The Talent Potential

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When we study the Scriptures it is hard to escape the clear testimony that everything is God’s (Deut 10:14; Psalm 24:1). And that anything we possess is not really ours but something that God has entrusted to us to manage and invest.

The Lord owns the earth and all it contains,
the world and all who live in it.

When we read the parable of the talents (Matt 25:14-30) we are presented with how God has chosen to invest His possessions.

  1. the master has entrusted his possessions to his own (25:14)
  2. the master has not distributed his possessions equally, but according to the ability of each person (25:15)
  3. we are responsible for how we manage and invest what we are given
  4. the master will come and settle accounts with each of us (25:19)
  5. the master will evaluate how each of us has invested what we were given

1 Talent = 30,000 shekels
“Half Shekel” by Classical Numismatic Group, Inc. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons

After reading this parable we might start to ask some questions.

What has the Lord entrusted to me?

In a nutshell, everything you have. Your life. Your family and friends. Your talents and abilities. Your possessions. Your opportunities to work and serve. Often this is said to be our time, talent, and treasure.

How am I doing managing and investing what the Lord has entrusted to me? Continue reading →

Grace for All: Paul, the Potter, and Perspective? (Romans 9)

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This post is a part of a series that is examining each essay in the recently published book Grace for All. 

Dr. James D. Strauss, who passed in 2014, was Professor of Theology and Philosophy at Lincoln Christian Seminary (link). His essay, edited by John D. Wagner tackles the challenging argument that Paul presents in Romans 9.

This chapter starts off a section that is widely accepted as starting in chapter 9 and continuing through to the end of chapter 11.

By Ks.mini (Own work) via Wikimedia Commons

By Ks.mini via Wikimedia Commons

The section starts off with Paul’s concern for the Jewish people:

For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites … (Rom 9:3-4 NASB)

A concern that is marked throughout the section, as it is expressed again in chapter 10:

Brethren, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation. (Rom 10:1)

and again in chapter 11:

… Inasmuch then as I am an apostle of Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, if somehow I might move to jealousy my fellow countrymen and save some of them … (Rom 11:13-14)

It is within this context that Paul writes about God’s sovereign right to have mercy on whom He will, and harden whom He will (Rom 9:18) and to form His creation as He desires.

Has the potter no right to make from the same lump of clay one vessel for special use and another for ordinary use? (Rom 9:21)

In Arminius’s examination of Roman’s 9 he notes that it is important to settle the main thesis or question that Paul is addressing. He proposes the challenge that Paul will seek to refute is as follows:

Does not the word God become of none effect, if those of the Jews, who seek righteousness, not of faith, but of the law, are rejected by God.

Is that the right thesis that Paul is refuting?

On what idea does Paul base his argument? Continue reading →

Agabus the fallible prophet? (Part 2)

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The first post can be found here…

It has been interesting how often a relatively obscure prophet named Agabus keeps coming up in seminary. This week he also came up in the “General Epistles” class  during our discussion on 2 Peter 1:20-21.

For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

This would seem to be a fairly straight forward NT definition of how prophecy works that would rule out a fallible prophetic gift. With this in mind let’s examine the case against Agabus.

We meet Agabus in Caesarea where he intercepts Paul and his team who are on their way to Jerusalem having concluded the 3rd Missionary Journey (3MJ). As Paul has made his way through the cities of Macedonia and Achaia, numerous prophets have warned him that he will be face prison and hardship in Jerusalem (Acts 20:23). As Paul gets closer to Jerusalem he is warned again in Tyre (21:4) and in Caesarea by Philip’s daughters (21:9) before Agabus reaches him. Apparently Agabus had a prophetic vision while in Judea and felt compelled to  travel north to warn Paul as well. Agabus’ prophecy provides the most detail about what awaits Paul and includes the OT practice of having the prophet act out some part of the prophecy.   Continue reading →