Jesus’s words have a meandering quality at first glance. Though it seems we have now, starting with 15:18, left the fruitfulness discussion, there is a direct line running from 15:11 and 15:16 to 16:24. The disciples fruitful prayer and their abundant joy (a fruit of the Spirit according to Paul, to stretch the exegesis aContinue reading “John 15:18–16:33”
Author Archives: Greg
John 15:1–17
These seventeen verses are for me some of the hardest in John. They circle back on themselves and defy every attempt to make them linear in meaning. We have here the final “I am” saying of John, repeated twice: “I am the true vine” and “I am the vine” (vv. 1, 5). The metaphor constitutesContinue reading “John 15:1–17”
John 14
Aside from pure busyness, I’ve been very hesitant to approach John 14 for a couple of reasons. It is one of the most personally moving pieces of Scripture for me, and I feel reticent about not doing it justice. I guess I should feel that way about the whole canon, but then I’d never postContinue reading “John 14”
Review of The Body Broken
Reese, Jack R. The Body Broken: Embracing the Preaching of Christ in a Fragmented Church. Siloam Springs, AR: Leafwood, 2005. “My thesis is simple: Christians ought to be able to talk to one another,” writes the author (3). Jack Reese is the Dean of the ACU Graduate School of Theology. Contrary to the expectation that his titleContinue reading “Review of The Body Broken”
What’s In A Name?
Perhaps one of the most elemental contradictions that the Restoration Movement produced was the way that concern about denominationalism turned into a petty contentiousness about names. The issue was not, as I understand it, initially about names. Alexander Campbell himself would frequently reel off a list of names and labels, proclaiming loudly that he cared not whatContinue reading “What’s In A Name?”
John 13
Thirteen is a chapter famous for the unique version of “the supper” and Jesus’s paradigmatic act of service. Once again, John gives us a different version of a Synoptic teaching. Where Mark would say “even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve,” John gives us an otherwise unknown scene withContinue reading “John 13”
John 12
Jesus’s interpretation of Mary’s anointing dramatically sets the stage for the subsequent chapters. Now six days before the passover, death looms large. The extravagance of the gift surely has its basis in the resurrection of Lazarus, as an expression of gratitude for the life of a loved one. Just as Jesus saw the act asContinue reading “John 12”
John 11
After the charge of blasphemy, the threat of death looms over Jesus and his little band. With the news of Lazarus’s illness, Jesus seems to have picked his moment. As the story unfolds, it becomes apparent that his prediction of glorification through Lazarus foresees more than simply the fame of raising a man from theContinue reading “John 11”
A NR View of Baptism in Conversation with Evangelicalism and the Stone-Campbell Movement
William R. Baker, ed., Evangelicalism and the Stone Campbell Movement, vol. 1 (Downers Grove: IVP, 2002). Introduction Rather than review Evangelicalism and the Stone Campbell Movement (EatSCM hereafter), I would like to reflect on a number of the essays that comprise the volume as they relate to the doctrine of baptism. While baptism was not theContinue reading “A NR View of Baptism in Conversation with Evangelicalism and the Stone-Campbell Movement”
John 10
Following the presumption of “sight” by the Pharisees at the end of ch. 9, Jesus launches into an extended metaphor regarding his identity and, more to the point, theirs. As usual, Jesus doesn’t hesitate to mix metaphors, claiming to be at once the shepherd who leads the sheep (10:2) and the gate by which theContinue reading “John 10”
Scripture & Mission 