Author: David Ellis

Jay: Last week, we began to delve into the relationship between faith, grace, and “works”. These three verses address each in turn (emphasis added): Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1) For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves,…

Jay: Does faith come from within us, or externally, from God? In either case, what is our responsibility for maintaining it? Is faith without works dead, as James said? Does faith naturally result in good works, or must they be striven for? Was Rahab’s placing of the scarlet cord in her window her “work” that…

Jay: To put the story of Rahab in context, note that Joshua had been sweeping unopposed through the Promised Land, wiping out whole communities and cities, before he ever got to Rahab’s home town of Jericho. He sent inept spies into Jericho ahead of his attack, but they were immediately detected and hunted. Rahab hid…

Don: In the story of the Barren Fig Tree we have been discussing, Jesus taught that with enough faith and no doubt, not only could a fig tree be instantly withered but even an entire mountain might be thrown into the sea. According to the Book of Hebrews, God gives each of us a measure…

Don: The juxtaposition of faith with doubt troubles many believers. Personally, I have never seen, nor heard of, anyone wither a fig tree or cast a mountain into the sea. Such an event would surely be noticed. What could Jesus have meant by this passage? Perhaps he was speaking metaphorically. At some point in our…

[Transcript note: The first 30 minutes, consisting mainly of Don’s introductory remarks, were unfortunately not recorded. Don repeated much of the material from previous sessions, so not a lot was lost. In addition, the scriptural references Don made during his opening remarks were captured and are appended to the beginning of this transcript, as a…

Don: The story of the barren fig tree is told in Matthew and Mark: In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he became hungry. And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, “May no fruit…

Don: When cleansing the temple of moneylenders and the like, Jesus said that a house of prayer should be for everyone. This idea has not hitherto been associated with the idea that God does not want everyone to see Him in a uniform way. If He had, the argument goes, He would surely have shown…

Don: God is the God of all mankind, and His body is the temple—the portal to God. How does this affect communal prayer in a humanity that manifestly holds multiple—perhaps thousands—of different views of God? Men and women throughout history have believed in the existence of a supernatural force or entity. It follows that they…