Daily Meditations on the Bible
There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
Summary: This was not an easy meditation to write. I will warn you right now that you might not like it. If you don’t like it, I hope you will be patient until the end and gently correct my thinking in the comments.
Continue reading “Ephesians 4:4-6 – Oneness”
Warn a divisive person once, and then warn them a second time. After that, have nothing to do with them.
Summary: Paul’s reasoning behind his instructions regarding divisive people is grounded in both the protection of God’s church, and the wellbeing of all believers.
Continue reading “Titus 3:10 — A Church Divided”
The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.
Authority is a funny thing. Often we like to have it. We imagine that with authority comes respect and obedience only … it doesn’t.
Bosses don’t get the respect and obedience they would like. Parent complain that their kids don’t do what they are told to do. Teachers wish their students would pay attention. Kids get mad at their pets when they chew up kid toys instead of pet toys.
To speak with authority is to have authority. Oddly, Jesus doesn’t even claim to have authority of his own. He points to the Father, living in him as the source of his authority. This is where we get back to the oneness of God and Jesus. They are inseparable. They are one. God speaks and Jesus moves his lips. Oneness.
Continue reading “Oneness – John 14: 10b”
“I and the Father are one.”
What does he mean by saying, “one?” A quick look in Strong’s Concordance suggests that the English translation here is every bit as clear and oblique as the Greek. One means one. It can mean ‘one’ as in one thing, or it can mean ‘one’ as in whole, or complete.
“I and the Father are one.”
In the first book of the Bible, Genesis, in the second chapter and the twenty-fourth verse God says, “That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.” What does that mean, “one flesh?” Is that the same kind of thing that Jesus is talking about or different? It is mentioned again and again in the New Testament as an example of oneness.
Continue reading “Oneness – John 10: 30”