We come now to the second set of virtues: patience, kindness, and goodness. If the first three were the rooted disposition of a fruitful marriage, these three are its visible expression. Of course, love, joy, and peace certainly have outward dimensions to them, but these virtues are outward by their very nature. Paul fittingly places …
Continue reading Visible Expression: Patience, Kindness, Goodness
Author Moses is traditionally understood to be the author of Numbers, since it belongs to the Torah or the Pentateuch, which are also called the Five Books of Moses. I say "traditionally" because some scholars argue that Moses was only one source among several and that the Pentateuch was compiled much later than Moses' lifetime. …
In each of these three lessons, we will consider three of the virtues that Paul lists as the fruit of the Spirit, so our first will be love, joy, and peace. There are real connections within these groupings. With our first set of virtues, we will discover the foundation for the ones that follow. Love, …
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. …
Even though, by many standards, the world has never been better or, at least, more comfortable, we still find ourselves in a strange place. We have electricity, refrigeration, modern medicine, and antibiotics. People no longer die from simple infections. Diarrhea is a nuisance rather than a leading cause of death. For the first time in …
Continue reading The Apostle Paul’s Guide to Mental Health | Philippians 4:4-13
"It is a far, far better thing that I do than I have ever done. It Is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known." "After all, tomorrow is another day." "He loved Big Brother." "Now at last they were being Chapter One of the greatest story which no …
Continue reading Make Haste, My Beloved | Song of Songs 8:8-14
As we said previously, the Song of Songs is a chiasm; therefore, we can picture the structure of the poem as being like a mountain. The peak of the mountain was 5:1, which either was their wedding day or evoked that same newlywed love. As we have moved through the descent, we have noted some …
Quite often, when it comes to marriage or the Christian life, we want a detailed, five-step plan for success. Something clean and precise. But life is rarely clean and precise. And marriage is not a formula; it is a dance. Now, dances do have steps to learn. True. You must practice some basics, but at …
Continue reading A Dance Between Two Armies | Song of Songs 6:4-8:4
We have been to the summit of the Song of Songs, the peak of the poem's chiastic structure. He saw her coming up from the wilderness and then delighted in her as with a garden paradise. She then invited him into her garden, and their friends rejoiced over them. That was the very center of …
Last week, we began the section of the Song of Songs that takes us today to the very center of the poem. It began in 3:6 with the question of who or what is coming up from the wilderness like a column of smoke? I made the argument that both of those translations are correct …
B. C. Newton 