Should a Christian minister be paid?

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William Hendriksen summarises the approach of Paul and his companions:-

Paul’s stand may be summarized in the following ten propositions:

  1. Titus 1:11: He definitely does not want to give any occasion for being placed in a class with “vain talkers” who are interested in “filthy lucre.”
  2. 1 Cor. 9:6–15: He, nevertheless, emphatically asserts the right to receive remuneration from the church for performing spiritual work, and to receive it even from the converts themselves (see especially verse 11).  
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How adversity can promote fruitfulness

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The Spirit often effects greater fruitfulness in our lives in the presence of adversity, Jas 1:2-4; Rom 8:28:-

  1. Love matures when there are people who hate us, Mt 5:43-48.
  2. Joy deepens in adversity, being directed to eternal things and to him who never changes, Ps 63:3; Hab 3:27-28; Lk 6:20-23; Jn 16:33; Acts 16:25; 2 Cor 12:10; Jas 1:2.
  3. Peace is magnified in difficult circumstances. We have peace with God, Rom 5:1; peace from God, Php 4:7; and we are peace-makers, Mt 5:9.
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Discussion Starters, Gal 1:13-22

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(a) If you could summarise Paul’s main point in this passage in a single sentence, what would that sentence be?

(b) What might each of the following have to say about their ‘previous way of life’ (i.e. their life before conversion to Jesus Christ): Peter, James, Lydia, Timothy…and you?

(c) Think of the different places you have visited or lived in.  Looking back, what does that say about God’s purposes for his kingdom and for you?…

The ‘cosmic Christ’ and the ‘historical Jesus’

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Over the years, a number of attempts have been made to put some kind of wedge between ‘Christ’ and ‘Jesus’.  Some, for example, have distinguished between ‘the Jesus of history’ and ‘the Christ of faith’.  Philip Pullman, in similar vein, would have us imagine ‘Jesus’ as a ‘good man’ and ‘Christ’ as a ‘scoundrel’.

A couple of months ago, I read Richard Rohr’s book The Divine Dance: The Trinity and Your Transformation (Whitaker House: 2016).

I had been prompted to read it by a friend, who had felt reassured by Rohr’s challenge to evangelicalism’s ‘exclusivism’ and thought that this book offered a new and better way.…

John 14:6 – “No one comes to the Father except through me”

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“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6, NIV).

These words constitute the go-to text for Christians who wish to assert that Jesus Christ is the only way to God.  It is also the go-to text for those who feel that Christianity condemns itself as abhorrent and intolerant by reason of the very exclusiveness of this saying.

But does does the text actually mean what most of its friends (and, indeed, most of its enemies) think it means?…

Dan Kimball on ’emerging worship’

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Perspectives on Christian Worship: Five Views is a 2009 publication from Broadman & Holman Publishers, edited by J. Matthew Pinson.

Its contributors are: Timothy C.J. Quill (Liturgical Worship), Ligon Duncan (Traditional Evangelical Worship), Dan Wilt (Contemporary Worship), Michael Lawrence and Mark Dever (Blended Worship), and Emerging Worship (Dan Kimball).

I found the contribution by Dan Kimball particularly interesting, and that’s the one I’m going to focus on here.

Kimball, like all the other contributors, lives in the US. …

The problem of evil

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The Christian faith has only a partial answer to the problem of evil. A great deal of mystery remains. Most Christians, however, lean upon several fundamental truths.

1. Christianity acknowledges the reality of evil. When Jesus taught his disciples to pray, he included the petition “Deliver us from evil.” The Christian faith, unlike some other religions, never regards evil as an illusion. It is not a misguided way of thinking, a problem of human perception of reality.…

“I have come to…”

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I have become increasingly convinced that the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) are as theological, in their way, as the Gospel of John, and that the Gospels generally are as theological as the writings of Paul.

With regard to the pre-existence of Christ, we often turn to the famous passage in Philippians 2, or to equally celebrated Prologue of John’s Gospel (together with passages such as John 5:43, 8:14, 12:46, 14:28, 16:28, 18:37).

But, as Simon Gathercole remarks, the Synoptics present repeated instances of sayings that indicate that Christ has ‘come’ followed by a statement of purpose for his coming.…

Discussion Starters, Lk 10:25-37

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(a) Look at the two-fold summary of the law in verse 27.  What do you think are the dangers of emphasising one part of this at the expense of the other?

(b) As they listened to this parable, what do you think Jesus’ hearers would have been expecting him to say at verse 33?

(c) In the light of this parable, who is your ‘neighbour’ today?…

‘Light’ in Scripture

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Light, commentator William Hendriksen remarks, is associated in Scripture with:-

  1. holiness, being sanctified (Acts 20:32; 26:18, 23).
  2. the divine revelation: truth, and insight into that revelation: knowledge (Ps. 36:9; 2 Cor. 4:4, 6)
  3. love (1 John 2:9, 10)
  4. glory (Isa. 60:1–3)
  5. peace, prosperity, liberty, joy (Ps. 97:11; Isa. 9:1–7)
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