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Love is a multifaceted thing. Sometimes this complex nature can be masked in English by the use of the umbrella term “love” (or even by the exclusion of concepts that really fall under that umbrella — e.g., “friendship”). In this first episode in our (planned) three-episode series on love, we discuss agape (i.e., self-sacrificing or sacrificial love) and caritas (i.e., charity), their interrelationship, and some of their connections to other facets of love (e.g., storge [i.e., familial love]).

Love is a matter of who is doing the thing, whom is receiving the thing, and what the nature and scope of the thing is. The love — more accurately, the scope and nature of the love — you owe to your wife (agape, eros) is not the same as the love you owe to your siblings (agape, philia) or to your nation (pietas). Love is a matter of wisdom, one that has fallen into neglect in Christian discourse.

All that is called love is not.









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Show Notes















See Also















Further Reading















Parental Warnings

None.

Leadership is a natural aspect of the interrelationships of men. Any given group of men, left to its own devices, will form into a hierarchy, with a leader at the top. The modern world would have us deny this reality, because it runs directly counter to Egalitarianism.

To men, God has given many gifts, but He has given them unequally — this is part of His design, and we are not permitted to deny or to ignore it. The husband is the head of his wife — he must lead, and she must submit. The leader is the head of his group, of his organization, of his church, of his nation — he must lead, and those under him must support and follow. It is not a mindless, slavish following of orders that is commanded or in sight; rather, it is a right recognition of the existence of hierarchy and one’s place within it.

We are endeavoring to rebuild from the wreckage of a shipwrecked world, and the reestablishment of hierarchy and of leadership is no small part of that task.









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Show Notes



Exodus 18











See Also















Further Reading















Parental Warnings

None.

Christian men exist in two kingdoms (the right and the left ‘hands’ of Christ) and three estates (family, Church, and State). Many modern men neglect the fullness of this reality via excessive focus on the Kingdom of the right hand of Christ (i.e., the Church). Further, and perhaps worse, many pastors believe that their role in the right-hand Kingdom entitles them to honors, respect, or other deference with regard to the left-hand kingdom — it does not.

The domain of the pastor is the preaching of the Word and the administration of the Sacraments. The domain of Christian men is all three of the estates of life — family, Church, and State. With regard to family and State, Christian men have many duties, but pastors have only one — silence. The role of the pastor is local and circumscribed; the role of Christian men is not exclusively so. The pastor qua pastor has nothing to say with regard to the State, to the kingdom of the left hand of Christ — that is the domain of Christian men.

As Christian men, we must work together on the issues facing us, and that regardless of which kingdom or which estate. Pastors have their role and we have ours; the former must learn their limitations and the latter must do their duty.









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Show Notes



“Headship, Authority, Agency”

Dunbar’s number











See Also















Further Reading



Augsburg Confession, Art. V

Augsburg Confession, Art. XIV











Parental Warnings

None.

Knowledge is not what saves us, but faith cannot be devoid of content, for one must have faith in something. Part of being a Christian is, unsurprisingly, knowing the content of the Christian faith. Or, perhaps, this would be surprising to many, given the state of knowledge and belief among those claiming to be Christian — even among the best (in terms of knowledge and right belief) of those claiming to be Christian.

In today’s episode, we return to the state of the churches. This time, we examine the general state of knowledge and belief among Christians. Do Christians even know the basics of the faith? For most, the answer is very clearly: No.









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Show Notes



Ligonier — “State of Theology” Survey Results

Pew Research Center — “Religious Landscape Study” Survey Results











See Also















Further Reading



“The Apostle’s & Nicene Creeds, verse by verse” [PDF]











Parental Warnings

None.

All that we have comes from God. As we covered in the episode on jealousy, we are, in fact, to be jealous, to be protective, of the things that are ours. However, this must be balanced against the fact that much of what we hold we hold in trust. There are things which are solely ours and there are things which are ours for the sake of serving God and neighbor.

Ultimately, we are stewards of this Creation, and we owe duties to God. One such duty is the duty to render thanks to God in the form of tithes. A tithe, simply, is an offering ‘off the top’ of a portion of what God has given us as thanks for the whole. How much we tithe, how we tithe, to whom we tithe, and other related questions are matters of wisdom. Unlike Old Testament Israel, we do not have explicit rules telling us what to tithe, when, and to whom. However, God does invite us to test Him by bringing in the fullness of the tithe, and where God invites us to test Him, it is not only foolish, but sinful, to refuse.

»“Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the LORD of hosts. Then all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says the LORD of hosts.«

— Malachi 3:6–12 (ESV)









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Show Notes



Malachi 3:6–12

Genesis 4:3–7

Genesis 14:17–20

Genesis 28:18–22

Leviticus 27:30–33

Numbers 18:21–32

Deuteronomy 14:22–29

Deuteronomy 26:12–15

2 Chronicles 31:2–10

Luke 11:42–44

Luke 18:11–12

Hebrews 7:4–10

Philippians 4:14–20

Deuteronomy 16:16–17

Leviticus 5:11–13

2 Corinthians 8:1–15

2 Corinthians 9:6–15

Luke 21:1–4

1 Chronicles 29:3–9











See Also















Further Reading



“Let Us Test the Lord”











Parental Warnings

None.

“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with Whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”

All that we have and all that we are flows from God, and yet, as covered in previous episodes, God acts in time via means. Your height and your intelligence, God transmitted to you via your ancestors, via your nation; your material prosperity, God transmitted to you via your forebears and your country; and your faith, God transmitted to you via faithful forebears and His written Word (whatever copies of which you may own, someone had to print). It is a tripartite inheritance that is bestowed upon us by God — biological, material, and spiritual.

The modern world, with its manifold lies — among them, the idea of the ‘blank slate’ — would have us believe that we are atomized individuals instead of parts of a greater whole. Each generation is a link in a chain extending back through Noah to Adam, and it is incumbent on each generation to faithfully pass forward the inheritance — preferably improved — that it received from those who came before. Without inheritance, there is no prosperity, there is no continuity, and there would be no salvation, for it is our adoption as sons of God that makes us inheritors of eternal life.

We must jealously guard our inheritance, faithfully preserve it, and dutifully transmit it.









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Show Notes



Numbers 27

Luke 12–15

1 Kings 21

Genesis 15











See Also

















Further Reading



“inheritance” [Bible Hub]

kléronomia (inheritance) [Bible Hub]

Dowry [Wikipedia]











Parental Warnings

None.