Reading for April 8th

 Read Malachi 1.6-2.9. In 1.6-2.9: The priests' sins. Making up a third of the entire book, this accusation singles out two priestly sins: making improper offerings (1.6-23) and giving improper instructions (2.4-9).  In 1.8: Priestly (Lev 1.3; 22.17-25) and Deuteronomic (Deut 15.19-21) laws prohibit the sacrifice of blemished animals. Deuteronomy specifically forbidding the lame and blind. In 2.4: Levi is the ancestor of Israel's priestly families (1 Chr 6.1-48). In verse 8: Priests were responsible for teaching and instruction. Micah also blames priests for abusing their teaching office (3.11). Comments or Questions..

Reading for April 7th

 Read Malachi 1.1-5. In 1.1: Title: Malachi meaning "my messenger" is either the name of the individual or a title selected for the author of this prophetic collection on the basis of 3.1. In verses 2-5: Edom's ruins. For those who think their modest efforts at the reconstruction of Judah do not reflect God's presence or love, the uninhabited ruins of the neighbor Edom are a stark reminder of God's real absence and anger. In verse 2; Esau, Edom's ancestor ancestor, was the brother of Jacob, Israel's  ancestor (Gen 25.21-34). In verses 3-4: God's destruction of Edom is viewed elsewhere as punishment for Edom's participation in the sacking of Jerusalem when it was conquered by the Babylonians (Obadiah; Ps 137.7-8). Comments or Questions..

Reading for April 6th

 Read Colossians 4.7-18. In 4.7-18:Epistolary closing. A reemphasis on the importance of maturity and commendation of persons firmly entrenched in the ethos of the new dominion. In verses 7-10: Tychichus, Aristarchus, see Acts 20.14. In verse 14: See Philem 23. In verse 15: Nymphia: Some manuscripts treat Nympha as a female name, others as a male name perhaps because a scribe who did not consider the possibility of a woman's owning a house, though the patronage of a women in early Christianity is generally accepted. In verse 16: The letter from Laodicea is lost, though Maricon, an early Christian writer who died around 160 CE, thought it was our letter to the Ephesians. In verse 17: Archippus, see Philem 2. In verse18: A scribe would have written the letter, with the author approving the dictation in his own hand. Comments or Questions..

Reading for April 5th

 Read Colossian 3.18-4.6. Household codes governed life within the extended family. See Eph 5.22-6.9;1 Tim 2.8-15; 6.1-2; Titus 2.1-10; I Pet 2.13-3.7. In verse 5: Making the most of time, see Eph 5.16. In verse 6: Seasoned with salt, carefully or wisely selected. See Mk 9.49-50; Mt 5.13. Comments or Questions..

Reading for April 4th

 Read Colossians 3.1-17. In 3.1: Right hand of God, see Ps 101.1. In verses 5-11: On the use of vice lists in Paul, see Rom 1.29-31; Gal 5.19-21. Hellenistic teachers often used vice and virtue lists to challenge their students. In verse 11: Barbarian, non-Greek, Scythian, a wild person: no longer will there be a different ethnic groups and subgroups. The author commends ethnic and class equality but not the equality of the sexes as found in Gal 3.28. In verse 16: See Eph 5.19. Comments or Questions..

Reading for April 3rd

 PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS OF THE HOPE

In 2.20-4.6: Life with Christ governs regulations about food and drink and relations with other Christians, family members, and outsiders. An initial transition (2.20-23) reveals the practical implications of death with Christ. Another transition (3.1-4) commends the life raised with Christ, followed by a vice list (3.5-11), a virtue list (3.12-17), and household duties (3.18-4.6). 

Read Colossians 2.20-23.

Reading for April 2nd

 Read Colossians 1.24-2.19. In 2.24-2.19: A personal witness and a warning.  An autobiographical sketch describes the church's maturation (1.24-2.5) and leads to a warning against deviating from the truth (2.6-19). In 1.24; A certain amount of suffering is assumed to be necessary (see 1 Thess 3.3) before the end can arrive. Completing ... Christ's affliction, any suffering brings the end sooner. In verses 26-27: The mystery  is Christ in you, the image of Christ growing in you. In verse 29: Toil, struggle, the effort to bring about the community's maturity. See I Thess 2.9. In 2.6; Live your lives, "conduct" your lives, see 1.10. In verses 8-19: The warning: Although the heresy appears as wisdom because its ascetic and ritualistic practices, Christ's death and resurrection are sufficient to bring the believers lives into the new dominion. In verse 8: Takes you captive, false teachers are like robbers or kidnappers. In verses 11-12: Putting off, buried with him in baptism, baptismal images joined with spiritual circumcision to describe entry into a new life (see Gal 3.27). In verse 14: record, a note of debt.. In verse 15: Disarmed. stripped of power. Roman emperors led captives in a public triumphal procession. In verse 17; Shadow and substance, a familiar contrast in Greek thought (see Plato's republic 514a-518b). In verse 18: Angel's worship, worship offered to angels or worship offered by angels, probably the latter. Comments or Questions..