New(ish) Passages

Hey there, Recently, in our Tuesday night Bible study, we have been going deep. We’ve been diving into the cultural context of the scriptures—asking what these passages meant to the original readers, what they would have actually heard vs. what we hear today, examining the Greek root words, and mapping the geography. I have been reading passages in a way that brings them new life. Take the Parable of the Lost Sheep (Jesus leaving the 99 to go after the 1). Instead of reading it purely as an individual comfort, we instead read this as a community challenge. Yes, it’s beautiful to know Jesus pursues us individually, but it’s also our work as the church to join in that spirit. We have to be his hands and feet and move on that, letting Him do the heavy lifting. But that communal responsibility makes the very next verses in Matthew 18 come across radically different. The Selective Literalism of Matthew 18 Look at Matthew 18:8–9: “If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off…