We’re moving into some dense historical, textual, and doctrinal territory today, as there is lots of background to cover. I lean pretty heavily on some of my tools. Continue reading
Category: New Testament Gospel Doctrine
Come Follow Me: Ephesians
My picture, from the Kidron Valley.
As always, it’s important to start with setting and context. Remember back in Acts 19, where the silversmiths who make Athena shrines start a riot and get Paul thrown out of the city? “Great is Diana of the Ephesians”? Paul met some disciples there and stuck around for three months, and now he writes to that congregation. Paul himself is now apparently in prison (Eph 4:1) and writing letters. Whether in Rome, Ephesus, or Caesarea, we don’t know. Ephesians, Colossians, Philippians and Philemon are known collectively as The Captivity or Prison Letters. These are Paul’s Folsom Prison Concert, if you will. Continue reading
Come Follow Me: Galatians
Before talking about Paul’s Letter to Galatians , some notes on Paul’s Letters in General
The ease we have in reading, writing, and communicating makes it easy to misunderstand Paul’s letters. Continue reading
Come Follow Me: 1 Corinthians Part 2
Corinthians, continued
The latter part of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians has a definite flow and organization to it. While our tendency is to zoom in on a single verse or even sentence, sometimes we miss the forest for the trees. So, let’s start with an overview and then zoom in a little.
Chapters 8-11 deal with two seemingly unrelated topics: food and sexual immorality. This is puzzling to us, but logical to Paul’s readers. We’ll return to this to unpack why.
In chapter 11, Paul regulates some issues about how the community should function, both relating to gender and the Lord’s Supper, which Latter-day Saints call “the sacrament.” (Shortened, apparently, from “the sacrament [ordinance] of the Lord’s supper.”)
Then he moves on to a potentially more destructive issue; the Corinthian saints are highly competitive and trying to one-up each other, but with spiritual gifts. Who is the most blessed? Who is the most spiritually in-tune? This is not terribly unusual. The Apostles themselves had argued about which of them “was the greatest” and even asked Jesus to settle the matter- Luke 9:46, 22:24, Matt 18:1 Continue reading
Come Follow Me: 1 Corinthians, Part 1
Come Follow Me: Acts 1-5
Today we begin something new that is neither here nor there. Acts is not a letter, like so much of the rest of the New Testament will be. But it’s not a gospel, like the first four books we’ve read. Luke makes clear that it’s a follow-up.
Revelation 22, Curses, and Copy Protection
A medieval scribe. Jean le Tavernier, Public Domain
I first wrote this over 15 years ago, reposted it somewhere else, and both locations have now disappeared from the online ether. So, given that we’re studying Revelation right now, I thought I’d repost it, slightly edited but uncorrected or updated, and complete with my younger, brasher style.
What’s the best LDS response to the idea that Revelation 22:18-19 closes the canon? Continue reading
Come Follow Me: Revelation 1-2, 12
The final book! We’ve almost made it through! The end is nigh!
First, a note on names. This is the book of Revelation (singular) not the book of RevelationS (plural.) It’s a really common mistake in Hollywood and elsewhere, like the “books of the Bible” tie I have, above The title Revelation comes from Rev 1:1, with that ambiguous “of” preposition. “The revelation of Jesus” can mean “a revelation that is about Jesus,” “a revelation from Jesus,” or “the revelation belonging to Jesus.” Continue reading
Come Follow Me: 1-3 John
1 John opens reminiscent of both the Gospel of John (thematically) and Luke/Acts (in contrast). That is, the vocabulary and ideas resemble John (the Word of life made visible, eternal life, light/darkness, etc). But the point-of-view contrasts Luke. Whereas Luke says he had to investigate and talk to witness, because he wasn’t a firsthand eyewitness himself, 1Jo 1:1 and 1Jo 1:3 strongly imply the opposite for the author (authors?) of 1 John. Note the plural “we” there, present from the first verses onwards. Is this a rhetorical “we” or a real “we”? Continue reading
Come Follow Me: James
I assume James gets his own Gospel Doctrine lesson because… Joseph Smith and James 1:5? Not sure, really. But James is “the most socially conscious writing in the New Testament” (Brown, Introduction to the New Testament, 725), so it has that going for it.
Like Timothy and Titus, this epistle lacks a Big Picture woven throughout. Like Timothy and Titus, it contains very practical advice. Like Timothy and Titus, it doesn’t get a lot of attention. Continue reading
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