Stopping to Think

Photo by Jessica Delp on Unsplash An Exegetical Paper on Isaiah 8:11-22 Text 11 For the LORD spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying: 12 “Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. 13 But the LORD of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. 14 And he will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 15 And many shall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken.”  16 Bind up the testimony; seal the teaching among my disciples. 17 I will wait for the LORD, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him. 18 Behold, I and the children whom the LORD has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the LORD of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion. 19 And when t...

Photo by Nico Smit on Unsplash A Response to “Isaiah 53 in the Pulpit” Introduction In his paper Isaiah 53 in the Pulpit ( Goldingay, John, and John E Goldingay. “Isaiah 53 in the Pulpit.” Perspectives in Religious Studies 35, no. 2 (Sum 2008): 147–53) John Goldingay attempts to marry homiletical form with contemporary exegesis of Isaiah 53. Behind his quest is a question posed by G.A. Brame in a 2005 article ( Brame, Grace Adolphsen. “The Cross: Payment or Gift?” Perspectives in Religious Studies 32, no. 2 (Sum 2005): 67–81) , asking why this was not more readily being done. If so many modern exegetes have moved on from the idea of Isaiah 53 being a prophecy of Jesus’ penal substitution for sinners, why do people in the pulpits and the pews continue to cling to such archaic interpretations?  What I will seek to do in this brief paper is to first interact with one of Goldingay’s interpretive assumptions, and secondly, to compare his exegesis with the text itself. When Was Isa...

1 Peter 1:10-12 LBC ABF, 10/16/2016 Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look. Intro: What salvation? 10a Our passage this morning begins by referring back to “this salvation.” What is the salvation of which Peter speaks? Of course, the same one we have spent the last three weeks looking at. A salvation planned in eternity past by God the Father, purchased by the precious blood of Christ and secured by His resurrection, and applied to us by the working of His Holy Spirit within us.  This salvation is in ef...

God said what? "Lift up your eyes to the bare heights, and see! Where have you not been ravished? By the waysides you have sat awaiting lovers like an Arab in the wilderness. You have polluted the land with your vile whoredom." (Jeremiah 3:2) Here, speaking through the prophet Jeremiah, God chastises his people. And he does so in a way that many church folk (or anyone) might find offensive. He calls them whores. Coming across this as I read in my devotions this morning did not exactly bring a case of the warm fuzzies to my heart. It called me out, forcing me to look at the sin in my life, and it furthermore reminded me that this is not an uncommon use of language for God. The use of marriage and sexual metaphor to explain the covenant relationship of God to his people, and the way in which his people violate that covenant, is found throughout the Scriptures. Ezekiel 16 being perhaps the most notable case. There God explains his calling of Israel unto himself, ad...