aBeLOG
Welcome to the aBeLOG, a series of (hopefully!) fortnightly posts on all matters homiletical. I intend to touch on whatever grabs my attention regarding preaching—issues contemporary and ancient, ideas hermeneutical and rhetorical, personalities conservative and liberal, publications antiquarian and avant-garde. Essentially, I’m going to follow my own homiletical olfactory instincts up rabbit trails and after red herrings. Comments are always invited and appreciated.
Titus 3:1–15
Behavior in society involves submission to authority, and utmost consideration for all people, avoiding all ungody and fractious behavior (and persons), as believers engage in good works, demonstrating the same kindness and love for mankind that God had for them.
In this text, “good works” (3:1, 8, 14; and when examined across the New Testament they include “works” of thought, work, and deed) deals with behavior in society. So Christians are to live a godly life
Titus 2:1–15
God’s people of irrespective of age, gender, and social standing, demonstrate exemplary godliness within community in word and in deed—grounded in the work of God in Christ redeeming people for his own—for the enhancement of the reputation of God and the furtherance of his economy.
“But you” (2:1)—an emphatic construction—signals a contrast between what the false teachers have been doing (1:10–16) and what Titus is to do (2:1–10, 15). After labeling the
Titus 1:1–16
Godly, blameless stewards of the church, who hold firmly the word God in their lives and their teaching, exhort and reprove rebellious false teachers in the church who, engaging in deceptive teaching and upset households, are detestable in God’s eyes.
Titus 1:1–4, is a single sentence: sixty-five words in the Greek text. “Faith” and “truth [for godliness]” seem to be the focus of this salutation, appropriate for a letter to Cretan Christians who are going to
2 Timothy 4:1–22
The people of God solemnly preach God’s word at every opportunity, despite opposition and suffering, as they follow the example of godly leaders, asserting their lifelong faithfulness to God and to their ministries, confident of ultimate deliverance and eternal rewards.
It is apparent that the entire pericope is written with much emotion, expressing the characteristics of the apostle’s “last will and testament.”
While there are five second person imperatives in 4:2—“preach,”
Tough Question: Imprecate?
Here’s another “Answer to a Tough Question” that I did for The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary recently: What do Christians do today with the imprecations of the Psalter?
[And for more details, go to the Introduction in the first volume of my commentary on the Psalms: Psalms 1–44 here.]
2 Timothy 3:1–17
God’s people follow godly models, trusting in divine deliverance from inevitable persecution, and continuing in Scripture that edifies, making them capable and fully equipped for good works.
In 3:1–5, Paul creates a worst-case scenario of the “last days” with the eighteen vices listed, making it one of the longest such lists in the NT. The items run together in a conjunction-free structure, to paint a general picture of evil in the future. If there is a theme to
Tough Question: Genesis 22
Here’s an “Answer to a Tough Question” that I did for The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary the other day: Why did God command Abraham to sacrifice Isaac? (On Genesis 22.)
[If you want to dig into the details, go here.]
Abe Kuruvilla is the Carl E. Bates Professor of Christian Preaching at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (Louisville, KY), and a dermatologist in private practice. His passion is to explore, explain, and exemplify preaching. 