Sometimes the lectionary skips over the fun stuff. Those who grew up in Sunday School and Children’s Church probably, like me, loved the stories of the plagues. How cool was it that Moses turned the water to blood? And those boils were “soooo gross!” The frogs were probably way cooler than terrible, at least in the imagination of a boy who caught frogs at any chance he could. To children theological importance of them may have simply been, “God is powerful.” If you’re doing a longer series on...

Since the 1970s Pauline studies has been split between what has been known as the “Old Perspective” and “New Perspective” on Paul. Much of this debate is due to the work of Krister Stendahl, E. P Sanders, and J Louis Martyn. It asks the question, whose faith brings justification?” In Galatians 2:16 Paul writes “a person isn’t made righteous by the works of the Law but rather through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ.” I intentionally used the CEB version because it is quite different from the...

N. T. Wright concludes his essay on this Sunday’s pericope by saying, ”If we find it hard to keep up with the bewildering range of scriptural references which Peter is pouring into the letter at this point, that what it was like for ex-pagan converts in rural Turkey in the first century.”[1] It is not exactly helpful for a preacher who expected to give her people a “takeaway.” It is helpful, however, for an entry into this passage because preachers can warn their congregations that they are...