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Synagogue worship

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The synagogue-worship, developed by and after the exile…was also essentially popular, homelike, familiar, escaping from the exclusiveness of the priestly service. It had four principal parts:

a) the recitation of the shema’, composed of Deut 6:4-9; 11:13-21, and Num 15:37-41, and beginning, “Hear (shema’), O Israel: Yahweh our God is one Yahweh”;

b) prayers, possibly following some set form, perhaps repeating some psalm;

c) the reading by male individuals of extracts from the Law and the Prophets selected by the “ruler of the synagogue,” in later years following the fixed order of a lectionary, as may have been the case when Jesus “found the place”;

d) the targum or condensed explanation in the vernacular of the Scriptures read.…

A personal perspective on the New Perspective

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A friend who, knowing that I’m still trying to get my head round ‘the New Perspective on Paul’ and is also doing the same, recently asked me how the ‘New Perspective’ had changed my own perspective on the Christian life.

I answered by saying that I’m neither ready to dismiss the NPP out of hand, nor adopt any particular version of it. So it hasn’t changed the basic shape of my Christian faith. But it has asked questions about various aspects of ‘traditional’ evangelical thinking and practices, and sent me back to the Bible ‘to see if these things are so’.…

The logic of the Virgin Birth

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‘The Virgin Birth meshes harmoniously with the rest of the New Testament message about Jesus. He himself worked miracles and rose miraculously from the dead, so no new problem is involved in affirming that he entered the world miraculously. He left the world supernaturally, by resurrection and ascension, so a supernatural way of arriving was entirely fitting. The stress laid on Jesus’ preincarnate dignity and glory (Jn 1:1-9; 17:5; 2 Cor 8:9; Php 2:5-11; Col 1:15-17; Heb 1:1-3; 1 Jn 1:1) made a mode of entry into incarnate life that involved proclamation of the glorious role he was coming to fulfill (Mt 1:21-23; Lk 1:31-35) more natural than any alternative.…

Discussion starters, Jn 20:19-31

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(a) What do you think the disciples’ thoughts and feelings were just before this encounter with the risen Jesus? And just after?

(b) What special mission did Jesus give to his disciples, and how did he equip them for this?

(c) Christians today could be described as ‘those who have not seen and yet have believed’ (verse 29). In what sense are we ‘blessed’ because of this?…

Discussion starters, Jn 20:1-18

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(a) Suppose you had known nothing about Jesus, or about the Christian faith. Then, you pick up John’s Gospel and start to read it through. You reach chapter 20. What might be your thoughts and feelings, as you read this chapter for the first time?

(b) Critics sometimes claim that the resurrection accounts found in the four Gospels are hopelessly at odds with one another. What do you think? If there are variations between the different accounts, why might that be so?…

Discussion Starters, Mark 2:1-12, Luke 5:17-26

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1. Which is more important: physical healing, or the forgiveness of sins?  Why?  And why do you think the two are linked together on this occasion?

2. Surely, healing and forgiveness are good things?  So why do you think the Jewish authorities were so resentful of what Jesus did?

3. In what ways can we follow in Jesus’ footsteps by bringing God’s healing and forgiveness to others?

 …

Angels do the will of God

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Referring to the glorious angels, Trapp remarks that they do the will of God,

  1. Cheerfully; whence they are said to have wings, six wings a-piece, Isa 6:2.
  2. Humbly; therefore with two they cover their faces.
  3. Faithfully, without partiality; with two they covered or harnessed their feet.
  4. Speedily and zealously; with two they fly abroad the world upon God’s errand, and for the good of them that shall be saved, Heb 1:14, burning and being all on a light fire, with infinite love to God and his saints, their fellow servants, Rev 22:9, whence they are called seraphims or burning creatures.
…

Discussion Starters, Matt 5:13-16, 21-26 & 38-48

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(a) Suppose a friend says to you, “I’m not interested in church or in organised religion, but I do try to live according to the Sermon on the Mount.”  How might you respond?

(b) What do you think Jesus was getting at in the repeated pattern, first seen in v21, where he says, “You have heard that it was said…but I tell you”?

(c) Supposing we really took verses 13-16, 21-26 and 38-48 to heart during the coming week. …

‘Do not be afraid’

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Bible commentator William Hendriksen, while expressing some sympathy for artistic representations of biblical scenes, rightly asks if some images of the angels announcing the birth of Jesus to the shepherds (Luke 2:8-20) give the correct impression.

Take, as an example, ‘Good Tidings’ by the artist William Plockhurst.

‘The sheep are huddled together in some kind of pen. Right near them are a few shepherds. Leaning against one of these sturdy men is the faithful shepherd’s dog.…