The New Testament in 90 Days

As I read the rest of this letter, I'm also struck by Paul's statement about supplying what is missing in the suffering of Jesus.  I have always been taught that there was nothing missing in the suffering of Jesus, so I'm intrigued by what he means.  What is the meaning of the suffering of Paul, or our own suffering, for that matter?  How does this connect with Jesus?  What does it mean (do you think) to "supply what is missing"? You may have noticed that again, Paul gives advice to members of households:  husbands and wives, slaves and masters, children and parents.  The gospel is cosmic, but has practical and local implications.  Even though Paul admonishes masters to be kind to their slaves, I would wish that perhaps the bold Paul could be even bolder with regard to slavery.  Perhaps that was not possible, given that time and place.  That was left to later generations of Christians.  Later one, they would appropriate the Exodus stor...

This is another one of those short letters that some people think Paul might not have authored (but some people think he did).  Some scholars date this letter slightly later because of some of the concerns named:  false teachers and doctrines, particularly preaching harsh ascetic practices.  Paul writes in part in order to counter these claims and re-assert the claims of the gospel. Again, I'm struck by Paul's expansive gospel and Jesus:  "All things were created by him, both in the heavens and the earth."  This is a view of Christ that goes beyond the man Jesus who walked on this earth.  Jesus is God-incarnate, and he was around from the beginning of creation.  The gospel is God's secret plan from the beginning of time, now made manifest in the crucified and Risen Christ.  It was a secret, but it is a secret no longer, not since Jesus rose from the dead. It's possible that Paul speaks this way because he is countering the claims of another re...