Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. (James 1:27)
The word translated ‘religion’, is θρησκεία (thréskeia) and while the underlying sense is reverence, its usage conveys worship as expressed in ritual acts. And it is in the context of action that James exhorts his brethren to be ‘doers of the word’, adding, ‘a doer who acts…will be blessed in his doing’.
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A Psalm of Thanksgiving
Make a joyful shout to the LORD all the earth!
Serve the LORD with gladness!
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I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth. (John 17:15-19)
In his final, extended prayer for his disciples, Jesus asks his Heavenly Father to sanctify them. The complexity of this prayer is revealed by understanding that ‘sanctify’ translates the Greek verb ἁγιάζω (hagiazó), which means ‘to make holy’ but also has the plainer meaning ‘to set apart’.
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God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are,so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. (1 Corinthians 1:27-29)
Shaming is a process of belittlement and Paul tells us that how God uses it for his good purpose. The Greek word here is καταισχύνω (kataishuno) meaning to disgrace, confound or dishonour.
But it is equally important to note why God would do such a thing, which stems from the desire to bring all to repentance and through faith to restore hope.
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… a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, and with his wife’s knowledge he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles’ feet. (Acts 5:1-2)
Ananias is a Jewish name derived from חֲנַנְיָה Chananyah, which means ‘God has been gracious’; it is common enough that it is given to three different men in the Acts of the Apostles.
Ananias was the High Priest during the establishment of the church and he confronts Paul at the apostle’s trial in Jerusalem. Not realising his identity Paul insults him (ibid 23:3) calling him a ‘white-washed wall’ (a common term for a hypocrite, similar to that which Jesus himself used, Matthew 23:27).
Another Ananias also featured in Paul’s life, but this time to bless and heal the newly converted apostle (Acts 9:10-18).
However, Luke records the troubling tale of a further Ananias, in that he is judged and summarily slain for his sin.
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Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word. Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ. (Acts 8:5)
Philip was a common Greek name, Φίλιππος (Philippos) a compound of philos and hippos, it meant ‘lover (of) horses’, and features several times in the New Testament. Matthew (14:3) tells us that Herod the Tetrarch’s brother was called Philip and also that one of the twelve disciples is a Philip (10:3).
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They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit… (Acts 6:5)
Stephen was among the founding members of the church in the immediate aftermath of Jesus’ ascension. His name is Greek, Στέφανος (Stephanos) and it means ‘crown’.
Stephen was one of seven ‘deacons’ (from διακονέω diakoneó to serve ‘waiting tables’) chosen to oversee a dispute arising from perceived inequity in dispensing alms to the widows within the church. We need to remember that at this early juncture the church bar a very few exceptions (such as the author of Acts) was Jewish, but Luke’s text shows that there were two types of Christian Jew, those who had kept the Law of Moses, and others who had adopted the ways of the prevailing culture and become ‘Greek’, these Luke refers to as Hellénistés, or Hellenists.
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But the high priest rose up, and all who were with him (that is, the party of the Sadducees), and filled with jealousy, they arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison. (Acts 5:17-18)
The word ‘party’ translates the Greek noun αἵρεσις (hairesis) and stands for people who strongly self-identify with each other (the verb hairéomai means ‘to personally select’), in other words to cohere as a sect or a religious or philosophical group.
The Romano-Jewish historian, Flavius Josephus, writing in the second half of the first century AD, identified four distinct groupings of Jews. For ‘party’, it is best not to consider them in modern terms like political parties, or even organisations (with rules and membership) rather imagine a cross between a faction and a coterie or socio-religious affiliations, although ‘sect’ can certainly be applied in one instance.
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‘Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.’ (John 12:25).
The word ‘hate’ translates the verb μισέω miseó and it embraces both the unconditional: ‘detest’ and comparative: ‘love less than’.
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But God is the Judge:
He puts down one,
And exalts another.
For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup,
And the wine is red;
It is fully mixed, and He pours it out;
Surely its dregs shall all the wicked of the earth
Drain and drink down. (Psalm 75:7-8)
The Hebrew word translated ‘cup’ is כּוֹס kowc, which is a small owl (possibly with saucer-like eyes). The cup of judgment is figure used employed by Jesus and later John.
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God Breathed Words 