2 Peter
Having dealt with some of the background of this letter in the last blog entry, let me just say this. Whereas 1 Peter is more of a message of an encouragement and consolation in the face of suffering, 2 Peter is more of a warning against false teachers and their heresies.
For an outline, let’s go [...]
1 Peter
2 letters in the NT bear Peter’s name. Let me briefly cover some of their social-historical background. Conservative scholars hold that the Apostle Peter wrote these letters, thus dating them to the mid—late sixties AD. Mainstream scholarship maintains that they’re pseudonymous (i.e.., written in the name of Peter by 1 of his followers/disciples), in which [...]
James: 2
Martin Luther wasn’t very fond of the book of James. In fact, that’s putting it mildly! Luther actually declared that James did not belong in the bible—precisely b/c of the passage we’re about to look at: Jas 2:14-26. Luther believed that this passage contradicted Paul’s doctrine of justification by faith. But does it really?
To me, [...]
James: 1
Before we get to the text let’s spend a little time surveying the social-historical background. In terms of authorship, conservative scholars maintain that it’s the step-brother of Jesus (cf. Matt 13:54-55), largely, I think, b/c the James refers to himself only as a “bond-servant” of the Lord Jesus Christ (Jas 1:1); the idea being that [...]
Hebrews: 3
So, in chapters 8-10, we read about the superiority of Christ’s ministry. Christ serves as high priest in the heavenly tabernacle, which serves as the prototype for the earthly one built by Moses (8:1-6). Christ mediates the new covenant (NC), which is superior to the old one (OC—with my apologies to the TV show) in [...]
Hebrews: 2
For eons Christians have struggled with making sense of the warning passages in Hebrews. Many churches (especially those in the Wesleyan—Arminian tradition) interpret these texts as teaching that Christians can lose their salvation. So, I guess for these Christians there’s really no struggle at all—except then they try to fit these texts with many other [...]
Hebrews: 1
Following the order of the NT canon, Hebrews is the 1st of the explicitly non-Pauline letters. But as I mentioned in the blog “NTO 2,” some of the early church fathers believed that Paul wrote this letter (hence, its placement next to Philemon); the King James Version thus follows this belief, labeling it: “The Epistle [...]
Philemon
While not the shortest text in the NT, Philemon is Paul’s shortest letter. For that reason alone, I like it!
In terms of the social-historical background: it seems that Philemon’s slave, Onesimus, ran away (as slaves were sometime wont to do) and met up with Paul, who led him to Christ. Paul then sent Onesimus (with [...]
Titus
Confession time: OK, I maybe know least about this text than any other NT book (and that’s saying a lot). Um, I remember the Fox sitcom “Titus”—but I never watched it. So now that I’ve frightened some people off, let’s get to it!
As was the case with 1-2 Timothy, the purpose of this letter was [...]
2 Timothy
The 2nd letter to Timothy is considerably shorter than the 1st, but it still has a lot of neat little tidbits.
The basic structure of the letter is: opening/introduction (1:1-5), an appeal not to be ashamed of the gospel (1:6-18), the necessity of suffering (2:1-13), responsible leadership (2:14-26), living in light of the End Times (3:1-17), [...]