Theology
Various theological bits as I prep my weekly sermon and read
Theology
Isaiah 11:1-2
Ah, you who make iniquitous decrees,
who write oppressive statutes,
2 to turn aside the needy from justice
and to rob the poor of my people of their right,
that widows may be your spoil,
and that you may make the orphans your prey!
ISBE on the Intertexts to the Golden Rule
The general principle of reciprocity embodied in the “golden rule” is not unique to Jesus’ teaching. Among the Greeks, Isocrates stated a similar principle: “You should be such in your dealings with others as you expect me to be in my dealings with you” (Nicocles or The Cyprians 49). Similar maxims are found
... See moreThe Golden Rule—the principle of treating others as one would like to be treated—is found in many different faith traditions and philosophies outside of Christianity. This widespread occurrence suggests that it may have originated independently among various cultures or evolved naturally from basic human empathy and ethics. Here are some examples:
1
... See moreOn Judging
Augustine comments that here “we are taught nothing else, but that in the case of those actions respecting which it is doubtful with what intention they are done, we are to put the better construction on them” (p. 154).
Matt 7:2 and Lex Tallionis
If we [condemn] others . . . we must expect God to respond in the coinage of strict justice. Mercy and generosity [of spirit] to others is a declaration to God that such is the coinage we wish to have used in his dealings with us as well.
Herod the Great Wives and Children
This is at the heart of the way in which I believe we can today restate the doctrine of final judgment. I find it quite impossible, reading the New Testament on the one hand and the newspaper on the other, to suppose that there will be no ultimate condemnation, no final loss, no human beings to whom, as C. S. Lewis put it, God will eventually say,
... See moreN. T. Wright • Surprised by Hope
Golden Rule in the Negative Form in Palestinian Jewish Literature
In ancient Jewish Palestinian literature the saying is found only in a negative version;a likewise in the “Teaching of the Twelve Apostles.”b The positive version in Jesus’ mouth goes beyond the negative version just as far as, for example, “help and support” goes beyond “do no harm.”
... See more2 Chronicles 7:14 in Rabbinic Literature
Jerusalem Talmud Taʿanit 2.65B.3: R. Eleazar (ca. 270) said, “Three things cancel a hard (divine) decree, namely, prayer, almsgiving, and repentance, and all three are contained in one scriptural verse; see 2 Chr 7:13: ‘Then when my people bow down, over whom my name is named, and when they pray,’ this refers
... See more