1st Century Christianity in the 21st Century.

In Matthew 18:15-17 Jesus discusses right relationships among His disciples. His words (seemingly) prompted Peter’s thoughts and his questions led to the parable Jesus presented (vs. 21). Rabbis of that time commonly taught that one who sinned against another was to be forgiven three times; after that, the wronged person was not obligated to forgive (he had “done his duty”). Peter seems to display a degree of pride in suggesting that he would go farther than required, offering to forgive…

(Matthew 7:24-27, Luke 6:46-49) This parable is Jesus’ conclusion to the “sermon on the mount.” The Master used three comparisons to show the necessity of obeying His words; two ways (Matthew 7:13), two trees (and their fruit, vs. 17), and two builders and their houses, vv. 24f. The last comparison makes it plain that what “counts” with God is what a person does – not merely what one professes. The hill country of Judæa has many gullies and dry washes…

In the first century, finding someone else’s buried treasure was not as uncommon as it might be today: The only safe place to hide something was in the ground. Jewish law expressly stated that the “finder” was to be the “keeper,” and thus this parable suggests nothing unethical in the man’s practice. In the little parable in Matthew 13:44, the man who discovered the hidden treasure recognized that what he had found was worth everything else he had! Even though…

Verizon made this question popular nationwide in commercials advertising their cell phones. Many listened and bought their phones. This same question is asked several times in God’s inspired word. Sometimes it was asked by God to man, and other times it was asked by man to God. In Matthew 13:1-9 Jesus told the parable of the sower or the different types of soils. According to Matthew 13:10-17, Jesus, when answering the Apostles question as to why He spoke in parables,…