Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going …
Continue reading Our View of Religion (part two) | Colossians 2:16-23
No book has ever left me unchanged. Even bad books and good books that I find uninteresting enough to finish still manage to contribute something to who I am. I cannot interact with fresh combinations of words and the ideas that they represent without having my own mind shifted, at least slightly. I believe that …
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. Exodus 20:16 ESV In our study of the Ten Commandments, we come now to the penultimate mandate: you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor, the Ninth Commandment. Unlike the prohibitions against murder, adultery, or theft, we might be tempted to these final two commandments …
See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule …
Continue reading Our View of Religion (part one) | Colossians 2:8-15
You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk. Deuteronomy 14:21 ESV I have long used this verse as an example of just how strange the Bible can get. After all, how is this verse ever supposed to apply to us today? Nevertheless, I do, in fact, believe that it does apply today. …
Continue reading Boiling a Young Goat in Its Mother’s Milk | Deuteronomy 14:21
You shall not steal. Exodus 20:15 ESV Having now studied the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Commandments, we are prepared to enter the second half of the second table of the Ten Commandments. As with the previous three commandments, we will continue to seek three things from this text: the explicit meaning of the commandment, the …
For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and knowledge of God’s …
A man of violence entices his neighbor and leads him in a way that is not good. Proverbs 16:29 ESV Why does violence entice? After all, don't we tend to find violence revolting rather than exciting? We like to think that. Shirking away from violence is the socially appropriate response. But deep down, I believe, …
You shall not commit adultery. Exodus 20:14 ESV There is an interesting symmetry to be found within our recently studied commandments. The Fifth Commandment presented us with how we must relate to those who gave us life, our father and mother. The Sixth Commandment then dealt with how we actually treat life itself, specifically among …
Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, of which I am a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the …
B. C. Newton 