At the end of Isaiah 51, the prophet uses the image of the cup of wrath (cf. Psalm 75; Jeremiah 25; Revelation 18). Jerusalem has drunk so much that she has been asleep; she stumbles around without anyone to help her (v. 18). No one can help because all her sons are drunk too, fainted in the streets (v. 20). But the rest of verse 20 gives a different portrait of the significance and effects of the cup of wrath.... Read more
Isaiah 3 promises “comfort” for barren, bereft mother Zion. Comfort isn’t just soothing pain, but a change of condition. Yahweh brings comfort because He brings justice, establishing righteousness. The comfort is spelled out in a lovely list: From her wilderness as Eden From the Arabah as the garden of God Joy and gladness will be found in her Thanksgiving and the voice of melody. A fourfold comfort, a comfort as extensive as the four-cornered land itself. But the last two... Read more
Isaiah tells the people of Judah to look to the “rock from which you were hewn, and to the cistern from which you were dug” (Isaiah 51:1). The next verse makes it clear that he is talking about Abraham and Sarah. Abraham the father is the rock; mother Sarah is the cistern or well from which they were plucked (cf. Proverbs 5:15 for a woman as well). The only other passage that uses the verb “hew” with this noun “rock”... Read more
In his recent Theology of Augustine: An Introductory Guide to His Most Important Works (6-7), Matthew Levering offers this summary of Augustine’s distinction between use and enjoyment, uti and frui : “In loving our neighbors and ourselves, we should do nothing that is not also fully and truly love of God. If we were to act against the love of God, we would thereby fail also to be true lovers of our neighbors and ourselves. With regard to our neighbors... Read more
When he turned proud and boasted in the “power and glory of my majesty” (Daniel 4:30), Nebuchadnezzar was “driven away from mankind and began eating grass like cattle” (v. 33). Boasting in glory diminished his glory. He later came to his senses, and coming to his senses meant confessing that the dominion of the Most High is everlasting and that “He does according to His will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of earth” (vv. 34-35). And... Read more
A student, Sara Whear, noted the inclusio around Galatians 6: Those who are “spiritual” restore one who is caught in a trespass (v. 1) matches the blessing on the “spirit” in v 18. “Bear one another’s burdens” matches Paul’s claim that he “bears the brand-marks of Jesus” (vv. 2, 17). The latter connection suggests that Paul’s brand-marks – the scars of his apostolic suffering – demonstrate that he has fulfilled the law of Christ in bearing the burdens of the... Read more
A student of mine, Brian Marr, has produced a fascinating study of the literary and structural features of Acts 6-9. One of the things that emerges from Brian’s study is the way Luke highlights parallels between Stephen and Saul, making Saul/Paul a new Stephen, destined for a future martyrdom that, like Stephen’s, will cause the gospel to expand. Brian’s structural analysis also highlights the importance of sins against the Spirit. The story of Simon trying to buy the Spirit (8:26-40)... Read more
Take a look at the addendum to Mark Horne’s introduction to Romans at the Trinity House site. Read more
At the beginning of February , I noted that Good Republicans who are accommodating to current trends in liberal sexual politics are going to help Democrats marginalize Bad Republicans (the religious right). At the New York Daily News James Kirchick simultaneously reports on the latest from the Good Republicans and proves himself a Good Republican. Kirchick writes, “In the past week, more than 100 prominent Republicans and conservatives have added their names to a legal brief advising the Supreme Court... Read more
Jesus’ sufferings could not have been the most painful of all because, as the Stoics say, moral virtue mitigates pain and Christ was virtuous. Thomas responds to this objection (III, 46, 6) by insisting that the Stoics are wrong: “the Stoics held all sadness to be unprofitable, they accordingly believed it to be altogether discordant with reason, and consequently to be shunned altogether by a wise man. But in very truth some sadness is praiseworthy, as Augustine proves . .... Read more
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