Epistles

Romans 8:31: “What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?”

In November, I ran a series of blog posts on the book of Revelation. Preparing to preach it, some day, I've been trying to get to know the book, to work out how it functions, how it communicates, and so on. I've wanted to do this deductively at first, which means reading the text lots and lots of times, and noticing things.

So far, I've had 3 posts:

This post follows on from two previous posts on the book of Revelation. In the previous posts I argued that the vision of Revelation 4-22 is telling a single, coherent story, and then explained how the first 3 chapters of the book connect to what follows. That structure indicates that it is important to be clear of the messages given in Revelation 2-3 if we are to hear Revelation 4-22 correctly. This post attempts to draw out those messages to the 7 churches, so we can tune in correctly to the visions that follow.

The other day, I wrote about my reading through the book of Revelation, as I seek to work out the kind of book and how it communicates. This post follows on from that, and looks at how Revelation 1-3 connects with Revelation 4-22. Where do the letters fit in? What is the structure of the book as a whole?

I've been reading through the book of Revelation, asking myself what kind of book it is, and how we are meant to read it to hear its message. I've found myself wondering if I've been asking the wrong questions. I used to see the most important step in interpreting Revelation to be finding the key to map it onto the real world. I now wonder if the most important step is to enter into and follow the story. Stories have power to teach without needing to be an exact allegory.

This post is prompted by a discussion on a friend's Facebook post. That friend was horrified to see a post on the Facebook Page of Truro Cathedral, and said as much on their own Facebook wall, and I shared a comment in response.

I assume colour is significant in the book of Revelation.

I was reading chapter 20, and realised that in Revelation 20:11 we have a "great white throne" and someone seated on it. This takes us back to Revelation 4:2, where we had a throne with someone seated on it. But this one is specifically white.

In this book we have

When I studied on the Cornhill Training Course (1997-8), Chris Green came as a visiting lecturer and took us through the letter of 2 Timothy.

Paul wrote to Timothy: "Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching." (1 Timothy 4:13)

I'm greatly enjoying reading Against Principalities and Powers: Spiritual Beings in Relation to Communal Identity and the Moral Discourse of Ephesians (paid link) by Daniel Darko (published 2020 by Hippo Books).

He explores the significance of the spiritual powers in Paul's letter to the Ephesians, suggesting that we in the West often don't feel the full force of the letter's message because we are not atuned to see this as important.