Notes on the Greek New Testament
My notes on the Greek New Testament can be accessed by means
of the relevant link on the menu bar to the left.
Today's Reading - 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1
These daily readings will take you through the New Testament in a year -
see the Reading Plan.
Thought for the Week
"At the end of his long argument [in 1 Corinthians 15], Paul does not conclude
by saying 'so therefore we can be assured of life after death'. He says, rather,
'be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, since we know
that, in the Lord, your labour is not in vain' (15:58).
"The resurrection spreads out before us the map of God's
new world. When Jesus of Nazareth came out of the tomb on Easter morning,
in his transformed, renewed body, having gone through death itself and out the other
side, he gave the world the first glimpse of the fact that God is in the business,
not of abandoning this sad old world and taking us off to a disembodied heaven,
but of redeeming, renewing, transforming this world, so that everything that has
been good, lovely, just, holy, beautiful is enhanced, purified, ennobled, raised
to new heights of glory. In that new world, as in Jesus' restored physical body,
even the scars and wounds become signs of glory. Easter offers us a map of that
new world, a map for explorers, a map to encourage us to get out there and get on
with the task.
"The point is this. What was begun with the resurrection of Jesus will
be continued until it is thoroughly finished; every act of faith and love,
of justice and mercy, of beauty and truth in this present world will be part of
God's eventual new world. In the Lord, your labour is not in vain: what you do here
in faith will stand, will last. Failure, cynicism, deconstruction and despair do
not have the last word. They are the soldiers standing guard at the tomb, and when
morning comes they are sound asleep. The passport of Jesus' bodily resurrection
declares that you are free to travel; the map of God's new world declares that all your travelling in faith is worth while."
Tom Wright, The Way of the Lord (London, SPCK, 1999), pp. 110-111.