Sturtz Stuff

This is post from the blog of  Larry Hurtado . Larry Hurtado is a retired professor from  Edinburgh. He has spent decades focused mainly on the origins and development of “devotion to Jesus” in earliest Christianity. Click here to read this post on Hurtado's own blog.  Scholars commonly see in 1 Corinthians 15:1-7 material of an early “pre-Pauline” confession that focuses on Jesus’ death, burial, resurrection and appearances to select witnesses.  But there are continuing disagreements over what kind of event is referred to in vv. 3-5 where Jesus is described as “raised on the third day,” specifically whether this refers to a resurrection/transformation of Jesus’ mortal body or some other kind of event, e.g., a “spiritual” one that left his mortal body in the grave.  I’ve just read a new study of the matter that seems to me pretty effective in guiding exegetes to the correct answer:  James Ware,  “The Resurrection of Jesus in the Pre-Paul...

1 John 2:26-27 " 26 I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray. 27 As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him." As you read the letter of 1 John it becomes clear that there is some kind of a massive controversy that is brewing in this early Christian community. There seems to be some pulling and tearing at the fabric of unity within this early church community that 1 John is addressing. We don’t have the various perspectives of those involved yet we do have John's responce. Thus John says, in the above passage, that “ I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray. ” By the way, the word astray in Greek is where we get the English word for planet. In John’s time a planet was a wondering body. So Joh...

David Lipscomb was an  American minister, educator and leader in the Restoration movement. In 1855 David Lipscomb, along with Tolbert Fanning , started to publish a magazine called the Gospel Advocate . The Gospel Advocate became an influential publication within the Restoration Movement. On April 28, 1898 David Lipscomb wrote about the "spirit of war" on the eve of the Spanish-American war. Lipscomb's statement still rings loudly today as he calls for Christians to reflect and consider the "spirit of war” in light of the Spirt of Jesus. Here is part of his editorial statement in the April 28, 1898  Gospel Advocate  (p. 269): War is disastrous to all prosperity and good of a people.  It may for a time create activity in business in preparing for and caring on a conflict, but it must result permanently in more taxes and less to pay with.  The people pay all the cost of war.  But the material injury produced by war is the least harmful of its e...

1 John 2:1-6 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. 3 We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. 4 Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. 5 But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: 6 Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did. It is a quiet evening and you are relaxing at home. One of your favorite meals has been prepared and you are just about to sit down and enjoy your meal along with family and friends. All of the sudden someone starts ringing your doorbell. Your dog starts to bark and you were so startled that you just about dropped your plate full of food. Whoever it is stops ringing...

Mark 12:13-17 (NIV) Later they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus to catch him in his words. 14 They came to him and said, “Teacher, we know that you are a man of integrity. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right to pay the imperial tax[b] to Caesar or not? 15 Should we pay or shouldn’t we?” But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. “Why are you trying to trap me?” he asked. “Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.” They brought the coin, and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?” “Caesar’s,” they replied. Then Jesus said to them, “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” And they were amazed at him.        What are the politics of Jesus? That is what the questioners want to know. They are bring out a specific and particular hot button political issue to smoke Jesus out. If you have been in church...

So why release Barrabas instead of Jesus?      “Very simple: if you let Barabbas go, you can always stop him. The most Barabbas will do is go out, round up another bunch of guerrillas and start another riot. And you will always stop him by rolling your tanks into his neighborhood, bringing out the National Guard and putting his riot down. Find out where he is keeping his ammunition. Raid his apartment without a search warrant and shoot him while he is still asleep. You can stop Barabbas.      But how do you stop Jesus? They took and nailed him to a cross. But they did not realize that, in nailing Jesus to the cross, they were putting up on that cross the sinful nature of all humanity. As Christ was nailed to the cross, it was more than just a political radical dying; he was God's answer to the human dilemma. On that cross Christ was bearing in his own body my sin, and he was proclaiming my liberation on that cross. And on that cross he shed his ...

Probably the most famous Bible passage used to talk about Biblical womanhood is Proverbs 31. Proverbs 31 is about an upper class Jewish women [1] who is up at the crack of dawn to get to work. She owns land owns her own vineyard and cooks dinner every evening. She tends to every single need and want of her husband. She could be considered a total over achiever. When Proverbs 31 is used as the rule and guide for being a “Biblical Women” it would seem to set a very high if not a totally unattainable level for women to achieve. If the Bible were a blueprint and nothing more than a list of dos and don’ts then think of all of the controversies and tensions we could avoid. Consider all of the decisions that we would not have to make. It would be so much easier because we would all look and act the same. Seems to me that often when some suggest that they have discovered some Biblical blueprint on how to be a women or a man some Biblical character comes along and breaks that blueprint. Fo...