Good mornin'!



Here's the question and answer from yesterday:
Psalm 66:5 “Come and see what God has done, how awesome his works in man’s behalf.” If you were to invite someone to “come and see what God has done,” what would you show him or her? THIS IS AN OPINION QUESTION--NO RIGHT OR WRONG ANSWER. I HOPE YOU TOOK SOME TIME TO THINK OF "WHAT GOD HAS DONE" RECENTLY IN YOUR LIFE.

And here's the question of the day:
Who are the chiefs of Edom? (1 Chronicles 1)

And here's the reflection of the day:
Sampley, in his commentary on 2 Corinthians, makes an interesting observation about Paul's view of the nature of God.

Paul, he says, likes to describe God and God's people in terms of order and peace (see Rom 15:33; 16:20; 1 Cor 14:33; 2 Cor 13:11; Phil 4:9) [Sampley, 2 Cor, NIB Commentary]. And yet, when we get to verses 4-6 of 2 Corinthians, we actually get a pretty violent picture--wars and weapons with the divine power to demolishing strongholds. This is what Paul expects of God's believers! Ironic!

So, how can these two things fit together? Sampley's question is, "Should not the God of peace be the one who repudiates such militaristic power?"

He answers his own question by saying that Paul seems to take his cues about peacekeeping from the Romans. And the Romans had sufficient military power simply to crush opposition. To maintain peace was to annihilate opposition—by utter and overwhelming force.

Sampley says that Paul thinks of God's working the same way: “The God of peace shall soon shatter/smash/crush Satan under your feet” (Rom 16:20).

So, he concludes that "perhaps we have domesticated “peace” more than Paul has." What do you think of that? Have we domesticated peace? Does violence have a role in establishing peace? How does this theory jive with God's command to go to war in the Old Testament? How do you make sense of these verses from 2 Corinthians?

If you figure something out, let me know! Leave a comment below.
Allison