Theology Thursday

* 2 Corinthians: Paul constructed Second Corinthians as a key for understanding all of the Pauline Epistles, especially for the Christians who doubt the unique teaching that Jesus revealed through this Apostle. 

To undergird his controversial Gospel of Grace (Rom. 4:5; 11:13; 1 Cor. 3:10; 15:1; Gal. 2:7; Eph. 2:8-9; etc.), the Apostle Paul realized that he must defend his own unique authority against his critics and against negative comparisons to the other apostles. He does this more aggressively when writing to the Galatians, but in greater length when writing to the Corinthians, beginning with his initial letter (1 Cor. 1:1, 17; 3:10; 4:16; 9:1-2, 17; 11:1; 14:37; 15:3, 9). Then the first half of Second Corinthians (chapters 1 – 7) describes the characteristics of an apostle as Paul builds toward the defense of his own ministry to rebut the attacks against his own apostleship. 

The greater eloquence of the other apostles, for example, in no way diminishes the revelation that God has given to Paul (11:5-6). And though the Lord performed miracles through all the apostles for the sick, no one should doubt the Apostle to the Gentiles even though God never healed Paul’s own physical infirmity. For through this ordeal God has established that, “My grace is sufficient for you…” (12:9, 11). Also, Paul bluntly recognized that while the Corinthians, “seek a proof of Christ speaking in me”, they should “examine” themselves “as to whether [they] are in the faith”, but regardless, Paul’s own authority is beyond question (13:1-6). 

The Ten Commandments, “written… on tablets of stone” are a “ministry of death”. Paul uses this shocking truth to distinguish between the two covenants and therefore, between two covenant peoples, for the “covenant” of the law “kills, but the [new covenant of] the Spirit gives life” (2 Cor. 3:3, 6-7). In chapters 8 and 9 Paul urges Paul’s converts to cheerfully raise funds to give to the impoverished Jerusalem believers. For as we learned from The Acts of the Apostles, the converts of the Twelve, i.e., the circumcision believers, sold their homes and lands, unlike Paul’s converts, those of “the gospel of the uncircumcision” (Gal. 2:7, KJV), who did not sell off their property. For Paul instructs us to test “the things that differ” (Rom. 2:18 KJV margin). Bob Enyart’s study of Second Corinthians helps the diligent believer understand such things!
Available on Video or Audio.

* 2 Corinthians: Paul constructed Second Corinthians as a key for understanding all of the Pauline Epistles, especially for the Christians who doubt the unique teaching that Jesus revealed through this Apostle. 

To undergird his controversial Gospel of Grace (Rom. 4:5; 11:13; 1 Cor. 3:10; 15:1; Gal. 2:7; Eph. 2:8-9; etc.), the Apostle Paul realized that he must defend his own unique authority against his critics and against negative comparisons to the other apostles. He does this more aggressively when writing to the Galatians, but in greater length when writing to the Corinthians, beginning with his initial letter (1 Cor. 1:1, 17; 3:10; 4:16; 9:1-2, 17; 11:1; 14:37; 15:3, 9). Then the first half of Second Corinthians (chapters 1 – 7) describes the characteristics of an apostle as Paul builds toward the defense of his own ministry to rebut the attacks against his own apostleship. 

The greater eloquence of the other apostles, for example, in no way diminishes the revelation that God has given to Paul (11:5-6). And though the Lord performed miracles through all the apostles for the sick, no one should doubt the Apostle to the Gentiles even though God never healed Paul’s own physical infirmity. For through this ordeal God has established that, “My grace is sufficient for you…” (12:9, 11). Also, Paul bluntly recognized that while the Corinthians, “seek a proof of Christ speaking in me”, they should “examine” themselves “as to whether [they] are in the faith”, but regardless, Paul’s own authority is beyond question (13:1-6). 

The Ten Commandments, “written… on tablets of stone” are a “ministry of death”. Paul uses this shocking truth to distinguish between the two covenants and therefore, between two covenant peoples, for the “covenant” of the law “kills, but the [new covenant of] the Spirit gives life” (2 Cor. 3:3, 6-7). In chapters 8 and 9 Paul urges Paul’s converts to cheerfully raise funds to give to the impoverished Jerusalem believers. For as we learned from The Acts of the Apostles, the converts of the Twelve, i.e., the circumcision believers, sold their homes and lands, unlike Paul’s converts, those of “the gospel of the uncircumcision” (Gal. 2:7, KJV), who did not sell off their property. For Paul instructs us to test “the things that differ” (Rom. 2:18 KJV margin). Bob Enyart’s study of Second Corinthians helps the diligent believer understand such things!
Available on Video or Audio.

* 2 Corinthians: Paul constructed Second Corinthians as a key for understanding all of the Pauline Epistles, especially for the Christians who doubt the unique teaching that Jesus revealed through this Apostle. 

To undergird his controversial Gospel of Grace (Rom. 4:5; 11:13; 1 Cor. 3:10; 15:1; Gal. 2:7; Eph. 2:8-9; etc.), the Apostle Paul realized that he must defend his own unique authority against his critics and against negative comparisons to the other apostles. He does this more aggressively when writing to the Galatians, but in greater length when writing to the Corinthians, beginning with his initial letter (1 Cor. 1:1, 17; 3:10; 4:16; 9:1-2, 17; 11:1; 14:37; 15:3, 9). Then the first half of Second Corinthians (chapters 1 – 7) describes the characteristics of an apostle as Paul builds toward the defense of his own ministry to rebut the attacks against his own apostleship. 

The greater eloquence of the other apostles, for example, in no way diminishes the revelation that God has given to Paul (11:5-6). And though the Lord performed miracles through all the apostles for the sick, no one should doubt the Apostle to the Gentiles even though God never healed Paul’s own physical infirmity. For through this ordeal God has established that, “My grace is sufficient for you…” (12:9, 11). Also, Paul bluntly recognized that while the Corinthians, “seek a proof of Christ speaking in me”, they should “examine” themselves “as to whether [they] are in the faith”, but regardless, Paul’s own authority is beyond question (13:1-6). 

The Ten Commandments, “written… on tablets of stone” are a “ministry of death”. Paul uses this shocking truth to distinguish between the two covenants and therefore, between two covenant peoples, for the “covenant” of the law “kills, but the [new covenant of] the Spirit gives life” (2 Cor. 3:3, 6-7). In chapters 8 and 9 Paul urges Paul’s converts to cheerfully raise funds to give to the impoverished Jerusalem believers. For as we learned from The Acts of the Apostles, the converts of the Twelve, i.e., the circumcision believers, sold their homes and lands, unlike Paul’s converts, those of “the gospel of the uncircumcision” (Gal. 2:7, KJV), who did not sell off their property. For Paul instructs us to test “the things that differ” (Rom. 2:18 KJV margin). Bob Enyart’s study of Second Corinthians helps the diligent believer understand such things!
Available on Video or Audio.

* 1 Peter: Meet the Apostle Peter in this important Bible study. Have you considered why Peter addresses his letters to no well-known recipients? Rather, similarly to James, John, and Jude, he sends them generically to the circumcision believers scattered abroad. Why? Meanwhile, Peter mentions the Apostle Paul, who addresses his epistles to many well-known leaders and specific regional churches. Teacher Bob Enyart demonstrates that understanding the big picture of the Bible, its plot, helps to see even such small books as First Peter and Second Peter in their proper perspectives. Such biblical observations go a long way toward explaining the differences between Peter and Paul. For as Peter himself wrote of, "our beloved brother Paul" who "has written to you as also in all his epistles, in which are some things hard to understand."
Available on Video or Audio.

* 1 Peter: Meet the Apostle Peter in this important Bible study. Have you considered why Peter addresses his letters to no well-known recipients? Rather, similarly to James, John, and Jude, he sends them generically to the circumcision believers scattered abroad. Why? Meanwhile, Peter mentions the Apostle Paul, who addresses his epistles to many well-known leaders and specific regional churches. Teacher Bob Enyart demonstrates that understanding the big picture of the Bible, its plot, helps to see even such small books as First Peter and Second Peter in their proper perspectives. Such biblical observations go a long way toward explaining the differences between Peter and Paul. For as Peter himself wrote of, "our beloved brother Paul" who "has written to you as also in all his epistles, in which are some things hard to understand."
Available on Video or Audio.

* 1 Peter: Meet the Apostle Peter in this important Bible study. Have you considered why Peter addresses his letters to no well-known recipients? Rather, similarly to James, John, and Jude, he sends them generically to the circumcision believers scattered abroad. Why? Meanwhile, Peter mentions the Apostle Paul, who addresses his epistles to many well-known leaders and specific regional churches. Teacher Bob Enyart demonstrates that understanding the big picture of the Bible, its plot, helps to see even such small books as First Peter and Second Peter in their proper perspectives. Such biblical observations go a long way toward explaining the differences between Peter and Paul. For as Peter himself wrote of, "our beloved brother Paul" who "has written to you as also in all his epistles, in which are some things hard to understand."
Available on Video or Audio.

* Leviticus: In the book of Leviticus, the law of the priests, God describes the sacrifices He requires of the priests and the Israelites. In this study Bob Enyart looks at the meanings of the burnt offerings and the lamb without spot or blemish. We learn of offerings of birds and of bread, and peace offerings of bull and calf, cow, ox, and goat, and trespass offerings for sin.

God here commands integrity toward our neighbors, diligence in religious service, and the consecration of the Aaron and his sons as priests. Sadly, though they were chosen to be teachers of the people and serve the Lord as priests forever, God kills two of Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, for their rebellion against Him. God gave to Israel symbolic ordinances both to teach the world eternal truths and to provide a cultural fabric that would bind Israel together keeping them through the millennia as a cohesive ethnic group through whom the Messiah would come and for whom future End Times prophecies will one day be fulfilled.

This 3,500-year-old book presents applications of what, thousands of years later, became modern medical practices. In some contexts an unclean person may have an infectious disease, is diagnosed from bodily discharges, and God instructs isolation, observation, and cleansing, with clothing and personal objects either washed, discarded, or even burned. God even warns that one unclean person or object can make another unclean, revealing all this thousands of years before biblical creationists discovered for the word the germ theory of diseases. God imbues blood with an intensity of symbolic meaning because without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness and because penultimately, Jesus would incense His hearers saying, If you want eternal life, drink My blood. God chose this book also to explicitly condemned all forms of sexual immorality including adultery, incest, and homosexuality. Yet, for those who obey Him, He also filled their lives with the blessings of the annual Feasts of Israel, and the eternal relief symbolized in the very real Sabbatical Years and the once-in-a-life Year of Jubilee! Finally, God’s insistence on treating the poor well was anything but a foundation for a socialist or welfare state. And by the way He created us and the world, with the laws of cause and effect, no man can escape the curses that are all around him, for every act of disobedience, nor can men out give God, with the blessings that He has assured for every act of obedience. For what God expects of men in vows and tithing, He has committed Himself to give infinitely above what we ever could.
Available on Video or Audio.

* Leviticus: In the book of Leviticus, the law of the priests, God describes the sacrifices He requires of the priests and the Israelites. In this study Bob Enyart looks at the meanings of the burnt offerings and the lamb without spot or blemish. We learn of offerings of birds and of bread, and peace offerings of bull and calf, cow, ox, and goat, and trespass offerings for sin.

God here commands integrity toward our neighbors, diligence in religious service, and the consecration of the Aaron and his sons as priests. Sadly, though they were chosen to be teachers of the people and serve the Lord as priests forever, God kills two of Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, for their rebellion against Him. God gave to Israel symbolic ordinances both to teach the world eternal truths and to provide a cultural fabric that would bind Israel together keeping them through the millennia as a cohesive ethnic group through whom the Messiah would come and for whom future End Times prophecies will one day be fulfilled.

This 3,500-year-old book presents applications of what, thousands of years later, became modern medical practices. In some contexts an unclean person may have an infectious disease, is diagnosed from bodily discharges, and God instructs isolation, observation, and cleansing, with clothing and personal objects either washed, discarded, or even burned. God even warns that one unclean person or object can make another unclean, revealing all this thousands of years before biblical creationists discovered for the word the germ theory of diseases. God imbues blood with an intensity of symbolic meaning because without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness and because penultimately, Jesus would incense His hearers saying, If you want eternal life, drink My blood. God chose this book also to explicitly condemned all forms of sexual immorality including adultery, incest, and homosexuality. Yet, for those who obey Him, He also filled their lives with the blessings of the annual Feasts of Israel, and the eternal relief symbolized in the very real Sabbatical Years and the once-in-a-life Year of Jubilee! Finally, God’s insistence on treating the poor well was anything but a foundation for a socialist or welfare state. And by the way He created us and the world, with the laws of cause and effect, no man can escape the curses that are all around him, for every act of disobedience, nor can men out give God, with the blessings that He has assured for every act of obedience. For what God expects of men in vows and tithing, He has committed Himself to give infinitely above what we ever could.

* Available on Video or Audio.

* A Sixth Century Leviticus Scoll Read: Containing the first eight verses of Leviticus, researchers were able to digitally "unwrap" a small burned scroll found in the charred ruins of Ein Gedi on the western shore of the Dead Sea. Commonly, anicent Scripture scrolls, as with this one, whether centuries or even millenia old, have astounding conformity with one another. 

* Ecclesiastes: Without a teacher, men struggle to make sense of backslidden Solomon's book of Ecclesiastes, which says: All is vanity. What is crooked cannot be made straight. Man has no advantage over animals for all go to one place. Nothing is better than that a man should rejoice in his own works. So I praised the dead more than the living. Yet, better than both is he who has never existed. One good man among a thousand I have found, but a woman among all these I have not found. A man has nothing better under the sun than to eat, drink, and be merry. Drink your wine with a merry heart; for God has already accepted your works. 

This study will help you to unravel the Ecclesiastes conundrum and appreciate the compelling love story of the Song of Songs (also called the Song of Solomon). The Shulamite spurns Solomon, despising a place among his harem of wives and concubines, while remaining faithful to her inaccessible true love. This Song illustrates the believer holding fast to his love for God in spite of the lures of the world. 
Available on MP3-CD or download.

* Ecclesiastes: Without a teacher, men struggle to make sense of backslidden Solomon's book of Ecclesiastes, which says: All is vanity. What is crooked cannot be made straight. Man has no advantage over animals for all go to one place. Nothing is better than that a man should rejoice in his own works. So I praised the dead more than the living. Yet, better than both is he who has never existed. One good man among a thousand I have found, but a woman among all these I have not found. A man has nothing better under the sun than to eat, drink, and be merry. Drink your wine with a merry heart; for God has already accepted your works. 

This study will help you to unravel the Ecclesiastes conundrum and appreciate the compelling love story of the Song of Songs (also called the Song of Solomon). The Shulamite spurns Solomon, despising a place among his harem of wives and concubines, while remaining faithful to her inaccessible true love. This Song illustrates the believer holding fast to his love for God in spite of the lures of the world. 
Available on MP3-CD or download.