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Letters and Homilies for Hellenized Christians Volume 1: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on Titus, 1-2 Timothy and 1-3 John QUOTES

Letters and Homilies for Hellenized Christians Volume 1: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on Titus, 1-2 Timothy and 1-3 John QUOTES

1 " It may be debated as to whether the antichrist is seen as a superhuman figure (in Revelation "Mr. 666" is seen as having divine pretensions but actually being quite human, being the emperor), but it is quite clear in 2 John that the antichrists are false teachers who are contemporaries of our author. "

― Ben Witherington III , Letters and Homilies for Hellenized Christians Volume 1: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on Titus, 1-2 Timothy and 1-3 John

2 " There is, in short,
something terribly wrong with claiming to be a devout Christian while hating one or another of the fellow believers. "

― Ben Witherington III , Letters and Homilies for Hellenized Christians Volume 1: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on Titus, 1-2 Timothy and 1-3 John

3 " Testing of the spirits, then, amounts to critically evaluating the utterances of various human spirits to see if they are prompted by the Holy Spirit or by some other spirit. "

― Ben Witherington III , Letters and Homilies for Hellenized Christians Volume 1: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on Titus, 1-2 Timothy and 1-3 John

4 " The 'factious person' ... is the one who insists on such divisive debates even when their consequences become obvious. Such a person would rather be right than righteous, would rather maintain theoretical integrity than the health of the community. ,264 "

― Ben Witherington III , Letters and Homilies for Hellenized Christians Volume 1: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on Titus, 1-2 Timothy and 1-3 John

5 " What is meant by the deposit? That which is committed to you, not that which is invented by you; that which you have received, not that which you have devised; a thing not of wit but of learning; not of private assumption but of public tradition; a thing brought to you, not brought forth from you; thus you must not be an author, but an authorized keeper; not a leader but a follower. Keep the deposit."509 "

― Ben Witherington III , Letters and Homilies for Hellenized Christians Volume 1: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on Titus, 1-2 Timothy and 1-3 John

6 " It is also the Greek term for joint ownership or partnership in some venture.49 Stephen Smalley puts it this way: "Christian fellowship is not the sentimental and superficial attachment of a random collection of individuals, but the profoundly mutual relationship of those who remain `in Christ' and therefore belong to each other. "

― Ben Witherington III , Letters and Homilies for Hellenized Christians Volume 1: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on Titus, 1-2 Timothy and 1-3 John

7 " Sin unto death" therefore, is not any act of sin however heinous, but a state or habit of sin wilfully chosen and persisted in: it is the constant and consummate opposition to God. In the phraseology of this Epistle we might say that it is the deliberate and persistent preference of darkness to light, of falsehood to truth, of sin to righteousness, of the world to the Father, of spiritual death to eternal life.i97 "

― Ben Witherington III , Letters and Homilies for Hellenized Christians Volume 1: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on Titus, 1-2 Timothy and 1-3 John

8 " if err we must, and assume that "where there is life, there is hope" for any sinner. "

― Ben Witherington III , Letters and Homilies for Hellenized Christians Volume 1: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on Titus, 1-2 Timothy and 1-3 John

9 " inspiration is no guarantee of truth, any more than a profound religious experience is a guarantee that it comes from a good source. "

― Ben Witherington III , Letters and Homilies for Hellenized Christians Volume 1: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on Titus, 1-2 Timothy and 1-3 John

10 " Our author warns us that inspiration, enthusiasm, earnestness, even honesty about what one believes is no guarantee of truth. "

― Ben Witherington III , Letters and Homilies for Hellenized Christians Volume 1: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on Titus, 1-2 Timothy and 1-3 John

11 " The verb "cleanse" is in the present continual tense, referring to an ongoing activity. It is worth pondering whether our author is saying that cleansing happens in the course of body life, in the context of our communing with one another. Clearly, he does not see it as a purely private matter between the individual and Jesus: it is "we" who have communion and are cleansed by the blood. "

― Ben Witherington III , Letters and Homilies for Hellenized Christians Volume 1: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on Titus, 1-2 Timothy and 1-3 John

12 " There is no hint here that preaching is thought of primarily as self-expression
of subjective experience or feeling-disclosure or autobiography or `telling one's story' so as to neglect Scripture."275 It is the Word that is to be preached. "

― Ben Witherington III , Letters and Homilies for Hellenized Christians Volume 1: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on Titus, 1-2 Timothy and 1-3 John

13 " The idea of "sinlessness" as discussed in 1 John 3:1-10 has prompted enormous debate within the scholarly literature, with no end in sight and no consensus of opinion on the horizon. Some scholars have even thrown up their hands and resorted to arguing that the author has incorporated contradictory material in his sermon. I would caution from the outset that epideictic rhetoric is prone to involve dramatic statements and polar opposite contrasts with polemics, and we have already seen this in abundance in this sermon.'"` There is no reason to think that this discussion of sin and sinlessness is not following the same rhetorical rubrics. "

― Ben Witherington III , Letters and Homilies for Hellenized Christians Volume 1: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on Titus, 1-2 Timothy and 1-3 John

14 " Loving talk is cheap when costly deeds are required. "

― Ben Witherington III , Letters and Homilies for Hellenized Christians Volume 1: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on Titus, 1-2 Timothy and 1-3 John

15 " C. H. Dodd puts it this way: "To over-spiritualize religion is to weaken it ethically. ,286 "

― Ben Witherington III , Letters and Homilies for Hellenized Christians Volume 1: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on Titus, 1-2 Timothy and 1-3 John