-
Was the Apostle Paul a Widower? – Justin Taylor
-
- Paul puts himself in the category of being “unmarried” in 1 Corinthians 7:8.
- The word “unmarried” translates the Greek word agamos.
- Paul uses the term agamos to refer to those who have been married but now are no longer married.
- The context of agamos in 1 Corinthians 7:8 is dominated by Paul’s instructions to those who are married or who have been married.
- The Greek word for “widower” was not in use during the Koine period.
- The word for “unmarried” appears to be the masculine word for someone who has lost a spouse.
- As a good Pharisee, it is highly unlikely that Paul would have been single his entire life.
Denny Burk makes the case. His main points are outlined below. Read the whole thing for explanation and defense.
-
-
Tradition vs. Traditionalism – Justin Taylor
-
“Tradition is the living faith of the dead, traditionalism is the dead faith of the living. And, I suppose I should add, it is traditionalism that gives tradition such a bad name.”
Jaroslav Pelikan, The Vindication of Tradition (Yale University Press, 1984), p. 65.
-
-
Going Public: Your Child Can Thrive in Public School | Challies Dot Com
-
The most valuable lesson of all, at least in my view, is that public schooling is a family affair. The decision to place children in the public education system is a decision to have the whole family involved in this system. They say, “We should not think in terms of sending our child off by himself to ‘the mission field.’ We go there together. This is a family expedition. When we show up each August to enroll our kids for another school year, we are enrolling our family into the life of this institution. This is a joint venture.” This means that mom and dad are involved not just with the children, but with the school and teachers and leaders.
-
A second valuable lesson is that is the lesson that all parents are homeschoolers. The Pritchards make it clear that public schooling still calls for the parents to teach their children and to be involved in all that they learn. No good parent can abdicate all of the children’s education to other people
-
-
Do Not Neglect the Holy Spirit in Parenting – The Gospel Coalition Blog
-
Here’s the problem with this interpretation. It’s neither biblically accurate nor helpful. Worse yet, it has led to all kinds of unnecessary guilt on the part of Christian parents and perhaps led them to adopt a man-centered, results-oriented system for raising children.
-
A better parenting paradigm is faithfulness-driven rather than results-led. Our role as parents is not to “produce” children who exhibit certain behavior criteria, but to be mere instruments in the Holy Spirit’s ongoing work in the heart of our children. We highly value and adhere to the wisdom of Proverbs, Deuteronomy, Hebrews, and other child-training passages in the Scriptures and realize only God transforms the hearts of our children.
-
-
How to Make a Command Sink or Swim – Kevin DeYoung
-
Which approach will serve you better over the long haul? I think we’d all opt for the second. The problem with the first quote is twofold: One, Law (no pun intended) insists with all his might on something that cannot be proven from Scripture (i.e., that we must get up early to pray). Two, he does not connect the biblical command to pray to the other biblical realities that would make us eager to pray. William Law makes me deathly afraid of the snooze bar. Thomas Goodwin makes me excited about prayer. Who wouldn’t want the happiness of drawing near to God? Who doesn’t delight to tell secrets and converse with a friend? Prayer will always be hard and will always take discipline, but when I see it as a means to communion with God, it feels more like a “get to” than a “have to.” I still need to hear the imperatives about prayer–and even feel convicted when I disobey them–but the indicatives of the gospel make me happy to hear the commands and eager to obey.
-
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Emeth Aletheia 