A summary of ch. 26 of John Flavel’s The Fountain of Life.
“Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.” Acts 2:23
In this text, we have an account of
1. The nature of the death Christ died, which is here described more generally, as a violent death, You have slain him: and more particularly, as a most ignominious, cursed, dishonorable death; you have crucified him.…
“And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself; and became obedient to death, even the death of the cross.” Phil. 2:8
DOCTRINE. That the state of Christ, from his conception to his resurrection, was a state of deep debasement and humiliation.
The Lord Jesus was humbled in his incarnation, his life, and his death. Here we deal with the second of these.
I. The Lord Jesus was humbled in his very infancy, by his circumcision according to the law, Lk 2:21. …
The Bible says many different things about God, at many different times and by many different people. It is all too easy (wrote Ian Paul some while ago) to simply read the words on the page and then decide whether we think we believe them or not.
Think of the passage in Numbers 15:32-36, where God says concerning the man who was caught gathering sticks on the Sabbath, “The man must die”.
It is conceivable (just!)…
A summary of ch. 5 of John Flavel’s The Fountain of Life.
“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.” John, 1:14
Here we have:
It is often supposed that Jesus was more permissive with regard to sexual ethics than the Old Testament. The reverse is, in fact the case.
Robert Gagnon invites us, in response, to consider the following:
1. The three stories of sexual sinners
Jesus reached out to sexual sinners. The key stories are: the sinful woman in Luke 7:36-50; 50; the woman caught in adultery in John 7:53-8:11; and the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4.…
Gen 1:26 – ‘Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, after our likeness”.’
Much has been made of the plural name for God here (‘Elohom‘) and of the expression ‘Let us make…’. A number of interpretations have been proposed:-
Polytheism. But modern commentators agree that Genesis 1 ‘is distinctly antimythological in its thrust, explicitly rejecting ancient Near Eastern views of creation. Thus modern commentators are quite agreed that Gen 1:26 could never have been taken by the author of this chapter in a polytheistic sense.’…
Readers of Paul’s letters have often wondered why he didn’t quote Jesus’ teaching, or refer to episodes in Jesus’ ministry, more than he does.
In The Historical Reliability of the New Testament, Craig Blomberg suggests a number of factors that help to explain this:
First, we must remember that none of Paul’s letters represents first-time evangelism of unsaved people or even the beginning of the discipleship process for brand-new Christians. These had already taken place before Paul ever penned a single one of his epistles.…
Mt 12:40 “For just as Jonah was in the belly of the huge fish for three days and three nights, so the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights.”
See also Mt 16:21 (‘on the third day’); Mt 27:63 (‘after three days’); Acts 10:40; 1 Cor 15:4 (‘raised on the third day’).
There are two issues here.
The first is the question of whether Jesus’ words here are decisive in determining whether the Jonah incident should be considered fact or fiction. …
Mt 24:34/Mk 13:30/Lk 21:32 – “I tell you the truth, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.”
Jesus has been speaking of the destruction of Jerusalem and the ‘coming’ of the Son of Man.
Taking our Lord’s words at face value, it is possible to suppose that he is teaching that the parousia would take place within the lifetime of his hearers (‘this generation’). If that is what he meant, then he would appear to have been mistaken.…
Bible reading: Psa 50:7-12
[Note: this sermon was live-streamed from Holy Trinity Church, Norwich, on the morning of Sunday 22 March 2020. This was Mothering Sunday, and also the first Sunday on which our church (and many others) did not meet for public worship because of the increasing threat posed by the Corona Virus (Covid-19) pandemic.]
The world is a very different place today than it was even a week ago. From lockdowns and school closures to travel restrictions and self-isolation the impact on us all is enormous. …
