Here are some notes for a lecture I’m presenting on March 24: Death Penalty in the Mosaic Law and Today INTRODUCTION The Mosaic law establishes the death penalty for a number of crimes. Not every violation of the 10 commandments was a capital crime (theft, for instance, required restitution), but the death penalty is given for some form of nearly all the 10 commandments (like much of what follows, this chart is drawn, with modifications, from an essay by James... Read more
In the Spring 2004 issue of The Public Interest , Joseph Bottum insightfully examines the tensions in “biblical America” between the Enlightenment democratic public order and the fervent religiosity of the people. The tension is original and deep: “Public order in a democracy ?Ethe structure of liberalism that needs a people of virtue to maintain itself ?Eseems to require the bulk of citizens to believe in God . . . . Liberalism needs religion, but religion doesn’t need liberalism. The... Read more
Gary Demar suggests in a study of Zechariah 12 that the prophecy describes the events that are recorded in the book of Esther. This is an interesting and plausiable thesis, but one particular point is especially stimulating: He suggests that the references to “Judah and Jerusalem” in Zechariah 12 are literal references to Haman’s attacks on the capital city of the Jews. Thus, though Jerusalem is never mentioned in Esther, the fact that Haman seeks to attack Jews “scattered and... Read more
Luke 22:28-30 One of the unique features of Luke?s account of the Last Supper is the repeated reference Jesus makes to the kingdom of God. He says He will never eat a meal again until it is fulfilled in the kingdom, and that he will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom comes (vv. 16, 18). When the disciples quarrel with each other, he refers to the conduct of the ?kings of the Gentiles,?Eand warns His... Read more
When Jesus was but an infant, Simeon saw Him in the temple and prophesied: ?This one is appointed for the fall and rise of many within Israel, and for a sign to be opposed, to the end that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.?E Throughout His life, this is exactly what Jesus did: He divided Israel, in order to reveal hearts. And this division and revelation comes to a climax, as everything else does, in the passion narratives at... Read more
Several earlier posts have dealt with the fact that Abraham, according to the Genesis account, was a worshiper of God and a man of faith prior to being declared just in Genesis 15. I have taken that as evidence that Paul is not primarily concerned with “works righteousness” in a generic sense, but with whether one can be considered “righteous” without doing the “works of Torah” in particular (not in Dunn’s sense; “works of Torah” refers to the whole range... Read more
If we understand the cross and resurrection as the climactic events of the gospel narratives, what do they mean? In asking this question, I am not at all casting doubt on traditional satisfaction theories of the atonement, which are amply justified in both OT and NT. The atonement is “objective,” that is, directed God-ward. My question is, How do these events form to the conclusion to the specific story being told about Jesus in the gospels? Here are a couple... Read more
A comment from W.H. Auden’s Dyer’s Hand rings true: “All those who success in life depends neither upon a job which satisfies some specific and unchanging social need, like a farmer’s, nor, like a surgeon’s, upon some craft which he can be taught by others and improve by practice, but upon ‘inspiration,’ the lucky hazard of ideas, live by their wits, a phrase which carries a slightly pejorative meaning. Every ‘original’ genius, be he an artist or a scientist, has... Read more
David Brondos has an important article on Luther’s notion of justification in the Winter 2004 issue of Pro Ecclesia . Brondos distinguishes between analytic conceptions of justification (that justification is the work of Christ by which one becomes righteous) from synthetic views (that justification is a declaration of the sinner’s status in spite of the fact that he has not become righteous). He explores the interests and difficulties in each position, and goes on to argue that Luther held to... Read more
My Body Given For You, Luke 22:1-62 INTRODUCTION Jesus has been in Jerusalem making a big scene in the temple ?Edriving out the money changers, teaching as if it were His own house, debating with the scribes and chief priests. The Jewish leaders, already angry with Jesus, are further provoked by His sermon against the temple, just as the priests were provoked by Jeremiah?s preaching. Assisted by Judas, they make firm plans to have Jesus arrested and killed. THE TEXT... Read more
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