Category Archives: Paul

Col 1:1-14 – Beginning and continuing with Christ – sermon notes

Walking With Giants Posted on by

Paul’s letter to the Colossians is an absolute treasure. For warm, practical, joyful, Christ-centred, Christ-honouring teaching there is nothing quite like it.

The small city of Colossae was situated in the Lycus valley in modern-day Turkey. Paul had never been to Colossae. However, he had evangelised other cities in the valley, such as Ephesus. Among his converts had been a man named Epaphras, and it was he who had taken the gospel back to his home town of Colossae and founded the church there.…

Prayers of St Paul

Walking With Giants Posted on by

I’ve been reading and studying Paul’s great prayer in Colossians 1:1-14.  An article in the New Bible Dictionary reminds us that ‘in his Epistles Paul is constantly breaking out into prayer, and it is instructive to glance at some of his prayers because of their content.’  The article goes on to summarise some of the main prayers of Paul recorded in his epistles:-

1. In Rom. 1:8-12 he pours out his heart to God in thanksgiving (v.…

Rom 3:22; Gal 2:16 – faith in, or faithfulness of Christ?

Walking With Giants Posted on by

The issue

Lee Irons summarises the issue:

‘As is well-known, the phrase pistis Christou in Paul’s writings (e.g., Gal 2:16, 20; Rom 3:22; Phil 3:9) is grammatically ambiguous. The genitive Christou could be taken in an objective sense (“faith in Christ”) or a subjective sense (“Christ’s own faith”). Since the Greek word pistis can also mean “faithfulness,” most who hold to the subjective genitive interpretation render the phrase “the faithfulness of Christ.”’

Scholars (e.g. Leon Morris, Dictionary of Paul and his Letters) tell us that the Greek word ‘pistis‘ usually means ‘faith’, but can occasionally signify ‘faithfulness’. …

What is ‘The New Perspective on Paul’?

Walking With Giants Posted on by

Well, let it be said first of all that ‘The New Perspective on Paul’ is no longer very new.  It has been around for perhaps 30 years, and was first labelled as such by Prof J.D.G. Dunn in the early 1980s.  Nor is it a single perspective, but several, although it has to be said that they have a certain amount in common.

The leading concepts are:-

1.  Covenantal Nomism.  This is the idea that 2nd Temple Judaism (i.e.…

Praying with Paul

Walking With Giants Posted on by

General characteristics of Paul’s prayers:-

1. They begin with thanksgiving

1 Cor 1:4 ‘I always thank God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus.’

2. They appeal to the character of God

2 Cor 1:3  ‘Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort.’

When Paul would pray for the peace of the church at Thessalonica, he says: ” Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way.”…

Fault-lines in Evangelicalism

Walking With Giants Posted on by

We have been witnessing a number of important trends within evangelicalism. I’ve been trying to sort out in what I fondly call my mind what some of these trends might be, and how they might be connected to each other. The following basic analysis emerged.

1. New ways of doing church. This trend reacts against traditional passive/conformist approaches, and prefers authenticity to slick professionalism. Interested in developing ‘fresh expressions’ of church. It emphasises development of communities of faith, not just individual salvation.…