Tag: Matthew 23
-
Prosperity: Dencentralization
After a twelve-day hiatus, I return to my series on the "Cycle of Prosperity." My last three posts dealt with the cultural environment that gave birth to the explosion in modern prosperity originating in Europe. I suggested that there are at least four cultural features related to the Judeo-Christian heritage that have had an impact…
-
Household: Paul as Father?
Paul followed in Jesus' footsteps in his use of fictive family to convey theological truths, but Paul also used fictive family metaphors to indicate his own sense of fond relationship for those he had nurtured in the faith: 1 Thessalonians 2:5-12 5 As you know and as God is our witness, we never came with…
-
Household: Jesus and Fictive Family (Part 2)
Brothers and Sisters The most frequent use of the fictive family imagery in the New Testament is the use of "brother" and "sister" to refer to fellow believers. As you may recall from an earlier post, the relationship between siblings was the most intimate of relationships in Greco-Roman culture. It was the relationship with the…