1 The elder to the elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth, and not only I, but also all who know the truth, 2 because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever:
3 Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father’s Son, in truth and love.
Walking in Truth and Love
4 I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we were commanded by the Father. 5 And now I ask you, dear lady—not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but the one we have had from the beginning—that we love one another. 6 And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it. 7 For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist. 8 Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward. 9 Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, 11 for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works.
Final Greetings
12 Though I have much to write to you, I would rather not use paper and ink. Instead I hope to come to you and talk face to face, so that our joy may be complete.
5 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
3 But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. 4 Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. 5 For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. 7 Therefore do not become partners with them; 8 for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), 10 and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. 11 Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. 13 But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, 14 for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,
“Awake, O sleeper,
and arise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.”
15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, 20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Wives and Husbands
22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.
25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. 28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body. 31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. 33 However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
8 In those days, when again a great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat, he called his disciples to him and said to them, 2 “I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. 3 And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way. And some of them have come from far away.” 4 And his disciples answered him, “How can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place?” 5 And he asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven.” 6 And he directed the crowd to sit down on the ground. And he took the seven loaves, and having given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and they set them before the crowd. 7 And they had a few small fish. And having blessed them, he said that these also should be set before them. 8 And they ate and were satisfied. And they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. 9 And there were about four thousand people. And he sent them away. 10 And immediately he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the district of Dalmanutha.
The Pharisees Demand a Sign
11 The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him. 12 And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, “Why does this generation seek a sign? Truly, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.” 13 And he left them, got into the boat again, and went to the other side.
The Leaven of the Pharisees and Herod
14 Now they had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. 15 And he cautioned them, saying, “Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” 16 And they began discussing with one another the fact that they had no bread. 17 And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? 18 Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember? 19 When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” They said to him, “Twelve.” 20 “And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” And they said to him, “Seven.” 21 And he said to them, “Do you not yet understand?”
Jesus Heals a Blind Man at Bethsaida
22 And they came to Bethsaida. And some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him. 23 And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, “Do you see anything?” 24 And he looked up and said, “I see people, but they look like trees, walking.” 25 Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. 26 And he sent him to his home, saying, “Do not even enter the village.”
Peter Confesses Jesus as the Christ
27 And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” 28 And they told him, “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.” 29 And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.” 30 And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him.
Jesus Foretells His Death and Resurrection
31 And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32 And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33 But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
34 And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. 36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? 37 For what can a man give in return for his soul? 38 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
On this Good Friday, I want to share a meditation from Alexander Watson (1815?–1865) related to the cross of Christ and the way Jesus’s death brought to fulfillment his triple office of prophet, priest, and king. But first, a little background.
Seven Sayings and Seven Sermons
For the last six years (beginning in 2018), I have preached a Good Friday sermon that has focused on one of Jesus’s words from the cross. In all, there are seven statements found across the four gospels. Here they are in order.
Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. (Luke 23:34)
Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise. (Luke 23:43)
Woman, behold your son . . . Son, behold your mother. (John 19:26–27)
My God, My God, why have you forsaken me? (Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:43)
I thirst. (John 19:28)
It is finished. (John 19:30)
Father, into your hands I commit my spirit (Luke 23:46)
You can also listen to these songs in Andrew Peterson’s Tenebrae.
For the last six years, I have preached six sermons. And you can find them here.
For even if I made you grieve with my letter, I do not regret it—though I did regret it, for I see that that letter grieved you, though only for a while.As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us.
– 2 Corinthians 7:8–9 –
In a world without sin, sermons on marriage would not be needed.
In fact, without sin, pastors might not be needed either. Or at least, they would not be needed to condemn sin, preach repentance, or offer grace. They might be needed to organize the worship of God in Christ—for God, the almighty, good, and glorious Creator would still be praised. Or, they might be needed to study the history of God’s world and to report their findings.
But, in a world without sin, heralds of the gospel would not be called to preach Christ crucified for wicked sinners, for there would be no sin. Nor would such pastors have the task of identifying idols and destroying every false idea that stands against Christ. Instead, they could just be unswervingly cheerful.
Tragically, in a world overrun with sin, many preachers have taken this path. Famously, when Larry King asked Joel Osteen about the eternal condition of Jews, Muslims, and other unbelievers, Osteen said he didn’t like to talk about sin, only about love and what the Bible says about Jesus.
Yet, what does the Bible say about Jesus? And what does Jesus say about sin? Quite a bit, actually.
The whole reason the Son of God became man was to climb the hill of Calvary and put an end to sin and death. Jesus’s whole ministry consisted of preaching about the kingdom of God and calling sinners to repent (Mark 1:14–15). Thus, it is a misnomer to speak of Christ’s love without addressing man’s sin (cf. 1 John 4:10). Unless we address the wrath of God, we cannot understand his grace or preach his gospel. Continue reading →
Both James Jordan and Alistair Roberts have made a case that the literary structures of Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 mirror one another.[1] As evidenced in Genesis 1:1–2:3, creation took place over the course of seven days—six days of work, one day of rest. Equally, Genesis 2:4–25 follows a similar pattern, as observed below, as does Genesis 3, which Jordan develops in his book Trees and Thorns: Studies in the First Four Chapters of Genesis.
If this reading is correct, then the first three chapters of Genesis give us three parallel events—three weeks that speak of the same creation week. To put it in temple terms, Genesis 1 gives us the creation of the macro-temple, the cosmos; Genesis 2 gives us the formation of the micro-temple, the garden; and Genesis 3 gives us the defilement of the garden which leads to the de-creation of the cosmos, what I might call the massacred-temple.
If this approach is correct, then it not only stresses the seven day pattern of creation, with each chapter following the same basic pattern (see below). But it also situates the first three chapters as following.
Genesis 1 outlines the full, seven-day creation week (Gen. 1:1–2:3),
Genesis 2 returns to Day 6 to detail how God created man at the beginning of the day and woman at the end of the day (Gen. 2:4–22),
Genesis 2:23–25 develops the glory of God’s good creation, as the woman comes to the man when he awakes on Day 7. But it continues to watch that glory turn to shame, as the rest of Day 7 follows the tragic sin of humanity to believe the serpent, eat the fruit, and rebel against God. As a result, man’s first disobedience results in him being cut off from the Tree of Life (Gen. 3:1–24; cf. Rom. 5:12, 18–19).[2]
Following Jordan and Roberts, therefore, I offer the following seven day outline of Genesis 1–3. Let me know what you think and how it might be improved. At the end, I’ll share why reading these chapters in this way matters. Continue reading →
In Christian circles the word fellowship, and its Greek equivalent (koinōnia), is used for all kinds of things. There are fellowship meals, fellowship events, fellowship coordinators, fellowship halls, and even internship experiences called fellowships. Additionally, you have a ministry called Bible Study Fellowship, which labors to distinguish themselves from being a church, even as some individuals treat that ministry as their church. At the same time, there are churches who go by the name Bedrock Baptist Fellowship, or something like that. And you can find all sorts of resources aimed to improve fellowship.
With all its various uses, “fellowship” is the equivalent to Bubba’s endless array of Shrimp Dishes. Indeed, like shrimp kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo, etc., fellowship goes with everything. Yet, by going with everything, its utility has permitted Christians to do many things with fellowship that go beyond the bounds of the Bible.
Again, what does fellowship mean?
If we open our concordances, we find the word koinōnia(fellowship, partnership) 19 times in the New Testament: Acts 2:42; Romans 15:26; 1 Corinthians 1:9; 10:16 [2x]; 2 Corinthians 6:14; 8:4; 9:13; 13:14; Galatians 2:9; Philippians 1:5; 2:1; 3:10; Philemon 6; Hebrews 13:16; and 1 John 1:3, 6, 7. From these uses, we might begin to see what God says about fellowship.
Clearly, any time we restrict ourselves to a word to form a doctrine or a practice we miss related concepts, metaphors, stories, and more. Yet, because this word is used so often to justify so many types of Christian activities, we would do well to examine the word. Do we have a faithful understanding of the word? And do we abide by it? Continue reading →
Last year, I joined Nicholas Piotrowski, Charles Ware, and Gus Pritchard for an event in Indianapolis called “Gospel, Race, and the Church.” Through six short messages and six panel discussions, plus a Q & A we worked through many subjects related to contemporary discussions on race and justice in the church. While this subject is fraught with landmines, the overall tenor of the event was positive, biblical, and prayerfully helpful.
To encourage candidness in the moment, the audios were not made public, so I can’t link to those. But what follows is an updated version of my second message. You can find the manuscript of the first message (Is Racial Justice a Gospel Issue?) here.
***********
Here is the thesis that I want to argue: Your race is more important than your ethnicity.
When defined biblically and not sociologically, one’s race is more important for identity formation than one’s ethnicity. And by extension, the mission of the church is to help you make that statement true. Which raises the question. What is race? And do you know what your race is?
As insulting as that question may sound at first, I am going to suggest it is an easy question to mistake—especially if we have fused biblical ideas with worldly ideologies. At the same time, if we can answer this question from the Bible and the Bible alone, then we have hope for knowing and growing the mission of the church. This is the point that I will argue here, and here is how I will proceed.
I will show why the concept of racialization in America is popular and pervasive, but ultimately unhelpful—if not harmful.
I will attempt to draw the lines of race and ethnicity according to the Bible.
With those lines in place, I will demonstrate that the mission of the church helps men and women, who hold PhD’s in ethnic Partiality, ethnic Hostility, ethnic Discrimination, grow up into Christ, who is the head of a new chosen race, redeemed from nation (ethnē).
For the last two months, I have preached through the book of Isaiah, one section at a time. In all, that made for seven sermons and seven sermon handouts. In attempting to capture and communicate the message of Isaiah, I looked for the literary structures of Isaiah. First, I looked at the big picture of the book. Next, I considered each section. And last, I tried to see the branches on the trees, that are found in the glorious forest of Isaiah.
For each sermon, I put them together in infographics that look something like the stairs pictured above. What follows then are eleven screen shots of the book of Isaiah. They follow a basic chiastic structure for the whole book (see below), and each attempt to show the dramatic arc of judgment and salvation in each section, even down to the ten oracles of Isaiah 13–24.
Isaiah 1–12
Isaiah 13–27
Isaiah 28–35
Isaiah 36–39
Isaiah 40–48
Isaiah 49–54
Isaiah 55–66
As I went through Isaiah, I found help from David Dorsey, Alec Motyer, Barry Webb, Peter Leithart, the Chiasmus Xchange, and others. And for those who look at these outlines, I am sure that much more could be done to show the literary connections of the book, both at the micro- and macro-levels. But for now, I leave these outlines here, in hopes they may serve you as you read, study, or preach Isaiah.
If you have further reflections and/or insights into this glorious book, please share them in the comments. At the bottom, I also linked to the seven sermons that arose from these outlines. May these graphical outlines be a source of encouragement and help as you hear the voice of God in Isaiah. Continue reading →
PE’s use of Greco-Roman literary tools and dramatic practices are anachronistic, and should not be used for interpreting Scripture.
PE’s rejection of Enlightenment typology misses the way Scripture employs typology; we need to go back and evaluate what true biblical typology is and is not.
PE’s defense of orthodox doctrine comes at the expense of biblical unity, an interpretive practice that will ultimately undercut orthodoxy.
PE’s interpretation of Hebrews is mistaken; we need to evaluate how Scripture interprets Scripture.
Here is the full text, explaining each point in detail.
On this Good Friday, I want to share a meditation from Alexander Watson (1815?–1865) related to the cross of Christ and the way Jesus’s death brought to fulfillment his triple office of prophet, priest, and king. But first, a little background.
What does fellowship mean?
Last year, I joined Nicholas Piotrowski, Charles Ware, and Gus Pritchard for an event in Indianapolis called “
Via Emmaus 