By Kent Burreson The Feast Day of Pentecost is the fiftieth day of the Easter season, the eighth day beyond the seven weeks of seven days. It is the culmination of the joyous, uninterrupted feast of the resurrection of Christ Jesus. It is the end of the beginning (the celebration of the risen Christ among his people) and ..
by Leopoldo A. Sánchez M. Testifying in the Courtroom Life is one of the apostle’s favorite images of salvation, and he makes use of it in the assigned text: “And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son” (1 Jn 5:11). John speaks of eternal life in a ..
By Mark Rockenbach We have done no act of love, at any time, in any way to God (Is 53:6, Rom 3:10-12, 1 Jn 4:10). The love between us and God began with God and not with us. For the narcissist this might be difficult to accept. But consider what it means to be narcissistic: ..
By Victor Raj Preliminary Considerations Placed midway between Easter and Pentecost, the appointed lessons for the fourth Sunday of Easter cumulatively call for a resurrection living for the Christian faithful in this world. Together, they are an exhortation for the baptized toward the demonstration of God’s righteousness in their daily living as they engage the world ..
by Paul R. Raabe During the Easter season the epistle lessons come from 1 John. The epistle lesson appointed for the third Sunday of Easter is 1 John 3:1–7. Here is the helpful translation and lineation given by Bruce Schuchard in his commentary on the Johannine Epistles: See what kind of love the Father has given us, that ..
By Henry Rowold Drawn into God’s Fellowship Not by accident does this pericope begin where John’s gospel does: “that which was from the beginning” is both pegged to and flows from the gospel’s prologue. What we have in this brief letter, therefore, is given not merely for just a few, but for those whom God has loved “from the ..
By David Peter The Occasion for Paul’s Words The first verse of the text begins with these words: “Now I would remind you, brothers.” This formula indicates that Paul is responding to an issue which had been a part of his original instruction to them. In this case, the issue is the resurrection of the body. Apparently the subject ..
By Todd Jones With its meaty theological content and rich poetic imagery, it is no surprise that the lectionary lifts this portion of Philippians from its context. Exegetical Notes Verse 6: Our English too often comes off sounding like Jesus was something less than God, as if he merely appeared to be God. However, a distinction between μορφή and ..
Editor’s note: The following homiletical help is adapted from Concordia Journal, September 1979. by Andrew H. Bartelt Sermon Notes 1. The author of the Letter to the Hebrews continues his discussion of the “high priesthood” of Christ (and his commentary on Psalm 110) in 4:14. The importance of the office of high priest was obvious to a ..
by Wally Becker We are saved by God’s grace, through faith in Christ Jesus, for the purpose of living as God’s people to this world which he loves (Jn 3:16). This passage gives us a picture of “the two kinds of righteousness.” The first portion of the text focuses on the grace of God: dead in sin, ..
by Wayne Knolhoff The Word of the Cross We are no strangers to scandal, and we know a scandal when we see it. Whether it involves a politician, a Hollywood star, a sports figure, or even a church leader scandals are, unfortunately, rather common occurrences. Scandals involve shameful, distasteful, offensive behavior. A scandal is an action or event ..
By Robert Kolb Sometimes it seems as if our lives have wandered into one of the survival shows on television and we are about to be eliminated, or at least have questions about lasting longer than a few more weeks or months. Too many false calculations, too many wrong-headed decisions. Paul tells us in this lesson that this ..
By William W. Carr “Blessed is the man (Μακαριος ανηρ; see, e.g., Ps 1:1, אַ֥שְֽׁרֵי־הָאִ֗ישׁ) who remains steadfast under trial” (Jas 1:12, ESV). Preparing this homiletical help in September makes it difficult not to think about Christians in Iraq and in several areas of Africa, who are pursued, persecuted, kidnapped, and murdered because they are Christians. The stomach churns, the ..
By David I. Lewis Literary Context The text is part of the section of 2 Corinthians where Paul is defending the integrity of his apostolic ministry and his past actions in dealing with the believers in Corinth (1:12–7:16). In the section immediately preceding today’s text, 3:7–11, Paul contrasts the ministry of Moses in mediating the Torah to Israel to ..
Editor’s note: The following homiletical help is adapted from Concordia Journal, January 2006. By Arthur F. Graudin Textual Considerations For the Apostle Paul the proclamation of the gospel was not a basis for boasting on his part but ανάγκη, a matter of necessity, constraint, obligation. “He is under divine constraint which he cannot escape” (TDNT, I, 340). ..
By Bruce Schuchard The goal of the human person who wishes to achieve everything that there is to achieve in life is _____. How would each one of us fill in the blank? According to the Hellenistic philosophers of the apostle Paul’s day, the pinnacle of human experience, of human existence and achievement, was not faith, hope, and love ..
