New Testament scholar Gordon Fee passed away yesterday. This hit me unexpectedly hard, as I’m making heavy use of his commentary on 1 Corinthians in my thesis work. I know countless people who have studied under Fee, and all of them have nothing for praise for him as a teacher and a scholar.

Two quotes from Professor Fee stand out:

“In prayer and repentance, I committed before my Lord that I would by God’s gracious beneficence try to pursue excellence in scholarship and remain passionate in my walk with God; I would try to be a scholar on fire.”

and:

“Some day you will hear ‘Fee is dead.’ Do not believe it! He is singing with his Lord and his King!”

And so he is today. May, like him, we aspire to be scholars on fire.