Leo Strauss — the great German-American political philosopher renowned for his close readings of classic texts — set great store on what was written in the precise center of ancient works. Now, it turns out that, in the Bible that we Protestants use, the Old Testament and New Testament each have an odd number of … [Read more…]
Here’s the famous Jesus-walks-on-water passage from chapter 14 of Matthew: 22 Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd.23 After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone, 24 and the … [Read more…]
This post will look at the salutations and valedictions in the New Testament epistles. It’s easy to skip over them when reading the letters, and my thought was that a more careful reading — and some comparison — might provide some insights. *** A couple of caveats: I’ll acknowledge at the outset that it is … [Read more…]
We are fortunate to have in Scripture what amounts to farewells from Peter and from Paul, the two greatest figures in the New Testament, with of course the obvious exception of Jesus Christ Himself. This blogpost will discuss those farewells — from Paul in II Timothy, and from Peter in II Peter. Paul wrote his … [Read more…]
When you think about it, Peter’s speech in Acts 2 at Pentecost is worth a close read. It was, after all, the first sermon by a Christian after the Holy Spirit had been poured forth on them; indeed, it is the first post-Resurrection sermon, and I suppose the first evangelical sermon we have, period, by … [Read more…]
As I’ve noted in a different post on this blogsite, there are five one-chapter books in the Bible. There are also seven three-chapter books and six four-chapter books. But there is only one two-chapter book, namely the Book of Haggai. *** It’s the second shortest book in the Old Testament. It is quoted once in … [Read more…]
Paul’s paean to love in I Corinthians 13 is his most famous extended passage, I’m sure, but I also bet that second place goes to his “Put on the full armor of God” exhortation in Ephesians 6. Here it is: 10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.11 Put on the full armor … [Read more…]
From Ron Chernow’s famous biography of Alexander Hamilton (page 247, footnote omitted): Tradition claims that Hamilton wrote the first installment of the masterpiece known as The Federalist Papers in the cabin of a Hudson River sloop as he and [his wife] Eliza returned to New York from Albany. Eliza recalled going upriver, not down, and said Hamilton … [Read more…]
My NIV study Bible lists, among “The Parables of Jesus,” two “About Prayer”: “The Friend at Midnight” (Luke 11:5-8) and “The Unjust Judge” (Luke 18:1-8). I’ve set them out below, along with immediately subsequent verses for each, since they also seemed relevant to the parables. This is an important area, and we’ll see that Jesus’ … [Read more…]
Chapter 13 in First Corinthians is perhaps Paul’s most famous writing. The John MacArthur study Bible says it “is considered by many the finest literary passage ever penned by Paul,” and it is much quoted, notably at weddings. So let’s take a close look at it. It’s all about love, of course, but the first … [Read more…]