Goal Oriented

 For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?  1 Corinthians 4:7  ESV

See anything different – Keep the code!  Paul exhorts his readers, “Stick to what is written!”  Why?  The answer varies according to translation.  Here the ESV speaks about the observation of others, but the NASB translates this phrase as if it were self-assessment (“regards you as superior”) and the NLT suggests it is about personal judgment (“gave you the right to make a judgment”).  So why do we keep the written code?  The Greek text and its related Hebrew concept give us a better picture.

In Greek the text is diakrinei from the verb diakrino.  This is a combination of dia and the verb krino, a verb that means “to distinguish, to separate, to assess, to judge.”  Its Hebrew parallel is mishpat, a word that encompasses the entire concept of law and justice from conception to execution.  “Who sees mishpat in you?” might be a Hebraic way of rendering this.  That means Paul is concerned about keeping the code so that we will be distinctively different than those who are not followers.  Following the code sets you apart and binds you together.  Keeping the code is an identity marker.  “We bless you Lord, King of the universe, who set us apart by Your commandments.”  If we change those commandments in any way, we are no longer identified as belonging to each other and to the community that follows Him.  Today we have our own brand of worship, our own badges of religious fervor, our own prayers, our own interpretation of the text.  Now we are 52,000 differences rather than one body.  The problem is not how we think about those “essential” differences.  The problem is what the world sees in all this mess.  And what the world sees is anything but “love one another.” Why should I believe that God is one when His people are so many?

It’s not our fault.  For centuries the theology of Christianity has ridden on the back of anti-Semitism and in particular, anti-Judaism.  To be Christian is to not be Jewish.  In spite of the fact that everyone in the New Testament comes to faith in the Jewish Messiah and adopts a Jewish way of life by being grafted into the mitzvot of Moses, our dominant religion of the West has taught us that being like the Jewish Jesus or the rabbi Paul is “legalism” and “no longer necessary.”  Funny thing is that I can’t find anywhere in the sacred text that says that.  Of course, if I read the text according to the early Church fathers of Luther or Calvin, then I am supplied with the paradigm I need to “see” it in the text, but we have probably studied the history long enough now to know that the earliest Messianic believers would never have thought of such things.  So we have to unlearn a lot in order to be people who are genuinely different and who are truly bonded together.  We can start by agreeing that the theology isn’t nearly as important as the practice, the observable actions we take to show the world that we love each other.  We can start by keeping all of the ten commandments exactly as they were intended for the people who heard them first.  And then debate the rest in private.

Topical Index:  diakrino, judge, discern, identity, difference, 1 Corinthians 4:7

A PERSONAL NOTE:  Mark Randall took over from Patrick as my geek tech several months ago.  He has  faithfully fulfilled that role.  We have all benefitted from his efforts.  Yesterday afternoon I found out that his mother, who has been ill for a long time, passed away.  Please keep Mark in your prayers today.

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