{"id":2613,"date":"2025-03-08T07:05:39","date_gmt":"2025-03-08T13:05:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/?p=2613"},"modified":"2025-03-08T07:05:39","modified_gmt":"2025-03-08T13:05:39","slug":"march-7-14-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/2025\/03\/08\/march-7-14-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"March 7 – 14, 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Friday, March 7<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Romans 10:14-21: Israel, says Paul, is without excuse. It was to Israel that the Gospel was first addressed, but they did not believe. This assessment refers, not only to the preaching of Jesus and the first apostles, but also to Paul\u2019s own experience. As the Acts of the Apostles describes it, Paul\u2019s custom, on first arriving at any new city, was to take the Gospel first to the local synagogue. In most of the recorded instances, however, the message was rejected by most of the Jews who heard it. By and large, Paul discovered, his more receptive audiences tended to be made up of Gentile seekers who had attached themselves, in varying degrees, to the synagogue. These, together with small remnants of Jews in each city, became the Christian Churches of Cyprus, Asia Minor, Macedonia, Greece, and so on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The proclamation of the Gospel is the ministry of preaching, and this involves the authority of the preacher who is “sent” (verses 14-15; Acts 13:1-4). This “sending” has to do with apostolicity, a word derived from the Greek verb, apostello<\/em>, “to send.” The sending forth to preach is the commission of the Church, a commission that the Church received from Christ (Matthew 10:5-15; 28:16-20; John 20:21).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The transmission of this authority is known to Christian history as the “apostolic succession,” which means “the succession of those who have been sent.” It is the succession itself that transmits that authority, the single identity of the apostolic ministry from one age to the next. The authoritative proclamation of the Gospel is derived from that historical succession, which is an essential component of the Church. All legitimate mission, therefore, is rooted in a specific and identifiable succession. The Gospel authority is transmitted through the Spirit-guided handing-on of the being of the Church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul indicates the social and ecclesiastical nature of faith by insisting that “faith comes by hearing” (verse 17). Even Paul himself, to whom Jesus had spoken directly, was obliged to go to the Church in order to submit himself to her authority and be instructed by Her Tradition: “Arise and go into the city, and you will be told<\/em> what you must do” (Acts 9:6).
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What the Church preaches is “the word of Christ”. This expression seems to have a twofold meaning: First, it signifies the word received from Jesus through the Tradition preached in the Church (and in due course transmitted into Holy Scripture in the form of Gospels and Epistles). Second, it means that word of which Christ is the very content. These two meanings appear to be but aspects of one reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Small wonder if the Jews rejected Christ, says Paul; they had already rejected Isaiah (verse 16). Indeed, they had already rejected Moses (verse 19; John 5:46).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In verse 18 Paul declares that the Gospel is as cosmic as the cosmos. He sees in God\u2019s revelation in nature a foreshadowing of His revelation in the Gospel, for the universality of God\u2019s witness in the works of Creation is to be matched in the universal character of the Gospel\u2019s proclamation.

The citation from Deuteronomy in verse 19 introduces the motif that will dominate the end of the next chapter, Israel\u2019s providential “jealousy.”

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Proverbs 2: <\/strong>This chapter is a poem of six stanzas on the blessings of wisdom. It begins by enumerating the conditions necessary for attaining wisdom (verses 1-5).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We start to observe here (verse 1) a difference of tone or voice in Proverbs, when compared with the Bible\u2019s prophetic literature. In the prophets the voice is vertical, so to speak; it comes \u201cfrom above\u201d: \u201cThus says the Lord!\u201d In Proverbs, on the other hand, the voice is horizontal; it comes \u201cfrom the past\u201d: \u201cListen, my son.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wisdom is a gift of God, first of all (verse 6). It is religious before it is practical (verse 5), and it has to do with holiness (verse 8), which is the source of understanding (verse 9). Real wisdom abides in the heart (verse 10; cf. 4:23). Once again the young man is warned against bad companions (verses 12-15).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But now, for the first time, the young man is also warned against a certain sort of woman as well (verses 16-19). In context she is any young woman besides his wife, and he is told to avoid her. If she approaches him, she is up to no good, and he should eschew her as something lethal. Just as God\u2019s Wisdom is personified as a lady solicitous for man\u2019s wellbeing (1:20-23), so folly will be personified, in due course, as a loose woman who will bring a man to destruction. It is thematic in the Book of Proverbs that wisdom is not attained without the strenuous discipline of the sexual passion, of which the proper expression is found only in marriage. (The monogamous ideal portrayed in the Book of Proverbs is very strong evidence of some authorial hand other than that of Solomon!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saturday, March 8<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Romans 11:1-10: Paul has already suggested tow considerations that qualify Israel\u2019s rejection of the Gospel. First, the rejection was not complete, because a remnant of Israel remained faithful. Second, Israel\u2019s defection proved to be a blessing for the Gentiles (much as Esau\u2019s defection had proved a blessing for Jacob). The second of these considerations will receive a more ample treatment in the present chapter, as Paul subsumes it into an elaborate dialectic of history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


First, Israel\u2019s falling away is only partial (verses 4-5), and Paul counts himself among the faithful remnant (verse 1; Philippians 3:5; Acts 13:21). Even during the ninth century before Christ, when all Israel seemed to have become devotees of Baal (“I alone am left, and they seek to take my life!” – 1 Kings 19:14), a remnant had been spared (verses 2-4). Even now, then, Paul was no more alone than Elijah had been. God had not abandoned Israel in those days; He would not abandon Israel now, because “the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable” (verse 29).<\/p>\n\n\n\n


A sign of that irrevocable call, Paul says, is the Jewish remnant in the Christian Church (verse 5; once again, the “eschatological now”). Not even this remnant, however, is justified by the Law but by grace (verse 6). <\/p>\n\n\n\n


The irrevocable nature of God\u2019s election leads to Paul\u2019s second consideration, namely, that the falling away of Israel is only temporary. God has future plans for Israel. For the moment, however, Israel is acting in blindness (verses 7-8), which is the source of Paul\u2019s sadness (9:1-2; 10:1). He observes that Israel\u2019s blindness had been commented on by others before himself, such as Isaiah (verse 8) and David (verses 9-10). That is to say, Israel\u2019s current defection had no shortage of precedents in the past. If God remained faithful to Israel back then, He surely remains faithful to Israel now and will manifest that fidelity in days to come. The course of history will prove the Jews to be God\u2019s elect and predestined people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Paul\u2019s comments on the irrevocable nature of God\u2019s fidelity to Israel prompts two further considerations of a theological nature:<\/p>\n\n\n\n


First, it is clear that in Paul\u2019s entire treatment of election and predestination, these terms refer to social entities, not individuals. Nowhere in Romans, or elsewhere, does Paul show any concern for individual predestination. The subject is simply outside his scope of interest, and none of his statements on the subject of predestination and election have any relevance to such a concern. For Holy Scripture, it is always a matter of the “chosen people,” not a collection of chosen individuals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Election and predestination in Paul, therefore, are matters of ecclesiology, not individual salvation. Thus, here in chapter eleven he treats the Jews as God\u2019s chosen people, because “the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable.” The context is entirely social and historical, not individual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Consequently, it is a mammoth distortion of the text to apply these verses to the spiritual lives of individuals, pretending that God, having called them to justification, is somehow obliged to save them, even if they turn their backs on Him. God is said to remain faithful to Israel, but this does not imply that all Jews will be saved. God remains faithful to the Church, but that does not ensure that all Christians will be saved. In short, these texts are not about individual salvation.

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second, “Israel” in these verses is a biological\/religious term, not a political designation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sunday, March 9<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The First Sunday of Lent: All the earliest references to the observance of Lent claim that the Apostles themselves taught the Church to maintain a period of fasting in preparation for the Lord\u2019s Resurrection, the most normal day for doing Baptisms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Eastern Church the forty days of Lent extend from a Monday all the way to the Friday of the sixth week, making a neat total of 40 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the West, however, the Lenten fast  does not include Sundays. Hence, there are six weeks with only six days of fasting in each week, making a total of 36 days. Thus, 4 extra days were added to the beginning, bringing the first day of the fast to a Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The day before Ash Wednesday is called Shrove Tuesday because of the custom of making one\u2019s Confession of sins before the beginning of the Lenten fast. (To \u201cshrive\u201d means to cleanse.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among the less devout, however, Shrove Tuesday became an occasion of feasting sumptuously, partying, and general whoop-di-doo. It is irreverently called \u201cFat Tuesday,\u201d Mardi Gras<\/em> in French. Numerous individuals  who have not the slightest intention of maintaining a Lenten fast nonetheless observe Mardi Gras<\/em> with a celebration called \u201ccarnival,\u201d  a word derived from the Latin expression carni vale<\/em>, meaning \u201cgood-bye to meat\u201d!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The word \u201cLent,\u201d now associated exclusively with the observance of the liturgical year, was simply the Anglo-Saxon for \u201cspring\u201d and had no directly religious significance. In English usage, however, its reference was gradually limited to mean the season of preparation for Easter that does, in fact, occur in spring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In many other languages of Western Christianity the word for Lent is some variant of \u201cforty,\u201d derived from the Latin quadragesimale<\/em>. Russians call it simply The Great Fast\u2014Veliki Post<\/em>. Traditionally this is a period of 40 days of fasting in imitation of the Lord himself, who observed exactly that length of time in fasting prior to the beginning of his earthly ministry. It was also associated with the 40-day fast of Moses on Mount Sinai and of Elijah as he journeyed to that same mountain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As early as the second century we already find Easter being the preferred time for the baptism of new Christians. The reasons are rather obvious. It is in the Sacrament of Baptism, after all, that Christians are mystically buried and rise with Christ (cf. Romans 6:4; Colossians 2:12).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was important to earlier believers that some period of prayer and fasting, by way of preparation, should precede the ritual of baptism. Even the Apostle Paul prayed and fasted for three days prior to being baptized (Acts 9:9,11,18). In The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles<\/em> (Didache<\/em>), a work from Syria before A.D. 100, there is the prescription that says: \u201cPrior to Baptism, both he who is baptizing and he who is being baptized should fast, along with any others who can. And be sure that the one who is to be baptized fasts for one or two days beforehand\u201d (7.4). One notes in this context that this fasting is a community effort, involving more than the personal devotion of the one being baptized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That communal aspect of the pre-baptismal fasting is even clearer in a text some half-century or so later. Writing a defense of the Christians to the Emperor Antoninus Pius, the Christian apologist Justin described how newcomers to the faith went about getting themselves baptized: \u201cAs many as are persuaded and believe that what we teach and say is true, and undertake to live accordingly, are instructed to pray and entreat God with fasting, for the remission of their past sins, while we pray and fast with them. Then they are brought by us to where there is water, and are regenerated in the same manner in which we were ourselves regenerated\u201d (First Apology <\/em>61). Written in Rome, this text also shows that the pre-baptismal fast was not a practice limited to Syria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, within the next half-century we find that discipline referred to in North Africa. In chapter 20 of his treatise On Baptism<\/em>, the Christian apologist Tertullian remarks: \u201cThey who are about to be baptized ought to pray with repeated prayers, fasts, and bending of the knee, and vigils all the night through, along with the confession of all their prior sins.\u201d Tertullian does not explicitly say that the fasting period should last 40 days, but he does link it to the 40-day fast of Jesus recorded in the Gospels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gradually the Christians did settle on a period of 40 days, and the custom was so firmly in place by year 325 that the Council of Nicaea, the same council that definitively fixed the canon of the New Testament, also determined that the 40 days preceding Easter should be a special time of prayer and fasting in preparation for the baptisms to be done on that day. Such were the origins of the season of Lent, which Christians from the fourth century onwards were very convinced were rooted in the time and teaching of the apostles themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fasting observed during this season is not, needless to say, total. Over the centuries it especially came to mean simply a tougher, more disciplined diet, excluding more \u201csubstantial\u201d foods like meat, eggs, and dairy products. Such fasting is accompanied by other practices of restraint, to encourage concentration on the things of God and the health of the soul. For example, many Christians foreswear watching television during this season. These disciplines are normally part of a stricter seasonal regimen, of which the most important components are spending more time in worship and devoting more attention to the study of Holy Scripture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since almsgiving is supposed to be a normal part of Lent as well, many Christians give as alms the money saved from the restricted Lenten diet. In this way, all three traditional ascetical practices (prayer, fasting, almsgiving – cf. Matthew 6) receive special attention during Lent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Monday, March 10<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Romans 11.22-36: The continuance of God\u2019s kindness, though unmerited and freely bestowed, does depend on human perseverance. “Otherwise you also will be cut off,” writes St. Paul. This apostle knows nothing about a level of grace that precludes the possibility of the believer\u2019s defection. Even as he holds the winning hand, foolish man may still choose to discard it. God\u2019s grace never removes the freedom of man\u2019s will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But just as it is possible for a believer to fall, it is possible for an unbeliever to rise. The defection of the Jews, therefore, is not necessarily final (verse 23). Their return to the ancient tree would seem especially fitting (verse 24). Indeed, this is what God has in mind (verse 25). It is the “mystery” (?????????) of His plan for the Jews, when history has run the proper measure of its course. <\/p>\n\n\n\n


The “all Israel” that will be saved appears to refer to the fullness of the Church, drawn from both Jews and Gentiles. This return to the Gospel, Paul believed, was prophesied by Isaiah (verses 26-27). <\/p>\n\n\n\n


God\u2019s guidance of history is complex, not because God is complex, but because man\u2019s infidelities have complicated the process. Far from being the mere unfolding of the divine foreknowledge\u2014even less the enactment of a divine decree\u2014history is the encounter of man\u2019s freedom with God\u2019s, in which God subsumes human mistakes into a more ample redemptive pattern. The format of this pattern is dialectical, in that the human resistance to God\u2019s will (sin, disobedience) become part of that will\u2019s very application. This is the pattern that God followed with the Gentiles. It is now the pattern that He will follow with the Jews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Proverbs 5: Except for consecrated celibates like the prophet Jeremiah and the apostle Paul, the godly and productive life of a man normally requires the proper governance of his home. It is the teaching of Holy Scripture, however, that a man cannot govern his home unless he can govern himself. Self-control and discipline, therefore, are among the primary requisites of a good husband and father, and these are qualities to be developed from an early age. Consequently the Book of Proverbs is emphatic on the prohibition of sexual activity outside of marriage. Sex outside of marriage is also outside of God\u2019s will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A man\u2019s marriage, in fact, can be damaged long before the marriage takes place. Sex before marriage often involves exploitation and disrespect, and it always involves irresponsibility, selfishness, and rebellion. These are bad habits to learn, not qualities in a man that will make him a good husband and father.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The present chapter of Proverbs, accordingly, warns a young man against the wiles of the adventurous woman. With keen psychological perception the Sacred Text indicates that the attraction of such a woman most often has as much to do with vanity as with lust. The young man feels flattered by the woman\u2019s attention (verse 3); it causes him to \u201cfeel good about himself,\u201d and it is a simple fact of experience that most of us are disposed to befriend, like, and cultivate those who make us feel good about ourselves. It is one of our great and abiding weaknesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hence, the young man is warned chiefly against the deceptive nature of flattery (verses 4-5). The flattering, adventurous woman has no idea where she is going, so it is very unsafe to follow her (verse 6). Indeed, a sensible man will put as much distance as possible between himself and such a woman (verse 8), for she is Big Trouble (verses 9-14).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In very figurative and flowery language, reminiscent of the Song of Solomon, the young man is exhorted to find joy in his wife (verses 15-20).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Tuesday, March 11<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Matthew 7.13-23: Here begins a series of contrasts: two different ways and gates (7:13f), two kinds of trees and fruits (7:15-20), two sorts of people (7:21-23), two contrasted builders (7:24-27), two opposed styles of teaching (7:29). The references to plants and fruit in 7:16-19 are paralleled in 12:33 (cf. also Luke 6:43f; John 15:4f). Because of the risks involved in all agriculture, there are clear threats in verses 13 and 19, which will be paralleled in verses 23 and 27.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Matthew 7:22 closes the Sermon on the Mount with a reference to the day of judgment, which will also be the case in the fifth and last of the Lord\u2019s great sermons in Matthew, the discourse on the Last Things (25:31-46). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Romans 12:1-8: <\/strong>Here begins the “therefore” (verse 1) section of Romans, in which Paul enunciates the moral and ascetical inferences to be drawn from the dogmatic premises elaborated in the first eleven chapters (compare Ephesians 4:1; Philippians 2:1, and so forth).<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Although the believer has been delivered from the works of the Mosaic Law, “the curse of the Law,” he has by no means been freed from the works of the Gospel. As the Sermon on the Mount repeatedly asserts, the works of the Gospel are far more demanding than the works of the Law. At Baptism, the believer assumes responsibility for these works of the Gospel, and if he refuses to take that responsibility seriously he runs the risk of defection from the faith and being cut off from Christ (11:20-22). <\/p>\n\n\n\n


Listed here first among the components of responsibility, is the duty of cultivating bodily holiness, because the body itself is the bearer of the Holy Spirit, who will in due course raise it from the dead (8:11). Paul is reviewing here the plea that he made for bodily holiness in 6:12-13, 19-20. This ascetical effort he now describes in the imagery of sacrifice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n


This ascetical effort, because it stands directly at variance with the standards, interests, and aspirations of the world, also requires an adversarial attitude toward the world. To the world the Christian must \u201cnot conform” (verse 2). The Greek word indicating worldly conformity here is syschemt<\/em>\u00edzesthe<\/em>, in which the attentive reader will discern the root English word, \u201cschema.\u201d The world, that is to say, tends to “schematize” human beings by imposing an outward pattern on them. (A view verses later Paul will contrast the world\u2019s outward uniformity with the great diversity manifest among Christians.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n


The believer, however, is not to adopt the “schemes” of the world. He is not to “conform” but to be “transformed,” metamorpho<\/em>\u00fasthe<\/em>, this verb indicating an inner change (meta<\/em>) of form (morphe<\/em>, the Greek equivalent of the Latin forma<\/em>). Outward conformity is replaced by inner transformation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wednesday, March 12<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Proverbs 7: The Book of Proverbs\u2019 sustained warnings against sexual aberration, especially adultery, which directly attacks the institution of the family, argue that one of man\u2019s chief areas of stewardship is sex. Moreover, the book\u2019s several warnings about adulteresses should be viewed as integral to the image of wisdom as Lady Wisdom, which a wise man is said to take as a bride. And just as Lady Wisdom becomes personified in a man\u2019s own wife, Dame Folly is personified in the adulteress. The entire present chapter is devoted to this theme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mockery and sarcasm, rhetorical forms used in both the prophetic and sapiential literature of the Bible with some frequency, enjoy the advantage that comes of not taking someone or something as worthy of serious consideration. This chapter illustrates the advantage. The adventurous woman is held up to considerable ridicule, and so is the young fool who falls for her. Indeed, the young man is here given the very words and gestures that she will employ to seduce him. She commences with flattery (verses 5,21); that is to say, she gives the young man \u201ca positive self-image.\u201d (A man who builds his self-confidence on a woman\u2019s approval already demonstrates his immaturity. Prior to the present age it was taken as axiomatic that a young man should not even seek a woman\u2019s approval, and had no right to expect it, until he had proven himself among men in manly pursuits.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We see the young man walking down the street, dripping with inexperience, a virtual lamb ambling toward the slaughter (verses 6-7). The very fool, he is strolling aimlessly after dark (verse 6-7; Sirach 9:7), unaware that, even if he is not looking for trouble, trouble is looking for him (verses 10-12). The restless lady comes along and promises him a rollicking good time (verses 13-18), mentioning that her husband will be out of town for a while (verses 19-20). (One thinks of Mrs. Potiphar approaching Joseph in Genesis 39.) Thus is the young fellow suckered into sin (verses 21-23). The chapter ends with the exhortation to be on guard, especially keeping custody of the heart (verse 25). What is to be eschewed is the path to death (verse 27), the other of the Two Ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Psalm 106 (Greek & Latin 105): Whereas Psalm 105, which we prayed yesterday, today\u2019s psalm uses it as the structure of a sustained confession of sins and ongoing motive for repentance. The praise of God in this psalm, then, springs from the consideration of God\u2019s fidelity to His people notwithstanding their own infidelities to Him: \u201cPraise the Lord, for He is gracious, for His mercy endures forever!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The examples of the people\u2019s continued sin are drawn from the accounts of the Exodus and the Desert Wandering, a period of such egregious unfaithfulness that only a few of that entire generation were finally permitted to enter the Promised Land. The examples are detailed: the constant murmuring against the Lord both in Egypt and in the desert, the rebellion of Dathan and Abiron, the cult of the golden calf, the succumbing to temptation from the Moabites and other moral compromises with the surrounding nations, child-sacrifice to Moloch, and so forth. In all of these things God nonetheless proved His patience and fidelity to the people of His covenant: \u201cWho will tell the mighty deeds of the Lord, or make all His praises heard?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This poetic narrative, which summarizes much of the Books of Exodus and Numbers, deals with the period of the Desert Wandering as a source of negative moral example: \u201cDon\u2019t let this happen to you.\u201d Such is the approach to that period through much of biblical literature, from Deuteronomy 33 to
1 Corinthians 10.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thursday, March 13<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Matthew 13.1-9: This first parable, in which most of the sown seed is lost, summarizes Jesus\u2019 own experience, as narrated in the previous chapter. So little of the Gospel, it seems, has fallen on fertile ground. As directed to the Church, this parable urges a sense of modesty about \u201csuccess\u201d in fruitful preaching. A great deal of the sown Word will simply be wasted. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This first parable also provides the foundation for the other six; it is the fountain out of which they flow. Thus, the second parable (wheat and tares in verses 24-30), is concerned with the wasted seed that falls by the wayside and is eaten by birds. The \u201cenemy\u201d that sowed the tares in verse 24 is identical with the \u201cwicked one\u201d in verse 19. Similarly, the third parable (mustard seed in verses 31-32) and the fourth (leaven in verse 33) deal with the seed that is sown on stony ground. Parables five (hidden treasure in verse 44) and six (pearl in verses 45-46) are concerned with the seed sown among thorns, while the seventh parable (dragnet in verses 47-50) parallels the seed sown on fertile ground and bringing forth much fruit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Romans 13:1-7: Beginning with the believer\u2019s relationship to other believers, and going on with respect to those outside the community of faith, Paul now addresses the Christian\u2019s relationship to the political order (verses 1-7).<\/p>\n\n\n\n


One is impressed by Paul\u2019s attitude of respect, deference, and obedience toward the civil authority, not simply because that authority carries the power to exact such an attitude, but also because such an attitude is required by conscience (verse 5). To respect and obey the State, in Paul\u2019s view, is demanded by God\u2019s own ordinance, because ultimately the State hold its authority from God. (Contrast this view with that of John Locke and Thomas Jefferson.) The State is “God\u2019s minister” (verse 4).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Generally speaking, then, and proper exception being made for laws that violate the moral order, the dictates and decisions of government are binding in conscience. They are not simply penal laws. That is to say, in those instances where the State does not contravene God\u2019s own law, the State speaks for God and is a valid channel for the discovery of God\u2019s will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Lest we be too quick to imagine that Paul is thinking of the State in very idealistic terms, we may bear in mind that the emperor at that time was Nero, and the \u201cState\u201d of Paul\u2019s reference was the Roman Empire. Imperial authority had earlier expelled the Jews, including Christians, from Rome only a decade before, and about four years after writing this epistle Paul himself would be executed by this same authority. Three years later, moreover, the full weight of the imperial government would come down hard on the Christians at Rome in a fearful persecution. In other words, Paul\u2019s attitude toward Rome was not one of convenience, but of principle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul\u2019s affirmations here bear witness to an important feature of Christian anthropology. They testify that man\u2019s relationship to God is not limited to the specifically religious and cultic sphere. Man is also related to God in the political, social, cultural, and economic spheres of his existence in this world. Man\u2019s relationship to God, in other words, is inseparable from his relationship to everything else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Friday, March 14<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Matthew 13:10-17: In the Gospel dialogue that immediately follows the parable of the sown seed, only Matthew quotes at length the long text from Isaiah found in verses 14-15. This text well fits the pattern of growing obstinacy on the part of Jesus\u2019 enemies, a theme that has been growing steadily since 11:16. The argument the Lord uses in these verses is obscure, for the plain reason that hardness of heart is an obscure and mysterious subject.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the workings of divine grace are difficult to comprehend, even more difficult to grasp is man\u2019s willful refusal of that grace. Because a choice is both an effect and a cause, there is a tautology in human choice, and like all tautologies it can only be expressed by what seems a circular argument. That is to say, we choose because we choose. This is what is meant by \u201cfree\u201d choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mysteriously, then, the refusal to believe is also the punishment for the refusal to believe. These verses are also a sort of explanation of the following section, particularly verses 19 and 23, which contrast the \u201cunderstanding\u201d and \u201cnon-understanding\u201d of God\u2019s Word.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this respect the disciples of Jesus are distinguished from the others who hear the parables. The \u201cto you\u201d is contrasted with the \u201cto them\u201d (verse 11). The \u201cwhoever has\u201d is distinguished from the \u201cwhoever has not\u201d (verse 12). There is an antithesis between those that see (verse 16) and those that do not see (verse 13).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Matthew thus introduces the historico-theological themes of grace and rejection. To those who have, more will be given, while from those who have nothing, even <i>that<\/i> will be taken away (verse 12). Matthew will return to this irony in the Parable of the Talents (25:29). The judgment aspect of this antithesis will be illustrated in the suicide of Judas (273-10).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Proverbs 9: This chapter illustrates a contrast between two vastly different meals. From the \u201chighest places of the city\u201d (verses 3,14), both wisdom and folly invite \u201cwhoever is simple,\u201d the man who \u201clacks understanding,\u201d to \u201cturn in here\u201d (verses 4,16), which is to say, to their respective \u201chouses\u201d (verses 1,14).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their respective meals are quite different; the meat and wine of wisdom (verse 2) are contrasted with the bread and water of folly (verse 17). The former meal brings nourishment, whereas the latter is lethal (verse 18). (The contrast between the two women<\/em>, Wisdom and Folly, in this chapter may be compared with the contrast between the two women<\/em>, Babylon and Jerusalem, the Whore and the Bride, in the closing chapters of the Book of Revelation.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the young man thus admonished is a \u201cscorner,\u201d wisdom\u2019s warning will go unheeded (verse 6), because wisdom is wasted on a fool (cf. Matthew 7:6). Once again, the beginning of wisdom is reverence (verse 10).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u201cseven pillars\u201d of the house of wisdom (verse 1) became the trivium<\/em> (grammar, logic, rhetoric) and quadrivium<\/em> (arithmetic, music, geometry, astronomy) of the medieval university. Seven, as the number of fullness, was important to the very concept of a university<\/em>, or house of universal knowledge.

<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Friday, March 7 Romans 10:14-21: Israel, says Paul, is without excuse. It was to Israel that the Gospel was first addressed, but they did not believe. This assessment refers, not only to the preaching of Jesus and the first apostles, but also to Paul\u2019s own experience. As the Acts of the Apostles describes it, Paul\u2019s … Continue reading March 7 – 14, 2025<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2613"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2613"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2613\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2614,"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2613\/revisions\/2614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}