Table Of ContentGeorge Lyons… the one from whom I
Listening Again to the Text
learned the most and the best.
Thomas E. Phillips
Claremont School of Theology
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New Testament Studies
George Lyons… a faithful servant of Christ, a i
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passionate professor, a diligent scholar, and an t in Honor of George Lyons
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exemplary churchman and minister of the gospel
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of Jesus Christ. His legacy through his work and i
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students gives evidence of his love and
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faithfulness for God and the church.
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Dr. Richard P. Thompson g
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Dr. George Lyons is a searching guide, an t
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austere philanthropist, a compassionate
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challenger, and an un-intrusive intruder, and a
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Nazarene non-perfectionist…. We feel so e
fortunate to have been impacted by the teaching T
and example of such a wonderful person. George e
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Lyons is an oxymoron, and we can’t imagine a
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Dr. Tat-siong Benny Liew and Pamela K. Liew
College of the Holy Cross & Freelance Author
Richard P. Thompson, editor
Claremont Press
www.Claremontpress.com
Listening Again to the Text
New Testament Studies
in Honor of George Lyons
Listening Again to the Text
New Testament Studies
in Honor of George Lyons
Richard P. Thompson, editor
Claremont Studies in New Testament and
Christian Origins 5
Listening Again to the Text
New Testament Studies in Honor of George Lyons
©2020 Claremont Press
1235 N. College Ave.
Claremont, CA 91711
ISBN 978-1-946230-44-7 (print)
978-1-946230-45-4 (ebook)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Listening Again to the Text: New Testament Studies in Honor of
George Lyons / Richard P. Thompson
Xv + 249 pp. 22 x 15 cm. –(Claremont Studies in New
Testament and Christian Origins 5)
Includes bibliographic references and indices.
ISBN 978-1-946230-44-7 (print)
978-1-946230-45-4 (ebook)
Bible. New Testament Criticism, interpretation, etc.
BS 2555.52 T466 2020
Cover Image: Sacra Famiglia (Holy Family) by Luca Signorelli (c.
1485-90) in the Vatican Museum, Rome.
iv
Contents
George Lyons: Professor, Scholar, Churchman vii
Richard P. Thompson
A Tribute to George Lyons xi
Tat-siong Benny Liew and Pamela K. Liew
PART I
LISTENING AGAIN TO THE GOSPELS
“Can Salt Really Lose Its Saltiness?” 3
Reading and Listening to Matthew 5:13 Again
Richard P. Thompson
Hearing Voices: Identity and Mission in Mark 25
Kent E. Brower
“Little Daughters” and Big Scriptural Allusions 45
Reading Three of Mark’s Stories Featuring
Women with Care
Kara J. Lyons-Pardue
PART II
LISTENING AGAIN INTRACANONICALLY
Gospel Themes as “Glue” for Pauline Ecclesiological 73
Images
Andy Johnson
Loving Neighbor, Loving One Another, and 95
Loving Enemies
Three New Testament Ethics of Love
Thomas E. Phillips
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PART III
LISTENING AGAIN TO THE LETTERS
Love Empowered Knowledge 117
How the Way of the Cross Determines Behavior in
1 Corinthians 8
David A. Ackerman
Translating λόγος as DNA in First Peter 1:22–25 135
Troy W. Martin
PART IV
LISTENING AGAIN TO THE APOCALYPSE
The Remedy for Vengeance: Blood in the Apocalypse 151
Carol J. Rotz
Divine Judgment and the Missio Dei in the Book 155
of Revelation
Dean Flemming
List of Contributors 195
Bibliography 199
Index of Modern Authors 213
Index of Biblical Texts 221
Index of Ancient Sources 247
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George Lyons: Professor, Scholar, Churchman
Richard P. Thompson
When George Lyons matriculated as an undergraduate
student at Olivet Nazarene College (now University) in the village
of Bourbonnais, Illinois (about an hour south of Chicago), little did
he know what was in his future. His vocational plans were to
become a professor of chemistry, so there was no dream of the
biblical professor and scholar he would become. Yet required
general education courses in Bible and theology as well as
participation and later leadership in student groups like the ONC
“Prayer Band” led this fledgling chemistry student to recognize a
different passion and divine calling that would order his life: to
pursue biblical studies and to serve as a professor and biblical
scholar of the church. In other words, his call or passion was to lead
and teach others about the Bible as the church’s sacred Scriptures in
deeper and faithful ways than they had done before.
But that was a different era in the Church of the Nazarene.
Few in the denomination pursued or possessed the highest
academic credentials in biblical studies in order to serve and enable
the church in the ways George imagined. Yet this was the largely
uncharted path on which he embarked, first by switching his major
and graduating with an undergraduate degree in biblical literature
from Olivet in 1970, then earning the Master of Divinity degree
from Nazarene Theological Seminary in 1973, and finally being
accepted into the Ph.D. program at Emory University, which
granted him the Ph.D. in New Testament in 1982. Dr. Lyons’
dissertation, Pauline Autobiography: Toward a New Understanding,
was soon published in the prestigious Society of Biblical Literature
Dissertation Series (1985), which continues to be cited in scholarly
circles for his groundbreaking work in rethinking and reinterpret-
vii
ing the apostle Paul’s self-descriptions in his letters of Galatians and
1 Thessalonians.1
Dr. Lyons completed thirty-six years of teaching in two
institutions of higher education within the Church of the Nazarene.
His teaching ministry began in 1977, when he joined the faculty of
the Division of Religion and Philosophy at his alma mater, Olivet
Nazarene College (now University), where he spent fourteen
distinguished years teaching mostly New Testament and Greek,
achieving the rank of Full Professor and leading the Master of Arts
program in Religion. In 1991, Dr. Lyons accepted the invitation to
join the religion faculty of Northwest Nazarene College (now
University), where he continued to serve with distinction by
embodying what it truly means to receive the rank of Full Professor.
In addition to serving on various faculty committees, he also served
as the Chair of the University Faculty (2008–10). Within the School
of Theology and Christian Ministries, Dr. Lyons was influential in
beginning online graduate programs, as he piloted its first online
course offering (2002). His passion for teaching translated well into
the online context, as he received several awards from online
graduate students for his excellence in teaching (despite also
earning the reputation for having grueling course requirements!).
What should not be overlooked is that Dr. Lyons gave of himself in
teaching and mentoring others during sabbaticals, summers, and
whenever else he had opportunity in numerous Nazarene
institutions around the world, because the passion that drove him
to follow his divine calling continued to motivate him throughout
his career. As a result of Dr. Lyons’ modeling of his love for
Scripture and his commitment to serious scholarship, today among
Dr. Lyons’ former students are countless pastors, some district
superintendents, and numerous religion faculty serving in both
Nazarene and other Christian institutions of higher education.
Dr. Lyons has also served the church globally, the Wesleyan-
Holiness tradition within which the Church of the Nazarene finds
herself, and his denomination. In addition to the publication of his
significant dissertation work, his earlier monographs include A
1 George Lyons, Pauline Autobiography: Toward a New Under-
standing, SBLDS 73 (Atlanta: Scholars, 1985).
viii
Dictionary of the Bible and Christian Doctrine in Everyday English (co-
edited with Al Truesdale and J. Wesley Eby),1 Holiness in Everyday
Life,2 More Holiness in Everyday Life,3 and Listening for God through
Revelation4—all works that focus on the church more broadly. He
has several articles that appear in the Wesleyan Theological Journal,
having served as President of the Wesleyan Theological Society
(1993–94). He is a frequent contributor to denominational Sunday
school curricula and devotional materials used in thousands of local
churches across the world. In the last decade, he has given
exemplary leadership as New Testament Editor of the New Beacon
Bible Commentary, part of the Centennial Project of Beacon Hill
Press of Kansas City (now The Foundry Publishing). His own
contribution in addition to William Greathouse’s analysis of Paul’s
letter to the Romans led to the release of their two-volume
commentary on Paul’s letter to the Romans within that series in
2008,5 as well as Dr. Lyons’ own commentaries on Galatians6 and
Ephesians7 released later within that same series.8
1 J. Wesley Eby, George Lyons, and Al Truesdale, eds., A Dictionary
of the Bible and Christian Doctrine in Everyday Life (Kansas City, MO: Beacon
Hill, 1986).
2 George Lyons, Holiness in Everyday Life (Kansas City, MO: Beacon
Hill, 1992).
3 George Lyons, More Holiness in Everyday Life (Kansas City, MO:
Beacon Hill, 1997).
4 George Lyons, Listening for God through Revelation (Indianapolis:
Wesleyan Publishing, 2006).
5 William Greathouse with George Lyons, Romans: A Commentary
in the Wesleyan Tradition, 2 vols., NBBC (Kansas City, MO: Beacon Hill,
2008).
6 George Lyons, Galatians: A Commentary in the Wesleyan Tradition,
NBBC (Kansas City, MO: Beacon Bible Commentary, 2012).
7 George Lyons, “Ephesians,” in Ephesians, Colossians, Philemon: A
Commentary in the Wesleyan Tradition, NBBC (Kansas City, MO: Beacon
Hill, 2019).
8 In addition to the commentaries already mention, see his
contribution to the forthcoming commentary on the Gospel of John within
the New Beacon Bible Commentary series.
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