Sunday School; A Pillar Bible Study – Details, episodes & analysis

In these readings for the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C, the Israelites finally acknowledge their sins and Jesus declares a Jubilee Year.

Already read the readings? Skip ahead to 7:35

Reading 1 - Nehemiah 8:2-4a, 5-6, 8-10

Psalm cf John 6:63c Psalm 19: 8-10, 14

Reading 2 - 1 Corinthians 12:12-30

Gospel - Luke 1:1-4; 4:14-21

It’s the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time! This week, Dr. Scott Powell talks about ancient Israel’s understanding of a jubilee year. He also shares a few reasons the wedding at Cana is more than just a magic trick precursor to Jesus’ other miracles.

Already read the readings? Skip ahead to 5:15

Reading 1 - Isaiah 62:1-5

Psalm 96: 1-3, 7-10

Reading 2 - 1 Corinthians 12:4-11

Gospel - John 2:1-11

It’s the start of a new season of Sunday School— and a new liturgical year! But the readings this week are not exactly celebrating.

Join Dr. Scott Powell, JD Flynn and Kate Olivera as they talk about the readings we will hear at Mass for the First Sunday of Advent.

Already read the readings? Skip ahead to 3:30

Reading 1 - Jer 33:14-16

Psalm - Ps 25: 4-5, 8-9, 10, 14

Reading 2 - 1 Thes 3:12—4:2

Gospel - Lk 21: 25-28, 34-36

Sunday School is back in session! This podcast will feature the same great teaching from biblical scholar Dr. Scott Powell and a brand new weekly format focused on the readings we will hear at Sunday Mass.

Watch for our first episode on Wednesday, all about the First Sunday of Advent, Year C.

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Sunday School is free for now, but soon it will be available only to The Pillar’s paying subscribers.

In Chapter 13, we find what Scott characterizes as one of America’s great “prop Bible verses.” St. Paul talks about respecting authority, and emphasizes that God is in control. 

Nostra aetate

St. Paul attempts to define Israel and address the issue of those in the Jewish community who have not accepted the Messiah. Scott warns that these chapters of St. Paul’s letter to the Romans have been at the root of antisemitism. 

The Spirit of the Liturgy by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger

We’re opening the comments for each episode of this season of Sunday School.

Please, share with us any questions you may have about St. Paul and his letter to the Romans. We’ll bring a few of your questions to Scott in the final episode of this season.

If you have a question you would rather not share publicly, please email our producer Kate Olivera at kolivera@pillarcatholic.com

Scott continues to address JD’s questions about Romans 5:20— and the relationship between law and sin. 

In these chapters, St. Paul continues to build his argument about God’s faithfulness, using the stories of Abraham and the Exodus. He presents Abraham as a shared father in faith— to both Jewish Christians and the Gentiles. St. Paul also writes that Jesus Christ restores our proper relationship with God, ourselves, our neighbor and creation.

JD wrestles with Romans 5:20, and St. Paul’s reflection on the relationship between law and sin.

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Venerable Pierre Toussaint

Camp Wojtyla

An Environmental Ethic for the End of the World: An Ecological Midrash on Romans 8:19-22

Scott talks with JD and Kate about the first chapters of St. Paul’s letter to the Romans, in which Paul writes about the universality of sin and the wrath of God.

- The Apostle Paul, c. 1657 Rembrandt

Righteousness of God = God’s faithfulness to his covenant promises— not only to Abraham, Moses and Israel, but to the whole of creation

Works of the Law (Works) = All the markers that, under the Mosaic covenant, designated membership in God’s covenant family (e.g, circumcision, kosher/dietary laws, Old Testament feasts, Sabbath observances) In short, the book of Deuteronomy. 

Faith = baptism

Salvation = being a part of the covenant family