1 John Fridays-When you need him most…

I hit 1 John 2:1-2 briefly in my last 1 John Friday post.  The “if” clause there continues as a fitting conclusion to the 5 “if”s carried over from chapter 1.  But it also opens a few things that are worth exploring on their own. 1) One of the titles Jesus gives to the Holy [...]

1 John Fridays- Ifs, ands, and buts…

This week, I want to take a brief look at 1:5-2:2. There are noticeably 6 big “if” statements in this section: v. 6- “If we say we have fellowship with him but walk in darkness…” v. 7- “If we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light…” v. 8- “If we say [...]

1 John Fridays- No Green Lantern Here

Begin 1 John and your mind should jump to other Biblical passages, namely John 1 and Genesis 1.  “That which was from the beginning…” mirrors the opening phrases of Genesis “In the beginning, God created…” and of John’s Gospel “In the beginning was the Word.”  In Genesis the focus is on the God who speaks, [...]

Shooting the wounded- 1 John Fridays

It’s Friday, so time to jump into 1 John.  Some of these posts will be more textual, others more like riffs or tangents from my studies in this letter. Today is a little introduction, so I don’t know which category that fits in. Last week I teased you with my concerns about the pastoral handling [...]

1 John Fridays…

Well, to get myself back into this writing stuff,  I will be starting a weekly series of posts on 1 John (and 2nd and 3rd), which I studied some last year. (This year I’m going through Luke’s Gospel. I felt a lot better about my Greek when I was in 1 John, I will admit!) So next [...]

Not done yet…2 Kings 25

I just finished reading through the history of Israel from creation to exile in the year-long Bible reading plan I’m doing.  My heart warms every time I read the last few sentences of this massive historical train of books that begins in Genesis and ends in 2 Kings. OT Scholars have often called this the [...]

“I only read the Bible by myself.”

Recently, in one of our Wednesday night Bible studies at church, one of our regularly attending high schoolers made a comment that I think illustrates something wrong with the way we do church/spirituality as American Christians.  We were studying a passage of Scripture, and I always encourage the students to have a copy of the [...]

“Left Field” Arguments for Believers’ Baptism

I call these “Left Field” arguments because I have thought about them over the years for random reasons and they aren’t typically the kinds of arguments you find in a believers’ baptism (credobaptism) versus infant baptism (paedobaptism) discussion.  I’d consider them to be more auxiliary to the primary arguments offered, but helpful (for me at [...]

“the still, small voice”

We talked about Elijah this last week with our students.  Elijah had quite a resume: stopped rain for 3 1/2 years, confronted a wicked king at risk of his own life, moved in with a family and they didn’t grocery shop for 3/12 years, raised that family’s son to life from the dead, challenged 450 [...]

Sabbath Psalm

I took note that this was a Psalm dedicated for use on the day of rest. Note the focus on God’s work and consider how that relates to our rest. Psalm 92 A psalm. A song. For the Sabbath day. 1 It is good to praise the LORD and make music to your name, O [...]