New Testament Reading Plan (40 Day Bible)

If you ever want to read through the Bible in 40 days (technically 39), here is a reading plan, based on the 40 Day plan that Biblica arranged with the Wesleyan Church in the Spring of 2014, in the days leading up to Easter. The version used is the NIV2011:

Week 1
Day 1 (Luke 1:1-4:13)
Day 2 (Luke 4:14-9:50)
Day 3 (Luke 9:51-13:21)
Day 4 (Luke 13:22-19:27)
Day 5 (Luke 19:28-24:53)

Week 2
Day 6 (Acts 1:1-6:7)
Day 7 (Acts 6:8-12:24)
Day 8 (Acts 12:25-19:20)
Day 9 (Acts 19:21-28:31)
Day 10 (1 and 2 Thessalonians)

Week 3
Day 11 (1 Corinthians 1-7)
Day 12 (1 Corinthians 8-16)
Day 13 (2 Corinthians)
Day 14 (Galatians)
Day 15 (Romans 1-8)

Week 4
Day 16 (Romans 9-16)
Day 17 (Colossians)
Day 18 (Ephesians and Philemon)
Day 19 (Philippians and 1 Timothy)
Day 20 (Titus and 2 Timothy)

Week 5
Day 21 (Matthew 1-7)
Day 22 (Matthew 8:1-13:52)
Day 23 (Matthew 13:53-18:35)
Day 24 (Matthew 19-25)
Day 25 (Matthew 26-28)

Week 6
Day 26 (Hebrews 1:1-4:13)
Day 27 (Hebrews 4:14-13:25)
Day 28 (James)
Day 29 (Mark 1:1-8:30)
Day 30 (Mark 8:31-16:8)

Week 7
Day 31 (1 Peter)
Day 32 (2 Peter and Jude)
Day 33 (John 1-6)
Day 34 (John 7-12)
Day 35 (John 13-21)

Week 8
Day 36 (1, 2, and 3 John)
Day 37 (Revelation 1-3)
Day 38 (Revelation 4-16)
Day 39 (Revelation 17-20)

#40daybible Day 39 (Rev. 17-22)

And so we come to the final reading of our 40 day Bible experience, Revelation 17-22.

Some notes:

• The woman in Revelation 17 is a different woman than the one in Revelation 12. The woman in Revelation 12 gives birth to the Messiah and may be true Israel. But this woman is "Babylon," a code name for Rome.
• It's very hard not to conclude that the symbol of the beast is built off of the emperors of Rome. Surely the churches of Revelation would have thought of Rome when they heard of seven hills. And how easy it would be to think of Augustus, Tiberius, Claudius, Caligula, and Nero when Revelation mentions 5 kings who have fallen. There was a year with three emperors that probably doesn't count (69). Vespasian would then be the sixth king and Titus the seventh. The eighth would then be Domitian, traditionally the emperor when Revelation was written or at least finished.
• Revelation 18 seems to look to the fall of Rome, in the first instance, perhaps a foreshadowing of some future foe?
• Revelation 19 is once again the final battle between Christ and the forces of evil. Jesus wins.
• Revelation 20 gives us the millennium, not an exact number I suspect. Christ will reign on earth. Revelation does not picture eternity in heaven but on a new earth.
• But Satan will ultimately be judged, as will all the dead, cast into the lake of fire.
• Then there is a new heaven and a new earth in Revelation 21. A new Jerusalem descends from heaven but there will be no temple in the new city.
• Revelation 22 closes the apocalypse, the letter, and the prophecy. No one must add to or take away from the words of Revelation ("this book of prophecy").

Some words to end on:

• Then he told me, "Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this scroll, because the time is near. Let the one who does wrong continue to do wrong; let the vile person continue to be vile; let the one who does right continue to do right; and let the holy person continue to be holy." (Rev. 22:10-11)

Here endeth the reading.

#40daybible Day 38 (Rev. 4-16)

Today's reading covers the middle chapters of Revelation (4-16).

Some notes:

• With Revelation 4, the apocalyptic section of the book launches in earnest in the throne room of heaven. I've always liked the KJV of 4:11.  "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty."

Seven Seals

• From Revelation 5-8, we have a series of seven seals. I don't think that these are sequential or exact pictures, but fantastical apocalyptic images. 
• Before the seals can be opened, there must be someone worthy to break them. Only the Lamb can do so. Hard to compete with Handel on Revelation 5:12!
• A key to Revelation is that, no matter how much might be about the end of history, it is written most directly to the churches of Asia. These churches were suffering. When 6:9-11 talks of those slain for the word of God and its testimony, John surely primarily had in mind those who were being persecuted at that time.
• The 144,000 of Revelation 7 symbolizes those in Israel who will finally be saved.
• The great throng of those in white robes probably represents all of those who will be saved who are not of Israel--those of every nation, tribe, people, and language who had believed. They have come out of great tribulation (not the Great Tribulation, there's no "the" there in the Greek).
• Perhaps we should think of the end of time blurred with the situation of John's day. Nothing here speaks of another special tribulation at the end of time. Revelation surely has primarily in view the tribulation of John's day.

Seven Trumpets

• The seventh seal starts seven trumpets in chapter 8-11. With the redeemed removed from the earth, the judgment of the world now begins. Again, I don't think we should read this as sequential or exactly literal.
• The fifth trumpet starts three woes--again, not chronological, not exactly how it will happen. 
• When the seventh trumpet sounds, the Hallelujah chorus begins!

The Cosmic Battle

• We've seen the redeemed. We've seen the damned. Now in Revelation 12 we see the scene from another angle, the cosmic one. It is another symbolic presentation of the same struggle all over again.
• The dragon is Satan. I think the woman represents (true) Israel, believing Israel. She has twelve stars on her head, which sounds like Israel. The son is obviously Christ.
• The beast probably relates to the Roman Empire. The descriptions of the beast could easily be read in terms of Nero, who committed suicide in 68.  If you take the letters "Caesar Nero" and treat them as numbers, they add up to 666.
• The 144,000 probably refers again to the saved in Israel.

Seven Last Plagues

• Again, we shouldn't think of these plagues as exactly chronological. We're back to the judgment of the earth in Revelation 15.
• The seven last plagues come from seven bowls of wrath. And the final earthly battle is the battle of Armageddon. 

Favorite of the day:

• Not the prettiest verse, but I love the Battle Hymn of the Republic: "The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath. They were trampled in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses’ bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia" (Rev. 14:19-20).

#40daybible Day 37 (Revelation 1-3)

We start the final book of the New Testament with Revelation 1-3:

• Revelation mixes three genres. It is, first, a prophecy. Most of these chapters are, in addition, a letter to seven churches. 
• It is also an apocalypse. An apocalypse was a type of literature in which a heavenly being appears to a key earthly figure with a revelation about events soon to come.
• The author is John of Patmos, perhaps John the son of Zebedee. 

Church at Ephesus

• positive words about the past, admonition to return to their first love

Entrance to marketplace at Ephesus

Church at Symrna

Ruins of Smyrna, in the middle of modern Izmir

• nothing negative to say, they reject the synagogue of Satan

Church at Pergamum

Theater at Pergamum

• they have remained true, but they are tolerating some who hold to false teaching

Church at Thyatira

Ruins at Thyatira

• they're doing more than ever, but they tolerate a false prophetess or a false church

Church at Sardis

• The church is dead although there are some there alive.

Gymnasium at Sardis

Church at Philadelphia

Little left at Philadelphia

• only positive words to say about this church... God will make the synagogue of Satan acknowledge they are wrong

Church at Laodicea

• the lukewarm church

Reconstructing Laodicea, with Hierapolis in distance

Personal favorite verse:

• "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me." Rev. 3:20

#40daybible Day 36 (1-2-3 John)

We enter the final week of the 40 Day Bible experience with 1, 2, and 3 John.

Some notes:

• The author of these three writings does not identify himself but there are some thematic and stylistic features that seem to bind 1 John to both 2 and 3 John, on the one hand, and the Gospel of John, on the other.
• 2 and 3 John are both written by "the elder," so we can suppose that 1 John was also and that this "elder" is also the eyewitness source of the Gospel of John. 
• Papias, writing perhaps within 20-30 years of the Gospel of John, mentions a John the elder (see chapter 39). So it is possible that John the presbyter stands behind these four documents rather than John the son of Zebedee (see Hengel).
• 2 John is a letter written, not to a woman, but to a local church ("lady"). John warns the church about Gnostics who deny that Jesus came in the flesh. Such individuals are antichrists. 
• 2 John encourages this church to evaluate traveling teachers in relation to this understanding of Christ. It could be the first of all these writings (the order of 1-2-3 John is based on length).
• 3 John is a letter written to a Gaius. It serves as a letter of recommendation and encourages him to receive a traveling teacher named Demetrius that John is sending their way. One of the elders of the church, Diotrephes, was refusing John and his teachers. Hengel wonders if this was the first or second writing in the series of John's letters and Gospel, before the split.
• 1 John seems a little like Hebrews in that it does not have an opening greeting and, unlike Hebrews, does not even have a closing greeting. It looks, in other words, like a word of exhortation or mini-sermon.
• 1 John was written after the Gnostic split in John's community, perhaps at Ephesus.
• So the denials of these antichrists likely had to do with a denial that Jesus had come in the flesh. The early Gnostic group usually associated with this teaching was the Docetists, who believed that Jesus only seemed human. 
• The audience needed to use such criteria to "test the spirits" of prophets who might come to them.
• Perhaps some of these individuals had more economic resources than most in John's community, but they refused to help those in need. 
• This is one of the concrete referents behind John's repeated instructions for believers to love each other. God is love--God helps others. So the true children of God love one another. They do not love the world.
• Those who hate their brothers (in a concrete way) are not in the light. They're on the other team, the Devil's, in the darkness.
• Jesus showed them what love was when he laid down his life for their sins. God showed his love for us by sending his Son.
• The body and blood of Jesus is essential to the equation. Those who say they don't need his blood are deceiving themselves. In effect they are saying they do not have sin in need of cleansing by Jesus' blood.
• Sin is wrongdoing, and John implies that the law to love is the fundamental standard. John is so bold as to say that his teaching makes it clear what God's commandment is. True believers have the Spirit.
• John is writing in hope that the community will not sin in the concrete ways he has been mentioning. Indeed, once a person has Christ's seed in him or her, he should not be able to continue sinning in these ways.
• John encourages the community not to fear of their state before God.
• Pray for God to forgive those whose sin is less severe so that God may restore them. Some have sinned a "sin to death" and are severed from Christ, like those in 2:19. John does not suggest that prayer can help them.

Personal verse for the day:

• 1 John 4:7-8: "Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love."

#40daybible Day 35 (John 13-21)

So with just a week to go, we finish today the Gospel of John, John 13-21.

Some observations:

• The next chapters, from John 13-17, give the lead up to Jesus' arrest. 
• Last Supper - John 13 never says it is a Passover meal, unlike the other Gospels. In fact, John seems to give us the image of Jesus going to the cross as the Passover lambs were being slaughtered to be eaten later that evening. John seems to picture Jesus dying on the morning before Passover (remembering that the new Jewish day began at sundown). There is mention of a garden, but we do not have Jesus' prayer of anguish and the Garden of Gethsemane is not mentioned. John uniquely has foot washing at the supper.
• John 14-17 is Jesus' Farewell Discourse, unique to John. While the Synoptics mostly give us Jesus' teaching in parables, there is not a single Synoptic style parable in John. Rather, we have this more poetic discourse, "the Message version" of Jesus. John also has no exorcisms, unlike the Synoptics.
• Going to Heaven: N. T. Wright is correct that most of the New Testament looks to the kingdom being on a renewed earth. I'm not sure if he's right about John. John more seems to picture a future where we go to heaven.
• Holy Spirit: Very important teaching on the Holy Spirit in John. First, a masculine, personal pronoun is used of him, giving us the sense that the Spirit is a person. The Spirit dwells in y'all (plural). He is the Spirit of truth who leads us into truth. He helped Jesus disciples remember what he had taught, which the Gospels preserve. He will convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. After the resurrection, Jesus breathes the Spirit on the disciples, perhaps John's version of Pentecost.
• Two last "I am" statements: I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to God apart from Christ. I am the vine; you are the branches.
• High priestly prayer: In this prayer, presumably in front of his disciples, Jesus prays not only for them but for us (technically, this statement is probably meant for John's own community as a prayer for its unity). A key Wesleyan verse is when Jesus prays for God to "sanctify" them, to set them apart from the world and keep them pure. 
• This section of John is sometimes called the "Book of Glory," in contrast to the first half, which is sometimes called the "Book of Signs."
• Private questioning: John's presentation of Jesus' "trial" is more private, with the high priest. It is striking to think of a full Sanhedrin in the middle of the night. 
• Jesus Victorious: John shows us less of the struggle. They fall over when they come for Jesus to arrest him. Jesus gives last will and testament instructions from the cross.
• Beloved Disciple: The Gospel of John has a mysterious "disciple whom Jesus loved." Who is it? The NIV introduction is a little overconfident that it was John the Son of Zebedee. [Ben Witherington thinks it was Lazarus] He was an eyewitness at the cross and went on to take care of Mary, Jesus' mother. He runs to the tomb with Peter. He is the source of the information in the Gospel of John, although it was probably put in its final form by someone else, perhaps a Gentile.
• Mary Magdalene: In John, Mary is the first one to whom the resurrected Jesus appears.
• Doubting Thomas: He confesses Jesus as Lord and God. We can wonder if Matthew 28:17 might allude to him.
• Purpose of John: Why was the Gospel of John written? So that John's audience would believe in Jesus. By the way, notice from this verse and throughout John how much differently it uses the word "signs." The Gospel of John just skims the surface of what Jesus did on earth.
• Epilogue: John uniquely has this post-resurrection scene beside the Sea of Galilee. It addresses a rumor that the beloved disciple would live till Jesus returned and this chapter may have been added after his death. 

Personal take-away:

• Greater love has no one than to lay down their life. God demonstrates his love for us in that when we were sinners, Christ died for us.

#40daybible Day 34 (John 7-12)

Today's reading is John 7-12.

Some thoughts:

• Deception? John 7:8-10 may be a bit puzzling. In many translations, it sounds like Jesus deceives his brothers.
• Holy Spirit: In 7:37-39, we have a great prediction that the Spirit will come after Jesus' glorification.
• Woman caught in adultery: Although it comes as somewhat of a disappointment, the earliest manuscripts don't have the story of the woman caught in adultery. The earliest manuscript to have it is from the late 400s. It is not likely to have been in the original John. 
• Light of the world: In 8:12, we have the second "I am" statement--"I am the light of the world." It's surely no coincidence that in John 9, Jesus heals a blind man. 
• Jesus is God: 8:58 is the biggest "I AM" statement of all. "Before Abraham was, I AM." Jesus equates himself with Yahweh at the burning bush.
• Sin make sickness? The man was not blind because he sinned or his parents. (sixth sign, Jesus' healing the blind man)
• Out of the synagogue: It is often wondered if the potential of being kicked out of the synagogue is a comment on John's context. It seems quite possible that it became more and more likely as the century went by that a Jew would be ousted from synagogues if one believed Jesus was Messiah.
• Good shepherd: Unlike the "bad shepherds" that were the leaders of Jerusalem, Jesus is the gate for the sheep and the Good Shepherd. 
• Hanukkah: Jesus observes Hanukkah in John 10:22.
• The Resurrection: In John 11, Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead and pronounces that he is the resurrection. This is the seventh sign in John.
• Resolve: John presents the end resolve of Jesus to face the cup before him.  Notice the contrast in tone with Mark.

Some great verses:

• With Jesus, you will know the truth and the truth will set you free (8:31-32).
• If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed (8:36). 

#40daybible Day 33 (John 1-6)

Day 33 starts the Gospel of John with chapters 1-6.

Some notes:

• The "prologue" of John is a magnificent hymn to the Logos or "Word," which is not the Bible, but Jesus. John 1:14 makes it clear that the Word come down from heaven is Christ. In theology terms, we call the event when Jesus took on human flesh the "incarnation."
• This language of God's "word" had a history in Jewish thinking. John 1:1-3 is exactly the kind of thing that Jewish thinkers like Philo said about God's word, his will in action. 
• John uniquely among the Gospels emphasizes that Jesus existed before he came to earth. John doesn't mention the virgin birth and the others don't mention his pre-existence.
• The Gospel of John seems to downplay the role of John the Baptist a little. For example, while Matthew tells us that JB was the "Elijah" of prophecy, JB denies it in John. John doesn't even tell his audience, perhaps at Ephesus, that JB baptized Jesus, and Jesus' disciples uniquely baptize in John at the same time as JB. 
• In short, John makes it very clear that JB's role ends as soon as Jesus arrives on the scene. He must increase, I must decrease. It's easy to wonder whether Ephesus had a lot of "incomplete" followers of John the Baptist, and that John has paraphrased the story in such a way as to make it clear that people like Apollos had been need to go the whole way and follow Jesus.
• John highlights some different disciples than the other gospels. For example, there's Philip and Nathaniel, Andrew,  and Thomas.
• John uniquely tells about Jesus turning water into wine at the wedding at Cana, the first of seven "signs" Jesus does in the first half of John. Some think that John has moved Jesus' action in the temple to contrast the old purification with the new. In the other Gospels, Jesus overturns the tables in the final week before his resurrection.
• John 3 has Jesus' secret interaction with a Pharisee named Nicodemus, including John 3:16. Jesus is back in Jerusalem. Another unique feature of John's Gospel is how often Jesus goes down to Jerusalem. Jesus attends three Passovers in John, which is where we get the idea that his ministry lasted three years.
• John 4 has Jesus' interaction with a Samaritan woman. The temple is already destroyed as John writes, and he makes it clear that the temple is not necessary to worship God. God is a Spirit.
• In healing a royal official's son, he does his second of John's seven signs (although he has done other signs between the first and second in this series).
• John implicitly shows that Jesus has replaced various Jewish institutions. In John 5, Jesus shows that he can work on the Sabbath.
• Jesus makes himself equal to God in John to a degree he doesn't in the other Gospels (which are sometimes called the "Synoptic" Gospels because they give a similar presentation that can be distinguished from John's presentation). Nevertheless, Jesus still in John does not act without the Father's initiation.
• The miracle of feeding the 5000 is the only miracle all four Gospels share in common (aside of course from the resurrection...)
• John 6 has the first of Jesus' "I am" statements, unique to John: "I am the bread of life." Probably it's no coincidence that John places this saying next to Jesus' feeding of the 5000, where he multiplies bread.
• The Gospel of John was probably written as Gnosticism was on the rise. Gnosticism believed that matter was evil and thus that Jesus couldn't have taken on flesh. Not only John 1:14 but these verses especially combat that point of view. Disciples leave him as a result, perhaps an allusion to the split that had taken place in John's community over Jesus' flesh.

Personal take-away today:

• John 3:8 has always been meaningful to me. The Spirit blows where he wills. God has a freedom to do what he wills.

#40daybible Day 32 (2 Peter, Jude)

For Day 32, we read 2 Peter and Jude.

Thoughts on 2 Peter

• Contrary to the NIV introduction, 2 Peter simply says that it is addressed to "those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours" (1:1). In other words, 2 Peter is for all Christians, not to the same audience as 1 Peter (I realize 3:1 says it is a second letter to someone). 
• 1:10 urges Christians to make their calling and election sure, which implies that our election is conditional on our faithfulness, not unconditionally predestined or eternally secure.
• 1:16-18 refers to the Transfiguration.
• 1:20-21 is a classic text on prophecy, indicating that the prophecies of Scripture were inspired by the Holy Spirit. They were not just the prophet's own ideas. Experts disagree on whether OT prophecies or NT prophecies of Christ's return are primarily in view (in other words, whether this statement connects to doubt about Christ's return in chapter 3).
• 2 Peter 2 seems to have largely been borrowed from Jude or a common source with Jude. The examples of false teaching are roughly in the same order but in a less specific and more generic form (e.g., 2 Peter 2's version doesn't engage apocalyptic literature so directly).
• The primary purpose of 2 Peter would seem to be to encourage those who are distressed because Jesus has not yet returned. These verses have the well known reminder that "a day is like a thousand years" with God.
• There are differing interpretations of the "fathers" (NIV, ancestors) in 3:4. The NIV has translated it to sound like it means the OT fathers. Others think it refers to the earliest Christian fathers. In other words, some will eventually say, "It's been years since Peter and the early Christian prophets have died, yet Jesus hasn't come back yet."
• 3:10-13 speaks of the destruction of the world by fire and then the creation of a new heaven and new earth.
• 3:15-16 speak of Paul's letters as Scriptures. I would argue that Paul's letters have even been loosed from their contexts. If 2 Peter is for all Christians, then Paul's letters now address "you," all Christians, and not just the Romans, Corinthians, Thessalonians, etc. This is a striking step in the development of the early canon.
• We need to be found spotless and blameless as we face the judgment.

Thoughts on Jude

• Written by another one of Jesus' earthly brothers
• Written to all Christians
• Warns against false teaching and largely consists of a list of false teachers from the past
• 1:6 refers to the fallen angels of 1 Enoch just as 1 Peter 3 probably does.
• This argument between the archangel Michael and the Devil seems to refer to a story in a lost Jewish work called the Assumption of Moses.
• 1:12 probably refers to the way the early church did communion--as a love feast, like a modern pot luck or pitch in dinner.
• Here Jude quotes 1 Enoch 1.9.

Personally meaningful:

• What a great closing benediction Jude has! God is able to keep us from falling (which of course implies that we can fall). God wants to present us in the kingdom without fault.

#40daybible Day 31 (1 Peter)

We enter the final two weeks of the 40 Day Bible experience with 1 Peter.

Some highlights:

• I like what Scot McKnight says about 1 Peter, that its teaching was a defensive strategy in a time of persecution. The introduction to the reading above highlights perhaps the key verse for understanding the letter: "Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us" (1 Pet. 2:12).
• It is written to Christians scattered throughout Asia Minor. It is written from Rome, which is called Babylon in 5:13. As Babylon had destroyed Jerusalem in 586BC, so Rome would destroy Jerusalem in AD70. Silas, Paul's missionary partner, would seem to have played a significant role in the composition of 1 Peter, which would explain its somewhat Pauline flavor.
• The audience is primarily Gentile. Once they were not part of God's people, but now they are (2:10).
• "Be holy for I am holy"  (1:15-16). Christians cannot give in to evil desires.
• The idea of the priesthood of all believers comes from 1 Peter, although the way Luther took the phrase isn't exactly what 1 Peter meant. 1 Peter doesn't call the audience "priests" as an argument against temple priests. 
• At the core of the defensive strategy is to submit to the structures of society as aliens and strangers just passing through. So slaves should submit to masters, wives to unbelieving husbands. If believers are to be criticized, may it be that they can only be criticized unfairly.
• We should be careful not to take the instructions here to slaves and wives as God's ideal for all time but as the way to "live good lives among the pagans" in the context of 1 Peter's situation.
• 3:15 is the great apologetics verse, but it is not about proving Christian beliefs with logical argument but about confessing Jesus as Lord when you are brought before secular authorities.
• This bizarre set of verses (3:19-20) probably alludes to the fallen angels of 1 Enoch who sinned in the days before the Flood. 
• 4:6 may refer to the possibility for OT saints to be freed from death, now that Christ's sacrifice is now accomplished.

Personal take-away:

• Some great memory verses in 1 Peter. Here are three: "Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings" (5:6-8)

#40daybible Day 30 (Mark 8:31-16:8)

Day 30 ends up Week 6 by finishing the Gospel of Mark.

Some observations:

• Mark 8:31 is the turning point of Mark's Gospel. Up till Peter's confession, Jesus' ministry has been very positive and public. Now the tone will become more foreboding. Jesus sets his face toward the cross and focuses more privately on his disciples.
• Two more times after this Jesus will predict his death. Each time he predicts his death, the disciples do something that indicates they don't understand what's coming. The first time, Peter corrects Jesus about him going to die. The second time, the disciples have been arguing about who will be the greatest in the kingdom. The third time, James and John are angling to have the places of prominence in the coming kingdom. 
• The Transfiguration happens after Peter confesses that Jesus is the Christ. This is the enigmatic moment when Moses and Elijah appear with Jesus on a high mountain.
• Some think that Mark's Passion Story predated the Gospel. I frankly don't know how you would go about proving that.
• Jesus enters Jerusalem triumphantly on Sunday.
• In Mark, on Monday he overthrows tables in the temple.
• On Tuesday he has debates. 
• In Mark 13 Jesus predicts the coming destruction of the temple in AD70.
• In Mark 14, Jesus has a Last Supper with the disciples, prays in the Garden of Gethsemane, gets arrested, gets denied, and appears before the Sanhedrin.
• In Mark 15, Jesus appears before Pilate and is crucified.
• Mark 16:1-8 is probably the ending of Mark that we have, giving us Jesus' resurrection. 16:9-20 were probably an early attempt to make up for what seemed an incomplete ending. There is another shorter ending among the manuscripts too. I suspect the original ending was lost at a very early date.

Personal point:

• Mark 10:45 is very significant in Mark: "The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many."

#40daybible Day 29 (Mark 1:1-8:30)

Today's reading covers the first half of the Gospel of Mark, Mark 1:1-8:30.

Some thoughts:

• I thought the introduction to this section was driven by tradition rather than induction. The comment to the reader of Mark in Mark 13:14 possibly suggests that Mark was written no earlier than the early stages of the Jewish War, which started around AD66. 
• Mark hits the ground running with the baptism of John the Baptist.
• 1:14-15 gives us Jesus primary message while he ministered on earth: the kingdom of God is coming. Repent and believe in this good news.
• Mark doesn't seem to put most of the events in order. But he gives us a good sampling of the kinds of things that Jesus did in his proclamation of the good news that the kingdom of God was arriving.
• Jesus healed people.
• Jesus cast out demons. 
• He showed power over nature.
• Jesus called and trained followers.
• Jesus tried to redeem the lost.
• He got into conflict with religious leaders.
• He taught in parables.
• The turning point of Mark is when Peter confesses that Jesus is the Christ.

Personal moment:

• Mark 7 has been fairly significant for my theology for some time now.  Evil is a matter of the heart. It is something on the inside that comes out. It is not, technically, a matter of the things we do on the outside. Our actions embody our intentions.
• I might also add that 7:3 (and 7:19) indicate that the audience of Mark was Gentile.

#40daybible Day 28 (James)

Wednesday's reading is the book of James.

• James is full of wisdom, truly the Proverbs of the New Testament.
• It starts with words relating to trials and temptations. For example, remember that trials have a positive benefit. They help us develop patience. And God is more than willing to give us wisdom to face our trials if we are really interested in his help.
• But don't chalk up temptations to God. God doesn't try to get people to do evil. People sin when they give in to their own sinful desires.
• The rest of James 1 and 2 have to do with being "doers" and not just believers. James has no time for people who believe all the right things but don't help others in need. Faith without works is dead.
• Here's the text that made Luther hesitant to translate James into German: "A person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone."
• Most of James 3 is amazingly powerful stuff on the tongue, "a restless evil," "full of deadly poison"!
• Throughout James, we have earthly wisdom contrasted with the wisdom from above. 
• James is somewhat harsh on the wealthy he has in mind. They are the ones dragging believers into court. They oppress those who work for them while they live lavishly. They make plans without bringing God into the equation. By implication, they are friends with the world who are going to be destroyed while on their business trips.
• So those oppressed and those suffering need to be patient until the Lord returns. All need to submit to God and resist the Devil.

The book ends with a great task for a believer:

• James 5:19-20: "My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins."

#40daybible Day 27 (Hebrews 4:14-13:25)

Today's reading finishes out the sermon we call Hebrews in the New Testament.

• Hebrews 4:14-16 and 10:19-23 are pivots in the sermon that bracket its central teaching. This includes the fact that we have direct access to the heavenly throne of God through Jesus' blood and that, therefore, we must hold fast to our profession of faith.
• Also, tucked in this central section is the main exhortation of the sermon in 5:11-6:12. The basic point is similar to what the author said in chapters 3-4. If the audience does not persist in faith, they will not make it to the Promised Land. Indeed, these verses suggest that, at least for the audience of Hebrews, they will never be able to get back to Christ if they abandon him.
• There are two other passages in Hebrews that warn the same thing. 10:26-29 say that there is a point where the Spirit of grace is so insulted by faithlessness that the grace runs out. Then 12:16-17 give the warning of Esau, who sold his birthright and then couldn't bring himself to repentance, even though he wanted to! All these warning passages are telling the audience that abandoning faith in Christ is very serious business, and there is no promise that you will ever be able to return if you leave him.
• Hebrews 7:1-10:18 are the high priestly nucleus of the sermon. Hebrews 7 tells the audience that Christ is not only qualified to be a priest but that he is from a superior priestly line to that of the Levitical priests. He is in the priestly order of Melchizedek.
• Hebrews 8-10 deal with the question of sanctuary. Hebrews 7 has shown that Jesus is a priest. So in what sanctuary did he offer his superior sacrifice? Hebrews 9 shows that Jesus presented his offering in the true, superior sanctuary of heaven. 
• When you put the superior priest with the superior sacrifice in the superior sanctuary, you have a superior covenant, as Hebrews 8 said at the beginning of this section and Hebrews 10:1-18 say at the end of this section.
• Hebrews 10:19-12:29 give the practical warm-down from this intense argument. The audience needs to endure like they did in an earlier persecution. Hebrews 11 gives them the hall of faith, a cloud of faithful witnesses cheering them on from the stands as they run the race to the end.
• The climax of the sermon portion is 12:18-29 where the author warns them not to reject the one speaking to them from heaven, for God is about to shake the heavens and the earth.
• Hebrews 13 then gives a kind of letter conclusion to the sermon. 

Personal favorite of the day:

• 10:14 With one sacrifice, it's all over. The cleansing of sins/perfection of our conscience is a done deal. TKO

#40daybible Day 26 (Hebrews 1:1-4:13)

Week 6 begins with Hebrews. Today's reading is Hebrews 1:1-4:13.

Some thoughts on Hebrews:

• It seems likely that Hebrews was a sermon that the author sent to the church, perhaps in Rome.
• We don't know who the author was. It wasn't likely Paul, not least because it's hard to see Paul writing this verse, which places the author at a further distance from Jesus than Paul saw himself. 
• I'm not sure that the assumptions of the introduction to the reading are as obvious as the writer seems to think. For example, the beginning teachings of Hebrews 5:11-6:2 do not read like the kinds of first teachings a Jew would need to learn. 
• Similarly, if Hebrews were written before the destruction of the temple, we can wonder why the author does not just come out and say not to rely on the temple. Why speak so obliquely and theoretically about the wilderness tabernacle and make allusions to having no remaining city here and being wanderers on the earth?
• Hebrews 1 starts off the sermon with a celebratory hymn of sorts. It is a poetic celebration of Christ's enthronement at God's right hand. It's hard, IMO, for us to read these verses without post-Nicaean glasses on. But all the verses can be read in relation to Jesus being enthroned as Son of God as he was enthroned king at God's right hand.
• Hebrews 2 gives us the human problem and Christ's solution. God created humanity to have glory in the creation but we do not have this glory because of sin and death. So Jesus has partaken of human flesh so that he can finally lead many sons and daughters to glory.
• Hebrews 3-4 warns the audience to keep going in faith. They, like Israel, have left Egypt. They have started the journey of faith. But if they do not continue in faith all the way to the end, their corpses will fall in the desert like the Israelites did. We have the opportunity of entering God's rest. We had better do so.
• Significant to realize that the word of God in 4:12 is not the Bible. There is a history here in Jewish wisdom speculation. The word of God is the will of God in action. Here is an interesting parallel.

Personal favorite

• Hebrews 4:13 says that the whole creation is laid bare before God's eyes, whose word is for us. God sees. God knows. Do we live as if he does?

#40daybible Day 25 (Matthew 26-28)

So ends the fifth week of the 40 Day Bible experience, finishing up the Gospel of Matthew.

Here are some highlights:

• The anointing of Jesus at Bethany, the Last Supper, the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus' arrest, his appearance before the high priest and elders, and Peter's denial in Matthew 26 are mostly taken straight, sometimes almost word for word, from Mark 14.
• Matthew 27 is mostly Mark 15 but with some unique features. For example, only Matthew among the Gospels shows Judas with buyer's remorse. Only in Matthew does it say that Judas hanged himself. Here is also one of the minor distinctions between the Gospels. In Matthew the priests buy the field where Judas' body ends up while in Acts 1 Judas himself buys the field.
• Matthew uniquely tells of the people saying to let Jesus' blood be on their own hands. Some in history have used this verse as an instrument of anti-Semitism, a good example of people twisting the Bible's words in order to do evil. If we recognize that Matthew was written after the destruction of Jerusalem, however, this verse comes to give an implicit explanation to Matthew's audience of why God allowed Jerusalem to be destroyed in AD70.
• Matthew 28 has some unique post-resurrection features that are not found in any other Gospel. These include the soldiers at the tomb and the Great Commission. 
• Although there are some very intelligent outliers, the vast majority of experts on the text of Mark do not think that 16:9-20 were part of the original version of Mark. I personally think that these verses are a pastiche of the resurrection narratives of Matthew, Luke, and John. So someone in the second century added these verses to their copy of Mark because 16:8 didn't seem like an appropriate ending. I also have a hunch there was another original ending that was lost at a very, very early date. Some think the ending of Matthew gives us a good sense of what the original ending of Mark was like.
• The incident of the soldiers at the tomb has one very interesting feature. It implies that even some 40+ years after the resurrection, no one had yet produced Jesus' body or claimed to have it. Those who opposed the resurrection accepted that there was an empty tomb.
• The Great Commission is given in Galilee, not Jerusalem, so unless Luke has intentionally moved the location, this scene is not the same event as the ascension in Acts 1.
• The Great Commission is more about discipleship than evangelism as we think of it today. It is not about getting people to pray a sinner's prayer, baptizing them, and then leaving them alone in their eternal security. It's not only about getting them in the body of Christ but, even more significantly, about teaching them all of Jesus' commands, IMO.

My take away:

• Jesus is with us! The resurrected Immanuel of Matthew 1 is with us till the end of this age!

#40daybible Day 24 (Matthew 19-25)

Day 24 covers Matthew 19-25.

• This takes us all the way through the final End Times Sermon of Matthew.
• Matthew 19 has Matthew's version of Jesus' teaching on divorce, with the Matthean exception of sexual immorality and Matthew's unique teaching on being "eunuchs" for the kingdom.
• Matthew 19 also has Jesus teaching on how hard it is for a wealthy person to enter the kingdom of God. 
• Matthew 20 has the Parable of the Day Laborers, where they all get paid the same no matter how much they have worked that day.
• Matthew 21 has the triumphal entry into Jerusalem, Jesus throwing the money changers out of the temple, the Parable of the Tenants.
• Matthew 21 also has the Parable of the Two Sons, which is a shorter version of the Parable of the Prodigal Son in Luke.
• Matthew 22 has the Parable of the Wedding Banquet, which gives us a strong hint that the Gospel of Matthew was written after the destruction of Jerusalem. We would already have suspected such a date from the fact that Matthew used Mark, which is probably late 60s or even early 70s itself. But the way Matthew has edited the story to mention the king sending his army to burn the city of those first invited to the banquet seems a direct allusion to Jerusalem's destruction at the hands of the Romans in AD70.
• Matthew 22 gives us the whole of Christian ethics: love God and love neighbor.
• Matthew 23 gives us the harshest critique of the Pharisees. It is sometimes suggested that Matthew was written when the Pharisees were in the ascendancy of power after Jerusalem's destruction, giving Matthew reason to put them in their place.
• We also find in Matthew 23 the main New Testament text from which you might teach tithing in the New Testament. It's not exactly a strong text.
• Matthew has some unique material added on to Mark's end times sermon. The Parable of the Ten Virgins urges readiness for Christ's return. 
• The Parable of the Sheep and the Goats suggests that our faith better lead to concrete action in helping others or we may not find ourselves justified before God in the Final Judgment. By the way, there is some similarity here to the judgment of the Son of Man in the Parables of 1 Enoch (the chapter after calls this elect one the Son of Man).

My passage for the day:

• Matthew 23:24 has always stood out to me, "To strain out a gnat and swallow a camel." Too many people major on the minor. Jesus was about the important matters of the Law--"justice, mercy, and faithfulness." Any approach to the Bible that cannot distinguish the central matters of Scripture from the less central ones doesn't get Jesus and thus doesn't get the Bible.

#40daybible Day 23 (Matthew 13:53-18:35)

Today's reading is Matthew 13:53-18:35.

Today's reading starts where the Parable Sermon ended and goes through the fourth sermon of Matthew, the Kingdom Sermon.

• Matthew 13 ends with a little insight into Jesus' family. He had brothers and sisters, for example. And, interestingly, he did not make anyone get healed. He didn't heal unless people had faith.
• A lot of the material in these chapters is core "Mark" material (it's generally thought that both Matthew and Luke used Mark as a starting point): feeding of 5000, feeding of 4000, tussle with Pharisees on washing hands, Peter's confession of Jesus as the Christ, the Transfiguration, etc...
• Matthew 16's version of Peter's confession has the famous statement (very important to Catholics) that Jesus would build his kingdom on Peter? on the rock that was Peter's confession?
• Curious story about Jesus paying the Temple Tax (not tax to Caesar but to the Temple). Peter finds the coin they need in a fish!
• Matthew 18 has that classic passage on how to address a person caught in a sin in the church.
• The Parable of the Unforgiving Sermon is quite shocking because, after being forgiven and then not forgiving someone else, the master decides not to forgive him after all. In other words, God's forgiveness comes with expectations.

The passage I'm picking as my personal take-away this time:

• Although I usually reference the Mark 7 version, very significant for my theology are the verses that indicate that purity is something that starts in the heart and makes its way to the outside. Righteousness is a matter of the heart, not of externals.

#40daybible Day 22 (Matthew 8:1-13:52)

Here is today's reading from Matthew 8:1-13:52.

Some observations:

• This section has two more of Matthew's five sermons, perhaps implicitly comparing Jesus to Moses. Matthew 10 has the Mission Sermon and Matthew 13 has the Parable Sermon. 
• Matthew has the story of the centurion's faith. Even though Matthew is probably aimed at Jewish believers, this story makes it clear that there are Gentiles who have faith too. Notice, also that Jesus seems to picture the kingdom of God being on a renewed earth.
• In the Mission Sermon, Jesus tells the disciples only to go to Jewish towns on their "Phase 1" mission, while Jesus was on earth. The Gentiles would be "Phase 2."
• These verses indicate that the wine Jesus drank was fermented.
• Interesting that Jesus did most of his miracles in towns about which the Gospels say almost nothing! To be fair, he does go on to condemn Capernaum too.
• In Matthew 11, Jesus seems to compare himself to Wisdom in the book of Sirach.
• Matthew 13:52 is the passage that some think might hint at something about the author of Matthew.
• The Parable of the Weeds in Matthew 13 is scary, because it hints that not everyone in the church is really part of the kingdom. It is similar to something Jesus also said in the Sermon on the Mount.

Verses of the day for me:

• Matthew 8:18-22 make it clear that following Jesus requires everything of us. Following Jesus doesn't often come into conflict with our families or other ordinary aspects of living, but in moments of ultimate decision, Jesus is the ultimate priority. That's what it means to be Lord.

#40daybible Day 21 (Matthew 1:1-7:29)

So we begin the second half of this 40 day journey with the Gospel of Matthew. For today's reading, which goes through the Sermon on the Mount, click here.

Reading notes:

• I thought the intro to Matthew here was bold (for the NIV especially) to suggest that the author probably wasn't Matthew but rather someone with extensive training in the Law. Of course the Gospel is anonymous technically. But right or wrong in this case, submission to the Truth requires openness to modifying our traditions, including traditions about the Bible.
• The genealogy of Matthew 1 is intriguing both in its division into 14s (the number of King David's name) and its mention of key women throughout. Each of these women is a testament to how God can use women considered questionable by others.
• Perhaps these women implicitly prepare us for the story of the virgin birth (or more accurately, virgin conception), since Mary would have been looked at with suspicion. 
• The importance of the virgin birth for Christian faith highlights the importance of the church after the New Testament, since the virgin birth receives almost no attention whatsoever in the Bible alone. 
• The most important part of today's reading is the Sermon on the Mount. In my opinion, the key verses of the Sermon on the Mount are 5:17-20. The entire sermon maps out how Jesus' teaching gives the full meaning of the Law, as well as what kind of righteousness God is looking for in relation to the kingdom of God.
• Matthew 5:21-48 gives a number of examples of this full meaning to the Law. It is not merely extending. Jesus gets to the heart of each matter in the light of the law of love. It's not enough not to murder outwardly. The person who fulfills the law of love does not murder inwardly either.
• Similarly, it's not enough not to commit adultery outwardly or illegally. The person who fulfills the law of love does not commit adultery inwardly or legally by getting a divorce.
• However, the last examples in Matthew 5 show that the law of love does not merely extend the OT law. At points it modifies or even reverses it. Jesus models for us that OT commands have to be filtered carefully through the law of love.
• Matthew 5:43-48 pretty much sums up the chapter.
• Matthew 6 shows what it means for your righteousness to surpass that of the scribes and Pharisees.
• Matthew 7 gives the bottom line after hearing the sermon. If you're a wise person, you'll build your house on Jesus' teaching.
• The NIV introduction is probably right that "Matthew" wanted his audience to think of Moses as they read. Jesus has more authority than Moses, and gives the fulfilled meaning of the Law from a new mountain.

Personal take-away:

• Again, Matthew 5:43-48 pretty sums up all of Christian ethics. Love everyone, including your enemies, or to put it another way, "Do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets" (Matt. 7:12). You can't trump these verses with other verses.