Doug’s Theological Thoughts

Jesus lays out the principles of Servant Leadership in this text. He starts with the obvious negative examples and then proceeds to tell the disciples how they should act. It appears in this text that the Pharisees set themselves up as judges over the religious conduct of Israel but they were unwilling to help those…

Matt 23:-12Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to His disciples, saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses; therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things and do not do them. “They tie up heavy…

Or, The Past May Really Be the Future The apocalyptic is where N. T. Wright may be hardest to follow for many readers who are not used to a more realized eschatology. What does all of that mean? When the New Testament writers are writing about the future, is that future one that is mostly…

N. T. Wright has a New Testament Bible Commentary set that is intended for laypersons but it quite suitable for pastors. This set is titled the “Everyone” series. As a preacher of the Gospel, I find coming up with sermon illustrations to be a challenge week in and week out. I spend more time thinking…

I’ve just ordered three more Wright books, “Paul for Everyone: The Prison Letters : Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon“, “The Epistles of Paul to the Colossians and to Philemon: An Introduction and Commentary“, and “The Challenge of Jesus: Rediscovering who Jesus was and is“. Loaned out this past week Wright’s “Commentary on Romans (New Interpreter’s Bible)”…

I’m now up to page 300 in “The New Testament and the People of God” (NTPG). This is the first book in the series of 3 or 5 volumes by N. T. Wright. The second and third volumes are now out as well; “Jesus and the Victory of God” and “The Resurrection of the Son…

The best way that I have found to learn Greek is the book “Greek to Me“, by Lyle and I. K. Story. This book is great because it uses memory visualization techniques. For those of us who are visual learners, these pictures are something that we can relate to and are much easier to remember…

Christian socialists are fond of citing the Old Testament passages about the Jubilee in support of their socio-economic theories. Easton has the following definition for the Jubilee Jubilee: A joyful shout or clangour of trumpets, the name of the great semi-centennial festival of the Hebrews. It lasted for a year. During this year the land…

There is a species of socialism which has survived the fall of the Soviet Union. This form of socialism is to be found primarily in the ivory towers of academia. The mantra of the Christian socialist is that of Carl Marx, “From each according to his ability to each according to his need”. In order…

Exactly what is the nature of the two issues that Paul is referring to here in Romans 14? Eating meat is almost certainly not an issue of vegetarianism or eating meat, but rather of eating meat that had been sacrificed to idols. Paul is saying that since an idol is nothing in and of itself,…

It seems to me that this text is saying that if Jesus is the Lord, then who are we to judge others? This is true, according to the text, whether they are even a Christian or not. We will all appear before the judgment seat of God [Christ].

Presently I am doing a very hard task. I am reading from the very first page with the intention of getting to the last page, Dr. Wright’s book, The New Testament and the People of God. This book is a lot of work. The first 144 pages of the book are prelimary to the tast.…

Romans 14:1-12 Rom 14:1 Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions. Rom 14:2 One person has faith that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables only. Rom 14:3 The one who eats is not to regard with…

Subtitled: “Was Saul of Tarsus the Real Founder of Christianity?”N. T. Wright published this book in 1997. This book is a great book and is quite readable. Wright takes the phrase “the righteousness of God” to mean God’s own righteousness rather than a forensic, imputed righteousness that man gets from God. Wright demonstrates that this…

The Lectionary text for last week and the Lectionary text for this week have a large gap of the first verses of Romans 13. That section of Scripture skips the text which speaks of the government’s use of the sword as a messenger of God. These verses are a clearly support for the Death Penalty.…

Lectionary text Romans 13:8-14 Rom 13:8 Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.Rom 13:9 For this, “YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, YOU SHALL NOT MURDER, YOU SHALL NOT STEAL, YOU SHALL NOT COVET,” and if there is any other commandment, it is summed…

Usually the problem with a text is getting to where we can understand the text. That’s not the case with Romans 12:9-21. I think that we understand it just fine. Our problem is not understanding the text, it is doing the text. Treating each other as Christ would have us treat each other is a…

I just don’t buy it. One common argument is given that the burning coals poured on someone’s head were actually a good thing. Allegedly the people at that time carried coal baskets on their heads. Putting burning coals into their basket was to keep them warm. I don’t buy it. How can this be anything…

Our Debt to E. P. SandersWright’s book, What Saint Paul Really Said points out the debt that we owe to E. P. Sanders. The central point of Sanders was that “Judaism in Paul’s day was not, as has regularly been supposed, a religion of legalistic works-righteousness.” (pp 18-19). This is the key point in properly…

Let love be without hypocrisy.Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good.Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing…

The unofficial N. T. Wright page has quite a few of Dr. Wright’s writings and some audio files as well.

These are directly from N. T. Wright’s paper New Perspectives in Paul. Stating the five points in the positive. When Paul refers to ‘the gospel’, he is to the proclamation that the crucified Jesus of Nazareth has been raised from the dead and thereby demonstrated to be both Israel’s Messiah and the world’s true Lord.…

Romans 10:6-7 are admittedly tough verses. Testing them against the standard Reformed views of these passage is quite informative. Something is seriously wrong with the standard Reformed views of this passage. The problem posed by these passage is not the passage in and of itself, but in the passage that they are quotes from. They…

This week’s Lectionary Text is Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32: Rom 11:1 I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.Rom 11:2 God has not rejected His people whom He foreknewRom 11:29 for the gifts and…

The Lectionary is a weekly selection of Biblical texts. Two of the texts are taken from the Old Testament and two come out of the New Testament. One of the Old Testament texts is from the Psalms. One of the New Testament texts is taken from the Gospels and the other text is taken from…