Podcast

Pastoral Epistles 05 – Intercession

June 9, 2012

Paul instructs us to pray for the salvation of all men, including leaders and kings. There had been an error that said that not all could be saved, and perhaps this was the error that Paul was writing the letter to combat. We are to desire the salvation of all and pray for all. We should ask our brethren to do the same for us and likewise the saints to intercede on our behalf.

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Pastoral Epistles 04 – Excommunication

June 2, 2012

Even though Paul was familiar with the beliefs of Christians, he says that he had an ignorance of Christianity. The people that are causing trouble in Ephesus are not in a similar situation. They are or were in some sense believers, but have gone astray, and Paul says that they must be separated from the Church by excommunication, hopefully to see the error of their ways and rejoin the Church.

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Pastoral Epistles 03 – Heresy in Ephesus

May 26, 2012

The letters to Timothy begin shortly after the end of Acts, with Paul’s release from Rome in 62 AD. Paul writes a personal letter to Timothy, but it is evident from the language that it is an open letter.

In Ephesus, where Timothy was, there were people, at least two known to Paul, who were teaching a sort of legalistic Gnosticism. These people suggested reading the Bible through some sort of lens. Paul condemns this sort of interpretation of the Bible. These people focused more on the law, which was for the correction of those who are in error, rather than on love.

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Pastoral Epistles 02 – Timothy and Titus

May 19, 2012

Timothy was a convert to Christianity, a product of a mixed marriage between a Jewish mother and a pagan Greek father, and a Christian of some note in Lystra by the time of Paul’s second visit to that city. Timothy would have heard Paul’s preaching that afflictions would be necessarry to enter the kingdom of God. In addition to the basic rules that Gentile Christians must follow, the prohibition on eating meat with blood, the prohibition on sexual immorality, and the prohibition on food sacrificed to idols, Timothy was circumcised to avoid a distracting confrontation with the Judaizers in the Church. Timothy was quite influential as Paul’s envoy in Macedonia.

Titus was an early convert from a pagan background who went up to Jerusalem with Paul (possibly from Antioch). This background comes largely from the second chapter of Galatians.

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Pastoral Epistles 01 – Introduction

May 12, 2012

This study of the Pastoral Epistles of Paul comprises the two epistles to Timothy, the epistle to Titus and also the epistle to Philemon, which is not considered part of the pastoral epistles. Paul had a marked ability to find and train men to as parts of a missionary network, and while these letters show the sort of care and relationship Paul had with his men, they were also meant to be read. Many of the details of Paul’s life after the events in the book of Acts can be found here.

Some have questioned whether these letters are genuinely of Paul. There are some marked differences between these and Paul’s other letters, particularly in vocabulary. The Church has always affirmed that these letters are of Paul, and the differences can be attributed in part due to the fact that these are personal letters, not letters intended for the community at large, and differing uses of a scribe, or amanuensis. The early church fathers, going back as far as the sub-apostolic age, one generation removed from Paul’s, who knew the Greek of the time, believe them to be authentic.

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Ezra/Nehemiah – Conclusion

April 30, 2012

We must know God’s word if we are His people, but we must also have it in our hearts. This word is for all of us, not just the clergy. We must drill it into our children’s hearts so that we can act on it rather than knowing the word but not acting on it. We must act with justice toward all in the Christian community, as we cannot lift out hands to God if there is injustice in the community.

Zerubbabel, Ezra and Nehemiah all show for us how heroic our leaders should be. Like them, we must continually labor to renew and reform the Church to God’s will. There are those who are those who do not work to reform the Church, or even work against them, but we must not be fearful, as God will take care of His Church. We must work on and have patience. God is being patient for us, which He can afford to do, as God controls history.

These books, like all of the Bible, should be read not simplistically. There is an adult reality with realistic lessons for all of us and applications to our lives today. To the faithful, Ezra and Nehemiah show us many duties that we have to the Church today.

We must have faith.

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Ezra/Nehemiah – Lessons for Today

April 23, 2012

There are many lessons to take from the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. The story is told in such a way as to mirror the Exodus and the settlement of Israel. This is a restoration of the people of God, and if the people are to serve as an example of God’s great deeds, the people must be seen as a blessing and as a witness, and the people cannot be that unless they are a people apart. This necessarily means that this will not be an easy life, but rather will result in persecution.

If the people are to have right relationship with God, they must also exercise right worship. This worship requires being freed from bondage by God’s salvation, accepting God’s law in your heart, and having a way to be in God’s presence. The priesthood is essential to this. Sacrifice and atonement for sin is an essential part of worship, as well. Erecting an altar was the first thing that Moses instructed the people to do when they entered the land. The people were also instructed in the law, which was important for all the people who were capable of understanding to know.

The Emmanuel principle is important, that is, it is important to make a place for God with us, as the temple and specifically the tabernacle. It is all the more immanent with Jesus Christ, God incarnate.

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Ezra/Nehemiah – Sabbath Rest

April 17, 2012

Israel gave a portion to the temple, but the high priest Eliashib gave space in the temple for the donations to Tobiah, who was forbidden to be in the assembly of God because he was an Ammonite.  Nehemiah threw Tobiah’s things out of the temple and likewise shut down the merchants who sold goods to the Jews on the Sabbath.

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Ezra/Nehemiah – Populating Jerusalem

April 14, 2012

After the city is protected by the walls and the people and the city are blessed, Jerusalem must be repopulated to maintain a civilization to support the temple. Some volunteer to live there, but many are chosen by lottery.

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Ezra/Nehemiah – The Rededication of the People

April 7, 2012

After the people had heard the law, they confessed their sins and worshipped God. Ezra traces the history of God’s people, from His mighty deliverance from Egypt through the presumptuous sins of the people to the establishment of the land of Israel.  The people came into the land but turned away again and were sent into exile. God brought them back, and the people are now rededicating themselves to the God who has never wavered from the covenant that the people so often have abandoned.

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