tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83692964486282685432012-02-14T13:40:08.611-06:00The Hebrew phrase yom yom means "day by day" and reflects our prayer that God will daily guide our steps in the ways of purity, justice, love and wisdom. The URL for this site, siwattili, means the same thing—in Hittite! If you would like to have postings from this blog automatically mailed to you when they appear, you can fill in the box below with your e-mail address. Copyright 2008 Harry HoffnerHarry Hoffnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16388752890583212894noreply@blogger.comBlogger2221100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8369296448628268543.post-67909724748541549032012-02-14T13:40:00.001-06:002012-02-14T13:40:08.643-06:00

When Jesus entered Jerusalem, accompanied by crowds who acclaimed him, those inquiring who he was were told, "This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee" (21:11).  One of the things that Israelite prophets regularly did in Old Testament times was to denounce rulers and leaders of the people for their sins. Now we quite rightly like to think of Jesus as positive and loving, not inclined

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Jesus Disrupts "Business" in the Temple Precincts, 21:12-17 12 Then Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who were selling and buying in the temple [precincts], and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the stalls of those who sold doves. 13 He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer’; but you are making it a den of robbers.” 14 The blind

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In a real sense the entire account of the four canonical gospels has been looking forward to this final visit of Jesus to Jerusalem. It may be that Jesus was most welcomed in Galilee and did most of his miracles and teaching there, but it is in Jerusalem that the climactic event of his entire mission on Earth took place. Jerusalem was not occupied by Israelites until the beginning of the

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41   Now every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. 42 And when he was twelve years old, they went up as usual for the festival. 43 When the festival was ended and they started to return, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. 44 Assuming that he was in the group of travelers, they went a day’s journey. Then they started to

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Thoughts and meditations on this section of Luke's narrative could well occupy us for ten or more blog postings! This will have to be extremely summary today. But sometimes it is an advantage to be forced to see the big picture of a scripture passage instead of getting preoccupied with small details. I mentioned earlier that Luke has deliberately narrated the events surrounding the birth of John

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I mentioned in our last posting how Luke interleaved the stories of John and Jesus, because they were interdependent. this is obvious, if you try to tell one story without reference to the other—which was my original intention! When you do, you suddenly realize that it can't be done! There is too much reference in each of the two stories to what is contained in the other. And so I will have to

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John Grisham wrote a popular novel entitled Skipping Christmas, which among other things was intended to remind us of how far from its real meaning the modern, secular and materialistic Christmas has come. Since I don't think my own celebration has departed quite so far as that of most people, I can truthfully say that I love Christmas and the many ways in which through its traditions my spirit

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Jesus Speaks on Marriage and Children, 19:1-15 The bringing children to Jesus for his blessing occurred on the same occasion as Jesus' remarks about marriage and divorce. This is no coincidence. Since the preceding material in chapter 18 deals with the new circumstances of the Church Age, I am inclined to view Matthew's inclusion of Jesus' remarks on marriage, divorce and children as a

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In Matthew's treatment in chapter 17, after the glory of Jesus' transfiguration his solemn announcement that he was going to suffer and die in Jerusalem and be raised from the dead (17:22-23) represents a turning point in the emphasis of his ministry. While before that point he had been announcing the arrival of the kingdom through authoritative teaching of the law, healing, driving out demons,

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14   When they came to the crowd, a man came to him, knelt before him, 15 and said, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and he suffers terribly; he often falls into the fire and often into the water. 16 And I brought him to your disciples, but they could not cure him.” 17 Jesus answered, “You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you? How much longer

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28 Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.” 1 Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. 2 And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. 3 Suddenly there appeared to them

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21   From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. 22 And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.” 23 But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You

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13   Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus answered

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5   When the disciples reached the other side, they had forgotten to bring any bread. 6 Jesus said to them, “Watch out, and beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” 7 They said to one another, “It is because we have brought no bread.” 8 And becoming aware of it, Jesus said, “You of little faith, why are you talking about having no bread? 9 Do you still not perceive? Do you not

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Early in the Gospel of John  priests and Levites came from Jerusalem to observe John the Baptist also and to ask him if he identified himself with either the messiah ("the Christ") or with Elijah or with the prophet predicted by Moses in Deuteronomy 18. The Baptist's reply is recorded in John 1:19-28. 19 This is the testimony given by John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to

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29   After Jesus had left that place, he passed along the Sea of Galilee, and he went up the mountain, where he sat down. 30 Great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the maimed, the blind, the mute, and many others. They put them at his feet, and he cured them, 31 so that the crowd was amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing.

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21   Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. 22 Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.” 23 But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, “Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.” 24 He answered, “I was sent only

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Having now exposed the real issue and blindspot of his critics, Jesus turns to the matter of what is meant by impurity. And he explains it not just to the Pharisees or to his own circle of disciples, but to the large crowd.  10   Then he called the crowd to him and said to them, “Listen and understand: 11 it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of

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1 Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, 2 “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands before they eat.”  (Matthew 15:1–2 NRSV) When you were a kid, did your mother or father ever look at your hands—dirty from play—and tell you, "You can't come to the table with unclean hands! Go and wash, then come"? Maybe that is the

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13   Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. 14 When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick. 15 When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds

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[John the Baptizer Beheaded, Mt 14:1-12 Oct 5]

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Jesus Rejected in Nazareth, 13:53-58  53 When Jesus had finished these parables, he left that place. 54 He came to his hometown and began to teach the people in their synagogue, so that they were astounded and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these deeds of power? 55 Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon

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Three Comparisons of the Kingdom of Heaven, Matthew 13:44-50 Matthew here groups together three parables—all of which are supposed to give a picture of some essential aspect of the kingdom of God. The first two are the most similar. And it is generally thought that each of these two should be used to understand the other, that is, they are reciprocally corrective. And interpretation of the

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It probably seems as strange to you as it did to me at first when I saw the sequence that Matthew put these parables and Jesus' explanation of two of them—last week the story of the sower, today the story of the wheat and the weeds. In each case the story is told, then there is something else recorded, and then the story is explained. Why not put the explanation right after the parable? Clearly

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Jesus Explains the Parable of the Sower, Matthew 13:18-23 18 “But you—hear then the parable of the sower. 19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path. 20 As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; 21

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10 Then the disciples came and asked him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” 11 He answered, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 12 For to those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. 13 The reason I speak to them in

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The Setting, 13:1-2 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea.  2 Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. (13:1-2 NRSV) It is just as easy to see too much in an incidental remark, as to see too little. On the "too much" side, some interpreters see profound symbolism in Jesus' sitting "

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46 While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him. 47 Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.” 48 He replied to him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” 49 Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. 50 For whoever does the will of my Father in

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43 “When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. 44 Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. 45 Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that

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The Sign of Jonah, 12:38-42  38 Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, “Teacher, we want to see a miraculous sign from you.” 39 He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will

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 22 Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see. 23 All the people were astonished and said, “Could this be the Son of David?” 24 But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “It is only by Beelzebub, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons.” 25 Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every

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Withdrawal from Hostility, 12:15-21  15 Aware of this [= that his critics were now planning to kill him], Jesus withdrew from that place. Many followed him, and he healed all their sick, 16 warning them not to tell who he was. 17 This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:  18 “Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight; I will put my

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Healing the Man with the Deformed Hand, 12:9-14  9 Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue, 10 and a man with a deformed hand was there. Looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” 11 He said to them, “If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out

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Some Pharisee Critics Argue with Jesus, 12:1-21 Since Luke reports that the episode of healing the man with the withered hand took place on a different sabbath (Lk 6:6), Matthew has grouped two incidents in which some Pharisees criticized Jesus' activities on the sabbath together. Matthew also places his record of both of Jesus’ encounters with the Pharisees about the Sabbath (12:1-14) right

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This is to alert readers who are not on my personal mailing list that the study series on the Gospel of Matthew, which paused for the summer months, will resume next Sunday with a posting on Matthew 12:1-8 ("What's wrong with plucking grain on the Sabbath?"). So "tune in" on Sunday to continue our interesting journey through the life of Jesus as seen and transmitted by the Apostle Matthew (also

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[With this lesson the Matthew series takes a break until the fall.] Jesus' Answer to the Baptizer's Question, 11:1-6 1 Now when Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and proclaim his message in their cities. 2 When John heard in prison the deeds of the Christ (i.e., messiah), he sent word by his disciples 3 and said to him, “Are you the one

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In the order that Matthew has presented the events of Jesus' early ministry, up to this point Jesus' committed followers have essentially been mere observers and listeners: no work has been required of them. As Jesus will say in the episode we study now, "freely you have received." When people first encounter Jesus and put faith in him, they are—to use another metaphor from the New Testament—"

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[This week's posting is by a guest writer, my wife Wini Hoffner, who kindly taught our choir Bible Study this past Sunday in my absence. I'm sure you will enjoy this excellent study.] Introduction             In Harry’s introduction last week to Matt. 8-9 remember he pointed out that having finished giving his teachings of chapters 5- 7, Jesus descended from the "mountain," and "many  

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As the "greater than Moses", Jesus has demonstrated his authoritative teaching of the Way of the Lord, the fulfillment of the Law, which—according to Psalm 1—the true disciple follows and meditates in day and night, and which brings him the major beatitude of the Old Covenant (Psalm 1:1-2 "Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in

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Judging Other Believers, 7:1-5  1 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. 3 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the

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Concerning Treasures, 6:19-21 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."  Jesus' teaching his disciples the importance of

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Although obviously giving to the needy and intercessory prayer paired with fasting can be seen as service to others, most interpreters agree that in verses 1-18 Matthew has combined three practices in the traditional behavior of Jews in his day under what could be called "personal piety." They are almsgiving, prayer and fasting. And according to how Jesus commanded that they be done, each of

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General Principles Matt 5:15-48, which we will study today, contains five examples given by Jesus to his disciples of how they should apply God's laws in the Old Testament properly to their own lives.  Remember Jesus’ words in Mt 5:17-20. He does not intend to abolish the law but fulfill it. His words in what follows must never be read in a way that devalues or loosens the moral

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The Beatitudes, 5:1-12  In view of the widespread (and misleading) translation (“blessed …”) of the opening words of each of the Beatitudes, it is important for us to make clear what a “beatitude” is and is not in its biblical usage. One of several good explanations that I know of is this one from an article by Benedict Viviano: A beatitude is a literary form common in both the Old Testament (

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Jesus Moves to Galilee, 4:12-17 12 When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he withdrew to Galilee. 13 Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali— 14 to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah: 15 “Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali,   the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan,   Galilee of the Gentiles— 16

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Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. 3 The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But he answered, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” 5

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The message of John the Baptizer, the Messiah’s forerunner, 3:1-12  Chapter two ends the material that is unique to Matthew. With the introduction of John the Baptist Matthew enters the stream of traditions shared with Mark, Luke and John. Because this John was not one of the apostles, and was martyred before the death and resurrection of Jesus, Christians have a tendency to group him with Old

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Chapters 1 and 2 of Matthew constitute his “prologue” to Jesus’s public ministry. They intend to put it in a context that guides the reader’s interpretation.  The material in Matthew 1 (the genealogy and the announcement to Joseph of the divine nature of the child and his role as Savior of his people from their sins) help us to focus on those aspects in the rest of the gospel. The two main

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Old Testament genealogies Readers today would find a book that began with a long genealogy somewhat strange, even off-putting. But there are Old Testament books whose opening chapters are almost entirely genealogy, for example First Chronicles.[i] Perhaps this is why the church father Papias called Matthew’s style “Jewish.” The first 9 chapters of First Chronicles contain a series of

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Hi again! You may or may not have missed my Bible study blog over the past—almost a year, I think! But I have missed you, and missed writing it. I won't go into all the details now. But those who live in the Chicago area or are close to my family know that we have been heavily involved in selling one house and buying a smaller, one-storey one, and paring down our possessions for the move,

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For you friends who wonder if I will continue my weekly Bible studies over the summer—which obviously has begun weeks ago!—the answer is... Did you hear an answer? I didn't. I guess the author is out on a summer walk or other irresponsible use of his time. Seriously, I don't know how my time will go this summer. I like writing Bible studies, but right now I am tied up with lots of other chores.

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In these chapters, the prophet foresees the condition of Israel recently restored to the land of their ancestors and confronted with opportunities both to fulfill God's will and to relapse into complacency and idolatry. It is not an ideal picture—not one that Isaiah would have liked to paint. But it is realistic. Even today, among the people of God, we have always two groups: one eagerly  

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Introduction What is so remarkable about this second half of the book of Isaiah is how the prophet alternates description of Israel's sins with sections of encouragement and comfort. In our last posting, our teacher explained how in chapter 59 we learn that even those Israelites who believed God's promises of a return from exile and a redemption through the Suffering Servant experienced

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[We are pleased again to welcome as our guest contributor Winifred Hoffner, who has contributed earlier postings on Isaiah.] Introduction In the earlier chapters of our study (40-55) Isaiah assures captive Israel that while they are incapable of freeing themselves,  God is willing and abundantly able to deliver them from their captivity and to restore them completely. In chapters 56-59 Isaiah

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Inner reflection is not one of the "big" things in today's society. We tend to blame all our unhappiness on outer factors: our next-door neighbor's loud kids, our boss' constant criticism of how we do our jobs, the government's obvious failures to rectify the problem of current joblessness. Or if there is no obvious "villain" around to pin the blame on, we think we just need more time partying,

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Throughout scripture there are times when God makes promises to His people. Sometimes these are accompanied by commands, and it is understood that the promises are in some way conditioned by the fulfillment of the commands. Other promises are independent of any command. They are what we call "unconditional" promises. An example of the former type is the promise given by Paul and Silas to the

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. The Suffering Servant—"… for you,  for me" (courtesy oneyearbibleimages.com) For most Christians, this chapter is like the Holy of Holies of the Book of Isaiah, perhaps even of the entire Old Testament. For in it we see the very heart of God's plan to restore sinful human beings like you and me to himself. As both the Old Testament prophets and the New Testament apostles have so

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Awake, awake, O Zion, clothe yourself with strength.  Put on your garments of splendor, O Jerusalem, the holy city.  The uncircumcised and defiled will not enter you again.  2 Shake off your dust; rise up, sit enthroned, O Jerusalem. Free yourself from the chains on your neck, O captive Daughter of Zion. 3 For this is what the Lord says: “You were sold for nothing, and without money you will be

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Although Scripture clearly promises that there will be a final judgment of God on every human being, it also describes how in the course of history itself God occasionally brings judgment on nations that anger him especially by their cruelty and rejection of his laws. We see that first in the destruction of the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11. Many centuries later God brought severe judgment on

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“Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and who seek Yahweh:  Look to the rock from which you were cut and to the quarry from which you were hewn; 2 look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who gave you birth. When I called him he was but one, and I blessed him and made him many. 3 Yahweh will surely comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; he will make her deserts

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In chapter 49 the Suffering Servant Messiah was introduced, and his calling, his initial apparent failure, and his eventual success are described. Already—in the section describing his initial apparent failure (49:4 and 7a)—the Servant is called "despised" and "abhorred". Contrary to the impression created by the translation "abhorred by the nation" which is used by the ESV and NIV,

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With this chapter we turn a corner in the argument of the second half of Isaiah. Throughout the chapters we have been reading God speaks through Isaiah's writings to a future generation of his people who will find themselves in exile in distant Babylonia, without temple or priesthood, nursing a strong sense of discouragement, if not utter despair. Although God himself has not failed them, they

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Adoration of the Golden Calf by Nicolas Poussin: imagery influenced by the Greco-Roman bacchanal (couirtesy of Wikipedia) It is easy in a book like Isaiah—where the prophet-author wanders in and out of the same group of themes—to lose track of the main focus (or foci). So I find very helpful the summary by John Oswalt in his New NIV Application Commentary. According to Oswalt, in chapters 40

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An ancient cuneiform inscription gives these titles to Cyrus the Great of Persia:  "King of Persia, King of Anshan, King of Media, King of Babylon, King of Sumer and Akkad, King of the four corners of the World". Isaiah has already informed his readers that God will use a future ruler of Persia by the name of Cyrus to conquer Babylonia and let the Israelites return to their land (Isaiah 44:

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[The following study was presented by Wini Hoffner to the Bible study hour of the College Church Chancel Choir on Sunday, Nov. 22, 2009. It is posted here with her permission.] Introduction     In each of the six chapters we have studied thus far (Isaiah 40-46) God challenged the idols and false gods to prove their power. One of the themes of these chapters was: “the captivity [of Israel in

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“This is what Yahweh says— your Redeemer, who formed you in the womb: I am Yahweh, who has made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself, 25 who foils the signs of false prophets and makes fools of diviners, who overthrows the learning of the wise and turns it into nonsense, 26 who carries out the words of his servants and fulfills the predictions

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The lesson this week—on Isaiah 43—is by Wini Hoffner. Introduction     At the end of ch. 42 Isaiah reminded Israel that she was in captivity in Babylon, not because Babylon’s gods were stronger than Israel’s God, but because the Lord had put her there as his judgment on her sin and disobedience.     Is. 42:24 Who handed Jacob over to become loot,         and Israel to the

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Isaiah 42:1-4  “Here is my servant, whom I will uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight;  I will put my Spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations. 2 He will not shout or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets.  3 A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice; 4 he will not falter or be discouraged till

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These lessons are a spin-off of sessions of the Sunday morning Bible study for the Chancel Choir of College Church in Wheaton, IL. The class is taught on a rotating basis by Harry Hoffner, Wini Hoffner, and Chuck King. Although this is Harry's blog, he will ask the other two teachers' permission to post their sessions on the blog from time to time, since it hardly makes sense for Harry to do his

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   (40:1-2) Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. 2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins. As befits a new beginning, the opening verses of ch. 40 echo terms found in ch. 1. In 1:4 God describes Israel at that time: Is. 1:4    Ah, sinful nation, a people

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Welcome to our new study in the Yom Yom blog. We have had a lengthy summer hiatus between the end of our Romans study and this new one. As I think many of you know, I try to correlate these blog studies with the adult Bible study which my wife and I conduct for our church choir. And since that runs from early September through the end of the following May, this tends also to be the period of

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In the immediately preceding verse Paul has seemingly closed with a benediction: “May the God of peace be with you all.” At the end of this chapter he will add a more developed one: “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you” (NIV).What does he mean by “the God of peace”? Jesus promised that wars will be with us until he comes again. None of

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15:17-22 “Therefore I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God. I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done— by the power of signs and miracles, through the power of the Spirit. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ. 20It has

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“We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. 2 Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. 3 For even Christ did not please himself but, as it is written: “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.” 4 For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the

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14:1-3 Dietary issues “Welcome those who are weak in faith, but not for the purpose of quarreling over opinions. Some believe in eating anything, while the weak eat only vegetables. Those who eat must not despise those who abstain, and those who abstain must not pass judgment on those who eat; for God has welcomed them. Who are you to pass judgment on servants of another? It is before their own

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13:8-10“Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. 9The commandments, “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not covet,” and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 10Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love

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In the preceding context Paul has been writing about avoiding conflicts within the community of believers. By exercising the radical principles taught by Jesus of loving those who hate you (Rom. 12:14, 17-21) the Roman believers should be able in most cases to live at peace with one another (Rom. 12:16, 18). This is the first step in a corporate witness to those outside the community of faith.

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12:11-12 “Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.” (Romans 12:11-13 NIV) Energetic and enthusiastic service should characterize believers in Jesus. Sometimes I find this a discouraging requirement, especially as I have gotten old, and

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12:3 3For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. The wording of this introductory clause to the detailed moral exhortations—“by the grace given me I say to every one of you”—may invoke Paul's apostolic authority (so

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Paul's letter has two sections: chapters. 1-11 and chapters 12-16. It is likely that chapters 1-11 fulfilled Paul's intention to "preach the gospel" (as he proposed to do at the outset of the letter in 1:15) and the exhortations and encouragement of chapters 12-16 fulfilled his desire for "mutual encouragement" in 1:12. Both request sections (12:1-2 and 15:30-32) are linked to the opening

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In chapters 9 and 10 of this book Paul has begun to address the question: "Has God rejected the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob?" You remember, the question arose naturally out of Paul's triumphant statement at the end of chapter 8 to the effect that "Nothing can separate us [i.e., believers in Jesus whom God has called to be his special people] from the love of God, which is in

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Rom. 10:5-21 Moses describes in this way the righteousness that is by the law: “The man who does these things will live by them.”  6 But the righteousness that is by faith says: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’’” (that is, to bring Christ down)  7 “or ‘Who will descend into the deep?’’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).  8 But what does it say? “The word is

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Rom. 9:30-10:4   What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith;  31 but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it.  32 Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the “stumbling stone.”  33 As it is written:  “See, I lay in Zion a stone that

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“What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed

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Introduction:At the end of chapter 8 Paul has just written: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? … No one, for in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that … nothing in all creation, can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our

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(a) 8:18-27 Our present sufferings are "The Birth-Pains of the Messiah"Rom. 8:18-27 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope

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With chapter 8 we have turned a corner in the argument: there is no more diatribe, impersonation, or imaginary interlocutors. From this point on Paul speaks directly to his Roman hearers, sometimes in the plural (“you [all]”) and at other times in the singular (“thou” = “you” [sg.]). If you have a copy of the King James Version/Authorized Version, it may help you to see when the "you" is singular

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7:7-25 A Frustrating Struggle with the Sinful Nature The two principal decisions that have to be made in interpreting the last two-thirds of Romans 7 (vv. 7-25) are:  who is Paul speaking for here: a non-believing gentile, a non-believing Jew, a believer, or Adam as representative of all humans?   what "law" does he have in mind each time he uses that word: the law of Moses, the 'law' of

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Romans 7 7:1-6 Analogy of marriage  Do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to men who know law—that law has authority over a man only as long as he lives?  2 For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage.  3 So then, if she marries another man while her husband is still alive, she is

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“What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may

Harry Hoffnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16388752890583212894noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8369296448628268543.post-10494048911871916532009-02-08T13:22:00.049-06:002009-03-02T12:24:43.033-06:00

Romans 5 5:1-11 The results of justification by faith  Paul's theology—what he calls his “gospel”—is not so much topical or systematic as it is narrative. There is a flow to it. This flow will also appear in the last part of chapter 8. But we see it clearly in the opening eleven verses of this chapter. “Justification”—God's rectifying of sinners—is the fountainhead of numerous gifts that

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4:6-8 A Second Proof Taken from the Psalms It was common practice among the Jewish scholars of Paul’s day to substantiate an argument from two passages of scripture, preferably one from the Pentateuch (the Torah) and one from the rest of the scripture (the “Prophets” which sometimes included the Book of Psalms). Paul has cited Gen 15 above to prove that Abraham was made right with God (i.e., “

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In chapter 3 Paul concluded that for Jews and non-Jews to be made righteous by God on the basis of faith instead of law-keeping did not prevent the law from doing what it was designed to do, which was to make humans aware of their sins and create in them a desire that God himself make them righteous. But up to this point Paul had provided no evidence that this righteousness by faith, which he

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3:1-8 The advantage of being a Jew: God's faithfulness What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision? Much in every way! First of all, they have been entrusted with the very words of God. What if some did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God’s faithfulness? Not at all! Let God be true, and every man a liar. As it is written: “So

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This week we are pleased to have Wini Hoffner as our "guest columnist", whose excellent study of Romans 2 we use here. Introduction We have seen that the theme of Paul’s letter to the Romans is “the Gospel”. Rom. 1:16  I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the gentile. Rom. 1:17 For in

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1:1-7 When you or I start a letter, we first write the date at the top, then we start with "Dear…" It isn't until the end of the letter that we add our names. An ancient letter had a different format. And by "ancient" I mean this format goes back thousands of years before Paul. Hittite, Babylonian and Canaanite letters used the same structure and sequence of elements. The introduction to a

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A History of Relations between the Jews and Rome The first Jewish settlers in Rome may have been ambassadors and their retinue, on the heels of Judas Maccabeus' treaty with the Romans c. 160 BC. A second wave of Jewish influx coincided with Pompey's return from his victories in the east, bringing with him multitudes of Jewish captives, who became slaves. Eventually these were liberated by

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My series on John the Baptizer has concluded.But beginning in January this site will run a new series on Paul's letter to the Romans, one of the most important books in the entire Bible. In Romans, Paul lays out God's plan for the salvation of his lost human creatures in a lucid and systematic way. This book lies at the heart of Christian theology, and every Christian should saturate his or her

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After John had officially designated Jesus as the "one who was to come" and baptized him—at Jesus' own request—he recedes into the background in our gospel accounts. but he continued to function as a prophet of God, calling the nation to repentance, which would naturally lead them to acknowledge Jesus as the messiah.As you know if you have read the Old Testament prophets, prophets of God were

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“In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene— during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the desert. He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of

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