Queen's Road Cell

 21. In 16:10-13, Jesus commends a particular character trait of a good disciple: faithful or trustworthy stewardship. Jesus spoke this parable to 'the disciples' (16:1), but the Pharisees are still in the background (16:14). This parable is difficult to interpret because Jesus appears to commend dishonesty.  The likely explanation is that the steward is commended, not for his dishonesty, but for taking resolute action in a crisis. The coming of Jesus forced people to decision. When even dishonest worldly people know how and when to take decisive action, much more should those who follow him. T. W. Manson reminds us that there is a world of difference between ‘I applaud the dishonest steward because he acted cleverly’ and ‘I applaud the clever steward because he acted dishonestly’ (Morris) The text also makes it clear that Jesus commended the steward for forward planning by buying friends with money - something intangible with something tangible. We are asked to do the same. ...

  12  The words of a wise man's mouth win him favor,      but the lips of a fool consume him. 13  The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness,      and the end of his talk is evil madness. 14  A fool multiplies words,      though no man knows what is to be,      and who can tell him what will be after him? 15  The toil of a fool wearies him,      for he does not know the way to the city. 16  Woe to you, O land, when your king is a child,      and your princes feast in the morning! 17  Happy are you, O land, when your king is the son of the nobility,      and your princes feast at the proper time,      for strength, and not for drunkenness! 18  Through sloth the roof sinks in,      and through indolence the house leaks. 19  Bread is made for laughter, ...

  A good name is better than precious ointment,      and the day of death than the day of birth. 2  It is better to go to the house of mourning      than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind,      and the living will lay it to heart. 3  Sorrow is better than laughter,      for by sadness of face the heart is made glad. 4  The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning,      but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth. 5  It is better for a man to hear the rebuke of the wise      than to hear the song of fools. 6  For as the crackling of thorns under a pot,      so is the laughter of the fools;      this also is vanity 7  Surely oppression drives the wise into madness,      and a bribe corrupts the heart. 8  Better is the end of a thin...

  8  If you see in a province the oppression of the poor and the violation of justice and righteousness, do not be amazed at the matter, for the high official is watched by a higher, and there are yet higher ones over them. 9  But this is gain for a land in every way: a king committed to cultivated fields. 10  He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity. 11  When goods increase, they increase who eat them, and what advantage has their owner but to see them with his eyes? 12  Sweet is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats little or much, but the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep. 13  There is a grievous evil that I have seen under the sun: riches were kept by their owner to his hurt, 14  and those riches were lost in a bad venture. And he is father of a son, but he has nothing in his hand. 15  As he came from his mother's womb he shall go again, naked...

 1. What is Paul trying to impress upon Timothy in this passage? Ministry will be difficult because of sinful men who will oppose him, but these will be proven false before all. I think this passage may refer to a broad group of non-Christians, but especially ('among them', v.6) to false teachers. These people, unlike non-believers in general, should be 'avoided' (v.5) Paul prefaces this passage with a 'but', because he has expressed hope in the closing verses of Chapter 2 that some false teachers will repent.   The "last days" are those that come after the first and before the second coming of Christ, e.g. "in these last days he (God) has spoken to us by his Son" (Heb 1:2); Christ "was revealed in these last times for your sake" (1 Pet 1:20). )The Holy Spirit is also given in the last days (Ac 2:17). No further outworking of redemptive history or new revelation will come before Christ returns to close out the age. So Paul's wa...

We looked today at the gospel writers' accounts of the empty tomb and noted that they differed slightly but were not in direct conflict with one another. So the first verses of Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24 and John 20 all have details that differ, but which are not impossible to harmonize. So the number of women who went in the early morning is different and the number of angels was different. But 3 gospels (except Matthew) make it clear that the stone was rolled away by the time the women arrived. They rushed back to tell Peter, who ran with John to the tomb. When the 2 men left, Jesus then appeared to Mary Magdalene, who had stayed behind. The gospels often differ in details, for many possible reasons. These include the fact that eyewitnesses to the same event may pick up different details, the different target readers of the  4 writers, and the fact that Jesus was an itinerant preacher who would almost certainly have repeated slightly different variations of the same teaching...