Reading Schedule for 2017 days 71-77

Sun Gen 17:15-18:33; Ps 34:19-37:6; Lk 5:1-16
Mon Ex 35:10-36:13; Pr 7:1-14; Lk 5:17-28
Tues Nm 21:31-22:30; Job 6:14-7:21; Mt 8:28-9:8; Acts 6:8-7:17
Wed Josh 16:1-18:10; Is 12:1-13:16; Mt 9:9-17; Rm 7:4-20
Thur IISam 15:13-16:23; Jer 11:9-12:17; Jn 4:39-45; IICor 10:1-18
Fri ICh 2:25-31; Ezek 16:8-34; Jn 4:36-5:1; IITim 1:15-2:7
Sat ICh 25:1-26:11; Joel 1:4-20; Mk 4:30-41; IIPeter 2:10b-22

if started the gospels with day 1, now 40th week before Resurrection chapters:

Sun Lk 5:1-16
Mon Lk 5:17-28 (through day 76/365)
Tues Mt 8:28-9:8
Wed Mt 9:9-17 (through day 87/365)
Thu Jn 4:39-45
Fri Jn 4:36-5:1 (through day 70/365)
Sat Mk 4:30-41 (through day 82/365)

if continuing to land on the Resurrection on Easter Sunday this year (5 weeks before Easter)

Sun Lk 22:14-27
Mon Lk 22:28-38 (through day 321/365)
Tues Mt 26:42-54
Wed Mt 26:55-64 (through day 332/365)
Thu Jn 18:1-11
Fri Jn 18:12-18 (through day 315/365)
Sat Mk 14:53-65 (through day 327/365)

Reading Schedule for 2017 days 64-70

Sun Gen 15:17-17:14; Ps 32:8-34:18; Lk 4:21-30
Mon Ex 34:11-35:9; Pr 6:16-35; Lk 4:31-44
Tues Nm 20:22-21:30; Job 5:17-6:13; Mt 8:5-17; Acts 5:33-6:7
Wed Josh 15:21-63; Is 10:24-11:16; Mt 8:18-27; Rm 6:12-7:3
Thur IISam 15:13-16:23; Jer 10:1-11:8; Jn 4:15-26; IICor 8:16-9:15
Fri ICh 2:18-24; Ezek 14:9-16:7; Jn 4:27-38; IITim 1:3-14
Sat ICh 23:24-24:31; Hosea 12:9-Joel 1:3; Mk 4:13-29; IIPeter 1:19-2:10a

if started the gospels with day 1, now 41st week before Resurrection chapters:

Sun Lk 4:21-30
Mon Lk 4:31-44 (through day 69/365)
Tues Mt 8:5-17
Wed Mt 8:18-27 (through day 80/365)
Thu Jn 4:15-26
Fri Jn 4:27-38 (through day 63/365)
Sat Mk 4:13-29 (through day 75/365)

if continuing to land on the Resurrection on Easter Sunday this year (6 weeks before Easter)

Sun Lk 21:34-22:2
Mon Lk 22:3-13 (through day 314/365)
Tues Mt 26:20-30
Wed Mt 26:31-41 (through day 325/365)
Thu Jn 17:6-19
Fri Jn 17:20-26 (through day 308/365)
Sat Mk 14:43-52 (through day 320/365)

Reading Schedule for 2017 days 57-63

Sun Gen 14:1-15:16; Ps 29:3-32:7; Lk 4:1-13
Mon Ex 33:1-34:10; Pr 5:20-6:15; Lk 4:14-20
Tues Nm 19:14-20:21; Job 4:12-5:16; Mt 7:21-27; Acts 5:17-32
Wed Josh 13:29-15:20; Is 10:1-23; Mt 7:28-8:4; Rm 5:15-6:11
Thur IISam 14:4-15:12; Jer 9:1-26; Jn 4:1-6; IICor 7:13b-8:15
Fri ICh 2:9-17; Ezek 13:1-14:8; Jn 4:7-14; ITim 6:11-IITim 1:2
Sat ICh 21:28-23:23; Hosea 12:1-8; Mk 4:1-12; IIPeter 1:1-18

if started the gospels with day 1, now 42nd week before Resurrection chapters:

Sun Lk 4:1-13
Mon Lk 4:14-20 (through day 62/365)
Tues Mt 7:21-27
Wed Mt 7:28-8:4 (through day 73/365)
Thu Jn 4:1-6
Fri Jn 4:7-14 (through day 56/365)
Sat Mk 4:1-12 (through day 68/365)

if continuing to land on the Resurrection on Easter Sunday this year (7 weeks before Easter)

Sun Lk 21:12-24
Mon Lk 21:25-33 (through day 307/365)
Tues Mt 26:3-13
Wed Mt 26:14-19 (through day 318/365)
Thu Jn 16:16-24
Fri Jn 16:25-17:5 (through day 301/365)
Sat Mk 14:27-42 (through day 313/365)

Reading Schedule for 2017 days 50-56

Sun Gen 11:27-13:18; Ps 25:16-29:2; Lk 3:21-31
Mon Ex 32:1-35; Pr 5:3-19; Lk 3:32-38
Tues Nm 18:8-19:13; Job 3:1-4:11; Mt 7:1-11; Acts 4:32-5:16
Wed Josh 12:7-13:28; Is 8:19-9:21; Mt 7:12-20; Rm 5:1-14
Thur IISam 13:1-14:3; Jer 7:27-8:22; Jn 3:16-24; IICor 7:5-13a
Fri ICh 2:1-8; Ezek 12:1-28; Jn 3:25-36; ITim 5:24-6:10
Sat ICh 20:4-21:27; Hosea 10:3-11:12; Mk 3:28-35; IPeter 5:6-14

if started the gospels with day 1, now 43rd week before Resurrection chapters:

Sun Lk 3:21-31
Mon Lk 3:32-38 (through day 55/365)
Tues Mt 7:1-11
Wed Mt 7:12-20 (through day 66/365)
Thu Jn 3:16-24
Fri Jn 3:25-36 (through day 49/365)
Sat Mk 3:28-35 (through day 61/365)

if continuing to land on the Resurrection on Easter Sunday this year (8 weeks before Easter)

Sun Lk 20:34-44
Mon Lk 20:45-21:11 (through day 300/365)
Tues Mt 25:26-40
Wed Mt 25:41-26:2 (through day 311/365)
Thu Jn 16:5-11
Fri Jn 16:12-15 (through day 294/365)
Sat Mk 14:17-26 (through day 306/365)

Reading Schedule for 2017 days 43-49

Sun Gen 10:6-11:26; Ps 22:11-25:15; Lk 2:41-3:6
Mon Ex 30:22-31:18; Pr 4:14-5:2; Lk 3:7-20
Tues Nm 16:41-18:7; Job 1:6-2:13; Mt 6:9-21; Acts 4:13-31
Wed Josh 10:36-12:6; Is 7:21-8:18; Mt 6:22-34; Rm 4:9-25
Thur IISam 11:14-12:31; Jer 7:1-26; Jn 3:4-8; IICor 6:1-7:4
Fri ICh 1:48-54; Ezek 10:15-11:25; Jn 3:9-15; ITim 5:9-23
Sat ICh 18:1-20:3; Hosea 9:7-10:2; Mk 3:13-27; IPeter 4:12-5:5

if started the gospels with day 1, now 44th week before Resurrection chapters:

Sun Lk 2:41-3:6
Mon Lk 3:7-20 (through day 48/365)
Tues Mt 6:9-21
Wed Mt 6:22-34 (through day 59/365)
Thu Jn 3:4-8
Fri Jn 3:9-15 (through day 42/365)
Sat Mk 3:13-27 (through day 54/365)

if continuing to land on the Resurrection on Easter Sunday this year (9 weeks before Easter)

Sun Lk 20:9-18
Mon Lk 20:19-33 (through day 293/365)
Tues Mt 25:1-13
Wed Mt 25:14-25 (through day 304/365)
Thu Jn 15:18-25
Fri Jn 15:26-16:4 (through day 287/365)
Sat Mk 14:3-16 (through day 299/365)

Reading Schedule for 2017 days 36-42

Sun Gen 9:1-10:5; Ps 19:7-22:10; Lk 2:25-32
Mon Ex 29:31-30:21; Pr 3:34-4:13; Lk 2:33-40
Tues Nm 16:4-40; Esther 9:18-Job 1:5; Mt 5:43-48; Acts 3:17-4:12
Wed Josh 9:16-10:35; Is 6:14-7:20; Mt 6:1-8; Rm 3:21-4:8
Thur IISam 9:1-11:13; Jer 6:1-30; Jn 2:13-22; IICor 5:6-21
Fri ICh 1:40-47; Ezek 8:16-10:14; Jn 2:23-3:3; ITim 4:11-5:8
Sat ICh 16:7-17:27; Hosea 8:1-9:6; Mk 3:1-12; IPeter 3:13-4:11

if started the gospels with day 1, now 45th week before Resurrection chapters:

Sun Lk 2:25-32
Mon Lk 2:33-40 (through day 41/365)
Tues Mt 5:43-48
Wed Mt 6:1-8 (through day 52/365)
Thu Jn 2:13-22
Fri Jn 2:23-3:3 (through day 35/365)
Sat Mk 3:1-12 (through day 47/365)

if continuing to land on the Resurrection on Easter Sunday this year (10 weeks before Easter)

Sun Lk 19:41-48
Mon Lk 20:1-8 (through day 286/365)
Tues Mt 24:36-44
Wed Mt 24:45-51 (through day 297/365)
Thu Jn 15:1-11
Fri Jn 15:12-17 (through day 280/365)
Sat Mk 13:28-14:2 (through day 292/365)

Reading Schedule for 2017 days 29-35

Sun Gen 7:6-8:22; Ps 18:7-19:6; Lk 2:1-14
Mon Ex 28:31-29:30; Pr 3:13-33; Lk 2:15-24
Tues Nm 15:11-16:3; Esther 8:3-9:17; Mt 5:21-30; Acts 3:1-16
Wed Josh 8:10-9:15; Is 5:13-6:13; Mt 5:31-42; Rm 3:9-20
Thur IISam 7:8-8:18; Jer 5:4-31; Jn 2:1-8; IICor 4:7-5:5
Fri ICh 1:32-39; Ezek 7:5-8:15; Jn 2:9-12; ITim 4:1-10
Sat ICh 14:3-16:6; Hosea 5:1-7:16; Mk 2:15-28; IPeter 3:7-12

if started the gospels with day 1, now 46th week before Resurrection chapters:

Sun Lk 2:1-14
Mon Lk 2:15-24 (through day 34/365)
Tues Mt 5:21-30
Wed Mt 5:31-42 (through day 45/365)
Thu Jn 2:1-8
Fri Jn 2:9-12 (through day 28/365)
Sat Mk 2:15-28 (through day 40/365)

if continuing to land on the Resurrection on Easter Sunday this year (11 weeks before Easter)

Sun Lk 19:11-28
Mon Lk 19:29-40 (through day 279/365)
Tues Mt 24:15-28
Wed Mt 24:29-35 (through day 290/365)
Thu Jn 14:15-24
Fri Jn 14:25-31 (through day 273/365)
Sat Mk 13:14-27 (through day 285/365)

Reading Schedule for 2017 days 22-28

Sun Gen 5:21-7:5; Ps 13:7-18:6; Lk 1:59-66
Mon Ex 28:6-28:30; Pr 2:20-3:12; Lk 1:67-80
Tues Nm 14:20-15:10; Esther 6:1-8:2; Mt 5:1-12; Acts 2:29-47
Wed Josh 6:12-8:9; Is 3:16-5:12; Mt 5:13-20; Rm 2:17-3:8
Thur IISam 5:13-7:7; Jer 4:3-5:3; Jn 1:29-42; IICor 3:12-4:6
Fri ICh 1:24-31; Ezek 5:5-7:4; Jn 1:43-51; ITim 3:1-16
Sat ICh 12:16-14:2; Hosea 4:1-19; Mk 2:1-14; IPeter 2:13-3:6

if started the gospels with day 1, now 47th week before Resurrection chapters:

Sun Lk 1:59-66
Mon Lk 1:67-80 (through day 27/365)
Tues Mt 5:1-12
Wed Mt 5:13-20 (through day 38/365)
Thu Jn 1:1:29-42
Fri Jn 1:43-51 (through day 21/365)
Sat Mk 2:1-14 (through day 33/365)

if continuing to land on the Resurrection on Easter Sunday this year (12 weeks before Easter)

Sun Lk 18:35-43
Mon Lk 19:1-10 (through day 272/365)
Tues Mt 23:37-24:3
Wed Mt 24:4-14 (through day 283/365)
Thu Jn 14:1-7
Fri Jn 14:8-14 (through day 266/365)
Sat Mk 13:1-13 (through day 278/365)

Reading Schedule for 2017 days 15-21

Sun Gen 4:1-5:20; Ps 9:7-13:6; Lk 1:39-45
Mon Ex 26:31-28:5; Pr 2:1-19; Lk 1:46-58
Tues Nm 13:1-14:19; Esther 3:12-5:14; Mt 4:5-16; Acts 2:14-28
Wed Josh 4:19-6:11; Is 2:12-3:15; Mt 4:17-25; Rm 2:1-16
Thur IISam 3:26-5:12; Jer 3:1-4:2; Jn 1:14-23; IICor 2:5-3:11
Fri ICh 1:17-23; Ezek 3:22-5:4; Jn 1:24-28; ITim 2:1-15
Sat ICh 12:16-14:2; Hosea 4:1-19; Mk 1:35-45; IPeter 2:1-12

if started the gospels with day 1, now 48th week before Resurrection chapters:

Sun Lk 1:39-45
Mon Lk 1:46-58 (through day 20/365)
Tues Mt 4:5-16
Wed Mt 4:17-25 (through day 31/365)
Thu Jn 1:14-23
Fri Jn 1:24-28 (through day 14/365)
Sat Mk 1:35-45 (through day 26/365)

if continuing to land on the Resurrection on Easter Sunday this year (13weeks before Easter)

Sun Lk 18:18-27
Mon Lk 18:28-34 (through day 265/365)
Tues Mt 23:16-26
Wed Mt 23:27-36 (through day 276/365)
Thu Jn 13:21-30
Fri Jn 13:31-38 (through day 259/365)
Sat Mk 12:28-44 (through day 271/365)

Reading Schedule for 2017 days 8-14

Sun Gen 2:4-3:24; Ps 5:8-9:6; Lk 1:18-25
Mon Ex 25:31-26:30; Pr 1:19-33; Lk 1:26-38
Tues Nm 12:1-16; Esther 2:8-3:11; Mt 3:1-10; Acts 1:15-2:13
Wed Josh 2:22-4:18; Is 1:24-2:11; Mt 3:11-4:4; Rm 1:16-32
Thur IISam 2:12-3:25; Jer 2:9-37; Jn 1:9-11; IICor 1:15-2:4
Fri ICh 1:10-16; Ezek 2:1-3:21; Jn 1:12-13; ITim 1:12-20
Sat ICh 11:22-12:15; Hosea 2:8-3:5; Mk 1:21-34; IPeter 1:13-25

if started the gospels with day 1, now 49th week before Resurrection chapters:

Sun Lk 1:18-25
Mon Lk 1:26-38 (through day 13/365)
Tues Mt 3:1-10
Wed Mt 3:11-4:4 (through day 24/365)
Thu Jn 1:9-11
Fri Jn 1:12-13 (through day 7/365)
Sat Mk 1:21-34 (through day 19/365)

if continuing to land on the Resurrection on Easter Sunday this year (14 weeks before Easter)

Sun Lk 17:22-37
Mon Lk 18:1-17 (through day 258/365)
Tues Mt 22:41-46
Wed Mt 23:1-15 (through day 269/365)
Thu Jn 13:1-11
Fri Jn 13:12-20 (through day 252/365)
Sat Mk 12:18-27 (through day 264/365)

Reading Schedule for 2017 days 1-7

Jan 1-7 readings this year are:

Sun Gen 1:1-2:3; Ps 1:1-5:7; Lk 1:1-7
Mon Ex 25:1-30; Pr 1:1-18; Lk 1:8-17
Tues Nm 11:1-35; Esther 1:1-2:7; Mt 1:1-25; Acts 1:1-14
Wed Josh 1:1-2:21; Is 1:1-23; Mt 2:1-23; Rm 1:1-15
Thur IISam 1:1-2:11; Jer 1:1:1-2:8; Jn 1:1-5; IICor 1:1-14
Fri ICh 1:1-9; Ezek 1:1-28; Jn 1:6-8; ITim 1:1-11
Sat ICh 10:1-11:21; Hosea 1:1-2:7; Mk 1:1-20; IPeter 1:1-12

if starting the gospels now (50 pre-Easter weeks, 2 Easter weeks):

Sun Lk 1:1-7
Mon Lk 1:8-17 (through day 6/365)
Tues Mt 1:1-25
Wed Mt 2:1-23 (through day 17/365)
Thu Jn 1:1-5
Fri Jn 1:6-8 (finishing through 7/365 next week)
Sat Mk 1:1-20 (through day 12/365)

if continuing to land on the Resurrection on Easter Sunday this year (15 weeks before Easter)

Sun Lk 17:11-14
Mon Lk 17:15-21 (through day 251/365)
Tues Mt 22:15-28
Wed Mt 22:29-40 (through day 262/365)
Thu Jn 12:36b-43
Fri Jn 12:44-50 (through day 245/365)
Sat Mk 12:1-17 (through day 257/365)

Psalm 71

It's becoming more common nowadays to not only read something for yourself, but read it for the next person behind you.  Let's read it for the next reader's read, like the custom where you "pay behind" for the next persons's coffee in some coffee shops.

A.  Next reader: maybe someone in a youth group, junior-high age or so.

Opening Questions Samples...

1.  If you really need your friend to do something for you, how do you approach them?  What do you use with various people: your best friend, for example.  What if you're desperate?  Do you let that on?

2.  If someone got you out of a big jam yesterday, and if you have a chance to talk about them, do you?  What if you conclude, that it must have been God?  Would that stop you from saying something?

"While You're Reading it" comments

1.  [after 71:2] Can you think of something you've seen, that starts with a scene where someone is in danger, and needs to be rescued? 

2.  [after 71:11] Have you ever seen someone in real trouble, dangerous trouble, in real life?  Did they have someone to help?

3.  [after 71:16] Suppose you have thanked someone for their help.  Have you ever wanted to tell someone else, or were you too embarrassed?

B.  Next reader: a sermon audience, with you "preaching"....

Opening Questions Samples

1.  If, in your personal life, you say something under your breath, and it starts with "O God..." what often comes after that? 

2.  What's harder for you to express?  Your troubles, or your escapes from trouble?  Do you do either one?

"After you've read it" comments

1.  The famous number about our minds is "7."  Plus or minus, 2.  It's really hard to keep more than that many things in our heads, at once.  Look how this Psalm is divided: 6 paragraphs, in the ESV!  That helps!

2.  This Psalm sure ends differently than it starts.  It's almost like a movie synopsis, and the first part is the trailer, and it's an action movie.  Hope you like real-life action movies!

Isaiah 32

(Had to take up some blogging again, so bear with me in where I'm reading in the Scriptures, if you can.  In this case, reading the book of Isaiah, spreading it out through a year starting Jan. 1, you'd finish Isaiah 32 by June 26 or thereabouts.  Maybe the second half of this year will show more consistent blogging on my part.  Lord bless!)

Something, certainly must be expressed after reading Isaiah 32.  The NASB95 translators supply a title to the chapter, "The Glorious Future."  Please read it yourselves, and if you want, I can prep my comments with some exploratory questions....

1.  Who are / will be "the princes" of verse 1, who "each will be" these great things in verse 2?

2.  Is there a complexity in the thought of 32:3 that bothers you?  namely, if a group consists of "those who see" why is it that the verse predicts a time that they will not be blinded?  and if a group consists of "those who hear" how can it be that the future will be a time that they will listen?

Does this not imply that there will have been a time, prior to Is 32:3's time of fulfillment, that there are those who see, who actually were blinded, and correspondingly, prior to Is 32:3's time of fulfillment, a similar time in which those who hear did not listen?  Having a capability, versus the actually successful use of it coming later? 

3.  If 32:4-5 is also prediction, and no doubt it is from this context, then doesn't the author go on to describe further anomalies from the past that will no longer be the case, in saying "no longer" in 32:5?

4.  The completion of the thought started in 32:1 is 32:6-8, since 32:9 starts with a new exhortation for a specific group in the very-much-present of Isaiah's time.  How is it that 32:6-8 is still predictive?  Isn't it describing what Isaiah sees that future to be?

5.  Nowadays, it is often true that the fool is "called noble"  (32:5).  And the rogue spoken of as "generous" (32:5).   But 32:6-8 shows them as displaying what they really are.  This, in the context of a prediction, is capped by the success of the noble person.  What a great future prediction this is!  Does it fit in our eschatology?

Genesis 1:1-3:24

The profound simplicity of these chapters asks for an explanation, even more than their various details do. 

In this reading, one cannot help notice the immediate impression given of the activity of God as creator.   He creates, He sees what He has created that it is good.  He commands, at various stages, that things are created, and that further things come about from what He has created.  "Plants yielding seed (1:11)"; that "the earth bring forth living creatures (1:24)"; creating man "in His own image" and speaking _to_ them, male and female (1:26-28).

The first thing listed in Genesis 1 that God said "to them" was to both the man and woman in 1:28-30.  However, this is not the first thing God had said to the man.  Chapter 2 describes a time prior to that, before the creation of Eve, in which man "was formed of dust from the ground."  Then God "placed" (2:8) the man he had formed in a garden, commanded him concerning one of the trees in it (2:17), and only then "fashioned" a rib from Adam into a woman (2:22).

Mk 2:23-3:12

Just as Mk 2:21-22 serves to illustrate not only the "old wineskins" thinking of 2:7, and the fact that the people "have never seen anything like this" (2:12)  illustrates the "new wine" (and "new wineskins"), those two verses illustrate the "old wineskins" bursting in 2:23-28 and 3:1-12.

What is it that a) prevented the Pharisees from rejoicing in the healing of Mk 3:5? b) caused the Pharisees to be critical of the disciples' behavior on the Sabbath (2:24)?

Jesus answers both questions. Notice, first, that the Phrarisees were "saying to Him" (2:24) what the disciples were doing, during the Sabbath, as an airtight case with Dt 19:15 backing against working on the Sabbath.

But does Jesus say that what the disciples did was lawful for them?  Does He not recount a story and comment that both David "and his companions ... ate the consecrated bread, which is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests..."  (2:25-26)?  Most certainly, Jesus is defending what the disciples did, but how? 

Wouldn't that defense, by recounting a story in David's life, sound fishy to the Pharisees?  Wouldn't they retort that a person can't violate the Sabbath simply because David and his disciples were recorded as eating bread unlawful to eat except by the priests? How would that be relevant? they would retort.

It was relevant because David's need of the consecrated bread took precedence over the consecration of the bread to the priests (1 Sam 21:1ff).  Jesus asks the Pharisees, "have you never read" this?  In other words, to read it is to understand how David correctly resolved the matter, and how to correctly judge this one.  The local priest had already decided in favor of David on the eating issue, and only checked their fitness according to whether "the young men have kept themselves from women." (1 Sam 21:4).  The priest judged David's authority rightly.  The incident should have taught the Pharisees the principle that the greater thing, David's authority, allowed the priest to overrule the consecration of the bread to priests.

That is also how Jesus answers the Pharisees in Mk 2:27.  If, during David's time, a priest saw correctly that David and his companions in their case could eat bread consecrated for priests, then they, surely in reading that, could tell that "the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath" (2:27).

Notice that it is from that story that Jesus concludes the relationship of the Sabbath to ... man! But not only that! From that, He concludes His own relationship to the Sabbath.  If the needs of David overruled the rule about consecrated bread, then the Sabbath was made for man.  But if a priest can overrule the use of consecrated bread for priests, this proves the Son of Man, is Lord of the Sabbath.  How?  Since the law for priests could be correctly overruled by a priest, the Sabbath law which is made for man can be overruled by the Son of Man.  He is Lord of the Sabbath. 

So the answer to why the Pharisees were critical of the disciples in Mk 2:24 is that they didn't understand that David's needs overruled the consecration of the bread to priests, which implied that the Sabbath also was made for man, which implied that Jesus, the Son of Man, is Lord (even!) of the Sabbath.  They didn't understand things within the "old wine" they carried.

Acts 4:5-28

Peter spoke, but both Peter and John had confidence (Acts 4:13), each enough to be noticed by the group in 4:5ff.  This interaction between Peter and John and those in 4:5-6 was clearly a situation in which Peter and John were outnumbered, so much so that it is surprising that the greater-in-number group did not intimidate the lesser.

They tried.  They "commanded" (4:18).  They "threatened" (4:21).  They said lots of things (4:23) to Peter and John, which Peter and John shared with their own (4:23).  But this group, Peter and John's companions, arrived at a conclusion about what had happened using an argument from the greatest confrontation with rulers in their Bible -- Psalm 2 (Acts 4:25-26).  Peter and John used the prophecy to explain their lesser confrontation, as we shell see in the next section. 

Galatians 3

Of all the correctives that need to be used upon ourselves, Galatians 3 is the most timely for us, all over the world.  And indeed, Paul is not speaking about a local custom of limited scope here.

In order for something to be a corrective, then we will have had to first be  incorrect at some point.  Paul says "you foolish Galatians!  Who has bewitched you ..." (3:1)?  That's why 3:2 is a rhetorical question.  He's not asking for information, but for them to confess what they all know, that they received the Spirit by the hearing of faith (3:2).  This should be a corrective for them.  And he proceeds in 3:3 from there.  They have "begun by the Spirit."  Then the next rhetorical question is given; again, he is not asking them for information, but telling them what they already know, that they are NOT being perfected by the flesh (3:3).
   What a shock this must be to the congruentialist, who makes no distinction between the results of "the works of the Law" and the results of "the hearing of faith," as if they are interchangeable in their effects!  One does NOT result in the receiving of the Spirit, and one does!  They couldn't be more different in what they result in!  But isn't this some subtle point, about which Christians can and do differ?  No.  They do, but they can't.  Paul attributes it to some inconceivable bewitchment, that they would consider the works of the Law to result in what the hearing of faith resulted in!  Part of the factual proof of their foolishness is that they know the answers to Paul's questions immediately upon hearing them.

Next, Paul takes up the objection that things are like that ("hearing of faith") at the start, but are superseded by works of the Law.  He asks "does He who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?" (3:5)  This is about ongoing things.  Not only did they receive the Spirit at the beginning, but the Spirit is provided by God on an ongoing basis.  Does God do that, which is ongoing, by the works of the Law?  Or by hearing with faith!  It is also the same with the miracles among them!  In conclusion, he claims not merely that they started with faith, but that they have a permanent state because of it:  "Therefore, know that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham" (3:7). From the origin of it, to the current state of those who originated that way.  That is how you recognize a Christian among other religious people.

Mt 4:17-5:19

There is the same summary language for the initial preaching of Jesus (4:17) as John the Baptist's initial preaching in 3:2. Does that imply a connection between the content of their preaching:  Of course it does! Both men characteristically preached "repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near." In characteristic form, from conclusion to support for it, it is less understandable to our ears immediately.  We prefer the premise stated first, then, the conclusion?  OK.  1)  The kingdom of heaven has come near.  2)  So, repent!

So let's ask each other:  Of all the things you've heard said about   their sermons, have you heard that they preached that the kingdom of heaven has come near as much as you've heard that they preached repentance?  Not nearly so much.  We've often heard that John the Baptist preached repentance, and that Jesus did too, but very seldom heard their premise for it!  This cannot be explained in an excusable way.  Is the fact that the kingdom of heaven has come near of no consequence, either for anything else, or especially, for repentance?  It is very much of consequence.

1 Tim 4:1-5:2

It is always disheartening among those deeply interested in the truth of Christianity, that two things must be dealt with, having espoused it: the existence of the mundane (by comparison to the truth of Christianity), and the existence of opposition to the truth of Christianity from within the group.

Having a brand new shirt, we are stuck with having to launder it; it seems so unfair to deal with the grimy dirt, in something so brilliantly new.  But let's not complain that the task has no interest: having just read from the sublime expressions of 1 Tim 3:16, 1 Tim 4:1 is not an anti-climax, but an application: part of being in a group is dealing with "some" (4:1), although the reason for this group is hard for the Christian leader to stomach -- until we realize that one of the blessings of learning from the life of Jesus is the way he dealt with those whose disagreement was at this level, coming from "deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars" (4:1-2).  But have things really changed since Galatia?  Did not the early Paul ask them who bewitched them?

In grimy dirt example #1 in the first paragraph, there is an asceticism based on foods and the state of some sort of chaste singlehood (4:1-5).  In number 2, it is failling into "worldly fables fit for old women" -- some kind of fictional stories of idealized people and their feats could fill that bill.  Rather than fables about people, looking to ourselves -- "discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness" -- be the hero yourself!  Don't single out the Saviorhood of God, only applying it to some stylized, idolized people.  

Luke 2:8-40

Let's not miss the irony between the generalism and hubris of the Roman announcement ("all the inhabited earth") in 2:1, and the particularism and greatness of 2:14, "and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased."  There would be two things that might make us miss this: first, an anachronism which the ASV mg saves us from in 2:11, "Savior, who is anointed Lord."  On the on hand, earlier described was "Caesar Augustus," Latin for the august king, the Romans thinking of him as Lord over everything inhabited, but "in those days" (2:1), born in an out-of-the-way corner of the empire "a Savior who is [the] Anointed Lord." We'd miss that if we think of Christ as merely part of His name.

The second anachronism is to worry about election in the theologically disputed sense when reading 2:14.  To counteract that, we can ask ourselves the question: which had greater scope, the reign of Caesar Augustus over all the inhabited earth so-thought, or the "news of great joy which will be for all the people ... glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased..."?  Who's in the highest?  Caesar counting his subjects, or the Savior come among those same subjects?  Which had greater scope at the time?  the pax Romana over the "inhabited" portion, or the peace that the angels invoked "on earth"?  Which had greater glory upon it?  Caesar's glory, or the "glory to God"?

Rm 3:21-4:25

Leon Morris calls Rm 3:21-31 "possibly the most important paragraph ever written."  Certainly I agree with that!

1 Peter 3

The difficulties with the soteriological statements at the end of this chapter are no greater than some perhaps with the exhortations near the beginning.  And Peter ties them both together with 3:18, the statement that Christ also died for sins once for all.  By this Peter means to explain better both the previous suffering of 3:17 and the future salvation of 3:21.

Jn 2:13-3:8

When John says in 2:25 that Jesus "knew what was in man," the reader supplies the contrast to the end of the litotes, "and it's not good."  That certainly allows a smooth segue to the ideas in 3:3.

We should hold the universal common idea of Protestantism, the idea of being born again, just a little bit behind our back in our hearing Jesus speak to Nicodemus of it "the first time."  Jesus was not alluding to "just like they say in the hymns, born again...." but stating it for the first time.  It touched Nicodemus that way too.  And doing that a little, we may notice that being born again is preparation for something in the future, the seeing of the kingdom of God (3:3), and the entering of the kingdom of God (3:6).  It is preparation of the most necessary kind, a "sine qua non" preparation, a "without which, none" preparation.

Notice the gentleness of the argument Jesus makes toward Nicodemus.  It is the Lord's response to Nicodemus' attempt at deference in 3:2.  Jesus is teaching him what he needs to know, and we know from reading about Nicodemus later, that it had fruition in him.  Jesus first speaks of it in the third person, which is a teacher's way not to inflame resentment at feeling insulted.  Then he cautions Nicodemus even as he applies it to him, don't marvel.  Don't get your dander up.  A model of teachers' patience.

Mk 2:6-22

A good question to see if we have heard the point Jesus makes in Mk 2:9-10 is this: does the fact that Jesus says to the man to pick up his pallet, and go home, enough to convince them (and us) that Jesus has the authority on earth to forgive sins (and us)?  If we were there, would we have not gotten it (2:8)?

Similarly, in Mk 2:14.  We're "kind of" aware, especially if we were brought up on Genesis 1, that God does things by fiat: that is, that He speaks, and it occurs.  But we don't apply it much to other things.  (That's a good thing, in general!  Awful difficult to cause things by fiat!)  So, when Jesus says to Levi "follow Me!" does it occur to us that Jesus is doing anything by fiat?  Or, do we just say that it was the normal command / obedience instance, or maybe invitation / response, or opportunity / enlistment?  But notice the verbal parallel Mark "sneaks" in to 2:14.  What did Levi do?  He "got up and followed Him."  What did the paralytic in the previous story do?  "He got up and immediately picked up the pallet and went out in the sight of everyone."  Hmm.  In 2:17, Jesus uses the word "call" -- we must remember, that God uses "calls" for things like that (Is 45:4), forming, and causing, and doing (Is 45:7).

Acts 3:1-4:4

In the same way that it was not because of a calculation or strategy of his own divising that Peter "raised his voice" to preach in Acts 2, but Peter was responding to what God done, because God "has poured forth this which you both see and hear" (Ac 2:33), so Peter did not set up a platform for his sermon in Acts 3:11, but denied anything about the healing  of "the man who had been lame from his mother's womb" (3:2) to be due to "our own power or piety" (3:12), when the man began walking and leaping and praising God and clinging to Peter and John,  and caused a crowd to come to the portico of Solomon (3:9,11).  Luke is giving a distinct flavor to the initial growth of the movement, that it was not originating in a human push.  But Peter and John certainly do things here in Acts 3!

The combination of God's working and man's actions is thus not a problem for Luke: here in the healing, God's power is used by Peter, and Peter does nothing by his own power or piety.  But that is just one way in which Luke describes the working of God in events. In the sermon of our current chapter, Peter gets very bold, once again, in assigning sinful actions and responsibility for them to men: "you disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer ..." (3:14).   But when explaining that further, Peter says that "you acted in ignorance, just as your rulers did also" (3:17).  (Now you have to know your Old Testament Levitical laws to know that acting in ignorance was no "excuse").   Therefore Peter is very proper to say both that God "has thus fulfilled" ... "the things ... announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ would suffer" (3:19), and to tell them "therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away" ... including the very sins he has just mentioned (3:19).

So, here we have an example, first, of God working powerfully in a healing, and second, of Peter describing God working to fulfill prior things announced, in the sins done in ignorance mentioned in 3:13-15.  

Next, in 3:19-20, Peter exhorts them to do something for the purpose of God causing something, three things actually, to come about.  The people were to "repent and return so that [1] your sins may be wiped away, [2] in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, [3] and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you."  So does Peter have a doctrine that God and man have no interactivity?  No.

Gal 2:11-21

The depth of the drama between Paul and seems-like-everybody at Antioch (Peter, men from James, the rest of the Jews, Barnabas) can probably not be decided since we don't know if Paul spoke 2:15-21 on that occasion.  But this drama is practically the drama that defines how the newness of the New Testament was fought for by Paul.

"They were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel" (2:14).  The truth of the gospel makes it wrong and false to "compel the Gentiles to live like Jews" (2:14).    Paul tells Peter "in the presence of all" -- all these groups at Antioch above -- "you, being a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews."  Peter's two acts were: 1) holding himself aloof, beginning to withdraw (2:12), though he "used to eat with the Gentiles" (2:12); 2) compelling the Gentiles to live like Jews (2:14).

Notice the movement: from eating with, to not eating with.  Paul calls this "compelling the Gentiles to live like Jews."  What?  Just eating separately from Gentiles when the Jewish brothers came?  Doesn't that come under "hospitality"?  Why not?

Paul says Peter "stood condemned" in his actions.  The Galatians get a letter, but Peter got it from Paul's face.

Mt 3:7-4:16

In Mt 3:7, John the Baptist tells "many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism" what to do because they are fleeing from the wrath to come, not what to do, because they are not.

This is the great principle of God's way of fruitfulness: first the good root, then the good fruit.   As Jesus says later, "there is no good tree which produces bad fruit, nor, again, a bad tree which produces good fruit " (Lk 6:43; cf. Mt 12:33).

Mt 3:8, similarly, is forward-looking, not backward-looking.  In other words, it's not an accusation, but a direction for them to go.  As was the baptism of John itself.  The baptism of John was not backward-looking, either as accusation or commendation.  The baptism of John was not for the righteous, but for those "as they confessed their sins," including the "brood of vipers" -- many of the Pharisees and Sadducees he saw.

To man, that doesn't sell.  You don't sell many books on diet, if the pictures that go in the books are only of those needing to diet.  But God is not judging ... yet.  In the same breath John categorizes them by their past sins, with "brood of vipers" (3:7), he tells them that God has warned them to flee the wrath to come.  He then, with a rhetorical question, asks them who warned them, and therefore to keep going. As if to say "who warned you?  God?  Tremendous, take heart from that, and bring forth fruit in keeping with it.  Keep going, don't set back."

1 Tim 3

This chapter is another chapter in which Paul is considered to not be characteristic of himself.  However this chapter, along with chapter 2, are excellent illustrations of how Paul does ethics given the general statements Paul makes in 1:8-9 about what is appropriate or not, "for a righteous person."

In chapter 2 we looked at how Paul was giving personal instructions and expressing his ways of leadership.  In this chapter Paul continues with the ethical statements regarding the office of overseer, but reminds us of an amazing foundation for all godliness (reminding us of just who it is who is writing these things!), at the end, in 3:16.

As mentioned, people have a hard time with Paul here.  If "an overseer ... must be above reproach, ... prudent, respectable, ... have a good reputation with those outside" then where is there room for "blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me."  (1 Tim 3:1; Mt 5:11)?  The ethics seem to be "less" than brought forth in the teachings of Christ.  Is there a place for "respectable" in the church?

Of course.  There is a place.  There came to be a place.  There always has been a place.  It is a localized place, not a be-all and end-all of ethics.

Lk 1:57-2:7

The very religiosity of the gospels should not blind us to the fact that Mary and Elizabeth were relatives; and thus John the Baptist and the Lord Jesus were also relatives.  It puts some extra "oomph" into John the Baptist's statement in Jn 1:30-31, where John the Baptist is saying of his own relative Jesus, "After me comes a man ... I did not recognize Him, but so that He might be manifested to Israel, I came baptizing in water."  A historian reading these documents for the first time might say, "ah yes, a movement started by perhaps two cousins, one giving way to another."  It has that kind of "things happen all the time like this" feel: relatives who think alike, start movements, all through history.  Fair enough.

But how about Luke?  He documents, in great detail, the theologies of their mothers!  Here it is the 24th day of the year, and we've proceeded already to the call of the disciples and preaching in Galilee in Mk and Jn, but in Luke, we're still thoroughly researching and discovering the background of the mothers involved!  A true historian's heart!

We can take Lk 1:57 in this vein, that Luke is emphasizing the normalcy of what happened to Elizabeth when John the Baptist was born.  These beginnings were not solely for their miracles.  They were historical-miracle stories.  They didn't happen in Oz.  Not everything they did was involving the miraculous and unexplainable.  Elizabeth and Mary, both pregnant: the one who was so miraculously, stayed three months with her relative whose birth was naturally caused: although Luke records that the relatives to Elizabeth were very happy for her, saying the Lord had magnified His mercy toward her (1:58), just like relatives say; although the father had been unable to speak for the last nine months, just like the neighbors say.  After Zecharias's voice returned, the neighbors' say was multiplied (1:65).  And so was Zecharias's (1:67ff.).

Keep in mind, as Luke is writing this, and the readers, including ourselves, are reading this, we already know -- as Mary knew, as Elizabeth knew, having both known together -- that the Lord Jesus was related to them as their Lord.  Elizabeth had surmised this during her pregnancy! -- ("How has it happened to me, that the mother of my Lord would come to me?" she asked in 1:43)-- but Luke is recording the stir regarding John the Baptist, who he'd be.  The gospel of John does this a little bit too.  We've seen that the first player whose historical actions he mentions is John the Baptist, even in the middle of the cosmic language about the Word! (Jn 1:6).  The darkness did not comprehend the light, and a man came, sent from God!  This wasn't a plot device.  Luke, in such a magnificent way, totally independently of John, writes the history, and it sounds like history, not a plot device.  It is the history of the Incarnation, not a plot device.

So did Zecharias really say this, as Luke records in 1:67-79?  Almost as if Luke knew some would ask that question, he prefaces it by saying "and his father Zecharias was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying ...." (1:67).  No wiggle room.

Why is it that we would demur?  If we invent theories like "priests don't know Greek that well," or "priests don't rhyme" there are lots of  smart bilingual priests, and lots of theology already laid down in the Old Testament as poetry.  But why are we trying to put a lid on what Luke says was unique: "Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied."?    Let the facts clobber your presuppositions, OK?  How otherwise could the excellence of 1:68-79 be explained?  I could be considered out of my mind for saying it this way, but in the middle of the prophecy, Protestantism is prophesied!  Did Luke's eloquence concoct that?  (1:77).  Had Luke already written a systematic theological treatise to explain that the Protestant understanding of salvation being of God alone (1:78) would need to be put into Zechariah's mouth for future generations to see it, or was Zechariah filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, "saying ..." (1:67)? 

If Luke 2:1 reflects an external urgency upon Joseph and Mary to travel during the final days of her expectation of giving birth, this was a different kind of explanation for the location of the major event -- the birth of Christ -- than the announcement to Zecharias, to Mary, the visit of Mary to Elizabeth, the birth of John, the loosing of Zecharias's tongue, and his prophecy.  Even the visit of Mary to Elizabeth had a divinely-guided aspect to it (1:36), and some of its detail (1:43).  In other words, things going properly, according to divine announcements and revelation.  Here, the external circumstances show that God is the God over difficulty as well.  It was not easy to travel in the final days of her expectation, and certainly not a feeling of fulfilling prophecy, to travel for a census.   

Rm 2:25-3:20

Paul continues with a prime example of a false argument he deals with, an argument about doing well at something in the Law, some aspect or  part of the Law by which they, as far as keeping the covenant, actually thought of themselves as actually keeping the the covenant, because of their keeping an entering into keeping covenant.  Paul is dealing here with an "I've gotten in the door" argument..

Circumcision is an undisputed example of their idea of that door.  Isn't going through the entrance point,  namely, circumcision, of value?  His answer is 2:25.  Again, we might tend to think Paul is saying that he agrees that circumcision is an entrance point, and that  Paul either has better entrance points, new entrance points, or cares only about exits.  We will see.  But the truth is that here, Paul denies that circumcision is anything but a possibly temporary entrance point before God.  He does so in 2:26-27.  Circumcision, far from being a permanent entrance point, is only so if subsequently, one abides inside!  It is something that, if someone "keeps the requirements of the Law" (2:26), or "if he keeps the Law" (2:27) without that one thing, will be regarded -- by God! -- as having been circumcised, as having entered!

This has got to befuddle those who "rely upon the Law" (2:17).  If you imagine the Law as a city, and circumcision as a gateway into it, Paul is saying that getting in, becomes the same as being outside, if when you're in, you violate the rules of the city (2:25).  Those in the city, who don't violate the rules of the city, will be regarded as having come in(2:26).

1 Peter 2:11-25

Peter is not stylistically the same as Paul, who loves to collect exhortations after describing things that are true of us in Christ, such as in Romans and Ephesians.  In our section, having just stated in 2:10 what is true of us in Christ, Peter immediately exhorts us to do something directly because of it in 2:11.

Another difference between many of Peter's and many of Paul's exhortations is that Paul will state things in a way that any Christian, even one who has just begun or recently failed, can apply immediately in any case, and Peter will say things that Christians who have succeeded at some kind of behavior can apply.  We saw that in the last section, in 1:22.  There, he built a three-storey building: bottom floor was they had been born again of seed which is imperishable.  Second floor is they have in obedience to the truth purified their souls for a sincere love of the brethren, and the third floor to be built was "fervently love one another from the heart!" (1:22-23).

Peter teaches similarly in 2:12.  They had been displaying excellence?  Well, Peter says "keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles."  Someone may well ask at that point, "really Peter, is that worth saying?"  But what does Peter then say?   What does Peter envision the result might possibly be, so that they would determine to do so?

In very compact language, Peter starts with the fact that the Gentiles had been slandering his readers as evildoers (2:12), about some item, some "thing in which they slander you."  A good person is often confronted with this fact, that although they've done something good, it has been responded to with evil deeds.  The temptation to the good person is to stop it!  After all, the response (so far) is, to be called an evildoer.  But Peter says "keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles" for a reason.  Gentiles had observed them.  Yes.  Gentiles had slandered them.  Yes.  Peter has the future in his mind, and talks about "the day of visitation" -- that's the day Christ returns.  Something the Christians do now will be, possibly, according to the purpose of it, something resulting in these very same Gentiles who are now doing one thing, doing the exact opposite and even more.

Peter doesn't explain how that would come about.  But he brings it up, not because it is out of the question, but because it what he says their keeping of their behavior excellent is for.

The next two or three paragraphs (2:13-25) are some of the most difficult in the New Testament to understand in the history of ethics.  In order to see the difficulty, compare what is said here with a paragraph like Luke 22:35-38.  There is no doubt in that paragraph, that Jesus was comparing His own instructions to the disciples for a time past, with instructions for another time which was then immediately upon them.  The instructions were mutually exclusive.

We can explore this in stages, perhaps tagged with questions.  1) Is there conceivably a situation that can arise for the Christian, in which the Christian is specifically not going to be prepared ahead of time what to do?  Mk 13:11 // Mt 13:19 // Lk 21:14.  This is such an odd question for ethics, since ethics is the study beforehand of "what to do" (Lk 21:14), and to "do what is right" (1 Peter 2:20), yet the Christian in this case is told to "make up your mind beforehand not to prepare to defend yourselves ...." in this case.

2) Is there an actual situation scripturally in which the commands which are binding upon us as Christians, must be restricted to not apply in all contexts?  Mt 5:22 is binding upon us.  But compare Galatians 3:1.  This is an ancient problem for ethicists, as evidenced, with light toward a resolution, by Solomon in Eccl 7:15-18.

Taking a clue from the previous passage, 3) are there principles that govern sword versus no sword, and accusation versus non-accusation, action versus non-action?  If so, the council of submission to "every human institution" in 2:13 need not rule out the American Revolution, for example, or whistleblowing the actions of evil bosses to others, for another.  The Supreme Court just this week had to make a ruling affirming this.  The employee was unjustly terminated, the court said, for revealing the actions of his bosses.  John the Baptist can tell Herod the king, that it is unlawful for him to have the woman he had (Mt 14:4), and not violate "submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether to a king or ...." (2:13).  Put another way, "submit yourselves" has multiple and various applications.

The pragmatic reader might well assess the situations Peter brings up, about being submissive to one's masters, and suffering unjustly, and suffering in response to a single instance of doing right (2:18,19,20), and count up the cost versus benefit.  After bringing up the fact that Christ left us an example (of Himself) "for you to follow in His steps" (2:21), Peter gives yet another reason that is not as obvious to us if we're only thinking in aggregate quantities.  Let's draw this out....

First, Peter brings up instances of Christ doing things, not just the general category, but events one by one (2:23) ... remember, Peter personally witnessed this in standing outside.  He probably remembered the evening of Christ's arrest and being taken away more than we can fathom, but here, Peter goes through it like a news story: He was reviled, but "He did not revile in return."  While suffering, "He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting to Him who judges righteously."  And finally, what we look at as one thing, Peter allows us to see as having a multiplicity to it: consider the word "sins" (lit.) in 2:24.  It occurs twice.  He bore our "sins," plural. so that we might die "to sins" (lit.).

It's one thing to have died with Christ, and to have been raised with Him, as Paul states in Romans 6:11.  Peter looks at this is a single event in saying "by His wound you were healed" at the end of 2:24.  But before that, Peter says that He bore our "sins," plural, for a reason, that we might die to "sins."  Plural.

Any person who has been wounded, and been healed, can testify to the fact that a healed person can take part in individual actions again.  To die to "sins" is to do so, sin by sin.  Just as Christ's death was also a bearing of our "sins," we, as healed once, have been purposed to die to "sins," plural.  Instance by instance, because as persons, we are those having been healed of them.  That is, we will not die from them, and deal with them as healed persons do of what wounds us.

Jn 1:43-2:12

Have you noticed the connected story from Jn 1:19 all the way through 2:12, the way it is connected with days-between markers? "The next day" (1:29; 1:35: 1:43), and finally,  2:1, "on the third day"?  The earliest days of Jesus's ministry, coming complete with a pericope from prior family life and travels in Jn 2:1,12.

These early days of discipleship confirm an informal model of entry to discipleship to the Lord.  In John, there is that time of convincing and being convinced that way may or not miss in the other three gospels.  Yes, Peter had a brother Andrew who talked to him as you would talk normally about any discovery, about finding the Messiah.  The implied "follow me" of (1:39) is merely Jesus' invitation to Andrew to come see where Jesus is staying.  The next day Philip is found by Jesus (1:45), and Jesus says to him "follow Me"; however, Philip  instead goes and talks to his brother Nathanael first, and brings Nathanael with him.

In both cases the second of the two sets of brothers are addressed individually by Jesus Himself, who says things that solidify the whole thing, the whole issue, for them.  The first, we only get one side of, Jesus telling Simon "You are Simon the son of John; you shall be called Cephas" (1:44).  In the second case, we see how deeply what Jesus says (1:47) reaches Nathanael.  The easiest explanation is that Jesus tells Nathanael something about his prior whereabouts or thoughts or characteristic routines that only God could have revealed to him.  And Jesus, again speaking engagingly and informally, has something very important to say about Nathanael: "because I said to you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe?  You will see greater things than these ... Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."

If this phraseology seems totally strange, you hadn't seen a parallel with 1:32-33;  the Holy Spirit descending out of heaven and remaining upon Christ: John saw that.  Jesus predicts Nathanael will see the angels descending and ascending upon him, "the Son of Man."

Many leaders, at the outset of their ministries, promise their followers dazzling things, but no leader promised that!

In the ensuing chapter, the turning of water to wine brings together the Lord's family life and the informal discipleship that had just begun days earlier.  Much has been written about the Lord's relationship to his mother in this event.  We can see that Mary is used to directing Jesus, as any mother is, and, at the same time, leaving things to Him to do as He wishes (2:5).  The last verse in our section expresses the pivoting transition point perfectly.

Mk 1:35-2:5

At the beginning of Mark, regarding the activities of Jesus, so many things have to do with the Holy Spirit, and often in conflict with the powers of evil (1:8, 10, 12, 13).   We would have thought the gathering of disciples in 1:16ff would send the ministry off in a different direction, but no: the next story is not about disciples, but about an "unclean spirit" (1:23), and it coming out of a person.  The crowd was amazed at the teaching (1:22), calling it "a new teaching with authority" precisely because of Jesus commanding the unclean spirits to obey Him (1:27).

This is not inconsistent with what Jesus says in calling the first disciples.  To become "fishers of men," what better thing than to witness the Lord's work in fishing men out of the most severe of things: illnesses, and being possessed by unclean spirits?  Both of these aspects of the human condition are characterized by the helplessness of the human being.

And yet Christ's work is also addressed to the normal Galilean, to whom Christ preached the gospel of God (1:14), preached in the synagogue on Saturday, with great authority, "and not as the scribes" (1:22).  The summary in 1:39 is "preaching and casting out the demons," to such an extent that Jesus "could no longer publicly enter a city" (1:45).    

In the next section, 2:1-5, it is often ignored, what Jesus actually said, in itself, to the paralytic, after seeing the faith (2:5) of those who let down his palette after removing the roof where Jesus was "speaking the word" to a group packed inside: "Child, your sins are forgiven."

This is a pronouncement.  An act.  Not a perception or discovery by Jesus, but an act that forgives the man's sins.  We know this because of the explanation Jesus gives of it: "the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins" (2:11).

It is important not to water this story down to the demonstration that Jesus "could" forgive sins, but to remember that He did, and why.  "Jesus, seeing their faith said to the paralytic, 'Child, your sins are forgiven.'"

Do we have an "opening" in our thinking for this?  What does the faith of those who had dug an opening in the roof have to do with this man's sins? his sins, their faith, Christ forgiving his sins in a moment in time. 

Christ saw their faith.  Is this metonymy for Christ seeing the effects of their faith?  It may not matter, since subsequently Mark shows that Jesus was also "aware in His spirit" what some of the scribes were "reasoning in their hearts about" (2:8).  In any case, Christ saw "their" faith.  Can another's faith be a reason that Christ forgives someone else's sin?  It must be so.  Here is a story from the earliest days of Christ's ministry, that has yet to be well integrated into so much theology!  Why?  Because of our presupposition that "my" forgiveness must be because of what is true of "me."  Not so.  For two reasons in this story, that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins just as He did here, and that the faith of others can be a reason that Christ forgives someone else's sin.

Acts 2:22-47

The many details in later theology notwithstanding, how would Peter's sermon have come across to his hearers the first time?  Would they be having questions about whether what the Father "poured forth that which you both see and hear" was a necessary accompaniment, or a one-time accompaniment of "the promise of the Holy Spirit" (2:33)?  Isn't it more striking, instead, that Peter addresses his audience in the tone he does ... at ... all?

Here's what Peter says about them: 1.  "men of Israel" (22); 2.  "this Man ... you nailed to a cross by the hands of men without the Law and put Him to death (23); "whom you crucified" (36).

Here's what Peter says to them: 1.  "Brethren" (29); 2.  "repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself"; (38-39).

Here's what happened: "those who had received his word were baptized, and that day there were added about three thousand souls" (41).

As an original hearer, to be stricken by what Peter said about you, and amazed that "the promise is for you ..." despite what Peter said about you is to go beyond academic interest in what is necessary, to what is necessary for the soul.

Gal 1:18-2:10

If you are convinced that your dear friends reading your letter are deserting God, and that you are the one God used to introduce them to Himself, how would you write to them?

We saw that Paul faces the desertion squarely, by setting it against what Paul had originally pointed out for them to remember, "what you received" (1:9).  They didn't have chapter-and-verse of Romans.  Probably Galatians was way before Romans, way before everything else in the New Testament.  He wanted them to remember "what we have preached to you" (1:8).

Why should they do that?  Because "the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man" (1:11).  Paul was taking the position that they could benefit from what they already knew about him, and the further things he was explaining: "I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but through a revelation of Jesus Christ" (1:12).

In 1:18 Paul is continuing to support for 1:12.  Where did he get what he had taught the Galatians?  Did Paul get what he said, from the apostles?  In chapter 2, Paul continues to give his support for 1:12, by his history, how he went to Jerusalem, with Barnabas and Titus, submitting "the gospel which I preach ... in private, those who were of reputation" (2:2).

There was another encounter after that, besides that private meeting, between Paul and  "false brethren secretly brought in, who had sneaked in to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, in order to bring us into bondage"  (2:4).  What was the type of bondage Paul was talking about?  We see the subject in the phrase "compelled to be circumcised" (2:3).  Paul uses the phrase without prior setup because it was a well-known point of contention with those he had priorly mentioned among the Galatians who were disturbing them and wanting to distort the gospel of Christ (1:6).  So they were very aware of it, without Paul having to set up the subject.  It was important for the Galatians to know that the issue between himself and "false brethren" to whom Paul "did not yield in subject to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you" (2:5), had already been resolved then, among "those who were of high reputation" (2:6), including James and Cephas ... and Paul would add, against those who note reputations as a matter of course, "(what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality)" (2:6).

Mt 2:7-3:6

The story of the birth of Christ that Matthew began in chapter 1 continues.  He began with the events of it in 1:18, but had begun with the significance of it back in 1:1!  And so it's not wrong to allow him to speak about the significance of events along the way.  It's not cheating; it's not being biased.  Both words in 1:1, "Jesus" and "Messiah" describe things that are true.  Saying that one of them is "true," and the other one is "merely an interpretation," means only that the one saying this wants to set up a predisposition to question the second, not the first.

Matthew has no problem giving interpretations along the way, even to the level of divine intentions for actions!  When Joseph "took the Child and His mother ... and left for Egypt," (2:14), Matthew comments, this was "to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet" (2:15)!!  How did Matthew know God's intentions?  He was not saying that Joseph was trying to fulfill the prophet's words, any more than he was saying Herod (2:16) was trying to fulfill Jeremiah's words (2:17).

Not only does Matthew know (and assert) that the significances of these events include that God was doing so to fulfill specific words _in_ the prophets, but, in 2:23, Matthew is so bold as to say that God was intending, by Jesus living "in a city called Nazareth," (2:23), "to fulfill what was spoken through the prophets."  In this case, Matthew is not quoting any of them!  This has caused scholars fits!  Mostly, because they don't have a category for Matthew telling us something that God intended to be a fulfillment of what came "through the prophets," i.e., taking the prophets as a whole.  The "double-meaning"-ness of "Nazarene" also gives us fits.  It's an odd construct for saying someone is from a city, yet it is not the Greek construct for the OT word "Nazirite," which was a particular kind of vow-taker.  Matthew is accused of making a mistake in his spelling  (by those who want him to use footnotes about a Nazirite), and of making a mistake in his understanding (by those who want him to use footnoes about a city) ... as if Matthew, who displays to us God's intentions behind a particular verse, could not be inspired to tell us God's intentions to talk about His Son through a general conclusion from His prophets.  What is easier, to show that Hosea refers to the Messiah in Ho 11:1, or to show that the prophets taken as a whole refer to the Messiah?  The latter.  Therefore the latter should be accepted, since we allow the former.  Are we ready, then, to hear Matthew describe what happened, _and_ learn from him, the significance God gives to what happened?  If so, we are ready for the next chapter.

Whatever the time is, whether "the kingdom of God has come near" (3:2 lit.), or not, sin does not fit at all with "the way of the Lord" (3:3).  It is always the obligation of the one having sinned to repent of the sin.  But here, John the Baptist does not preach "repent, for you've sinned," but "repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near."  This is a different thing.

It is too common to interpret 3:2 in a very crass way, as if the nearness of the judge is the reason to change to what the judge wants us to do.  This may be true in high school playgrounds, but that is NOT John's point.  Whatever else John's sinful hearers were doing sinfully, their sensitivity to the kingdom of God was also in line with that sinfulness.  But to be misaligned to the kingdom of God itself is the gravest disaster upon its arriving, thus making repentance toward that fact very urgent, because it has come near.  The Kingdom of God, when God would come and "set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed" (Dn 2:44), was prophesied, and John had announced that it has come near.  The nearness of that is far-reaching, going way beyond incomplete fixings of smaller things due to a temporary visit.  When God's kingdom comes, it is permanently established: "it will itself endure forever" (Dn 2:44).

1 Tim 1:18-2:15

One of the benefits of a translation that stays close to the original in terms of similar diction for similar diction is notable in this letter.  If we don't know the synonymy of law, instruction, command, and teaching behind the original "Torah" when we hear those words  in chapters 1 and 2 of our letter, we won't see, in the English, some of the point the original author was able to convey to the reader originally.

In order to understand "this command I entrust to you," in 1 Tim 1:18, we'll need to notice both the "I have been entrusted" that Paul says of himself in 1:11, the teaching about "law"and "command"in 1:8,9, and "the goal of our command" in 1:5, and "a trustworthy statement, deserving of full acceptance" in 1:15.

In biblical culture there was a basic unity between teaching and commandment that we have divided up, in the West.  It hampers our understanding of some basic Semitic-type sentences, like 1 Jn 1:8, where John says "a new commandment to you, which is true in Him and in you."  In English, we don't say that commandments are true or false, but at the most "valid or invalid," perhaps, or"in force or not."

So in our verse, 1:18, "this command I entrust to you," when we ask "which command?"  we don't think it could mean "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners."  Paul's turnover to Timothy is the command he was entrusted with, "our instruction."

Paul says "the goal of our instruction" is "love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith (1:5), and that certainly is a goal for the reader Timothy, and a goal for "the trustworthy statement" that "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners."  Let's see if that pans out in the subsequent words.  In 1:19, Paul says "keeping faith and a good conscience."  That certainly fits with the means Paul mentioned to his goal earlier: the same thing!  a good concience and (sincere) faith.  If Timothy will have been entrusted with that "command," that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners," then he gets what gives us a good conscience, our salvation from our sins, and a sincere faith, our trust in the one who saved us.

And looking at 1 Tim 1 that way, as the compendium of the teaching Paul wishes to entrust to Timothy, then chapter 2 becomes the beginning of the standard "practical" section, as in Paul's Romans and Ephesians, the "Romans 12" if you will, the Eph 4.

By way of application, now, having reminded Timothy the big picture, Paul gets particular and, as is fitting for personal communication, personal.  "I urge ... therefore I want ... but I do not allow" (2:1,8,12). Just as we would tend to miss the identification of command and teaching in chapter 1, we might tend to not have a category for this kind of ethical exhortation by Paul in chapter 2.

In the West we have tended to treat the Bible like a single textbook of truths plus a single textbook of rules. The underlying assumption behind so many denominational differences is that other people have not figured out what rules are "the ones," surprisingly, what Paul would call "our commandment" in 1:5, "this command I entrust to you," 1:18.   And so we have trouble distinguishing levels of appertainance among rules.  We hear, for example, of turning the other cheek, and assume that's one of "the ones," and this leads some people to conclude that never can a Christian be a soldier, or "lend, expecting no return," and conclude never can a Christian be a banker.  In the same way, we don't allow Paul the latitude to say "I urge ... I want ... I do not allow."  We can't have that!  We have to have a rule be valid for every situation, or not.  And we certainly CAN"T have any humorous aspect intrude on our list-making: we can't have any hint of humor in 2:12-15.  Oops!

Lk 1:39-56

There's lots to read and discuss on the things Mary and Elizabeth had in common as relatives (1:36) that make it easier to see what they had in common spiritually as well, and how various things happen all the time among people and their relatives, that don't happen among people who are not our kin.

However, it is pretty explicitly told that the things Elizabeth were having in common at this visit (1:39-56) are not the run-of-the-mill kind of things!  How did Elizabeth know that Mary "believed that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her by the Lord" (1:45)?  How did Mary become someone who sums up so eloquently the "prophetic perfect" tenses in what she says in 1:51-55, the prophetic idea, that what will happen, to the prophet, is written down to already have happened?!  God "has done" ... "has scattered" ... "has brought down" ... "has exalted" ... "has filled" ... "sent away" ... "has given help" ... (51-54), and all "in remembrance of His mercy." -- already! 

But is this all?  Is this just "oh, isn't it great that Mary can speak like so many of the Psalms, and prophets?"  and we leave it at that?  Or, has, really, this, ... really ... all happened?  We might be the ones not having our timing fully functional, and God, the prophets, the psalmists, and ... Mary!  have the sense of time correct!  Were Jesus and John the Baptist, as we have seen in Mk 1:15 and Mt 3:2 using a "turn of phrase" in announcing that the kingdom of God "has come near"-- another one of those tenses that are like Mary's here!? 

It's not a turn of phrase.  A similar thing strikes the reader in Jn 3 where according to 3:18, "he who does not believe has been judged already because he has not believed  ...."  Before we cry "unfair" or maybe even just "paradox" ... let's apply the corrective as if it were a math problem we got wrong.  We write down "God will do mighty deeds with His arm" and we are corrected: no, " _has done_...."  We write down "God will scatter the proud" and we are corrected: no, "has scattered" ... ... "he who does not believe will be judged" ... no, "has been judged."   It's a good corrective!  Whose time zone are we _really_ in?

Rm 1:28-2:24

Claiming to have fresh light to shed on Romans is like our planet claiming to have fresh light to shed on the sun.  May the Lord's Word shed its light more fully on you and me!

In his descriptions of sin, Paul was not bound by Victorian taste, but by explicit candor, as we have just seen.  Beginning in 1:28 Paul begins summarizing what he has been explaining concerning "all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness" (1:18).  Cause-and-effect dominates the previous section: "... and their foolish heart was darkened .... (1:21), "and receiving in their own persons ... (1:27)."  But the cause-and-effect was governed and presided over by the judicial actions by God: "God gave them over ... (1:24, 1:26, 1:28)."  So the old proverb that evil brings its own punishment has to be modified: in specific ways, God gives them over to it.

So the summary Paul gives in 1:28 of the course of evil is that the behaviors of 1:29ff are the effects of "a depraved mind," (1:28), to which God gave them in response to their not seeing fit to have God in knowledge "any longer" (1:28).  Any longer?  Paul's critique of sin needs to be looked at more carefully here!  We can't just skip to the lists!  Sin is not analyzed completely simply by reading lists!   Paul's explanation is that the behavior is caused by the depraved mind that God gave them over to.  "Just as they did not see fit to have God in knowledge any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind" (1:28).  The theme of a decline from original knowledge started back in 1:18, in the indictment of "men who suppress the truth." 

The chapter indeed ends without Paul changing from his explanation, that the behavior and their minds are related as effect and cause, and the actions of God are involved in the explanation.  This has something to say toward atheism, which we flatteringly and often take as a valid starting point by  atheists, starting our apologetics toward them from there, as if atheism is merely a starting point.   What might Paul say instead?  He would talk as here, that an atheist "did not see fit to have God in knowledge."  That's not ignorance.  That's expulsion of knowledge.  At the least we should be aware of possible signs of the expulsion of prior knowledge.

It is because we are well acquainted with sin, we tend to gloss over this idea of decline from a previous better condition, and of the idea of expulsion of knowledge.  Plus, armed with psychological stories and experiences of how people do this all the time, we are numbed by familiarity: familiarity with the idea that people can push knowledge out of their minds.  But have you ever thought about what kind of thing it is to "not see fit to have" an item of knowledge?  It is not just to ignore something.  It is to shove it out of your existence, with pride!  To "not see fit to have" is to consider it unworthy of having.  To promulgate this to others, you'd have to write a chapter in the sinner's how-to manual, on getting rid of God from your mind because He doesn't deserve to be in it ... and approving -- i.e., putting right in the middle of your mind (!), a set of those people who are approved -- which is those who practice sin (1:32)!  Hearty approval of these replacements is the item of knowledge that replaces having God in your mind.

Does Paul conclude simply that the depraved mind approves of all those who "practice such things" that "are worthy of death" (1:32)?  No.  Sinners approve of other sinners, but not of every other sinner.  Murderers approve of some other murderers, but murder others as well.  The approval is extremely vacuous.  And that's how Paul goes on, supplying the conclusion from the implied question, "well then, are we just a big happy self-congratulating group of people who all deserve death but are patting each other on the back all the way to it?"  No.

The fact that men "did not see fit to ..." that Paul mentioned earlier, that attitude they had toward God, also becomes a judgment used against other men.  There are plenty of other men that they did not see as fit.  Paul goes on to describe the implications of that.  There are implications of the fact that you, who "do the same," (1:32), "you judge another" (2:1): namely,  how not seeing fit to have God in knowledge leads you to judging another.

In chapter 2, Paul in speaking about the judgment and justice of God is likely to be misunderstood because of two presuppositions that dog us: first, our comparative standards by which we judge others as pretty bad, and second, those same comparisons by which we judge some, and often ourselves, as pretty good.  Paul addresses the first idea in 2:1-8.

Is Paul using an ad hominem argument here in 2:1ff, something like "you have no business judging, being who you are?"  If that were true, it  would take the force away from the words "the same things," and turn it into "similar things."  No.  This is not an ad hominem argument.  Rather, Paul is talking about the self-reflexive nature of judging others, that it is ipso facto judging yourself for the same thing.  Not that your judgment of others is invalid, but that its fingers point to you, doer of the same.  Paul is not making an ad hominem that they have no right to judge, but extends the judgment they make about others, to apply also to themselves.  Justice has to be blind toward, i.e. impartial toward,  who it is that's it's judging.  2:1 is about having no excuse, which includes no excuse of the kind "I stole, but I didn't commit adultery."  In speaking precisely here, Paul is rather saying that God's judgment is meted out precisely "according to the truth" (2:2 lit.), that is, according to the existence of the offense wherever it is.  "There is no partiality with God" (2:12).   Therefore since you "practice the same things" as an individual whom you are judging for a sin or sins, you ipso facto are judging yourself for practicing the same things.

This is further elaborated upon in 2:3.  Not only do you condemn yourself, but the judgment of God is against you.  Both you and God cannot be inconsistent.  God isn't inconsistent  But in 2:1, you are inconsistent without excuse: you cannot have justice fall another and not on "you, who judge" when it's the same thing.  If you stole, but didn't commit adultery, it's "the same things."

The stubbornness and unrepentant heart of this judge, Paul takes as a given in 2:4.  Why?  Because the judge has discovered how to righteously  judge others for sins that he or she does not do?  No.  The dividing up of sins of judge and those judged has not worked!  God looks at those sins as "the same things!"  What's stubborn is rather, to judge others for "the same things" (2:1) that you the judge actually do.  It is the sameness of the sins that makes the judge stubborn (as if the justice won't be going to his own self for them as well as others), and the sameness of the sins that makes the judge unrepentant, because of ongoing doing of them himself.

So what then of the argument that the judge doesn't do those sins?  The judge's imagined distinction vanishes, because Paul says they are "the same things."  This is Paul's way of saying what James says in Jm 2:8-11, and the Lord in Matthew 5:21ff, especially Mt 5:21-26.  They are "the same things."

In the contemporary Christian world, we have denied Romans 2 in at least the following way.

We think of ourselves as having a partial God, who has partiality toward us; when we judge another, not believing that God's judgment is according to truth against "those who practice such things" (2:2) without qualification.  The surprise in Paul's words are that "you who judge practice the same things"  (2:1).  "You who judge," when you fancy that you practice other, or lesser things, or don't practice any sins at all!  In effect, the judge substitutes a  "some" into 2:6, as if Paul had said God will render to _some_ men according to their deeds, but not to you who judge ... or a "some" into 2:6, as if Paul had said God will render to every man according to _some_ of his deeds ....  but not to all of yours the judge. When we judge, Paul exposes us as being practicers of "the same things," in that in which we judge another, so that argument's out. Every man is one of the "some" who practice such things, without excuse whenever he passes judgment upon another. 

It's very odd, isn't it, how often the non-Christian under judgment by someone notices the air of the judge toward them, as one of having a God, but misrepresenting Him as having partiality.  The standard "step 2" of evangelism, trying to show that "you are a sinner," has got to go back to a "we," and a genuine belief in Romans 2:6.  Let's not be afraid to look at Romans together.  Even if we discover that we have not lately genuinely believed Romans 2:6, or even ever really believed it. 

1 Peter 1:22-2:10

Peter (and the New Testament in general) often go from what is true, to what our obligations are.  Even when what is true about believers turns out to be things "into which angels long to look" (1:12), Peter goes on to teach what we should be doing (1:13ff), all the while couching it not just in what is already true, but what will be true (1:13).

In this passage (1:22ff.), Peter is going further, based on a marker along the way of doing what we should be doing.  He says "you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren .... (1:22).  Since you've done A for B, go ahead and do B! ... "fervently love one another from the heart."  It certainly would make sense to go on.  The added reason he gives for doing this, 1:23-25, doesn't sound like an added reason.  Perhaps, unless you've been in a ministry.

All that training about what is true often goes into someone in the ministry.  And all kinds of purification of soul.  Often, the train slows down at that point, or stops.  What use is my theology here or now?  My fightings with self and sin?  Peter gives something of an answer here.

1.  Something has happened to you.  The past is not a collection of your stuff alone.  Everything talked about in 1:23 is something that has happened to you, and comes to you from the world of what is "living and abiding," not the things in 1:24, which go through the cycle of death.  So, behind your stuff, is what was done to you, and it is from what is "living and abiding."

2.  The past can't be changed.  Today's love for the brethren isn't necessarily the same as tomorrow's.  But "the word which was preached to you" endures forever, and it was already preached to you.  It's too late! Love one another from the heart, because it's too late to do anything about the foundation for it, which has already happened!

Going on to 1 Peter 2, Peter is continuing this argument about why to go forward.

3.  In 2:1-3 the argument is stated conclusion-first.  But first, let's mention a possible background assumption of the writer about what he could be addressing in his readers.  What often happens among Christian workers, and Christians in general?  They pause, because they wish that things were the case over here, over there.  Peter is taking this into his sights, and about to tell them ... wish for ... this!  But not out of the clear blue sky, because those who are tired often need something to get them to wish for this.  They know what to wish for, but from what starting point to do so, they don't see.

"Like newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the word."  So it's back to the foundation of 1:23, that they have been born of an "imperishable."  Back to a factual foundation outside of us.

Peter is bringing them to two things they may have not kept in mind.  To God, they're not old and gray, grizzled, harried, old troupers that have been around the block umpteen times.  They're newborns!  So, like newborns, they get to have the basics!  Lots of experienced people feel guilty for wanting the basics!  Simple things in the Bible, speaking theologically.  Or physically, like sleep!  Just because you're an "older" Christian, doesn't mean you can't be like a newborn babe right now! Being like a newborn babe is correct to be.

The second thing is that you get to tend to yourself too.  The common refrain nowadays, that "it's not about me," is not a universal.  Peter says it's OK, to do something for you yourself, "that by it you may grow in respect to salvation" (2:2).  It's OK for a big tree to grow.

But why should I do the growth routine?  Because God is growing you already, simultaneously as you are even considering it!  "You also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood ..." (2:5).

The words give a twin picture of you.  One picture is a person inside a house.  The other picture is the house, which is being built.  You are similtaneously the one in the house, AND the house being built up!  Look, the third floor just went up!  Wait till you see the next one, and the goal of this amazing spiritual house!  So, the architect is waiting to talk to you! He, Christ, also has that quality about Him: He is both "a living stone" and the Person "rejected by men, but choice and precious in the sight of God" (2:4).

Finally, there may be a weariness about having to invent things that will work.  The Christian is, luckily ( ;) ), often called to do things without knowing that they will work, or how!  Have you ever thought about the OT priesthood that way?  All that work, why?  What good was it?  How did it get it done?  They had no idea, they were just told that God wanted it done that way.  Priesthood!  Freedom from having to know why everything works!

Do we know what the "spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ" (2:5) will be?  No.  W'ere gonna be like priests have always been!

But we won't be disappointed, and "those who disbelieve" (2:7) will be appointed to a stumbling by the same stone.  It is an instance of something that goes on apart from us.  The work of the stone is both toward us, and toward those who disbelieve, but it is the work of the stone.  That's how Peter ends this section, by teaching about how the things that are true of us are because of what has been done to us: you "have received mercy" though previously you hadn't.  "You are the people of God,"  but once were "not a people."  Someone could wonder whether it's reversible, but Peter says that the direction it took, had a purpose, "so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light" (2:9).  How does that help?  Well, let's think about that for a second.  Was the reason you became the second, from the first, in order to get something excellent out of you?  No, the very reason you became the second, from being the first, was a purpose connected with the excellence of God who did this to you.  As stated here, God didn't do it, to gain some excellence from you, but, as Peter describes it, actions regarding His excellence would occur.   Even in football, the plays are done, in order to bring glory to the game, not the game done, in order to bring glory to the plays. Peter says those who called, are called in order to proclaim the excellence of "Him who has called you."  So of course, in that case, it is Multiple Excellence.  "Excellencies." 

Jn 1:24-42

This whole section is problematic for those who wish to assign John's gospel a second-class, non-primary-source status because of its advanced theological discourse.  Here, in this section, it puts down some new information about John the Baptist's ministry, giving us a complementary view of John the Baptist to that of the Synoptics (Mt, Mk, Lk).

In the next section, 1:35ff., there is an earlier incident about the meeting of Jesus, Andrew, and Peter than anything the Synoptics have.  It makes sense of what the Synoptics have put down in their gospels, tying up the loose ends of why these two brothers dropped their nets and followed Jesus there.  It was because of what heppened prior, which ... John records!

Now as to content.  the whole dialog between John the Baptist and those who had been sent from the Pharisees is extremely poignant and full of implications.  "The Prophet" (1:21) refers to the individual in Dt 18:15.  "Elijah" refers to Malachi 4:5.

We already know something about John the Baptist, from the gospel writer John's depiction in 1:6-8.  In this section, John titles this depiction "the testimony of John, when the Jews sent to him priests and Levites from Jerusalem ...." (1:19).  The irony here should not be missed.

1.  The "testimony of John" is going to be to Jesus.  What do the priests and Levites ask him about?  About himself.  They want John the Baptist to testify about himself.  In view of later discussions about such a thing, Jn 5:30-47 and 8:12-20, we are getting a preview of what is to come in much more detail later, about the kinds of disputes the "priests and Levites" had with Jesus as well.  Here we see what kind of argument was being angled for.

2.  John the Baptist's answer to their initial question deflated it.  To our ears, we say "whoaaa?" to their question "are you Elijah?"  but because of Malachi 4:5, the Pharisees are asking the question in shorthand form.  In longer form, the kind we would need, it is something like this: given that Malachi predicted someone coming very much like Elijah in the future, and that John the Baptist was very much like Elijah, is John the Baptist claiming he is the immediate precursor to "the great and terrible day of the Lord" (Mal 4:5)? In the last third of the 20th Century, evangelicalism was often accused of being the realm of "date setters!"  Similarly here.  Is John the Baptist doing some date setting?

The truth is very close to this, isn't it?  If we gather up all the descriptions of John the Baptist, he is very like Elijah.  If we only take one of his sentences, "repent, for the kingdom of God has come near" (Mt 3:2), it sounds like a kind of date setting.  And what about Mt 11:14, which will come later, which is Jesus' assessment of the question?  So why does John the Baptist answer "no?"  We already know from the prologue that the Light "was in the world" (1:10).

Number 1 reason for his answer "no," in 1:21 is they asked the question too soon!  The Light "was in the world" (1:10), but John hadn't identified Him yet!  The person whom God Himself "sent" (1:6), had not gotten to the point yet of fully understanding about himself.  This is the irony of John's answer to the Pharisees.  They assumed that someone doing religious things is doing so out of a foundation based upon their own self.  But John's whole purpose, which we already know from reading it in 1:8, was to testify to someone else.  When you're not about yourself, then critiques that assume you are, will miss the mark.

Mk 1:14-34

(We began this sequence with Mark in the Jan 1, 2015 blog)

The extraordinary time-stamp of 1:14 for Jesus coming into Galilee needs to be more noticed.  Was there a reason Mark places this note, that John was taken into custody, here?

Certainly, John announced that "One is coming" (1:7) before he was taken into custody.  And now, Jesus "came into Galilee" (1:14).  The Lord was coming _from_ Nazareth in Galilee (1:9) when he was baptized by John.  Now, he comes into Galilee, from "the wilderness" (1:12).  We're prepared by Mark for dramatic activity, but we're not prepared for "the kingdom of God has come near" (lit. 1:15).  That fact is just as much a fact as "John the baptist appeared " in 1:4.  Mark is a gospel of action, many have said.  They all ought to say therefore that the Lord enters into Galilee deliberately and actively, and urgently.  So has the kingdom.   "The kingdom of God has come near" -- not cyclically, or as it always seem to wanna do, or giving you the option of getting close to it or not -- none of that stuff! -- But the kingdom of God has come near already!

But we skipped a phrase: "the time is fulfilled" (1:14).  Jesus, not Mark, saying this, takes the reader right back to 1:2, where John had talked about God's way being prepared; that is, God's way of entrance!  That's the time that is fulfilled.  It all ties together.  John exalting Jesus as baptizing with the Holy Spirit.  After Mark had introduced him as someone who said "make ready the way of the Lord," in Isaiah 40:3, "clear the way for [the Lord's name here] in the wilderness," and then John is now in custody, what's the next expected thing?  What John prepared for, to arrive.  When Jesus says "the kingdom of God has arrived" we conclude that John prepared the way of the Lord, had made His paths straight, and now Jesus says the kingdom of God has arrived.

So what we have is Mark, writing to his readers after the Resurrection of Jesus, about Jesus's arrival, saying in the very first thing he records to us that Jesus said, that the kingdom of God has arrived.  OK, we got that.  Is it information only!  FYI?  Far from it!  "Repent, and believe in the gospel."  Repent, and believe in the good news.

Just as was said Jan 1 about 1:4, not to read our own definitions into Mark's words, we should do the same with 1:14.  Not "cut that stuff out and believe the gospel" -- that's the way we moderns hear the word "repent" -- but, putting ourselves into the situation back then -- urgently go into a change-up of heart about everything concerning the arrival of the kingdom of God, indeed, of God Himself ... and ... (which we'll get to in a moment).

Get the cobwebs out of your heads and get to really hearing that God's kingdom has arrived, whatever that implies, most all of which you could not know!   AND, believe the gospel -- the good news!

The surprise is "believe the good news."  Jesus doesn't say "good news for some."  He's not saying "sleeper cells of the righteous, you know who you are, it's time to come forth" -- the Lord isn't saying "here's your expected news, sleepers, and your codes" -- but telling those who He is preaching to, indiscrminately, to "believe the good news," and it is good news that the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God has arrived.  He's not calling sleeper cells; the Good News is for everyone hearing Him.

So the follow-on from John's ministry and from the prophecy is unmistakable.  Let's go on.  Was it a preaching-only ministry?  No.  In the next section (1:16-20) Jesus sees two fishermen, and, as if He know everything about their future from the beginning, says "follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men" (1:17).    In our day, knowing the subsequent Christian movement, we read into this our own conception of entry into the movement, but to Andrew and Simon, they had "the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand, repent, and believe in the gospel" and this personal invitation.  (By the way, in the spirit of clearing our own cobwebs, let's not turn the Lord's summons to Peter and Andrew into a popular 21st century "follow Me forever" category.  He didn't say that!  Besides, that would contradict what Jesus actually said: if they had to follow Him forever, in order to become fishers of men, then the condition would never be fulfilled in time.  It is to those days with them that Jesus refers.)

Two things would stick out to Andrew and Simon.  Jesus preaching the arrival of the kingdom of God, and the summons to follow ... God?  That's not how the Lord stated it, is it?  How is it that the one who announces that the kingdom of God has arrived and the time is fulfilled, is saying to individuals, "follow Me"?  That would be a very pronounced surprise.   The second, "and I will make you become fishers of men" is a promise.  It is a promise to two brothers.  It is a promise by Jesus.  It addresses not only what they would be doing in the future, but who they would be in the future.

Everything in the rest of our section points to the huge significance of the Lord's activity.  The story of the man with an "unclean spirit" turns out to be like something out of a movie, with the "unclean spirit" speaking to Jesus in the middle of the event.  The rest of the healings are unaccompanied by purpose-clauses.  The Lord healed, but not as a man amassing a name for Himself might do.  In fact, "who He was" was to be kept back, not because they said what was false about Him, but "because they knew who He was" (1:34).  This is a very famous central issue for Mark, and has been discussed by thousands of essays and periodicals and books.  Who Jesus was, became for many authors talking about Mark's appreach ... "the Messianic Secret."

The reaction of the crowds at the time is not just to Jesus' actions, because they reacted to His teaching as something very different, from what they were used to (1:22; 1:27).  Their reaction was not as full as that of the unclean spirit, who had fuller knowledge (1:24), but no right to speak!  That kind of evil has one response from Jesus: rebuke, and out!