Bible

What was the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and why was it a sin to eat its fruit?

Bruce Waltke is very helpful, on page 86 of his Genesis commentary (paid link):

One of the values of having a blog, is it gives me somewhere to put notes that will almost certainly not make it into the next sermon, but may interest some people. "If you're interested, for further reading,..."

Here's Bruce Waltke (paid link) on Genesis 2:

Does the Lord's Prayer give the structure of Matthew chapter 6?

The Lord's Prayer contains

I'm enjoying thinking about the Lord's prayer and the slightly wider context of Matthew 6:7-15 ready for this coming Sunday's services.

In the Lord's prayer we are told who we address (our Father in heaven), then three petitions for matters related to God (his name, his kingdom and his will) and then three petitions related to our own needs.

John Stott speaks (paid link) with his characteristic clarity as he speaks on Matthew 6:1-18:

I'd noticed that yesterday and today I was getting a lot of search engine originated hits on this website to a previous sermon I preached on Mark 10:35-45.

In Matthew 18:21-35, Jesus told a parable to illustrate the principle that we should forgive others. The perspective we need is how much God has forgiven us.

So how big is God's gift of forgiveness to us, then?

The man who was forgiven by the king in verse 24 was in debt to the tune of 10,000 talents.

What's the whole of Genesis about?

Jason Hood, over at the SAET blog, has some very sensible things to say about how the whole book speaks a message that needs to be heard by NT Christians, and what's more speaks it with great clarity:

His full post is not long and is well worth a read: http://www.saet-online.org/why-moses-wrote-genesis/09/

Here's a small extract to whet the appetite and send you to the full thing:

This Sunday, at Kemsing and Woodlands, we begin a 4-week series looking a single paragraph of the epistle to the Hebrews. We're going to be looking at Hebrews 10:19-25.

At the wedding I'm taking in Kemsing this afternoon, the bride and groom have asked to have Ruth 1:16-17 as their Bible reading, and for me to speak briefly on that passage. It's the first time I've been asked to speak on Ruth at a wedding, and it is a very appropriate part of the Bible to hear on such an occasion.

On another occasion, I might share what I'll be saying at their wedding.