Well, it is easy to get bogged down in this epistle! 1.5 hours, so not too long, but easy to let your mind wander on tangents when considering some of the topics! Important to recognise before starting that this letter was written in reply to a letter the Corinthians sent to Paul. He's written to them before, too, and was hoping to see them again soon - having founded the church there on his previous journey. For more background, see here.
Interesting that all the word art is from the same chapter in 1 Corinthians! By far the most widely recognised chapter of Paul's letters, due to its popularity at weddings, it is good as a stand-alone, but the context grants us to understand the full meaning of the author - more on that later.
I haven't properly used the study guides linked in the intro, but I did have a glance through. The method he uses of arranging the passages into 'inversion patterns', is quite useful at understanding Paul's arguments and the way he expresses some thoughts. Do note, as with any study guide (and indeed my own writing), the comments and categorisations made are interpretive, and may not always be accurate. Always when consulting sources other than the Bible we must check them with Scripture, and be willing to discard anything that does not agree with Scripture, while utilising the insights and comments that are in agreement with Scripture to understand it more fully. For instance, I did notice one point glancing through where two of his comments contradicted themselves, within a page of one another - we are all fallible! Use this and other study guides wisely, and pray that the Spirit of God would help you understand and not misinterpret His Word.
As Paul is replying to the letter sent him by the Corinthian believers, we see answers to questions asked commonly in many churches and societies even today. Man throughout history still struggles with the same vices! Again and again, he calls them to behave in a certain way - not calling them to a set of rules or laws, but pointing them to their identity in Christ. Sometimes it is clear he is responding to a direct question. Other times, he may be responding to an issue he has heard about within the church and needs to address. Sometimes, I get the feeling that as he discusses things, it reminds him of another linked truth that should be taught while he thinks of it - so possibly not answering a direct question, but providing a fuller idea of Christ-like behaviour while he is on the topic. There are some things that are specific to the Corinthian situation, and we must be careful to understand the situations presented. Most of the teaching is universal, just as the body of Christ is universal.
Ultimately, it is a call to live up to the new life they are in. A reminder of how they died to the flesh, and now are joyful slaves to Christ. A prompt to show the love to others, just as Christ showed it to them. An encouragement to live in the light of the assurance of resurrection - assured because Christ rose and conquered death.
Before I continue from overall theme to connecting this theme to the different parts of the book, I should mention that this book is, unfortunately, possibly one of the most controversial in the Bible - at least, it seems to be more divisively argued over than any other book in my experience. The book even starts out teaching about the wrongness of dividing the church (over things that should not divide)! Don't get me wrong - I don't think we should gloss over important issues. The truth matters - and we should not be afraid to make waves and offend some, if it is for the right cause-the cause of upholding the truth of God's word.
The issues were important enough for Paul to write in detail about - we cannot dismiss them! But we must be careful to understand them, in light of the culture, the overall theme and message of the Bible, and the unchanging principles of God. Seeking to understand other people's interpretation of these passages, showing them in love and grace our understanding by means of Scripture, and seeking together God's intended meaning - changing our position not based on emotion or feeling, but reasoned argument from Scripture.
Anyway, enough about how to argue! Let's get to the text!
We begin with Paul giving his standard greeting, and then praising God for the testimony he has heard from the Corinthians, that they are enriched in many things (spiritually), reminding them that they are in the fellowship of Christ.
Then moving into the teaching, he starts with the problem of disunity. How can he fix any other problems if this is not fixed first? Note that he does not call them to unite, disagreeing with each other. No, he calls them to unite, remembering Who it is they really follow, and identify themselves with Christ, and not with any other man - He died that all might be united under Him.
While he is talking of the cross, he reminds them of its message, and how all are equal under the cross - none gain salvation by their own wisdom! Salvation cannot be for our own glory, only His. Having declared this worldy wisdom useless, he reminds them of the heavenly wisdom, which is revealed through His Spirit, and that cannot be understood by the world, but only by mature believers.
Returning to the main subject at hand, after this brief but important tangent, he remarks that they are not yet mature believers, ready to understand this wisdom, because they are still hung up on thinking themselves better because they follow one human leader and not another - forgetting the God through Whom they came to salvation. They may have the right foundation, but if they do not continue to build on it with quality materials (grow and mature spiritually), then it will all count for nothing at the end, and they will keep their salvation, but receive no reward in heaven. We are God's temple - does He not deserve quality craftsmanship?
Paul then reminds them of his own example, and the other apostles. Contrasting his own attitude and conduct with their superior attitude, he grows sarcastic, mocking their thoughts of grandeur to provoke them to change. Concluding, he begs them to change.
Beginning the next topic, he contrasts again, but this time he even holds them up against the pagan culture of the area. He shows there should be differences because of their identity in Christ, but no - they are imitating the world around them in matters of sexual immorality, litigation, and disputes amongst believers. Note the difference in response they should have to an unbeliever in sin compared with a believer who consistently sins.
He confirms the necessity of sexual relations in marriage, and the sanctity of the marriage, while condemning the corruptions of God's purpose for sex, reminding them that as they are one with Christ how can they seek to bring Christ into such immoral acts? Singleness is praised for those who are called to singleness, and marriage is honoured for those called to marriage - each should live according to the call of God. Those that chose to marry are told to marry believers ('in the Lord' 7:39), but if already married to an unbeliever, allow God to work His purpose through that and don't seek to leave.
As in Romans, the issue of conscience comes up, and love towards other believers should be shown, but not setting an example where they might stumble. Also encouraging us not to engage in activities where participation in it is considered by those around us to be supporting idols (or any false religion), whenever we are aware of it.
Yes, we are free to do certain things, without offending ourselves, but for the benefit of those around, we choose to not do certain things, or to do other things. We see Paul leading by example in this, and in different situations he behaves in different manners to be more accepted by those around - but by no means compromising the law of Christ. All things may be allowed, but not all things benefit, and some may be injurious to others. Seek there good, where you can, and not your own 'rights'.
The women are commended for keeping the signs of submission and femininity in that culture, and it is noted that the men should not take use these things as if they were women - let each embrace the role God has given them, exemplified through the example of Christ submitting to God, so men are subject to Christ, and women submissive to their husbands.
Again, we see their pride and 'cliquishness' evident in the Lord's supper, where no concern is shown for the poor, and they are more concerned with their own wants and pride than God - Who is what the celebration of the Lord's supper should be about! Anyone treating the remembrance of the Lord flippantly is better to not participate at all than to profane it in this way and be displeasing to God. A reminder of the sacrifices in the Old Testament, where God was displeased with the sacrifices made because of the attitude of the people. We must treat each other in love and as equals, showing concern for all!
Moving on to gifts in the church, Paul points out throughout the chapter that all gifts are necessary, working together - everyone doing the same thing would not work. Note in 12:31 it appears to say we should desire the best gifts (in most translations). However, translators note that the phrase can be a statement of fact, or a command. In English, it looks like a command, but this would contradict the rest of the chapter - it is better read as a statement of what they were doing (wrongly). "But (you) earnestly desire the best gifts (which I have just taught you is wrong). And I will show you a more excellent way" (Parts in brackets added as comments to illustrate, ESV version)
This more excellent way is shown to be love. All these gifts are nothing without love. Contrary to the gifts, which are given to people according to their roles they need to complete, love is required by all, granted to all, and should be shown by all.
Having put the gifts granted in perspective, shown in the light of love, he returns to specific gifts to show their purpose. It is not wrong to desire gifts, we seek to be useful for God's purposes - but we should not seek showy gifts for our own benefit, but seek edifying gifts to build others up. We must in humility accept the gifts God has granted us, and use them for His purposes. Note Paul's sarcasm again in 14:5, basically saying if you are all going to seek a single gift (which he just spoke against, hence why he is being sarcastic), then at least let it be a gift that is building up the church. He continues to compare tongues (foreign languages) and preaching, and the benefits (or not) of each, finally giving a few rules for when tongues or prophecy is present in the church.
Acts shows that the sign of tongues was literal languages that could be understood and interpreted, but we should note that in pagan worship in Corinth, there were some 'oracles' that spoke in gibberish that was supposed to be the gods speaking, and this gibberish would then be interpreted. Paul may be speaking against people taking this practice into the local church and speaking gibberish, hence his emphasis on speaking, praising, praying, and singing with the mind, and not just 'spirit'.
The principles for tongues, when they were around, seems to be fourfold: they are signs for unbelievers in the church - they are therefore no use for when only believers are present. They must be done with interpretation, in orderly fashion, and not more than 2 or 3. Prophesy (meaning preaching of the word) was for the believers, and followed the same rules of order in speaking. Order was important with the respective roles of women and men in the church, also - Paul is counter-cultural in stating that the women should learn with the men, but remaining within the submissive role and not speaking (seems to imply speaking up front) in the church.
Paul concludes the main teaching with a reminder of the gospel, and the importance of the resurrection of Christ. He, many of the other disciples, and more than 500 can attest to the resurrection, and he translates this confidence to our own resurrection from the dead. He points out that if this crucial fact is missing from the gospel, then our life is futile - so it's a good thing that it is so sure! Death no longer holds fear for us. Christ has conquered death, and granted us victory through Him.
Almost like a postscript, he encourages generosity towards the believers in Jerusalem. He is not wanting a show of generosity when he arrives (as their pride might incline them to do), but regular collection while he is not with them - not a prescribed amount, but each as God has been generous to them, so they should be generous with God's money for His purposes.
He concludes explaining his own plans, and people who will be visiting them shortly. Writing the final greeting himself, he expresses his love to them in the lord Jesus Christ.
Lord, how grateful we are that we know Your love! Your death provided a way for us to enter Your family, not on our own merits that we might boast, but equally destitute before You. We pray for Your help to live boldly, uprightly, in unity with fellow believers. Not conforming to the desires or attractions of this world, whether they be lust, pride, strife - but conforming to Your unchanging standard and shining example. Thank you for servant like Paul who have gone before us, from whom we can learn, and imitate, even as they imitate You. Help us to love like You love Lord, serving others with the gifts You grant, in the role You have designed for us, in humility, embracing the responsibility of serving You, and desiring in our hearts to build upon the foundation You have laid with quality, everlasting materials, that will not perish like this world with its desires. O Lord come! We wait in great anticipation for the blessed moment when we see Your face! Thank You for the confidence we can have in You, Your death, Your resurrection, and Your Word.
Tuesday, 8 January 2013
Monday, 7 January 2013
Day Six: A treatise to new believers
Going through Romans took one and a half hours tonight - shorter than any of the previous books, but the content matter is so deep, I could easily spend many more hours reading and still find it engaging. Nevertheless, I do need to get to bed tonight, so I will stop at one read-through and try to organise my thoughts.
I also thought a bit about what I was going to entitle the post. Though I use the phrase 'new believers', this book is obviously rich material for new and old alike. However, the sense I get in reading the letter is that Paul is writing to believers to encourage them in the fundamentals of faith. They have had no direct apostolic ministry, hence his urgency to see them face to face, but in the meantime he writes this letter to teach them, encourage them, to show them both the foundation and the practical outworking of the gospel message they have received, and to warn them about false teaching and error.
Before I go on, I will respond to the 'Milking it' section in the intro post.
Nice idea to do the book in 45 tweets, good way to summarise, as it is essentially taking key verses as a summary. The 'questions asked' did a similar thing, focusing on slightly different verses, but you still get a sense of the book. Good resources to keep in mind for a refresher, or another Bible study. Not too useful today, as I am reading through the entire book anyway, but good to see other people considering the Word of God in this way.
The story by Max Lucado was very good. Engaging, and making very good points. I would hesitate to say it illustrates Romans 1-3 though. It is a parable, and parables illustrate simple points. It has illustrated one part of the teaching in Romans 1-3 (our response to God), but it cannot and does not illustrate the whole passage.
Good to see the history of a few people impacted by Romans. There are many more throughout history, an interesting study to be sure.
So, what themes come out of Romans? Most Christians, if asked, would first recall the famous passages on justification by faith alone, which was the crux of what the Reformation was fought over. Definitely, faith is a key theme in Romans! Mentioned 40 times throughout the book, it is one of the more common words. Righteous/righteousness occurs 47 times, however, and though the number of times a word occurs is not the only indicator, I did get a distinct sense that the writer was also focusing our attention upon the righteousness of God. The righteousness of God is what condemns us as sinners. His righteousness is now manifest not only through the law, but now through faith, and it is by faith we enter into His righteousness. Having been released from the exacting standard of God's righteousness that we could not keep, through faith we are now justified as righteous, and we rejoice to live our lives according to God's righteousness - now empowered by His Spirit, though still subject to the influence of the flesh and sin. Faith is the means - righteousness is what it is all about.
At the beginning of the book, Paul basically introduces himself, establishing his credentials as an apostle by the grace of God (and thus having authority granted him by God to teach them) - remember, he has not met these believers, which he then acknowledges, expressing his longing to see them.
He immediately gets down to the point, he is responsible for preaching the gospel, and this is what he proceeds to do, introducing both the theme of righteousness and faith that will flow through the book.
We are first introduced to the perfection of God and His just intolerance of any unrighteousness. We see that all men everywhere have at least some revelation of God, through their conscience, Creation, and knowledge handed down. Everyone will be judged by the knowledge they rejected, whether you reject little or much.
Whether we reject Him by: following our own passions and ignoring His righteousness; becoming self-righteous and reducing His righteousness to a rule-set, judging others for their misdeeds but blind to our own sin of pride and self-righteousness; or seeking to get there under our own efforts, blind to the fact we cannot meet the righteous standard of God under our own efforts - indeed, we are going in the opposite direction, because we are rejecting His way of salvation by faith alone.
Paul then goes on to show that it was not the external law which came first in the history of God's people, but faith that then expressed itself in external signs also. It is not enough to have faith, though - our faith must be in the right object. in the Lord Jesus, Who was 'delivered for our trespasses, and raised for our justification'.
We then enter into this idea of wrestling with ourselves. Though justified in the eyes of God through faith, and released from sin's slavery, we still struggle with sin. The outworking of faith and the newness of the life we are entered into results in our striving against the influence of sin. We have died to sin through Christ's death, but we still wrestle with it, as if it has received a death-blow, but has not yet lost strength to fight us. We have now become slaves of God, and it is through obedience that we now live.
An interesting parallel is noticed in the next thought - we have died to the law. Now sin is bad, sounds good to die to sin! But the law is good, isn't it? So why have we died to the law? Paul fiercely argues against the idea that the law is bad - no, we died to the law, because the law required our death, and this was fulfilled in our death with Christ. Note that the law did not die! The law is still God's righteous standard, but we are free from its condemnation.
We proceed, returning to the thoughts of living according to the Spirit Who lives within us and empowers us - a life incompatible with living according to the flesh any more. It is not easy, there are still sufferings associated with this life on earth, but with the power of God on our side, the hope (hope of assurance, not a wish) of our eternal future, and the knowledge of the greatness of the love of God, we continue in joy.
We now return to the character of God. Having been introduced to Him as the Righteous One, we now see Him as Sovereign too. He is shown as choosing His people, choosing some to glorify Him by receiving His mercy, and some to glorify Him by receiving His wrath. It is His choice, and we have no place to argue with Him on how He chooses - He is far greater than us! Notice this message is immediately followed by a declaration that everyone who believes will be saved. His sovereignty is not an excuse for apathy, nor a shirking of our responsibility for rejecting Him. Nor can we be lazy, and refuse to preach, claiming that He has already decided who will believe, so what's the point? NO! How can they believe without being told - we have a responsibility to share this good news! Our hearts should burn to share the grace so freely given to us, and ache for those who have not received it, as did Paul's. We do have free will to choose, and we are responsible for those choices. He is Sovereign, and directs our purpose and paths. And He understands how those two work together better than I, but both must be embraced!
We see a balancing act between Jews and Gentiles, again. The Jews have special honour for their history, and that God chose them to be His people, and yet they rejected His Son, and are counted His enemies. We (Gentiles as a whole) are 'grafted in' but could be discarded again if we reject Him as they did. We were disobedient, we are no better than them, we both need mercy and grace from God, and trust in Him to work out His purposes.
In Chapter 12, we now switch to practical outworking of this foundation. Having covered the principles and laid out the reasons, Paul now applies this to the way we live. Wisdom and discernment (telling right from wrong), humility, working with others in respective roles, showing genuine love. Submitting to God first, and then worldly authorities. Not giving in to passions of lust, but loving our neighbour. Showing love and grace on matters where we disagree with others on the things not clearly specified in Scripture - and being willing to forgo our own enjoyment of freedoms to keep them from stumbling.
In all things, following the example of Christ, Who perfectly illustrated all these things.
Paul closes with a reminder of his intention to come to Rome, and speaks of various believers he knows that will be in contact with those in Rome. His loving recognition of his fellow-labourers illustrates some of the principles he has spoken of in his letter. He dedicates his letter to the glory of God.
Our Father, there has been so much covered in this excellent treatise, so much to learn about You and Your relationship to us. Lord, I pray that You might encourage our meditation on these matters, seeking to understand You more and more. Thank you for the acceptance You have granted us through Christ's justification. Thank you for granting us faith to believe, and that it is not dependent on our own efforts - they could never be enough. Lord, help us to live in obedience to You, refusing to listen to the temptations of the flesh, instead keeping our eyes fixed on You. Help us to love as You love, Lord. May we ever imitate You. We glorify You, our Righteous God!
I also thought a bit about what I was going to entitle the post. Though I use the phrase 'new believers', this book is obviously rich material for new and old alike. However, the sense I get in reading the letter is that Paul is writing to believers to encourage them in the fundamentals of faith. They have had no direct apostolic ministry, hence his urgency to see them face to face, but in the meantime he writes this letter to teach them, encourage them, to show them both the foundation and the practical outworking of the gospel message they have received, and to warn them about false teaching and error.
Before I go on, I will respond to the 'Milking it' section in the intro post.
Nice idea to do the book in 45 tweets, good way to summarise, as it is essentially taking key verses as a summary. The 'questions asked' did a similar thing, focusing on slightly different verses, but you still get a sense of the book. Good resources to keep in mind for a refresher, or another Bible study. Not too useful today, as I am reading through the entire book anyway, but good to see other people considering the Word of God in this way.
The story by Max Lucado was very good. Engaging, and making very good points. I would hesitate to say it illustrates Romans 1-3 though. It is a parable, and parables illustrate simple points. It has illustrated one part of the teaching in Romans 1-3 (our response to God), but it cannot and does not illustrate the whole passage.
Good to see the history of a few people impacted by Romans. There are many more throughout history, an interesting study to be sure.
So, what themes come out of Romans? Most Christians, if asked, would first recall the famous passages on justification by faith alone, which was the crux of what the Reformation was fought over. Definitely, faith is a key theme in Romans! Mentioned 40 times throughout the book, it is one of the more common words. Righteous/righteousness occurs 47 times, however, and though the number of times a word occurs is not the only indicator, I did get a distinct sense that the writer was also focusing our attention upon the righteousness of God. The righteousness of God is what condemns us as sinners. His righteousness is now manifest not only through the law, but now through faith, and it is by faith we enter into His righteousness. Having been released from the exacting standard of God's righteousness that we could not keep, through faith we are now justified as righteous, and we rejoice to live our lives according to God's righteousness - now empowered by His Spirit, though still subject to the influence of the flesh and sin. Faith is the means - righteousness is what it is all about.
At the beginning of the book, Paul basically introduces himself, establishing his credentials as an apostle by the grace of God (and thus having authority granted him by God to teach them) - remember, he has not met these believers, which he then acknowledges, expressing his longing to see them.
He immediately gets down to the point, he is responsible for preaching the gospel, and this is what he proceeds to do, introducing both the theme of righteousness and faith that will flow through the book.
We are first introduced to the perfection of God and His just intolerance of any unrighteousness. We see that all men everywhere have at least some revelation of God, through their conscience, Creation, and knowledge handed down. Everyone will be judged by the knowledge they rejected, whether you reject little or much.
Whether we reject Him by: following our own passions and ignoring His righteousness; becoming self-righteous and reducing His righteousness to a rule-set, judging others for their misdeeds but blind to our own sin of pride and self-righteousness; or seeking to get there under our own efforts, blind to the fact we cannot meet the righteous standard of God under our own efforts - indeed, we are going in the opposite direction, because we are rejecting His way of salvation by faith alone.
Paul then goes on to show that it was not the external law which came first in the history of God's people, but faith that then expressed itself in external signs also. It is not enough to have faith, though - our faith must be in the right object. in the Lord Jesus, Who was 'delivered for our trespasses, and raised for our justification'.
We then enter into this idea of wrestling with ourselves. Though justified in the eyes of God through faith, and released from sin's slavery, we still struggle with sin. The outworking of faith and the newness of the life we are entered into results in our striving against the influence of sin. We have died to sin through Christ's death, but we still wrestle with it, as if it has received a death-blow, but has not yet lost strength to fight us. We have now become slaves of God, and it is through obedience that we now live.
An interesting parallel is noticed in the next thought - we have died to the law. Now sin is bad, sounds good to die to sin! But the law is good, isn't it? So why have we died to the law? Paul fiercely argues against the idea that the law is bad - no, we died to the law, because the law required our death, and this was fulfilled in our death with Christ. Note that the law did not die! The law is still God's righteous standard, but we are free from its condemnation.
We proceed, returning to the thoughts of living according to the Spirit Who lives within us and empowers us - a life incompatible with living according to the flesh any more. It is not easy, there are still sufferings associated with this life on earth, but with the power of God on our side, the hope (hope of assurance, not a wish) of our eternal future, and the knowledge of the greatness of the love of God, we continue in joy.
We now return to the character of God. Having been introduced to Him as the Righteous One, we now see Him as Sovereign too. He is shown as choosing His people, choosing some to glorify Him by receiving His mercy, and some to glorify Him by receiving His wrath. It is His choice, and we have no place to argue with Him on how He chooses - He is far greater than us! Notice this message is immediately followed by a declaration that everyone who believes will be saved. His sovereignty is not an excuse for apathy, nor a shirking of our responsibility for rejecting Him. Nor can we be lazy, and refuse to preach, claiming that He has already decided who will believe, so what's the point? NO! How can they believe without being told - we have a responsibility to share this good news! Our hearts should burn to share the grace so freely given to us, and ache for those who have not received it, as did Paul's. We do have free will to choose, and we are responsible for those choices. He is Sovereign, and directs our purpose and paths. And He understands how those two work together better than I, but both must be embraced!
We see a balancing act between Jews and Gentiles, again. The Jews have special honour for their history, and that God chose them to be His people, and yet they rejected His Son, and are counted His enemies. We (Gentiles as a whole) are 'grafted in' but could be discarded again if we reject Him as they did. We were disobedient, we are no better than them, we both need mercy and grace from God, and trust in Him to work out His purposes.
In Chapter 12, we now switch to practical outworking of this foundation. Having covered the principles and laid out the reasons, Paul now applies this to the way we live. Wisdom and discernment (telling right from wrong), humility, working with others in respective roles, showing genuine love. Submitting to God first, and then worldly authorities. Not giving in to passions of lust, but loving our neighbour. Showing love and grace on matters where we disagree with others on the things not clearly specified in Scripture - and being willing to forgo our own enjoyment of freedoms to keep them from stumbling.
In all things, following the example of Christ, Who perfectly illustrated all these things.
Paul closes with a reminder of his intention to come to Rome, and speaks of various believers he knows that will be in contact with those in Rome. His loving recognition of his fellow-labourers illustrates some of the principles he has spoken of in his letter. He dedicates his letter to the glory of God.
Our Father, there has been so much covered in this excellent treatise, so much to learn about You and Your relationship to us. Lord, I pray that You might encourage our meditation on these matters, seeking to understand You more and more. Thank you for the acceptance You have granted us through Christ's justification. Thank you for granting us faith to believe, and that it is not dependent on our own efforts - they could never be enough. Lord, help us to live in obedience to You, refusing to listen to the temptations of the flesh, instead keeping our eyes fixed on You. Help us to love as You love, Lord. May we ever imitate You. We glorify You, our Righteous God!
Sunday, 6 January 2013
Day Five: God acts through men
Three hours through, 28 chapters, and covering a period of approximately 30 years. Phew! Feels a bit like a marathon, trying to keep up with the disciples as they preach the Gospel here there and everywhere. Do keep a map handy when reading through this book - it is most helpful to keep places in order! See maps here.
Let's have a look at those summaries in the intro post:
Which statements are reductive or inaccurate? Why?
1) This book is really about the life of Peter and Paul.
I would argue this is reductive in the worst sense - throughout the book, the whole point is it is not about the men, but God. You could make the statement it is about the life of Peter and Paul, but that is not a summary of the book, and certainly not its point.
2) This book is about the early church and a model for how churches can grow.
Acts does provide some info about the early church, and many examples of growth, but again, this is not the primary point, and though we can learn a lot from the examples and practices, we should seek to find God's principles for churches - not just copy external ways of doing things.
3) This book is about miracles and how we can exercise miracles today.
This book has miracles in it, but includes no instruction on exercising miracles today. Definitely not the point of Acts. As in the gospels, the signs are merely confirmation of the message preached, not gimmicks to convince people. As we go through Acts, we get fewer tales of miracles and signs, and they diminish in importance, so they are definitely not the point of the book.
4) This book is about missions and world Christianity started.
Definitely yes to the first clause in that sentence, provided we are thinking of missions as God working through men to spread His Word, that His Name be glorified! Terrible emphasis in the second clause though - Christianity never started a world. God works through Christians and Christianity to influence the world. The world is changed dramatically as a result of the deeds in this book, but this is all God.
5) This book is an historical account of a faith community.
Again, yes, I can agree with this statement, but I would tend not to use it as a summary of the book. It is far too detached and ambiguous as to what a faith community is.
6) This books the dispensational work of God.
Now this one is tricky! It really depends on what the writer of this question means by dipensational. I am quite familiar with dispensationalism, but by saying something is the dispensational work of God? It really depends on further explanation as to whether I could affirm this or not, but in any case, this is not a summary of the book. At best, it is a statement of the character of the book as trustworthy as the revealed Word of God, but doesn't tell you what it is about.
So how would I summarise it? Difficult, but I'll give it a go:
OK, further thought: Christ says to the disciples that He is sending them out as witnesses to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth, through the power of the Holy Spirit. Therefore a shorter summary might be:
Excellent link under 'just wool gathering'. An excellent summary of the preaching in Acts.
Now on to the themes noticed throughout my reading of the book of Acts.
First, we must note the message preached. from start to end, this book is full of sermons from many disciples, to audiences of many different cultures, before people of different status, and in different locations. To individuals and to crowds, the word preached was the same, starting at the audience's own background and leading to Christ. Essentially, it boiled down to 'you have rejected Him' - 'you must repent' - 'you must believe' - 'and your sins will be forgiven'. To the Jews, the preachers either start with the history of Israel, or (as Paul did) their own history with Judaism. To the Greeks, the argument is from Creation, the world around that the Greeks can see and have studied.
As we start the book, we see Christ briefly, promising the coming of His Spirit, and then after He leaves, they do receive said Spirit. After this point, except in one case in Samaria where the Spirit came upon the people after witnesses from Jerusalem came, the coming of the Spirit is directly associated with the repentance and belief.
The first few chapters of Acts, we see the Word starting to move out. It is immediately preached to all cultures when the Spirit is received, and then we see it going out into all Jerusalem, Samaria, to the Gentiles (Cornelius), to Damascus, to Africa(Ethiopia), and beyond. Salvation comes to people from any background, even the ones most ardently opposed to the Word (e.g. Saul persecuting Christ).
We also have a strong sense of joy and boldness in persecution. Now I do not recall any situation in Acts where the Disciples/Apostles prayed for the persecution to stop, or lesson. On the contrary they rejoiced in it, and went on preaching the Word anyway. Whether at the hand of Roman or Jewish authorities, or at the hands of mobs of angry men, the punishments and incarceration never hindered their enthusiasm to preach the gospel. Sometimes, they avoided capture, other times they went ahead to places knowing they would be captured. The key there is that they listened to God, not men, and didn't apply any blanket rules about 'safety first' or 'never flee'. The men used their trials to speak the truth about Christ, often before rulers - people they were unlikely to otherwise meet.
There is a strong current of humility in the true disciples, contrasted with a lack of humility in some others. A number of times, the disciples were worshipped, but they immediately did all they could to stop that, recognising they were but men, and that all glory is God's - He alone should be worshipped. Herod, who didn't stop the people calling him a god, was struck dead. A magician, seeking power to do signs for its own sake, was cursed.
The importance of the purity of the church and an intolerance of corrupt doctrine is evident. Annas and Sapphira fall dead because they lied to God - such deceit was not tolerated. Jews seeking to cause the Gentiles to obey Jewish religious rules caused a council meeting of elders to be called to settle the matter and declare that the Gentiles were not required to obey the Jewish rituals.
In Paul's journeys, you can see his anxiety for the spiritual welfare of the people he teaches. We see him spending much time in Corinth and Ephesus, both hotbeds of religious worship of false gods.
We see people working together, and not neglecting their own duties. The disciples refused to settle money distribution matters in Jerusalem, but delegated the role to others - their job was to preach the word and pray. The believers show concern for each other's well being by sharing goods, and people in other areas providing funds for the persecuted in Jerusalem.
Near the start, we have a statement by Gamaliel (who, incidentally, was Paul's teacher), to the effect that 'if this is not of God, it will die, as we killed their leader - if it is of God, it will not die, and don't try to stop it'
Praise the Lord that it did not die! Our Leader may have been killed, but that was according to His own purpose, and having risen again, He is on the Throne, and His Spirit lives within each of us.
Lord, we read of Your witness through these, Your apostles. May we ever appreciate more Your great gift to us, extending Your grace to the whole world. May we learn from the example of those who have gone before us. These, and many other Christians, who have witnessed of You. Not to copy their external actions, but to learn from their passion and joy for You, their compassion and love for their fellow men, and their boldness in proclaiming Your glorious Word. Use us as You seek Lord. Guide us we pray, to be willing tools in Your hands, for Your glory and not our own. Strengthen and encourage us when men persecute us for Your name, and grant us joy in those times. In Your Name, according to Your Divine Will and Purpose, we submit ourselves to You.
Let's have a look at those summaries in the intro post:
Which statements are reductive or inaccurate? Why?
1) This book is really about the life of Peter and Paul.
I would argue this is reductive in the worst sense - throughout the book, the whole point is it is not about the men, but God. You could make the statement it is about the life of Peter and Paul, but that is not a summary of the book, and certainly not its point.
2) This book is about the early church and a model for how churches can grow.
Acts does provide some info about the early church, and many examples of growth, but again, this is not the primary point, and though we can learn a lot from the examples and practices, we should seek to find God's principles for churches - not just copy external ways of doing things.
3) This book is about miracles and how we can exercise miracles today.
This book has miracles in it, but includes no instruction on exercising miracles today. Definitely not the point of Acts. As in the gospels, the signs are merely confirmation of the message preached, not gimmicks to convince people. As we go through Acts, we get fewer tales of miracles and signs, and they diminish in importance, so they are definitely not the point of the book.
4) This book is about missions and world Christianity started.
Definitely yes to the first clause in that sentence, provided we are thinking of missions as God working through men to spread His Word, that His Name be glorified! Terrible emphasis in the second clause though - Christianity never started a world. God works through Christians and Christianity to influence the world. The world is changed dramatically as a result of the deeds in this book, but this is all God.
5) This book is an historical account of a faith community.
Again, yes, I can agree with this statement, but I would tend not to use it as a summary of the book. It is far too detached and ambiguous as to what a faith community is.
6) This books the dispensational work of God.
Now this one is tricky! It really depends on what the writer of this question means by dipensational. I am quite familiar with dispensationalism, but by saying something is the dispensational work of God? It really depends on further explanation as to whether I could affirm this or not, but in any case, this is not a summary of the book. At best, it is a statement of the character of the book as trustworthy as the revealed Word of God, but doesn't tell you what it is about.
So how would I summarise it? Difficult, but I'll give it a go:
"Ordinary men, chosen and sent by God Himself, are instruments in His hands as He does extraordinary things, bringing the grace wrought by Christ to ALL of mankind - spreading this good news joyfully in the face of persecution, for His Glory."
Sorry, it is a little more verbose than the other examples, but I can't think a the moment how to reduce it further.OK, further thought: Christ says to the disciples that He is sending them out as witnesses to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth, through the power of the Holy Spirit. Therefore a shorter summary might be:
"The witness to Christ throughout the world, through the life of those empowered by the Holy Spirit"
Excellent link under 'just wool gathering'. An excellent summary of the preaching in Acts.
Now on to the themes noticed throughout my reading of the book of Acts.
First, we must note the message preached. from start to end, this book is full of sermons from many disciples, to audiences of many different cultures, before people of different status, and in different locations. To individuals and to crowds, the word preached was the same, starting at the audience's own background and leading to Christ. Essentially, it boiled down to 'you have rejected Him' - 'you must repent' - 'you must believe' - 'and your sins will be forgiven'. To the Jews, the preachers either start with the history of Israel, or (as Paul did) their own history with Judaism. To the Greeks, the argument is from Creation, the world around that the Greeks can see and have studied.
As we start the book, we see Christ briefly, promising the coming of His Spirit, and then after He leaves, they do receive said Spirit. After this point, except in one case in Samaria where the Spirit came upon the people after witnesses from Jerusalem came, the coming of the Spirit is directly associated with the repentance and belief.
The first few chapters of Acts, we see the Word starting to move out. It is immediately preached to all cultures when the Spirit is received, and then we see it going out into all Jerusalem, Samaria, to the Gentiles (Cornelius), to Damascus, to Africa(Ethiopia), and beyond. Salvation comes to people from any background, even the ones most ardently opposed to the Word (e.g. Saul persecuting Christ).
We also have a strong sense of joy and boldness in persecution. Now I do not recall any situation in Acts where the Disciples/Apostles prayed for the persecution to stop, or lesson. On the contrary they rejoiced in it, and went on preaching the Word anyway. Whether at the hand of Roman or Jewish authorities, or at the hands of mobs of angry men, the punishments and incarceration never hindered their enthusiasm to preach the gospel. Sometimes, they avoided capture, other times they went ahead to places knowing they would be captured. The key there is that they listened to God, not men, and didn't apply any blanket rules about 'safety first' or 'never flee'. The men used their trials to speak the truth about Christ, often before rulers - people they were unlikely to otherwise meet.
There is a strong current of humility in the true disciples, contrasted with a lack of humility in some others. A number of times, the disciples were worshipped, but they immediately did all they could to stop that, recognising they were but men, and that all glory is God's - He alone should be worshipped. Herod, who didn't stop the people calling him a god, was struck dead. A magician, seeking power to do signs for its own sake, was cursed.
The importance of the purity of the church and an intolerance of corrupt doctrine is evident. Annas and Sapphira fall dead because they lied to God - such deceit was not tolerated. Jews seeking to cause the Gentiles to obey Jewish religious rules caused a council meeting of elders to be called to settle the matter and declare that the Gentiles were not required to obey the Jewish rituals.
In Paul's journeys, you can see his anxiety for the spiritual welfare of the people he teaches. We see him spending much time in Corinth and Ephesus, both hotbeds of religious worship of false gods.
We see people working together, and not neglecting their own duties. The disciples refused to settle money distribution matters in Jerusalem, but delegated the role to others - their job was to preach the word and pray. The believers show concern for each other's well being by sharing goods, and people in other areas providing funds for the persecuted in Jerusalem.
Near the start, we have a statement by Gamaliel (who, incidentally, was Paul's teacher), to the effect that 'if this is not of God, it will die, as we killed their leader - if it is of God, it will not die, and don't try to stop it'
Praise the Lord that it did not die! Our Leader may have been killed, but that was according to His own purpose, and having risen again, He is on the Throne, and His Spirit lives within each of us.
Lord, we read of Your witness through these, Your apostles. May we ever appreciate more Your great gift to us, extending Your grace to the whole world. May we learn from the example of those who have gone before us. These, and many other Christians, who have witnessed of You. Not to copy their external actions, but to learn from their passion and joy for You, their compassion and love for their fellow men, and their boldness in proclaiming Your glorious Word. Use us as You seek Lord. Guide us we pray, to be willing tools in Your hands, for Your glory and not our own. Strengthen and encourage us when men persecute us for Your name, and grant us joy in those times. In Your Name, according to Your Divine Will and Purpose, we submit ourselves to You.
Saturday, 5 January 2013
Day Four: God in person
For once, I actually read the book in less than the stated time in the post! 1.5 hours this time, possibly because I am more familiar with John, having studied it and used it for memory work a lot in the past.
Again, we have a clear statement about the purpose of the book, this time at the end of the gospel, but clear nonetheless. John's focus is on the deity of Christ, and his purpose is that people might live - without receiving this truth and believing in what God did on earth, they are dead.
There are a few themes that run throughout the gospel, and I'll mention a few here. We have the signs. These are quite obvious, and John often has a point to make about each one - he doesn't just talk of signs for their own sake, each has its purpose in his narrative. We have the titles/metaphors of Jesus. The 'Light of the world' is a particularly prominent one as we work through, being repeated often. We also have a recurring mention of the Father - most conversations, the Father is mentioned at least once. More subtly, there is a pattern of long conversations with people. Many situations are gone into in-depth, with John reporting the associated teaching of Christ in that situation - the public messages are unreported.
On that note, I should mention one reason that John doesn't mention the public messages, and a lot of the other details that the other three gospels provide. He didn't need to cover this ground, as it had already been covered. The gospel written by John was written much later, when the other three were already well-circulated, and he could assume they were common knowledge. This is why the first three are called the 'Synoptic gospels', and why John's style seems so different to the others'.
The first thing that is clear from the beginning of John is that he really wants to drive the message home that he is talking about not just a man, but God. God the Son did not begin when Jesus was born physically, He existed eternally - hence the reason John starts his gospel at Creation, not God's beginning - He was there at the beginning because He made the beginning. We have also the first mention of the metaphor of light, and the contrast between the light and darkness - the conflict between 'the world' and Christ. In the first chapter alone, John has four people declare Who Christ is - and within a short time of first meeting Christ. One of these situations seems to reveal His omniscience.
The first sign, creating wine, confirms Him as Creator, but also strikes an interesting division. Recorded distinctly as His first miracle, Jesus makes the point that as He begins His ministry and completes the Father's work, in divine power, His earthly mother has no influence over Him at all. He distances Himself from her, not rudely, but clearly showing He is not subject to her in any way. He then even more publicly demonstrates the beginning of His ministry by cleansing the Temple of false worship, calling it His Father's house, and giving the first prediction of His death and resurrection. John certainly doesn't muck around in these two chapters! We have covered a lot of ground quickly!
I note here, though, what is missing - The baptism and temptation. John the Baptist refers to it, but the actual instance is not recorded, and no record of the temptation is made. Seeing that John is proclaiming Christ, this makes sense, because the baptism is an identification with men, not God - God needs no repentance, or identification with the people in their repentance. Important in the other gospels, of course, because there the point was His humanity, and His identification with us. Also with the temptation - God cannot be tempted with evil (James 1), so there is no point showing Him being tempted - the other gospels showed this, to show He was 'in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin' (Hebrews).
Now we enter the more personal teaching. Nicodemus, of the ruling elite, recognises Christ as from God, and seeks teaching, but cannot accept it. Light is again mentioned, in its condemnation of darkness and those of the dark.
John the Baptist, a humble follower, declares how much greater Christ is than himself. "He must increase, I must decrease", and he rejoiced in that.
Earlier Christ provided drinks for those at the wedding (wine was the common drink in those parts, diluted with water before drinking to sanitise the water). Now, He calls Himself the water of life, and teaches the Samaritan lady of the importance. Always amazed at the social barriers He ignored! Here He was, talking to an woman probably ostracised in her own community, and the whole of Samaria was repulsive as far as the Jews were concerned, but He taught her, getting to the heart of her spiritual needs. We see her, and the whole village declaring Him the Messiah.
An official at Capernaum, seeking a miracle worker, realises the power and authority of Christ as He spoke a word and healed the boy from a distance, and believed.
The next healing makes a point about the Sabbath, and implies that the paralysis may have been a result of sin. Later, when he heals a blind man, He makes the point that the blindness was not because of sin, but that God might be glorified. Both men he heals, and returns later to teach them more.
More teaching on His relationship to the Father, and Christ's authority to judge the world - something only God can do.
The feeding of the five thousand is coupled with teaching about the true bread - Christ Himself. So stridently did He make the point that His body was the true Bread that the people who were ready to make Him King deserted Him. Indeed, by consuming His Body(symbolically), we agree that His death (hence the body and blood) was necessary for us to live (bread being the staple food).
He teaches in the synagogues and temple without learning, amazing the people - He declares His teaching is from God. His sovereignty is evident as the people sought to arrest Him, but couldn't because it wasn't His timing. People believe, convinced by His testimony and signs.The officers sent to arrest him refuse to, because 'no one ever spoke like this man'.
Again, we see Him as the Light, but this time in a positive light - including a promise and a idea of protection from the darkness.
Another metaphor, this time a shepherd - a Protector, a Guide, and the only Way in to safety. This idea is expounded further in a later chapter, declaring himself to be 'The Way, the Truth, the Life'
And as we approach the cross, the final major sign, raising Lazarus, proving (before the Cross) that Christ had power over death, and catalysing His enemies to act quickly. Mary pours expensive ointment on His feet in an act of worship.
Christ teaches His disciples a lesson on humility - He, God, is doing the lowest servant's role - then He gives the first morsel of bread (a sign of honour) to the one who would betray Him, knowing full well who the traitor was.
Love is emphasised. The most thorough teaching on the work and character of the Holy Spirit is given. Christ seems to be going through important points before He leaves them, so that they may remain strong during the trial ahead. Another metaphor - He is the Vine, we the branches. Along with other passages in John, a strong dependence on God the Son, God the Father, and God the Spirit seems to be coming through.
And then the privilege of hearing Christ pray. Evidently the 'Lord's prayer' is not the only way to pray! His Oneness and relationship with the Father is clearly evident.
When the soldier's come to arrest Jesus, He is shown as in charge of the situation. They all fall backwards when He speaks, and does not hide from them, but shows His care for His disciples, protecting them.
Peter denies Christ three times, and after the resurrection, Christ asks him three times if he loves Him, before giving him a task to do - note that Peter uses a different word for love than Christ - check a good commentary on that last chapter!
Annas the high priest, and Caiaphas the high priest question Christ in turn (Annas was removed from office, but still considered by many Jews to be the high priest still, Caiaphas was his son, and held the official title and authority). Then by the Roman authority, who finds no guilt in Him.
Oh, the shame, the agony, and the pain, as Christ - God Incarnate - suffered on the Cross. All the physical suffering was nothing compared to the suffering for sin, though. God Himself, Perfect, Holy, Righteous God bore our sin, suffering our curse and punishment. The scriptures fulfilled. The price was paid. Even in the midst of this, He cared for John and Mary personally, handing His responsibility as an eldest son over to John.
When He rose, we see Him personally through John's eyes. We see His conversation with Mary Magdalene, with Thomas, and with Peter. His first miracle was creating wine, His last recorded was creating fish (He had fish cooking before the nets were brought up). His final call is for Peter to follow Him, no matter what He calls the others to do. So should we - no matter what others are doing and the roles they take (either in His Will or against it) we must follow Him.
God of Heaven, Earth, and Sea. Creator and Sustainer of all things, and Wondrous Sovereign Lord. How can we comprehend Your time on earth, as You took the form of man and lived among us? How can we understand Your glory and sacrifice, Your love and example? Lord, we know You as our Light, our Bread, our Shepherd, and our Water of Life. Our Vine, from Whom we gain support and sustenance. And most of all, the Lamb, our Saviour - the Perfect Sacrifice. We do not deserve the privilege of being chosen Lord, we do not deserve the privilege of following you and suffering for Your Name. But we gladly embrace it. Keep us humble Lord. Keep us secure, as you have promised. Thank You, that You have overcome the World, and have victory over death. Thank you for Your Spirit, Who guides us and reminds us of all truth. Your Name be Blessed forever, Amen!
Again, we have a clear statement about the purpose of the book, this time at the end of the gospel, but clear nonetheless. John's focus is on the deity of Christ, and his purpose is that people might live - without receiving this truth and believing in what God did on earth, they are dead.
There are a few themes that run throughout the gospel, and I'll mention a few here. We have the signs. These are quite obvious, and John often has a point to make about each one - he doesn't just talk of signs for their own sake, each has its purpose in his narrative. We have the titles/metaphors of Jesus. The 'Light of the world' is a particularly prominent one as we work through, being repeated often. We also have a recurring mention of the Father - most conversations, the Father is mentioned at least once. More subtly, there is a pattern of long conversations with people. Many situations are gone into in-depth, with John reporting the associated teaching of Christ in that situation - the public messages are unreported.
On that note, I should mention one reason that John doesn't mention the public messages, and a lot of the other details that the other three gospels provide. He didn't need to cover this ground, as it had already been covered. The gospel written by John was written much later, when the other three were already well-circulated, and he could assume they were common knowledge. This is why the first three are called the 'Synoptic gospels', and why John's style seems so different to the others'.
The first thing that is clear from the beginning of John is that he really wants to drive the message home that he is talking about not just a man, but God. God the Son did not begin when Jesus was born physically, He existed eternally - hence the reason John starts his gospel at Creation, not God's beginning - He was there at the beginning because He made the beginning. We have also the first mention of the metaphor of light, and the contrast between the light and darkness - the conflict between 'the world' and Christ. In the first chapter alone, John has four people declare Who Christ is - and within a short time of first meeting Christ. One of these situations seems to reveal His omniscience.
The first sign, creating wine, confirms Him as Creator, but also strikes an interesting division. Recorded distinctly as His first miracle, Jesus makes the point that as He begins His ministry and completes the Father's work, in divine power, His earthly mother has no influence over Him at all. He distances Himself from her, not rudely, but clearly showing He is not subject to her in any way. He then even more publicly demonstrates the beginning of His ministry by cleansing the Temple of false worship, calling it His Father's house, and giving the first prediction of His death and resurrection. John certainly doesn't muck around in these two chapters! We have covered a lot of ground quickly!
I note here, though, what is missing - The baptism and temptation. John the Baptist refers to it, but the actual instance is not recorded, and no record of the temptation is made. Seeing that John is proclaiming Christ, this makes sense, because the baptism is an identification with men, not God - God needs no repentance, or identification with the people in their repentance. Important in the other gospels, of course, because there the point was His humanity, and His identification with us. Also with the temptation - God cannot be tempted with evil (James 1), so there is no point showing Him being tempted - the other gospels showed this, to show He was 'in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin' (Hebrews).
Now we enter the more personal teaching. Nicodemus, of the ruling elite, recognises Christ as from God, and seeks teaching, but cannot accept it. Light is again mentioned, in its condemnation of darkness and those of the dark.
John the Baptist, a humble follower, declares how much greater Christ is than himself. "He must increase, I must decrease", and he rejoiced in that.
Earlier Christ provided drinks for those at the wedding (wine was the common drink in those parts, diluted with water before drinking to sanitise the water). Now, He calls Himself the water of life, and teaches the Samaritan lady of the importance. Always amazed at the social barriers He ignored! Here He was, talking to an woman probably ostracised in her own community, and the whole of Samaria was repulsive as far as the Jews were concerned, but He taught her, getting to the heart of her spiritual needs. We see her, and the whole village declaring Him the Messiah.
An official at Capernaum, seeking a miracle worker, realises the power and authority of Christ as He spoke a word and healed the boy from a distance, and believed.
The next healing makes a point about the Sabbath, and implies that the paralysis may have been a result of sin. Later, when he heals a blind man, He makes the point that the blindness was not because of sin, but that God might be glorified. Both men he heals, and returns later to teach them more.
More teaching on His relationship to the Father, and Christ's authority to judge the world - something only God can do.
The feeding of the five thousand is coupled with teaching about the true bread - Christ Himself. So stridently did He make the point that His body was the true Bread that the people who were ready to make Him King deserted Him. Indeed, by consuming His Body(symbolically), we agree that His death (hence the body and blood) was necessary for us to live (bread being the staple food).
He teaches in the synagogues and temple without learning, amazing the people - He declares His teaching is from God. His sovereignty is evident as the people sought to arrest Him, but couldn't because it wasn't His timing. People believe, convinced by His testimony and signs.The officers sent to arrest him refuse to, because 'no one ever spoke like this man'.
Again, we see Him as the Light, but this time in a positive light - including a promise and a idea of protection from the darkness.
Another metaphor, this time a shepherd - a Protector, a Guide, and the only Way in to safety. This idea is expounded further in a later chapter, declaring himself to be 'The Way, the Truth, the Life'
And as we approach the cross, the final major sign, raising Lazarus, proving (before the Cross) that Christ had power over death, and catalysing His enemies to act quickly. Mary pours expensive ointment on His feet in an act of worship.
Christ teaches His disciples a lesson on humility - He, God, is doing the lowest servant's role - then He gives the first morsel of bread (a sign of honour) to the one who would betray Him, knowing full well who the traitor was.
Love is emphasised. The most thorough teaching on the work and character of the Holy Spirit is given. Christ seems to be going through important points before He leaves them, so that they may remain strong during the trial ahead. Another metaphor - He is the Vine, we the branches. Along with other passages in John, a strong dependence on God the Son, God the Father, and God the Spirit seems to be coming through.
And then the privilege of hearing Christ pray. Evidently the 'Lord's prayer' is not the only way to pray! His Oneness and relationship with the Father is clearly evident.
When the soldier's come to arrest Jesus, He is shown as in charge of the situation. They all fall backwards when He speaks, and does not hide from them, but shows His care for His disciples, protecting them.
Peter denies Christ three times, and after the resurrection, Christ asks him three times if he loves Him, before giving him a task to do - note that Peter uses a different word for love than Christ - check a good commentary on that last chapter!
Annas the high priest, and Caiaphas the high priest question Christ in turn (Annas was removed from office, but still considered by many Jews to be the high priest still, Caiaphas was his son, and held the official title and authority). Then by the Roman authority, who finds no guilt in Him.
Oh, the shame, the agony, and the pain, as Christ - God Incarnate - suffered on the Cross. All the physical suffering was nothing compared to the suffering for sin, though. God Himself, Perfect, Holy, Righteous God bore our sin, suffering our curse and punishment. The scriptures fulfilled. The price was paid. Even in the midst of this, He cared for John and Mary personally, handing His responsibility as an eldest son over to John.
When He rose, we see Him personally through John's eyes. We see His conversation with Mary Magdalene, with Thomas, and with Peter. His first miracle was creating wine, His last recorded was creating fish (He had fish cooking before the nets were brought up). His final call is for Peter to follow Him, no matter what He calls the others to do. So should we - no matter what others are doing and the roles they take (either in His Will or against it) we must follow Him.
God of Heaven, Earth, and Sea. Creator and Sustainer of all things, and Wondrous Sovereign Lord. How can we comprehend Your time on earth, as You took the form of man and lived among us? How can we understand Your glory and sacrifice, Your love and example? Lord, we know You as our Light, our Bread, our Shepherd, and our Water of Life. Our Vine, from Whom we gain support and sustenance. And most of all, the Lamb, our Saviour - the Perfect Sacrifice. We do not deserve the privilege of being chosen Lord, we do not deserve the privilege of following you and suffering for Your Name. But we gladly embrace it. Keep us humble Lord. Keep us secure, as you have promised. Thank You, that You have overcome the World, and have victory over death. Thank you for Your Spirit, Who guides us and reminds us of all truth. Your Name be Blessed forever, Amen!
Friday, 4 January 2013
Day Three: Christ - the Perfect Man
Some long chapters here - two and a half hours reading, at least! From the start we have a clear view of what Luke is trying to achieve. That we may have certainty, Luke begins from the very beginning of the story (before Christ is born) and continues until he has shown conclusively that Christ rose physically and spiritually from the dead. He includes many details omitted by other writers, details that are important historically, can be checked (by those living at the time), and flesh out the story of Christ - appealing to an intellectual mind that wants to know everything it can.
This gospel is considered to be directed to the Greeks (based on the introduction) and it is quite clear that this story appeals to the Greek audience. Greek culture at the time was one that idealised thinkers, philosophy, and the idea of attaining perfection. They were the cultural elite of the day, similar in many ways to the Enlightenment type philosophy that idealised 'man' and put him on a pedestal to think his way to perfection.
As I began reading through the early life of Jesus, I considered how much detail was here that was not recorded elsewhere. As a perfect man, Jesus' whole life was of crucial importance - not simply concerned with just what He did, or His royal lineage - but showing Him as an important player even before His birth, as preparations were made with John the Baptist coming first, and the announcements to Zechariah and Mary. Even in the womb the Christ-child touched the lives of those around Him.
We notice that throughout His childhood, we get a sense of the privilege to be in His presence, that there is something special about Him - evidenced by the angels, shepherds, Simeon, Anna - Mary treasuring all these things in her heart as important.
As we see the beginning of His ministry, we see His identification with the common man, in the baptism, and in the temptations, and yet His perfection in not succumbing to the temptations. His lineage can be traced back to the first man - He is truly human.
The first significant event recorded in His ministry is His rejection at Nazareth, His hometown. Though perfect in childhood, His own hometown could not accept Him, despite hearing regularly of the works He was doing.
Interestingly, Peter, when we first see him, immediately confesses his unworthiness as a sinner to be in Christ's presence, as he realises Who Christ is when Christ shows His power over the fish. Within the same chapter we see Christ demonstrating by His power over healing that He also has power to deal with sin.
This seems to set the tone for much of the rest of the ministry. We see Christ pronouncing woes on those who think themselves worthy, and lifting up those who see themselves unworthy. He reminds all that the cost of following Him is to leave everything - you cannot be attached to money, people or things before God. He condemns pride and cautions against allowing good things to become more important than they ought, for instance, after the 72 disciples come back from preaching and rejoice that the spirits are subject to them, He cautions them that they are not to rejoice in that, but to rejoice that their names are written in the Book of Life.
Throughout the gospel, we see Christ in prayer, showing His communion and dependence upon the Father - He was not proud at all, how then can we claim pride when we never equal His standard? Indeed, as is mentioned later, even keeping the perfect moral law of God is not praiseworthy - it is merely our duty!
With these overarching themes, it is interesting to note that Luke even mentions the exceptions, giving note that all may come to Christ. The Pharisees may be condemned frequently, but there is one, Joseph of Arimethia who did not consent to the Sanhedrin's decision, being good and righteous. Money is condemned as a god, and rich people are frequently used as bad characters in parables, but Christ cautions that we must be wise stewards of worldy wealth, or how can we be entrusted with spiritual wealth? Zacchaeus, only mentioned in this Gospel, is a rich man who showed genuine repentance and entered the kingdom, one chapter after Christ mentioned that a rich man cannot enter the Kingdom any more than a camel go through an eye of a needle - without God. Luke is also the only one to record the thief on the cross beside Christ recognising Christ as Lord before he died.
As we enter the triumphal week, we see Christ going through interactions with the crowd perfectly. They cannot trap Him with questions. They cannot find fault with Him.
As He enters the Garden we see His agony. He asks His companions to pray with Him - they had asked Him to teach them to pray earlier, but now when He commands them to pray, they fall asleep. His agony is so great blood comes out with his sweat as He prays to His Father. His Father hears His prayer. His Father has not abandoned Him, He sends an angel to strengthen Him.
Sent from the high priest's to Pilate to Herod, again He is declared without fault, despite railing accusations. The crowd rejects Him, but as He stumbles to Calvary, He turns to the women in the crowd - His concern for them, and not Himself - He seeks forgiveness for His enemies as they crucify Him. He controlled the end of His life - though they crucified Him, He would not expire before He finished his task. Darkness may have hidden His agony from the world as He bore the suffering of our sin, but when it was finished, He freely chose to give up His Spirit to the hands of the Father and die. His purpose was complete, He need suffer no more.
We have many details of his resurrection from Luke. He starts with before Christ was born, and finished after he dies with much details! The testimony of the women, and then Peter - who even touched the graveclothes - that He was not in the tomb. His appearance to two on the road - conversing with them for many miles. Showing Himself to a large group and demonstrating He was not a ghost. All set to confirm definitely for them that Christ was indeed risen, alive, having conquered death and the grave. And then the very end, as He blesses them and ascends to Heaven, the book ends with worship, as it also began with worship (in the songs of Zecharias, Elizabeth, and Mary).
Lord, may we always be mindful of our complete unworthiness before you. Curb the pride that seeks to rise within our hearts, and continue to prompt our hearts to prayer that we may learn to depend more deeply on You. Magnificent art Thou, O Lord, above the heavens! You Who lived perfectly amongst us, demonstrating wisdom and power, enduring temptations and showing signs and wonders. You are greatly to be praised for Who You are, and even more so for all you have done in bearing our sin upon the Cross. O Lord we worship and adore you, our Saviour and our God.
This gospel is considered to be directed to the Greeks (based on the introduction) and it is quite clear that this story appeals to the Greek audience. Greek culture at the time was one that idealised thinkers, philosophy, and the idea of attaining perfection. They were the cultural elite of the day, similar in many ways to the Enlightenment type philosophy that idealised 'man' and put him on a pedestal to think his way to perfection.
As I began reading through the early life of Jesus, I considered how much detail was here that was not recorded elsewhere. As a perfect man, Jesus' whole life was of crucial importance - not simply concerned with just what He did, or His royal lineage - but showing Him as an important player even before His birth, as preparations were made with John the Baptist coming first, and the announcements to Zechariah and Mary. Even in the womb the Christ-child touched the lives of those around Him.
We notice that throughout His childhood, we get a sense of the privilege to be in His presence, that there is something special about Him - evidenced by the angels, shepherds, Simeon, Anna - Mary treasuring all these things in her heart as important.
As we see the beginning of His ministry, we see His identification with the common man, in the baptism, and in the temptations, and yet His perfection in not succumbing to the temptations. His lineage can be traced back to the first man - He is truly human.
The first significant event recorded in His ministry is His rejection at Nazareth, His hometown. Though perfect in childhood, His own hometown could not accept Him, despite hearing regularly of the works He was doing.
Interestingly, Peter, when we first see him, immediately confesses his unworthiness as a sinner to be in Christ's presence, as he realises Who Christ is when Christ shows His power over the fish. Within the same chapter we see Christ demonstrating by His power over healing that He also has power to deal with sin.
This seems to set the tone for much of the rest of the ministry. We see Christ pronouncing woes on those who think themselves worthy, and lifting up those who see themselves unworthy. He reminds all that the cost of following Him is to leave everything - you cannot be attached to money, people or things before God. He condemns pride and cautions against allowing good things to become more important than they ought, for instance, after the 72 disciples come back from preaching and rejoice that the spirits are subject to them, He cautions them that they are not to rejoice in that, but to rejoice that their names are written in the Book of Life.
Throughout the gospel, we see Christ in prayer, showing His communion and dependence upon the Father - He was not proud at all, how then can we claim pride when we never equal His standard? Indeed, as is mentioned later, even keeping the perfect moral law of God is not praiseworthy - it is merely our duty!
With these overarching themes, it is interesting to note that Luke even mentions the exceptions, giving note that all may come to Christ. The Pharisees may be condemned frequently, but there is one, Joseph of Arimethia who did not consent to the Sanhedrin's decision, being good and righteous. Money is condemned as a god, and rich people are frequently used as bad characters in parables, but Christ cautions that we must be wise stewards of worldy wealth, or how can we be entrusted with spiritual wealth? Zacchaeus, only mentioned in this Gospel, is a rich man who showed genuine repentance and entered the kingdom, one chapter after Christ mentioned that a rich man cannot enter the Kingdom any more than a camel go through an eye of a needle - without God. Luke is also the only one to record the thief on the cross beside Christ recognising Christ as Lord before he died.
As we enter the triumphal week, we see Christ going through interactions with the crowd perfectly. They cannot trap Him with questions. They cannot find fault with Him.
As He enters the Garden we see His agony. He asks His companions to pray with Him - they had asked Him to teach them to pray earlier, but now when He commands them to pray, they fall asleep. His agony is so great blood comes out with his sweat as He prays to His Father. His Father hears His prayer. His Father has not abandoned Him, He sends an angel to strengthen Him.
Sent from the high priest's to Pilate to Herod, again He is declared without fault, despite railing accusations. The crowd rejects Him, but as He stumbles to Calvary, He turns to the women in the crowd - His concern for them, and not Himself - He seeks forgiveness for His enemies as they crucify Him. He controlled the end of His life - though they crucified Him, He would not expire before He finished his task. Darkness may have hidden His agony from the world as He bore the suffering of our sin, but when it was finished, He freely chose to give up His Spirit to the hands of the Father and die. His purpose was complete, He need suffer no more.
We have many details of his resurrection from Luke. He starts with before Christ was born, and finished after he dies with much details! The testimony of the women, and then Peter - who even touched the graveclothes - that He was not in the tomb. His appearance to two on the road - conversing with them for many miles. Showing Himself to a large group and demonstrating He was not a ghost. All set to confirm definitely for them that Christ was indeed risen, alive, having conquered death and the grave. And then the very end, as He blesses them and ascends to Heaven, the book ends with worship, as it also began with worship (in the songs of Zecharias, Elizabeth, and Mary).
Lord, may we always be mindful of our complete unworthiness before you. Curb the pride that seeks to rise within our hearts, and continue to prompt our hearts to prayer that we may learn to depend more deeply on You. Magnificent art Thou, O Lord, above the heavens! You Who lived perfectly amongst us, demonstrating wisdom and power, enduring temptations and showing signs and wonders. You are greatly to be praised for Who You are, and even more so for all you have done in bearing our sin upon the Cross. O Lord we worship and adore you, our Saviour and our God.
Thursday, 3 January 2013
Day Two - Servant King
Just over an hour for this one. Interesting, it almost seems too close together to be reading another synoptic Gospel right through. Because Matthew and Mark (and Luke) tell many of the same events, my mind keeps drawing back to where I saw the passages in Matthew, and not seeing the passages as fresh through the eyes of Mark.
Noting first the comments in the prior blog. As addressed to the Romans, it is perhaps not self-evident, but there are indications, and the style of how Christ is portrayed seems to reflect somewhat the Roman mentality. Romans understood authority well, and the people to whom Mark was writing would probably either be servants or have servants, and it is reflected in the subtle characterisations of Christ performing His work. Roman society was one of obedience, order, and disciple, which comes through in the brevity of writing, and the way Mark quickly hits all the points he wants to make and moves on.
The pictures? I never know what to make of pictures about Christ. Many of the linked pictures show Christ as so different from those around it is obvious - and I am not sure it would have been so obvious from outward appearance, but more from how He conducted Himself. It is not the picture I see of Him in Mark.
As an aside: in general with pictures of Christ, I do find them troubling. Portray Him too meanly, and you may not give Him due respect. Portray Him in too much glory, and you start to minimise His incarnation as He became one of us and served among us. There are times and places for using pictures of Christ (for instance in some teaching scenarios), but none can capture how I feel about Him, and none can fully capture His glory and humanity simultaneously. Use them where you must, but never forget it is only a man's idea of what Christ looked like - we must go to the Gospels for the true picture, where He is described by His character - not physically.
There is a definite sense of hurry and urgency in Mark. The first few chapters seem to keep repeating 'immediately He did' 'immediately He went' etc. We see nothing of the 'quiet years' before his ministry, He appears before us at the start of His ministry, and immediately gets on with the work He must do.
Noticing this sense of urgency, it struck me in about a third of the way through (Chapter 6) that He draws the disciples away for a desolate place - i.e. a quiet place where they could be more at leisure for they had been 'coming and going and had no leisure even to eat'. So even in this sense of urgency to preach (which task the disciples and Christ had been doing), there was the necessity of rest.
Also long repeated throughout the book is a sense of doing work, miracles, and signs, but not seeking praise. Many times He told people not to spread the word about the miracles, and even in the Triumphal entry to Jerusalem, He is not seen as encouraging the praise as He is recorded in Matthew (where He responds to the Pharisees asking Him to quiet the crowd).
Again, everything leads to the Cross. Whereas Mathew introduced Him as King from the beginning, the trial before the Roman governor is the first time we hear Christ referred to as King here. The Servant who continued steadfastly, always moving towards this ultimate purpose for His ministry on earth, is finally seen as King at the Cross. The mention of His power earlier was in relation to the ministry He did, now when power is mentioned, He foretells His coming, wielding great power.
Like Him, may I seek to continually pursue God's will immediately, without hesitation or slothfulness. Like Christ, may I never seek praise for myself. May I give Him all praise. He, the Highest of High, became the Servant of all.
Noting first the comments in the prior blog. As addressed to the Romans, it is perhaps not self-evident, but there are indications, and the style of how Christ is portrayed seems to reflect somewhat the Roman mentality. Romans understood authority well, and the people to whom Mark was writing would probably either be servants or have servants, and it is reflected in the subtle characterisations of Christ performing His work. Roman society was one of obedience, order, and disciple, which comes through in the brevity of writing, and the way Mark quickly hits all the points he wants to make and moves on.
The pictures? I never know what to make of pictures about Christ. Many of the linked pictures show Christ as so different from those around it is obvious - and I am not sure it would have been so obvious from outward appearance, but more from how He conducted Himself. It is not the picture I see of Him in Mark.
As an aside: in general with pictures of Christ, I do find them troubling. Portray Him too meanly, and you may not give Him due respect. Portray Him in too much glory, and you start to minimise His incarnation as He became one of us and served among us. There are times and places for using pictures of Christ (for instance in some teaching scenarios), but none can capture how I feel about Him, and none can fully capture His glory and humanity simultaneously. Use them where you must, but never forget it is only a man's idea of what Christ looked like - we must go to the Gospels for the true picture, where He is described by His character - not physically.
There is a definite sense of hurry and urgency in Mark. The first few chapters seem to keep repeating 'immediately He did' 'immediately He went' etc. We see nothing of the 'quiet years' before his ministry, He appears before us at the start of His ministry, and immediately gets on with the work He must do.
Noticing this sense of urgency, it struck me in about a third of the way through (Chapter 6) that He draws the disciples away for a desolate place - i.e. a quiet place where they could be more at leisure for they had been 'coming and going and had no leisure even to eat'. So even in this sense of urgency to preach (which task the disciples and Christ had been doing), there was the necessity of rest.
Also long repeated throughout the book is a sense of doing work, miracles, and signs, but not seeking praise. Many times He told people not to spread the word about the miracles, and even in the Triumphal entry to Jerusalem, He is not seen as encouraging the praise as He is recorded in Matthew (where He responds to the Pharisees asking Him to quiet the crowd).
Again, everything leads to the Cross. Whereas Mathew introduced Him as King from the beginning, the trial before the Roman governor is the first time we hear Christ referred to as King here. The Servant who continued steadfastly, always moving towards this ultimate purpose for His ministry on earth, is finally seen as King at the Cross. The mention of His power earlier was in relation to the ministry He did, now when power is mentioned, He foretells His coming, wielding great power.
Like Him, may I seek to continually pursue God's will immediately, without hesitation or slothfulness. Like Christ, may I never seek praise for myself. May I give Him all praise. He, the Highest of High, became the Servant of all.
Wednesday, 2 January 2013
Day One - The King of the Jews
Two and a half hours later - lots of interesting things in Matthew to get sidetracked thinking about, and brings back great memories of Bible studies and other times discussing the passages with friends!
Definitely noticed the emphasis on kingship and kingdom in Matthew: Let's see how much I can remember without looking.
He starts out with the genealogies, giving the credentials as a king of Israel, but immediately we see an undercurrent that this is not your typical king - included in the genealogy both the ancestors to be proud of and a few that no self-respecting Jew (according to the teaching of the time) would include in his genealogy surely! (Rahab and Ruth as examples, both proselytes.)
We have the birth proclaimed, like a king being announced before his coming. We see supernatural visions indicating this is no ordinary birth, and we have men from outside Israel coming to worship Him as king. The testimony to His kingship continues with John the Baptist.
The focus shifts to the fact that the kingdom of heaven is at hand (very near, coming soon) Both John the Baptist and Jesus preach that the Kingdom is coming, and the appropriate response of repentance is exhorted (preached, strongly encouraged).
Then we see Christ preaching on the characteristics of that Kingdom. Upsetting the established 'rules based' system, he calls the people back to God's standard, setting the bar higher, not lower - and instead of declaring that the prosperous will be part of the Kingdom, He declares that the sick and weak will form it.
What was next? (check Bible)... Ah, Yes! We see the King delegating authority and power to disciples, sending them on the preach the same message as He, reminding them that as they have freely received, they should give freely also.
We see the authority of the King as He shows power over physical and mental health. We see the compassion of the King as He helps those whom society rejects. We see his authority over spiritual matters, with his declaration of sins forgiven - (this authority not yet demonstrated, but confirmed in the meantime because of the demonstrated power over physical and demonic forces).
We see the purpose and essence of the Kingdom in His parables, but we see that the truth is now hidden from some. We see in the parables the preciousness and the influence of the Kingdom, and the ever-present counterfeits and people who associate with the Kingdom but don't produce fruit (a characteristic of the truly repentant and saved).
Here's where I get a bit hazy. The themes from here to the cross seem bit more mixed. We have persecution and rejection of the King. Closely associated we have condemnation on those rejecting Him. We also start seeing the purpose of the King, as we have the predictions of His death coming through. As we move forward, getting closer to the Cross, we have a declaration from Peter that 'You are the Christ, the Son of God', soon followed by seeing the glory of the Kingdom in Christ's transfiguration. The King is questioned, and He shows Himself wiser than His opponents. His teachings start to emphasise that any can enter the kingdom, but preaching judgement on those who disbelieve. More miracles confirm his Kingship, and more condemnations on those who reject this evidence.
As He enters Jerusalem, He is received as King, and demonstrates His authority in clearing out His Father's house from those who used it for evil. The people praise and receive Him gladly, but by the end of the week they reject Him. His sorrow becomes more evident, weeping over their rejection of Him, weeping over the judgement that must come upon Jerusalem for rejecting their King. And then we start to see the cascade of betrayal, animosity, and corruption. The priests, Pharisees and Saducees reject Him as King. Pilate (the Roman governor) washes his hands of the affair, rejecting Him and condemning Him despite seeing no fault. The crowd rejects Him, the soldiers mock Him by dressing Him as a 'king'. Peter, His most outspoken disciple, and the one who declared He was the 'Christ the Son of God' denies his King. The thieves on the crosses beside Him reject Him, mocking Him. Yet even the writing bearing the crimes for which He hangs on the cross declares Him 'King of the Jews'.
THAT was why He died. The King of the Jews was there not because men put Him there, although it was for our sakes, but because He chose to be there. God the Father sent Him there. God the Son chose to go there. At apparently the lowest point by outside observers, God was glorified. The King of the Jews bore the open shame and curse of the world. God the Son, separated from God the Father for the first time in eternity as He bore our punishment, cried out in agony of the desolation He felt. He was still in control. When it was done, He chose to die, giving up His Spirit to the Father.
Finally shown as resurrected, He appears first to women - again counter to cultural values (women's testimony was worth less than a man's). Showing Himself to His disciples, He then delegates responsibility to them to spread the Kingdom, which is not of this world, but is of God.
The question is, is He King in my life? Yes! I can say with a glad heart that He is. And yet, there is much I still learn from my King, from His example, His teaching, and His challenges. May I ever grow in awe of His Majesty, His Glory, and His Power. May I continue to grow closer to imitate my King, and seek His help to live His standards. This is my prayer, my Lord and King.
Turned out my thoughts were too long for a comment, so I decided to make it a post instead! Good reading today, on to the Servant tomorrow!
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