Abrahamic promise

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 10:45 pm By Peter Leithart

What did God promise Abraham? Paul says that Abraham and his seed were promised an inheritance (Galatians 3:18, 29), and that inheritance includes the blessing of the nations (Galatians 3:8), the gift of the Spirit (Galatians 3:14), and righteousness (Galatians 3:6). These are not discrete gifts in Paul’s mind. The transition from Galatians 3:5 to 3:6 makes this clear. 3:5 says that the Galatians received the Spirit by hearing with faith, and Paul compares this ( kathos , “just as”)... Read more

Distracted

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 10:53 pm By Peter Leithart

Maggie Jackson ( Distracted ) writes, “One yearlong study found that workers not only switch tasks every three minutes during their workday but that nearly half the time they interrupt themselves.” And this: “Nearly a third of fourteen- to twenty-one-year olds juggle five to eight media while doing homework.” I interrupted my reading to jot this down on my blog, btw. Read more

Sermon notes

Last updated on: September 7, 2017 at 12:02 am By Peter Leithart

INTRODUCTION The Jewish leaders rejected John and Jesus, but this is nothing new. Jesus reminds them in parables that they have spent their entire history rejecting Yahweh’s servants and servants. THE TEXT “Hear another parable: There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country. . . . ” (Matthew 21:33-22:22 ). (more…) Read more

Two brothers

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 11:50 pm By Peter Leithart

Jesus’ parable of two brothers (Matthew 21:28-29) is puzzling on several levels. There is a major textual variant; the NKJV, following one tradition, puts the defiant-but-remorseful brother first and the NASB puts the compliant-but-disobedient brother first. We can address the textual question, I think, when we have figured out the other puzzle: What is Jesus getting at? How does the parable fit into the discussion of John’s ministry, Pharisees, tax collectors and prostitutes, the kingdom of God? Our instinct is... Read more

Glorified utility

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 11:42 pm By Peter Leithart

Gothic architecture, Augustus Pugin argued, operated on the principles that “there should be no features about a building which are not necessary for convenience, construction, or propriety” and that “all ornament should consist of enrichment of the essential construction of the building.” Classical architecture, he thought, failed to achieve this, because useful structures were submerged and hidden; by contrast, the flying buttress is a structural element turned into a beautiful ornament. John Hughes ( End of Work ) says, “Precisely... Read more

Sacrifice for the Emperor

Last updated on: September 7, 2017 at 12:02 am By Peter Leithart

Christians, Tertullian argued, were perfectly willing to offer sacrifice on behalf of the emperor, but it had to be a specifically Christian sacrifice ( Ad Scapulam , ch 2): “A Christian is enemy to none, least of all to the Emperor of Rome, whom he knows to be appointed by his God, and so cannot but love and honor; and whose well-being moreover, he must needs desire, with that of the empire over which he reigns so long as the... Read more

Echoes

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 11:36 pm By Peter Leithart

Revelation 7 describes the sealing of the 144,000, and this number is broken up into 12,000 among 12 tribes. It is a repetitive passage, and the rhythm of tribes and numbers is reminiscent of the description of the offerings presented to the tabernacle by each tribe in Numbers 7. Both passages are lists, both include numbers, both list tribes. The sealed 144,000 are sealed for service in the heavenly tabernacle; they are sealed and marked to be sacrifices. Read more

Proverbs 25:27-28

Last updated on: September 7, 2017 at 12:03 am By Peter Leithart

PROVERBS 25:27 Like Genesis 1-2, this section of Proverbs 25 establishes a rhythm of “good” and then declares something “not good.” “Good” it is to live in the corner of the roof, and “good” news refreshes the soul; but it is “not good” to eat too much honey. Chapters 24-25 are obsessed with honey. Honey is like wisdom (24:13), sweet to the taste. Eat honey, but not too much, lest you vomit (v. 16). And then verse 27, warning again... Read more

Christianity and Fall of Rome

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 10:49 pm By Peter Leithart

Geza Alfoldy concludes his Social History of Rome with suggestive comments about the relation of Christianity and the fall of the empire. The problem was not that Christianity undermined patriotism; it didn’t. Rather, “The role of Christianity in the collapse of the Roman system of power resulted from the fact that it was taken over by the Germans and carried on. Throughout previous Roman history, the value system of Roman society had been the mos maiorum , which set up... Read more

Woe to the vineyard

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 11:48 pm By Peter Leithart

Isaiah tells a tale of a vineyard (5:1-7), and then issues a series of woes (5:8-23) that culminates in a warning that a nation is going to be summoned to Judah (5:24-30). Jesus follows the same sequence: Parables of the vineyard in chapters 20-21 are followed by woes (ch. 23) and a warning about the impending destruction of the temple (ch 24). Does Matthew continue to follow the outline of Isaiah? It would seem not; Isaiah 6 is Isaiah’s temple... Read more