Scholarship • Serving • Ministry – Ian Paul
The reading for Christmas 1, which is also the Feast of the Holy Innocents, is Matthew 2.13–18. This texts raises fascinating questions about history, how Matthew’s account here fits with the rest of his gospel, and what use he makes of Old Testament quotations. Is there any plausibility to the claim that he composed this …
Although 2 Thess 2 (the lectionary epistle for the third Sunday before Advent) is not read much in churches, it has been hugely influential, in its ideas of the ‘man of lawlessness’, and the ‘restrainer’—this second term being a controlling idea in Christian ethical thinking in the Middle Ages. Yet it is almost impossible to …
In the Fourth Sunday before Advent in Year C, we are starting a short series reading through 2 Thessalonians, and this week’s reading is the whole of Chapter 1. It is a challenging reading, talking of the suffering of the Thessalonians Christians, and their steadfastness as a sign of God’s favour. But it also speaks …
The lectionary epistle for Trinity 18 is 2 Timothy 3.14—4.5, perhaps the most theological dense passage of all Paul’s writings. He makes one of his clearest theological claims about the nature of Scripture, characteristically coining his own word to express this, and connects the truth of Scripture with salvation in Christ and spiritual maturity. And, …
The lectionary epistle for Trinity 17 in Year C is 2 Timothy 2.8–15. Paul continues with the theme of ‘remembering’, characteristically interweaving God’s powerful initiative and the need for our response. The passage has connections with Jesus’ teaching in the gospels and (of course) with the Book of Revelation. Sadly, James does not sing for …
The epistle for Trinity 15 in Year C is 1 Tim 6.6–19. Once more, the lectionary cuts the reading in an odd place, starting half way through an argument of Paul, and finishing two verses short of the end of the letter. There are some important issues to address in terms of Paul’s language and …
The lectionary gospel reading for Trinity 11 in Year C, Luke 14.1, 7–14—though the whole passage should be read—continues to engage with material that is unique to Luke, arranged in Luke’s distinctive order, and bridging the worlds of the original context of Jesus and Judaism and Luke’s context in wider Roman culture. The passage comes …
If you enjoy these videos, why not buy us a coffee? The gospel reading for Trinity 10 in Year C is Luke 13.10–17, a short but remarkable story of Jesus healing a woman bent double. It has a striking literary structure, which can be thought of as a kind of literary diptych; the effect is …
The gospel lectionary reading for Trinity 9 in this Year C is Luke 12.49–56, continuing in a substantial section of teaching of Jesus gathered together by Luke. In this part of the gospel, we find some of Jesus’ toughest teaching about the reality of judgement and the cost of following him. (The lectionary oddly cuts …
The lectionary reading for Trinity 7 in this Year C is Colossians 3.1–11, the last of our mini-series in this letter. We are at a classic hinge point in Paul’s letter; having told us everything that God has done for us in Christ (the indicative), he now moves on to explore what the response to …
The lectionary epistle for Trinity 6 is Colossians 2.6-15 (and the gospel is Luke 11.1–13, Jesus’ teaching on prayer). Paul continues to expand on the implications of who Jesus is for our discipleship. He draws strong parallels in his language with the Spirit in Ephesians 5, and deploys metaphors of plants, buildings, and athletes to …
