Hello Everyone,
I hope you are reading the blog and your study book How to Read the Bible for All It's Worth. Let me list here the 4 main points Paul makes in
I Corinthians 1:10-4:21. After you read them, read the scripture. When you do, employ the technique listed in our book: THINK PARAGRAPHS! Don't go chapter to chapter necessarily, but do go paragraph by paragraph and notice where Paul ends one thought or point and begins the next.
So here are the 4 parts or problems Paul lists:
1. There is quarreling and divisiveness among them in the name of teachers. (Apollos, Cephas and Paul)
2. The quarreling is carried out in some degree in the name of wisdom.
3. Related to the first two items, there are repeated references to boasting or being puffed up.
4. Paul is defending his relationship to them in his past ministry with them and is reasserting his authority in Christ.
OK. With this information, go back and read the scripture and jot down some thoughts.
I will blog more tomorrow or Thursday with a more in depth look at the issues.
Remember that we meet on Friday, November 7. In that time, I want to facilitate our meeting to gain your insight and thoughts. To make that happen, take time to read!
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Story Bibles?
I am curious what you guys think about story bibles. Whether they are the ones we use with our children or the ones for adults (like "The Message").
Do you feel that these types of "Bibles" have an advantage in reaching those who would normally shy away from reading the Bible or those who have difficulty understanding other translations?
Do you think when we read the Bible to our kids we should read a more traditional translation or use the story bibles to help them understand better or be more interested?
Jamie
Do you feel that these types of "Bibles" have an advantage in reaching those who would normally shy away from reading the Bible or those who have difficulty understanding other translations?
Do you think when we read the Bible to our kids we should read a more traditional translation or use the story bibles to help them understand better or be more interested?
Jamie
Outline of I Corinthians 1-4
We've recently looked at the simple salutation of this letter...OK, it wasn't simple - but it was only three verses. Before we go on to more in depth analysis, let me give you the outline of the first four chapters.
I. Introduction (1:1-9)
A. Salutation (1:1-3)
B. Thanksgiving (1:4-9)
II. In Response to Reports
A. A Church Divided - Internally and Against Paul (1:10-4:20)
1. The Problem: Division over Leaders in the name of Wisdom
(1:10-17)
2. The Gospel: a Contradiction to Wisdom (1:18-2:5)
a. God's folly - a crucified Messiah (1:18-25)
b. God's folly - the Corinthian believers (1:26-31)
c. God's folly - Paul's preaching (2:1-5)
3. God's Wisdom - Revealed by the Spirit (2:6-16)
4. On Being Spiritual and Divided (3:1-4)
5. Correcting a False View of Church and Ministry (3:5-17)
a. Leaders are merely servants (3:5-9)
b. The church must be built with care (3:10-15)
c. Warning to those who would destroy the church,
God's temple in Corinth (3:16-17)
6. Conclusion of the Matter - All Are Christ's (3:18-23)
7. The Corinthians and Their Apostle (4:1-21)
a. On being a servant and being judged (4:1-5)
b. The marks of true apostleship (4:6-13)
c. Appeal and exhortation (4:14-21)
This information is worth having in your Bible as you read, so print a copy.
I will walk us through the thanksgiving (1:4-9) in the next few days. Stay tuned.
Friday, October 17, 2008
The Apostle Paul was HUMAN!
In my exegetical study of the first few verses I Corinthians 1, I'm using Fee's commentary. As I read, I see that Paul was, in fact, human and was dealing with what most church staff deal with to some degree at one time or another, namely, lack of confidence and support from the church members. Let me show you.
As the letter is broken down, it follows the form of most letters written during the first century. Most letters begin with a salutation. I Corinthians 1:1-3 is the salutation of this letter. In an other Pauline letter, I Thessalonians, Paul writes,
Paul, Silas and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace and peace to you.
However, in I Cor he writes:
Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes
Notice the difference: In I Thes. Paul simply states who writes the letter - Paul, Silas and Timothy, yet in I Cor, he reminds his readers of his credentials: called to be and apostle, by the will of God
Going on: to the church of God in Corinth - he reminds the Corinthians who are questioning Pauls apostolic authority that they are first the church of God, not the church in Corinth...
and: to those sanctified in Christ and called to be his holy people - he is already alluding to the immorality going on in the fellowship that he will address more thoroughly in later chapters...
finally: together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours. - Paul is forceful in this statement, telling his readers who are influenced by their culture (read commentaries 1 & 2 for background) that they don't corner the market on God. He lets them know that there are Christians all over who all serve one God.
Y'all...that's just the salutation!
As the letter is broken down, it follows the form of most letters written during the first century. Most letters begin with a salutation. I Corinthians 1:1-3 is the salutation of this letter. In an other Pauline letter, I Thessalonians, Paul writes,
Paul, Silas and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace and peace to you.
However, in I Cor he writes:
Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes
Notice the difference: In I Thes. Paul simply states who writes the letter - Paul, Silas and Timothy, yet in I Cor, he reminds his readers of his credentials: called to be and apostle, by the will of God
Going on: to the church of God in Corinth - he reminds the Corinthians who are questioning Pauls apostolic authority that they are first the church of God, not the church in Corinth...
and: to those sanctified in Christ and called to be his holy people - he is already alluding to the immorality going on in the fellowship that he will address more thoroughly in later chapters...
finally: together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours. - Paul is forceful in this statement, telling his readers who are influenced by their culture (read commentaries 1 & 2 for background) that they don't corner the market on God. He lets them know that there are Christians all over who all serve one God.
Y'all...that's just the salutation!
Links to Commentary
Here are the links to the 1 Corinthians Commentary that Tim posted about.
www.jamieweiss.com/ICorCommentary1.pdf
www.jamieweiss.com/ICorCommentary2.pdf
Luckily we have decided we will be able to join everyone tonight for dinner & the movie... so I will see you all in a little while!
Jamie
www.jamieweiss.com/ICorCommentary1.pdf
www.jamieweiss.com/ICorCommentary2.pdf
Luckily we have decided we will be able to join everyone tonight for dinner & the movie... so I will see you all in a little while!
Jamie
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
I Corinthians - Background
I am impressed with how easy it is to blog. I hope it is easy to read and keep up with. I hope each of you has had time to do some reading of the book and the blog.
I ordered and received a copy of the commentary by Gordon Fee recommended by Fee and Stuart, authors of our book. Notice that one of the names Fee is the same Gordon Fee who wrote the larger commentary. That's good marketing!
I'm sending you two attachments via email. These are the introduction of Fee's commentary, The First Epistle to the Corinthians. It gives a pretty thorough background of the city of Corinth and of Paul's relationship to the church. Take time to read it. A cursory read should be fine. I wouldn't print and highlight unless you just really want to. However, do take the time to read it. Ladies, you may want to read it to your husband. The sweet, loving timber of your voice mixed with the content may help him fall to sleep in mere minutes.
If someone knows how to attach text files to blogs, let me know.
Tim
I ordered and received a copy of the commentary by Gordon Fee recommended by Fee and Stuart, authors of our book. Notice that one of the names Fee is the same Gordon Fee who wrote the larger commentary. That's good marketing!
I'm sending you two attachments via email. These are the introduction of Fee's commentary, The First Epistle to the Corinthians. It gives a pretty thorough background of the city of Corinth and of Paul's relationship to the church. Take time to read it. A cursory read should be fine. I wouldn't print and highlight unless you just really want to. However, do take the time to read it. Ladies, you may want to read it to your husband. The sweet, loving timber of your voice mixed with the content may help him fall to sleep in mere minutes.
If someone knows how to attach text files to blogs, let me know.
Tim
Friday, October 3, 2008
Translations
In chapter two of our book, our authors Lee and Stuart dig into the task of sharing with us pros and cons of several translations. Let me make one of the final conclusions first: The Today's New International Version bible is as good as a translation as we will find. It just so happens that Monte Vista bought these for our pew bibles. I will bring some to the next gathering.
Translation is a Science: you go, Whitney! And the two areas of scientific study in tranlating is the 1. text and 2. language.
Pages 35-40 tell us that
1 textual criticism works with careful controls:
a. external evidence: character and quality of the manuscript, and
b. internal evidence: the kinds of mistakes that copyists were susceptible
2. textual criticism is not an exact science because of the number of human variables
a. often, a simple pen stroke can change a word or meaning, slightly or considerably
b. the learning tradition of the scribe may influence some intrepretations.
-Fee and Stuart assert on page 40 that for reasons listed, almost any mordern translation
is better than the King James or New King James for accurate handling of the text
Take time to read these pages and use a hightlighter! We will discuss your thoughts so have some and right them down.
The bottom of page 40 draws our attention to the study of language and translations:
Some terms given:
Original Language:
Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek
Receptor Language:
English (East Tennessee does not yet have a translation - doggonit)
Historical Distance:
Differences between original and receptor languages in terms of words, grammar, idioms, culture and history.
Formal Equivalence:
The attempt to give a direct or literal, word for word translation
Functional Equivalence:
The attempt to keep the meaning of the orginal language intact but put words and idioms into contemporary English ways of speaking/thinking.
Free Translation:
The attempt to translate the ideas from language from one to the other, such as a paraphrase.
Theory of Translation:
Refers to whether one puts emphasis on formal or functional equivalency-the degree to which one is willing to go in order to bridge the gap between original and receptor language.
Read each of these terms and following examples to get a full undertanding.
Page 44-51 give us problem areas that theologians still grapple with in translation:
1. Weights and measures
2 Euphemisms
3. Vocabulary
4. Word Plays
5. Grammar and Syntax
6. Matters of Gender
Page 52-53 give Lee's and Stuart's suggestions on choosing a translation.
Our first two chapters have given some bedrock Bible study principles and tools. Try and be familiar with what you've read. If you have questions, post them or email to all. If you want to discuss, post that, email that and be ready to discuss when we gather.
I have begun work with chapter 3 already. As we work through the study of Contextual Thinking of the Epistles, we will be working primarily with I Corinthians, chapters 1-4. If you have a commentary on that book, use it for your study. I will be bringing some commentaries to our meeting and I'll be referencing them in the next post.
Happy Reading!
Translation is a Science: you go, Whitney! And the two areas of scientific study in tranlating is the 1. text and 2. language.
Pages 35-40 tell us that
1 textual criticism works with careful controls:
a. external evidence: character and quality of the manuscript, and
b. internal evidence: the kinds of mistakes that copyists were susceptible
2. textual criticism is not an exact science because of the number of human variables
a. often, a simple pen stroke can change a word or meaning, slightly or considerably
b. the learning tradition of the scribe may influence some intrepretations.
-Fee and Stuart assert on page 40 that for reasons listed, almost any mordern translation
is better than the King James or New King James for accurate handling of the text
Take time to read these pages and use a hightlighter! We will discuss your thoughts so have some and right them down.
The bottom of page 40 draws our attention to the study of language and translations:
Some terms given:
Original Language:
Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek
Receptor Language:
English (East Tennessee does not yet have a translation - doggonit)
Historical Distance:
Differences between original and receptor languages in terms of words, grammar, idioms, culture and history.
Formal Equivalence:
The attempt to give a direct or literal, word for word translation
Functional Equivalence:
The attempt to keep the meaning of the orginal language intact but put words and idioms into contemporary English ways of speaking/thinking.
Free Translation:
The attempt to translate the ideas from language from one to the other, such as a paraphrase.
Theory of Translation:
Refers to whether one puts emphasis on formal or functional equivalency-the degree to which one is willing to go in order to bridge the gap between original and receptor language.
Read each of these terms and following examples to get a full undertanding.
Page 44-51 give us problem areas that theologians still grapple with in translation:
1. Weights and measures
2 Euphemisms
3. Vocabulary
4. Word Plays
5. Grammar and Syntax
6. Matters of Gender
Page 52-53 give Lee's and Stuart's suggestions on choosing a translation.
Our first two chapters have given some bedrock Bible study principles and tools. Try and be familiar with what you've read. If you have questions, post them or email to all. If you want to discuss, post that, email that and be ready to discuss when we gather.
I have begun work with chapter 3 already. As we work through the study of Contextual Thinking of the Epistles, we will be working primarily with I Corinthians, chapters 1-4. If you have a commentary on that book, use it for your study. I will be bringing some commentaries to our meeting and I'll be referencing them in the next post.
Happy Reading!
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