, vol. 8, Ante Nicene Fathers (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2003). [9] Michael F. Bird, Jesus among the Gods (Waco, TX: Baylor, 2022), 13. [10] Andrew Perriman, In the Form of a God, Studies in Early Christology, ed. David Capes Michael Bird, and Scott Harrower (Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2022), 130. [11] Paula Fredriksen, "How High Can Early High Christology Be?," in Monotheism and Christology in Greco-Roman Antiquity, ed. Matthew V. Novenson, vol. 180 (Leiden: Brill, 2020), 296, 99. [12] ibid. [13] See Gen 18.1; Ex 3.2; 24.11; Is 6.1; Ezk 1.28. [14] Compare the Masoretic Text of Psalm 8.6 to the Septuagint and Hebrews 2.7. [15] Homer, The Odyssey, trans., Robert Fagles (New York, NY: Penguin, 1997), 370. [16] Diodorus Siculus, The Historical Library, trans., Charles Henry Oldfather, vol. 1 (Sophron Editor, 2017), 340. [17] Uranus met death at the brutal hands of his own son, Kronos who emasculated him and let bleed out, resulting in his deification (Eusebius, Preparation for the Gospel 1.10). Later on, after suffering a fatal disease, Kronos himself experienced deification, becoming the planet Saturn (ibid.). Zeus married Hera and they produced Osiris (Dionysus), Isis (Demeter), Typhon, Apollo, and Aphrodite (ibid. 2.1). [18] Lucius Annaeus Cornutus, Greek Theology, trans., George Boys-Stones, Greek Theology, Fragments, and Testimonia (Atlanta, GA: SBL, 2018), 123. [19] Apollodorus, The Library of Greek Mythology, trans., Robin Hard (Oxford, UK: Oxford, 1998), 111. [20] Pausanias, Guide to Greece, trans., Peter Levi (London, UK: Penguin, 1979), 98. [21] Strabo, The Geography, trans., Duane W. Roller (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge, 2020), 281. [22] Psuedo-Clement, Homilies, trans., Peter Peterson, vol. 8, Ante-Nicene Fathers (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1897). Greek: “αὐτὸν δὲ ὡς θεὸν ἐθρήσκευσαν” from Jacques Paul Migne, Patrologia Graeca, taken from Accordance (PSCLEMH-T), OakTree Software, Inc., 2018, Version 1.1. [23] See Barry Blackburn, Theios Aner and the Markan Miracle Traditions (Tübingen, Germany: J. C. B. Mohr, 1991), 32. [24] Diogenes Laertius, Lives of the Eminent Philosophers, trans., Pamela Mensch (New York, NY: Oxford, 2020), 39. [25] Iamblichus, Life of Pythagoras, trans., Thomas Taylor, Iamblichus' Life of Pythagoras (Delhi, IN: Zinc Read, 2023), 2. [26] Diogenes Laertius, Life of Pythagoras, trans., Kenneth Sylvan Guthrie, The Pythagorean Sourcebook and Library (Grand Rapids, MI: Phanes Press, 1988), 142. [27] See the list in Blackburn, 39. He corroborates miracle stories from Diogenus Laertius, Iamblichus, Apollonius, Nicomachus, and Philostratus. [28] Porphyry, Life of Pythagoras, trans., Kenneth Sylvan Guthrie, The Pythagorean Sourcebook and Library (Grand Rapids, MI: Phanes Press, 1988), 128-9. [29] Iamblichus, 68. [30] What I call “resurrection” refers to the phrase, “Thou shalt bring back from Hades a dead man's strength.” Diogenes Laertius 8.2.59, trans. R. D. Hicks. [31] Laertius, "Lives of the Eminent Philosophers," 306. Two stories of his deification survive: in one Empedocles disappears in the middle of the night after hearing an extremely loud voice calling his name. After this the people concluded that they should sacrifice to him since he had become a god (8.68). In the other account, Empedocles climbs Etna and leaps into the fiery volcanic crater “to strengthen the rumor that he had become a god” (8.69). [32] Pausanias, 192. Sextus Empiricus says Asclepius raised up people who had died at Thebes as well as raising up the dead body of Tyndaros (Against the Professors 1.261). [33] Cicero adds that the Arcadians worship Asclepius (Nature 3.57). [34] In another instance, he confronted and cast out a demon from a licentious young man (Life 4.20). [35] The phrase is “περὶ ἐμοῦ καὶ θεοῖς εἴρηται ὡς περὶ θείου ἀνδρὸς.” Philostratus, Letters of Apollonius, vol. 458, Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge, MA: Harvard, 2006). [36] See George Hart, The Routledge Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses, 2nd ed. (Oxford, UK: Routledge, 2005), 3. [37] Plutarch, Life of Alexander, trans., Ian Scott-Kilvert and Timothy E. Duff, The Age of Alexander (London, UK: Penguin, 2011), 311. Arrian includes a story about Anaxarchus advocating paying divine honors to Alexander through prostration. The Macedonians refused but the Persian members of his entourage “rose from their seats and one by one grovelled on the floor before the King.” Arrian, The Campaigns of Alexander, trans., Aubrey De Sélincourt (London, UK: Penguin, 1971), 222. [38] Translation my own from “Ἀντίοχος ὁ Θεὸς Δίκαιος Ἐπιφανὴς Φιλορωμαῖος Φιλέλλην.” Inscription at Nemrut Dağ, accessible at https://www.tertullian.org/rpearse/mithras/display.php?page=cimrm32. See also https://zeugma.packhum.org/pdfs/v1ch09.pdf. [39] Greek taken from W. Dittenberger, Orientis Graecae Inscriptiones Selectae, vol. 2 (Hildesheim: Olms, 1960), 48-60. Of particular note is the definite article before θεός. They didn't celebrate the birthday of a god, but the birthday of the god. [40] Appian, The Civil Wars, trans., John Carter (London, UK: Penguin, 1996), 149. [41] M. David Litwa, Iesus Deus (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2014), 20. [42] ibid. [43] Blackburn, 92-3. [44] The Homeric Hymns, trans., Michael Crudden (New York, NY: Oxford, 2008), 38. [45] "The Homeric Hymns," 14. [46] Homer, 344. [47] Theophilus of Antioch, To Autolycus, trans., Marcus Dods, vol. 2, Ante-Nicene Fathers (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2001). [48] Callimachus, Hymn to Artemis, trans., Susan A. Stephens, Callimachus: The Hymns (New York, NY: Oxford, 2015), 119. [49] Siculus, 234. [50] Cyprian, Treatise 6: On the Vanity of Idols, trans., Ernest Wallis, vol. 5, Ante-Nicene Fathers (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1995). [51] Arnobius, Against the Heathen, trans., Hamilton Bryce and Hugh Campbell, vol. 6, Ante-Nicene Fathers (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1995). [52] Livy, The Early History of Rome, trans., Aubrey De Sélincourt (London, UK: Penguin, 2002), 49. [53] Cicero, The Nature of the Gods, trans., Patrick Gerard Walsh (Oxford, UK: Oxford, 2008), 69. [54] Wendy Cotter, "Greco-Roman Apotheosis Traditions and the Resurrection Appearances in Matthew," in The Gospel of Matthew in Current Study, ed. David E. Aune (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2001), 149. [55] Litwa, 170. [56] William L. Lane, The Gospel of Mark, Nicnt, ed. F. F. Bruce Ned B. Stonehouse, and Gordon D. Fee (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1974). [57] “Recent commentators have stressed that the best background for understanding the Markan transfiguration is the story of Moses' ascent up Mount Sinai (Exod. 24 and 34).” Litwa, 123. [58] Tertullian, Apology, trans. S. Thelwall, vol. 3, Ante-Nicene Fathers, ed. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2003). [59] Eusebius, The Church History, trans. Paul L. Maier (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2007), 54. [60] Pliny the Younger, The Letters of the Younger Pliny, trans., Betty Radice (London: Penguin, 1969), 294. [61] Pseudo-Thomas, Infancy Gospel of Thomas, trans., James Orr (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Co., 1903), 25. [62] Litwa, 83. [63] For sources on Theodotus, see Pseduo-Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies 7.35.1-2; 10.23.1-2; Pseudo-Tertullian, Against All Heresies 8.2; Eusebius, Church History 5.28. [64] Pseudo-Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies, trans., David Litwa (Atlanta, GA: SBL, 2016), 571. [65] I took the liberty to decapitalize these appellatives. Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, trans. Thomas B. Falls (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2003), 244. [66] Justin Martyr, 241. (Altered, see previous footnote.) [67] Justin Martyr, 102. [68] Justin Martyr, 56-7. [69] Arnobius makes a similar argument in Against the Heathen 1.38-39 “Is he not worthy to be called a god by us and felt to be a god on account of the favor or such great benefits? For if you have enrolled Liber among the gods because he discovered the use of wine, and Ceres the use of bread, Aesculapius the use of medicines, Minerva the use of oil, Triptolemus plowing, and Hercules because he conquered and restrained beasts, thieves, and the many-headed hydra…So then, ought we not to consider Christ a god, and to bestow upon him all the worship due to his divinity?” Translation from Litwa, 105. [70] Justin Martyr, 46. [71] Justin Martyr, 39. [72] Origen, Against Celsus, trans. Frederick Crombie, vol. 4, The Ante-Nicene Fathers (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2003). [73] Litwa, 173. [74] I could easily multiply examples of this by looking at Irenaeus, Tertullian, Hippolytus, and many others. [75] The obvious exception to Hanson's statement were thinkers like Sabellius and Praxeas who believed that the Father himself came down as a human being. R. P. C. Hanson, Search for a Christian Doctrine of God (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2007), xix. [76] Interestingly, even some of the biblical unitarians of the period were comfortable with calling Jesus god, though they limited his divinity to his post-resurrection life. [77] Tertullian writes, “[T]he Father is not the same as the Son, since they differ one from the other in the mode of their being. For the Father is the entire substance, but the Son is a derivation and portion of the whole, as He Himself acknowledges: “My Father is greater than I.” In the Psalm His inferiority is described as being “a little lower than the angels.” Thus the Father is distinct from the Son, being greater than the Son” (Against Praxeas 9). Tertullian, Against Praxeas, trans., Holmes, vol. 3, Ante Nice Fathers (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2003).

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S3 19: Engaging Secular Culture With Unshaken Faith With Alisa Childers and Natasha Crain

Strong Women

Play Episode Listen Later May 3, 2023 41:59

Alisa Childers and Natasha Crain love to evaluate what's happening in culture and help Christians navigate the modern world in such a way that upholds and strengthens their faith. They equip Christians to consider how faith shapes the way they respond to and engage with the secular world. Their new podcast and conference series, Unshaken Faith, exists to encourage Christians to live out their faith with grace and courage. This week, they talk with us about the importance of Christians staying informed about what's going on in culture, and how we can combat despair when we are overwhelmed and discouraged by what we see. Unshaken Faith Podcast Alisa Childers Podcast Natasha Crain Podcast The Long Goodbye: Dementia Diaries By Margaret R. Miles Irreversible Damage by Abigail Shriver Street Smarts by Gregory Koukl Tactics: A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions by Gregory Koukl Putting Jesus in His Place: The Case for the Deity of Christ By Robert M. Bowman Jr., J. Ed Komoszewski Love Thy Body by Nancy Pearce Rosaria Butterfield's book releasing in September 2023 Five Lies of Our Anti-Christian Age Neil Shenvi's book releasing in October 2023 on Critical Theory Critical Dilemma How to Read the Bible for All It's Worth by Gordon D. Fee, Douglas Stuart The Strong Women Podcast S1 15: Doubt and Progressive Christianity With Alisa Childers The Strong Women Podcast 36. Live with Alisa Childers Erin and her husband, Brett, run Maven which “exists to help the next generation know truth, pursue goodness, and create beauty, all for the cause of Christ.” Check out more about Maven here: https://maventruth.com/ The Strong Women Podcast is a product of the Colson Center which equips Christians to live out their faith with clarity, confidence, and courage in this cultural moment. Through commentaries, podcasts, videos, and more, we help Christians better understand what's happening in the world, and champion what is true and good wherever God has called them. Learn more about the Colson Center here: https://www.colsoncenter.org/ Visit our website and sign up for our email list so that you can stay up to date on what we are doing here and also receive our monthly book list: https://www.colsoncenter.org/strong-women Join Strong Women on Social Media: https://www.facebook.com/StrongWomenCC https://www.facebook.com/groups/strongwomencommunitycc/ https://www.instagram.com/strongwomencc/

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Malachi 1:1 - The Burden of the Word

Scone Anglican

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 23, 2023 32:34

Malachi is a prophetic attack against spiritual apathy. ‘In a time of spiritual disillusionment, Israel grew weary of God and of keeping his covenant' (Gordon D. Fee). After many years of zeal and fervency for God, ‘there has been a steady erosion of living faith and spiritual urgency' (John Benton). Their faith has lost its edge, and worship has become dead formal. How will God save his people from spiritual apathy, a faith on the brink of being fossilised? Find out in our latest sermon on Malachi. Preacher: Ps Jesse Baker Series: Killin' Apathy: A Study in Malachi Passage: Malachi 1:1

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201: Equipping Our Kids To Defend Their Faith And Engage With Deconstructionism with Alisa Childers

Now That We're A Family

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 21, 2023 62:07

Alisa Childers is an American singer and songwriter. She's best known right now for being an Apologist. Prior to becoming known as an Apologist, she was known for being a singer in the all-female Christian band ZOEgirl. She experienced a period of profound doubt about her faith in her mid-thirties. She felt uncertainty and didn't know where to find answers to her questions, or if answers existed at all. She began to investigate her faith intellectually by taking seminary classes and reading everything she could get her hands on. This began her journey from unreasoned doubt into a vibrant, rational, and informed faith. She has written a couple books that have been extremely impactful in mine and my family's life, as well as thousands of others. The first one she wrote was called “Another Gospel” where describes the journey she took over several years as she wrestled with questions that struck at the core of the Christian faith and found the truth. This book is very powerful! Her most recent book,“Live Your Truth & Other Lies,” goes through things we say as Christians that are not true and how that affects our life. If you want to hear ongoing Bible teaching, if you're interested in the historicity of the Bible and the doctrines of the Christian faith, listen to her on her podcast “Alisa Childers Podcast.” She's able to network and interview with many experts in different aspects of the Christian faith. She herself is an expert! I highly recommend following her on any of her platforms. You can learn more and follow Alisa Childers through the resources below: - Website - https://alisachilders.com- Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/alisachilders/- Alisa Childers Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-alisa-childers-podcast/id1260262855 - Alisa Childers YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@alisachilders - Unshaken Faith Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/unshaken-faith/id1657921515 - Unshaken Faith Conference - https://unshakenconference.com - "Another Gospel?" - https://amzn.to/3JJJ3qC - "Live Your Truth and Other Lies" - https://amzn.to/3JLEtbm Mentioned in this video: - "Is the Enneagram a Trojan Horse in the Church? With Marcia Montenegro" - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/81-is-the-enneagram-a-trojan-horse-in-the/id1260262855?i=1000570504204 - "How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth" by Gordon D. Fee - https://amzn.to/3Tp14Oj- Voetberg Music Academy - Use coupon code YOUTUBE for 10% off each month - https://www.voetbergacademy.com - The Growth Initiative: Now open for enrollment! www.nowthatwereafamily.com/thegrowthinitiative Save $150 by purchasing the Get it All Done Club Home Management Course and Growth Initiative for Men together: https://www.nowthatwereafamily.com/offers/S3GJdvSm/checkout - Top 5 Tuesday Join our weekly email list to keep up to date with the highlights of what is going on in our family life. https://www.nowthatwereafamily.com/top-5-tuesday-newletter - Homeschool Course: https://www.nowthatwereafamily.com/homeschool Get It All Done Club: https://www.nowthatwereafamily.com/get-it-all-done-club - Looking for more Now That We're A Family resources? We got 'em! Website: https://www.nowthatwereafamily.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/nowthatwereafamily/OUR FAMILY MUSIC ACADEMY: https://www.voetbergmusicacademy.com Use coupon code: YOUTUBE for 10% off each month - Is your life just too complicated to ever feel peaceful? Check out Katie's Free Home Management Masterclass:https://www.nowthatwereafamily.com/get-it-all-done-club

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Ep 48 // Rabbit Trail Podcast // Understand the Bible

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 28, 2022 59:02

48: We got a question from a listener and dove into how we can better understand our Bibles. We talk about Genre, Convention and even what we mean by reading the Bible literally. Interested in the book we were talking about, "How To Read the Bible for All It's Worth" by Gordon D. Fee. Questions, comments? email RabbitTrail@obcc.church

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Making Room for the Abundant Life with Yvette Allen

Faith School Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 13, 2022 58:29

Today, I am not only introducing you to one of my wisest and dearest friends, but my podcast partner: Miss Yvette Allen. In this episode we discuss our new LIFE: DECLUTTERED MINI CHALLENGE and cover the 7 topics in that challenge: home, calendar, digital space, mind, heart, body, and Spirit. Listen in to get inspired to make room for the good things of God and the abundant life. Making Room is all about making room for the abundant life and how we declutter the things that get in the way to make room for the good things of God. https://adept-builder-8973.ck.page/ae572d93f7 (Life: Decluttered Challenge) Resources: https://www.amazon.ca/Ruthless-Elimination-Hurry-Emotionally-Spiritually-ebook/dp/B07NCJB86S/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1654900874&sr=8-1 (The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry: How to Stay Emotionally Healthy and Spiritually Alive in the Chaos of the Modern World) by John Mark Comer https://player.captivate.fm/episode/3ec85cc6-71e3-402d-9b6b-b28e75634bcc (How to Read the Bible and Why it Matters with The Bible Recap's Tara-Leigh Cobble) https://unroll.me/ (Unroll.Me) https://www.amazon.ca/How-Read-Bible-All-Worth-ebook/dp/B00GS084YA/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1655016210&sr=8-1 (How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth) by Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart https://www.amazon.ca/Epic-Eden-Christian-Entry-Testament-ebook/dp/B0035RP56O/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= (The Epic of Eden: A Christian Entry into the Old Testament) by Sandra L. Richter https://www.amazon.ca/Every-Good-Endeavor-Connecting-Your-ebook/dp/B007T8R18K/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1655011240&sr=8-1 (Every Good Endeavor: Connecting Your Work to God's Work) by Timothy Keller https://www.amazon.ca/Eerdmans-Commentary-Bible-James-Dunn/dp/0802879780/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1655047152&sr=8-1 (Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible) by James D. G. Dunn https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Peter+1%3A13&version=ESV (1 Peter 1:13) https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john+10%3A10&version=ESV (John 10:10) https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Corinthians+10&version=ESV (2 Corinthians 10:3-5) https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Galatians+5%3A1&version=ESV (Galatians 5:1) https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians%206%3A20&version=ESV (1 Corinthians 6:20) https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans+12&version=ESV (Romans 12:1) https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%208%3A2&version=ESV (Romans 8:2) https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=+ephesians+5%3A13-14&version=ESV (Ephesians 5:13–14) Connect with Faith School: YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVLewmak0ZIb-un99yUJ1_w (Faith School) IG: https://www.instagram.com/leah.rempel/ (@leah.rempel) and http://instagram.com/faithschoolpod (@faithschoolpod) http://leahrempel.com/ (leahrempel.com)

26 - What Bible Version Should We Read

Kate and Kal Co.

Play Episode Listen Later May 20, 2022 15:24

Have you ever been lost in the sea of Bible reading versions and wondered WHICH one you should read? We have always read and recommended reading the Bible in multiple translations, but about 6-8 months ago we received a message from a follower that challenged us to really dig into WHY we do and why we believe it's the correct way to read the Bible. This episode might be slightly controversial but kate and I have spent some time digging into it and now that some time has passed we want to dive into helping you answer this question. Resources mentioned: How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth: Fourth Edition by Gordon D Fee linked here Our Website: https://www.kateandkalco.com --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/kalli-yoder/message

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Kingdom Life: Brock Bingaman, The Spiritual Gift of Tongues

Our Lord's Community Church

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 16, 2022 46:36

Connie Willems talks with Brock Bingaman about the spiritual gift of tongues and how it shapes our prayer lives with God. RESOURCES MENTIONED - Sermon: “The Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-13)” www.allsaintsokc.org/messages-blog/acts4 - God's Empowering Presence: The Holy Spirit in the Letters of Paul by Gordon D. Fee www.amazon.com/Gods-Empowering-Presence-Spirit-Letters/dp/0801046211/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=god%27s%20empowering%20presence%20gordon%20fee&qid=1646848637&sprefix=god%27s%20empowering%20%2Caps%2C102&sr=8-1 - The Language of Heaven: Crucial Questions About Speaking in Tongues by Sam Storms www.amazon.com/Language-Heaven-Crucial-Questions-Speaking/dp/1629996076/ref=sr_1_1?crid=33ASP9KEILU5I&keywords=the%20language%20of%20heaven&qid=1646848787&sprefix=the%20language%20of%20heaven%2Caps%2C106&sr=8-1 - Tongues & Interpretation (pp. 1321-1332) from Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem https://static1.squarespace.com/static/550ad3e5e4b01f037f254a6f/t/6231e616de37ff41d6f0fb3a/1647437335633/Grudem_Tongues_SysTheo_pp1321_1332.pdf — Kingdom Life is a production of All Saints Community Church, a community of worship and formation on mission with Jesus. www.allsaintsokc.org Connect with us: www.instagram.com/asccokc. www.facebook.com/asccokc

god jesus christ language letters spiritual gifts interpretation tongues systematic theology kingdom life pentecost acts wayne grudem sam storms bingaman gordon d fee

#50 Breaking Down Barriers — Interview with Dr. Mark Strauss

GTI Tours Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 27, 2022 37:55

Mark L. Strauss (PhD, University of Aberdeen) is professor of New Testament at Bethel Seminary San Diego. He is the author or coauthor of several books and numerous articles, including How to Read the Bible in Changing Times, Four Portraits, One Jesus: An Introduction to Jesus and the Gospels, How to Choose a Translation for All It's Worth (with Gordon D. Fee), The Essential Bible Companion (with John Walton), and commentaries on Mark's Gospel in the Zondervan Exegetical Commentary Series and Expositors Bible Commentary, Vol. 9.He is New Testament editor of the Expanded Bible and the Teach the Text Commentary Series. He also serves as vice-chair of the Committee for Bible Translation for the New International Version and as an associate editor for the NIV Study Bible. Strauss has a heart for ministry and preaches and teaches regularly at churches, conferences, and college campuses. He is the weekly teacher at the Cove Bible Study at The Church at Rancho Bernardo. He lives in San Diego with his wife, Roxanne, and three kids.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miletushttps://www.bibleplaces.com/capernaum/https://www.zondervan.com/9780310528593/introducing-jesus/Video of inscription in Miletushttps://www.dropbox.com/s/iioh9i4abd5dk31/Inscription%20at%20Miletus.mov?dl=0 Mark teaching in Miletushttps://vimeo.com/103525372Mark teaching on Revelation 3https://vimeo.com/103448364Mark teaching at Ephesushttps://vimeo.com/103512147 Lexham Geographic Commentary on the Gospelshttps://www.christianbook.com/lexham-geographic-commentary-on-the-gospels/barry-beitzel/9781683590446/pd/590446?en=google&event=SHOP&kw=academic-20-40%7C590446&p=1179710&dv=m&gclid=Cj0KCQjwm9yJBhDTARIsABKIcGZJHvW5dz4wXw1GFgg_a1MbBww3w4cSudXde_uWCXfDNgYofnrxu_caAl0XEALw_wcB The Essential Bible Companion: Key Insights for Reading God's Wordhttps://www.amazon.com/Essential-Bible-Companion-Insights-Reading/dp/0310266629

Chapter 2 Summary - How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth

Bible Study with Me Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 27, 2021 35:01

How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth by Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart

bible fees read the bible all its worth gordon d fee

The Reluctant Exile

Grace & Peace PGH

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 24, 2021

"Although the book Esther is known for the fact that God is never mentioned in the book... the author nonetheless expects his intended readers to see God at work at every turn in the story." —Gordon D. Fee & Douglas Stuart

god fees exile reluctant gordon d fee

Straight Outta Context - Episode Nine - Mark 7:24-30

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 16, 2021 56:47 Transcription Available

The Ninth and Final episode in a 9-part series on some of the most mis-interpreted verses in the Bible. Mark 7:24-28, “24 Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it; yet he could not keep his presence secret. 25 In fact, as soon as she heard about him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an impure spirit came and fell at his feet. 26 The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter. 27 “First let the children eat all they want,” he told her, “for it is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to the dogs.” 28 “Lord,” she replied, “even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs.”” --------------- Episode Summary/For Further ExplorationJohn's 4 Rules for Biblical Interpretation: How does what you're reading apply to the Life of Jesus or the Life of the Author? Read the passage in different translations. Is it typically only used in one specific translation? What did it mean to the original hearers? Interpret the Bible with The Bible. Go to other parts of the Bible and see if the subject text is consistent with the character of God found elsewhere. *If you have thoughts or questions, we'd love to answer them in a “Straight Out of Context” podcast wrap-up show. Email your questions to sam@fbchav.org or john@fbchsv.org* --------------- Resources & ReferencesBible References: Jeremiah 21:11; Matthew 15:21-28; Matthew 14:13-21; Mark 6:30-44; Matthew 14:22-33; Mark 6:45-52; Mark 8:1-10; Matthew 15:32-39; Deuteronomy 7:1; Matthew 20:1-16 Season 2 Wrap-up Series: “Holy Heresies! Echoes of Heresy,” A 4-week series to conclude season 2, examining how ancient heresies might still exist among modern faith. A Quick Look on How the Bible was Formed: https://youtu.be/nFEBwfYZBJY (https://youtu.be/nFEBwfYZBJY) What Does “Gospel” even mean? https://bibleproject.com/learn/gospel-word-study/ (https://bibleproject.com/learn/gospel-word-study/) What Does “Synoptic Gospel” Mean? https://zondervanacademic.com/blog/synoptic-gospels (https://zondervanacademic.com/blog/synoptic-gospels) What Is Grace? https://www.christianity.com/theology/what-is-grace.html (https://www.christianity.com/theology/what-is-grace.html) ------------------------ Additional Information On bringing "presuppositions" to our reading of Scripture: “Whether one likes it or not, every reader is at the same time an interpreter. That is, most of us assume as we read that we also understand what we read. We also tend to think that our understanding is the same thing as the Holy Spirit's or human author's intent. However, we invariably bring to the text all that we are, with all of our experiences, culture, and prior understandings of words and ideas. Sometimes what we bring to the text, unintentionally to be sure, leads us astray, or else causes us to read all kinds of foreign ideas into the text.” ― Gordon D. Fee,https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/420678 ( How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth) ------------------------ Special Thanks to Ellyn Christian and Patrick Chester! Visit us online at https://my.captivate.fm/www.fbchsv.org/youngadults (www.fbchsv.org/youngadults) and check out our sermons and services at https://my.captivate.fm/www.fbchsv.org/sermons (www.fbchsv.org/sermons). Plus, you can watch our 30min TV Program ("TV Church") on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIcfcasdZOB4Ibv4aZhcagg (www.youtube.com/channel/UCIcfcasdZOB4Ibv4aZhcagg)

god jesus christ lord bible holy spirit wrap greek context deuteronomy echoes formed mark 7 tyre ninth heresy interpret straight outta tv program straight out all its worth gordon d fee patrick chester scripture whether

Straight Outta Context - Episode Eight - John 14:13-14

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 9, 2021 58:30 Transcription Available

The Eighth episode in a 9-part series on some of the most mis-interpreted verses in the Bible. John 14:13-14, “13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” --------------- Episode Summary/For Further ExplorationJohn's 4 Rules for Biblical Interpretation: How does what you're reading apply to the Life of Jesus or the Life of the Author? Read the passage in different translations. Is it typically only used in one specific translation? What did it mean to the original hearers? Interpret the Bible with The Bible. Go to other parts of the Bible and see if the subject text is consistent with the character of God found elsewhere. *If you have thoughts or questions, we'd love to answer them in a “Straight Out of Context” podcast wrap-up show. Email your questions to sam@fbchav.org or john@fbchsv.org* --------------- Resources & References Bible References: John 11, John 13, Exodus 3:14, Luke 22:42, Jeremiah 29:4-7, John 14, John 15, 1 Corinthians 7 Season 2 Wrap-up Series: “Holy Heresies! Echoes of Heresy,” A 4-week series to conclude season 2, examining how ancient heresies might still exist among modern faith. The Nationals Unlikely World Series Win (SI): https://www.si.com/mlb/2019/11/01/washington-nationals-world-series-surprise (https://www.si.com/mlb/2019/11/01/washington-nationals-world-series-surprise) “Everything Happens for A Reason: And Other Lies I've Loved,” by Kate Bowler https://www.amazon.com/Everything-Happens-Reason-Other-Loved/dp/0399592067 (https://www.amazon.com/Everything-Happens-Reason-Other-Loved/dp/0399592067) Vowels in the Hebrew Bible? Who were the Masoretes? https://biblequestions.info/2019/02/23/who-were-the-masoretes (https://biblequestions.info/2019/02/23/who-were-the-masoretes) What is the Septuagint? https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/what-is-the-septuagint (https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/what-is-the-septuagint) “The YOLO Generation Got It Wrong. It's time for the YALF Generation.” by JD Greear https://www.relevantmagazine.com/faith/church/the-yolo-generation-got-it-wrong-its-time-for-the-yalf-generation/ (https://www.relevantmagazine.com/faith/church/the-yolo-generation-got-it-wrong-its-time-for-the-yalf-generation/) ------------------------ Additional Information On bringing "presuppositions" to our reading of Scripture: “Whether one likes it or not, every reader is at the same time an interpreter. That is, most of us assume as we read that we also understand what we read. We also tend to think that our understanding is the same thing as the Holy Spirit's or human author's intent. However, we invariably bring to the text all that we are, with all of our experiences, culture, and prior understandings of words and ideas. Sometimes what we bring to the text, unintentionally to be sure, leads us astray, or else causes us to read all kinds of foreign ideas into the text.” ― Gordon D. Fee,https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/420678 ( How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth) ------------------------ Special Thanks to Ellyn Christian and Patrick Chester! Visit us online at https://my.captivate.fm/www.fbchsv.org/youngadults (www.fbchsv.org/youngadults) and check out our sermons and services at https://my.captivate.fm/www.fbchsv.org/sermons (www.fbchsv.org/sermons). Plus, you can watch our 30min TV Program ("TV Church") on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIcfcasdZOB4Ibv4aZhcagg (www.youtube.com/channel/UCIcfcasdZOB4Ibv4aZhcagg)

god jesus christ father bible holy spirit wrap exodus loved context echoes john 14 eighth heresy interpret hebrew bible everything happens straight outta septuagint vowels tv program straight out jd greear all its worth gordon d fee patrick chester scripture whether

52. Answering Listener's Questions with Sarah and Erin

Strong Women

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 9, 2021 42:41

We have received some great questions at the Strong Women podcast and today Sarah and Erin share their answers! While this episode was recorded several months ago, we are just now releasing it because of how many exciting guests we had to share with you. We hope you enjoy getting to know Erin and Sarah better and we would love for you to keep sending in questions that you have about our guests, our topics or anything you would like to ask. You can email them to strongwomen@colsoncenter.org, join our Facebook group here, or find us on Instagram and Twitter @strongwomencc. Sarah and Erin look forward to answering more of your questions in the future! Q&A Show Notes: Stand to Reason: https://www.str.org/ The Maven Parent Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-maven-parent-podcast/id1499745733 Summit Ministries: https://www.summit.org/ Breakpoint: https://breakpoint.org/ “Uncle Tom's Cabin” by Harriet Beecher Stowe: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/uncle-toms-cabin-harriet-beecher-stowe/1116705392?ean=9781593081218 “The Scarlet Letter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/barnes-noble-leatherbound-classics-the-scarlet-letter-nathaniel-hawthorne/1106658827?ean=9781435159655 “A Tale of Two Cities” by Charles Dickens: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-tale-of-two-cities-charles-dickens/1116666164?ean=9781435171480 Biblical Training: https://www.biblicaltraining.org/ “New Bible Commentary”: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/new-bible-commentary-gordon-j-wenham/1000120340?ean=9780830814428 “The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament” by Craig S. Keener: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-ivp-bible-background-commentary-craig-s-keener/1116861637?ean=9780830824786 “Playing with Fire” Walt Russel: https://www.amazon.com/Playing-Fire-Bible-Ignites-Change/dp/1576831426 “How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth” by Gordon D. Fee, Douglas Stuart: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/how-to-read-the-bible-for-all-its-worth-gordon-d-fee/1117061373?ean=9780310517825 “Saving the Bible from Ourselves” by Glenn R. Paauw: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/saving-the-bible-from-ourselves-glenn-r-paauw/1122525538?ean=9780830851249 “The Divine Comedy” by Dante: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/divine-comedy-dante/1100527108?ean=9781789432572 “Christian Theology” by Alister McGrath: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/christian-theology-alister-e-mcgrath/1100256776?ean=9781118869574 “Til We Have Faces” by C.S. Lewis: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/till-we-have-faces-c-s-lewis/1102158947?ean=9780062565419 “Secure Daughters and Confident Sons” by Glenn Stanton: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/secure-daughters-confident-sons-glenn-t-stanton/1113010216?ean=9781601422958 “You Are Not Enough and That's Okay” by Allie Beth Stuckey: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/youre-not-enough-allie-beth-stuckey/1132493408?ean=9780593083840 “Out of a Far Country” by Christopher Yuan: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/out-of-a-far-country-christopher-yuan/1100569160?ean=9780307729354 “The Weight of Glory” by C.S. Lewis: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/weight-of-glory-c-s-lewis/1100616073?ean=9780060653200 “Letters to a Diminished Church” by Dorothy Sayers: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/letters-to-a-diminished-church-dorothy-sayers/1126618946?ean=9780849945267 “1984” by George Orwell: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/1984-george-orwell/1100009100?ean=9780451524935 Join Strong Women on Social Media: https://linktr.ee/strongwomencc Erin and her husband, Brett, run Maven which “exists to help the next generation know truth, pursue goodness, and create beauty, all for the cause of Christ.” Check out more about Maven here: https://maventruth.com/ The Strong Women Podcast is a product of the Colson Center which equips Christians to live out their faith with clarity, confidence, and courage in this cultural moment. Through commentaries, podcasts, videos, and more, we help Christians better understand what's happening in the world, and champion what is true and good wherever God has called them. Learn more about the Colson Center here: https://www.colsoncenter.org/ Visit our website and sign up for our email list so that you can stay up to date on what we are doing here and also receive our monthly book list: https://www.colsoncenter.org/strong-women

52. Answering Listener's Questions with Sarah and Erin

Strong Women

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 9, 2021 42:41

Making Sense of Scripture with Rachel Smith

The Truly Co Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later May 13, 2021 37:55

We're thrilled to welcome Rachel Smith to The Truly Co podcast on this week's episode. Rachel is a Truly magazine writer, with articles included in Truly's leadership and unity issues. In addition, Rachel is a Midwest mom who doubles as a Master's student at Pillar Seminary and is passionate about studying and understanding the literary truth of the Bible. In this conversation, Rachel shares a wealth of knowledge about common misinterpretations of the Bible, toxic theology, women in ministry, and more. She compares Biblical truth in our hearts to a plant – "If you have just begun to have a seed planted, you need to take time to grow that truth before sharing it with the world, or it will shrivel up," she says. Rachel shares her story of how she internalized this concept ten years ago as her daughter lay very ill in a hospital at a young age. Meditating on God's truths in that devastating season brought understanding and maturity to her faith and knowing God's character. She encourages us to always go back to the intent of God in dry, confusing times. First, pursue scripture. Scripture, Rachel explains, first and foremost, should be our filter. Unfortunately, though, there are times when the most we can do is go on a walk, and Rachel reminds us that God is declaring something over us even if we don't hear it or feel it. "A little bit of faithfulness is a big deal in dry times." Listen and learn more about Rachel's wisdom in pursuing and understanding the Bible's true meaning. Connect with Rachel for more resources at rachelboothsmith.com, on Instagram @firmlyanchored, on Twitter @rachel7092, or via e-mail rachel@smithsfrontdoor.com Some of her favorite resources: How to Read the Bible for All It's Worth by Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart Women of the Word by Jen Wilkin What if Jesus was Serious by Skye Jethani Bearing God's Name by Carmen Joy Imes Watch: How to Read the Bible Series by The Bible Project Listen: The Biblical Mind Podcast - Rethinking 'Quiet Time' with Scripture (Jen Wilkin) 1/8/21 The Pillar Podcast - Our Anemic Gospel 6/2/17 Quotes: "If you want something to pass down to your grandkids, we need to spend time on it and meditate on it, and then live through it, and then you're ready to talk through it." "If you can learn something in the morning and post about it by the afternoon, you probably have not fully ingested that truth into your heart, and you're probably not ready to share it yet." "A little bit of faithfulness is a big deal in dry times."

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Straight Outta Context - Episode Three - Philippians 4:13

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 21, 2021 38:27

The third episode in a 9-part series on some of the most mis-interpreted verses in the Bible. Philippians 4:13, “I can do all this through him (Christ) who gives me strength.” Guest for This Week's Episode: Chad Poe ------------------------ Episode Summary/For Further ExplorationJohn's 4 Rules for Biblical Interpretation: How does what you're reading apply to the Life of Jesus or the Life of the Author? Read the passage in different translations. Is it typically only used in one specific translation? What did it mean to the original hearers? Interpret the Bible with The Bible. Go to other parts of the Bible and see if the subject text is consistent with the character of God found elsewhere. ------------------------ Resources & References Bible References: Acts 16:16-40, Philippians 2:5-11, Philippians 3:7-14, Philippians 4:2, Philippians 4:10-12, Philippians 4:13, Chad Poe: Website: http://www.chadpoe.com (www.chadpoe.com) Hold On Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hold-on/id1536236038 (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hold-on/id1536236038) Grace Bible Church: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/grace-bible-church-sermon-audio/id1220960660 (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/grace-bible-church-sermon-audio/id1220960660) The Power Team: https://youtu.be/kr2j9w0BqD0 (https://youtu.be/kr2j9w0BqD0) Best Pizza in Huntsville? https://earthandstonepizza.com/ (https://earthandstonepizza.com/) Rosie's Cantina https://rosiesmexicancantina.com/ (https://rosiesmexicancantina.com/) ------------------------ Additional Context On bringing "presuppositions" to our reading of Scripture: “Whether one likes it or not, every reader is at the same time an interpreter. That is, most of us assume as we read that we also understand what we read. We also tend to think that our understanding is the same thing as the Holy Spirit's or human author's intent. However, we invariably bring to the text all that we are, with all of our experiences, culture, and prior understandings of words and ideas. Sometimes what we bring to the text, unintentionally to be sure, leads us astray, or else causes us to read all kinds of foreign ideas into the text.” ― Gordon D. Fee,https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/420678 ( How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth) ------------------------ Special Thanks to Ellyn Christian and Patrick Chester! Visit us online at https://my.captivate.fm/www.fbchsv.org/youngadults (www.fbchsv.org/youngadults) and check out our sermons and services at https://my.captivate.fm/www.fbchsv.org/sermons (www.fbchsv.org/sermons). Plus, you can watch our 30min TV Program ("TV Church")on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIcfcasdZOB4Ibv4aZhcagg (www.youtube.com/channel/UCIcfcasdZOB4Ibv4aZhcagg)

god jesus christ bible holy spirit philippians context philippians 4 huntsville interpret straight outta grace bible church power team tv program all its worth gordon d fee patrick chester scripture whether

Straight Outta Context - Episode Two - Jeremiah 29:11

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 14, 2021 45:23

The second episode in a 9-part series on some of the most mis-interpreted verses in the Bible. ------------------------ Episode Summary/For Further ExplorationJohn's 4 Rules for Biblical Interpretation: How does what you're reading apply to the Life of Jesus or the Life of the Author? Read the passage in different translations. Is the verse you see on plaques and keychains typically only used in one translation? What did it mean to the original hearers? Interpret the Bible with The Bible. Go to other parts of the Bible and see if the subject text is consistent with the character of God found elsewhere. ------------------------ Resources & References Bible References: Jeremiah 29:4-7; Jeremiah 29:9-11; Genesis 1:28; Galatians 5:22-23; Galatians 5:1; Isaiah 9:6 John's Sermon on Jeremiah 29:11 (go to 28:40): https://vimeo.com/419201855 (https://vimeo.com/419201855) The meaning of "Shalom": https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/shalom-peace/ (https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/shalom-peace/) Picking a Study Bible: https://biblebuyingguide.com/choosing-study-bible/ (https://biblebuyingguide.com/choosing-study-bible/) https://theblazingcenter.com/study-bible (https://theblazingcenter.com/study-bible) https://www.christianitytoday.com/biblestudies/articles/bibleinsights/top-7-study-bibles.html (https://www.christianitytoday.com/biblestudies/articles/bibleinsights/top-7-study-bibles.html) Bible Study Tools/Overview of the Books of the Bible: https://bibleproject.com/ (https://bibleproject.com/) https://www.blueletterbible.org/study/parallel/paral15.cfm (https://www.blueletterbible.org/study/parallel/paral15.cfm) Biography of Jeremiah the Prophet: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jeremiah-Hebrew-prophet (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jeremiah-Hebrew-prophet) Abridged Timeline for Ancient Israel from Monarchy Until Babylonian Exile: ca. 1000-587 Monarchical period in Israel ca. 1030-1010 Saul (transitional king) ca. 931 Secession of Northern Kingdom (Israel) from Southern Kingdom (Judah) 722/721 Northern Kingdom (Israel) destroyed by Assyrians; 10 tribes exiled (10 lost tribes) 716 Hezekiah, King of Jerusalem, with help of God and the prophet Isaiah resists Assyrian attempt to capture Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 32). 701 Assyrian ruler Sennacherib besieges Jerusalem 620 Josiah (Judean King) and “Deuteronomic Reforms” ca. 600-580 Judean Prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel 587/586 Southern Kingdom (Judah) and First Temple Destroyed/Babylonian exile (https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/timeline-of-ancient-israelite-religion-2000-539-bce (https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/timeline-of-ancient-israelite-religion-2000-539-bce)) ------------------------ Additional Context On bringing "presuppositions" to our reading of Scripture: “Whether one likes it or not, every reader is at the same time an interpreter. That is, most of us assume as we read that we also understand what we read. We also tend to think that our understanding is the same thing as the Holy Spirit's or human author's intent. However, we invariably bring to the text all that we are, with all of our experiences, culture, and prior understandings of words and ideas. Sometimes what we bring to the text, unintentionally to be sure, leads us astray, or else causes us to read all kinds of foreign ideas into the text.” ― Gordon D. Fee,https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/420678 ( How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth) On “Prophecy” in the Bible: “Scripture is most often descriptive, not prescriptive…” ― John Lemons ------------------------ Visit us online at https://my.captivate.fm/www.fbchsv.org/youngadults (www.fbchsv.org/youngadults) and check out our sermons and services at https://my.captivate.fm/www.fbchsv.org/sermons (www.fbchsv.org/sermons). Plus, you can watch our 30min TV Program ("TV...

Straight Outta Context - Episode One - Intro