What does "indwelling" mean? What is friendship with God? How does "friendship" help us to know God? Marcus Grodi welcomes former Calvinist Dr. David Anders to this episode of Deep in Scripture. Dr. Anders chooses a verse that was "hard" for him as a Calvinist. The pair focus discussion on their Calvinist backgrounds, particularly David's Puritan history. Scripture verse: John 14:23 Resources mentioned: Dr. David Anders' website and blog Called to Communion radio program Orthodoxies in Massachus...
Jan 07, 2016•36 min
Dec 18, 2015•41 min
On this episode of Deep in Scripture radio, Marcus Grodi invites friend Steve Ray to discuss John 2: 1-12. As a former Baptist, the Wedding at Cana caused Steve many problems from the drinking of alcohol to the language regarding Mary to Jesus’ obedience to His mother. Steve is known as “Jerusalem Jones,” because he leads Christian pilgrimages to the Holy Land. In this discussion, he uses his intimate knowledge of Israeli and Palestinian culture to flesh out the story. Scripture verses: John 2: ...
Dec 10, 2015•33 min
Marcus Grodi and Gary Michuta talk about the importance of the Deuterocanonical Books of the Bible and how they impacted New Testament passages like Hebrews 11:35. Gary can be found at handsonapologetics.com
Nov 19, 2015•33 min
Marcus Grodi and Jim Anderson look at passages of Christ that many Christians have ignored because they are too hard. How do we live according to the words of Christ that are hard for us to understand?
Nov 18, 2015•38 min
Paul Thigpen, a member of The Coming Home Network, joins Marcus Grodi this week to discuss 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17. Paul was a pastor in a tradition that believed in the rapture. Many read this passage to say that Christ will come back before the end of time and take all believers to Himself. Paul discovered that this reading of the passage is very modern and diverges widely from how Christians historically understood it.
Nov 05, 2015•31 min
Marcus Grodi and Jim Anderson talk more about what it means for scripture passages to be “hard verses and how we are supposed to interpret them. They also address some of the questions and comments that you have sent.
Oct 29, 2015•44 min
Member of the CHNetwork and prominant Catholic apologist, Patrick Madrid joins us to share a few of his own hard verses (Call no man father, and the sinlessness of Mary) as well as to discuss a couple particular verses in Timothy and Romans that can be "hard" for a variety of Christians regarding the nuances of their particular view on salvation.
Oct 22, 2015•30 min
Marcus Grodi looks at a violent event in the Old Testament and an example of a now seemingly outmoded and largely abandoned custom regarding head coverings found in the New. What are we as Christians to make of such apparent anachronisms? Is the decision about whether and how to apply such scriptures a matter for individual interpretation or not? We’ll explore this today on Deep in Scripture!
Oct 15, 2015•26 min
Deep in Scripture Podcast is returning with a new series entitled “Hard Verses”! We believe that to be deep in history and deep in Scripture is to become deep in Christ. This idea is based on the teachings of John Henry Newman and St. Jerome, both committed to Jesus and His Word. In fact St. Jerome once wrote, “To be ignorant of Scripture is to be ignorant of Christ.” In this we see all three aspects of this idea, for Jerome was an early Doctor of the Church, who dedicated his life to the study ...
Oct 08, 2015•34 min
How does Saint Paul, as apostle and missionary bishop, warn the Christians in Rome (where he has never visited) to only follow teachers who proclaim “the doctrine which you have been taught” and to avoid those “in opposition to” this apostolic tradition? This needs tender care because, though he knows personally faithful leaders in Rome, he has only heard rumors about the bad teachers. To name these people “who create dissensions and difficulties”, he would have to depend upon second-hand rumors...
May 14, 2015•55 min
As St Paul closes his letter to the Christians at Rome, he first tells them of his desire to finally come an see them. However, he first has another task: to take the alms collected from several churches to help the struggling Christians in Jerusalem. In this we hear our call own call to comfort and support - our responsibility to - our Christian brothers and sisters to whom we are united in baptism. We also hear St Paul affirm how important it is for us to pray for one another - his ministry an...
May 06, 2015•55 min
In this section, St Paul moves on from deeper theological and ethical teachings to discuss why he has written so boldly to the Roman Christians, why he has not visited them, but why now he plans to do so. In these verses, we hear allusions to the power of the mysteries, or the sacraments as they will be called: to the changes that he as a bishop can assume are true in the lives of all baptized Christians; to his responsibilities as an “ordained” missionary bishop; and to the liturgical sacrifice...
Apr 29, 2015•55 min
Given the challenging call of Christ “to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect” and St. Paul’s call for us to not be conformed to the world but to be transformed, there can be a temptation to become self focused on our individual salvation. However, being a faithful follower of Christ has always meant being a faithful member of the Family of God, or as Paul says elsewhere, the Body of Christ, the Church of the Living God. This means we are to be concerned about each other’s growth in Chri...
Apr 22, 2015•55 min
Again, following St Paul's instructions to transform our thinking (Rom 12:1,2), this requires examining our lifestyles down to most simple habits of eating and drinking. The truth is, in many ways our Christian Faith frees us up from the scrupulous and over-zealous legalism of many well-meaning religious people. Many build their faith upon life-constricting regulations that have no basis in Scripture or the teachings of the church. Yet, what is our responsibility before these well-meaning "weake...
Apr 22, 2015•55 min
In Romans 12:1,2, St Paul calls Christians to continue their conversion by transforming their minds—and not conforming to the world, or the culture around them. In chapter 14 we see that this involves trusting that God is in control of our Country, our government, and its leaders, to whom we are to submit. But what if the laws they have passed are contradictory to the moral laws of our faith? Must we submit? This is part of what we discuss today on DIS. EMAIL: Dear Ken and Marcus, how do you jux...
Apr 10, 2015•55 min
Today’s email points to the need the Church to instruct us on the seriousness of scriptural exhortation like those of St. Paul, including those we will discuss today from Roman's 13. All of this relates to salvation, and to verse 13:14: "But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.
Apr 02, 2015•55 min
Email: Mr. Grodi, I have heard you quip many times & in your books that when Scripture says (1 Tim 3:15) that the pillar and bulwark of the truth is the Church, Jesus could not have meant the thousands of denominations divided by contrary interpretations of Scripture we now have in our world, for how could an invisible church of faithful believers be the pillar and bulwark of anything? This may sound reasonable, but if this seeming disunited diversity is contrary to God’s will, then why does...
Mar 25, 2015•55 min
Some key points in today’s passage: (vs. 1) The idea of “sacrifice” is still very much an important aspect of our Christian faith; (vs. 1) Our entire person—body and soul—is our personal share in the daily sacrifice of the Body of Christ; “what we do in the body” daily, as St. Paul say elsewhere, is how we “suffer with Christ”; (Col 1:24; Rom 8:17; Phil 1:29); (vs. 2) This requires a transformed state of mind, living out the Our Father; (vs. 2) By doing this, our conscience is formed by the indw...
Mar 11, 2015•55 min
Some key points in today’s passage: The idea of “sacrifice” is still very much an important aspect of our Christian faith; Our entire person—body and soul—is our personal share in the daily sacrifice of the Body of Christ; “what we do in the body” daily, as St. Paul say elsewhere, is how we “suffer with Christ”; (Col 1:24; Rom 8:17; Phil 1:29); This requires a transformed state of mind, living out the Our Father; This requires living out the Beatitudes: detachment from world, sin, self (verse 12...
Mar 05, 2015•55 min
A few thoughts to consider concerning today’s text, Romans 11:25-36: 1) Verses 23-24 set the context with Paul's insistence that faith on the part of the Jews is a condition for their being re-grafted back in. 2) What is the mystery that Paul is speaking of? a) (25) partial hardening (What does "all Israel" mean?) b) (26) a promise of the fullness of Israel remains (cf. 11:2) 3) In verse 28 Paul is asking us to view the present situation through TWO lenses: a) Gospel: Jews are enemies b) Electio...
Feb 25, 2015•55 min
Today Marcus and Ken discuss Romans 11:11-24 in which St. Paul explains God's mysterious plan of incorporating the Gentiles into his plan of salvation. Using the imagery of the vine from the Old Testament, Paul calls Gentile Christians to humility and hope for the return of the Jews to their Messiah. Listener Email: Dear CHN, God bless you for the work you do. Can you discuss the development of modern Protestantism and of Protestant thought from the reformation forward. For instance, the novelti...
Feb 19, 2015•55 min
Today Marcus and Ken discuss Romans 11:1-12 where Paul asks, "Has God rejected his own people? They look at Paul's emphatic denial that God has abandoned the Jews. Also, they comment on a Facebook debate about the Catholic Church and the Early Church Fathers.
Feb 11, 2015•55 min
St. Paul quotes Joel that all who call upon the Lord will be saved. Did the Old Testament prophet Joel mean everyone or just the Jews? Building upon other OT prophesies, St. Paul emphasizes that for a person to call upon the Lord, that person must first believe the gospel, and for them to believe they must hear, and for them to hear someone must preach. But can just anyone decide that they are called to preach? And how can one know whether what one is preaching or hearing is true? This all has t...
Feb 04, 2015•55 min
Continuing our study of Romans, we’re right in the middle of the section in which Saint Paul addresses the question: "Why haven’t all the Jews responded to the Gospel of Christ?" They were the chosen people, but yet the majority of the Jews did not accept Jesus as their Messiah. Why? In this first half of chapter 10, Paul addresses the question of faith versus works of the Law, and the necessity of confessing with our lips and believing in our hearts.
Jan 24, 2015•55 min
A few key points for today's discussion:1) This is Paul's Theodicy—i.e. his justification of the ways of God. 2) His purpose is to explain the ways of God in allowing the Gentiles to share in the Jews' privileges of the Covenant.3) The text never says that God predestines people to damnation. Send us your questions and/or comments! Twitter: @MarcusGrodi Email: deepinScripture@chnetwork.org...
Jan 22, 2015•55 min
In this passage, Saint Paul addresses a question that nearly every Christian wonders: Why haven’t my friends and family members, or even the majority of Mankind, responded to the call of Jesus Christ? Why are they set against coming to Church? Why don’t they believe in God? Is it their ignorance? Their stubbornness? Is it my fault? Or is it God’s fault? Did God predestine from the beginning of time that they would not believe and not be saved? Or did He just foreknow how they would respond? List...
Jan 14, 2015•55 min
In this section St Paul builds upon what he assumes his Christian audience already accepts: that there is a close intimacy between God and His Creation. The Hebrews spoke often of this in their Psalms. St. Paul draws on this intimacy, as well as the separation and “groaning” that Creation experiences as a result of Man’s sin, as a metaphor of a Christian’s present experience in this world and the eventually resurrection of the body. Creation and Mankind stand side-by-side awaiting this redemptio...
Dec 16, 2014•55 min
Dec 16, 2014•55 min
Today on Deep in Scripture Marcus and Ken discuss a fine email concerning the relationship between the Mystical Body of Christ and the Catholic Church. They go on to examine Romans 8:1-11. In 6, Paul emphasized that anyone in Christ through baptism has been freed from death and slavery to sin. Then in chapter 7, Paul gives a candid personal testimony of his own struggle against temptation and sin—even though he has been united with Christ through baptism. He ends chapter 7 with a testimony that ...
Dec 04, 2014•55 min
