Jerry N Sommerville

Wisdom's House Jerry N Sommerville

Starting in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7, Jerry Sommerville shows that this passage points to a section of Deuteronomy (that is related to the Civil War) and ultimately points to a Decalogue structure that encompasses the entire book of Deuteronomy. He explains how the reference to the wise man in Matt 7:21-25 is telling us to take refuge from societal attacks on biblical values by dwelling in God's spiritual house built by wisdom. As he relates the biblical metaphor of the wise man who built his house upon a rock in order to withstand today's destructive external forces, Sommerville presents a comprehensive look at how the principles of the Decalogue are sequentially weaved throughout scripture provide an unshakable foundation and framework for addressing current issues such as: 1) Prevalent hostile societal relations instead of empathy 2) Marriage redefinition and pandemic divorce rates 3) Mankind's ownership vs. his stewardship of material wealth 4) The societal focus upon physical truth to the exclusion of spiritual truth: Darwinian Naturalism 5) Amnesia of Divine Providence in history Many in our day find the God of Creation to be unknowable. 1 John 1:1-5 describes God as being light. Sommerville unpacks the meaning of light used in 1John and John's Gospel. He does this by comparing the attributes of physical light to those attributes of spiritual light. When visible light is placed alongside darkness, darkness is overtaken. Spiritual light behaves similarly because it is representative of the sovereignty of God. Visible light has seven distinct colors (ROYGBIV). Sommerville partitions the book of John Chapters 1 through 12 into a summary of seven distinct elements by abstracting Decalogue principles found within the text of these books. He then relates this summary to the moral law of Deuteronomy (Deut 30:15) and he also relates this summary to the physical laws of Genesis that are found in the first seven days (Gen 1:31). Previous scholars have called this depiction of God and creation "Creation Ordinances".