While I’ve carved pumpkins, purchased candy and helped prepare my children for Halloween, I have been most interested with thoughts of the 500th anniversary of the great reformation that will no doubt be celebrated on Halloween day just 8 years from now.
October 31, 1517 was the day that monk, professor and reformer Martin Luther addressed evils in the church. He presented his position in a document that has come to be know as the 95 thesis’. While the reformation is a movement that had been set into motion a hundred or more years earlier, it is October 31st that will generally be associated with its advent. In this document, Luther advocated for ‘sola fide’, that justification is by faith alone. He urged the church to stop preaching an practicing a belief that our right standing before God is achieved by our actions. Since this is at the core of what we believe, halloween provides something of greater significance to consider.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Friday, October 16, 2009
(I, not the Lord)
Concerns about the apostle Paul's teaching in 1 Corinthians 7 on marriage are sadly ignored by many Christians. Much of this is because of our desire for things outside of what is good and right. What is more, is that I am greatly disturbed by some do not believe Paul is writing scripture in parts of this chapter because of his expression in verse 12 "(I, not the Lord)" and in verse 25, "I have no command from the Lord, but give my judgement." The troubling belief is that Paul is offering his own advice about marriage, but since he was single we should just ignore him. My concern for this position is great for it requires Paul in all his letters to clarify to us whether he is writing God's words (as in 7:10) or his own words (as in 7:12 & 25). Scripture is fully human and fully divine, fully inspired in all verses.
Why does Paul use these expressions then? Instead of an indication that Paul is moving from divine to human authorship he is likely making reference in 7:10-11 to a known saying from the historical Jesus. While Jesus lived he said many things, not all of them are recorded in the gospels (as John makes clear in John 21:25). Luke makes reference to the saying "it is more blessed to give than to receive" in Acts 20:35. It is likely that a document containing such expressions existed and was drawn upon by Matthew, Mark and Luke in the writing of their gospels as many of their stories are duplicates. So Paul is giving married couples the very words of Jesus to guide their decision. He could be drawing on Matthew 5:31-32, or another record or Jesus' teaching on divorce.
When he comes to verse 12 then, Paul is answering a specific question of a believer married to an unbeliever. This question was not asked of Jesus as the church was yet to be founded. So Paul cannot provide another quote, but gives his own council, which is on par with every other word Paul has recorded in scripture. As Peter assures us, in all of Paul's letters he speaks scripture (2 Peter 3:15-16). In 1 Corinthians 7:25, Paul makes the case for his words by being trustworthy by the Lord's mercy. Paul's words in this chapter are God's words to us. Will we listen?
Why does Paul use these expressions then? Instead of an indication that Paul is moving from divine to human authorship he is likely making reference in 7:10-11 to a known saying from the historical Jesus. While Jesus lived he said many things, not all of them are recorded in the gospels (as John makes clear in John 21:25). Luke makes reference to the saying "it is more blessed to give than to receive" in Acts 20:35. It is likely that a document containing such expressions existed and was drawn upon by Matthew, Mark and Luke in the writing of their gospels as many of their stories are duplicates. So Paul is giving married couples the very words of Jesus to guide their decision. He could be drawing on Matthew 5:31-32, or another record or Jesus' teaching on divorce.
When he comes to verse 12 then, Paul is answering a specific question of a believer married to an unbeliever. This question was not asked of Jesus as the church was yet to be founded. So Paul cannot provide another quote, but gives his own council, which is on par with every other word Paul has recorded in scripture. As Peter assures us, in all of Paul's letters he speaks scripture (2 Peter 3:15-16). In 1 Corinthians 7:25, Paul makes the case for his words by being trustworthy by the Lord's mercy. Paul's words in this chapter are God's words to us. Will we listen?
Thursday, October 15, 2009
'brothers' in 1 & 2 Corinthians
The term ‘brothers’ is used 36 times in 1 & 2 Corinthians. The ESV translates this directly from ‘adelphoi’. With the rise of gender-inclusive language over the past two decades there has been a greater need to clarify the translation of this word. While some translations have opted to be inclusive in the text (ie: ‘brothers and sisters’ as translated by the TNIV and NLT) it is best to keep the text pure and understand how this word should be understood.
Adelphoi often refers to the family bond between two males from the same mother. In the gospels, this is the usual sense (Matthew 4:18, John 7:3), but not the only (Matthew 25:40). In 1 Corinthians, only once does the word have this force (9:5 when Paul refers to the half-brothers of Jesus). So what does it mean 35 other times?
In his correspondence with the Corinthians, Paul uses the term ‘adelphoi’ to refer to the whole church. Several indicators have led to this conclusion. First, Paul is writing a letter with the understanding that it would be read aloud to the entire church. Second, it is obvious that Paul is not writing to a group of biological brothers (1:2). Third, Paul uses other terms to address them that do not have a male quality (ie: 3:16, 4:14, 7:8, 7:25).
The word that usually refers to male siblings is now being used to refer to a church. Why doesn’t Paul use the expression ‘brothers and sisters’? Probably the most natural reason is because it is the same word root. In the greek language words are either masculine, feminine or neuter. This usually has nothing to do with sexuality (ie: ‘night’ is feminine, yet is is a time of the day). However, in the case of ‘adelph’ the ending changes the gender. Adelphoi means brothers and Adelphai means sisters. It would seem redundant to use the masculine and feminine forms in the 35 uses of the word.
In our reading of the text of 1 & 2 Corinthians, we understand Paul to be addressing the whole congregation of believers when he uses the word ‘brothers’.
Those of you who don’t enjoy such technical work haven’t read this far. But the implications of this are huge. Was the letter written to just the men of the the church, or to the men and women? I am preaching and applying this to all of us because I believe this to be Paul’s intended audience. And we must be careful to gain this application from the text itself, not from broader to be gender inclusive.
Adelphoi often refers to the family bond between two males from the same mother. In the gospels, this is the usual sense (Matthew 4:18, John 7:3), but not the only (Matthew 25:40). In 1 Corinthians, only once does the word have this force (9:5 when Paul refers to the half-brothers of Jesus). So what does it mean 35 other times?
In his correspondence with the Corinthians, Paul uses the term ‘adelphoi’ to refer to the whole church. Several indicators have led to this conclusion. First, Paul is writing a letter with the understanding that it would be read aloud to the entire church. Second, it is obvious that Paul is not writing to a group of biological brothers (1:2). Third, Paul uses other terms to address them that do not have a male quality (ie: 3:16, 4:14, 7:8, 7:25).
The word that usually refers to male siblings is now being used to refer to a church. Why doesn’t Paul use the expression ‘brothers and sisters’? Probably the most natural reason is because it is the same word root. In the greek language words are either masculine, feminine or neuter. This usually has nothing to do with sexuality (ie: ‘night’ is feminine, yet is is a time of the day). However, in the case of ‘adelph’ the ending changes the gender. Adelphoi means brothers and Adelphai means sisters. It would seem redundant to use the masculine and feminine forms in the 35 uses of the word.
In our reading of the text of 1 & 2 Corinthians, we understand Paul to be addressing the whole congregation of believers when he uses the word ‘brothers’.
Those of you who don’t enjoy such technical work haven’t read this far. But the implications of this are huge. Was the letter written to just the men of the the church, or to the men and women? I am preaching and applying this to all of us because I believe this to be Paul’s intended audience. And we must be careful to gain this application from the text itself, not from broader to be gender inclusive.
Friday, October 9, 2009
Retirement Calling
"You may have heard that retirement can kill you. Men and women die of boredom, for lack of intellectual challenge, or from the deafening silence that can accompany a spouse’s death. Depressed saving accounts may represent another motivation to stay gainfully employed. Even if times were better, you might simply prefer staying active in your career, maintaining a position of influence that you’ve worked hard to reach."
You can read rest of this great article on retirement here: www.ligonier.org/tabletalk/2009/10/1198_Don't_Retire_We_Need_You"
It is an excellent challenge to a congregation like ours that is a pairing of young families and those ready to or already retired. The demographic of Kimberley matches our congregation and probably won't change as Kimberley continues to attract this demographic. Instead of battling against this trend, Chediak's article is a beautiful picture of how these two worlds can work really well together. There are many examples in our church of how this is working well, I hope this encourages more of it. And for you on the younger side of this pairing, the article is good challenge for you as well, so read on.
You can read rest of this great article on retirement here: www.ligonier.org/tabletalk/2009/10/1198_Don't_Retire_We_Need_You"
It is an excellent challenge to a congregation like ours that is a pairing of young families and those ready to or already retired. The demographic of Kimberley matches our congregation and probably won't change as Kimberley continues to attract this demographic. Instead of battling against this trend, Chediak's article is a beautiful picture of how these two worlds can work really well together. There are many examples in our church of how this is working well, I hope this encourages more of it. And for you on the younger side of this pairing, the article is good challenge for you as well, so read on.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Baptism
On September 19th, hours before packing up the kids for the fall event at the Taggarts, I got in touch with Jesse (we were playing phone tag for a couple of days). He wanted to get baptized. I’ve known Jesse for almost a year now and we’ve talked about baptism and I knew that he understood it, and would be ready for it when he said he was. 20 hours notice to fill and warm the church tank isn’t much, so I gave Jesse a few options. We could wait a couple weeks (I was out of town the next Sunday), do it in cold water, or do it in a few hours in the hot tub at the fall event. We opted for the hot tub and it ended up being more significant than I had thought.
Baptism is practiced immediately after a profession of faith. I don’t ask people to go through classes, clean up their life, or hang around for a few years before baptism. So I loved it that we were doing it immediately after Jesse was reading his Bible and feeling prompted by God. I also loved that it was informal, real, before God’s people as they were gathered and without the unnecessary feeling that we should be in a church building. There was around 25 people there and everyone was really affirming of the way it was done.
Jesse’s story is that his life was in the wrong direction until a few years ago he was involved in a car crash that should have killed him. He had to be resuscitated three times, and suffered many serious injuries spending over a month in hospital to recuperate. Today he knows that God has intervened in his life and provided a very uncommon recovery. He has also been on a search to find out more about the God who saved his physical life. As a result he has heard the gospel and received God’s grace in his life. He knows that Jesus is his substitute and has given him a new heart.
The event, where he was baptized, ended up being only a few hundred feet away from the site of this accident that initiated his new life in Christ. It was a powerful testimony that God is working to redeem our lives for his glory. Next time you see Jesse, encourage him in his new life.
“We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” Romans 6:4
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