Blog – Page 122 – Read Through the Bible

September 19 / Romans 1:1-32

Romans 1:1-32

Homosexuality is an issue that the church has been dealing with for some 2,000 years, as Paul writes in today’s reading: For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men… (vv. 26b-27a) It’s an issue that (in part) brought St. Andrew’s to where we are today. The ordination of a gay bishop in New Hampshire during the Episcopal Church’s Triennial Convention in 2003 led many committed believers and entire church bodies to leave the Episcopal Church. Many individuals simply found new places to worship, but entire groups of individuals, like our St. Andrew’s “founders” chose to start new congregations, many of which aligned with the Anglican Church. It was a tough beginning for our St. Andrew’s Anglican Church, but our Lord has clearly blessed that decision. No doubt all of us have family and friends who are gay or who support gay relationships. It’s also surely the case that not even in our congregation does everyone agree with the ACNA stand on same-sex issues, but that’s a personal item between each of us and God. I pray that all of us seek the Holy Spirit daily and let Him lead our hearts as He chooses.

September 18 / II Cor. 7:2-16, 13:11-14

II Corinthians 7:2-16, 13:11-14

So today we finish our reorganized readings of II Corinthians. Reading in a different order has helped my understanding, but there’s still so much of it swimming in my head that I find myself confused as to what we have read. And if II Corinthians is, in fact, parts from three or four letters and if there is a lost letter somewhere – all that makes it all the more confusing. Still, however, we can glean from Paul’s writings helpful advice and solid theology. There are probably a dozen or more verses in these thirteen chapters that are well known, often quoted. We are not Biblical scholars, we are not able to put it all together, but we can still use this Bible text that we have for our own personal spiritual growth.

One other item of interest to me is when the Bible proves itself. Paul writes in II Corinthians of his reunion with Titus in Macedonia (II Cor. 2:12-13, 7:5, ff.) and two weeks ago we read Luke’s account of Paul leaving Ephesus and traveling to Macedonia (Acts 20:1-2). So between Luke’s and Paul’s writings we can get a better chronology of Paul’s travels. It’s never exact, but by putting these pieces together we can come to a solid conclusion that Paul did, in fact, write II Corinthians from Macedonia. Now we move on to Romans, Paul’s greatest theological tome. No need for rearranging that epistle – Paul lays it out in a perfectly organized structure. We have some heavy reading ahead!!

September 17 / II Cor. 6:1-13

II Corinthians 6:1-13

I would encourage you to read my comments from last year. Rewording the prepositions adds (for me) a great deal of clarity as to how Paul sees his ministry.

You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted in your own affections. (v. 12) A confusing verse… What does Paul mean by You are not restricted by us? Clearly he is restricting them – matters of sexuality and food come immediately to mind. He also has talked about the “freedom” that they seem to have, freedom to do “whatever” and are seemingly unrestrained in doing so – which has implications for the second half of that verse. Again the NKJV translation is helpful here: …you are restricted by your own affections. I can easily see myself restricted by my own desires! Later on we will read of Paul feeling the same way: For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. … For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. (Romans 7:15a, 19) Things haven’t changed much in 2,000 years!

September 16 / II Cor. 5:1-21

II Corinthians 5:1-21

Reconciliation. In three verses Paul mentions “reconciliation” and derivatives from “reconcile” five times: All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to Himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making His appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. (vv. 18-20) I think we all understand God reconciling us to Himself though Jesus’ death and resurrection. But I doubt that we think enough about our own ministry of reconciliation. It is a troublesome thought to me that someone I know and love on this earth could spend eternity in hell. I have one (maybe two) of my own brothers in mind as I write this; Carol and I have shared extensively with Dickie and his health is not good. But he is adamant in his refusal to acknowledge God. How will the Holy Spirit ever reach Him? Please folks, pray for those you know who need Jesus. Pray for the Holy Spirit to reach them. And when possible, be yourselves those ambassadors for reconciliation, the one and only ministry that God has entrusted to us.

September 15 / II Cor. 4:1-18

II Corinthians 4:1-18

In the years following my born-again experience I began to look back at the Catholic faith in which I was raised and how it was continuing to affect me in my new life. One item that I came to realize was (what I perceived to be) a very strong emphasis on Jesus’ death with a lesser focus on His resurrection. I remember Lent, the Stations of the Cross, and Good Friday as major imprints on my life. Even today, as it was back then, it seems like every Catholic home has a crucifix (not a cross) or the Sacred Heart (or both) displayed. Again, to me, there seemed to be a much smaller spiritual focus on Easter Sunday and Jesus’ resurrection. For me, Easter, like Christmas was as much a secular holiday as it was a spiritual celebration.

I thought about all this as I read through verses 10-12 this morning: …always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you. Yes, each “death” item in these verses is followed by a “life” item, but that life item seems so much a dependent clause with respect to the death mention that precedes it. I’m probably making too much of this, but I grew up with Jesus’ death, His suffering and crucifixion and it stays with me today. And that’s not a bad thing, to remember Jesus’ suffering on our behalf. It makes my love for Him that much stronger!!

September 14 / II Cor. 3:1-18

II Corinthians 3:1-18

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord… (v. 18a) My Study Bible suggested that “beholding” could also be translated “reflecting”. These two verbs are very different in their activities. In the first case, it is us beholding the glory of the Lord – seeing the Lord as He is. Awesome! In the second translation it is us reflecting the glory of the Lord – others seeing the glory of the Lord in us. The first translation is a wonderful, glorious activity, us seeing our Lord fully, completely. The second translation, “reflecting”, must surely cause us to ponder whether we are, in fact, reflecting the glory of the Lord. How do others see us? I’ll leave it at that.

September 13 / II Cor. 2:1-17

II Corinthians 2:1-17

For I wrote to you out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears… (v. 4a) I wrote about this verse last year in my comments in the first link below. But now that John has encouraged us to read II Corinthians in a different format we have already read through chapters 10 through 13, and it seems reasonable to me (and to a number of Biblical scholars) that Paul’s words above (I wrote to you…) may well refer to chapters 10-13. Having read these four chapters earlier that suggestion follows nicely. By simply reading II Corinthians in order, 1 through 13, most readers would likely not see that connection. It’s only through my Study Bible notes that I have ever seen that connection.

Even though John has guided us into a reorganization of II Corinthians, he advised us to take his reorganization and chronology with “a pretty good sized grain of salt”. And no wonder… The Chronological Study Bible suggests that II Cor 2:14-7:4 could well be part of another letter in that this body of text seems very different from what came earlier and what follows later. Even there, however, an argument could be made for extending that body of text to the end of chapter 7 since chapter 8 begins an entirely different topic. Like I said a few days ago, probably many dissertations have been written about this epistle!

September 12 / II Cor. 1:1-24

II Corinthians 1:1-24

In verses 3 through 7 Paul speaks of affliction and comfort and how both the good times and the hard times are shared by Christians, wherever they are. These verses bring to mind two not-long-ago items. Yesterday was the 20^th anniversary of our 9/11 tragedy. Many of us have been recalling events from that horror of twenty years ago. One that I recall is of a refugee from Kosovo, a father about my age who had come to the USA in July 1999 with his wife and children. After a few months here he decided to return to Kosovo with his wife and youngest son. Upon returning he realized that he had made a mistake and applied to come back to the USA. Unfortunately he had not filed the proper paperwork and his return was denied. It’s a long story, but he did finally return and now lives in Florence, KY. While he was back in Kosovo, however, sad that his return had been denied, 9/11 happened here. His immediate reaction to 9/11 was to go give blood. He so identified with his children, with us, with the whole of the USA that he wanted to do something to help. In our affliction he wanted to somehow comfort us. Sweet!

The second item has to do with Uganda. A number of people in our congregation have close ties to Uganda through our sponsorship of girls at the Canon Njangali school in Hoima, through our support for all that Eric Twine is doing, and through our personal relationships with both the past and the current bishops (Nathan and Sam) of the Bunyoro-Kitari Diocese. As COVID was raging through the USA in the summer of 2020 we were regularly receiving notes from them offering their prayers for our welfare. Likewise, when COVID became a threat for them from a major outbreak in the neighboring Congo our Mission Committee offered prayer and financial support to help the Ugandans withstand this threat. Again, affliction and comfort – from them and from us. We are all in this together; we need to help and support one another, those nearby and those far away. Thank you, Paul, for this reminder!

September 11 / II Cor. 12:11-13:10

II Corinthians 12:11-13:10

And I will not be a burden, for I seek not what is yours but you. (v. 12:14b) In this context my Study Bible discussed Paul’s ongoing collection for the saints in Jerusalem. That is, when Paul writes, “…for I seek not what is yours…” my Study Bible suggests that the Corinthians thought that Paul was lining his own pockets with this collection and that it would never make it to Jerusalem – or that the full collection amount would be substantially diminished. Beyond that, I really like Paul’s sentence construction here: for I seek not what is yours but you.

Have you been thinking all along that we have been defending ourselves to you? It is in the sight of God that we have been speaking in Christ… (v. 12:19a) Paul’s writing in these four chapters (10-13) is very different that anything else he writes in all of his 13 epistles. But even as he writes what he calls “foolishness” he is fully aware of his standing before God and that it is God to whom he is responsible.

So now we have finished this troublesome section, Paul’s boasting. He mentions twice in today’s reading that he will be coming to them again a third time (12:14, 13:1). Very soon we will be reading from Acts again of what I assume to be this third trip to Corinth by way of Macedonia and we will see him spending three months in Corinth. I can’t see him spending three months there if he is received so harshly by those “super Apostles / most eminent Apostles”). So it seems as if his second visit (and a lost letter?) must have been sometime between his first visit (on his second missionary journey, after Athens) and the next visit that we have recorded in Acts 20. Yes, the time frame of II Corinthians is confusing. I suggested to John S. a few days ago that many dissertations have probably been written about this book!

September 10 / II Cor. 11:16-12:10

II Corinthians 11:16-12:10

And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. (v. 28) Although Paul is a traveling missionary (with occasional longer stays) he is speaking here very much like a pastor. I have gotten to know a number of pastors well in office visits, over lunch/coffee, whatever. And in these smaller one-on-one sessions I have often heard of their disappointments, their frustrations, occasionally their anger over events in the church or in their parishioners’ lives. They feel for their parish, for their individual parishioners. It’s a burden they carry that they occasionally need to unload. Every pastor whom I have gotten to know has himself his own “spiritual leader” or pastor colleagues, people with whom he can share these disappointments, frustrations, angers. Being a pastor means carrying a burden not too easily carried alone! We need to pray for our pastors!