A Light to the Nations

The Scriptural God has no representative statue, no temple and no earthly city. As such, he is unique among other deities of the ancient near east; they are made by the hands of men, they reside in temples made of stone, set in fortified cities and governed by a king who, like the statue, is the representative of the deity, his plenipotentiary on earth. By comparison, the Scriptural God seems like an anti-god. He is presen...

Have You Anything Here To Eat?

This episode is the audio of a sermon given on the Feast of Annunciation. The prescribed texts for the feast are Acts 1:1-12 and Luke 24:36-53. In the New Testament, table fellowship (koinonia) between Jews and non-Jews is an expression of the oneness of the Gospel. Peter was taught in Acts 10 that he must not call “common” what God has cleansed, and Jesus continued to teach that to his discip...

Harmonizing the Narrative is a Betrayal of the Text.

The Church considers the complete and necessary depiction of Jesus to be that which is drawn out of all four gospels. Rather than assuming a harmonized narrative that each one gives some little glimpse into, the Church has always affirmed the full authority, and thus the necessity, of all four. This is apparent in Church’s use of similar but different stories involving a ...

In Hebrews 2:11, it says, “for he who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all “of one.” In Greek this is ex enos - literally “out of one.” Various translations render that phrase “of the same family” (NIV), “have the same father” (New Living Translation), “have one source” (ESV), and “have the same origin” (NET). These are misleading and make Hebrews sound philosophical rather than Scriptural, which it is. Th...

The Weekly Quizzes Are Open-Book. The Final Exam Is Not.

Chapter 21 of Luke is the only Gospel to use the noun form of ὑπομονῇ, often translated “patience” or “steadfastness.”This term comes from a verb which literally means “to bear under.” Luke uses it another time in his Parable of the Sower to describe how those who hear the word keep it and bear fruit, “with patience” (8:15). This goes against our human inclination to ...

From A To Z.
When we hear Scripture, we are always beyond the grace. This is point A. And we always have the peace - point Z - ahead of us. All of the epistles of Paul start with “grace and peace,” and they all end with “grace.” He gives you the starting point and the end point at the outset, but then after teaching for the duration of his letter, he leaves you a reminder of where you are, saying essentially, “Now go pu...

In Galatians, Paul maintains that God’s promise to Abraham was implemented in Christ; and that this “freedom from the curse” was accomplished specifically through his going to the cross, essentially becoming a curse for us. The basis for his conclusion is neither philosophical or mystical, but is the same as in all his letters: Scriptural, that is, according to that which is written. Here his reference is Deuteronomy. Gala...

What’s Your Problem?
Hearers of the gospel often put too much emphasis on Jesus’ death as death. In Scripture, death itself is not an issue since all are dust to dust. What carries more weight is the shameful way he was put to death - by crucifixion. While some deaths can be seen as noble and dignified, even heroic and glorious, crucifixion was abject and shameful. When Jesus says that anyone who comes after him must ta...

When we insist on historicizing the biblical text, we diminish its value as a teaching. “Did that really happen?” we often ask and then look for verification. It is likewise a calamity when we hear Scripture as a philosophy, in Greek, the “love of wisdom.” The Bible was written against human wisdom, and its teaching is that true wisdom is to found in the words of instruction which proceed out of the mouth of God. Scripture...

Scripture In Four Parts.

In the Torah, when the Lord delivers Israel out of Egypt, he gives commandments and statutes which they are required to keep; this Law is understood to be the expression of his will, instructions on how to live if the Lord is indeed your God. (and since it is he who delivered them from the hand of Pharaoh and is bringing them into a land of promise to serve him; how could it be otherwise?). In the L...

Naked Deception! part 2: 

Nothing New Under The Sun.

Recently my son, who is 10, was asking about God - does he love us and does he punish us? I said yes, both of those are true. I reminded him of the story of Noah and the flood. Then he asked, how could God love us if he wanted to wipe us out from the face of the earth? But son, I asked, don’t you see? You and I are still here. Did God send a flood to wipe us out from t...

Naked Deception, Part 1:
Smooth Criminal.

You don’t need a theological degree to understand the Bible. If you have ears to hear what the text is saying, the message can be quite clear. That’s why, in the Gospels, Jesus teaches in parables - to make the message so straightforward that the only excuse people could have for not getting it is their own unwillingness to hear and to submit: “He who has ears to hear, let him he...

You know what he said. So what are you doing here?

In the Gospel of Luke, the women go to the tomb and do not find Jesus; they meet two men who remind them what Jesus said; they remember what he said; and they go and report all to the eleven and all the rest. The “all” here refers to everything Jesus said while he was still with them. The phrase “he is not here; he is risen” is not found in all manuscripts; as such, its ad...

Episode 43 - A Common Table.

In the culture of the ancient Near East, to sit at a table and share a meal with someone means you are at one with that person. It is with this understanding, which is still prevalent in middle eastern culture today, that we hear the Pharisee’s complaints against Jesus in the Gospel: why would he accept “unclean” tax collectors and sinners at his table? And yet when Jesus said to Levi, “Follow m...

“The Lordship of Jesus is on you if you trust in the word of the gospel and you become doulos xristou.”

This is an extract from an audio commentary on the Gospel of Mark by the Rev. Fr. Paul Nadim Tarazi. In his reading of Mark 3:11-12, Fr. Paul makes an aside about what the titles “Son of God,” “Christ” and “Lord” mean and why, in the narrative, Jesus systematically rejects them.

Fr. Paul’s audio commentaries on the New T...

Chapter 21 of Luke parallels the mini-apocalypse in Mark 13. Whereas Mark warns his hearers against joining in the revolt and against putting their hope in the earthly Jerusalem, Luke is writing at a time when the city had already collapsed to Rome. Still, the Lord will continue to instruct his people with words out of his own mouth. When they put their trust in those words and follow his commandments with patient enduranc...

In the Gospels, miracles and marvelous works are not signs in and of themselves. They must be based on something else. Jesus’ opponents even accuse him of casting out demons by the power of Beelzebub, and how would one know this wasn’t the case unless what was done was in fulfillment of Scripture? Jesus systematically affirms that Scripture- that which is written - is the sole valid reference for everything, even for the a...

Was Jesus A Carpenter’s Son?

The word tekton, translated “carpenter,” appears first in the Gospel of Mark. Its only other occurrence in the New Testament is in the parallel text from Matthew, and both times it is said of Jesus.* In the former he is referred to as “the carpenter” and in the latter, “the carpenter’s son.” This change may be attributed to the fact that Matthew addresses his gospel to a new generation -  id...

Scripture In Nutshell.

Each of the synoptic gospels handles the choosing and sending out of Jesus’ twelve disciples differently. Matthew, the last of the four gospels to be produced, takes a unique approach: he combines the calling of the twelve and the sending out in one section. His gospel also includes the following instruction: “Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the...