Tune and Prepare!

connection between shepherd and door {study} ...he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. John 10:2 A: The gates {and doors} were the place for elders' leaders' gatherings in the ancient towns. In this way - they symbolises the rank and the Authority. The gatekeeper obeys the rule of the town. But - as we can see later in the verse John 10:7 the shepherd himself also - the door. "Political and spiritual leaders were often called shepherds in the ancient world (Isaiah 56:11, Jeremiah 3:15). Jesus explained that not everyone among the sheep is a true shepherd; some are like thieves and robbers. One mark of their being a thief and a robber is how they gain entry among the sheep. The idea is that there is a door, a proper way to gain entry. Not everyone who stands among the sheep comes that way. Some climb up some other...

 Kenneth Bailey's book has a key importance of understanding the view and culture of the most famous apostolic teacher: Paul. ... the main thrust of Bailey's approach has to do with his understanding of the rhetorical features of the book. Bailey places his methodological approach on the table when he states, “the basic presupposition of this study is that Paul's Hebrew literary heritage profoundly influences Paul's rhetorical style” (p. 53). Bailey, contrary to most traditional approaches, argues that the book is not so much addressing ad hoc issues and questions of a particular church as much as it is a theologically themed argument that is both coherent and highly sophisticated. While Bailey concedes that the structure of 1 Corinthians involves a Corinthian correspondence, Bailey argues that “some of the Corinthians' questions (oral and written) are worked into Paul's outline , instead of the other way around. ... to the site →