Archive for 2010
John – Hard Sayings
Jesus says that He is the bread which has come down from Heaven, that we must physically eat His body to have eternal life, and that He will raise those who believe on the last day, and this upsets many of his followers. Jesus states these things clearly and without equivocation and makes no attempt…
Read MoreJohn – Bread of Heaven
Jesus is provoking the religious with His statements; if the statements are true, we must worship Him, if they be false, His blasphemy would carry the punishment of death. Whatever His followers knew, His detractors understood this. A number of people listen to Jesus preach for a day, and by the end, they are hungry.…
Read MoreJohn – The Authority of Jesus
Jesus heals a man who has been paralyzed for 38 years. The man takes up his mat and is accused for taking up his mat on the Sabbath, ignoring the great feat of healing that just took place. When pressed on this point, Jesus declares that He is working on the sabbath because His father…
Read MoreJohn – Into Galilee
Jesus returns to Galilee after the arrest of John, but even at that time, the disciples of Jesus were baptising more people than John the Baptist. Even still, there is no evidence that any baptisms were sacramental baptisms before Pentecost. As He travels through Samaria, and runs into a woman who is drawing water at…
Read MoreJohn – Zeal for Thy House
John identifies several Passovers that span the length of Christ’s ministry, and the first Passover that is identified is the one when Jesus cleanses the temple. Since the synoptic gospels say that this happened on the last week before Jesus’ death, this raises the very real possibility that Christ cleansed it more than once. Jerusalem…
Read MoreJohn – Signs
John’s gospel takes the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist at length, because John the Evangelist was a disciple of John the Baptist, and then discusses several signs. A sign is something that signifies something else, in this case, pointing to the spiritual reality that we might not otherwise notice. The first sign is…
Read MoreJohn – Chapter 1
Jesus was present at the creation, and all created things were created through Him. In that beginning, the Son was in dynamic relationship with the Father. John talks in the introduction about logos (the Word), life and light, which can be used, along with love, as a mnemonic of John’s themes for English speakers. John…
Read MoreJohn – Introduction
The Church recognizes four apostolic witnesses to the Gospel. Three of them are known as synoptic, that is, they recount the same events. The Gospel according to John, however, recounts many events that do not appear in the other three. John states that he is writing so that we may believe, but it seems that…
Read MoreRomans – Conclusion
Paul began Romans talking about how many gifts the Roman church had. At the end, Paul makes reference to some times that he has had to remind them. The final doxology talks about the obedience of faith echoes the identical phrase at the start. Paul also tells them that he intends to make the Gentiles…
Read MoreRomans – Pleasing Others
Paul continues that those of us who are strong must “bear with the failings of the weak” rather than pleasing ourselves. It is in this sense that we should try to live in harmony with our neighbors–not a false harmony of placation, but truly tying to build him up in faith. A Jewish Christian, for…
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