Bible Study resources for the Gospel of Mark, to help individuals and small groups explore how the Bible applies to life today: background, commentary, questions. Mark Introduction to Mark Mark presents Jesus as the Messiah (the Christ) and the Son of God. Mark 1:1-8 John the Baptist comes to prepare the way for one greater than him. Mark 1:9-16 Jesus is baptized, subjected to temptation, and starts preaching. Image at top: First lines of Mark 16, Codex Sinaiticus. Late 2nd century or early 3rd century. Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:P.Oxy_LXXXIII_5345.png .

What are God’s purposes for making the world the way it is? Why does he allow bad things to happen? What is God trying to do? And what is our role? God's Purposes What is God’s purpose for making the world the way he did? Why does God allow bad things to happen? What in the world is God trying to do, and what is our role? These questions trouble people. Agnostics argue that we can’t find answers to these questions. Atheists argue that a good God wouldn’t allow bad things to happen, so there can’t really be a God. Some believers argue that God is so far beyond us that we can’t understand his ways. Some Christians even think we shouldn’t try to answer these questions – that it’s not our place to ask what God is trying to do. The Bible encourages us to use our minds as well as our spirits as we seek the truth. Jesus told us he would send us the Spirit of truth to guide us to the truth (John 16:13-15). Jesus also told us to love God with “all your mind” as well as all your heart and soul (Matt. 22:37; Mark 12:30; Luke 10:27). After the resurrection, Jesus “opened their minds” to understand the Scriptures (Luke 24:45). Paul urges us to have the mind of Christ (Phil. 2:5; 1 Cor. 2:16). Paul also urges us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Rom. 12:2). God has given us minds to explore his purposes, which he has revealed to us clearly enough that we don’t need to be afraid of tough questions. He has shown us the way to understand his purposes. The evidence is in his Word, his work in the world, and the insights he has given to his people. We must earnestly use the minds God has given us. Please join me in a deep dive into: God’s Purposes: What in the World is God Doing? This “book” is a work in progress. Use the links below to read sections of the book as they are written. Members can also use the Contact form below to ask a question or provide feedback as the book is developed and revised. Section 1: Introduction You Have a Purpose Actually, you have many purposes! You Can Choose You have free will. To Have the Mind of Christ That's one of our goals. Where is God? - Part 1 Outside the timeline. Where is God? - Part 2 Active in the timeline. Does God Care? If God doesn't care about us, we are in a pretty precarious position. Is God More Powerful Than Any Other Force? If God isn't powerful, we can't count on him for much. Section 2: Suffering If God is All-Good and All-Powerful, Why Does He Allow Suffering? This is a perennial question, and for good reason. If God Could Stop Suffering, Why Wouldn't He? Are there any reasons why God would not make the prevention of suffering his highest priority? God is Like a High School Coach Does a high school coach prevent all suffering their players might endure? Why not, and what might that tell us about God? God is Like the Most Loving Mother Does a loving mother prevent all suffering her children might endure? Why not, and what might that tell us about God? The image at the top and the image above of the hands reaching out are both provided by Wix.

Bible-based teaching that explores the Christian faith and how to live everyday life with gratitude, joy, faith, truth, kindness, and respect. Christian Faith Faith and the Christian Life What do Christians believe, and what does the Christian life look like? These articles explore important questions about who God is and how we can live the transformed life he offers us more fully. God Loves All People and Never Wills Evil Even Though He Allows It People sometimes speak as though God only loves those who love him and wills the evil that happens in our lives. These are misunderstandings of the nature of God. God loves everyone and never causes evil, even though he allows evil in his pursuit of a greater good. God Did Not Abandon Jesus on the Cross The idea that God abandoned or withdrew from Jesus, or hid his face from Jesus, contradicts the Bible and Christian doctrine about the Trinity. God was there to the end and will never abandon humans. God Takes a Downside-Up View of the World Throughout the Bible, God views what is going on from the perspective of the lowly, the poor, and the outcast. Faith Versus Works: What Does the Gospel of Matthew Say Matthew does not support the idea that a sinner’s prayer is a simple ticket to heaven. In his Gospel, Jesus calls us to much more than that. Look for the Perspective that Allows You to See Joy Your attitude determines what is a “win.” Reconciliation Can Start with a Gesture What is the small gesture or action you could take? When Did Christians First Recognize the Divinity of Jesus? The earliest Christian documents – Paul’s letters to the Thessalonians – show an early understanding that Jesus is God, and the Gospels say it explicitly. Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Discipleship, Responsibility, Transformation Many seek to use him for their own cause, but few want to embrace his total commitment to Christ. God Reveals Himself in Scripture and in the Natural World, through Faith and Science God teaches us through faith and science. The Rapture? It’s Not a Pre-Millennial Escape from Tribulation Pre-tribulation theories contradict Jesus and Paul. What does the Bible actually say? Let's put our faith into action! The life of a follower of Christ is an adventure. We each have a unique mind, body, and spirit , character, abilities, and circumstances . Jesus embraces each of us in the fullness of who we are. He also embraces us collectively as the Body of Christ. Through the working of the Holy Spirit in us, God wants to help each of us, individually and together – every day, all the time – to become more fully like Jesus and to participate in His work to transform the world. Where do you need to grow? In what ways can you take a step closer to God? Possible Future Topics Want to see more? If there is nothing posted on a topic listed above, it means I don't have anything ready for publication on that topic yet. If you would like to encourage a higher priority for a topic, or would like to see a topic explored further, send me a note using the contact form below explaining what you are interested in and why it should be a priority. If you would like to pay for the development of specific material, please feel free to explore that with me, but payment is not required. The main thing is to offer a convincing case that the topic you are interested in should be a priority as material is added to the website. Image at top by Erika Giraud, provided by Unsplash via Wix.

To follow Jesus, we need to make some choices. Previous Matthew List Next Matthew 8:18-34 To follow Jesus, we need to make some choices. Rembrandt (1606-1669). Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee . 1633. Detail. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rembrandt_Christ_in_the_Storm_on_the_Lake_of_Galilee.jpg . The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, MA, https://www.gardnermuseum.org/experience/collection/10953 , stolen in 1990. Tom Faletti July 31, 2024 Matthew 8:18-22 Jesus cautions people who claim they want to follow him There are two stories here. The first story involves a scribe. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus undermined the common understanding of many Old Testament passages by his novel interpretation of the Scriptures. Yet now a scribe, a scholar trained in analyzing the Law, comes to him and says he will follow Jesus. Why is it significant that a scribe expresses interest in following Jesus? Jesus’s response if rather cryptic. What is the meaning of his reply to the scribe (verse 20)? What is Matthew hoping we will take from this story about the scribe? In verse 21, another man approaches Jesus. This man is a “disciple” – in other words, someone who has already been following Jesus around. What does he say? Scholars suggest that when he says, “Let me go and bury my father,” he probably doesn’t mean that his father just died. Rather, he is saying: I will follow you after my father dies. This might be meant literally, but it also might be meant figuratively: When I am no longer under his authority, or when I no longer have any obligations to him, or when I won’t have to deal with his disapproval of my following you. In any of these cases, it might be years before this “disciple” could actually envision following Jesus with his whole self. When or how do we sometimes put off following Jesus, or put off getting more serious in our commitment to him? What is the meaning of Jesus’s reply? Some scholars think that “let the dead” means let those who are unresponsive to the new life Jesus is proclaiming. If so, what is Jesus saying? Sometimes people are unresponsive to new ideas because they don’t want to question what they already believe – they’re too embedded in their comfortable mental ruts. My high school drama teacher Tom Beagle, the teacher who had the greatest impact on my life, was fond of saying, “People who stop thinking are as good as dead. They haven’t lain down yet, but they sure do stink up the place.” What is Jesus implying in calling some people “dead”? The key to this passage may be the word "first" in verse 21, which involves the issue of priorities. Matthew is trying to make a point about discipleship – about being a follower of Jesus. What is he trying to tell us? How important is it to be a 100%, all-in follower of Jesus? What do these two interactions with Jesus say to you about your own level of discipleship? Do these passages make you more or less eager to be a follower of Jesus? Explain. In the next set of 3 miracles, Jesus expands beyond the narrow realm of physical healing. Matthew 8:23-27 Jesus rebukes the storm There are anecdotal stories of sudden, fierce storms on Lake Kinneret, the modern name for the Sea of Galilee. The lake is nearly 700 feet below sea level, in a valley surrounded by rugged and arid terrain, and it is affected by Mediterranean sea breezes as well as the temperature dynamics in the valley. What is the disciples’ reaction to the storm in verse 25? What is Jesus’s response in verse 26? What does his rebuke say to them and to us? Note that Jesus doesn't say they have "no" faith – just "little" faith. How might this be an encouragement to us? What does Jesus do? What is the meaning behind the question the disciples ask in verse 27? What are they really wondering? In Jesus’s time, how might this kind of miracle – calming a storm – have been considered a sign of even greater power than physical healings? What does this miracle tell us about Jesus? People often see this incident as metaphor for how we deal with the storms of life. What does it say to you personally as a metaphor for life? Matthew 8:28-34 Jesus, men, demons, and pigs There is uncertainty about the location of this event, because Mark 5:1 says it is in the land of the Gerasenes, whereas Matthew says Gadarenes. Gerasa was 35 miles from the Sea of Galilee. Gadara is a more likely location. It was a predominantly Gentile town (one of the 10 cities of the Decapolis) just 6 miles southeast of the Sea of Galilee ( Ignatius Catholic Study Bible , Matthew 8:28 fn., p. 21) . However, the early church father Origen believed it happened in Gergesa, a town that was directly on the shore (Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 1 , p. 326), and that name appears in some of the later manuscripts ( New American Bible, revised edition , Matt. 8:28 fn. ) and ended up in the King James version of the Bible. It was common for Jews in Jesus’s time to think that demons were everywhere and were behind every bad thing that happened. This incident happens in a town that had many Gentiles. We know this because Jews would not have had a herd of pigs, since it was forbidden to eat pork – even dealing with live pigs was considered unclean. This is the second miracle (the first involved the centurion) where Matthew shows that Jesus is for all people – Gentiles as well as Jews. How do you think the people in this town felt about the two demon-possessed men, as they approached Jesus? What do they shout at him in verse 29, and what does it mean? In Jesus’s time, many Jews expected that the Messiah, when he came, would vanquish demons as well as earthly powers. The demons are implicitly recognizing Jesus as the Messiah and suggesting that he is acting before his appointed time. What do the demons ask of Jesus? Why do you think Jesus agreed to do this? People sometimes object to the possibility that Jesus might have caused the death of these innocent pigs. Those of us who eat pork and do not have a religious objection to pigs might be more sympathetic to the pigs than a Jewish audience would have been. Barclay has an interesting response. In Jesus’s time, many people believed that legions of demons were all around them everywhere they went in their daily lives. Jesus might have realized that it would be hard for the two men to believe that they had been freed from their demonic tormentors without some visible sign. The stampeding of the pigs served as physical evidence that the demons were no longer in the men. And since it was believed that demons are killed by water, it would be clear that these demons are now dead and could no longer torment them or anyone else. In this view, a herd of swine is not too high a price to pay to save two men ((Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 1 , pp. 329-330). How do you think that Jews observing this would have felt about what happened? Why would Jesus’s power over demons have been seen as a greater power than even power over the storm? What does Matthew want his readers to understand about Jesus? The swineherds run off and tell the whole town what happened, and the people come out to Jesus. But whereas the people who heard about Jesus from the woman at the well in the Gospel of John came out to learn from him and ultimately believed in him, the people of this town had a different reaction. How do the people of the town react? What do the ask Jesus to do? Why do you think that is their reaction? They probably were concerned about the economic impact of the loss of the swine. They may also have had other fears. Isn’t it sad that the people of this town, when given an opportunity to spend time with the Messiah, ask him to leave? Compare this tragedy to the loss of the swine. Are there ways in which we ask Jesus to stay at a distance from us because of fear that he might ask us to do things that would affect our pocketbooks or finances? How might it be true that we don’t even see the choices we are making, small and large, that keep Jesus from being an integral part of our lives? If you were God, how would you respond to the fact that some people don’t want quite such a powerful, active, and personal God? Take a step back and consider this: Previously, Jesus healed people, showing his power over illness and therefore, in a sense, his power of the human body. In these two miracles – the calming of the storm and the freeing of the demon-possessed men – we see Jesus revealing his power over nature and over the demons in the unseen spiritual world around us. This is monumental power he is showing. And since how power comes from his Father in heaven, he is showing that he has been given authority over all of creation – both visible and invisible, seen and unseen. Most Christians do not see God working in such dramatic, physical ways. But to tell the truth, most Christians would be uncomfortable if God did act in such dramatic, physical ways. Is it possible that we don’t often see God working in dramatic ways because, deep down inside, we’re not sure we want to be quite so close to such a powerful, active, personal God? What might hold us back? Are there ways in which you might be afraid of the uncertainty of living with a God who acts so powerfully? Are there ways in which you might be afraid that you might have to give up too much of what you own, if you give your life totally to this kind of God? Are there ways in which you might be afraid of the level of discipleship and commitment this powerful and active God might want of you? How would Jesus respond to your concerns? As he got in the boat and left that town, he probably did so reluctantly, with deep sadness in his heart. He would have wanted to stay, and teach them, and share with them the love of his Father. He wants to be with us and teach us, and love us, and work through us. What is Jesus saying to you as you consider this story? Bibliography See Matthew - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/matthew/bibliography . Copyright © 2025, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous Matthew List Next

In the days surrounding Jesus’s birth, uncertainty is a fact of life for his mother Mary. She responds by pondering and treasuring everything that happens. How can we embrace her trusting attitude? [Matthew 1:18-25; Luke 2:1-7; 2:8-20; 2:21; Luke 2:22-24] Previous Mary List Next Session 2: Jesus’s birth causes uncertainty as well as joy In the days surrounding Jesus’s birth, uncertainty is a fact of life for his mother Mary. She responds by pondering and treasuring everything that happens. How can we embrace her trusting attitude? [Matthew 1:18-25; Luke 2:1-7; 2:8-20; 2:21; Luke 2:22-24] Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665). The Adoration of the Shepherds . Around 1633-4. Detail. The National Gallery, London, UK. Photo by Tom Faletti, 28 May 2025. Tom Faletti July 13, 2025 As we explore the birth and infancy of Jesus, we are going to look at what happens from Mary’s perspective. We begin with a story that is partly about Mary but not told from Mary’s perspective. It is Joseph’s side of the story as Mary and Joseph grapple with the virginal conception and birth of Jesus. Matthew 1:18-25 The birth of Jesus from Joseph’s perspective What dilemma does Joseph face? How do you think Mary felt as Joseph was considering what to do about the fact that she was pregnant? How do you think Mary felt when Joseph told her about her dream and took her into his house to live their married life together? Mary bears a lot of uncertainty throughout her life. The Bible doesn’t tell us much about what she is thinking or how she deals with the anxiety of not knowing what will happen. How do you think Mary dealt with anxiety? We have no words from Mary in this story. What can learn from this “silent Mary” who endures all things quietly and stays faithful? Luke 2:1-7 Mary and Joseph travel to Bethlehem, where Jesus is born Why do Joesph and Mary travel to Bethlehem? Traveling from Nazareth to Bethlehem would require walking around 90 miles, which would take 4-7 days, depending on how fast Joseph wanted to push his pregnant wife and perhaps a donkey. Donkeys walk at roughly the same speed as humans, so a donkey helps carry a burden and can carry a human, but it doesn’t speed up the journey. Note: In Luke 2:4, Jesus is referred to as Mary’s “firstborn son.” Some have tried to argue that this is a clear signal that Mary had more children later. That would be a misreading of the text. This passage does not provide any guidance regarding the debate between Protestants and Catholics over whether Mary had additional children or was a perpetual virgin. For Jews, the phrase “firstborn son” had a special meaning that applied regardless of whether the mother had more children later. They were commanded to redeem their firstborn son through a special offering. We will see this when we look at Luke 2:22-24. This offering was required regardless of whether they ever had additional children. So the only thing Luke is clearly stating here is that Jesus is subject to the requirements that applied to a “firstborn son.” How do you think Mary felt when she learned that she and Joseph needed to walk or travel by donkey to Bethlehem? How comfortable do you think Mary and Joseph are with each other at this point? If you have had a newborn child, think back to those early days. Now add to your mental image the extra challenges Mary faces: staying in a cave or barn, or more likely, staying in a stranger’s house on the first floor where the animals live, while the residents sleep upstairs. What do you think it would have been like for Mary in those first days in Bethlehem with a newborn baby? If you were Mary, how would you try to make sense of the contrast between the prophecies that this child would be great and the gritty reality of life with the animals? Luke 2:8-20 Shepherds suddenly pop in and tell Mary that her son is special We usually start looking at this story from the perspective of the shepherds, who see angels. Consider it from the perspective of Mary, who does not see these angels (though she has seen an angel before) but first encounters the shepherds when they barge into the cave or barn or house and tell her they have seen angels. Focus on verses 16-17 for a moment. How do you think Mary feels? According to verse 11, What did the angels tell the shepherds about Jesus? In verse 11, the angels tell the shepherds that this is good news for all people. What do you think this reference to “all people” means to them and to Mary? Verse 18 tells us that everyone who heard the shepherds’ story was amazed. Do you think this includes Mary? What do you think her initial reaction is? Verse 19 tells us that Mary hung onto these events long after they happened, keeping them and reflecting on them (NABRE) or treasuring them and pondering them (NRSV) in her heart. There are two parts to this. First, she keeps or treasures the memories. What do you think these memories mean to Mary as the years go by during Jesus’s childhood? Second, she ponders or reflects on what has happened. How does pondering and reflecting what has happened in the past help prepare us or strengthen us for what may lie ahead in our life? How does looking back on what God has done help us discern what God is trying to do in our lives now? Do you think these memories meant something different to Mary after Jesus began his public ministry? How might these memories have taken on a different or enhanced meaning after Jesus died and rose from the dead? What Mary was, we are called to be. How can the habit of treasuring and pondering what God has done in our lives help us be the kind of people God is calling us to be? What Mary did, we are called to do. How can we act on what God shows us as we treasure and ponder what he has done previously in our lives? Luke 2:21 Jesus is circumcised and named What is the significance of the fact that Jesus is circumcised? If you go back and look at the accounts of the appearance of the angel to Mary and the angel in Joseph’s dream, both angels tell them to name the child Jesus. This would be the Hebrew name Joshua, which means “God saves,” or “Yahweh saves.” What do you think the assignment of this name to Jesus meant to them? Luke 2:22-24 Mary offers sacrifice for purification and Jesus is consecrated to God Starting in verse 22, Luke describes rites that occurred 40 days after Jesus’s birth. There are two things going on here: According to the Law of Moses, a woman who gave birth was considered unclean – i.e., ritually impure – for 40 days after the birth of a son (80 days after the birth of a daughter). At the end of that period, she was supposed to make an offering to God of a year-old lamb and either a pigeon or a turtledove. If she could not afford a lamb, she could offer a second pigeon or turtledove. Read Leviticus 12:1-8 to see the purification rule in the Old Testament. What strikes you as significant in Leviticus 12:1-8? What does the fact that they offered two pigeons or turtledoves, and not a lamb, tell you about them? Also, according to the Law of Moses, every firstborn son belongs to God and must be consecrated to him. The firstborn son is ransomed by the offering of a sheep, in remembrance of the death of the firstborns in Egypt when the Israelites were rescued from bondage. Jews were not required to make this offering at the Temple, but that is where Mary and Joseph did it. Read Exodus 13: 1-2, 11-16 to see the rules regarding the firstborn in the Old Testament. What does the fact that Mary and Joseph brought these offerings to the Temple tell you about them in terms of their faith? How do you think Mary and Joseph’s dedication to following the Law affected Jesus as he was growing up? As Mary was, so we are called to be. What does this passage say to you about your approach to your faith? Sometimes, when we face unexpected developments in our lives, it is easy to fall away from the regular routines that we might otherwise stick with, including church attendance and religious observances. How is Mary’s approach toward these practices an example to us of how to live out our faith in uncertain times? Take a step back and consider this: Mary faces a great deal of uncertainty as she ponders what the angels are saying about her son. The angel she encountered directly, at the Annunciation, told her that her son would be given the throne of David and would rule over the house of Jacob forever (Luke 1:32-33), yet his birth did not look like a royal birth in an earthly sense: no palace, no royal attendants, no heralds proclaiming the birth to the people in the countryside. Angels declared to nearby shepherds that he was a savior and Messiah, but no one cared enough to provide them a proper room for the delivery. We face uncertainties too. We might ask in faith for something we know is a good thing, and not receive it. We might pray for someone for decades and not see the outcome we desire. We might seek to be freed from a habitual sin and find it still lurking years later. And yet God has assured us that he never forsakes us. We might summarize this experience of life by saying that life is not always easy, but God says things are not always as they seem. There is more going on than we can see. Mary lives with the uncertainty and keeps doing what people of faith do, while keeps pondering, and treasuring, and trusting. How can you, like Mary, keep trusting God for what lies ahead, even when what is happening now is not what you might have liked? What attitudes and practices can you embrace that Mary has shown? Bibliography See Mary - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/mary/bibliography . Copyright © 2025, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous Mary List Next

The world and the Church will face difficult times, marked by lawlessness and apostasy, but in the end the Lord will be victorious. Previous 2 Thess. List Next 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 The world and the Church will face difficult times, marked by lawlessness and apostasy, but in the end the Lord will be victorious. Image by Zac Durant provided by Unsplash via Wix. Tom Faletti March 10, 2025 2 Thess. 2:1-12 What to expect before the end, including the appearance of the lawless one In verses 1-2, what has upset the Thessalonians? They think they have received information, either through a prophetic word from the Spirit or by a letter supposedly from Paul, saying that the Second Coming is already here or has already begun (see the Introduction ). In verse 1, Paul describes the Second Coming as our “assembling with” the Lord (NABRE) or being “gathered together to him” (NRSV) – it is when we will rejoin him and live with him forever. In verses 3-4, what two things does Paul say must happen before the Second Coming of Christ? There will be an apostasy – a time in which many people renounce the faith – and the lawless one will be revealed. In verses 3-4, how does Paul describe the lawless one (or man of lawlessness, or man of sin)? In verse 4, Paul describes this anti-Christ as seated in the temple of God. This image has been interpreted in a variety of ways ( Ignatius Catholic Study Bible , fn. to 2 Thess. 2:4, p. 382): Some church fathers saw this as referring to a rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem. I don’t think Paul would have seen it that way. The Temple was still standing in Jerusalem when he wrote this. The Jews had suffered the ignominy of having Antiochus IV sack Jerusalem and set up a statue of the Greek god Zeus in the Temple, but to Paul, the Temple in Jerusalem was no longer a focal point of God’s activity. God now resided in his people, not in a building (see next bullet). So Paul is not likely to have had the physical Temple in Jerusalem in mind. Some church fathers believed Paul was talking about the Church. This fits well with Paul’s other letters. To Paul, Christians individually (1 Cor. 3:16-17) and collectively (2 Cor. 6:16; Eph. 2:21) were and are the temple of God. Some scholars read the passage more metaphorically, seeing the Antichrist as placing himself symbolically in the place of God, in our hearts, in our nations, in our world. In verses 9-10, how does Paul describe the lawless one? Based on verses 10 and 11, what is the lawless one’s primary tool for doing his evil work? Deceit. In verse 7, Paul says that lawlessness is already at work in the world. What are some ways that you see lawlessness at work in your world? Lawlessness shows up in big ways (murder) and small ways (excessive speeding). It shows up in family abuse and neglect, in the sale of unsafe products by corporations and the failure to give workers their rights to overtime pay, in the “anything goes” attitude that infects many corners of the Internet, in athletes who break the rules in order to win, and the list goes on. If you look behind the surface manifestations of lawlessness, what would you say is the root cause behind the many different kinds of lawlessness in our world? There are many possible answers to this question. It could be the attitude that the law does not apply to me, that I decide what is right and wrong, that I’m more important than anyone else and my welfare and goals matter most. That could be described as selfishness. Another possible answer is that in our world there is an underlying disregard for human life or a dehumanization of others that desensitizes us to the ways we are out of control. The fact that a society allows these things to happen can lead to a resignation to the idea that there is no other way to live. Paul suggests that the lawlessness is not yet at flood level – it is restrained right now. Specifically, in verse 6 he tells the Thessalonians that they know what is restraining lawlessness right now, because he told them. We do not know what he told them and cannot be sure what he has in mind. Scholars disagree among themselves about what the restraining power is (verse 6) and who the one who restrains is (verse 7). Here are some of the explanations they offer (the following points are drawn from NABRE, fn. to 2 Thess. 2:6-7; and Ignatius Catholic Study Bible , “Word Study: Restraining (2 Thess.2:6),” p. 382): Some say the Roman Empire or the Roman emperor is the restraining force because they establish order. They point to Paul’s view of government in Romans 13:1-7 as support for this position. (Others argue against this view, pointing to the rampant abuses perpetrated by the Romans in their dealings with every nation they sought to conquer, control, and exploit, which Paul would have known well.) Some draw on Revelations 12:7-9 and 20:1-3 to suggest that angelic powers such as Michael the Archangel hold Satan back (2 Thess. 2:9). (Verse 7’s statement that the one who restrains the evil will be removed poses a problem for this interpretation.) Some say that God himself is the restrainer: that the Holy Spirit is the restraining power in verse 6 and God the Father is the one who restrains in verse 7. Some say that the preaching of the gospel holds lawlessness back, or that the need to allow time for the spread of the gospel to all nations holds off the end (Mark 13:10). Some argue that “restraining” is the wrong translation of the Greek word and that “seizing” is a more accurate translation. In this view, Paul is saying that an evil prophetic spirit like those seen in the worship of the Greek god Dionysius is seizing people in the Thessalonian Christian community and shaking them out of their wits (verse 2). Paul has warned them about it so that they can avoid it, but they have given in to deceit. But this is just a foretaste of the threat posed by the lawless one in the full power of his deceit. Given the wide range of guesses as to who or what Paul thinks is restraining lawlessness, it is not fruitful to spend too much time speculating about it. But 2 Peter 3:9 tells us that the Lord is patient and delays his coming so that all may come to repentance, and Revelation 20:2-3 tells us that we are living in the figurative “one-thousand-year” period between Jesus’s victory over sin and his final return, during which Satan is being restrained. In one way or another, God is restraining evil or allowing it to be restrained. In what ways do you see God restraining evil in our day and giving people time to repent and turn to him? In verse 8, Paul says that the Lord kills the lawless one by the breath of his mouth. This is a reference to Isaiah 11:4. In Isaiah 11:1-9, Isaiah issued a prophecy describing an ideal king from the line of David, the one who would come and set all things right. In verse 4 of that passage, he says that this shoot from the stump of Jesse, on whom the spirit of the Lord rests, would judge the poor with justice and slay the wicked with his breath. When Paul invokes the prophecy about Jesus in Isaiah 11:4 to say that the Lord slays the lawless one with the breath of his mouth, that prophecy says that the future Son of David will defend the poor and slay the wicked. How is the mistreatment of the poor a manifestation of the lawlessness in the world? How can we stand up for the poor against the lawless powers that mistreat them? In verses 10-12, Paul says that the lawless one, who is aligned with the power of Satan, deceives those who do not believe the truth. How can you know when you are being spiritually deceived? In verse 11, where Paul says God sends upon them a deceiving power or delusion (NABRE/NRSV), this is typical Jewish language of Paul’s time, where everything was attributed to God because nothing can happen unless God allows it. Since God does not tempt anyone to do evil (James 1:13), it is wisest to interpret this passage as talking about God’s permissive will, not his direct action – i.e., that God allows it, not that he causes it. God does not tempt us to do evil, but he does not shield us from being deceived when we have refused to accept the truth. The hinge or linchpin around which this whole passage revolves is verse 8. What does it say the Lord will do? If the Lord will destroy this evil one when he comes in his Second Coming, with what attitude can we approach the future? In verse 8, the Lord gains victory over the lawless one by a simple word – the breath of his mouth. God speaks a word in Genesis 1 and Creation comes into being. Jesus speaks a word in Mark 4:39 and the roaring storm is stilled. There is no battle between God and the lawless one; God merely issue a word and the opposition is gone. What does this ability of God to issue a word say to you in your life? Notice that this passage began by saying that these things must happen before the Second Coming of the Lord. Therefore, he is telling them that “the day of the Lord” is not at hand; it is not almost about to happen. A lot of other things must happen first. What they should worry about is not the timing of the Lord’s return but the risk of being deceived and losing their faith. What are the things in your life today that might pose a risk that you might lose your faith? What can you do about it? What message in this passage is important to you? Take a step back and consider this: Paul is trying to walk a fine line: telling the Thessalonians about the future and the Second Coming of Christ but not having them become overly preoccupied by it. That is probably a wise approach for us as well. Why is a basic understanding of the Second Coming of Christ an important element of our faith? Why is it more important to focus on what is going on in the here-and-now and not get too worked up (as the Thessalonians had) about possible signs of the future “end times”? How can you strike this balance? In particular, what is one thing (or more) that you should hang onto about Christ’s Second Coming and one thing (or more) that you should focus on as more important right now than the timing of the end times? Bibliography See 2 Thessalonians - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/2-thessalonians/bibliography . Copyright © 2025, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous 2 Thess. List Next

Bibliography of major sources and additional sources used in this study of Paul's Second Letter to the Thessalonians (2 Thess.). Previous 2 Thess. List Next 2 Thessalonians - Bibliography Bibliography of major sources and additional sources used in this study of Paul's Second Letter to the Thessalonians (2 Thess.). Some of the resources on the author's bookshelf. Tom Faletti March 8, 2025 Major Sources Barclay, William. The Letters to the Philippians, Colossians, and Thessalonians . The Westminster Press, Revised Edition, 1975. Brown, Raymond E. An Introduction to the New Testament . New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1997. Cousins, Peter E. “2 Thessalonians.” The International Bible Commentary: With the New International Version . F.F. Bruce, General Editor. Marshall Pickering/Zondervan, 1986. Demarest, Gary W. 1, 2 Thessalonians; 1, 2 Timothy; and Titus . The Communicator’s Commentary (Mastering the New Testament) , Lloyd J. Ogilvie, general editor. Word Books, 1984. Giblin, Charles Homer, S.J. “The Second Letter to the Thessalonians.” The New Jerome Biblical Commentary . Edited by Raymond E. Brown, et al. Prentice Hall, 1990. Havener, Ivan, OSB. First Thessalonians, Philippians, Philemon, Second Thessalonians, Colossians, Ephesians . Collegeville Bible Commentary, The Liturgical Press, 1983. Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: The New Testament, Revised Standard Edition, Second Catholic Edition . Ignatius Press, 2010. Interlinear Bible. Bible Hub , https://biblehub.com/interlinear/ . Liddell, Henry George and Robert Scott . An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon, Founded Upon the Seventh Edition of Liddell and Scott’s Greek-English Lexicon . Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1899. Perseus Digital Library , Tufts University, https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0058 . For the full Lexicon from 1940 available online, see A Greek-English Lexicon , Furman Classics Editions, http://folio2.furman.edu/lsj/ or A Greek-English Lexicon , Internet Archive , Volume I: https://archive.org/details/b31364949_0001/mode/2up and Volume II: https://archive.org/details/b31364949_0002/mode/2up . New American Bible, revised edition (NABRE) . Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, 2010. Scripture texts in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. and are used by permission of the copyright owner. All Rights Reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary . Edited by Raymond E. Brown, et al. Prentice Hall, 1990. The New Oxford Annotated Bible: New Revised Standard Version: With the Apocrypha: An Ecumenical Study Bible . Eds. Michael D. Coogan, Marc Z. Brettler, Carol A. Newsom, and Pheme Perkins. 4th ed. Oxford University Press, 2010. New Revised Standard Version Bible , copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance . Bible Hub , https://biblehub.com/greek/21.htm . Vine, William E. Vine’s Expository Dictionary , 1940, StudyLight.org , https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/ved.html . Additional Sources Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church . Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2005. “The Dignity of Work and the Rights of Workers,” United States Conference of Catholic Bishops , https://www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/what-we-believe/catholic-social-teaching/the-dignity-of-work-and-the-rights-of-workers . Copyright © 2025, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous 2 Thess. List Next

Jesus cleanses the Temple, removing the sacrificial lambs he will one day take the place of. Where do we need his cleansing in the “temple” of our own life? [John 2:13-17; 2:18-25] Previous Next John List John 2:13-25 Jesus cleanses the Temple, removing the sacrificial lambs he will one day take the place of. Where do we need his cleansing in the “temple” of our own life? From Histoire Sainte , an incomplete set of hand-coloured lithographs depicting scenes from the Bible and the History of Christianity, published in Paris by Delagrave and printed by Becquet frères. Circa 1850-1880. The British Museum, London (see https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1981-U-56-134?selectedImageId=1097590001 ). Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Histoire_Sainte_(BM_1981,U.56-134_60).jpg . Tom Faletti November 8, 2025 Read John 2:13-17 The cleansing of the Temple Why does Jesus go to Jerusalem? In John’s Gospel, Jesus spends much more time in Jerusalem than he does in the other Gospels. He goes from Bethany east of the Jordan River, where John was baptizing, to Galilee (where he grew up), where he starts gathering disciples, and now to Jerusalem for Passover. Passover was the annual spring religious feast celebrating God’s liberation of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. It was marked by the sacrificing of lambs to commemorate how they were protected when the angel of death “passed over” the houses of the Israelites that had the blood of a lamb on their doorposts. In the Gospel of John, Jesus goes to Jerusalem 3 times for Passover, suggesting that his public ministry lasted more than 2 years, and perhaps longer. Luke tells us (Luke 2:41) that Jesus’s parents brought him to Passover in Jerusalem every year as a child, and presumably he continued that practice throughout his adult life. What does Jesus do in Jerusalem? John places the cleansing of the Temple at the beginning of Jesus’s ministry, whereas the Synoptics place it at the end. The Gospels writers arranged their stories to achieve their theological purposes, not to tell the story in chronological order. In the Synoptics, this event is the precipitating factor that leads to the final murder plot against Jesus. For John, the precipitating factor is the raising of Lazarus. There are other, more minor differences that at a minimum suggest that the story was passed down orally in two slightly different forms from different eyewitnesses. Some scholars think he cleared the Temple twice, once at the beginning of his ministry and again at the end. What were the sheep, oxen, and doves used for, in the Temple? Oxen, sheep, and doves were sacrificed in the Temple. You could buy the appropriate animals for your sacrifice, so that you would not have to travel to Jerusalem with your own animals for sacrifice. Also, if you brought your own animal to the Temple, the authorities might reject it, saying it was blemished, and tell you to buy one of theirs. The Synoptic Gospels and secular historical accounts indicate that people were often fleeced by the merchants in the Temple. Why were there moneychangers in the Temple? (It’s understandable if you do not know the answer to this question.) The moneychangers were there to accept payment for the Temple tax that every adult male was obligated to pay annually. The Jewish leaders accepted only certain coins – for example, they did not accept Roman coins, which carried the image of Caesar – so you needed a moneychanger to exchange your money for the accepted coins. All of this business was conducted in the outer court of the Temple complex – the Court of the Gentiles – making it a noisy place not conducive to prayer. Jews could proceed into the courts that were closer to the Holy of Holies, but Gentiles had to stop here and could not proceed further in order to find a quiet place to pray. What reason does Jesus give in verse 16 for his action? Jesus does not want God’s house to be a marketplace. It had lost it sense of reverence as economic concerns overshadowed the primary purpose of the Temple as a place where people could interact with God. Jesus’s action reminds many scholars of the last verse of the book of Zechariah (Zech. 14:21), which prophesies that when the Lord comes there will no longer be merchants in the house of the Lord. What do you think Jesus wants God’s house to look like? How might economics, money, and market considerations affect how the Church as a whole and our local churches operate? How might those concerns interfere with our primary purposes as God’s people? John may have a deeper point in mind. Sheep and oxen were essential to the Temple’s role as a place of sacrifice. Therefore, what might be the deeper symbolism in driving them out of the Temple? What would it mean if there were no longer any sacrificial animals in the Temple? There could only be no animals if Temple sacrifice was no longer necessary. This could happen because Jesus is here and will sacrifice himself as the “Lamb of God,” as John the Baptist called him in 2:29 and 2:36. There may be even more to this, in the mind of John the evangelist. In the other Gospels, the Last Supper is on Passover night . But in John’s Gospel the Last Supper is on the night before Passover, and Jesus is dying on the Cross in his ultimate act of sacrifice just as the Passover lambs are being slaughtered in the Temple in preparation for that evening’s Passover meals. Jesus’s sacrifice will make the whole sacrificial system in the Temple unnecessary, which would obviate the need for merchants buying and selling animals for sacrifice. That would bring to fulfillment Zecharia’s prophecy that when the Lord comes there will no longer be merchants in the Temple. Verse 17 tells us that Jesus’s action reminds his disciples of Psalm 69:9 (69:10 in the NABRE), which talked about zeal for God’s house. They were struck by the zeal with which Jesus cleansed the Temple. Why do you think Jesus cleared the Temple? What is your reaction to what Jesus did? Read John 2:18-25 Jesus is challenged by the Jewish leaders In verse 18, John refers to “the Jews,” a phrase he will use repeatedly throughout his Gospel. Sometimes, he is just referring to the Jewish people generally (for example, in John 2:13: “The Passover of the Jews was near”). But other times, as in verse 18, he is referring specifically to the Jews who opposed Jesus: the leaders of the Jews in Jerusalem. John’s references to “the Jews” are never a general indictment of all Jews. John and Jesus and Jesus’s mother Mary and many people in John’s community were Jews. John was not speaking against all Jews. What was the reaction of the Jewish leaders to Jesus’s cleansing of the Temple? Why do they challenge him? What do they want? What “evidence” does he offer them? John often tells stories where someone misunderstands something Jesus says. What does Jesus mean by the “temple,” and what do the Jewish leaders think he means? Why do you think Jesus answers their challenge in this way? Note: If this confrontation seems premature, we need to remember that John is not necessarily telling us everything in chronological order. Where would you have been in this scene? (One of the disciples? One of the people challenging Jesus? A moneychanger or merchant? A Temple leader? A bystander? Or would you not even have been in the Temple?) Consider the person you just named in the previous question. How do you think they would have reacted to the clearing of the Temple and the discussion that followed? What does this story say to you? Saint Paul said that we are temples of the Holy Spirit, who resides in us (1 Cor. 6:19). Is there any part of the “temple” of your life that needs some cleansing by Jesus? What would he like to do? How do we let Jesus clear away the distractions so that we are proper temples of the Holy Spirit? Take a step back and consider this: Verse 23 tells us that Jesus did other signs while he was in Jerusalem that John does not tell us about, and many people began to believe in his name – but Jesus did not trust these apparent declarations of faith. The New Testament scholar Raymond Brown wrote that Jesus “did not trust their faith because it stopped at the miraculous aspect of the sign and did not perceive what was signified” (Brown, p. 341). In other words, they saw only the miraculous action and not the message or meaning to which the sign pointed. We are called to look for what God’s miraculous signs “signify” – the deeper messages they point to, the eternal truths that lie behind what God has done at the surface or physical level. The human tendency is to stop at the surface of what God has done and is doing. We can only reach our full calling when we go beyond the surface and embrace what the signs signify. How can we train ourselves to look for the deeper spiritual meaning behind what happens on the surface of our lives? Bibliography See John - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/john/bibliography . Copyright © 2026, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous John List Next

Jesus says, “My sheep follow me.” We are his sheep. How do we follow him? Jesus says, “I and the Father are one.” Why is that important? [John 10:22-30; 10:31-39; 10:40-42] Previous Next John List John 10:22-42 Jesus says, “My sheep follow me.” We are his sheep. How do we follow him? Jesus says, “I and the Father are one.” Why is that important? Jan Luyken (1649-1712). Christus als de Goede Herder (Christ as the Good Shepherd) . 1712. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Public domain (CC0), via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Christus_als_de_Goede_Herder,_RP-P-OB-46.009.jpg . Tom Faletti April 11, 2026 Read John 10:22-42 My sheep follow me; the Father and I are one The Feast of Dedication is what we call Hanukkah, the 8-day festival of lights in December that celebrates two things: the revolt led by the Maccabees that liberated Israel from Greek domination, and the subsequent re-consecration of the Temple in 164 BC after it had been desecrated by Antiochus IV Epiphanes. In verse 24, what do the Jewish leaders demand that Jesus tell them? Previously, Jesus has avoided saying explicitly to the religious leaders that he is the Messiah, probably because that title means something different to them than it means to him. He has only said it more clearly to people who believe in him (explicitly to the woman at the well and implicitly to the blind man he healed). In verse 25, Jesus says that his works testify to him and show that his life is based in the Father. How do the things you do testify to your faith and show that your life is based in God? Jesus says that his works already testify to who he is, but they don’t believe because they are not part of his sheep (verse 26). This suggests that only those who follow Jesus can really understand who Jesus is. Why does greater understanding come only to those who decide to follow Jesus? Jesus then continues his discussion of sheep from the previous passage. In verse 27, he says that his sheep hear his voice. Where do you go to hear the voice of Jesus? Jesus repeats in verse 27 that he knows his sheep and they follow him. We know that even Jesus’s sheep don’t always follow, or Jesus would not have told the parable of the man who left the 99 sheep to go and rescue the lost one (Matt. 18:12–14; Luke 15:3–7). What can we do about the fact that, sometimes, Jesus’s sheep know his voice but still wander off? What can we do about the fact that, sometimes, it is us who know Jesus’s voice but wander off? What assurance does Jesus give in verse 28, and how does he strengthen his point in verse 29? In verses 28 and 29, Jesus says that no one can take you out of his hand or the Father’s hand. What does this assurance mean to you personally? Clearly, this promise only applies to those who are part of Jesus’s sheep in the first place, not to the leaders whom he said are not among his sheep. (Similarly, in the story of the Last Judgment in Matthew 25:31-46, only some are sheep; those who have refused to care for the least among us are identified as goats and are not among Jesus’s sheep.) Here, Jesus seems to indicate that the defining characteristic of his sheep is that they hear his voice and follow him. What is Jesus asking you to do as a member of his flock? In verses 28 and 29, Jesus again equates himself with the Father when he says that no one can take his sheep out of his hand and no one can take his sheep out of his Father’s hand. He has again equated himself with the Father. But in case that wasn’t obvious enough, he ends in verse 30 with “I and the Father are one.” (Some translations reverse the order, perhaps to follow the rules of modern English grammar, but in the Greek it is “I and the Father are one.”) In verse 30, Jesus says, “I and the Father are one.” This is his clearest statement that he is God. How does this strengthen your faith in Jesus? The religious leaders recognize that what Jesus has said is blasphemous, unless it is true, so they pick up rocks to try to stone him for blasphemy. Jesus asks, “For which of my good works are you trying to stone me?” They respond that they are not trying to stone him for his work but for making himself God. People sometimes accuse the Jewish authorities of just being political. How does this incident show that some of them are very serious about trying to follow their faith? Verses 34-36 do not appear to respond directly to the complaint in verse 33 that Jesus is equating himself with God and instead seem to say that humans can be called “gods.” These verses could be interpreted as a separate point from what surrounds them. However, scholars think that Jesus is making a kind of argument known as an a fortiori argument, which was used by the rabbis and others throughout history, in which the speaker is saying that if a lesser thing is true then a greater thing must all the more be true: If even humans can be called gods, then it is all the more true for Jesus, who is consecrated (verse 36) by God. Here is what the verses mean: In verse 34, John uses the Septuagint (Greek) translation of Psalm 82:6, which says, “You are gods.” (Most Bibles translate the Old Testament from the Hebrew, so Psalm 82:6 reads slightly different there.) Psalm 82 denounces the gods of other nations for not providing justice and protecting the lowly, but this psalm was also interpreted as an indictment of the corrupt leaders of the nation of Israel, who failed to provide justice and protect the poor in Israel. The Old Testament in some places describes those in authority as having the function of God because their authority comes ultimately from God (for example, Deut. 1:17; Ex. 21:6). Psalm 82:6 refers to them as “gods” and calls them “sons of the Most High” but adds that they will die like any mortal; so it uses the word “gods” for humans. Jesus uses this verse to tell them they should not object to him calling himself the Son of God. Although Jesus points out that the Old Testament sometimes refers to people as “gods” (for example, judges/leaders) in what ways is Jesus different from humans who because of their positions might be called “gods”? After arguing that it is appropriate to call him the “Son of God,” Jesus makes another claim that he is greater. In verse 36, he says that “the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” How does this indicate his uniqueness and difference from mere humans? In verse 36, Jesus says he has been “consecrated” by the Father. To be consecrated means to be holy and set apart for a particular purpose. The Feast of Dedication celebrated the re-consecration of the Temple and its altar to serve God’s purposes after it had been desecrated. Jesus may have had that feast of re-consecration in mind when he used the word “consecrated.” How does Jesus, as the One consecrated by God, ultimately replace the altar and the sacrifices of the Temple? In verses 37-38, Jesus says again that, even if they do not believe him because of his words, they should believe him because of his works, which show that he is in the Father and the Father is in him. To what extent is Jesus’s miraculous work reason enough to believe in him? Jesus returns to the place across the Jordan River where John the Baptist was first baptizing people – where Jesus was baptized by John and where he gathered his first disciples. How might this be a special place for Jesus to gather spiritual strength as he prepares to face what he knows lies ahead? When you are facing difficult challenges, what are the places you can go to physically, or the spiritual foundations you can call to mind, to help you stay grounded in God’s purposes for you? Verses 41-42 tell us that the local people remembered that John had pointed them to Jesus. They thought about Jesus’s signs, and many of them came to believe in him. This is a contrast with the religious leaders, who refuse to believe despite all the evidence. What can we learn from this interlude in Jesus’s life? Looking at this whole passage from verse 22 on, what stands out to you as something you can take with you and apply in your life? Take a step back and consider this: There are two major places where Jesus uses the imagery of sheep for his followers: here in John 10 and in the Last Judgment in Matthew 25:31-46. It might be instructive to compare what Jesus says about sheep in the two passages. In John 10:27, Jesus says that his sheep hear his voice and follow him. In Matthew 25, he says that some sheep don’t realize that when they have fed the hungry, welcomed the stranger, visited the sick or imprisoned, etc., it is Jesus they have served. Did the sheep in Matthew 25 “hear” his voice and follow him? They heard enough to understand the call to love one another, and they followed his command by showing love for those in great need. Perhaps his commands were so internalized in them that they didn’t even think about whether they were serving Jesus; they just knew they were following the law of love, the Golden Rule to do for others what you would want them to do for you. In contrast, the “goats” did not care follow the law of love, did not follow the Golden Rule, and so they did not see Jesus in the ways he shows himself to us in the least among us. They did not follow his commands. They did not show any evidence that they actually “heard” his voice. And yet they are surprised. They somehow think they should have the same judgment as the sheep even though they have not acted the way the sheep have acted. They think they should be ushered into eternal life even though they have not followed Jesus’s commands. When Jesus says that his sheep “hear” his voice and “follow” him, what do you think he expects that to look like? What do you think he expects them to be doing? Interestingly, Jesus does not say in these sheep stories that the sheep go to church, pray, study the Bible, or do any of the other “spiritual” things Christians often emphasize. That doesn’t mean those other things aren’t important. But it does indicate that Jesus wants more than just “spiritual” practices. Does he only want us to follow him into places of good pasture? Or does he also want us to follow him into service to people in need? Later in this Gospel, Jesus will tell us to love one another as he loves us, to keep his commandments, and to remain in him; and he will pray that we all may be one. How are those also things that a sheep does if the sheep is hearing his voice and following him? Bibliography See John - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/john/bibliography . Copyright © 2026, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous John List Next

The Gospel of John shows us Jesus Christ, who is both God and man and Son of the Father. It provides spiritual insights that go beyond what the other Gospels have, so that we can believe and have life. Previous Next John List Introduction to John The Gospel of John shows us Jesus Christ, who is both God and man and Son of the Father. It provides spiritual insights that go beyond what the other Gospels have, so that we can believe and have life. Image provided by Wix. Tom Faletti October 31, 2025 Introduction: Background Regarding the Gospel of John (This background information is a synthesis of the scholarship presented in many sources, including the following: Brown, Introduction , pp. 362-376; Brown, The Community , pp. 22-24, 166-182; Bruce, pp. 1-12; Flanagan, pp. 101-104, 119-121; Perkins, pp. 942-950; Sloyan, pp. 8-28; Ignatius Catholic Study Bible , pp. 157-158; Ellis, pp. 1230-1231; and New American Bible, revised edition , New Testament, pp. 142-144.) Why was the Gospel of John written? The Gospel of John tells us why it was written: John wants us to believe and have life: At the end of chapter 20, John says that he could have written many more things about Jesus. “But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:31, NRSV). Around AD 324, Eusebius, the bishop of Caesarea, tried to summarize everything he could find about the origins of the Gospels. In his Ecclesial History , he quotes from a document written by an earlier bishop, Clement of Alexandria (AD 150-215), that we no longer have: John tells about events before John the Baptist was arrested that are not in the other Gospels: Clement said that John wrote his Gospel partly because the first 3 Gospels did not tell about the beginning of Jesus’s ministry but only covered the final year of Jesus’s ministry after John the Baptist was arrested (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, Book III , Chapter 24, pars. 7-8). Eusebius reports: “John accordingly, in his Gospel, records the deeds of Christ which were performed before the Baptist was cast into prison, but the other three evangelists mention the events which happened after that time” (par. 12). John wrote a “spiritual gospel”: Eusebius writes: “But, last of all, John, perceiving that the external facts had been made plain in the Gospel, being urged by his friends, and inspired by the Spirit, composed a spiritual Gospel. This is the account of Clement.” (Eusebius, Book VI , Chapter 14, pars. 6-7) This suggests that John is going beyond the external, physical, material facts and exploring the meaning of what Jesus did He is exploring on a deeper level than the other Gospels, not just providing strictly what Jesus said and did. We might call this the “theological” Gospel, because it focuses on the symbolic nature of Jesus’s life and the metaphors that help us understand the true nature of Jesus. We can see this in the ways John talks about Jesus being the light, the way, the truth, the life, the resurrection, the good shepherd, etc. How important are metaphors like the light, the way, the truth, the life, etc. in understanding who Jesus is? How do you think this Gospel might help you believe in Jesus and have life? Who is the author? We are not sure of the identity of the author of the Gospel of John. None of the Gospel authors put their name on their Gospel. The titles that say they are “according to Matthew,” “according to Mark,” etc., were added early on and are not part of the original documents. There are two puzzles regarding the authorship of the Gospel of John: John’s Gospel never refers to “John,” but it does talk about “the disciple whom Jesus loved,” who scholars call the “Beloved Disciple.” Was this Beloved Disciple the same as John the apostle, or someone else? John the apostle and his brother James were the sons of Zebedee. This Gospel never refers to James or John by name, and it only refers to the sons of Zebedee once: in an epilogue (chapter 21) not written by the author of the rest of the book. Many scholars believe that the Beloved Disciple was the apostle John, the son of Zebedee. A smaller number of scholars think it was Lazarus or Thomas. A significant group of scholars think it was another disciple not named in the other Gospels: an eyewitness who was there through it all but was not one of the “Twelve” and only rose to prominence later. The simplest conclusion is that “the one whom Jesus loved” is the apostle John, the son of Zebedee. The Beloved Disciple appears in many places where we might expect John the apostle. He reclines at Jesus’s side at the last Supper (13:21-26). He is treated as a leader (20:1-2). He is at the foot of the cross and took Mary into his house (19:25-27). And he is the disciple who it is suggested would not be martyred as Peter was (21:17-24). These are all things that fit John the Apostle. So concluding that it was John the apostle requires the fewest additional assumptions, even though many scholars prefer the idea that it was an unknown eyewitness. Who wrote the Gospel of John? Was it the eyewitness Beloved Disciple/John the apostle, or was it another person from John’s community drawing on John’s oral accounts? Irenaeus, writing around AD 180, says: “John, the disciple of the Lord, who also had leaned upon His breast, did himself publish a Gospel during his residence at Ephesus in Asia” ( Irenaeus , par. 1). Eusebius, reporting what Clement had written, says that “the apostle John . . . gave in his Gospel an account of the period which had been omitted by the earlier evangelists” (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, Book III , Chapter 24, par. 11). The belief that John the apostle provided the Gospel of John has a long history, and it is likely that he was the source of the eyewitness testimony (unless the scholars who think the Beloved Disciple was another, anonymous disciple are right). But that may not tell us who actually put pen to papyrus (or parchment). Several other facts complicate the question of who wrote the Gospel of John: Chapter 21 of John’s Gospel is clearly an epilogue added by someone else. Chapter 20 has a clear ending in verses 30-31. Chapter 21 tells several stories, including the story of the conversation about whether Peter and the disciple whom Jesus loved would be martyred. It tells us that the story came from the beloved disciple, and “we know that his testimony is true” (21:24). The use of the word “we” indicates that some or all of chapter 21 was added by a group. Scholars talk a lot about the “Johannine community” – the community of which John was a central member in Ephesus. There was another John – John the “presbyter” or “elder” – who was also a highly respected member of the community at Ephesus. Some scholars, going all the way back to the time of Eusebius, have thought that John the Elder wrote the Book of Revelation; some also think he wrote, or at least compiled the final version of, the Gospel of John. All of the Gospels were developed through a process as they transitioned from oral stories to written accounts that compiled those stories. None of the Gospels appeared from out of nowhere. The stories were first told orally. Then, someone wrote them down. It appears that the 4 Gospels have material that was gathered from a variety of sources – probably mostly oral sources, though there also may have been written documents that were partial Gospels or collections of sayings or stories. So even if John the Apostle was the primary source for this material, it might have gone through stages, including possibly more than one written stage, before it arrived at the final version we have. Many scholars today think that the Gospel of John was the work of several people in the Johannine community. They think there was an original “John” who was an eyewitness; that there was an “evangelist” who first wrote a Gospel that built on what the original eyewitness reported; and that a redactor put it into its final form. Some think that there was a version written in Aramaic before the first version in Greek, but others find no evidence for that. We will call the author “John,” but whether it was John the apostle or an unnamed disciple whom Jesus loved doesn’t chang the outcome. What matters is that at its root, it came from an eyewitness, and the result – the Gospel we have today – was inspired by God. Where did the author of the Gospel of John get his material? The original source was an eyewitness. The Gospel shows great familiarity with Palestinian geography (for example, Solomon’s portico in the Temple area; the pavement called Gabbatha where Pilate decided Jesus’s fate; that there were 2 towns called Bethany; the pool of Siloam, which was only rediscovered in 2005; the pool of Bethesda with its 5 porticos, rediscovered in the 1800s; etc.); the details of Jesus’s trial and crucifixion (that 4 soldiers gambled for Jesus’s robe; the blood and water that poured from his side; the weight of the myrrhs and aloes used to anoint his body; etc.), and many other details (that the boy with the loaves and fishes had barley loaves; that they had rowed 3 or 4 miles before Jesus came walking to them on the water; that Judas objected that the perfumed oil used to anoint Jesus’s feet could have been sold for 300 days’ wages; quotes of statements made by Thomas; etc.). This original eyewitness had a unique perspective, separate from the other Gospel authors. Most of the material in the Gospel of John is different from what is in the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) – not contradictory (except in one significant place), just different. There is some overlap with Mark, but that could just relate to the fact that different eyewitnesses saw the same events. Some of the material in the Gospel of John appears to come from the reflection of the Johannine community and not necessarily all from the mouth of Jesus while he walked the Earth. That would be consistent with the idea that John’s is a “spiritual gospel” that presents more of an interpretation or analysis of who Jesus is, not just what he did and said. The Johannine community appears to have placed a strong emphasis on the role of the Holy Spirit (the Paraclete), so some of the material may not have come directly from Jesus but from later revelations the Johannine community received that they believed were revealed to them by Jesus through the Holy Spirit. So, for example, in John 3:16-21, did Jesus say, “For God so loved the world that he sent his only son,” or is that an explanation by John? The Greek of that time did not use quotation marks, so we don’t know whether it is a quote or an explanation. But maybe it doesn’t matter, because either way, we believe it is part of the inspired Word of God. To what extent does it matter to you whether the Gospel of John was written by John the apostle or another eyewitness? To what extent does it matter to you whether the final version reflects a process of editing and refinement by other writers in the Christian community, or not? Do these questions affect whether the result that we have today is the Word of God? Explain. When was the Gospel written? Most scholars think the Gospel of John was written in the AD 90s, but a small case could be made that it was written before AD 70. John does not offer many textual clues for when it was written. Scholars think Matthew was written after the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in AD 70 in part because Matthew’s Gospel makes some statements that sound like the author knew that it had happened. John does not give us that kind of clue. There is one spot where John uses a phrase that could indicate that it was written before AD 70. John 5:2 says, “Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool....” It would be odd for John to use the word “is” if he knew that the city had been destroyed and the pool was no longer there. However, the Gospel could merely be relating the story as it would have been told orally and handed down for decades, so a single “is” is not much evidence to base a conclusion on. John presents what is called a “high Christology” – a high view of Jesus’s identity as God. Many scholars believe that it took time for the understanding to develop that Jesus was not just the Messiah/Christ but God in the flesh. That argues for a later date. The latest it could have been written was the early 100s. For a while, some scholars argued that John’ Gospel wasn’t written until as late as 150 or later. That idea was shot down when a fragment of papyrus was discovered in Egypt that contains a few verses from chapter 18 of John’s Gospel and that is considered to be dated between 100 and 150. Since it would have taken some time for that copy of the Gospel to have reached Africa, John was probably published no later than the early 100s ( Ignatius Catholic Study Bible , p. 157; Bruce, pp. 6-7). On a separate note, people sometimes wonder whether the Gospels might have been doctored or rewritten over the centuries by people or factions who had agendas of one kind or another – for example, after the time of Constantine when Christianity became the state religion. The facts don’t support such a theory: We have a papyrus dating from the end of the 2 nd century (the late 100s, only 100 years after the Gospel of John was probably written) that contains most of the first 14 chapters of John’s Gospel and parts of the rest. Another papyrus from the end of the 2nd century contains most of Luke and the first half of John. We also have a papyrus from the early 3 rd century (100 years before Constantine made Christianity the religion of the Roman Empire) that contains portions of all 4 Gospels and Acts of the Apostles (Bruce, pp. 6-7). The Gospels we have today are not hugely different from what the Church had in the 2 nd and early 3 rd centuries. Where was the Gospel written? There is widespread agreement that the Gospel of John was written in Ephesus. There is a large amount of evidence that John lived in Ephesus for much of his later life, with Jesus’s mother Mary. What do we know about John’s audience and community? Many scholars have written whole books presenting their theories about the Johannine community. These scholars try to read between the lines of John’s Gospel and compare it to what we know or think we might know about what was going on the Church at that time, to extrapolate what we might conclude about John’s community. The most important points are these: Many scholars think that John’s Gospel was written mainly for Jews and Jewish Christians, though not all agree. Although it does not quote the Old Testament as frequently as other Gospels, John’s Gospel would be nearly unintelligible to people who lack an understanding of Jewish traditions and concepts. For example, this is the Gospel with all the “I am” statements that echo God’s name for himself in the Old Testament. Non-Jews would tend to miss the import of those statements. John also focuses on Jesus’s attendance at Jewish feast days in Jerusalem, without bothering to explain them. John’s community appears to have faced intense opposition from Jews who did not believe in Jesus. Those Jews kicked Jewish Christians out of the synagogues. When John speaks negatively of “the Jews,” modern people tend to wonder why, since John was a Jew. He is talking about the leaders of the non-Christian Jews who persecuted Christians. It might be like a White person speaking negatively about “the Whites” who persecuted Black people in the South for 100 years after the Civil War. He doesn’t mean all Jews, just those who rejected Jesus and mistreated Christians. Many scholars think John’s community may have included Samaritans who converted to Christianity. They reach this conclusion because of John’s inclusion of the story of the Samaritan woman and the conversion of her town in John 4 and the lack of any negative references to Samaritans in his Gospel (Matthew and Luke each have one or more negative references to Samaritans). The idea would be that John originally gathered converts in Palestine, Samaritan converts joined him, and they all eventually moved to Ephesus because of Jewish opposition in Palestine. If indeed John’s community included Samaritans, that could have precipitated even more Jewish persecution since there was a longstanding hatred of Samaritans in the Jewish community. John’s community may have had a special emphasis on the Holy Spirit. John’s Gospel has much more material on the Holy Spirit than the other Gospels do. John’s community may have had frequent theological disagreements with other Christians and may eventually have had a split inside their own community. Scholars think the Johannine community was critical of what scholars call “crypto-Christians” – Jewish Christians who downplayed their Christian faith in order to remain in the synagogues. They see hints in his Gospel that he may have had disagreements with Christians who did not share his high Christology or who did not place such a high emphasis on the ongoing role of the Holy Spirit. And the New Testament letter 1 John, which might have been written as few as 10 years after the Gospel of John, indicates that the Johannine community eventually faced a serious internal disagreement that led to a painful split in which some Christians in the community left. In what ways do you think the experiences and difficulties the early Church faced might have shaped what the Gospels writers decided to include or not bother to include in their Gospels? Themes in the Gospel of John The Gospel of John is marked by a series of 7 “signs” – wondrous deeds Jesus does that demonstrate his authority – beginning with his turning water into wine at the wedding feast at Cana (2:1-11). The first chapter of John provides a first mention of many themes that will recur later in the Gospel. These themes include: Jesus is the Son of God the Father. Jesus is one with the Father and existed before he was born as a human. Jesus reveals the Father. Some people do not know the Father because they refuse to accept Jesus. Jesus’s followers are children of God. Jesus brings life. Jesus brings light. Jesus brings the truth. Many people and events provide testify that Jesus is who he says he is. John develops additional themes as the Gospel progresses , include these: There is a Third Person of the Triune God, the Spirit, who will be with Jesus’s followers when Jesus returns to heaven. Jesus is the Bread of Life. Jesus will be “lifted up” to bring people to himself. God loves the world and shows his love in Jesus’s sacrifice of himself. Jesus’s disciples are called to follow him, obey him, and love one another. Which of these themes of John’s Gospel intrigue you the most, and why? What do you hope to learn by studying John’s Gospel? What questions do you hope to have answered as you study? If you could ask John one question, what would you ask, and why? How do you think he would respond? Take a step back and consider this: Atheists criticize belief in the Gospels because they have such different perspectives, which they call contradictions. If God inspired them all, how could the authors have such different versions of the story? The differences do not trouble me. In fact, if the Gospels were all perfectly aligned, I would be more skeptical. If every book told the story in exactly the same way, it would make me wonder if some person or group doctored or coordinated all the writings. I can’t imagine that a genuine set of Scriptures could be any other way than our Scriptures are: different in tiny details because of the humanness of the human authors and how they obtained and crafted their material. The only way the accounts could be entirely identical and still genuine is if God turned the original authors into robots taking dictation from him, and that would go directly against what it means to be a human made in the image of God with freedom, a unique personality, unique experiences, and unique ways of telling what we know to be the truth. Not everyone has such confidence in God: to believe that he could work through humans to develop a collection of books and letters that are inspired by him and have sacred and eternal value even though they were written by human authors working with their various perspectives and limitations. But that is why we say God is the author of the sacred Scriptures even as humans were the authors of the various books. God, in his awesomeness, honored human freedom even as he guided the result. What does the fact that God used such different people to produce the 4 Gospels tell you about God’s confidence in working through human beings to achieve his purposes? How can that give you greater confidence that God can work through you? Bibliography See John - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/john/bibliography . Copyright © 2026, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous John List Next

That's one of our goals. Previous Next Table of Contents To Have the Mind of Christ That's one of our goals. Tom Faletti March 6, 2024 Some people think of religion as being like the relationship between a master and a slave: God orders and I obey. This attracts some people and repels others. They are both missing something central to our faith. People from both perspectives are missing something because they think that the Christian faith asks us to turn off our minds and just “believe.” That’s not the faith of the gospel. St. Paul says, “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 2:5-11, NRSV). How can I think of my mind as something to turn off, if I am urged to have the same mind as Christ. I have to think carefully in order to think like Christ. Paul also says, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God – what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2, NRSV). What does God want to transform? Our minds. Why? So that we can discern well. If our minds are not valued by God, if He just wants us to turn off our minds and “have faith,” why would Paul say this? Ephesians says that we are to use our gifts to build up the body of Christ “until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ” (Eph. 4:13, NRSV). Our goal is to reach the full stature of Christ. Did Jesus turn off his brain? No! He used it very carefully and wisely, throughout His ministry. Jesus said to his disciples, “I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father” (John 15:15, NRSV). How could we possibly make use of all the wisdom and knowledge that Jesus has received from the Father if we do not spend time thinking, but instead assume that we can “believe” and be done? So the point is that we are called to think. We are called to use these magnificent brains that we have received from God. We are called to put on the MIND – not just the heart or soul or will – of Jesus. So let’s get to work! TO BE CONTINUED Copyright © 2025, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous Table of Contents Next

How to pray: The Lord’s Prayer shows the way. Previous Matthew List Next Matthew 6:9-15 How to pray: The Lord’s Prayer shows the way. Image provided by Wix. Tom Faletti May 18, 2024 Matthew 6:9-15 The Lord’s Prayer: How to pray This prayer has two parts: 3 petitions focused on God and 3 petitions focused on our needs. How does the prayer known today as “the Lord’s Prayer” or the “Our Father” begin? What does this first part – "Our Father who art in heaven" – say about the nature and character of God? “Heaven” tell us God is not human, or like a human. “Father” tells us what God is like – what God’s character is, relative to us. Note: Matthew is writing in Greek and here uses the Greek word for “father.” However, if Jesus taught the prayer in Aramaic, he might have used the more intimate Aramaic word “Abba,” which means “Daddy.” “Abba” only appears 3 times in the New Testament – in Mark 14:36; Romans 8:15; and Galatians 4:6 – but it casts a new light on our relationship with God that is not taught prior to Jesus. What does this beginning of the prayer say about our relationship to God? . . . and our relationship with each other? This part of the prayer establishes that we are children of God – and therefore that we are brothers and sisters of each other. What does “hallowed be thy name” mean? “Hallowed” establishes that God, by his very nature, is holy. In combination with “heaven” it establishes that God has a supreme degree of holiness, and this indicates a distinction between God and us. Is this just about treating God’s name with respect, or is there more to it? What are some ways we can “hallow” God’s name in our everyday living? Verse 10 has the form of a typical Jewish couplet: two statements that say the same thing in different ways, so that the second amplifies the first (Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 1 , p. 211-212). How do “thy kingdom come” and “thy will be done on earth as in heaven” make the same point? How does the second petition in verse 10 – “thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” – go further than or further explain the first of these petitions? The petitions in verse 10 suggest that wherever God’s will is done, there the kingdom of God is. Anywhere on Earth where the will of God is being done is part of the kingdom. What does this say to you about how you live your life? Barclay suggests that the last 3 petitions in this prayer focus our attention on 3 great human needs that are related to the present, past, and future: bread now, forgiveness for what we have done in the past, and help in future temptation. He also suggests that these petitions point us to God the Father as Creator (bread), God the Son as savior/redeemer (forgiveness), and God the Holy Spirit as source of strength and guidance (in temptation) (Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 1 , p. 199). What do you think Jesus meant by “bread”? Is it just about meeting our physical need for food? Is it about all of our material needs? Is it expressing a desire for spiritual food? Is it about the Eucharist? Is it about desire to participate in the heavenly banquet to come? Throughout the ages, people have found benefit in all of these interpretations. What might be the significance in praying for “our” daily bread, not “my” daily bread? The word usually translated “daily” is uncertain. It is used in the New Testament only here and in Luke’s version of the Lord’s Prayer (Luke 11:3), and it only appears once in other Greek literature outside the New Testament. Scholars suggest that it could mean “daily” or “tomorrow’s” or “needful” or “future” (Viviano, par. 39, p. 645). Although in the Lord’s Prayer today many people pray, “Forgive us our trespasses,” the word is better translated as “debts,” which is what we find in both the NRSV, the NABRE, and most other modern translations. The word “debts” is a metaphor for our sins. If we are talking about sin, what does “Forgive us our debts” mean? What does the word “debt” suggest about our sins? What does “as we forgive those . . .” mean? “as” means in the same proportion or to the same degree – with the same measure. So we are asking God to forgive us to the same degree that we forgive others, or using the same measure we use to measure out forgiveness to others. How do verses 14-15 amplify the message of the importance of forgiveness? Why is forgiveness so important? Forgiveness isn’t always easy. How can we move to a place of forgiveness when we have been deeply hurt? It is important to acknowledge the hurt, and sometimes we need time to process the hurt. But ultimately, when forgiveness is hard, it comes down to a decision. We can decide to hold on to the hurt or to give it to God and decide as an act of the will to stop holding it against the other person. This does not necessarily mean “forgetting” the offense; for self-preservation we sometimes need to remember what has been done to us. But we can still decide to stop holding it against the other person. Sometimes, when we do this, we find that letting go of it provides a release for ourselves as well, allowing us to put the matter in the past and move forward. In the Lord’s Prayer as we pray it today, we say, “Lead us not into temptation” (verse 13a). There is a lot going on behind the scenes in this verse. First, although we pray, “Lead us not into temptation,” the word “temptation” is not the best translation of the word. Modern translations often say “test” or “trial” in verse 13. The Jews of Jesus’s time expected that there would be a time of severe testing before the coming of the Messiah. A common understanding of the petition is that it is asking God to spare us that trial. Second, although the first part literally means “Lead us not,” we know that God does not lead people into temptation – see James 1:13-14. Therefore, it is better to interpret this metaphorically. The Catholic bishops in a couple of countries in Europe have sought and received approval from the Vatican to rephrase this part of the prayer in their liturgies to remove the implication that God might lead us into temptation. They are adopting other wordings that might be translated into English as: “Do not let us fall into temptation” or “Do not abandon us to temptation.” The point is that, while God allows people to be put to the test, we want to ask him to spare us from that trial. Where is God when you are tempted – leading you into the temptation or trying to lead you out of it ? Explain. What is the test or trial you need to ask God to keep you from? In the Lord’s Prayer, we usually pray, “Deliver us from evil.” This acknowledges that evil is real, along with temptation. What is the response to evil that Jesus is calling us to take? In modern translations, the "deliver us" line in verse 6:13 is translated: “rescue us from the evil one” (NRSV) or “deliver us from the evil one” (NABRE), because the Greek word is sometimes used for the devil (for example, Matthew 13:38) – i.e., evil personified, not some abstract notion of evil. What does this add to your understanding of what we are praying here? Compare this prayer to your picture of the heaped-up, empty phrases Jesus rejects in Matthew 6:7. How is this prayer different? How can you capture some of the Lord’s Prayer’s simplicity and directness in your personal prayers to God? For some people, this prayer has become so rote that it has lost some of its power. If we could reclaim this prayer – every petition of it – so that it was a conscious expression of our intimate reliance on God as we face life in the real world, how might that affect our lives? Which of these petitions is speaking must directly to your heart today, and why? What might you consider doing differently because of today’s study? Take a step back and consider this: Barclay writes: “In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus teaches us to bring the whole of life to the whole of God, and to bring the whole of God to the whole of life” (Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 1 , p. 199). How does this prayer invite us to make God the center of all that we face in life? How can you use the Lord’s Prayer to help you invite God into “the whole” of your life? What are the short, simple, direct things you need to say to God right now? Bibliography See Matthew - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/matthew/bibliography . Copyright © 2025, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous Matthew List Next