#exegetical teaching

Gospel of John: Hated Because . . . The more one is like Christ, the more one can expect a strong response.

Jesus’ final word on agape was tell his followers, “I am enjoining these things to you in order that you would love one another.” They would need this love from one another because, Jesus said to them, the world would hate them. Hated Because in Conflict with the World Jesus wanted his disciples to know, and all believers through them, what to expect from the world around them, now that Jesus…

Gospel of John: Bear Much Fruit Cleansing and pruning are not God’s punitive correction, rather they are God’s wisdom at work, creating within us the character, and developing within us the capacity to bear much fruit.

From last week: Jesus had started to teach them again, this time using the grapevine as his illustration. ”I AM the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.” Israel was known throughout the Hebrew scriptures as the vine planted and tenderly cared for by God. But Israel failed to be the fruitful vine it had been intended to be. Now Jesus portrayed himself as the true vine. Once again, Jesus…

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Minor Prophets: Habakkuk’s Meditation

Habakkuk evokes the deer which nimbly “tread upon the heights,” escaping, in the end, the trampling horses of Babylon. Habakkuk had asked God three questions in chapter 1, with increasing alarm. Why was God not bringing judgment on the flagrant wrongdoers in Judah? After God’s prophetic answer, Habakkuk asked an even more pressing question: Why was God going to bring judgment through the…