Posted by Randy Peterman on 10/28/2008
My buddy Trint privately messaged me and asked for my take on this particular blog post: I’m Possessed. The author of the post wrestles with how he should apply the content of the post and looks for an out so that he doesn’t have to wrestle with the guilt of not fulfilling Christ’s command. The good news is that I think that there is a very simple and low-guilt out: hermeneutics (AKA Proper Bible Interpretation). There is also another out: Grace (AKA the fact that you’re not under the Law any more, as you have died to this world and its systems with Christ if you are a believer).
While on the surface it looks like this post may be about money and possessions, its really a about the issue of which dispensation Christ was in and how we deal with the life of Christ before His death, burial, resurrection and ascension. How do we as believers address the complexities of what Jesus did and said verses what we’re called to do as His possession? I believe that fundamentally the question that was asked by the author of the aforementioned blog post is flawed because it presupposes that everything that Christ spoke was directed towards the disciples, the New Testament church, and the believer today.
I’m co-teaching a class on Bible Interpretation at church (Link to Series for download) and rather than start in the middle of why this is a poor approach to interpreting this passage I’m going to go through the processes we’re teaching and attempt to see if I come to the same application that the author of the post comes to. Join me as we look at observations, interpretations, applications and appropriations. For the record I don’t for some second think that the author of the other post is attempting to misrepresent the passage, I just want to challenge myself and all believers to be consistent in our interpretation and theological calling to be noble minded like the Bereans (Acts 17:11).
Observation of the passage calls for evaluating language, culture, history, context and as many pertinent facts as we can observe objectively about the passage and its contents. Lets go through those systematically and see what objective elements pop out. We’ll also want to ask who, what, where, when, why, and how to make sure we’ve got the right focus of the passage. I’ll be using the resources publicly availabe at blueletterbible.org for you to follow along with if you want to check my references.
Context
The context of the passage appears to be Christ speaking to his disciples and in verse 13 one disciple asks Christ to speak to his brother so as to instruct the brother toward equality in dividing the inheritance that the man was to receive. Christ then launches on a series of principles that seem to outline first that Christ was not interested in making that call about the inheritance (v. 14). Instead Christ was interested in motive and source of life (coveting v. 15). Christ’s parables subsequent to motive point out God’s provision (vs. 16-31). Seeking the things of God will show God’s provision for the needs of the believer.
Language
The language of the Luke passage is Greek. I’m not going to delve into each Greek word, but I will highlight the bits and pieces that seem to carry the most weight in the selected verses.
Fear Not: The Greek here is two words: phobeō mē. We’re all familiar with the English transliteration and adaptation phobia, and the Greek carries with it just such a context [BLB]. The verb tense is present, middle, imperative, which means that the person listening to Christ is to take the command to heart. The negation of the fear indicates that we should not for any reason let fear rule in the context of this passage.
little flock: The Lord uses a metric indicator to reflect the size of the disciples despite the first verse of the chapter reflecting that a general throng had gathered around the smaller circle of the disciples. Flock was used analogously of the group of disciples and is apparently common figurative language as all five times that it is translated that way in the KJV the figurative subject is a body of saints (vs. Luke 12:32, Acts 20:28, Acts 20:29, 1Peter 5:2-3).
your Father: interestingly we see Christ identifying the disciples as being sons of the Father.
good pleasure: The Father’s pleasure is is aorist, active, indicative which indicates to us that it is a past action with ongoing results, it is being done by the father to the disciples and it is spoken factually.
the Kingdom: if you want to see theologians argue bring up the kingdom. However, the disciples, as best as we can tell, would have recognized the kingdom as the coming kingdom of the Messiah [Grk reference]. A rulership that would entail political power, peace, and a fulfillment of the New Covenant (See Jeremiah 31:31).
Sell: The Greek here is imperative and active. You sell your stuff as soon as is expedient.
alms: Alms would be a gift. A benevolent and generous gift that was not earned by the recipient.
a treasure: A storage place for valuables, or the valuables in the storage place.
in the heavens: The dwelling place of God above all of creation.
where your treasure is: is is present, indicative. It reflects the fact of where your treasure is now.
Culture
The Jewish culture generally operated with the mindset that material blessing was a sign of spiritual right relationship. God promised material blessing to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and to the Hebrews if they followed Him and made Him their God. Christ’s apparent countering of this by saying sell this sign of blessing would have had some sort of shock value.
History
Historically wages were earned with hard labor. There were not normal cases of overnight millionaires (figuratively speaking) and an inheritance was a valuable thing to receive because it may allow you to break free of debt, help establish a stronger business through investment capital, or could be used in various trading businesses to increase overall wealth. Many households had very simple possessions and were not lavish. Tax collectors like Matthew would have come into the house and evaluated the apparent wealth based on the possessions and then demanded a payment for Rome.
5 W’s and an H
Who: Christ is speaking to the disciples about God’s character
What: earthly possessions, heavenly possessions, faith
When: every day life
Where: wherever the disciple is
Why: because the disciple was concerned over the inheritence
How: God’s provisions
Interpretation
The interpretation is a summary or re-statement of the passage or verses that attempts to collect the observations into a coherent statement.
My close disciples and followers, you should have no fear over earthly provisions because the Father in heaven will give you the food and clothing and shelter that you need as He brings about the fulfillment of the kingdom. Take the worldly things that are of value and sell them in faith because those things rust, fade, and lose value. Instead look forward to the treasures that are in heaven by walking in an abiding relationship with the Father because where you treasure is, and that should be in heaven, there your heart is.
Application
Application looks at the passage at hand and looks for a subjective principle, a fact that can be relied upon, a truth that can be enacted, or an appropriation. There are two kinds of applications: direct and indirect. You will need to determine if there is a direct application for you by looking at the intended audience of the interpretation! If you are not the intended audience (and in this passage you are not) then there may be an indirect application of principles or truths to rely on. I’ll list a few applications based on the interpretation and you can meditate on this as well and bring up other suggestions.
Direct application
- The disciples could rely on the Father for provision
- The disciples could abide in the Father (see John 15) and that intimacy would build up or store treasures in heaven that would be rust free
- The disciple who had asked the question about his inheritance could relax about equal distribution because the earthly blessing would eventually lose value even if it had short term value
Indirect Application or Principles
- The believer can rely on God for provision
- This passage confirms our need to be heavenly minded just like Paul instructs the believers in Colossians 3:1-3
- We need to rely on the Lord for our value and not on our stuff
Conclusion
You can see that while these two lists are not exhaustive, the New Testament saint, because he is not the specific recipient of the instructions from Christ has nothing to fear about not fulfilling this passage’s imperative commands. We can look at other New Testament passages such as Acts 2:44-45, Romans 12:13, Philippians 4:18-19 and evaluate God’s commands regarding provisions in the body of Christ. There are plenty of opportunities to serve the Lord as we abide in Christ and walk by the Spirit, but we don’t need to worry about commands for Old Testament Saints (and even though the gospels are under the New Testament moniker, they are not directed towards New Testament Saints).
By carefully applying hermeneutics and by making sure that you understand the context of the passage you’re studying you can walk in confidence that you are under grace, you can walk confidently in your position in Christ, and you can boldly assert your Christian liberty. This doesn’t liberate you from righteousness empowered by the Holy Spirit (see: Romans 6), but it liberates you to be motivated by grace, which is the only true motivation in the life of the believer.
Oh, and I do lift up before our Lord the provision of the autistic son of the author of that post. We come before you Lord in confidence that you have brought us all together as believers to seek out opportunities to server one another. We pray (even via the Internet) for your provision for the autistic child, Your peace in the life of the parents, and we pray for the doctrine of agency to be manifest in the lives of your flock. Amen.
Posted by Randy Peterman on 10/1/2008
This morning ladylighthouse asked on Twitter:
Anyone have any positives or negatives regarding spiritual gifts tests???
I gave a reply that pointed out that First Corinthians 12:11 indicates that the Holy Spirit gives the gifts and its not about you now and forever, but about Him and His timing. This got me thinking about how my theology has drifted from “Spiritual Gift” oriented theology to “Spirit Directed” theology. One looks for the Holy Spirit to work in my life in one particular area, the other says, “My life is yours: take it and run.” One is focused on one aspect of the relationship that the believer has with Christ and the other is focused on the entire life of growth that comes from moment-by-moment relationship with God.
There are a few key passages that lead me to think that Paul’s references to Spiritual Gifts were given for specific knowledge on a specific topic, but were not for us to take as the primary focus of the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives. The passages include Galatians 5:22-23 (the Fruits of the Spirit), 2nd Corinthians 3:18, Romans 12:1-16, and Colossians 3:1-3. This list is hardly exhaustive, but the verses mentioned each have an element of relationship that is critical for us to take into account in the context of Spiritual Gifts. In other words, we don’t discount the spiritual gifts, but we don’t focus on them alone.
Galatians 5:22-23
Galatians 5:22-23 is often referred to as the fruits of the Spirit passage. Interestingly this is not exhaustive. It is a brief summary of some basic characteristics that should reflect the life of Christ in you, but it is not an entire list. God’s character is infinitely good and is reflected in many ways, as His life pours out of you, you should be blown away by the extremely long list that is proven beyond this list. The Holy Spirit, who is guiding the believer in a moment by moment walk empowers the believer unto righteousness. The only way Ephesians 2:10 can be fulfilled is if we are abiding in the Holy Spirit’s direction and are living out the many fruits of the Spirit. This relationship aspect to righteousness is exactly why we can defeat sin in our daily lives.
II Corinthians 3:18
This passage has had my attention for a little over a year now I think. It has been quite refreshing to study this passage and each time see an element of Christ and His work that I somehow missed before. The nature of the mirror is to reflect Christ, and we’re looking at what we’re becoming. Not at what we are, but what we’re becoming. The mirror shows us who we are in Christ. The beholding of the Lord is part of our spiritual growth and the Holy Spirit moves in us to cause that growth. The growth comes from what is already true of us in Christ being shown to us. We grow because we reckon those things true (See all of Romans 6 for the concept of reckoning and its impact on our daily life).
Romans 12:1-16
By the mercies of God we do all of Romans 12. As a logical result of His mercy we respond to Him by listening to the direction of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit causes us to do a tremendously long list of things that are not a Law, but instead reflective of a lifestyle. The Holy Spirit moves in the life of the believer and causes a radical response that includes gifts (vs 6-8), but is very practical for a daily walk that meets the needs of 1) our vertical relationship with the Lord, 2) our horizontal relationship with other believers and 3) our relationship with the world. As someone in my Tuesday night Bible Study put it: its like a layered snowball that builds on the previous layer.
Colossians 3:1-3
The Holy Spirit reminds us of Christ and the Father (John 16:13-14). Colossians 3 reminds us of our heavenly position. We are now seated in the heavenlies with Christ. We are now to be setting our mind on things above where our life is. The Holy Spirit, as we walk in relationship with Him, will be drawing our attention to our heavenly association and position. Our condition, the situation in which we live, is to be viewed from a heavenly seat where we’re hidden with Christ. We don’t see the trial as a meaningless something, but instead as an instrument the Lord is graciously using for our growth.
Conclusion
If we think about the Holy Spirit only working in us through a gift, we come up short. If we think that we’re only going to be used in a finite manner instead of in a daily walk, we’ll be disappointed by our walk. If, however, we embrace the concept of moment by moment relationship, the idea that the Lord uses the Holy Spirit in our life to bring about our sanctification, and we realize that we’re right now in the heavenly places and that the Holy Spirit draws us to that realization: we’re going to be more than conquerors. We’re going to be more than just people who have a spiritual gift, we’re going to be people who change the lives of those around us. I live that a lot, not because of me, but because of Him in my life: powerfully.
Posted by Randy Peterman on 8/19/2007
It is true that I think that 10% is an awfully small amount of money to do the Lord’s work. On the scale from 0% to 100% you’ll find me racing with a passion to the 100% side of the scale. You see I don’t think that ten percent is enough because of a desire to see people give more to God’s work, but instead I view that all of what the Lord has in your life is His. My friend and brother in Christ, Tony, once called me and told me that, “Someone ran into God’s car.” I chuckled because it was a great way for him to express his understanding that the car, which has monetary value, is God’s. The house that he and his bride are raising their three children in is God’s. Even the three children are God’s. There is no question on his mind that all things are God’s.
This brings us to the question of whether the tithe should be grasped as a New Testament concept. I’ll grant other Christians hold to a reformed view of theology which says that the church is the Old Testament’s Israel brought into a new covenant and therefore the things which aren’t done away with in the New Covenant are still valid for New Testament saints. I disagree with this view as a dispensationalist and I don’t want that to be confused so I’m going to just state it plainly: None of the Old Testament Law is for the New Testament believer. Lets take a look at why the tithe is also not acceptable in the eyes of the New Testament authors.
Pre-New Testament Passages and Thoughts to Consider
Adam never paid a tithe. Not one bit of what Adam had went to a tithe. Adam’s relationship with God was personal and there were no priests to go between he and the Lord. The sacrifices portrayed in the early chapters of Genesis show a relationship with God that clarify a respect for God’s ownership of all things that man worked for (as a result of the fall). By the time of the flood and God’s provision of Noah God still owned everything and even though it was Noah and the other seven on the boat as well as many, many animals they were all God’s. God had brought them all to the boat and when they got off of the boat it was at God’s direction. Noah sacrificed animals to God in recognition of God’s protection and provision for all that God owned. No tithe there. Surely Abraham must have tithed. Nope. There was no tithe in Abraham’s time, just sacrifices of praise and obedience. In fact Abraham had no written Law to observe, he merely had his conscience! There was no tenth offering, he knew God had provided all that he owned.
When the tithe was finally instituted it was for the nation of Israel it was given as a percentage to support the Levites and for the fatherless & the widow. Go ahead and read Deuteronomy 14:22-29. There you will see that the tithe was:
- Ten percent of their yearly gain
- For the nation of Israel (and not surrounding nations) which was initially a theocracy
- It was a gift of agricultural things and livestock. Other material possessions were not involved.
- It is not the same as first fruits (see: Exodus 23:19, Leviticus 19:23-25)
- The tithe was to be administered by the people and not the priests.
I think that its clear by now that the often cited tithe is not what we often call an offering or tithe by New Testament practices. With that in mind, lets look at what the New Testament shows us.
New Testament Giving Principles
The book of Acts starts out the church age with an amazing display of generosity between believers in acts 2:42-47 being the slightly greater context. Specifically verse 45 says that they began selling things to provide for one another’s needs. That’s not a ten percent offering. Its a whatever percent provision of grace. The recognition that all things were God’s things helped the believers get past any sense of possession that we often face as New Testament saints. From that point forward you’ll find other instances of giving as needed including Romans 12:13 further encouraging the believer to give as other saints have need and to be hospitable (hospitality will need to be a post of its own).
Philippians 4:18-19 covers the use of sacrifice in a New Testament metaphor, but it is merely a reference to the gifts of the New Testament saints being sent to the apostle Paul. It is not encouraging a literal sacrifice of animals or grains as previously used in Old Testament times. Instead verse 19 goes on to outline the fact that God has used the Philippian saints to provide for Paul’s needs. If we look for the application from this passage we see that
- God has given Paul a need
- God has the abundance and ability to fulfill that need
- God has blessed the Philippians with their resources
- God has given the Philippians a desire to give to Paul’s ministry
- God is glorified by the Philippians’ generocity
- God is glorified by Paul for His work through the Philippians
None of those things involves a set ten percent or a monetary percentage, but instead comes from the heart of an abiding believer. One who is resting in his or her relationship with Christ in the heavenlies (Col. 3:1-3). Because the saint is aware of the need the saint seeks out a way to fulfill it. This leads me to believe that the church is to focus more on getting to know one another than they are to focus on financial things!
One scenario that I read about just today discussed tithing in the context of debt. Since the debt is a prior obligation it should be noted that the believer should first pay the debt and with whatever is left over seek the Lord’s direction for the money to be given. Debt should be avoided in the life of the believer so that this problem goes away (while this is something I know I am currently attempting to get out of debt. I have walked in the flesh, too, and understand the need to abide in my stewardship of God’s money. Lesson learned). Giving during debt isn’t a required Law, but instead we should see that we have relationships within the body where we can see needs, both financial and physical, and give to those needs rather than believers being put into debt due to lack of resources. In this particular case I would recommend the believer give only what the Lord has provided in excess beyond the needs of paying creditors. Right now I am currently giving less than I would like, but instead of feeling guilt I rejoice that the Lord has given what He has and I look forward to the day when I can give even more to various needs in the body of Christ.
Conclusion
In conclusion the Tithe is an outdated Law that has been done away with and instead the New Testament saint is to focus on relationship and fellowship and looking for ways that the Lord may use them to provide for the needs of others. There is nothing in the New Testament that calls us to support a ten percent giving command, but likewise nothing says not to do it. Giving falls under Christian liberty (See Romans 14 and 15) where we are to give what our conscience feels is right. If that is fifteen, ten or one percent for you, then give what the Lord has put on your heart.
Whatever percentage you give, let it be with a heart of gratitude and thanks! May you give graciously because God graciously gave His mercy and love to you. Don’t tithe out of compliance with the Law, but instead walk in His grace and give as He provides.
Posted by Randy Peterman on 6/28/2007
Hebrews 12:18-24 is a powerful passage describing the contrast of the Old Testament Law with the New Testament position that the saint has. The author of Hebrews writes with great brilliance as He points out the opposite nature of the Israelite at Mount Sinai and their relationship to the Almighty God and the saint’s relationship with the Almighty God in the New Testament. One involves trembling, a sense of conviction and separation and the other a comfort and certainty.
Tonight at Bible study we looked at this passage and I was so impressed by the visual descriptions. The graphical theology in this text is not unheard of in Hebrews, the author uses descriptive language to instill rich images in the mind of the reader, but this particular passage shows the weight of the Law in contrast to the waiting on the Lord. When you read this passage meditate on God’s unfathomable presentation of who He is in both places yet how God’s work through Christ changes who we are in the heavenly place. This is awesome. We are sanctified by the blood that allows us to be present with the judge of all humanity.
Posted by Randy Peterman on 10/10/2006
The series of First and Second Peter is going on at church. Its only on its second week but the content in the introduction alone is worth checking out. Listen to the MP3’s, or subscribe to the podcast, here.