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Matthew’s Gospel In Outline Form

There are multiple ways to outline Matthew’s Gospel.  One way is to follow the form of a suzerain covenant,  Here is another approach from an application of that approach, keeping in mind that the temptation narrative itself follows the form of a suzerain covenant.  I. Matthew 1 - 3  : Introduction The author/authors introduce us to Yeshua via a gematria laden eschatological genealogy, a very brief birth narrative, a note about Yeshua’s ascent into manhood, & His baptism by John the Baptist that ends in a theophany. II. Matthew 4  : Prophet, Priest, King   Each of the 3 temptations highlights one of Yeshua’s 3 offices —- Prophet, Priest, & King, in that order. This provides the narrative framework (ie outline) for the remainder of the Gospel. Yeshua calls His disciples, essentially putting together a school of highly prophetic people who would serve as functional levites ministering to the poor, the sick & infirm, the marginalized, even Rom...
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The Least Of These

The more I read The Christian Post , the more I think that the people who run it are more committed to ideological 21st Century American Conservatism than they are the Bible.   Here’s yet another example of wooly thinking that emanates from their contributors.   Rather than dissect it in full, I’ll offer some representative remarks.  “ Notice that in Matthew 25:40 Jesus said, “… inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to Me.” So the “least of these” are His brethren.” Who are Jesus’ brethren? Hebrews 2:11 answers, “For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren.”  Romans 8:29 calls Jesus “the firstborn among many brethren.”  1 John 3:13-14 counsels us “Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you,” but “We know that we have passed from death to life because we love the brethren.” It’s clear that the author bundled together the above set...
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Red Pen Logic On Marriage

For the record, I think Tim Barnett is a stand-up dude with a generally winsome attitude who does a pretty good job with the tools at his disposal.  However, he needs a tune-up here and there, & this is one of those instances .   (Additionally, what follows is not an endorsement of polygamy).  Stop reading now, please & watch Tim’s presentation. Now that you’ve heard him, please consider the following…. By way of reply, where is  there an imperative statement in Genesis 2:24?     What we have here are two descriptive statements:  1: What God did with respect to Adam & Eve :   And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” 2: What was happening among Genesis’ receiving audience: Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold f...
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By Babylon’s River

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This album comes to us courtesy of Austin Pfieffer & the Pharaoh Sisters.   May it edify & enrich you all.  God bless us all, each & every one, and may we go & sin no more.  By Babylon’s River…
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Tackling Tradition (Part 11) - Angels & Marriage

Matthew 22:29 - 33 - But Jesus answered them, “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God: ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living.” And when the crowd heard it, they were astonished at his teaching. This text is not  about angels & whether or not they marry.  It’s about the attitude & aptitude of angels on Judgment Day.    Yeshua was in the temple, having brought his lawsuit there. He’d publicly bested them. The Pharisees’ reply was to ask about Roman taxation, revealing their bigotry & gluttony. The Sadducees’ reply was a question about marriage revealing their gluttony & misogyny, implying they were in the business of robbing women of their rights & ...
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The Church Is Called To Care For The Poor, Marginalized, & Oppressed (Part 3)

The Church is called to take care of the poor, yes—but let’s define “poor” biblically. True poverty, the kind that the Bible speaks of, refers to people who are genuinely unable to work due to circumstances beyond their control—whether that be age, disability, or some unavoidable calamity.   That’s a truncated definition at best.   According to the Bible, the poor include those people  and   the  figuratively  poor  and  those whose calamity comes to them by the hands of others.   The Bible constantly calls out those who sow systemic injustice.  Micah 2:   1 Woe to those who devise wickedness     and work evil on their beds! When the morning dawns, they perform it,     because it is in the power of their hand. 2  They covet fields and seize them,     and houses, and take them away; they oppress a man and his house,     a man and his inheri...
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