The “alleylon” (one another) passages in the New Testament, Part 6: And so fulfill the law of Christ (Gal. 6:2b) (In which we take a brief hiatus from our normal program to revel in a bit of theology) If I were Miss Judy from Romper Room* we could have a show of hands in response to...... Read More

The “alleylon” (one another) passages in the New Testament, Part 5c: Bear each others’ burdens, and so you will fulfill the law of Christ (Gal. 6:2) So for the last couple of weeks we’ve been peering into the meaning of this verse in Paul’s letter to the Galatians, attempting to understand what all this carrying...... Read More

Faith working through love (Gal. 5:6): An introduction to the “alleylon” (one another) passages in the New Testament In his letter to some unnamed group of disciples, James, the brother of Jesus, makes the familiar and formerly controversial statement that “faith without works is dead.” I don’t know that James’ comment is particularly divisive in...... Read More

Thoughts on the Beatitudes, Part 10: Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of God. To this point, every Beatitude that we have considered has opened for us a plethora of questions of lesser or greater complexity. This week’s verse is no different, except that I’m...... Read More

Thoughts on the Beatitudes, Part 9a: Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God. In my years as a hipster, I and my long-haired friends were fond of the saying, “Peace is not the destination, peace is the way.” Never mind that we didn’t really have any idea what that meant;...... Read More

Thoughts on the Beatitudes, Part 8a: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. As a young boy I generally and genuinely enjoyed going to church and Sunday school. Besides being attracted to the weekly Scripture readings, I was also fascinated by some of the illustrations of theological, anthropological, and soteriological issues...... Read More

“And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from (the) evil (one).” When I started writing about the Lord’s Prayer, a friend of mine said that she couldn’t wait to see what I was going to do with this phrase. Lots of potential controversy lurks behind its words. Questions about the origin of...... Read More

Forgive us our (sins/debts/trespasses), as we forgive our (debtors/those who sin/trespass against us). It must be one of the most galling things for human nature to know that from the very beginning of our existence we are in debt. Before we ever commit a sinful act, or a trespass, or a fault, we owe. Not...... Read More

Responding to last week’s post on “your will be done” someone made the comment “It looks like you think that God doesn’t care about our decisions.”  My offending remark had to do with a friend who wants to buy a house that his wife is not equally enamored of. My conclusion was that, in some...... Read More