Posts Tagged Paul
Evidences of the Resurrection: Rufus
Posted by Joel in Devotional, Resurrection on April 4, 2010
Then they compelled a certain man, Simon a Cyrenian, the father of Alexander and Rufus, as he was coming out of the country and passing by, to bear His cross. (Mark 15:21 NKJV)
Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine. (Romans 16:13 NKJV)
What do you think happened in the twenty to thirty years between the Cross and Paul’s letter to the Romans which not only say Rufus as a Christian but drew the family of Simon so close as to have Paul associate Rufus’ mother as his own?
Could it be that Simon a sojourner to Jerusalem during Passover who was forced by the Roman soldiers to help carry the cross of Christ received more of the gospel that day than many of the disciples of Christ had for the three years that they had spent following Him?
Could Simon who had invested a small amount of himself into the cross later found himself in that upper room?
Something happened that day that did not let Simon go. We know of the tragic tale of Alexander, but we know that the family become a patron of Paul, so close so that only blood separated them.
Could it be that Simon stayed through Passover only to received the Spirit of God based on those moments with Christ, blood soaked, near death, carrying Him to the foot of the Cross? Think of Simon, and think of us. Are we not like Simon, carrying the cross of Christ and thus bringing Christ to Calvary?
Something happened that day, and just a few days later, that caused Simon and his family to follow Christ.
May it happen to you today.
NT Wright on Paul on Aristotle
“I think if we’d asked St. Paul what he thought about Aristotle and his scheme of the virtues, he would have said about it roughly what he said about the Jewish law: it is fine up to a point and as far as it goes, but it can’t actually give what it promises. It’s like a signpost pointing in more or less the right direction (though it will need some adjustment), but without a road that actually goes there” (36).
Read the entire article on NT Wright and Grace:
Examining Peter’s Speech in Acts 2
The speech given by the Apostle Peter in Acts 2 is the first speech given by disciples of the ascended Christ – the first of the new community of believers. It is important, historically, to have this speech which officially delivers the rules of the community to take place on Pentecost. Just as the Gospels establish that Christ is the Passover, this speech served to establish that this was the Church’s Pentecost. It mimicked the scene played out in Exodus 19, and indeed, the later writer of Hebrews notes the comparison as well (Hebrews 12.18-24). Not withstanding the historical significance of placing this speech at the beginning of Christian history we find an attempt at redefining the Hebrew writings in light of the new community and connecting certain aspects of the Jewish Scriptures to salvation and thus the new community.
Sirach 9.1-9: The Perilous Association with Women
Sirach is essentially a book of Jewish wisdom in Greek demotic, showcasing post-exilic, pre-Maccabean Jewish life. In this section, we find Sirach‘s warning against all manner of women. It is misogynistic. Clearly, women here are seen in a negative light, where even an association is deemed corrupting to the man.
Bishop N.T. Wright and James Dunn on the New Perspective of Paul
Posted by Joel in Book Review, Debate/Discussion, Religious News, Theology on September 25, 2009
Click to Order
I am currently reading Dunn’s work (hope to post a review on Monday), so when I came across this video, I thought it was interesting. Thanks to Euangelion for the tip.
Publisher’s Description: In this third volume in the Library of Biblical Theology series, James D.G. Dunn ranges widely across the literature of the New Testament to describe the essential elements of the early church’s belief and practice. Eschatology, grace, law and gospel, discipleship, Israel and the church, faith and works, and most especially incarnation, atonement, and resurrection; Dunn places these and other themes in conversation with the contemporary church’s work of understanding its faith and life in relation to God’s self-revelation in Jesus Christ.
The Unknown Chloe: 1st Corinthians 1.11 in light of the Roman Household
Posted by Joel in Corinthians on September 14, 2009
Many times, people focus on Phoebe (Romans 16.1) as an example of the woman’s role in primitive Christianity – but what about Chloe?
For it has been declared to me concerning you, my brethren, by those of Chloe’s household, that there are contentions among you. (1Co 1:11 NKJ)
We know several things about the background of 1st Corinthians, the first and foremost, that the local church was undergoing factionalism. At this time, local congregations did not meet in a large assembly hall, but in homes, perhaps many homes, throughout the city. Further, we know that women were rarely given the same social standing as men.
Ecco Homo Echoes Paul
Posted by Joel in Debate/Discussion, Godhead on July 31, 2009
Michael has made several posts lately that has caused some stir in the blogosphere. In his latest, he is likely to cause a tad bit more.
What I mean is this: It is often easier to judge one’s actions than his or her thoughts. The former is easier to see. In the same way, it is easier to see the contours of Paul’s Christology by looking at the contours of Pauline Christianity. When I look at the marks of Christianity in the ancient world, I am compelled to believe that the earliest Christians (Paul included) treated Jesus in much the same way they treated God Most High. For example, they prayed to Jesus (”called” on his name), celebrated a modified passover regularly that was centered about Christ, they attempted to do great works in his “name,” etc. Of course, it may objected that this is not “worship” in the sense of sacrificial worship. Perhaps, but it is certainly devotion to Jesus as an expression of their loyalty to God Most High. In this way, to show devotion to Jesus was to express loyalty to “the one who sent him.”
For me, it was the failure to include the eucharist as worship, or even devotion, to Christ as God which left a hole in the arugment of McGrath’s chapter on Paul. It is my opinion that Paul saw the eucharistic sacrament as replacing the sacrifices in/to the Name of God found in such places As Deuteronomy 12.
Michael has an excellent blog, so please check it out.
