The Father’s relentless, gracious pursuit of us is meant to deliver us from our consuming desire to love and serve ourselves above everything else. I don’t think that it would be shocking or controversial for me to say that Jesus is not particularly tolerant of unbelief or that he strongly opposes our indulging in or...... Read More

The Alelyon (one another) passages in the New Testament: Do not lie to each other but speak the truth to each other in love. (Ephesians 4:14, 25; Colossians 3:9) – Part 2 Both the corrosive effects of lying, even to ourselves, and the corrective and transformative promise and power of the gospel, even for ourselves,...... Read More

The Alelyon (one another) passages in the New Testament: Do not lie to each other but speak the truth to each other in love. (Ephesians 4:14, 25; Colossians 3:9) On the eve of his crucifixion, Jesus ends up in a philosophical debate with, appropriately enough, a politician, this one named Pontius Pilate. In the midst...... Read More

The Alelyon (one another) passages in the New Testament: Don’t bite and devour each other, or else you will end up destroying each other (Gal. 5:15) Most people find different eating habits either fascinating, distasteful, gross, or all three. For example, if you’ve ever watched an anaconda swallow an entire pig, you might be amazed...... Read More

The Alelyon (one another) passages in the New Testament: Encourage and build up each other (1 Thess. 5:11) When I read the apostolic writings of the New Testament, one of the most striking things that I find is a transcendentally positive pastoral tone to what the authors have to say. What is remarkable about this...... Read More

The “alleylon” (one another) passages in the New Testament, Part 5b: Bear each others’ burdens, and so you will fulfill the law of Christ (Gal. 6:2) Carrying stuff is one of those near-universal experiences of the human race, exempting only the fabulously wealthy who hire or force others to assume the drudgery of burden bearing...... Read More

The “alleylon” (one another) passages in the New Testament, Part 5: Bear each others’ burdens, and so you will fulfill the law of Christ (Gal. 6:2) A couple of weeks ago in my previous blog, we were sitting at table with Jesus, the Son of God, having our feet washed in a kind of act...... Read More

The “alleylon” (one another) passages in the New Testament, Part 4: When God kneels in humility to serve us, we are raised to unbelievably great stature in his eyes, and rightly made infinitely small in our own. If I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash each others’ feet (Jn....... Read More

The “alleylon” (one another) passages in the New Testament, Part 3: Do not judge each other (Rom. 14:13) One of the hot-button topics of modern cultural discourse is diversity, aka inclusivity, aka identity politics. What you call it probably somewhat depends on what you think of it. My own opinion is that there’s quite a...... Read More

The “alleylon” (one another) passages in the New Testament, Part 2C: Clothe yourselves with humility toward one another (1Pet. 5:5b) Over the past couple of weeks, I have, perhaps rashly, taken a plunge into the vast sea of the virtue that the New Testament calls tapeinophrosúne, aka humility. After two blog posts, I still feel no...... Read More