Prepare our hearts, O God,
to hear your Word
and obey your will.
Through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
1 Thessalonians is filled with references to Jesus’ return, and 2 Thessalonians is concerned with the fact that some think this has already happened. One of the verses I’ve held close is 1 Thessalonians 4:13. The section is talking about the believers who have died and their resurrection. We are among those who grieve when people we love die, but our grief is different in that it also has real hope. Both grief and hope are important for us.
1-2 Timothy and Titus are sometimes known as the “Pastoral Epistles” because they were written to church leaders.
Paul wrote 1 and 2 Timothy to a specific person, not to a church. The content, however, is clearly beneficial for all of us. 1 Timothy is a letter about godly living, and much of it has to do with life within the church. 2 Timothy is an appeal to remain strong in the face of suffering and persecution. The hallmark passage for our understanding of the value and origin of Scripture is 2 Timothy 3:16-17.
Titus deals with the direct link between right belief and right action. This comes out already in verse 1. The whole book is filled with instructions for godly living.
Philemon is written to Philemon concerning Onesimus, a runaway slave. Verse 11 is a play on words. Onesimus literally means “useful,” and although Paul uses different words for “useless” and “useful” here, he is saying that Onesimus has really become onesimus to all of them now that he is a brother in Christ. This is a request that would be very difficult to refuse – Paul pulls out all the stops to be persuasive. The power of the Gospel transcends any mere social structure.
No comments:
Post a Comment