Puns in the New Testament

There are some. Greek scholar Bill Mounce describes a few at Koinonia, and talks about what is gained and lost when puns are preserved in translation.

Was Jesus being unkind to the Gentile woman in Mark 7?

Gene Aptaker, author of the Endtimes Disciples Weblog, thinks probably not:

“Was Jesus being insensitive or unkind to the Syrophoenician woman? I don’t believe so. I believe He was dealing with ‘racial superiority’ issues in His disciples, in perhaps a less direct way than He dealt with other issues at other times.”

‘Mur-dah’ in the Sermon on the Mount

Joe Blackmon unpacks Matthew 5:24-27 at the Hear God Speak blog:

“Christ teaches us that the prohibition against murder goes much deeper than the physical act of taking another person’s life …”

Thanksgiving/Weekend Walkabout, Nov. 27, 2008

Happy Thanksgiving!

26 posts from the week that escaped mention (almost!):

Advent on your iPhone - Father Z

“Those of you who have an iPhone may want to know about a fun application for Advent for $0.99.”

The Blind Spot of the Spiritual Formation Movement - Craig Brian Larson

“Read books on spiritual formation and you will be hard pressed to find anyone who lists listening to the preaching of God’s Word as a first-order spiritual discipline.”

Check out free downloads from Christian music artist Josh Garrels - Joanne Brokaw

“Like other indie acts with a blatant faith message but an unconventional delivery … Garrels doesn’t quite fit the typical Christian music mold.”

The Day I Schmoozed - Amy Scott:

“Just tell her what she wants to hear.”

Evangelicals Adopting Advent - Cathy Lynn Grossman (HT: SharperIron)

“They’re giving a new, personalized spin to the prayers, candles and calendars to track the building excitement, and set a spiritual tone day by day.”

Faith and Politics - Doug Pagitt

“I was asked by the folks at Conservative Reformed Mafia blog to discuss my thoughts on faith and politics in light of my interest in running for the Minnesota State Legislature. I responded to questions with a video …”

Gordon Brown sells the nation’s soul to Satan - Cranmer

“As Gordon Brown has already sold the nation’s soul to the EU, all further treaties with the Devil are subject to EU scrutiny.”

Helpful Books on Justification - Mark Driscoll

It’s Time to Rethink the Issue of Homosexuality - Ken Silva

“Yes, you read that right; I do believe the time has come to rethink how we’re handling the issue of homosexuality in the Body of Christ. But maybe not like you think.”

The Jelly Bellies of Christendom - Prodigal Jon

“Super Sweaty Pastor – usually wrapped in a monogrammed handkerchief, these beans are slightly salty and super sticky from perspiration, taste like licking a Thompson Chain Reference and smell like a locker room”

Kids and Philanthropy: Teaching Your Children To Be Charitable - Beth Kanter

Logos360 Announced - The Wait Begins - ChurchCrunch

“It is, without question, simply a matter of time before we see what’ll it’ll really do to the digital landscape for Church Management Software.”

Meditations on Thanks and Giving - Carolyn McCulley

“As I prepare for Thanksgiving, one image is burned into my mind …”

National Geographic on Qeiyafa - Todd Bolen

“Much of the story reports what has been covered elsewhere, but there are some problems with the article.”

Of Crusaders and the West - Joshua Claybourn

“Our understanding of society and the individual certainly has its roots in the Crusaders.”

Proclamation Establishing Thanksgiving Day October 3, 1863 - Abe Lincoln/Worship.com

“In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict …”

Q 2009 - Greg Atkinson

“Q is a gathering where church leaders and cultural influencers from the fields of business, politics, media, education, entertainment and the arts are exposed to the future of culture and the church’s responsibility to advance the common good in society.”

Recessions Are Good? - Rob Moll

“Recessions, before the Great Depression, were often viewed as good things.”

Stand: A Call for the Endurance of the Saints (review) - Rebecca Writes

“I’ve reached the age where I think more and more about getting old, and I’ll let you in on a secret if you promise not to tell …”

Twilight (Book Review) - Tim Challies

“Admittedly, this is my first foray into fiction written for teen girls.”

An Unwanted Detour - Suzanne Hadley:

“A week later I sat in a doctor’s office trying to hold back tears.”

Video Interviews with John Lennox - Justin Taylor

“Creator or the Multiverse?”

What is the Church Year? - Mark Daniels

“The Church Year is a human invention. Observing it won’t make us better than anybody else. Nor does keeping it ’save’ a person from sin and death. But …”

50 eXcellent Blog Footer Designs - Hongkiat.com (sorry, had to reach for this one)

“In the eye of a visitor, the footer is perhaps one of the most unnoticeable section but to a designer who knows how important user experience, navigation and designs, they are treated the same.”

You May Be a Hyper-Calvinist If … - Phil Johnson

“Within the militantly Arminian sector of the Southern Baptist Convention, it seems there are still those who insist that ‘by the definition of Phil Johnson,’ James White is a hyper-Calvinist …”

Zane Hodges (1933–2008) - Dan Wallace (I mentioned Hodges’ passing, but it means much more coming from an accomplished Greek scholar):

“Zane taught Greek and New Testament courses at Dallas Seminary from 1960 to 1987. I took him for more courses than from any other NT prof, and learned a great deal from him. His skills with the Greek text were breathtaking. I never knew a professor who could sight-read as well as Hodges (except for Johnson). And he thought through his positions well. I didn’t agree with him on everything; in fact, I would say that I disagreed with him on most of his positions. I was always a bit nervous coming into his class because I wasn’t sure what he would say that hour that might rock my world. But I enjoyed immensely how he structured the courses, how he argued his positions, and how charismatic he was in the classroom. He was a superb preacher and very persuasive. His electives always had the highest enrollment by far of any NT electives at DTS. … Zane Hodges will be dearly missed. But he now knows the joys of his Savior and is finally home.”

Video: “The Reliability of the New Testament Text”

James White shares at a church in Durham, North Carolina. (You might want to wait until you’ve got some free time this Thanksgiving weekend — this is an hour long):

“Resurrection Probably Reported in Same Year It Happened”

As Craig Blomberg posts, a soon-to-be-published book by New Testament scholar Richard Bauckham will detail evidence that suggests that belief in Jesus’s resurrection must have emerged shortly after his death:

“[Gerd] Ludemann, the atheist [historian], says this means within one to two years from Jesus’ death, it was widely agreed on that Christ had been bodily resurrected.  Bauckham, according to [Gary] Habermas, apparently moves that date back to within about one-half year’s time, in order for the necessary time to elapse for this to become widely standardized by the time of Paul’s conversion.”

In memoriam: Zane Hodges (1932–2008)

Hodges passed away this weekend. He was a pastor and Greek scholar. A brief eulogy is posted by Bob Wilkin here.

Rosebrough on The Voice New Testament

Chris Rosebrough is concerned about The Voice’s handling of 1 Corinthians 6:9 – where traditional versions like the ESV read “men who practice homosexuality,” The Voice uses “sexual deviancy.” You can hear him discuss this on the latest Fighting for the Faith podcast.

(Speaking of this issue, see this post by Tony Jones at Beliefnet, in which he explains – in dialogue with Crunchy Con Rod Dreher – how he arrived at his current stance on gay, lesbian and transgender rights.)

Rosebrough has begun a multi-post series on The Voice here.

Christian Carnival Numero 251

… is set up at the Messy Christian blog (weather permitting). Post titles include:

• “Gabriel Murdi: A Glorious Life Cut Short” - Voke Emore relates the shocking death of Gabriel Murdi, who was refused medical treatment because of flaws in Nigeria’s public sector.
• “Tithing on Gross vs. Net: What Exactly is Gross Income?” - JCL explains why its necessary to tithe your gross income.
• “Dining with Harlots” - Jesus certainly liked shock therapy, said Richard H. Anderson.

Review of Ehrman’s Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why

By Jeremy Pierce at Parableman. An excerpt:

“His master argument is presented in the introductory chapter and then again in his conclusion. The argument is basically as follows:
 

1. We know that there are textual changes in manuscript transmission.
2. Some of these are ideologically-motivated.
3. The earlier manuscripts have more diversity due to less-careful copying practices.
4. It’s possible that there were changes in ideology from the original manuscripts that we no longer thus have any evidence of.
5. Therefore, we can’t have much confidence about what the original New Testament manuscripts said. All we can do is give arguments for which of several existing readings were the earliest.

I think he overstates the ideological changes, although there indisputably are some …”

What does ‘church’ mean in the New Testament?

Greek scholar Bill Mounce breaks down the term ekklesia at Koinonia.

Wallace on 1 Peter 1:3-7 and wife abuse

At Parchment and Pen, Greek scholar Dan Wallace attempts to answer the question, “What does it look like for a complementarian husband to treat his wife properly?”:

“A friend wrote to me recently, asking why I haven’t written anything about wife abuse on Parchment & Pen. She urged me to do it because, according to her, complementarianism is rich soil in which to grow this kind of wickedness (she’s an egalitarian). Now, I could dispute the merits of that viewpoint, but I’ll pass. Instead, I want to take a pro-active position on what the Bible says about how a husband should treat his wife. I’ll talk about the do’s and don’t’s …”

1 Peter 3:7 reads as follows (ESV):

“Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you [1] of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.”

FYI
(From Theopedia): complementarianism - “the theological view that although men and women are created equal in their being and personhood, yet they are created to complement each other via different roles in life and in the church.”

Audio: Ken Silva on Rob Bell and contemplative spirituality

Here’s a link to the Fighting for the Faith podcast featuring Silva:

“[Host Chris] Rosebrough and Silva discuss the way Bell makes a big mess in his sermon as he attempts to exegete — Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh. On this program they show you how Bell ends up doing the exact things he says these ‘dogs’ do. And in doing so Bell thereby actually ends up identifying himself as one of those ‘dogs.’”

New books …

Terry Mattingly discusses two books related to journalism and religion: Witness to the Truth: Lessons Learned by a Veteran Journalist through Four Decades of Watching the Church, by Louis Moore, and Nothing to Hide: Secrecy, Communication and Communion in the Catholic Church, by Russell Shaw:

“‘I have seen church people . . . violate every one of the Ten Commandments, act boorish and selfish, be prejudiced, broadcast secular value systems and in general behave worse than the heathen people they tried to reach,’ noted Moore. In fact, just ‘name some sin or some act the Bible eschews, and I could pair that vice up with some church leader or member I have known.’”

Dan Wallace introduces a new book on biblical Greek he has written, which deals with the deity of Christ and other important topics: Granville Sharp’s Canon and Its Kin: Semantics and Significance:

“Besides affirming the deity of Christ in both of these passages, the book deals with constructions that do not fit Sharp’s rule and have a different force. “Pastors and teachers” in or “apostles and prophets” in are discussed at length, for example.”

At the Conventicle, yours truly shares about a witty history of the New England puritans: Sarah Vowell’s The Wordy Shipmates.

And at the 9Marks blog, Deepak Reju recommends How People Change, by Timothy Lane and Paul David Tripp. Says Mark Dever,

“This book is applied theology. It’s about heat, thorns, the cross, and fruit. It’s about present grace.”

3rd-century Gospel of John manuscript for sale

… from Sotheby’s. You’ll only need 200,000-300,000 British pounds (that’s $312,750-$470,000) to purchase it.

Christmas is right around the corner!

(HT: Peter M. Head)

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