Tag: David L. Balch
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Household: Jesus’ Household Code (Part 2)
(Continuation from the previous post) Status – Matthew 20:1-16 Adherence to, and enforcement of, status differences was another frequent concern of the household codes. It was argued that failure to respect status differences properly would cause the social order to dissolve into chaos. Jesus tells a parable at the beginning of Chapter 20: "For the…
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Household: The Household of Caesar (Part 1)
When most of us think about the underlying basis of government, we think about republican democracy and parliamentary government. These concepts have their roots in Greek culture. Centuries before the New Testament era, the Greeks envisioned autonomous cities as a republic. Concerning the Greeks and city-states, Derek Tidball writes: It was considered by them to…