Themes in Paul’s Letter to the Philippians: Imitation

The imitation of Christ has always been an important emphasis within Christianity. Augustine believed that the whole point of the Christian life was to imitate Christ. Francis of Assisi also felt strongly about imitating Christ, in fact he modeled his entire ministry around the way Christ did ministry.  Francis advocated for a life of povertyContinue reading “Themes in Paul’s Letter to the Philippians: Imitation”

Themes in Paul’s Letter to the Philippians: Selflessness

Originally I intended to write on the Christ Hymn, highlighting Philippians 2:5-11. I wanted to highlight the presence of “Adam-Christology” and highlight the parallels to the suffering servant in Isaiah 53.  I really wanted to talk about the “temptation” that Christ was presented with, it wasn’t that Christ was grabbing at a “forbidden equality withContinue reading “Themes in Paul’s Letter to the Philippians: Selflessness”

Responsibility and Atonement (Pt. 3)

It’s Easter Weekend! Its the time of year we Christians celebrate Christ’s atoning work for us on the cross and his resurrection, which we participate in through baptism into Christ. In light of the fact that it is Easter weekend I will be blogging on Richard Swinburne’s Responsibility and Atonement this easter weekend. Today onContinue reading “Responsibility and Atonement (Pt. 3)”

Responsibility and Atonement (Pt. 2)

It’s Easter Weekend! Its the time of year we Christians celebrate Christ’s atoning work for us on the cross and his resurrection, which we participate in through baptism into Christ. In light of the fact that it is Easter weekend I will be blogging on Richard Swinburne’s Responsibility and Atonement this easter weekend. I hopeContinue reading “Responsibility and Atonement (Pt. 2)”

Responsibility and Atonement (Pt. 1)

It’s Easter Weekend! Its the time of year we Christians celebrate Christ’s atoning work for us on the cross and his ressurection, which we participate in through baptism into Christ. In light of the fact that it is easter weekend I will be blogging on Richard Swinburne’s Responsibility and Atonement this easter weekend. I hopeContinue reading “Responsibility and Atonement (Pt. 1)”

How To Read the Bible (I’m Not Being Snarky!)

The last post in this series of posts on hermeneutics was titled: How to Read Your Bible (or How You Actually Read the Bible), I must admit that that the title was a bit snarky. You probably thought I was going to tell you about ways to read your bible but I fooled you and showedContinue reading “How To Read the Bible (I’m Not Being Snarky!)”

How to Read Your Bible (or How You Actually Read the Bible)

Today I want to continue our (unofficial) mini-series on hermeneutics. I never intended to start a series on interpreting the Bible but I guess thats what ended up happening. Last time we kicked off the series by looking at the parable in Luke 15:11-32. In doing this we saw how our different vantage points leadContinue reading “How to Read Your Bible (or How You Actually Read the Bible)”

Discipleship is Relational

At its very core discipleship is a relational activity. Ultimately is about being faithful to God’s call to love the people around you. Its about loving these people enough to help them see how God is moving in their lives and help them get to where God wants them to be. Discipleship cannot happen outsideContinue reading “Discipleship is Relational”

Themes in Paul’s Letter to the Philippians: Koinonia

Over the next few weeks we are going to be going through Paul’s letter to the Philippians. As you probably know Philippians is a very personal letter, it almost has the tone of an encouraging chat between two friends. Nevertheless this letter does have a point, there are reasons why Paul wrote this letter (itsContinue reading “Themes in Paul’s Letter to the Philippians: Koinonia”

That’s Not in the Text!!!

Recently I have been doing some thinking about how our contexts affect our reading of Scripture. In doing my own little case study of how this plays out in “real life” I came across three different interpretations of Luke 15:11-32: one by Donald Juel, one by N.T. Wright, and finally one by Allan Powell. ThisContinue reading “That’s Not in the Text!!!”