jesus

Parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man: Church Fathers, Reformers, and Commentators
Bible Stories and Parables

Parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man: Church Fathers, Reformers, and Commentators

04/16/2025 Bruce Strom 0

James Boice teaches us: “It is true that the rich man’s riches worked to his hurt, for he lived for those and nothing else. It is hard for the rich to enter heaven, as Jesus said elsewhere in Luke. It is also true that Lazarus’ poverty worked to his spiritual good, for lacking earthly joys and comfort he turned his eyes to heaven and sought divine consolation.”
James Boice remarks on the contrasts in the parable. Spiritually, “the rich man was actually poor, and the poor man was actually rich. This contrast continues after their death: the poor rich man grew poorer, and the rich poor man grew richer.” “The final contrast is between the hopelessness of the rich man’s condition after death and the hopefulness of his condition before. After death there is no possibility of change, but in this life there is.” […]

Did May Give Birth to Jesus in a Cave With a Midwife? Infancy Gospels of James and Pseudo-Matthew
Bible Stories and Parables

Did Mary Give Birth to Jesus in a Cave With a Midwife? Infancy Gospels of James and Pseudo-Matthew

12/21/2024 Bruce Strom 0

The Infancy Gospel of James was well known by the early Church Fathers, especially Origen, and possibly Clement of Alexandria. Although this infancy narrative was condemned by Pope Innocent I in 405 and was considered apocryphal by the Gelasian Decree around the year 500, it was one source of the early church tradition of the perpetual virginity of the Virgin Mary, Theotokos, Mother of God. It was especially treasured by the faithful in both the ancient and medieval worlds. St Jerome even speculated that Joseph was also perpetually virgin, and that the Hebrew word translated as his sons were actually his cousins.
Should we reject the Infancy Gospel of James as apocryphal? Would it be fair to label them as heretical? Although this infancy gospel contains many fanciful stories, there are no obviously heretical teachings, nor are the actions by anyone in the Holy Family morally or doctrinally objectionable. Rather, they are similar to the many Jewish midrash Talmudic stories, many of which are similarly fantastic, but are instead cherished for their moral teachings. Indeed, they wouldn’t be midrash if they weren’t improbable. […]

Book of Ruth: Historical-Critical Commentaries. Was Ruth an Old Testament Illegal Alien?
Bible Stories and Parables

Book of Ruth: Historical-Critical, Patristic, and Rabbinical Commentaries. Was Ruth an Old Testament Illegal Alien?

09/13/2024 Bruce Strom 0

Was Ruth an Old Testament version of an illegal alien? Marriages between Jews and Moabites were definitely illegal under Jewish law, and Ruth was seen as a sojourner, which is the Biblical term for immigrant, or alien. Ancient Jews were just as suspicious of Moabites just as many Americans are suspicious of Mexicans. Ruth emigrates to Judah because of economic hardship, just as hardship drives many Mexicans to seek to enter the United States.
Is the term illegal alien a misnomer? Are illegal aliens criminals because they are doing illegal things? We can all agree that someone who robs a bank or steals a car or shoots or beats his neighbor is a criminal, but is someone who is fleeing gangs who threaten their lives a criminal? Is someone who flees grinding poverty to take his chances swimming the Rio Grande truly a criminal? […]

Do Not Steal: Dr Laura and Her Rabbi Stewart Vogel on Ten Commandments, and Excuses People Make
Command 7 Do Not Steal

Do Not Steal and Excuses People Make: Dr Laura and Her Rabbi Stewart Vogel on Ten Commandments

03/22/2024 Bruce Strom 0

Dr Laura opens this reflection: “People spend a lot of time redefining stealing in order to increase their comfort zone as they assert themselves in a world of needs, wants, possessions, power struggles, fame, fortune, desire, envy, loss, hurt, greed, and antisocial personalities.” This observation implies that many people steal because they feel that they are being taken advantage of, or they themselves were the target of loss, hurt, and greed, and they want to get even with the world, though she does not develop this thought in depth. […]

Anders Nygren, On Christian Agape-Love and Eros-Love in Gospels and Pauline Epistles
Biblical Interpretation

Anders Nygren, On Christian Agape-Love and Eros-Love in Gospels and Pauline Epistles

03/20/2024 Bruce Strom 2

Anders Nygren emphasizes that “Old Testament piety with its devotion to the Law was by no means the external legalism it is often assumed to have been. There was an inward bond that held the godly man to the Law. The righteous felt no sense of external compulsion when confronted by the Law, but a sense of inner solidarity with it. Its observance gave him value and made him acceptable to God. His prevailing mood was expressed in Psalm 1,” the Psalm that sings of Law as Gospel. […]

Loving God in Deuteronomy, and a Gentile’s Defense of Judaism, Part 2
Judaism

Loving God in Deuteronomy, and a Gentile’s Defense of Judaism, Part 2

12/29/2023 Bruce Strom 1

When studying the rabbinical commentaries on Deuteronomy, I was struck by the number of times the commandment to Love God was repeated in various forms, including the commandment to Fear God, which is roughly equivalent, so I decided to count them, there are about twenty repetitions. This was surprising to me as a Christian, for as St Paul exhorts, “the letter” of the law “kills, but the Spirit gives life.” […]

Medieval Jewish and Christian Commentators, My Gentile Defense of Judaism, Part 1
Judaism

Medieval Jewish and Christian Commentators, My Gentile Defense of Judaism, Part 1

12/23/2023 Bruce Strom 1

At roughly the time of Jesus, an inquirer requested of both Rabbi Shammai and Rabbi Hillel, “Convert me to Judaism on condition that you will teach me the entire Torah while I stand on one foot.” Shammai pushed the man away with the building rod he was holding. Undeterred, the man then came before Hillel with the same request. Hillel responded, “That which is hateful unto you, do not do unto your neighbor. This is the whole Torah; all the rest is commentary. Now, go and study.” […]

St John Climacus on Gluttony in Ladder of Divine Ascent, Eating for Health: DASH Diet
Ladder of Divine Ascent

St John Climacus on Gluttony and Fasting, Ladder of Divine Ascent, Step 14, and Eating for Health: DASH diet

10/20/2023 Bruce Strom 3

Earthly passions, if we do not control them, can lead us to selfishness, can lead us away from selflessness, can cloud the way to our salvation, and can prevent us from loving our neighbor as ourselves. St John Climacus teaches us that the primary passion is gluttony, the gluttony that keeps us from eating a healthy diet, that keeps us from eating in moderation. […]

St Neilos the Ascetic, Philokalia
Morality

St Neilos on Ascetic Discourses in the Philokalia

08/16/2023 Bruce Strom 0

St Neilos contrasts the holy men “who live for the soul alone, turning away from the body and its wants,” the holy men who have no need to flatter the wealthy because they live simply, to those of us who, “instead of courageously struggling against our difficulties, come fawning to the wealthy, like puppies wagging their tails in the hope of being tossed a bare bone or some crumbs. To get what we want, we can them benefactors and protectors of Christians, attributing every virtue to them, even though they may be utterly wicked.” […]

St Maximus the Confessor
Morality

St Maximus the Confessor, Commentary on the Lords Prayer

08/09/2023 Bruce Strom 3

We seek deification in the Lord’s Prayer, the model prayer, which starts out, Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed by Thy Name, so we are exhorted to Love God, and understand how we stand in His Kingdom, and continues as we pray how we should live our lives, repenting of all, forgiving everyone, no exceptions. Once we understand how we must repent of all our transgressions, no exceptions, and forgive everyone, so God will forgive us, and not withhold forgiveness from anyone, lest God withholds His forgiveness of us[9], then we can better listen to the teachings of St Maximus against self-love, this affections of one’s self that is the root of all evil, the desperate lust to pleasure, often mere moments of pleasure that often leads to years of suffering for us and those around us. This self-love and lust for pleasure to avoid life’s pain instead tyrannizes the lives of those close to us. […]