The Women's Bible Commentary - A "Woman of Substance"
The Women's Bible Commentary - A "Woman of Substance"
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
A “Woman of Substance” Picking up the term hayil (31:3), Proverbs ends with the portrait of “a woman of substance” (’eshet-hayil). Men with hayil, like Lemuel and Boaz in the book of Ruth (2:1), are honourable and affluent. They may be kings, landowners, or those who serve the co…
Mark The Peoples' Bible Commentary - Another Warning of What is to Come
Mark The Peoples' Bible Commentary - Another Warning of What is to Come
by BRF - Dick France
Another Warning of What is to Come In this brief paragraph we find several of the key themes which run through the middle section (Act 2) of Mark’s story, as Jesus and his disciples make their way from Galilee towards Jerusalem. We may therefore take it as an opportunity to remin…
Mark The Peoples' Bible Commentary - Crumbs for the Gentiles
Mark The Peoples' Bible Commentary - Crumbs for the Gentiles
by BRF - Dick France
Crumbs for the Gentiles The question of purity, discussed in the first part of this chapter, would have important repercussions for the eventual expansion of the church to contain Gentiles alongside the original Jewish believers. This strange little story illustrates the point, a…
Mark The Peoples' Bible Commentary - What is Purity?
Mark The Peoples' Bible Commentary - What is Purity?
by BRF - Dick France
What is Purity? The last time we met scribes who had come from Jerusalem to Galilee to confront Jesus (3:22) their arrival spelt trouble. Here again they are a hostile group, a foretaste of the sort of reception Jesus is going to meet when he eventually goes to Jerusalem himself.…
Mark The Peoples' Bible Commentary - Clean Hands and a Pure Heart
Mark The Peoples' Bible Commentary - Clean Hands and a Pure Heart
by BRF - Dick France
Clean Hands and a Pure Heart We now return to the issue which sparked off this sharp dialogue, that of purity. Jesus declares his position by means of a ‘parable’ (which means here an epigram or a puzzling saying needing interpretation— see our study of chapter 4), which, followi…
Simply Good News - Good News - For You Personally
Simply Good News - Good News - For You Personally
by SPCK - N T Wright
Good News – for You Personally If the good news really is what it says, there is all the room in the world for delighted celebration of the gospel in the life of every child, woman, and man. To miss this element – to think of Christianity without this deeply personal aspect – is …
Mark The People's Commentary - Not Dead but Sleeping
Mark The People's Commentary - Not Dead but Sleeping
by BRF - Dick France
“Not Dead, but Sleeping” After the unhappy confrontation the last time we heard of Jesus in the synagogue in Capernaum (3:1–6), it is a relief to find that at least one leading member of that institution still holds him in high regard, even if it is under the pressure of urgent p…
Mark The People's Commentary - Storm at Sea
Mark The People's Commentary - Storm at Sea
by BRF - Dick France
Storm at Sea In 1986 the complete hull of a cedar-wood fishing boat from about the first century ad was discovered buried in the mud by the shore of the Lake of Galilee. It is probably typical of the boats in use in Jesus’ time. It is just over 8 metres long by 2.35 metres wide a…
Mark The People's Commentary - The Dynamics of Growth
Mark The People's Commentary - The Dynamics of Growth
by BRF - Dick France
The Dynamics of Growth This time we are offered no explanation, beyond the opening phrase, ‘The kingdom of God is as if…’ Or, to paraphrase it, ‘This is how God works out his purpose in the world’. For ‘the kingdom of God’, remember, means God being king, God in his sovereign pow…
Mark The People's Commentary - From the Least to the Greatest
Mark The People's Commentary - From the Least to the Greatest
by BRF - Dick France
From the Least to the Greatest Mustard Seed Mustard seed is proverbially tiny (see Matthew 17:20), and yet it produces ‘the greatest of all shrubs’. This is not, of course, the puny ‘mustard-and-cress’ that we grow in little plastic boxes, but a garden herb which in Palestine com…
Mark The People's Commentary - Disreputable company
Mark The People's Commentary - Disreputable company
by BRF - Dick France
A DEMONSTRATION in the TEMPLE Mark has carefully interwoven two themes here, as the scene shifts repeatedly between the temple and a fig tree on the Bethany road, thus: Verse 11, temple; verses 12–14, fig tree; verses 15–19, temple; verses 20–25, fig tree; verse 27, temple (which…
JOHN: The people's bible commentary - NICODEMUS by NIGHT