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Sinners Classified

Friday, May 24th, 2013 | Author:

May 24  The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.   1 Timothy 1:15 ESV

Foremost – Where are you in the rank order of sinners?  Paul says that he is at the top of the list (so that place is taken).  But I wonder if we who endorse the “grace” mentality of the Christian message aren’t a bit too quick to dismiss Paul’s ranking as so much hyperbole used to impress Timothy with the bigger message.  We are so convinced that God forgives everything that we have the tendency to ignore our own failures.  If Paul, who is so cognizant of his own mistakes, ranks himself as the foremost of sinners because he is acutely aware of the magnitude of forgiveness, perhaps we, who pretend that under grace our rebellion no longer matters, need to open up a super-category of sinners.  If Paul puts himself at the top of the “aware and repentant” list, maybe I need to be at the very top of the “pretend it doesn’t matter but know better” list.  The daily injections of “grace” anesthetic aren’t really helping to ease the pain in my soul.  Maybe that’s why I have so much trouble looking into those eyes in the mirror.

Paul uses that great Greek word protos.  It means “first,” of course, but perhaps this is one time when the English derivatives help us drive the point home.  This Greek word reminds me that when I disobey I become like a proto-human.  I am not yet what God intended.  I am less than the full image.  My choices make me something else.

It also helps me understand the protocol that governs my life.  What system of rules governs my behavior?  If it isn’t God’s original and official procedures, then what makes me think He will overlook my arrogant denial of His Lordship?

I think of proton, the stable sub-atomic particle that occurs in all atoms.  The core of the atomic nucleus.  The center of being.  I wonder if God is at the core of my existence when I act in ways that ignore His directions.  I wonder if the “God particle” makes any difference to me when I convince myself that His grace overrides my selfishness.

And finally I think of prototype.  Who is my prototype?  Is it Yeshua whose flawless obedience came through suffering?  Am I fashioning my life around His form?  Or have I convinced myself that an occasional moral vacation is the reward for spiritual discipline?

Perhaps Paul needs to make room for another at the top of the pile: one equally deserving of anything but grace.

Topical Index:  protos, first, foremost, sinner, 1 Timothy 1:15

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Two Come First!

Saturday, January 19th, 2013 | Author:

But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy.  James 3:17  NASB

First – As you may know, the Greek word for “first” is proton.  Not too hard to remember in this age of science and atoms.  As we discovered, James made a point of the order of heavenly wisdom.  The very first indicator of wisdom from above is purity, both moral and ritual.  But would it surprise you to know that the word proton (first) is part of an expression that includes another word, equally important, but not translated.  That other word is men.  The text actually reads he de anothen sophia proton men hagne estin.  Right after the Greek proton comes the word men.  Literally, this Greek phrase reads, “the but from above wisdom first INDEED pure is.”  James wants his readers to know that it isn’t just a matter of ritual and moral purity.  It is ritual and moral purity first, with an exclamation point!  Miss the first, absolutely crucial condition and nothing else follows!

We need to hear this!  Our culture is awash in impurity, moral and ritual.  We have arrived at the end of the Greek utopia only to discover that when every man is free, all men are enslaved.  The West really is the Great Satan (as our Islamic brothers are quick to point out).  But we are not the Great Satan because we don’t follow the Quran.  We are the Great Satan because we follow a course of unabated syncretism.  Tell me honestly.  What really is the difference between the moral purity inside the Church and the moral purity of the culture at large?  And as for ritual, how closely do we worship according to Scriptural commands?  How much of our morality is subject to cultural pressures (or compromises)?  How much of our spiritual practice is based on cultural traditions?

We’ve survived the holidays.  Now that we are no longer under serious threat of being called heretics, are we really ready to investigate the origin of Christmas – or Easter?  Are we ready to ask why we have a cross on the building, an altar in the sanctuary, a plate with bread crumbs and one ounce of grape juice?  Are we concerned about church architecture and its implicit passivity?

And when it comes to morality, do we seriously think that Christians live the way “Jesus” lived?  Do we actually do the things He did, pray as He prayed, study as He must have, demonstrate political backbone as He did, eschew political correctness and seek righteousness no matter what the cost?  Or do we just go on vacation.

If we aren’t noticeably, deliberately different, then why claim divine wisdom?  I am afraid that what James says must come first comes last for most “believers” today.  What comes first is the ticket to heaven.  Purity is a very distant second.  If James felt it necessary to add an exclamation point to purity in the first century, how much more do we need it in the 21st century.  Just look around and you’ll know.  Exclamation point!

Topical Index:  indeed, men, exclamation point, purity, first, James 3:17

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Ordinal Insanity

Saturday, August 11th, 2012 | Author:

Another of the disciples said to him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.”  Matthew 8:21  ESV

First – Someone called me with a personal dilemma.  “I feel as if my wife and I need to move [to another city].  But I have so much family here and they are in such need.  My cousin is really sick and I have been ministering to him.  My sister is having real trouble and I want to be here for her.  And I’m concerned about my own health.  What if I get sick and we are so far away from my doctor?”

I heard the similarity to Matthew.  “First, let me take care of my family obligations, Lord.  Then I will come and follow you.”  Is it any different today?  There are always things to take care of; things that are perfectly reasonable (or so it seems) that prevent us from doing what God is asking us to do.

But let’s take a closer look at this story in Matthew.  Notice that the speaker is one of the disciples!  Don’t write him off as some fair-weather follower.  He is mathetes, a Greek word that means “disciple.”  He was serious about learning from Yeshua.  Ah, but that’s only part of the story.  The TDNT notes that the root word, manthano, is used hundreds of times in classical Greek to describe the activity of a disciple, but in the New Testament it is astonishingly rare.  In fact, manthano is used only 3 times in Matthew whereas didasko (to serve) is far more frequent and akolouthein (to follow) is the “true mark of the mathetes.”[1]  What does this mean?  It means that in spite of the fact that this man is designated a matheton, he was not characterized by akolouthein.  He was a disciple of learning, not a disciple of following.

There is a bit more to the story if we examine the culture.  For this man to say, “Give me permission to first bury my father,” means that he is asking for an undetermined temporal hiatus.  If his father were already dead, he wouldn’t even be with Yeshua.  He would be sitting shiva (Leviticus 21:1-3).  Therefore, his request is the equivalent of “Give me permission not to follow you until I bury my father.”  Once we add the cultural element, it is clear that this man wanted only the intellectual lessons, not the transformational demands.

Matthew’s account ends with Yeshua’s statement, “Let the dead bury the dead.”  Far too often Christian exegetes have treated this as if it were a spiritualized proclamation about salvation.  They think that Yeshua is saying, “Let those who have not experienced forgiveness take care of those who are still outside the Kingdom.  After all, they are all dead in their trespasses and sins.”  But I doubt anyone present would have drawn such a conclusion.  Everyone there knew that if this man’s father were actually dead he would be sitting shiva.  Yeshua’s statement merely emphasizes this point.  Death requires ritual performance.  The dead demand compliance.  Those who sit shiva are treated as if they were bound to the dead.  Festival participation is cancelled.  No one leaves the house.  Speech is restricted to topics about the deceased.  Ordinary activities of life are suspended.  Prayers are recited.  Services are held.  And all of this continues for seven days.  Yeshua is acknowledging that if this man were sitting shiva he would already be associated with the dead.  Permission is not necessary.  Shiva is commanded.

Are we any different than this excuse-prone disciple?  Our conversations about following often begin with “First, give me permission.”  What really comes first is “Follow me.”

Topical Index:  dead, shiva, first, proton, Matthew 8:21


[1] TDNT abridged, p. 554.

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Second Best

Sunday, May 29th, 2011 | Author:

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Romans 1:16  NASB

To the Jew first – Paul was not ashamed, but don’t cut his sentence short.  He was not ashamed of the good news.  Nor was he ashamed that the good news came to the Jew first.  Paul wasn’t ashamed but apparently the Church is.  Since 150 AD the Church has done all it could to be ashamed of the Jew.  Abraham Heschel sounds the warning:

“A Christian ought to ponder seriously the tremendous implications of a process begun in early Christian history.  I mean the conscious or unconscious dejudaization of Christianity, affecting the Church’s way of thinking, its inner life as well as its relationship to the past and present reality of Israel – the father and mother of the very being of Christianity.  The children did not arise to call the mother blessed; instead, they called this mother blind.  Some theologians continue to act as if they did not know the meaning of ‘honor your father and mother’; others, anxious to prove the superiority of the church, speak as if they suffered from a spiritual Oedipus complex.  A Christian ought to realize that a world without Israel will be a world without the God of Israel.”[1]

Heschel is just as critical of the decline of Jewish piety.  “We have helped to extinguish the light that our fathers had kindled.  We have bartered holiness for convenience, loyalty for success, wisdom for information, prayers for sermons, tradition for fashion.”[2]

Perhaps we who wish to re-establish the vital connection between the father and mother and our current devotion to YHWH Eloheynu must ask ourselves how we have participated in the dishonoring of our spiritual heritage.  Perhaps we need to ask if our religious practice has not bartered with the purity of El Shaddai.  Perhaps we aren’t quite as zealous as we imagine.

I would weep for my contribution to the degradation of God’s people and the revelation of His word through their trials and tribulations.  They paid so that I might receive this treasure.  I would weep, but there are no more tears.  There is only horror for the part I played without knowing it, for the years I taught doctrines of superiority, heresies of supersession.  I would weep but it is too late.  Hundreds were affected by my ignorance.  I cannot recover them.  I cannot call them back.  What can I do now, Lord?  What can I do?  Would that I could have trod the road to Babylon, could have hidden in caves with David, could have heard the cry of Amos when there was time to repent.  Would that I could have paid some of the price for my own freedom.  But God had other plans.  I was lifted up on the broken backs of the prophets, the devastation of the temple and the wailing of the captives.  God spared me for something else, yet to be understood.  But I know that I need to repay.  To the Jew first.

Topical Index:  Jew, first, Heschel, Romans 1:16, ashamed

[1] Abraham Heschel, I Asked for Wonder, pp. 144-145.

[2] Ibid., p. 141.

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Contradiction

Tuesday, June 01st, 2010 | Author:

When YHWH spoke first through Hoshea, YHWH said to Hoshea, “Go, take a wife of harlotry and children of harlotry, for the land has committed harlotry, departing from YHWH.” Hosea 1:2

First – The first word in this verse is the word “first.”  The word is tehillah.  Perhaps a better translation of this opening phrase would be “The first time YHWH spoke to Hoshea.”  We have to rearrange the words in order to make sense in English, but now you know that tehillah is in first position and therefore takes priority in the thought of the sentence.  Do you find this a bit unusual?

The first time YHWH speaks to Hoshea, He asks him to do something that is completely contradictory to everything expected.  Israel was in the grip of idolatry.  Pagan fertility cults dominated the landscape.  The ancient Canaanite religion had thoroughly infected God’s chosen people.  So God calls a prophet to decry apostasy and plead for renewal.  We would expect God to tell Hoshea, “Go, tell the people that they must give up their fertility cults.  They must purify themselves and return to Torah morality.  They must set themselves apart from this sexual debauchery.”  That’s what we expect.  Repent! Purify!  Separate!

But what does YHWH say?  He says, “Go, take a whore as your wife and have children by her.”  What?  Are we really supposed to believe that the first time YHWH speaks to Hoshea, He asks him to do something completely the opposite of all moral expectations? Can we really expect Hoshea to comply with this outlandish request?   Does Hoshea have any credibility as a prophet in the community if his own wife is unfaithful?  Just put yourself in his position for a moment.  How would you respond?  Would your theological sensitivity get in the way of obedience if obedience required you to set aside everything you knew about faithfulness?

What we are required to assume is this:  Hoshea had a deep and abiding relationship with YHWH.  In fact, his trust in YHWH was so great that he was able to obey in spite of the loss of reputation, credibility and fidelity.  He was willing to be shamed for the sake of his Lord.  Centuries later, another man made the same statement in actions.  “I am not ashamed” fell from the lips of a man who gave up everything his culture counted valuable in order to serve his Lord.  Paul only followed the footsteps of Yeshua who also set aside everything in order to serve.

How did Hoshea know that this request came from the living God, YHWH?  Why didn’t he reject this command as simply temptation?  Why was he certain that God Himself was asking what must have seemed morally improbable?  First, Hoshea knew the voice of his Lord.  First, Hoshea must have had a long history of simple obedience.  Maybe the reason we find Hoshea’s actions so improbable is that we don’t understand the deeper meaning of first.  Tehilat diber-YWHW.  The rest is commentary.

Topical Index:  first, tehillah, Hosea 1:2

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The Reversal of Reason

Wednesday, September 24th, 2008 | Author:

“And thus the last shall be first, and the first last.” Matthew 20:16

Last/ First – “Jesus’ concept of the righteousness of God, therefore, is incommensurable with reason.  Man cannot measure it, but he can grasp it.”  So said David Flusser in The Sage from Galilee.  Read his comment carefully.  How you understand what Flusser says will determine whether or not you are truly living in the Kingdom.  What does this mean to us?

First, the Kingdom of God (or of Heaven) has already arrived.  You aren’t waiting for it after you die.  You are either in it now or you are outside.  It is not an arrival destination on the other side of the grave.  It’s a present phenomenon simply waiting for fulfillment.

Second, you are in the Kingdom when you act according to Kingdom values.  When you serve under the reign and rule of the King, you are His citizen.  You don’t have to wait to be initiated into the party.  You don’t have to “join” the club.  You don’t need a membership or have to pay dues.  All you have to do is what the King does.  The evidence of citizenship is not a verbal declaration.  It is loyalty in action (remember the parable of the two sons?).

Third, in the Kingdom, all normal commonsense ethical values are obliterated.  There is nothing normal about the first being last, about full wages for partial work, about forgiveness of massive debt, about denial of natural inclinations or about sacrificing for enemies.  Those actions are insane!  No normal person would do such things.  It doesn’t serve your best interests or the best interests of ordinary civil obedience.  But in God’s Kingdom, the righteous die for the unrighteous, the ones who deserve justice accept injustice, the ones who need mercy give it instead, the beggars become models for true wealth and the ones who give up their peace demonstrate God’s peacemaking.  Kingdom “ethics” are not just another set of ethical principles.  In this Kingdom, ethical behavior goes beyond good and evil.  It is not subject to anything reasonable at all, including our evaluation of what is good and what isn’t good.  God’s ways are not our ways, and in the Kingdom we come face to face with that astounding reality.

So, take a hard look at your life.  Do you operate according to good commonsense?  Are your principles of moral behavior based on “reasonable” expectations?  Do you believe that things should be in their proper order?  If you do, you might want to reconsider.  Where your reason dictates proper action, you may find that God’s view seems entirely unreasonable.  After all, why should anyone pray for an enemy?  Where you act according to proper and acceptable means, you may want to listen a bit more to the voice of Jesus.  His idea of accumulation and success sounds a lot more like self-sacrifice than like retirement income and financial security.  Where you are content to let bygones be bygones, Jesus seems to think that your forgiveness depends on something much more substantial.

If you find yourself in the first position of benefit from your decisions, you may want to read this parable again.  God’s way is last, not even next to last.  How you get there really is up to you.

Topical Index:  First

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