Job
Psalms
Proverbs
Ecclesiastes
Song of Songs
Sirach
Some remarks on the New Testament
Matthew's Gospel
Mark's Gospel
Luke's Gospel
The First Letter of John
Job
Job is “an upright man.” Suffering befalls him for no reason that he can discern. To add insult to injury, no one has any sympathy for him: his wife mocks him rather irreligiously; three friends berate him as a complainer. All offer him bad advice.
At the end of the book, Job has something of a confrontation with God. Not only does God rebuke the three friends, but He praises what Job has said about Him (42.7). For it is true that Job has complained against God, but he has complained humbly and in faith, demanding God's response. God rewards Job's humility and faith — yet God never does tell Job why he suffered.
(This is, of course, a shameful oversimplification.)
- Humility in Adversity
Naked I came forth from my mother's womb,
and naked shall I go back again.
The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away;
blessed be the name of the Lord! (1.21) - Leave me alone, God!
What is man, that you make much of him, or pay him any heed?
You observe him with each new day and try him at every moment!
How long will it be before you look away from me,
and let me alone long enough to swallow my spittle? (7.17-19) - The Apparent Futility of Life
Man born of woman is short-lived and full of trouble;
like a flower that springs up and fades,
swift as a shadow that does not abide. (14.1-2) - The Hope a Resurrection would Provide
Oh, that you would hide me in the nether world
and keep me sheltered till your wrath is past;
would fix a time for me, and then remember me!
When a man has died, were he to live again,
all the days of my drudgery I would wait,
until my relief should come.
You would call and I would answer you;
you would esteem the work of your hands. (14.13-15) - The Awed Response of Faith to God's Self-Manifestation
I know [O Lord] that you can do all things,
and that no purpose of yours can be hindered.
I have dealt with great things that I do not understand;
things too wonderful for me, which I cannot know.
I had heard of you by word of mouth,
but now my eye has seen you.
Therefore I disown what I have said,
and I repent in dust and ashes. (42.2-6)
Psalms
The Psalms constitute the largest book of Biblical prayers. Along with the Lord's Prayer, they are the foundation of the public prayer life of all ancient Churches (Roman, Greek, Slavic, Coptic, Maronite, Assyrian, etc.) and also of the Anglican Church (the Book of Common Prayer).
- Danger of Envy of the Success of the Wicked
Psalm 73 (the whole thing; here is an excerpt:)
But as for me, I lost my balance;
my feet all but slipped,
Because I was envious of the arrogant
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
For they suffer no pain; their bodies are healthy and sleek.
They are free of the burdens of life;
they are not afflicted like others….
So my people turn to them and drink deeply of their words.
They say, “Does God really know?” “Does the Most High have any knowledge?”
Such, then, are the wicked, always increasing their wealth.
Is it in vain that I have kept my heart clean,
washed my hands in innocence?
For I am afflicted day after day,
chastised every morning.
- God Preferable to all else
I had rather one day in your courts
than a thousand elsewhere;
I had rather lie at the threshold of the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of the wicked. (84.11) -
The Apparent Futility of Human Works Derives its Meaning from God
Psalm 90 (the whole thing; here is an excerpt:)
Lord, you have been our refuge through all generations,
before the mountains were born, the earth and the world brought forth,
from eternity to eternity you are God.
A thousand years in your sight are merely yesterday.
But humans you return to dust, saying, “Return, you mortals!”
Before a watch passes in the night,
you have brought them to their end;
They disappear like sleep at dawn;
they are like grass that dies.
Proverbs
Notice how Wisdom is a woman.
- Divine Wisdom is the Greatest Good
Wisdom cries aloud in the street,
in open squares she raises her voice;
Down the crowded ways she calls out,
at the city gates she utters her words:
“How long, you simple ones, will you love inanity,
how long will you turn away at my reproof?
Lo! I will pour out to you my spirit,
I will acquaint you with my words.
…He who obeys me dwells in security,
in peace, without fear of harm.” (1.20-23,33)
- The impossibility of dealing with certain people
Answer not the fool according to his folly, lest you too become
like him.
Answer the fool according to his folly, lest he become wise in his
own eyes. (26.5-6)
- A warning on careless chatter (talk radio?)
Where words are many, sin is not wanting;
but one who restrains one's lips does well. (10.19)
Ecclesiastes
A vastly underread book.
- The Value of Wisdom (1)
When I applied my mind to know wisdom and knowledge, madness and folly, I learned that this also is a chase after wind. For in much wisdom there is much sorrow, and he who stores up knowledge stores up grief. (1.17-18)
- Some Things Necessarily Transcend Us
God has made everything beautiful in its time; He has put eternity into man's mind, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. (3.11)
- Money
As the rich man came from his mother's womb he shall go again, naked as he came, and shall take nothing for his toil, which he may carry away in his hand. (5.11)
- Rhetoric
The more words, the more vanity, and what is man the better? (6.11)
- The World is Not Just (1)
In my vain life I have seen everything; there is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in his evil-doing. (7.15)
- The World is Not Just (2)
This is a vanity which occurs on earth: there are just men treated as thought they had done evil and wicked men treated as though they had done justly. This, too, I say is vanity. Therefore I commend mirth, because there is nothing good for man under the sun except eating and drinking and mirth, for this is the accompaniment of his toil during the limited days of the life which God gives him under the sun. (8.14-15)
- The Value of Wisdom (2)
The words of the wise heard in quiet are better than the shouting of a ruler among fools. (9.18)
- Wisdom and WarWisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good. (9.19)
- Conclusion
Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth; walk in the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes. But know that for all these things God will bring you to judgement. (11.9)
The Song of Songs
Early Christians often interpreted the Song of Songs as an
allegory of the love between the redeemed soul and God.
- Set me as a seal on your heart,
as a seal on your arm.
For stern as death is love;
relentless as the nether world is devotion;
its flames are a blazing fire.
Deep waters cannot quench love,
nor floods sweep it away.
Were one to offer all he owned to purchase love,
he would be roundly mocked. (8.6b-7a)
Sirach
This book is in the Bible of all pre-Reformation
Churches (not merely those in communion with Rome).
- The Danger of Despair
Do not give in to sadness,
torment not yourself with brooding;
Gladness of heart is the very life of a man,
cheerfulness prolongs his days.
Distract yourself, renew your courage,
drive resentment far away from you;
For worry has brought death to many,
nor is there aught to be gained from resentment.
Envy and anger shorten one's life,
worry brings on premature old age.
One who is cheerful and gay while at table
benefits from his food. (30.21-25)-
Value of Wisdom
When I was still a youth, before I went traveling,
in my prayers I asked outright for Wisdom.
Outside the sanctuary I would pray for her,
and to the last I shall continue to seek her.
…
By bowing my ear a little, I have received her,
and have found much instruction.
Thanks to her I have advanced;
glory be to Him Who has given me wisdom!
For I was determined to put her into practice,
and I shall never leave her once I have found her.
My soul has fought to possess her,
I have been scrupulous in keeping the Law;
I have stretched out my hands to heaven
and bewailed how little I knew of her;
having my heart fixed on her from the outset,
I shall never be deserted;
my very core having yearned to discover her,
I have now acquired a true possession.
In reward the Lord has given me a tongue
with which I shall sing His praises.
… (51.13-20)
Some remarks on the New Testament
Ah, the New Testament, wherein Christ sets us free from rules and regulations! makes no demands of us! neither preaches nor teaches, but consoles! How I should like someone to show me this wonderful New Testament, for I have yet to discover it!
Christ issues a call to conversion, a conversion born of the desire to become more pleasing to one's Beloved (that is, to God). Mainstream culture sugarcoats Christ as never condemning anyone's personal failings. Mainstream culture has invented its own Christ, and ignored the real one.
The real Christ tells us we are more than natural, more than material, more than deterministic, more than consumers. We have the potential to become children of God: we can partake in the Divine Nature, here and now, and into eternity.
Matthew's Gospel
- The First Preaching
Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand! (4.17)
- The Sermon on the Mount
- The Beatitudes:
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land.
Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you (falsely) because of me.
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven. Thus they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (5.3-10)
- Worry
Do not worry and say, “What are we to eat?” or “What are we to drink?” or “What are we to wear?” All these things the pagans seek. Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom (of God) and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides. Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself. Sufficient for a day is its own evil. (6.31-34)
- Judging Others
Stop judging, that you may not be judged. For as you judge, so will you be judged, and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you. (7.1-2)
- Faith and Faith Alone? (Part I)
Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? Did we not drive out demons in your name? Did we not do mighty deeds in your name?” Then I will declare to them solemnly, “I never knew you. Depart from me, you evildoers.” (8.21-23) - Following Christ
Whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. (10.38-39)
- A Practical Message of Christianity
Do not be afraid. (14.27) (This isn't easy.)
- Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. (18.4)
- The Paramount Necessity of Forgiveness
Then Peter approaching asked him, “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus answered, “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times.” (18.21-22)
- Forgiveness must be mutual
In anger his master handed him over to the torturers until he should pay back the whole debt. So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives his brother from his heart. (18.35)
- Christian Marriage
[Jesus said,] “Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female' and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, no human being must separate.” They said to him, “Then why did Moses command that the man give the woman a bill of divorce and dismiss (her)?” He said to them, “Because of the hardness of your hearts Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. I say to you, whoever divorces his wife (unless the marriage is unlawful) and marries another commits adultery.” (His) disciples said to him, “If that is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.” He answered, “Not all can accept (this) word, but only those to whom that is granted.” (19.4-11)
- Christian Perfection
If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to (the) poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me. …Amen, I say to you, it will be hard for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. …For human beings this is impossible, but for God all things are possible. (19.21,23,26)
- Christian Humility
Whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave. (20.26)
- Careful Whom You Judge
Tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you. (21.31)
- The Greatest Commandments
You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments. (22.37-40)
- Faith and Faith Alone?
The righteous will answer him and say, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?” And the king will say to them in reply, “Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me. …What you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.” And these [who did not care for these least ones] will go off to eternal punishment. (25.37-40,45)
Mark's Gospel
- Necessity of Personal Conversion for True Religion
No one sews a piece of unshrunken cloth on an old cloak. If he does, its fullness pulls away, the new from the old, and the tear gets worse. Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the skins are ruined. Rather, new wine is poured into fresh wineskins. (2.21-22)
- God's Family
Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother. (3.35)
- Faith, Holiness, etc.
To the one who has, more will be given; from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. (4.25)
- Encouragement
Fear is useless. What is needed is trust. (5.36)
- A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and among his own kin and in his own house. (6.4)
- Christ is a teacher, not a therapist
His heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things. (6.34)
- What defiles a person comes from within himself!
What comes out of a person, that is what defiles. From within people, from their hearts, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly. All these evils come from within and they defile. (7.20-23)
- Christian spirituality
Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and that of the gospel will save it. What profit is there for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? What could one give in exchange for his life? (8.34-38)
- Detachment from things of the world
If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed than with two hands to go into Gehenna, into the unquenchable fire. (9.43)
(That sentence was in the context of adultery -- see Matthew 5.30. Draw your own conclusions.)
- Christian Marriage
From the beginning of creation, “God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother (and be joined to his wife), and the two shall become one flesh.” So they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, no human being must separate. (10.6-9)
- Danger of wealth
How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! …For human beings it is impossible, but not for God. All things are possible for God. (10.23,27)
- True greatness
Whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all. (10.43b-44)
- Church and State
Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God. (12.17)
- Life in Heaven
When [people] rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but they are like the angels in heaven. (12.25)
- Against a hypocrite who criticized a woman's costly worship of Christ, calling instead for donating that money to the poor
Let her alone. Why do you make trouble for her? She has done a good thing for me. The poor you will always have with you, and whenever you wish you can do good to them, but you will not always have me.She has done what she could. She has anticipated anointing my body for burial. Amen, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimedto the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her. (14.6-9)
- What to say in moments of insuperable persecution
Jesus gave him no further answer, so that Pilate was amazed. (15.5)
- The trouble with men ;-)
When [the men] heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe. (16.11)
Luke's Gospel
- Jesus' Mission
Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do. I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners. (5.31-32)
- Blessings and condemnations
Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours.
Blessed are you who are now hungry, for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who are now weeping, for you will laugh.
Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man.
Rejoice and leap for joy on that day! Behold, your reward will be great in heaven. For their ancestors treated the prophets in the same way.
But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.
But woe to you who are filled now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will grieve and weep.
Woe to you when all speak well of you, for their ancestors treated the false prophets in this way. (6.20-26)
- True Love
If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? …If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? Rather, love your enemies and do good to them, and lend expecting nothing back; then your reward will be great and you will be children of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as (also) your Father is merciful. (6.32,33,34-36)
- False ideas of the Messiah disillusioned over Jesus
Blessed is the one who takes no offense at me. (7.23)
- Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. (11.23)
- Fear
Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but after that can do no more. Be afraid of the one who after killing has the power to cast into Gehenna; yes, I tell you, be afraid of that one. (12.4-5)
- Where your treasure is, there also will your heart be. (12.34)
- What Christ came to establish
Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. (12.51)
- Everyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple. (14.33)
- No servant can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. (16.13)
- Christian Marriage
Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and the one who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery. (16.18)
- When you have done all you have been commanded, say, “We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do.” (17.10)
- Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God. (20.25)
The First Letter of John
- Theme
What was from the beginning,
what we have heard,
what we have seen with our own eyes,
what we looked upon and touched with our own hands
concerns the Word of life —
for the life was made visible;
we have seen it and testify to it and proclaim to you
the eternal life that was with the Father and was made visible to us —
What we have seen and heard we proclaim now to you,
so that you too may have fellowship with us;
for our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. -
Do not love the world or the things of the world.
If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
For all that is in the world,
sensual lust, enticement for the eyes, and a pretentious life,
is not from the Father but is from the world.
Yet the world and all its enticement are passing away.
But whoever does the will of God remains for ever. (2.15-17)
- How We Know True Love (Part I)
The way that we came to know love
was that he lay down his life for us;
so we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.
If someone who has worldly means
sees a brother in need and refuses him compassion,
how can the love of God remain in him?
Children, let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth. (3.16-18)
- How We Know True Love (Part II)
In this is love:
Not that we have loved God
but that God has loved us
and sent his son as expiation for our sins.
Beloved, if God so loved us, we also must love one another. (4.10-11)
- Marks of Love
There is no fear in love,
but perfect love drives out fear
because fear has to do with punishment,
and so one who fears is not yet perfect in love.
We love because he first loved us.
If anyone says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, he is a liar;
for whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen
cannot love God whom he has not seen.
This is the commandment we have from him:
whoever loves God must also love his brother. (4.18-21)
-
In this way we know that we love the children of God
when we love God and obey his commandments.
For the love of God is this: that we keep his commandments.
And his commandments are not burdensome. (5.2-3)