On the Lectionary

A daily note from the team at OCABS.ORG, drawing on the published works of Fr. Paul Nadim Tarazi, with citations to his books and lectures.

Readings: Philippians 1:1-7; Luke 6:24-30.

Fr. Paul reads Paul's thanksgiving for the Philippians' sharing "in the gospel from the first day until now" as table fellowship, the sharing of the scriptural word rather than an exchange of gifts [10]. Even the aid they sent him is not what the thanks is for, since Paul elsewhere refuses payment for preaching, holding that "he preaches the gospel free of charge" [1]. Their true gift is steady adherence to that gospel, whose advance from its beginning to its completion by God Paul traces throughout the letter, the one gospel he says he teaches "everywhere in every church" [9,7].

Paul's thanksgiving is addressed to God rather than to the Philippians themselves, since God is the one who will ensure the good work is "brought to full fruition until the day of Christ Jesus" [11]. Naming that day lets Paul prepare the Philippians for his probable death, assuring them that his end is not the end, because God remains in control of the gospel's outcome [3]. Being "partakers with me of grace" in his imprisonment and in the defense of the gospel means that affliction belongs within this shared life [12,6]. Fr. Paul likens this shared path to a race that Paul and the Philippians run together, one whose beginning already includes the grace to suffer for Christ [5].

In Luke, Fr. Paul hears the woes against the rich, the full, and the well-spoken-of as the curse side of Jesus' new law, patterned on the blessings and curses of Deuteronomy and delivered, Moses-like, to a crowd on level ground [15,14]. He reads the scene as Ezekiel's son of man pronouncing judgment on those who refuse the word, so blessing and woe fall as complete, opposing sets [16,19]. Loving enemies and turning the other cheek follow at once as the law's extreme point, asked with no condition that the enemy respond in kind: "what would you wish that the others do to you, Do to them" [13]. This mercy mirrors the Father's own kindness "to the ungrateful and the selfish," whose children are called to be like him [18].

Sources: Tarazi, Philippians: A Commentary, p. 183; Tarazi, Philippians: A Commentary, p. 75; Tarazi, Philippians: A Commentary, p. 96; Tarazi, 2 Corinthians: A Commentary, p. 166; Tarazi, The New Testament: An Introduction, vol. 4, Matthew and the Canon, p. 32; Tarazi, Philippians: A Commentary, p. 84; Tarazi, Philippians: A Commentary, p. 73; Tarazi, Philippians: A Commentary, p. 75; Tarazi, Hebrews: A Commentary, p. 93; Orthodox Audio Bible Commentary, Luke (vol. 42), part 1, at 2:20:04; Tarazi, The New Testament: An Introduction, vol. 2, Luke and Acts, “Luke’s Sources Other then Mark”; Tarazi, The New Testament: An Introduction, vol. 2, Luke and Acts, “The Law of Christ”; Orthodox Audio Bible Commentary, Luke (vol. 42), part 1, at 2:17:53; Orthodox Audio Bible Commentary, Luke (vol. 42), part 1, at 2:22:08; Orthodox Audio Bible Commentary, Luke (vol. 42), part 1, at 2:15:48.

The note on ocabs.org

Opening music: Taksim Arbi, Bichi Slama, oud (Tunis, Archives de la Parole, 1930s), public domain. Source: gallica.bnf.fr / BnF.

A daily note from the team at OCABS.ORG, drawing on the published works of Fr. Paul Nadim Tarazi, with citations to his books and lectures.

Readings: John 20:1-10; 2 Corinthians 9:6-11; Luke 6:31-36.

Only one note bears on John 20:1-10 directly: Fr. Paul observes that chapter 20, with its own closing statement of purpose, "sounds like the end of the book," while chapter 21 forms a later "second ending," perhaps added by the beloved disciple's own circle after his death. The passages do not address the particulars of this morning's scene at the tomb.

On the epistle, Fr. Paul traces how Paul moves from moral to factual pressure, recalling his boasting to the Macedonians before using the sowing-reaping image, also found in 1 Corinthians and Galatians: "he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully." He grounds cheerful giving in scripture, redirecting Psalm 112:9 so its description of "the man who fears the Lord" now applies to God, and echoing Isaiah 55:10-11, where the Lord's word, like rain, gives "seed to the sower and bread to the eater," so God is shown to supply and multiply the harvest of righteousness. The aim, Fr. Paul notes, is that such giving will "produce thanksgiving to God," language tied to Paul's priestly offering of the Corinthians' faith, as in Philippians.

On the Gospel from Luke, Fr. Paul reads this teaching as part of the new Law Jesus gives from the level place, paralleling Moses on the mountain, so the whole discourse stands as the "Law of Christ." He stresses Jesus sets no condition of reciprocity: loving only those who love back, or lending only to those who repay, puts one on the level of "sinners." God himself is "kind to the ungrateful and the selfish," a word Fr. Paul ties to the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians. "Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful" stands, he says, at the center of the whole discourse, since children must resemble the father who both begets and rears.

The root pair of the day · שׁ-כ-נ šin–kaf–nun, מִשְׁכָּן miškan · س–ك–ن sīn–kāf–nūn, مِسْكِين miskīn · dwelling-place; settle down; abide. Zeraʿ and zarʿ name the act of sowing that frames the epistle: "he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly." Fr. Paul traces this image through Paul's letters to Isaiah's seed given to the sower, and Greek sperma and speiro carry the same seed-sowing sense in John 4:37 and Mark 4:14. The root roots Paul's whole argument that God multiplies the harvest of righteousness. cf. The Consolation of Consonants

Sources: Tarazi, The New Testament: An Introduction, vol. 3, Johannine Writings, p. 13; Tarazi, 2 Corinthians: A Commentary, p. 177; Tarazi, 2 Corinthians: A Commentary, p. 177; Tarazi, 2 Corinthians: A Commentary, p. 178; Tarazi, 2 Corinthians: A Commentary, p. 179; Tarazi, 2 Corinthians: A Commentary, p. 158; Tarazi, 1 Corinthians: A Commentary, p. 163; Tarazi, The Rise of Scripture, p. 471; Orthodox Audio Bible Commentary, Luke (vol. 42), part 1, at 2:20:04; Orthodox Audio Bible Commentary, Luke (vol. 42), part 1, at 2:22:08; Tarazi, Galatians: A Commentary, p. 83; Tarazi, The New Testament: An Introduction, vol. 2, Luke and Acts, “Luke’s Sources Other then Mark”; Tarazi, The New Testament: An Introduction, vol. 2, Luke and Acts, “The Law of Christ”; Orthodox Audio Bible Commentary, Luke (vol. 42), part 1, at 2:24:54.

The note on ocabs.org

Opening music: Taksim Arbi, Bichi Slama, oud (Tunis, Archives de la Parole, 1930s), public domain. Source: gallica.bnf.fr / BnF.

A daily note from the team at OCABS.ORG, drawing on the published works of Fr. Paul Nadim Tarazi, with citations to his books and lectures.

Readings: 1 Corinthians 15:39-45; Luke 5:17-26.

Fr. Paul reads Paul's description of the resurrection body as built on three paired terms drawn from the agricultural image of the planted seed: phthora and aphtharsia, atimia and doxa, weakness and power. The first pair, corruption versus incorruption, is tied to the second, dishonor versus the glory already introduced through sun, moon, and stars, and both lead into the last pair, which Fr. Paul calls "the classic weakness versus power." The agricultural and celestial examples of vv.39-41 prepare the hearers for the claim that follows, "So is it with the resurrection of the dead."

Fr. Paul insists that scripture does not equate soul and spirit the way later Christian thought often does. The soul, nephesh in Genesis, is simply the breathing that makes a body alive and ceases when breathing stops; it is bodily, not divine, while spirit alone belongs to the divine realm. Paul's text states that the first Adam "became a living being" while the last Adam became a life-giving spirit, and the same body functions as "soul-ly" before death and "spiritually" at the resurrection, just as a seed and the plant that grows from it have two different functions.

The gospel's paralytic is lowered through the roof, and Jesus first pronounces forgiveness, then backs the claim with the visible act of healing so that onlookers may know the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. Fr. Paul notes that "to glorify God" is a technical expression for acknowledging God's greatness and power after he has done a great deed, exactly what the healed man and the crowd do in this scene. Yet the same gospel later records that wonder can curdle into opposition: those who were merely amazed at a healing are eventually "filled with fury" and debate what to do against Jesus, a turn Fr. Paul links to the rejection that follows in the wider narrative.

Sources: Tarazi, 1 Corinthians: A Commentary, p. 287; Tarazi, 1 Corinthians: A Commentary, p. 286; Tarazi, 1 Corinthians: A Commentary, p. 286; Tarazi, 1 Corinthians: A Commentary, p. 61; Tarazi, 1 Corinthians: A Commentary, p. 290; Tarazi, 1 Corinthians: A Commentary, p. 289; Tarazi, 1 Corinthians: A Commentary, p. 285; Tarazi, Galatians: A Commentary, p. 56; Orthodox Audio Bible Commentary, Luke (vol. 42), part 1, at 1:59:57; Tarazi, The New Testament: An Introduction, vol. 2, Luke and Acts, “The Giving of the New Law”.

The note on ocabs.org

Opening music: Taksim Arbi, Bichi Slama, oud (Tunis, Archives de la Parole, 1930s), public domain. Source: gallica.bnf.fr / BnF.

A daily note from the team at OCABS.ORG, drawing on the published works of Fr. Paul Nadim Tarazi, with citations to his books and lectures.

Readings: Ephesians 6:18-24; Luke 6:17-23.

Fr. Paul reads the closing of Ephesians as the capstone of the whole letter. Paul, though "an ambassador in chains," still asks the saints' prayers so that he may speak the gospel's mystery with boldness [2]. Tychicus is sent not merely as a courier but, since his name in Greek means "whoever," as a figure for anyone who will keep reading aloud Paul's scripturalized words to the household churches, continuing his ministry much as Jeremiah and Ezekiel once carried God's word [5,12]. The letter's last words—peace, love with faith, and grace "with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with incorruptible love"—bracket back to its opening blessing and point toward the heavenly places where imperishable glory awaits [3,4,7].

In Luke, Jesus comes down and stands "on a level place," not a mountain, a detail that fixes the scene to Ezekiel, where God speaks to the prophet in the plain [15,18,24]. Fr. Paul's lectures note the crowd gathered from Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon, both Jews and Gentiles healed by his power, before Jesus delivers teaching organized like Moses' law—blessings matched by woes—so that this new law of Christ is given in a plain just as Ezekiel's word of life was given there [13,16]. The four blessings answer four woes; those hated, excluded, and mocked "for the Son of Man's sake" are told to rejoice, for their fathers did the same to the prophets [14,19].

Across both readings the gospel travels through those who risk rejection for speaking it: Paul in chains asking for boldness, and the disciples whom Jesus sends out to meet the same fate as Ezekiel, opposed by those unwilling to hear [2,19]. The blessed who hunger and are reviled now are promised a reward "great in heaven," the same imperishable glory toward which Ephesians' closing grace already points [4,14].

The root pair of the day · י-שׁ-ר yod–šin–resh, יָשָׁר yašar · ي–س–ر yāʾ–sīn–rāʾ, يَسِير yasīr · straight; be smooth; right. Luke's Jesus stands "on a level place," the mišor of this root, echoing the plain where Ezekiel heard God's word, as the note observes. The same root's Greek euthus, "straight," and orthos, "upright," underlie the leveling of blessings and woes Jesus delivers there, a new law given plainly, not from a height. cf. The Consolation of Consonants

Sources: Tarazi, Ephesians and 2 Thessalonians: A Commentary, p. 109; Tarazi, Ephesians and 2 Thessalonians: A Commentary, p. 112; Tarazi, Ephesians and 2 Thessalonians: A Commentary, p. 113; Tarazi, Ephesians and 2 Thessalonians: A Commentary, p. 109; Tarazi, Ephesians and 2 Thessalonians: A Commentary, p. 111; Tarazi, Ephesians and 2 Thessalonians: A Commentary, p. 110; Tarazi, The New Testament: An Introduction, vol. 2, Luke and Acts, “Luke’s Sources Other then Mark”; Orthodox Audio Bible Commentary, Luke (vol. 42), part 1, at 2:15:48; Orthodox Audio Bible Commentary, Luke (vol. 42), part 1, at 2:13:39; Tarazi, The New Testament: An Introduction, vol. 2, Luke and Acts, “The Law of Christ”; Orthodox Audio Bible Commentary, Luke (vol. 42), part 1, at 2:11:24; Orthodox Audio Bible Commentary, Luke (vol. 42), part 1, at 2:17:53; Tarazi, The New Testament: An Introduction, vol. 2, Luke and Acts, “The Raising of the Widow's Son at Nain (11–17)”.

The note on ocabs.org

Opening music: Taksim Arbi, Bichi Slama, oud (Tunis, Archives de la Parole, 1930s), public domain. Source: gallica.bnf.fr / BnF.

A daily note from the team at OCABS.ORG, drawing on the published works of Fr. Paul Nadim Tarazi, with citations to his books and lectures.

Readings: Genesis 28:10-17; Ezekiel 43:27-44:4; Proverbs 9:1-11; Hebrews 9:1-7; Ephesians 5:33-6:9; Luke 6:12-19.

Jacob's night at Bethel opens what Fr. Paul reads as an exile rather than a pilgrimage: he leaves Beer-sheba "in enmity with his own brother" instead of carrying forward the covenant of peace his father had kept with the Philistines there. In the dream God simply repeats to him the promise already made to Abraham and Isaac—land, descendants, and the pledge "I will not leave you until I have done that of which I have spoken to you." Jacob names the place Bethel, house of God, but Fr. Paul points out that in doing so "he imagines that God needs a house when what God actually wants is that his will be done." His recorded commentary adds that the Hebrew word behind the name is the same one that gives us Bethel, and that scripture grants Jacob two chances to be brought home, the first back to Canaan from Haran, the second, harder one, back only as a corpse from Egypt.

Ezekiel's new temple ends in a shut eastern gate, because the Lord himself has entered by it, so that only the prince, never again a king, may use its porch to eat bread before the Lord. Fr. Paul notes the earlier abomination this answers: kings had set their thresholds and corpses beside God's own, "so I have consumed them in my anger," and God now vows to dwell among a people who no longer defile his holy name. When the glory fills the house, Ezekiel falls on his face, a scene Fr. Paul sets beside Isaiah's temple vision of the Lord "high and lifted up." He also observes that the people cannot see this structure as the prophet does; they can only hear it described, so that the hearer is meant "to understand with his 'mind,' the Hebrew leb (heart, core)."

Proverbs' wisdom builds her own house and spreads her table for the simple, acting, as Fr. Paul puts it, "as God would build his temple," and issuing her invitation the way God calls his people to his festivities. Her counterpart, the foolish woman of the following verses, imitates this same invitation with a false house of her own.

The root pair of the day · שׁ-כ-נ šin–kaf–nun, מִשְׁכָּן miškan · س–ك–ن sīn–kāf–nūn, مِسْكِين miskīn · dwelling-place; settle down; abide. Miškan and miskīn link God's chosen dwelling-place to the needy who depend on it. Jacob names Bethel as if God needed a house, but the deeper word, as in Exodus 25:8, 'let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them,' shows dwelling as God's gift to the poor, not a human construction. Ezekiel's shut gate marks that same dwelling, now purified. cf. The Consolation of Consonants

Sources: Tarazi, Genesis: A Commentary, p. 164; Orthodox Audio Bible Commentary, Genesis (vol. 1), part 2, at 50:37; Tarazi, Genesis: A Commentary, p. 163; Tarazi, The New Testament: An Introduction, vol. 3, Johannine Writings, p. 101; Tarazi, Ezekiel: A Commentary, p. 331; Tarazi, Land and Covenant, p. 160; Tarazi, Ezekiel: A Commentary, p. 147; Tarazi, The Old Testament: An Introduction, vol. 3, Psalms and Wisdom, p. 92; Tarazi, The Old Testament: An Introduction, vol. 3, Psalms and Wisdom, p. 91.

The note on ocabs.org

Opening music: Taksim Arbi, Bichi Slama, oud (Tunis, Archives de la Parole, 1930s), public domain. Source: gallica.bnf.fr / BnF.

A daily note from the team at OCABS.ORG, drawing on the published works of Fr. Paul Nadim Tarazi, with citations to his books and lectures.

Readings: Ephesians 5:25-33; Luke 5:33-39.

Paul's charge that husbands love their wives as Christ loved the assembly rests on picturing the church as Christ's bride, "cleansed by the washing of water with the" word, so that she may be presented without spot or wrinkle. Fr. Paul, commenting on this same verse from his Corinthians volume, insists that this cleansing is verbal rather than merely ritual water: as he puts it elsewhere, "the water is just the expression of the ablution" of the word. He also warns against the classical assumption that the bride-church is automatically pure while her members stay sinful; rather the church "is coextensive with its members who remain" called until judgment, when only a few are chosen. The same bridal figure, he notes, appears in letters that resist gnostic blurring of male and female, where marriage instead "liken[s] the relationship between Christ the redeemer and the church to a marriage." This household teaching sits inside the letter's larger frame of love, opened earlier by the call to "walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us."

The same cleansing-by-word pattern surfaces in John's vine discourse, where the disciples are told they are clean "by the word which I have spoken to you," a phrase Fr. Paul links directly to Ephesians 5:25-27 as stating the same reality found across the corpus.

Luke's question about fasting turns on the bridegroom's presence: Fr. Paul observes that so long as the bridegroom sits at table, "we eat with anyone, with everyone," and only his removal brings fasting back. The parable of new wine and fresh skins that follows uses the rare verb rendered "must be thrown," the only such form in the New Testament, marking the necessity of a new container for the new reality. Fr. Paul connects this bridegroom language forward to the wedding at Cana, "where the bridegroom ultimately is Jesus, because he takes center place," and to Revelation's marriage imagery, since "Paul was the first to use this analogy" before it entered the Gospels as parable. He also notes that Luke's phrase "the days will come" recurs only once more in the Gospel, at 21:6, linking the bridegroom's absence to the same coming judgment.

The root pair of the day · שׁ-ק-ה šin–qof–he, שָׁקָה šaqah · س–ق–ي sīn–qāf–yāʾ, سَقَى saqā · cause to drink water; give to drink; water. Sāqāh and saqā gloss 'to give water to drink,' the same field as Luke's charge that Jesus' disciples 'eat and drink' while the bridegroom sits at table. The Greek archioinochoos, 'chief wine taster,' echoes the wine imagery that follows in the parable of new wine and old skins, tying drinking to the note's stress on feasting so long as the bridegroom remains. cf. The Consolation of Consonants

Sources: Tarazi, 2 Corinthians: A Commentary, p. 195; Tarazi, The New Testament: An Introduction, vol. 3, Johannine Writings, p. 225; Orthodox Audio Bible Commentary, Luke (vol. 42), part 1, at 1:19:52; Tarazi, Galatians: A Commentary, p. 176; Tarazi, Ephesians and 2 Thessalonians: A Commentary, p. 92; Orthodox Audio Bible Commentary, Luke (vol. 42), part 1, at 2:01:39; Orthodox Audio Bible Commentary, Luke (vol. 42), part 1, at 2:03:49; Tarazi, The Pastorals: A Commentary, p. 139; Tarazi, The New Testament: An Introduction, vol. 3, Johannine Writings, p. 111; Tarazi, The New Testament: An Introduction, vol. 2, Luke and Acts, “Further Debate and Final Denouncement (41–47)”.

The note on ocabs.org

Opening music: Taksim Arbi, Bichi Slama, oud (Tunis, Archives de la Parole, 1930s), public domain. Source: gallica.bnf.fr / BnF.

A daily note from the team at OCABS.ORG, drawing on the published works of Fr. Paul Nadim Tarazi, with citations to his books and lectures.

Readings: Matthew 4:25-5:12; 2 Corinthians 4:6-15; Luke 6:17-23; Ephesians 4:25-32; Luke 4:37-44.

Fr. Paul reads the mountain of Matthew 5 as the place from which the exalted Christ hands down his law in nine blessings, arranged in three sets of three, "the number of divine fullness" [3]. This law fulfills rather than cancels Moses, echoing Ezekiel's promise of a new heart and spirit that causes the people to walk in God's statutes, and Paul's teaching that righteousness is reached through faith [8]. The crowds gathered from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan are healed through the preached word, so that those healed "glorified the God of Israel" [7].

Luke instead has Jesus come down and stand "on a level place, which means the plain," which Fr. Paul reads as the Ezekielian son of man giving life in the plain rather than teaching from a mountain's height [19,22]. Addressed to disciples gathered from Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon, this sermon follows the pattern of blessing and curse from Deuteronomy and functions as the "Law of Christ" [17,20]. Four blessings answer four woes as one complete, universal judgment: the poor, hungry, and weeping are blessed, while the rich, full, and laughing are warned, "so their fathers did to the false prophets" [18,23].

Paul's treasure in clay vessels shows that the power at work is God's and not his own, the vessel itself able to "easily break at any time and be replaced by another" [16]. The dying of Jesus he always carries is his repeated affliction, not a mystical formula, "so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies" [9,10,11]. This death at work in Paul produces life in the Corinthians, and the same spirit of faith lets him say with the psalm, "I believed, and so I spoke, we too believe, and so we speak" [12].

The root pair of the day · ע-נ-ה ʿayin–nun–he, עָנָה ʿanah · ع–ن–و ʿayn–nūn–wāw, عَنَتِ ʿanati · be bowed down; afflicted; be put down. The root ʿanah and ʿanati names being bowed down or afflicted, glossed as poor or humbled, and surfaces in Greek as ptochos and penes for the poor, and as tapeinoo and kakoo for humbling and harm. Matthew’s blessed poor in spirit and Luke’s blessed poor who hunger both draw on this same affliction, which the note shows Christ’s sermon transforming into blessing rather than erasing. cf. The Consolation of Consonants

Sources: Tarazi, The New Testament: An Introduction, vol. 4, Matthew and the Canon, p. 129; Tarazi, The New Testament: An Introduction, vol. 4, Matthew and the Canon, p. 202; Tarazi, The New Testament: An Introduction, vol. 4, Matthew and the Canon, p. 130; Tarazi, 2 Corinthians: A Commentary, p. 115; Tarazi, 2 Corinthians: A Commentary, p. 116; Tarazi, 2 Corinthians: A Commentary, p. 114; Tarazi, 2 Corinthians: A Commentary, p. 117; Tarazi, 2 Corinthians: A Commentary, p. 112; Tarazi, The New Testament: An Introduction, vol. 2, Luke and Acts, “Luke’s Sources Other then Mark”; Orthodox Audio Bible Commentary, Luke (vol. 42), part 1, at 2:15:48; Orthodox Audio Bible Commentary, Luke (vol. 42), part 1, at 2:13:39; Tarazi, The New Testament: An Introduction, vol. 2, Luke and Acts, “The Law of Christ”; Orthodox Audio Bible Commentary, Luke (vol. 42), part 1, at 2:11:24; Orthodox Audio Bible Commentary, Luke (vol. 42), part 1, at 2:17:53.

The note on ocabs.org

Opening music: Taksim Arbi, Bichi Slama, oud (Tunis, Archives de la Parole, 1930s), public domain. Source: gallica.bnf.fr / BnF.

A daily note from the team at OCABS.ORG, drawing on the published works of Fr. Paul Nadim Tarazi, with citations to his books and lectures.

Readings: Luke 24:36-53; 2 Corinthians 6:16-7:1; Luke 5:1-11.

When the risen Jesus asks for something to eat, he is given only "a piece" of broiled fish; Fr. Paul notes that the complete meal will come only when the promised Spirit is granted, linking verses 42-43 and 49 to Acts 1:4. Jesus then opens the disciples' minds so that they see the law, the prophets, and even the psalms as speaking of him, and Fr. Paul observes that here Jesus treats the psalms themselves as prophecy fulfilled in his suffering and rising. The verb for this opening recurs elsewhere in Luke-Acts always tied to the start of the gospel, and Paul's own exhaustive scriptural explanation at Thessalonica mirrors this pattern from Emmaus and the upper room. Fr. Paul also notes that the ascension happens not from Jerusalem but from Bethany, part of Luke's "downplaying of Jerusalem" in favor of the mission about to begin.

Paul builds his catena of quotations in 2 Corinthians 6 as a chiasm around the claim that the community is God's temple, turning Leviticus 26's address to Israel as "you" into an address to the Gentiles as "they, them." This call to come out is drawn from Isaiah 52:11, just two verses before the fourth Servant song, so the command to "touch nothing unclean" ties the Corinthians' cleansing to the same restoration promised Israel if it keeps God's ordinances rather than incur the curses of Leviticus 26. Paul calls them "beloved," as a father addresses children, reminding them that becoming God's sons and daughters is a promise not yet fulfilled, and that the resulting fear of God is bound up with keeping his law.

The calling of Simon, James, and John from their boats made them, together with Cephas, an early nucleus close to Jesus, a closeness that later shaped their standing in the early church. Fr. Paul links this scene to Peter's restoration in John 21, where the command to cast the net on the right side reverses Peter's earlier use of the sword against the high priest's slave's right ear, the same verb for drawing appearing in both accounts. The overflowing catch, breaking the nets and filling both boats, points beyond itself to a gathering still to come.

Sources: Tarazi, The New Testament: An Introduction, vol. 2, Luke and Acts, “The Appearance to the Apostles (36–49)”; Tarazi, Land and Covenant, p. 232; Tarazi, Land and Covenant, p. 232; Tarazi, The Old Testament: An Introduction, vol. 3, Psalms and Wisdom, p. 77; Tarazi, The New Testament: An Introduction, vol. 2, Luke and Acts, “Uproar in Thessalonica (1–9)”; Tarazi, The New Testament: An Introduction, vol. 2, Luke and Acts, “Uproar in Thessalonica (1–9)”; Tarazi, 2 Corinthians: A Commentary, p. 150; Tarazi, 2 Corinthians: A Commentary, p. 151; Tarazi, 2 Corinthians: A Commentary, p. 148; Tarazi, 2 Corinthians: A Commentary, p. 143; Tarazi, 2 Corinthians: A Commentary, p. 152; Tarazi, 2 Corinthians: A Commentary, p. 149; Tarazi, Galatians: A Commentary, p. 67; Tarazi, The New Testament: An Introduction, vol. 3, Johannine Writings, p. 261; Tarazi, The New Testament: An Introduction, vol. 3, Johannine Writings, p. 260.

The note on ocabs.org

Opening music: Taksim Arbi, Bichi Slama, oud (Tunis, Archives de la Parole, 1930s), public domain. Source: gallica.bnf.fr / BnF.

A daily note from the team at OCABS.ORG, drawing on the published works of Fr. Paul Nadim Tarazi, with citations to his books and lectures.

Readings: 1 John 3:21-4:6; 1 John 4:11-16; 1 John 4:20-5:5; John 21:15-25; 1 John 4:12-19; 1 Corinthians 14:20-25; Luke 4:31-36.

In 1 John 3:21-4:6 the beloved are told not to believe every spirit but to test them, since many false prophets have gone into the world. Fr. Paul, commenting on prophecy in Thessalonians, notes that the faithful are not to accept every prophecy but must "test and search them," holding fast to what serves the common good while abstaining from what does not come from God's Spirit.

In 1 John 4:11-16 love perfected in one another is the sign that God abides in us, since no one has ever seen God. Fr. Paul cites this same passage as the ultimate meaning of the divine commandment, summed up in the words "he who does not love does not know God; for God is love." He further explains, from his comments on Corinthians, that knowledge of God always comes second to being known by God first, quoting "We love, because he first loved us," so that those already known by God bear "a special obligation to love those lesser then they."

In 1 John 4:20-5:5 the one who says he loves God while hating his brother is called a liar, for love of the unseen God is bound to love of the brother who is seen. Fr. Paul observes that John presents this not as a "new" but as the "old" commandment "from the beginning," and he hears it echoed in Paul's word to the Galatians that the whole law is fulfilled in the single command to love one's neighbor, against whose fruit "there is no law."

The root pair of the day · י-ד-ע yod–dalet–ʿayin, יָדַע yadaʿ · و–د–ع wāw–dāl–ʿayn, مُسْتَوْدَع mustawdaʿ · know; learn to know; perceive. The root yadaʿ and mustawdaʿ carries the sense of knowing, matching gignosko and oida that thread through these readings: "by this we know," "test the spirits," "he who knows God listens to us." The note's stress on testing prophecy and on being known by God before knowing him echoes this same root of perception and recognition. cf. The Consolation of Consonants

Sources: Tarazi, I Thessalonians: A Commentary, p. 197; Tarazi, Land and Covenant, p. 293; Tarazi, 1 Corinthians: A Commentary, p. 151; Tarazi, The Rise of Scripture, p. 349.

The note on ocabs.org

Opening music: Taksim Arbi, Bichi Slama, oud (Tunis, Archives de la Parole, 1930s), public domain. Source: gallica.bnf.fr / BnF.

A daily note from the team at OCABS.ORG, drawing on the published works of Fr. Paul Nadim Tarazi, with citations to his books and lectures.

Readings: Proverbs 10:31-11:12; Matthew 11:27-30; Galatians 5:22-6:2; Luke 6:17-23; Ephesians 4:17-25; Luke 4:22-30.

Fr. Paul frames the wisdom books as "functional," speaking "not to philosophers but to regular people" who need a path they can live by, not abstract speculation. Telling the story of Rehoboam, who set aside the law given through Moses for the advice of his young companions, he insists on the reversed order that governs a righteous life: "You don't protect the law; it protects you." He adds that even a wise word or a prophetic message is met by refusal in its own generation, yet the hope it carries is not thereby canceled, only pushed toward the hearers still to come.

Fr. Paul reads the invitation "Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me" as Matthew's way of presenting Jesus as the bearer of "the new Torah." The yoke is easy because the one who gives it is himself humble; scripture calls him "gentle and lowly in heart," and this humility, not any claim to bring something wholly new, marks the true teacher whose burden gives rest rather than crushing. Fr. Paul ties this Matthean saying directly to Paul's language of "the law of Christ" in Galatians, treating the two texts as speaking of the same reality.

In Galatians, the fruit of the Spirit stands opposed to the works of the flesh already named, and Paul shifts into the first person precisely so that Jew and Gentile are held equally within it. Fr. Paul explains that those "who are of Christ" have crucified the flesh because the realm of the Law has been abolished and replaced by the gift of the Spirit, not because of a private choice made at baptism. Freed from anxious self-concern, the believer becomes free to "serve one another thtough love," which is what bearing one another's burdens means in practice.

Sources: Orthodox Audio Bible Commentary, Wisdom Literature (vol. 20-22), part 1, at 2:34:33; Orthodox Audio Bible Commentary, Wisdom Literature (vol. 20-22), part 1, at 1:15:03; Orthodox Audio Bible Commentary, Wisdom Literature (vol. 20-22), part 1, at 1:11:11; Tarazi, 2 Corinthians: A Commentary, p. 149; Tarazi, The New Testament: An Introduction, vol. 4, Matthew and the Canon, p. 187; Tarazi, The New Testament: An Introduction, vol. 4, Matthew and the Canon, p. 217; Tarazi, Galatians: A Commentary, p. 303; Tarazi, Galatians: A Commentary, p. 302; Tarazi, Galatians: A Commentary, p. 285.

The note on ocabs.org

Opening music: Taksim Arbi, Bichi Slama, oud (Tunis, Archives de la Parole, 1930s), public domain. Source: gallica.bnf.fr / BnF.