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The morality of the Song of Songs

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Historically, interpreters of the Song of Solomon have steered away from a ‘naturalistic’ interpretation towards an ‘allegorical’ approach.

There can be little doubt that this was in large measure due to what was seen as the objectionable morality of the Song, if it was to be understood primarily as a poetic account of human love.  What are we to make of the Song’s rather explicit sexuality?

Tom Gledhill, in his volume in the Bible Speaks Today series (IVP), discusses this with insight and sensitivity.…

Was Paul a Catholic?

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It is interesting to note that the New Perspective on Paul has flourished in the wake of the Holocaust and the onset of the ecumenical movement, and the development of closer ties between Roman Catholics and Protestants.

The link here is that the ‘old’ (Protestant, and especially Lutheran) perspective on Paul taught that both Judaism and Roman Catholicism were (and are) beset by legalism, and that Paul’s doctrine of justification by faith alone was needed to counter-act this.…

Jesus and the restoration of Israel (Rom 1:3f)

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Restoration of Israel Romans 1:3–4: Jesus is the …
The good news of the restoration of Israel (Isa. 40–66) “gospel” (Rom. 1:1–7)
The Davidic Messiah will restore Israel in the age to come (2 Sam. 7:12–16; Isa. 11:1, 10; Jer. 23:5–6; 30:9; 33:14–18; Ezek. 34:23–24; 37:24–25) Davidic Messiah (compare Rom. 1:3 with Matt. 1:1–16; Luke 1:27, 32, 69; 2 Tim. 2:8; Rev. 5:5; 22:16)
Israel is the Son of God (Exod. 4:22–23; Jer. 31:9; Hos. 11:1) Son of God, the true/restored Israel (compare Rom.
…

Who did Jesus think he was?

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If we are to take the four Gospels pretty much at face value (i.e. not as documents whose teaching emanates largely from the faith of the early church, rather than from the Master himself) then we are faced with two complementary, and equally astonishing, sets of truths regarding Jesus’ claims concerning himself.

1. Firstly, there is everything that Jesus did not say or do.

‘Jesus never said to his disciples, Let us worship God together; Let us put our faith in God; Let us pray together; Let us trust or hope in God.…

The Lord’s Prayer in Matthew and Luke

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Matthew 6:9–13 Luke 11:2–4
Our Father in heaven Father
May your name be sanctified May your name be sanctified
May your kingdom come May your kingdom come
May your will be done
As in heaven, so also on earth
Give us today our daily bread Give us each day our daily bread
Forgive us our debts Forgive us our sins
As we also have forgiven our debtors As we also forgive everyone
who sins against us
And do not lead us into temptation And do not lead us into temptation.
…

Acts 14:8-20 – How do you do that? – sermon notes

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How many people sometimes feel inadequate, discouraged or even ashamed when it comes to their efforts to share Jesus Christ with others?

Although Jesus told us to be fishers of men, we are content to be keepers of the aquarium.

A girl returning home from Sunday School complained about the class’s reaction after the day’s lesson. “We were taught to go into the world and make disciples of all nations,” she said, “but we just sat there.”…

Acts 10 – I’m not eating that! – sermon notes

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This is a wonderful story of how God worked separately in the lives of Cornelius the Roman soldier, and Peter the apostle, to bring them together and grant a priceless gift to each of them. To Cornelius and his household the Lord gave the gift of new life in Jesus Christ. To Peter he gave the gift of a new understanding – a new realisation that this new life in Christ was for everyone, and not just for Jews like himself.…

Counting the cost

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In his celebrated book Holiness, J.C. Ryle urges ‘the true-hearted and holy Christian’ to count up and compare,

1. The profit and the loss. You may possibly lose something in this world, but you will gain the salvation of your immortal soul. It is written: “What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:36.)

2. The praise and the blame. You may possibly be blamed by man, but you will have the praise of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.…

God so loved the world…

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John 3:16 has been called by Luther ‘the Bible in miniature’.  It reveals the following aspects of God’s love:-

1.  Its character.  The intensity and energy of divine love is hinted at in the word ‘so’.  The emphasis in the original is, ‘So loved God the world…’.  God loved to an immeasurable degree and in a transcendently glorious manner.  The little word ‘so’ signifies, ‘so greatly, so much, so dearly’.  God’s love is not only deep and pure, it is also powerful and active. …

Why did Jesus do nature miracles?

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N.T. Wright (Jesus and the Victory of God) points out that in addition to the healing miracles of Jesus, we find him exercising power over the natural order, as with the miraculous catch of fish, the stilling of storms, feeding of multitudes in the desert, and (negatively) the cursing of a fig tree.

In these actions, Jesus is demonstrating his power to bring the natural order into ‘a new harmony with itself’ in ways that had only occasionally been glimpsed previously, as with the crossing of the Red Sea.…