Posted by Randy Peterman on 5/31/2009
This year I’ve really gotten into watching baseball. I think its in part because of my brother-in-law Kurt’s excitement for sports and my grandpa’s love for baseball. Baseball is a pastime in this country and I am a fan. I live near the Colorado Rockies’ stadium in Denver (20 minutes or so away) and I keep track of their activities with some regularity. This last Friday their head coach, Clint Hurdles, was released from his position and was replaced by their bench coach as the interim coach. This change is one I don’t agree with as a fan, but they didn’t ask me. Here’s where the theology comes in: the first basement Todd Helton, a believer, was interviewed and had this to say:
“We should be held just as accountable as anybody. Obviously, he takes the sword for us. He didn’t have any bad at-bats, he didn’t throw any bad pitches. He’s the same manager he was two years ago [editor: when the Rockies went to the World Series]. We realize that. We realize that ultimately we are the reason he got fired because we played bad baseball. We definitely feel responsible.”
There are times when one person takes the fall for a group. Christ, being the only acceptable sacrifice for the sins of mankind made the sacrifice. We all deserved the penalty for our not ‘playing well’ – there is no minor leagues for real life where you get to figure out this being a human thing and then bring it to the big game. Instead you get to screw up in front of everyone, blow it miserably in front of anyone, and ultimately stand before God as having failed to live up to His glory (Romans 3:23) – accept if Christ took your place in judgment on the cross. Then you were identified with His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection, ascension and seating. The Rockies players know that they were saved from being dropped into the minor leagues because of their coaches sacrifice.
We know that without the sacrifice of Christ we would have nothing to stand before God with that would give us any confidence. Instead of the worry of judgment for punishment, we look forward to a judgment for rewards. One where heaven will become a place for a bride and the bride groom. It will be a perfect game, one with no outs, endless innings, and no injuries. Oh, and I think that there will be no stealing of bases ;)
Posted by Randy Peterman on 12/22/2008
Recently at Bible Study I had the opportunity to teach through Ephesians 4:1-3. The verse reads, “Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” in the King James version. What struck me about this was that I had failed to endeavor keeping the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace on so many occasions that I was hardly qualified to speak on the topic from experience. Instead I would have to humbly teach with examples of past failure: my life being an example of what not to do. Without going into every failure, which could take far more time and introduce too much confusion, I abandoned unity because I had learned that doctrine divides and that good doctrine was to be prized above all and at the cost of anything. While I’m still passionate about doctrine, the Lord has humbled me with the doctrine of Grace and its application in my own life.
You see Paul doesn’t start chapter 4 on its own, instead he starts it after a prayer that outline believers as family. And before that he outlines who the individual is in Christ. Nothing about the context of Ephesians allows for my radical and aggressive departures from various churches due to doctrinal differences. Paul reminds the believer in 4:1 that he should be walking in a manner worthy of the calling to which he was called. What calling is that? The life of Christ being lived out through moment-by-moment relationship. Each believer is called to this relationship with God first and foremost. That way the life of Christ can be manifest in a daily walk.
Paul, not wanting to stop with the profundity that is a walk that is worthy of our calling, hits the believers up with an immense request in verse 2, “With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;” BAM! Its as if Paul was shooting for the very foundation of the fleshly nature and goes in for the kill: no more pride. Pride is what hits me and causes me to want to be right and dogmatic about things. I have dear friends who have endured this pride and still love me (and my family) despite this intensity. My parents told me growing up that I should consider being a lawyer because I loved to argue. Over time my love for arguing has disappeared. I’ve seen the arguments tear people down, destroy relationships and ruin church bodies. It is not that the doctrine was not important, it was, but that the way that things were discussed rapidly escalated to the point of injured soldiers who were wounded from once friendly fire.
Paul writes that the believers should be lowly or humble, meek or gentle. With patience the believers should forebear or tolerate with love. Love! I hate the term tolerance because it is so often used outside of the context of love. We tolerate neighbors with house colors and decorations we don’t care for, but we don’t often love them. Worse is that in the church we could ignore love and simply tolerate brothers and sisters whom we should know intimately enough that we could pray for them without ceasing (I Thes. 5:17), and as the Lord does things in the life of the body we never stop rejoicing (I Thes.5:16). What wound can be caused between friends when they’re gentle and humble with one another? What blow struck with the slowness of patience can be described as cutting and haughty?
It is with this attitude of moment-by-moment relationship, walking in a manner worthy of our calling, being humble, gentle, patient and tolerating in love that we are called to then endeavor or preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. If I were to say, “Hey brother (under the Father Eph.3:14-15), I have been walking with the Lord and meditating on His word and contemplating this doctrine for a while (in patience), and I think that we don’t see eye-to-eye and I would love to spend some time going over God’s word with you to see what He says about it so that we can preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace,” then you would say that I have come with a noble and yet humble attitude. I didn’t come with a sledgehammer, but instead with graciousness and love.
Doctrine is critical. It is the clear delineation of what should be God’s revealed truth. But doctrine does not give us the right to depart or destroy others in the body at the onset of a disagreement. Yes, there are biblical grounds for separation. Yes, there are times when believers should part ways because one or more of the parties involved are not behaving in a manner worthy of the calling, but we don’t jump to that conclusion with haste. We rest in Christ, we seek to preserve the unity.
The Greek for the word preserve or keep there implies a guarding or maintaining of something that is whole, to prevent the decay of that thing. Unity is fragile, but in Christ it is not only positionally existent, but very easily possible for Him to preserve. The Holy Spirit has preserved His word for thousands of years and there is not much of a chance that you or I could ruin that. We’re called to a life that is rich and abundant together. Consider that togetherness the next time you start to feel your blood pressure rise. Consider tolerance in love. Consider the opportunity you may have one day in the future where your failures could be offset by the illustration of God’s work in your life to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
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 9/22/2006
One of the common points of division in the body of Christ, from my own experience, has been theological extrapolation. Calvinists don’t get along with Arminians because of the extrapolation from what is written in the Bible. Don’t get me wrong, logic is important, but it isn’t the be-all, end-all of hermeneutics. You see, if you have only some of the facts, content, culture, history, language understanding and you start to form doctrines you can come up with some errant ideas because you have started to fill in the ‘blanks’ [even if they weren't blank, but you didn't study] with something else that you have brought about by deduction. When you have some ideas that work for you, it is probably a great idea to pursue discussions with mature believers and seek out wisdom. Homogeny isn’t always the most important thing (truth is!), but others who have studied a topic may be able to point you towards some verses that will help you in your studies and find a fuller understanding of what the scriptures say on a subject. Homogeny can also be dangerous because a whole group has agreed on something but not looked into it. That being said, discussion with other believers is critical.
When you study God’s word there is a term for inserting your own meanings into a text, its called eisegesis (pronounced like ice o’ Jesus, which is probably what Martha was getting when she complained about Mary listening). It is important to know what the scriptures say and to apply consistent hermeneutics for this very reason. If you look at a text and are forcing your own modern context and ideas on the text, you’re not learning from God’s word, you’re changing it. That’s not extrapolation, but its not useful time with the Bible.
Posted by Randy Peterman on 2/3/2006
In Colossians 1:12-14 Paul writes of our position being transfered from a domain of darkness to a domain of light:
giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light. For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
(Colossians 1:12-14)
This passage is in the middle of a recording of a prayer that Paul regularly prays for (at the very least) the church in Collosae [starting in verse 9]. Paul has already prayed for their spiritual growth and for their walk to be maturing, but then he gives thanks to God for a list of important things: God’s qualification of us to be sons (and daughters) that we might be inheriters of God’s Holiness. Paul continues to be thankful for our having been transferred from the domain of sin, the flesh and ultimately being children of Satan to being in the domain of Christ (how just happens to be our redeemer). Paul’s last bit of thankfulness is tied to our redemption in that we can be thankful for the forgiveness of sins.
In short I think there are several applications of this passage, but one that really stands out is that due to God’s work we are set aside into His Holiness so no matter what we do, we have God’s holiness that surrounds us. Since we have that holiness, since we have our sins forgiven we need to walk in that holiness, but if we somehow fail to walk in that then we need to not dwell in guilt, shame and self flagilation, and instead we need to return to our focus on God and His Holiness. We are transfered and the legal documents required of us to be heirs is done, signed, sealed and official. You can’t undo your salvation and God’s grace is completely sufficient. He’s not looking at your forgiven sins, why would you?