May the God of …

Last updated on: October 13, 2006 at 2:10 am By Scot McKnight

I like the prayers of the Bible that begin with “May the God of …”. Paul’s prayer of this sort at Romans 15:5-6 is about God creating unity and together praise Jesus Christ. Here are some more prayers like this of a blessing sort: |inline Read more

Akron’s Chapel

Last updated on: October 12, 2006 at 2:30 am By Scot McKnight

I had a great time with the leaders from The Chapel in Akron on Monday. Before I say anything else, I must admit that it was special for me to see one of my all-time favorite students at TEDS, Jay Halley, and later I got to see Annette, his wife, again — first time since graduation. (Of course, I say this about lots of students, but it shows how many gifted students we had there.) |inline Read more

In-God, Un-God 5

Last updated on: October 12, 2006 at 2:21 am By Scot McKnight

Chp 6 of LeRon Shults’ absolutely breath-taking (and not easy to read) book Reforming the Doctrine of God deals with “reviving trinitarian doctrine.” The recent revival of trinitarian thought shows an affinity for the Cappadocians, and also for Luther and Calvin (as compared to the Protestant Scholastics). |inline Read more

Christ did not please himself

Last updated on: October 12, 2006 at 2:10 am By Scot McKnight

Paul doesn’t often appeal to the teachings of Jesus. Sometimes Paul simply takes a big global snapshot of Jesus — like one of those pictures from the space rockets of planet earth. In Romans 15:3, Paul says “For Christ did not please himself.” We learn plenty here: |inline Read more

Women in Ministry: Biblical examples

Last updated on: October 11, 2006 at 2:20 am By Scot McKnight

RT France’s last chp in Women in the Ministry of the Church deals with women who are examples of ministry in the Bible. It begins with the Old Testament: Miriam (Ex 15:20), Deborah (Judg 4:4-5), Huldah (2 Ki 22:12-20), Noadiah (Neh 6:14), along with others (Ezek 13:17ff; Joel 2:28-32), and the wise women (2 Sam 14:1-20; 20:16-22). |inline Read more

A Letter from the Heart 2

Last updated on: October 11, 2006 at 2:20 am By Scot McKnight

Here is the next letter from my correspondent: Dear Scot, wow, i am honored to be gifted with so many words that are full of grace and love. |inline Read more

We who are strong

Last updated on: October 11, 2006 at 2:10 am By Scot McKnight

One of the most interesting features of reading Paul is that it is like listening to one end of a phone conversation. And, all we have is a taped recording of the conversation. And we are listening almost 2000 years later. And we have to guess what the other person was saying to Paul in order to make sense of what Paul was saying back. |inline Read more

A Letter from the Heart

Last updated on: October 10, 2006 at 2:30 am By Scot McKnight

The following letter and my response are posted here with permission. Please sit down because this is real stuff — stuff out of a heart spiritually abused. I know from other letters that she is not alone, and we pray others can find hope through this kind of exchange. [I’m having a difficult time with this text this morning in getting it to appear properly. Sorry.] |inline Read more

Women and Ministry: Paul

Last updated on: October 10, 2006 at 2:20 am By Scot McKnight

In RT France’s Women in the Church’s Ministry, chp 3, France looks at the contested passages in Paul’s letters: 1 Cor 14:34-35 and 1 Tim 2:8-15. I’ve loaded the texts into this post to make life easier for us today. But, there are lots of disagreements and debates here so we’ll have to work at civility. |inline Read more

Stumbling blocks

Last updated on: October 10, 2006 at 2:10 am By Scot McKnight

I was reared in the kind of Christian faith that made this category of “stumbling blocks” a big issue. There were lots of things we were told — mild way of saying it — not to do because it could become a “stumbling block.” So, let’s see what Paul says about this term. |inline Read more