Observations as I read the Bible
Submitted by lukeprog on Fri, 08/26/2005 - 11:15
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- Matthew 19:3-11: Some Pharisees [asked Jesus], "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any... reason [as with Moses' law]?" [Jesus replied], "what God has joined together, let man not separate... anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery." The disciples said to him, "If this is the situation... it is better not to marry." I chuckle that the discples would immediately balk at the expectation that marriage is so thorough a commitment, as that is how Christians normally understand it today. (Of course, the divorce rate is as high for Christians as for non-Christians.) Boy, men sure had it good back then... and women had it pretty bad.
- Matthew 15:25-28: The woman [with a demon-possessed daughter] knelt before [Jesus]. "Lord, help me!" she said. He replied, "It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs." "Yes, Lord," she said, "but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table." Then Jesus answered, "WWoman, you have great faith! Your request is granted." And her daughter was healed from that very hour. The line about children's bread and dogs is idiomatic. Jesus was saying that his gospel was meant first for Jews. The Canaanite woman understood and was willing to settle for "crumbs," and Jesus rewarded her faith. The biggest surprise to me is that Jesus at first rejected the woman - with seemingly harsh language! - because she was a gentile, until she reasoned with him and got him to change his mind.
- Matthew 13:58: And [Jesus] did not do many miracles [in Nazareth] because of their lack of faith. There are many verses that indicate this may still be how God acts. I need more faith, so God can hook me up with some sweet-action miracles!
- Matthew 13:12: [Jesus said], "Whoever has will be given more... whoever does not have, even whe he has will be taken from him." This is a sad truth of life, but why must it be this way, and how does it relate to what Jesus was talking about in this passage?
- Hebrews 1:2-3: ...[Jesus], whom he appointed heir of all things... After [Jesus] had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. I hadn't realized that Jesus hasn't always held his exalted his position; even God's Son had to prove his love and pass through fire to be glorified.
- Matthew 12:9-13: ...[Jesus] went into their synagogue, and a man wit ha shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, [the Pharisees] asked him, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?" He said to them, "If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath,will you not take hold of it and life it out? How much more valuable is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath." This is the kind of verse that gets me thinking the Ten Commandments are about love, not rules.
- Matthew 10:34: [Jesus said] "...I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." See below.
- Matthew 10:14: [Jesus said to his disciples, while sending them out for ministry] "If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town." Jesus is basically telling them to spit in the faces of those who do not welcome His disciples and listen to their teaching, which doesn't quite fit the picture of Jesus portrayed in icons, Christian kids' cartoons, or famous paintings. Apparently, we like to think of Jesus, the "ultimate man", as a wholly nice person. Today's men of the Western world - and this extends beyond the Christian community - are told that their greatest aspiration is to be nice. Is it any wonder that boys rarely become men when they are castrated this way? (This is my Wild at Heart soap box tangent.)
- Matthew 10:9-10: [Jesus said to his disciples, while sending them out for ministry] "Do not take along any gold or silver or copper in your belts; take no bag for the journey, or extra tunic, or sandals or a staff..." Today's missionaries are copiously prepared and expensively supplied. We have no faith that God will provide if we are in His service.
- Matthew 8:31-32: The demons begged Jesus, "If you drive us out, send us in the herd of pigs." He said to them, "Go!" So they came out and went into the pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and died in the water. How odd. Demons request a favor, and Jesus obliges, at the expense of the poor pig-owner, when before He has banished demons without sending them into someone or something else.
- Matthew 8:22: But Jesus told him, "Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead." Oh, good. I never liked going to funerals anyway.
- Matthew 7:21-23: [Jesus said] "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'" My "faith by grace alone" upbringing skipped over or stretch-interpreted verses like these. What am I to make of this? Maybe I'm screwed after all.
- Matthew 7:7: [Jesus said] "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." This is great advice for living in general, along with 6:27, 6:34, and of course a multitude of other verses. It can be applied to Christian living, secular life, business... anything.
- Matthew 6:7: [Jesus said] "And when you pray, do not keep babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him." This precedes "The Lord's Prayer," which is very concise and simple. I often feel that the more time I spend praying, the more "good" I am doing, for myself and others. So I end up having to repeat myself alot. But here God says not to "keep on babbling" because He knows what you need. This is one of those delightful (re)discoveries that actually make Christian living easier and more sensible - unlike "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect", for example.
- Matthew 5:48: [Jesus said] "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." Uh.... yeah. That's a toughie.
- Matthew 5:34-37: [Jesus said] "Do not swear [an oath] at all... Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes' and your 'No,' 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one." That last statement seems a little harsh. It's hard to picture Jesus getting his undies in a bundle over swearing oaths. Yet another principle I love to overlook.
- Matthew 5:31: [Jesus said] "...anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, causes her to become an adulteress..." Yet another teaching of Jesus modern Christians love to overlook.
- Matthew 5:20: [Jesus said] "For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven." Jesus is a complicated guy. The famous John 3:16 and other verses make salvation sound free to anyone willing to accept the gift, and this makes it sound nearly impossible to attain. Furthermore, it calls the Pharisees righteous, and elsewhere Jesus berates them as not righteous at all, but only appearing righteous.
- Matthew 5:5: [Jesus said] "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth." This verse has always bothered me. I have never seen the meek inherit the earth, or "win" against the dominant, or anything. And if this is another "heavenly reward" thing, then it doesn't motivate me to be meek. If I make it to heaven, that'll be perfect. I don't care if I have any icing on the cake up there. I guess I'm supposed to do and be all these things because I love God, anyway. I guess I don't love Him that much, not yet anyway.
- Matthew 3:11: [John the Baptist said] "I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire." I guess God gave John quite a revelation! Here John is speaking of the Holy Spirit before anybody has ever heard of Him, and before Jesus has begun his ministry. That must have made no sense to anybody listening.
Author Comments:
Newest at the top. Quotes from the NIV.
With reference to your comments on Matthew 3:11, surely The Baptist's words would have made very common sense in light of the long-standing prophecy of a coming Messiah.
This is shaping up to be a fascinating list and I hope you will see it through. The title is misleading, however, since you have started at the New Testament rather than at Genesis.
Which prophecies of the Messiah mentioned the Holy Spirit in addition to Christ?
Hey, now, I didn't say "...as I read the whole Bible" or "as I read the Bible from the beginning." Since the Bible is a collection of books, it makes more sense that I start wherever I want than it would with other books, no?
I'm not competent to answer the prophecies question. But we seem to be left with only The Baptist's references to the Holy Spirit being likely to be puzzling - and the rest not puzzling.
That's true, it was presumptive of me to suggest that you read The Book from start to finish.
Yes, the Holy Spirit bit was the part that caught my eye.
I thought Bertie would have something for you but since he didn't, here's my two cents one last time.
I guess we agree that God is holy and that God is the Lord and that the Spirit of the Lord is holy? Can we also agree that the Spirit of the Lord is just another way of saying the Holy Spirit? If we can, just one reference to the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament and one that is also a prophesy of the Messiah starts in Isaiah 11:2, "The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him - ."
The painting 'The Peaceable Kingdom' by Edward Hicks is a good illustration of some of the verses that follow.
all i have to say is wait until you get to john... then the illogical comes flowing in.
Matthew 5:20 - relate what Jesus said to this... "unless your patriotism surpasses that of Bill the anarchist who is trying to overthrow the country, you can't go to the White House." This statement isn't exactly calling Bill a patriot.
Matthew 5:5 - the problem people have with this is that they associate meek with only one of its meanings - spineless.
An obsolete meaning of the word, in use during the days of the KJV translation, is gentle and kind.
A person can be a leader with physical and mental and spiritual strength... someone not inclined to let evil run rampant... yet still be gentle and kind in his dealings with people. Remember that Jesus who was/is gentle and kind, drove out the moneychangers from the Temple. He didn't cower in a corner.
5:20: Yes, I wondered if it was this kind of statement. It's too bad we have no record of Jesus' tone, only his words. "Unless your skill surpasses the careful craftsmanship of Uwe Boll, I will not like your movie."
5:5: Honestly, I haven't seen gentle and kind people "get ahead" too often, either. Nice guys do finish last, at least in "inheriting the earth." The people who own the world got there by lying, stealing, and subjugating. This could even be true "by definition": If you've got more than $10 million (let alone $10 billion), and you are a truly kind and gentle person, how could you not live moderately and use most of your money to help the millions of starving, rotting, persecuted, and dying every day?
I can't find his name now, but one of the people involved with building the first Internet (not Al Gore) lives in England in a small house. When America Online (or another ISP) goes down, they pick him up in a private jet, take him stateside, have him fix their problem, and pay him a couple million dollars (they're losing hundreds/thousands of customers an hour). He gives almost all of it to charity, then goes back to living in his little house. He's one of my heroes, but people like him are pretty damn rare.
5:5 - everything you say is true... for the time being anyway. It's at the end of this age, at Christ's second coming, that the good guys win and receive the inheritance of the earth.
It's absolutely true that your righteousness must exceed that of the pharisees in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. But we know immediately that it's impossible. It's a rhetorical statement. He didn't mean for us to try to be more righteous than the Pharisees. He meant for us to immediately realize that we cannot please God in ourselves; we need someone to do it for us. The good news is that Messiah has done it. He is the embodiment of the Law. He obeyed it perfectly while he was here on earth. He is the fulfillment of the Law in himself. Everything Moses wrote about points to Messiah. Messiah is the Passover Lamb who is sacrificed for us. By his death, he makes substitutionary atonement for the sins of mankind, just as the Passover lamb substituted for the families of Israel who, in obedience, painted the doorposts and lintels with its blood.
When we recognize Messiah as having been the perfect Lamb of God, sacrificed for the sins of all mankind, he finishes the work of the law. He imputes his righteousness to those who believe. Our faith is how we accept this offering on our behalf. Then we are free to bless God with our obedience, because we are no longer doing it to save ourselves but to glorify him.
The Law, that is, the Ten Commandments, is not meant to save us, because those of us who try to be righteous according to the law, if judged according to the law, would fall short and be condemned (Romans 10:5). The Law was given to us as a guide, so that through it we might be aware of our sinfulness and God's holiness (Romans 3:20).
See also:
Romans 10
Gal 2:21, 3:21
Phil 3:9
Matthew 6:7 - the babbling refers to mindlessly repeating a prayer. God wants to hear from you in your own words free of phony pomp and circumstance... the natural talk of a son to his father done in an honest, sincere manner. If in your prayers you repeat yourself for emphasis... well, that happens in the course of a normal conversation and it isn't babbling.
Matthew 7:21-23 - it's a question of attitude. It's no secret some people spout Godly lingo to get money. From a TV evangelist, to a local minister, to a guy on the street holding out a can, some might talk about God until they are blue in the face and the miracle of conversion might even take place in some of their listeners but everything they do is for their own gain.
For every person saying "Lord, Lord" with sincerity, there is someone saying "Lord, Lord" because... he's putting on a show for the preacher's daughter he's attracted to, he likes the free meals at the end of service, he... the list goes on and on.
Re: Matthew 10:14 Couldn't "shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town" be a metaphor more similar to "wash your hands of them" rather than "telling them to spit in the faces of those who do not welcome His disciples and listen to their teaching." Matthew also says to let your peace be upon a worthy house and if it is not worthy "let your peace return to you." That sounds pretty nice to me.
As for Matthew 10:34, it goes on to say that Jesus has come to set daughter against mother, son against father, in-laws against each other. "And a man's foes shall be they of his own household." Does this mean that an uncastrated man should instigate familial swordplay? I realize that you don't take The Bible 100% literally and you (evidently) don't interpret it 100% metaphorically. This leads me to ask: How do you decide when to interpret literally or metaphorically? (Or both? Or some other way?)
I wish I knew Greek language and culture better, then I would know for sure what "shake the dust off your feet" means. But the passage does continue with "I tell you the truth, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town." That's pretty harsh and definitely not "nice."
I don't understand how you're relating my aside about castrated males of America to the prophecy Jesus quoted about familial fragmentation over Christ.
There's absolutely not formula for when I choose to interpret the Bible literally or metaphorically. It's quite likely my interpretation is wrong at least 50% of the time. But even though I'm doing this Bible observations journal, I don't actually depend on the words of the Bible as much as fundamentalist Christians. I live moreso by my own conversations with God and what he impresses upon my heart. Sometimes God uses the Bible to talk to me, though. It works best when He causes a verse to jump out at me than when I choose a passage and try to extract whatever I can from it.
I don't know if the Sodom and Gomorrah reference is all that bad. The evil twin cities had already been assaulted a lot and paid the price for their sins. Come judgement day I think that sinners would be punished more severely than they ever could be in the physical world.
I probably don't fully understand your castration reference. But it seems to me that you were saying that Jesus' words should be taken (more) literally and not interpreted as unconditional love and the words of a "wholly nice person."
To believe in The Bible (or to lead a life informed by The Bible) while being able to decide how/when to interpret biblical passages seems to me to be moral relativism. Which surprises me.
God does give unconditional love to all, but it's a "tough" love. When I think of nice, I think of polite, a perpetually smiling facade, a doormat. A nice Jesus would tell his discples to beg pardon for intruding on those who rejected them. The nice Jesus would embrace children like he's running for office. He doesn't get angry or upset or jealous. That's the Jesus of icons, paintings, and children's cartoons. But that's not who Jesus was, and that's not who Christians should aspire to be (men or women).
I think God has established moral absolutes, but figuring out what they are is often tricky. This is what it means to look through the glass darkly. If I feel I know God's truth about something, I do believe it is always true and doesn't change with time or place or person. I don't interpret the Bible to speak to morals I "like", but what I really think God wants from us (this often requires more research than I go into here). If I interpreted the Bible however I'd wanted, believe me, I'd decide immediately that premarital sex was a-okay (that one's for me) and that homosexuality is just a personal preference of no moral consequence (that one's for my friends).
Is Luke coming in to focus? He's sorry to be so fuzzy. Was he?
Re: your commentary on Matthew 10:14. This reminds me of the Stephen Sondheim musical, "Into the Woods," when the witch sings "You're not good, you're just nice." "Nice" should really only be a last resort when you know you should be good but can't. "Nice" is for kids and board rooms and generic art. And believe me, it's just as much of a problem for women, too.
Re: Matthew 8:31-32. But what would the pig farmer have done with the pigs? Made them into bacon. Bacon has harmful nitrates, even though it's one of the tastiest freakin' substances on the planet.
There we go. Jesus was keeping his people kosher.
Re: Matthew 12:9-13
Yeah, but the Ten Commandments don't talk about the exceptions, only the rules. If you have a loose interpretation of the Ten Commandments, seeing them as generalities meant to guide you towards moral behavior but not hard-and-fast rules, that might be a good system to live by. But IMHO, that's pretty different from "widespread obedience to the Ten Commandments."
I never meant to cause such misunderstanding that world change would be brought about by obeying the words of the Ten Commandments, or that the Ten Commandments consist of hard/fast rules and their exceptions, or any of that. I never cease to struggle with communication...
My religion professor was actually talking about this particular issue today when we were discussing, I believe, dharma (it's a religions of the East course, with a lot of comparison to our tradition/culture).
The idea is that the 10 commandments are not as dharma, an immutable, unchangable law that must be followed to be among the divine, they are 'laws' that serve man (not laws that we must serve). If that makes any sense; I can't remember exactly how he described it.
The basic idea is "work out your own salvation" [Philippians 2:12].
Like a screenwriting "law" that you should start out with a hook; you can write compellingly without the rule, but it usually works better that way. Not that I feel the same way about the Ten Commandments.
Philippians 2:12. The New Living Translation puts it as "you must be even more careful to put into action God's saving work in your lives". Were you implying that Philippians 2:12 states that Christians can dictate the terms of their own salvation?
I'm a fan of the Amplified Bible, which tends to give more context to the meaning of the words.
Philippians 2:12 (Amplified Bible):
Therefore, my dear ones, as you have always obeyed [my suggestions], so now, not only [with the enthusiasm you would show] in my presence but much more because I am absent, work out (cultivate, carry out to the goal, and fully complete) your own salvation with reverence and awe and trembling (self-distrust, with serious caution, tenderness of conscience, watchfulness against temptation, timidly shrinking from whatever might offend God and discredit the name of Christ).
Hey, that's kinda neat. So what do you think "work out your own salvation" means?
What are you looking for, man, the expanded-spanded version? :)
This Bible goes to 11.
As I read it, there are still multiple ways to interpret that verse. And I'm more interested in what hinterland believes than what a particular translator/paraphraser believes.
I think it means "demonstrate your salvation", as in make it visible by good works, not that the good works themselves are your salvation.
Re. Matthew 5.5:
The meek are those who let God take care of the business of being God. They are fully aware of evil, and do not crumble at the sight of it. The meek are strong. They are strong in faith. They are strong in prayer. They wait for God. They entrust their well being to God. Yes, they work hard, but they wait for God to deal with their enemies. They wait for God to deal with His enemies. The meek go about doing good, and trusting God to be God.
Quoted from Pastor Joe Gillespie of Covenant Fellowship, Greenboro, NC
Re. Matthew 5, 34-37: This is Jesus' way of saying that if you say what you mean and mean what you say then there is no need for oaths. When you think about it, an oath emphasises something that is not really subject to emphasis. An oath says, "And I *really* mean it, I'm not lying this time" - which is something no honest person need say.