Category Archives: Bible

Bible, Church, Gender, General, Podcast, Social Justice, Theology

ALLin podcast: Episode 16: The purpose of Paul’s letter to Rome

Leave a comment

This is part 2 of the mini-series in the book of Romans, Paul’s letter to the church at Rome. In the first chapter of this letter, Paul appears to list a whole lot of sins, including same gender sexual activity. But if you read on into Romans 2, and in fact the rest of the letter, the tone and purpose of the first chapter seems to change. So, what was the purpose of the letter, and what light does that shine on how we should understand chapter 1. Graeme Codrington explores these questions, and comes once again to the same conclusion: that Romans 1 is not addressing loving, consensual LGBTQI relationships at all.

This is a long episode, and we highly recommend that you have a Bible handy to follow along the readings. In fact, we recommend you read the whole letter to the Romans before listening to this episode.

Resources:

Further readings on the purpose of the letter to the Romans:

Bible, Church, Gender, General, Podcast, Social Justice, Theology

ALLin Pod: Ep 15: Romans Part 1: Reading the Plain Text

Leave a comment

We finally get to the book of Romans in our study of the verses that have traditionally been used to oppose gay marriage and the inclusion of the LGBTQI community into churches. This is the start of a four part mini series on Paul’s letter to the church at Rome, and in this episode we read through the text looking at the plain meaning of Romans 1 and 2. We’ll get into more detail in the next episodes, but even on the plain reading of the text, it is clear that Paul is not talking about loving, committed, monogamous same gender relationships – he’s talking about something else.

For more details, read my original document on this topic.

Bible, Church, Gender, General, Generations, Podcast, Social Justice, Theology

ALLin Podcast Episode 14: Malakos means soft

1 Comment

In his letter to the church at Corinth, Paul says that those people who are “malakos” are outside of the Kingdom of God. This is a Greek word that means “soft”. It is a strange choice of word for Paul to use if he meant to describe homosexuals. In the context of the passage, and with understanding of the culture of the day, this word makes a lot more sense if it is describing effeminate young men who made themselves available as “call boys”. 

Resources:

Bible, Gender, General, Podcast, Social Justice, Theology

ALLin Podcast: Ep13: 1 Corinthians 6, 1 Timothy 1 and ‘arsenokoites’

Leave a comment

In his letters to Corinth and Timothy, the senior pastor at Ephesus, Paul lists a number of sins that will keep people out of the Kingdom of God. Included in these lists is a word that Paul made up. Why did he make this word up, what does it mean, and how should we understand it today?

NOTES:
See here for the table of vice lists referred to in the podcast.

Bible, Church, General, Sermons, Social Justice, Theology

SERMON: Resurrection, Sabbath and Exodus (in a time of Covid-19)

Leave a comment

It was my turn to preach at our church this morning. My sermon is about Ressurection, Sabbath and Exodus, and can be watched at https://www.facebook.com/MelroseChurchJhbZA/posts/153826419456676

I talked about how the Resurrection of Jesus is deliberately linked back to two big themes in the Old Testament:

1. the Creation Sabbath, which reminds us that the world is meant to be a place where we all have work and rest in a natural rhythm, and

2. the Exodus Passover, which reminds us that we are not meant to be in slavery to our work.

Jesus did not come to merely save us from this world and give us a hope of life after death, he came to save us from incorrect and oppressive systems in this world. Maybe Covid-19 is the reset the world needed to move us towards this picture of what the world is meant to be.

Bible, Church, Gender, General, Podcast, Sermons, Social Justice, Theology

ALLin Podcast Episode 12: A Community of Radical Inclusion

Leave a comment

A Community of Radical Inclusion is a sermon preached by Graeme Codrington at the Melrose Campus of Gracepoint Methodist church in Johannesburg, South Africa in 2016. It lays out both a Biblical and historical case for including LGBTQI in our churches, and affirming them as made in God’s image. 

Resources:

Bible, Church, Gender, General, Podcast, Theology

ALLin Podcast Episode 10: Did God create only two genders?

2 Comments

Genesis 1 and 2 tell two different creation stories, both culminating with the creation and marriage of two people. This was a Middle Eastern, black haired, brown eyed, cisgender man and woman. But does that mean all people have to Middle Eastern, black haired, brown eyed and cisgender? And does it mean all marriages must be between only a man and a woman? If not, how should we be reading Genesis 1? 

This is another one hour long episode, and you should ensure you’ve listened to Episode 9 before you listen to this.

Once you’ve listened to it, please let me know your thoughts and questions.

Bible, Gender, General, Podcast, Theology

ALLin Podcast Episode 09: There Are More Than Two Genders

Leave a comment

ALLin Pod is back after a short break with a two episode mini-series on “God made them male and female”. In this episode we look at the question: “How do you know if you’re male or female?” The answer will surprise you, because it is not nearly as simple as you think it is.

This episode looks at the science, biology and creation facts around gender, sex biology, sexual orientation and a number of other factors that determine male and female. We’ll see that all of these exist on a spectrum, and between 7 and 20% of the population exhibit some mixture of genders based on these factors. In addition to our longest episode yet (at just on an 1 hour), there is a list of highly recommended readings below, and a PDF slide deck to download and follow along.

RESOURCES:

Bible, Gender, General, Podcast, Theology

ALLin Podcast: Episode 08: Abomination!

Leave a comment

Our study of the Old Testament verses dealing with homosexuality concludes with a detailed word study of the concept of toebah ( ?????????), translated as “abomination” or “detestable”. This word is used 117 times in the Bible, and it is very clear what it is referring to… and it is NOT sexual sin. 

Resources: