John commends Gaius not only for receiving traveling brothers but for sending them on their way “in a manner worthy of God” (3 John 6). What does this mean? Stott is certainly right to say that they are to be treated as servants of God. But John’s language is more richly ambiguous. Who, after all, is doing something “in a manner worthy of God”? Is that a description of the way that the traveling brothers go, or is it a... Read more
In his third epistle, John commends Gaius for his hospitality to “brothers,” particularly for his hospitality to brothers who are “strangers.” This simple commendation marks a social revolution in ancient history. The revolution is not John’s commendation of hospitality per se. Many ancients commended philoxenia, hospitable love of strangers. The Phaeacians received Odysseus, bathed him, fed him, and entertained him even before they knew his name, and Baucis and Philemon entertained Zeus and Hermes unawares. Yet, when ancient peoples entertained... Read more
Electronic communication is supposed to be destroying our ability to use normal language, as we resort to various forms of shorthand – BTW, FWIW, LOL, ROFLOL, etc, etc. Well maybe. But if it’s a sign of linguistic decline, it’s not the first time. FF Bruce points out that certain greetings were so common in Roman correspondence that letter-writers use abbreviations. Like SVBEEV for “si vales, bene est; ego valeo” (If you are well, it is good; I am well). Read more
Some believe that an emphasis on sacraments must produce an externalized, mechanical form of the Christian life. That is no doubt partly the fault of high-church Christians who have permitted their participation to become externalized and mechanical. It’s incumbent upon high-church Christians to demonstrate that sacramental piety is indeed piety. But it is also the fault of low-church Christians who operate with a simplistic (I would say “modern”) duality that assumes a necessary polarization between heart-experience and ritual. The slimmest... Read more
“Interim America” is Rosenstock-Huessy’s name for the American order during the period between 1890-1940. This is an “interim” because it is not a stable order, but a transition between the old and the new. This interim period is ordered by the suburb, the factory, the highway, and the loss of a sense of sin. He describes interim America thus: “The Interim America of 1890 to 1942 saw the Church recede into the suburbs. The ministry, thereupon, disintegrated into humanitarians, social... Read more
In a couple of posts over the last several weeks, I’ve tried to analyze the “Federal Vision” from a variety of angles – as an “identity crisis” provoked by the FV tendency to reach outside the Reformed tradition for inspiration, and as a conflict not so much of doctrinal systems as of theological sub-systems. I don’t pretend to neutrality in this discussion, nor do I expect everyone even on my own side of things to agree with what I say.... Read more
In a couple of posts over the last several weeks, I’ve tried to analyze the “Federal Vision” from a variety of angles – as an “identity crisis” provoked by the FV tendency to reach outside the Reformed tradition for inspiration, and as a conflict not so much of doctrinal systems as of theological sub-systems. I don’t pretend to neutrality in this discussion, nor do I expect everyone even on my own side of things to agree with what I say.... Read more
Why did the Reformation happen? Luther once said, “God threw the cards on the table and refused to play the game any longer.” Read more
Some good friends, who happen to agree with the substance of my arguments about vulgar speech, suggested that the arguments would be more effective if I didn’t use the obscenities in their full form in the post. I have made the suggested changes on the previous post “On Vulgar Language” and will be making similar changes on other posts. Read more
Victor Wilson points out that the story of Jesus and the woman at the well is arranged in a series of six exchanges between Jesus as the woman (vv. 7b-9; 10-12; 13-15; 16-17a; 17b-20; 21-25), and ends with Jesus speaking and the woman answering by action instead of words (26-27). The dialogue is framed by references to the disciples leaving for bread and returning with bread (vv 8, 27). This 6 + 1 hints, he says, at a creation pattern,... Read more
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