Author: David Ellis

Don: What is the relationship between the faith community and the individual, in terms of the individual’s spiritual need and growth? To put it another way: How important is it for an individual to be part of a faith community in order to have a deep spiritual life? It is not commonly thought that one…

Don:  Matthew 18 begins with the question: Who will be greatest in the kingdom of heaven? This is really a question about how authority should be determined and managed in a community. Jesus replied that childlike innocence—a desire not to seek authority—is a key element in producing a strongly bonded community. Mutual deference is a…

Matthew 18:21-35 Then Peter came and said to Him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. “For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be…

Don: On one level, the parable of the prodigal son is about the relationship between god and man, about god’s graciousness, and about the open arms of god. Without undermining this face-value meaning of the story, at a deeper level we may see it as a story about Wo/man’s relationship with herself and himself. It…

Don: I was stimulated by the blog comment on the Emperor’s New Clothes and its application to the story in Matthew 22 of the wedding guest who refuses to don the wedding garment. It suggests that what is called for is a return to a grace-dependent nakedness that was part of the condition of Man…

Don: Scripture contains a number of illustrations of the concept of there being some kind of inner light within every human being. For example: 1 John 3:24: …The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by…

Don: Throughout history, well-meaning Christians have lived in fear of committing, or of having committed, the unpardonable sin. The notion that one must never be guilty of this sin was a common sermon topic when I was a boy. But given the ubiquity and all-encompassing nature of grace that we have deduced in our recent…

Don: We have left Matthew to sojourn briefly in Luke 15, to study the parable of the prodigal son. It will help to answer our questions about grace and about how it is possible to pull a spiritual plastic bag over our heads. The context: Jesus is attracting sinners to him, and the Pharisees and…

Don: Last week Jason asked if law and grace are a zero sum game. Rimon had remarked earlier that fallen man may have as much difficulty accepting or keeping God’s grace as he has of keeping God’s law. God’s love and grace seem closely related. How do they relate to the gospel, to the good…