Constantine (of all people) provides a neat little analysis of the violent ontology of polytheism is his Good Friday oration, which Eusebius appended to the Life of Constantine : if the dominion of these [created] things, numberless as they are, were in the hands, not of one but of many, there must be a partition and distribution of the elements, and the old fables would be true; jealousy, too, and ambition, striving for superior power, would destroy the harmonious concord... Read more
The First Things web site today posted some of my biblical-theological reflections on missions and culture: http://www.firstthings.com. Read more
Of course Hebrews is written to Hebrews, not to Greeks. But there are suggestive echoes of the proem of the Odyssey in the opening chapters of the letter. The first words of the letter, polymeros kai polytropos , remind me of Homer’s first description of his hero – polymetis , the man of many devices. More, Homer withholds the name of the hero until the very end of the proem, giving us a summary of his adventures and sufferings before... Read more
In his NIV Application commentary on Hebrews, George Guthrie offers this chiastic outline for Hebrews 1:2b-4: A. God appointed Christ as heir B. Through him he created the world C. He is the radiance of God’s glory C’. He bears God’s stamp B’. He governs universe (having made purification for sin) A’. He sat down at God’s right hand This works very neatly, apart from that parenthetical reference to purification. (more…) Read more
Twice at least Paul says about the “working” of God in us is like God’s work in raising Jesus (Ephesians 1:19-20; Colossians 2:12). The characterization of God’s energy as energy to raise the dead is underscored by a pun. In Greek, “working” is energeia and “raise” is egeiro . Colossians 2:12 says we are raised with ( sunegerthete ) Jesus through faith in the working ( energeias ) of God who raised ( egeirantos ) Him from the dead. Read more
Thomas Aquinas: “Trust is the expectation of help; and trust was found in Christ in that in accordance with human nature he looked for help from the Father in his suffering.” Read more
The writer to the Hebrews expounds on the superiority of the Son in a series of seven quotations mainly from the Psalms. Seven words certainly piques one’s interest, no? Day 1: Light, and the beginning of creation. Hebrews 1:5a: the Son is begotten “today,” likely the day of resurrection, as in Acts 13. Day 2: Firmament. Hebrews 1:5b quotes from 2 Samuel 7, where the Davidic king is set up as the son of Yahweh, the “firmament” between the heavenly... Read more
The parable of the unjust steward is one of the most difficult of Jesus’ stories. The following essay is an attempt (following Joel Green and other recent commentators) to make sense of the story. Though Jesus begins a new parable in Luke 16:1, and is speaking to the disciples, in many ways chapter 16 is a continuation of what Jesus said in chapter 15. There is no change of scene, so Jesus is presumably still at the table with tax... Read more
For the writer to the Hebrews, Christological interpretation is an absolute necessity. Earlier revelation was fragmentary – many parts, many ways – but His new speech is unified in huio – in the (one) Son. Without Jesus, the interpretation of the Hebrew Bible lacks unity. Would the writer to the Hebrews be surprised that the modern assault on typology had produced a source criticism that in turn produces a seemingly boundless fragmentation? Read more
The contrast between the angels and the Son in Hebrews 1-2 is primarily a contrast of the law “delivered through angels” (cf. 2:2) and the word now spoken in the Son. But these chapters also touch on another aspect of angelic ministry. Twice the author mentions the oikoumene , once saying that the “firstborn” has been brought there (1:6) and once to speak of the coming oikoumene , which is subjected not to angels but to the Son (2:5). This... Read more
Leithart
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