Probably my favorite New Testament book...

... would be the book of Hebrews, or as Phillips calls it, the "Letter to Jewish Christians." Back in the '80s, I decided to spend one year in it: Every day in January that year, I read through Hebrews chapter 1. In February, chapter 2, and so on. Even today I can give you random quotes from various places in the book, though I can no longer remember which chapter they're from.

What's so cool about this book? Well, first, it doesn't begin with any kind of prologue or salutation, which makes me wonder if the first page went missing or something. Then we see right away how much the author loves talking about how great Jesus is. Greater than the angels (chapter 1, which was yesterday's New Testament reading), greater than creation (chapter 2), greater than Moses (chapter 3), etc. And then there is the way the author takes verses from the Old Testament and attributes them to Jesus, as

Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers. He says,
"I will declare your name to my brothers;
in the presence of the congregation I will sing your praises."

Hebrews 2.11-12

This is from Psalm 22, which, well, come to think of it seems like a foreshadowing of Messiah Jesus. But take verse 13:
And again, "I will put my trust in him." And again he says,"Here am I, and the children God has given me."
That's a quote from Isaiah 8.17-18. What's that about? So here's the deal. If you look back in Isaiah, the next thing he says is, We are signs and symbols in Israel (Isaiah 8.18). That's the clue: they are signs and symbols, what some people call "types," shadows cast before the real thing appears.

To me, Hebrews is the most typological book in the New Testament. Well, so what? I mentioned all this because the first few dozen times (:^>) I read one of these chapters, I tended to think the author's interpretation "magical" in some way. And it's not magical. Sure, he/she was guided by the Holy Spirit, but the Spirit still speaks today, and so one can imagine interpreting the Old Testament typologically today -- as some commentators and seminary profs do today.

As far as what I wish you and I would remember from today's reading...

For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself was tempted in what he suffered, he is able to come to the aid of those who are being tempted.

Hebrews 2.17-18

First, someone told me that "what is not assumed cannot be redeemed." That is, Jesus took on (assumed) the form of a human so that he could redeem humans. I guess this is the verse where that idea comes from.

Second, and this is the part I find encouraging about this chapter, is that whatever I'm going through is something he's gone through too, and he's available to help.

Great is thy faithfulness

Great is thy faithfulness
Morning by morning
new mercies I see.

These words from the hymn come from Lamentations 3.22-23. Although the hymn sounds nice and encouraging, the chapter of Scripture that it comes from is full of wailing. And it's only because of the great mercy of the Lord, says the author, that Judah is not utterly destroyed. He underlines this a little further down:

Though he brings grief, he will show compassion,
so great is his unfailing love.
For he does not willingly bring affliction
or grief to the children of men.

Lamentations 3.32-33

This is good news, that affliction or grief are not willingly imposed upon us. In other words, in the midst of destruction (which God takes credit for by the way), when it would be easy to imagine God as a vengeful cosmic tyrant, the author tells us, "Not so!" He does not willingly afflict or grieve us.

As we'll see a few days hence in Ezekiel, he does not take pleasure in the death of anyone -- even the wicked.

Which is a good example for me and shows how far I have to go. Because when I think about the deaths of men like Hitler or Ceausescu or "Chemical Ali", my tendency is to feel pleased that these creeps got their just deserts. But God does not willingly afflict anyone and takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked.

What a merciful loving God we serve!

"Sharing your faith" means...?

It was over 25 years ago that a friend pointed out this verse as possibly related to evangelism, and this year I heard it applied that way again. Here it is:

I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ.

Philemon 6

In the intervening years, I happened to notice that the word translated "sharing" by the NIV editors is usually rendered "fellowship." In other words, this isn't talking about evangelism. The New American Standard editors have "fellowship of your faith" here.

So what's going on? Why do the NIV (and the RSV) have "sharing" here? They surely know the Bible better than I do, and it seems just too easy to relate the phrase "sharing your faith" to evangelism, at least for a late 20th-century audience. Did they actually think this verse was talking about that?

I don't think so. This word is translated in the King James version as "fellowship" (12x), "contribution" (Romans 15.26), "communion" (4x), "distribution" (2 Cor. 9.13), and "communication" (2x; here and in Hebrews 13.16, where the NIV also has "share": "Don't forget to ... share with others.")

At least one commentary I looked at says this is talking about generosity which is inspired by faith.

That sounds about right. So how does generosity help us, as Paul says, have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ? Here's my take on it, assisted fortunately by this morning's sermon! Our pastor mentioned today that people who give lots of money (to the poor, to the church, to missions, etc.) also tend to worry less about money.

So by sharing and generosity we worry less and better appreciate the good gifts we have from God. H'm... sounds good to me!

The good news in a nutshell

In this morning's New Testament reading, Paul gives a quick summary of an encounter with God:

For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, spending our days in malice and envy, hated by men and hating one another. But when the goodness and lovingkindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we had done in righteousness, but according to his mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit...

Titus 3.3-5 NASB (approximately)

When I was involved with the Navigators, I memorized verse 5 (it was on one of those little cards). The point being emphasized is that salvation (you can call it "recovery" or something else if you like) is not a matter of "I finally got my act together" or "I pulled myself up by my own bootstraps" or any other self-help myth.

On the contrary, the story of humanity is one of futility -- headed to hell in a handbasket, in the words of the cliché -- until God barged in somehow with his goodness and mercy. (I wondered if this was the same as the part in Psalm 23 where it says, "surely goodness and mercy will follow me", but it isn't; the word translated "lovingkindness" above turns out to be the word that's behind our word "philanthropy.")

In other words, it's all about God's generosity and grace and mercy, rescuing us from depravity.

And though I'd like to think I've "learned my lesson," so to speak, I find myself again and again wandering off the path. As I often pray, "You are strong and good, and we are weak and easily distracted."

Thank God for his faithfulness, his mercy, his philanthropic heart!

Holiness and Liberation: priorities

Today's reading includes one of those passages that makes me feel uncomfortable. But thinking about the historical context and looking at the textual context helps me feel a little better. Here it is:

Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.

Titus 2.3-5

Why does this passage make me feel uncomfortable? Because it's too easily used to force women into one particular social role and to exclude them from others. In particular, someone might latch onto "be busy at home" here and ignore the description of the empowered woman from Proverbs 31.

But when I look at Paul's comment at the end here, "so that no one will malign the word of God," it puts me in mind of one radical aspect of our faith: the incalculable value of each individual person. First-century infanticide of girls is well attested, and one of the distinctive things that early Christians did was this: they rescued baby girls who were abandoned outside of town.

The almost-universally held creation myth of the time taught that humanity was created by the gods to serve as slaves, and hence any individual person didn't have much intrinsic value. But the Bible teaches that we were created to reign with the one living God; we weren't made to supply his needs (cf. Acts 17). Therefore, each individual person is a regent for the master of the universe.

What might be the reaction to this new teaching? "Bring back the old myths!" they might say. "Without them - disorder, chaos, total disintegration; in short you have a ghastly mess!"

So I'm going to go out on a limb here and say what I think this passage is about: that yes, each individual has infinite value -- but no, that does not mean we are anarchists. Rather, the focus of all this is the grace of God, which

... teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age...

Titus 2.12

Is it important that women have freedom to engage other social roles? Is it important to rescue baby girls from exposure to the elements? Is it important that slavery be abolished? Of course those things are important to Christians, as history has shown. Who rescued those baby girls? In contrast, where is slavery practiced legally today, and which countries officially oppress women today?

But the highest priority for me as an individual seems to be to say "No" to ungodliness and so on. If I were a slave, it's worse than useless to tell me slavery is an evil institution (wouldn't I know it already?). Better to tell me how to deal with my situation in the present (evil) age.

Which I guess is what I guess it's doing here. I still don't feel real comfortable with it, but maybe it's not as weird as I've thought.

posted 10/28

To the pure, all things are pure

To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience is defiled"

Titus 1.15

I had no idea about this -- no correct idea, anyway; I had always thought it was talking about how some people are evil-minded and always suspect the worst.

But I was reading it one of my teenagers tonight -- reading it from a modern translation/paraphrase -- and she asked what a modern-day equivalent of that would be. Beer, maybe? Because the passage reminded her of some parts in the Bible about meat sacrificed to idols (cf. 1 Corinthians 8), that sort of thing.

Shazzam! Look at the context, I said to myself. (Actually I think I said it out loud.)

Sure enough, just before that part, he says he wants people to ignore ... myths and the commands of those who reject the truth (1.14). OK, so what does that mean to us today? To the pure, there's nothing wrong with a beer on a warm afternoon, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, even a non-alcoholic "Sharp's" would be impure? H'rm.

To be sure, there are good reasons to abstain, particularly if nearby friends struggle with self-control and alcoholism. But absent that and any considerations of prudence, "all things are pure."

That reminds me of another passage where Paul says that we can partake of anything God made if we do so with thankfulness, because God has generously given us so much to enjoy.

Sounds good to me!

Keep the faith

I have sometimes wondered where the phrase "Keep the faith" comes from. I guess it's from this morning's reading in 2 Timothy 4:

For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day -- and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

2 Timothy 4.6-8

Last year, when I experienced some chest pains, I wondered if my departure was near. It wasn't, but it did make me wonder: what do I want to do over the next few years so that, when the time does come for my departure, I'll feel like I fought the good fight, etc.?

And what do I need to do today that'll move me in that direction?

I particularly like the last part of that passage -- the crown of righteousness is for all those who long for his appearing. I'm going to guess here that there's a connection between "longed for his appearing" and "fought the good fight, finished the race, kept the faith."

Do I long to see him -- see him at work in the world today, see him when he returns to earth in glory?

You bet I do -- all I have to do is see the front page, and I'm there. And when I see hurting people around me, and the ways I fall short even after nearly three decades following him (or trying to)... yes I do long for his appearing. Come, Lord Jesus! Come, Holy Spirit!