Last year I addressed the topic of shunning fellow Christians in an article titled “Should we shun Christians that we believe are living an immoral life?” The crucial excerpt comes in Paul’s comments on church discipline in 1 Corinthians 5. The essence of his directive is summarized in verse 11: “But now I am writing […]
Paul
Do churches really care about truth?
“2 As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3 explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead. “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah,” he said. 4 Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined […]
James and his resurrected brother
Paul begins 1 Corinthians 15 by recounting a teaching he had given the Corinthians (c. AD 50/51) which he had himself received from others: “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance….” This is technical rabbinical phrasing. One does not innovate on the teachings of the tradition. One faithfully passes it […]
On slurring Cretans and Indians
Happily ensconced within my hotel in South Bend, Indiana and with a couple hours until this evening’s reception, I have decided to avail myself of a bit of blogging. I’ll focus on responding to a key excerpt from davidstarlingm’s defense of Paul’s comments on the Cretans in Titus 1:12-13: Paul was telling Titus to rebuke those people, […]
Is Paul the Apostle guilty of hate speech against atheists?
? Thus far I’ve diganosed the objection to atheism as being different than Maitzen supposes. But what about that objection itself? Is it plausible? Let’s take a closer look at Romans 1:18-21 and unpack what it is affirming, at least on the “atheists are rebels” view. To begin with, in verse 18 Paul is referring […]
