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52 Reflections on Faith - Paul: enthusiast for faith
52 Reflections on Faith - Paul: enthusiast for faith
by BRF - Stephen W. Need
Paul:enthusiast for faith If you get a chance to travel across Turkey or Greece ‘in the footsteps of St Paul’, you’ll learn a great deal about the man who spread Christianity around the Mediterranean world in the early years after Jesus…
52 Reflections on Faith - Justification by faith: Computer studies
52 Reflections on Faith - Justification by faith: Computer studies
by BRF - Stephen W. Need
Justification by faith: Computer studies Sometime back in the late 1980s, I took an adventurous step and bought an Amstrad computer. Thinking of it now, it feels like a computer dinosaur. Actually, mine was only a word processor and I bought it partly, at least, under the sad ill…
Mark The People's Commentary - In the cornfields
Mark The People's Commentary - In the cornfields
by BRF - Dick France
In the Cornfields The sabbath was one of the most distinctive features of Judaism, and was guarded with fierce national pride. The Old Testament itself gave little specific guidance as to how it was to be ‘kept holy’, beyond the general injunction to ‘do no work’. But what is wor…
John The People's Commentary - Eat my Flesh and Drink my Blood
John The People's Commentary - Eat my Flesh and Drink my Blood
by BRF - Richard A. Burridge
Eat My Flesh and Drink My Blood The debate between Jesus and the crowd since the miraculous feeding and walking on water has been exploring the text, ‘he gave them bread from heaven to eat’ (6:31). Like a rabbi preaching on the text, Jesus has taken each word or phrase in turn. F…
Mark The People's Commentary - Food in the wilderness
Mark The People's Commentary - Food in the wilderness
by BRF - Dick France
An Abortive “Retreat” This is the only time in Mark’s Gospel that the Twelve are called ‘apostles’. The word means ‘those sent out’, and it describes well the experience they have just shared as Jesus’ emissaries. But having been ‘sent out’, they now return and report back to the…
JOHN: The people's bible commentary - Sanctify Them in the Truth
JOHN: The people's bible commentary - Sanctify Them in the Truth
by BRF - Richard A. Burridge
Sanctify Them in the Truth In his prayer, Jesus has described how he manifested the name of God to his disciples and has prayed for their protection in the world which he is leaving as ‘I am coming to you’ (17:13). Before he leaves, however, he speaks this prayer still in the wor…
JOHN: The people's bible commentary - The Spirit of the Truth
JOHN: The people's bible commentary - The Spirit of the Truth
by BRF - Richard A. Burridge
The SPIRIT Of The TRUTH So far the opposition and the hatred has been predicted from ‘the world’—every human system and structure opposed to God, anything or anyone who wants to be in the centre where only God can be. Into this world of darkness, God sent his only Son to bring li…
52 Reflections on Faith - God and the world: Separate or together
52 Reflections on Faith - God and the world: Separate or together
by BRF - Stephen W. Need
God and the world:Separate or together? William Blake’s best-known painting is probably The Ancient of Days. Originally done in 1794 as the frontispiece for one of his illustrated books, it’s now in the British Museum. Often reproduced as a popular art poster in recent decades, t…
52 Reflections on Faith - Growth and renewal: good soil
52 Reflections on Faith - Growth and renewal: good soil
by BRF - Stephen W. Need
Growth and renewal: Good soil: It’s amazing how things grow, isn’t it? The story is told of a young couple who bought a house with a large garden, including a lawn and an apple tree at the front. They decided they needed to ‘clear the garden’ and, in the process, chopped down the…
Mark The People's Bible Commentary - Before the Sanhedrin
Mark The People's Bible Commentary - Before the Sanhedrin
by BRF - Dick France
BEFORE the SANHEDRIN Mark carefully sets the scene at the high priest’s house on a double stage: Jesus before the full council of the Sanhedrin (v. 53; note again the full listing of the dignitaries) and Peter out in the courtyard among the servants (v. 54). As the spotlight fall…
Mark The People's bible commentary - Golgotha
Mark The People's bible commentary - Golgotha
by BRF - Dick France
GOLGOTHA Crucifixion was a particularly cruel form of execution reserved normally for slaves and for political insurgents. The Roman writer Cicero called it ‘the most cruel and revolting punishment’ and the Jew Josephus called it ‘the most pitiable of deaths’. A crucified person …
Mark The People's bible commentary - Getting Rid of the Son