Getting Satisfaction
Do all things without grumbling or disputing; so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, Philippians 2:14-15 NASB
Blameless / innocent – There’s little doubt that we live in a “crooked and perverse generation.” I really don’t know anyone who claims that everything is getting better and better. Apparently the situation was the same toward the end of the first century under Roman control. That’s why Paul exhorts the believers at Philippi to act as shining lights. How? By being blameless and innocent.
It sounds good, doesn’t it? But when you really think about it, blameless and innocent isn’t very workable. It’s sort of naive, right? Sure, it’s nice not to be accountable for anything bad, but innocent seems a bit unsophisticated, a little inexperienced, maybe even gullible. Don’t we need “street smarts” to operate in this perverse world? Would you send yourinnocent child on a walk through south Chicago to prove how important it is to be a shining light of goodness? Not likely. I doubt that Paul would have encouraged such behavior in Thessaloniki or Athens.[1] Maybe Paul has some secret in mind that we’ve missed.
Blameless (ámemptos) literally means, “one who does not scold, upbraid or chide.” It is the negative of the verb mémphomai, with the interesting derivative mempsímoiros, “grumbler,” that is, someone who complains about his fate. Paul’s vocabulary shows skillfully rendered connections. We don’t think of “blameless” in terms of the restraint of harsh criticism, but maybe we should. It’s not so much a moral condition, as we are wont to assume, as it is a volitional state. It’s something we do, not a statement of our moral character. In fact, if you think about it, God is ámemptos. He more often than not withholds deserved verbal chiding in order to provide a safe place for us to work out our traumas.
Then there’s akéraios (innocent). “ . . in a figurative sense ‘that which is still in its original state of intactness, totality or moral innocence.’”[2] In the Pauline material, this word is about personal integrity. Not just whole and original, akéraios is moral uprightness. So “innocent” isn’t naive after all. In fact, the wisest followers of YHVH are hardly immature. They know what’s up with the world. They just don’t go along with it. I guess they could walk the streets of Chicago or Athens and be very aware of the temptations and failures of the “crooked and perverse generation.”
Paul’s secret is simple: he isn’t writing to an English-speaking, modern audience. He’s using old Greek words to communicate even older Hebrew thoughts. Reminders of the stories that came out of Egypt when it took the children of Israel forty years to learn ámemptos and akéraios.
Topical Index: ámempto, akéraios, blameless, innocent, Philippians 2:14-15
[1]Athens is described as “a society dominated by men who sequester their wives and daughters, denigrate the female role in reproduction, erect monuments to the male genetalia, have sex with the sons of their peers, sponsor public whorehouses, create a mythology of rape, and engage in rampant saber-rattling.” Eva C. Keuls, The Reign of the Phallus: Sexual Politics in Ancient Athens
[2]Kittel, G. (1964–). ἀκέραιος. G. Kittel, G. W. Bromiley, & G. Friedrich (Eds.), Theological dictionary of the New Testament(electronic ed., Vol. 1, p. 209). Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.
“One who does not scold, upbraid or chide”. I have noticed that people who do these things tend to be people who have judged others (or themselves!) and found them in want of a little ‘fixing’. These are the behaviors of accusation, in fact (and we all know who the father (source) of all accusation is). People do as they are done by. If they are still listening to Radio Satan, they are going to turn around and accuse others, too., but there is no place for this kind of judging in a world where God is withholding His own judgment until all have had all the chances possible. If He can do that, so can we. It is only forgiven people, I have noticed, however, that can afford to keep a place open for others to repent and get forgiven, too. Scolding never got anybody there, but we only quit scolding others, I have noticed, when we quit listening to our own (demonic) scolder.
“(T)hat which is still in its original state of intactness, totality or moral innocence.” These folks have all had to have had massive plastic surgery, because we know that all of us have sinned. Again, only those who have gotten beyond the forgiveness point for their own issues (see above) have also been able to reach a point of reconstruction: of being re-set.
Paul is clearly describing born-again folks: not folks who are just ‘trying harder’. These are folks who have had heart transplants; facial makeovers; been given new hands (actions) that are not bloody from participating in diminishing the lives of others. These folks are under new management and are powering up at a different fuel station. They are people who know who they really are and are living out their original design: they have enjoyed the teshuva God did to them when He returned them to their “original state of intactness, totality or moral innocence”. Nobody can do this for themselves (even though I have noticed that all false religions assure their followers that they can). These people are way beyond where the flesh can ever get anybody. Nope: the above are certainly not commands or instructions (which is how the flesh would have to read it): they are descriptions of something that has been done TO us (which is only something a born-again insider would know). May we all repent (our part, but oh, such a very small part!) and so enjoy the teshuva – the return to our true Garden state – beyond all accusation and brokenness – that God can do for us, today!
Skip, you noted that, “He more often than not withholds deserved verbal chiding in order to provide a safe place for us to work out our traumas.” What a wonderful definition of what a home should be: “a safe place for us to work out our traumas.” Shaul reminds us in Philippians 2:12 “keep working out your deliverance with fear and trembling”. There is no better place to work out our deliverance (from daily trauma) than in the “safe place” of a loving home. Let parents be mindful of providing such a place for their children and wives and husbands to do the same for each other. I suspect it could be carried onto the level of the local church, but sadly, that may be asking too much, too late.
And imagine the tragedy for those who grew up in unsafe homes. I will have a lot to tell everyone about that reality in a few days when we are finished with the work here in Jakarta.