{"id":4601,"date":"2024-06-17T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-06-17T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/handstotheplow.org\/reading-plan\/june-17\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T15:54:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T20:54:13","slug":"june-17","status":"publish","type":"reading-plan","link":"https:\/\/handstotheplow.org\/am\/reading-plan\/june-17\/","title":{"rendered":"June 17"},"content":{"rendered":"

Insight from Leviticus 10:10\u201311:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWithin the old covenant, <\/span>holy<\/span><\/i> \u12a5\u1293 <\/span>common<\/span><\/i> related to a person, object, space, or time\u2019s state or status in relation to the Lord; everything not holy was common. Similarly, <\/span>unclean<\/span><\/i> \u12a5\u1293 <\/span>clean<\/span><\/i> were distinct conditions associated with the ritual or moral standing of people, food, and space. What was clean could be either holy or common, and what was common could be either clean or unclean. (These relationships are represented by the adjoining boxes in figure 12.10.) What was holy, however, was neither to come in contact with what was unclean (= contamination) nor to be treated as if it were unclean (= desecration). (In figure 12.10, their boxes do not touch.)<\/span>
\n<\/span> Holiness and uncleanness were also dynamic, in that the particular state or condition sought to influence and overcome its parallel state or condition. (Figure 12.10 highlights this by the dotted lines, directional arrows, and bold-italics font.) But the common and clean were static, unable to transfer their state or condition, and they were understood only in relation to their partner: cleanness was the absence of uncleanness, and commonness was the absence of holiness.\u201d \u2014 Jason S. DeRouchie, <\/span>How to Understand and Apply the Old Testament: Twelve Steps from Exegesis to Theology<\/span><\/i> (Phillipsburg: P&R, 2017), 454.<\/span><\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

Insight from Acts 16:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cActs 16 tells us how God birthed the church in Philippi. In a night vision, Paul saw a man of Macedonia urging him to come and help, and Paul concluded that God was calling him to preach the gospel to the Macedonians (<\/span>Acts 16:9\u201310<\/span><\/a>). Philippi was his first stop in this new district, and whereas he had seen a man calling in the vision, the initial convert was a wealthy and influential woman named Lydia (16:14\u201315). Next, was a former fortune-teller \/ slave girl, whom Paul, with the power of Christ, freed from her spirit of divination (16:16\u201318). This led to Paul and Silas being beaten with rods and imprisoned (16:23\u201324). Yet it was in that context\u2013\u2013after some extended prayer, singing of hymns, an earthquake, and the prisoners not fleeing\u2013\u2013that God saved Paul\u2019s jailer and his whole family (16:25\u201333). Not only this, the magistrates had unjustly punished Paul as a Roman citizen without a trial, and this led to their public apology that drew attention to Paul\u2019s gospel testimony and helped birth the church in Philippi.<\/span><\/p>\n

A rich woman, a slave girl, and a jailer and his family were the founding members of the Philippian church, and they likely are among the recipients of this letter that Paul affirms for their \u201cpartnership in the gospel from the first day until now\u201d (<\/span>Phil 1:5<\/span><\/a>). He also lets them know that the very power that once saved the jailer and his family is at work again: \u201cI want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ\u201d (1:12\u201313).\u201d<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"give_campaign_id":0,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_crdt_document":""},"class_list":["post-4601","reading-plan","type-reading-plan","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/handstotheplow.org\/am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/reading-plan\/4601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/handstotheplow.org\/am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/reading-plan"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/handstotheplow.org\/am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/reading-plan"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/handstotheplow.org\/am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}