“CHRIST’S POVERTY AND OUR WEALTH’—2 CORINTHIANS 8.9 [Preached forty-one times from 3.30.38 at Wednesbury to 8/15/99 at Harworth] Paul was announcing a Collection, and he was doing so at considerable length. There were several reasons for that. One was that Paul did not find it easy to talk about money in bald terms. He could never quite forget that he was a Roman citizen, trained in the rabbinic schools, and in early life a well-to-do man. To ask for money,... Read more

In an age of self-centered everything, it is not surprising that a lot of self-centered religion, and in particular self-centered Christianity has emerged. Pastors seeking to minister to people’s felt needs, because of course they are the center of their own universe, rather than God being the center, has led to all sorts of slogans like ‘I’m spiritual not religious’ which translates as— I don’t attend religious services, I can be spiritual all by myself. C.K. Barrett and John Wesley... Read more

We are saved by grace, but through faith. I draw attention to the second preposition. We are sometimes inclined to talk as if human beings are saved by a religious disposition, as if the basic Christian requirement was that we should whip ourselves up into an appropriate religious emotion called faith, by which we might be saved. Nothing could be more misleading. We are not saved by anything in ourselves at all. We are saved only by the gracious activity... Read more

This is where salvation begins— in the free love of God which seeks us where we are, in the Son of God who for us and for our salvation came down from heaven to live and die at our side. It is love that saves, it is Christ that saves—two different ways of saying the same thing. In the last resort you can only do something, something worthwhile, for a human being if you love him. Of course you can... Read more

The pressure of society upon us is not, for the most part, violent. But there is again and again a pressure of public opinion which forces us away from the authority of God’s Word under which the Church must live if it is to be the Church. The Church, people say, must recognize that times have changed, and we cannot extend the old standards of belief and morality to be maintained even by ourselves, certainly not by society at large.... Read more

Without question one of the great voices of the whole rock n’ roll era is the voice of Gino Vanelli, and it was a treat to get to see him one more time, with full horns and keyboards and killer bass and drums and guitars. It was worth the eight hours of driving to get to do this (4 up and 4 back) and to get to share this with our good friends the Zimmermans from Ashland, and with my... Read more

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Commenting on Dan.3 on the famous fiery furnace story, CKB notes about the qualifying words ‘but if not’: If you removed these three words you would have a different story— an adventure yes, but without the heroic element. If you stop at vs. 18, ‘our God will deliver us out of your hands O, King,’ then the three men know everything will be alright. Of course it will be an adventure to go into the furnace, but only like the... Read more

I am pleased to announce that the third volume of the Lightfoot Legacy series, with commentaries on 2 Corinthians and 1 Peter and extra essays by the man himself, which have not been published before, as well as by Barrett and Dunn, is now available at your friendly neighborhood Amazon store. These are the manuscripts I discovered gathering dust in a box in the Cloister library at Durham Cathedral. Hallelujah they now are in print and doing good! BW3 Read more

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