“Literature is picture-thinking, ideas made flesh in figures of speech”, wrote a former college professor and friend, Dr. Colin Campbell (from talk given 10/10/15). The author of 1st Peter creates such word pictures for us in spades. Chapter 2 is a rich example as the writer employs a stone metaphor to explain three different functions […]
Archive | Apostleship
Why Converting the Galatians was Tough!
This month we’re going to do another three part look at a single Biblical book: Paul’s letter to the Galatians. As in May with the three blogs on Jonah, we’ll look first at background, then circumstances and concerns of the individuals involved, and finally how to bring Galatians’ lessons forward. Today we start with Why […]
Thinking About Christ As ‘High Priest’
The term “priest” is one of those Biblical words that seem pretty far from our working mental or verbal vocabulary. After all, when’s the last time anyone had to kill a sheep and carry it to an altar? Yet this is the second blog in a row with a priest at its center, with one […]
Letter to the Philippians: New Criteria for Measuring Success
Have you noticed how ‘success’ keeps getting redefined? In a Western culture cruising on the ‘wealth/celebrity/image’ highway, it could be the way someone dresses, the car they drive, the size of a bank account or number of diplomas on the wall. And worse, such criteria change constantly. The Letter to the Philippians is Paul’s way […]
The Quiet Power of I Thessalonians
Some people aspire to climb Mt. Whitney; others to write the Great American Novel. My desire has been to know the seven letters of Paul so well that they would become like old friends—familiar, trusted and treasured. The past ten years I’ve been on this quest and the latest deep dive has been in I Thessalonians. […]