I John: Who Are “They”?

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 But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you…(2:27).

 The First Epistle of John vividly illustrates the key role that context commands as we seek to understand the text.  Those Christians to whom John wrote knew, first hand, that context.  For us, understanding requires a little homework.

Our first step, in the study of any of the epistles, should be to read the whole letter through.

Paul ends one letter, “I charge you before the Lord to have this epistle read to all the brethren.” This was the common practice in the church.

In days gone by, when we received a letter in the mail from family or friends, we read the whole thing. When we pick up our Bibles and turn to any epistle, we should first read the whole thing before we begin a piecemeal reading of it.

As we do that in 1 John, we come to the key clue, which clarifies the context, “They went out from us…”(2:19).

 Now, we need to seek some understanding of the spirit of those times.  Cerinthus, a contemporary of John at Ephesus, shows us the ideas that were in the air.  “Cerinthus, believed the spiritual Christ entered into a human (physical) Jesus at the time of his baptism (in the form of a dove) and left the human Jesus before the crucifixion. History reveals that Cerinthus lived in Ephesus toward the end of the first century, which was also where the aged apostle John lived. Irenaeus (AD 130–200) tells us that John specifically directed his Gospel against Cerinthus (e.g., John 1:14; 20:19–31).″
http://www.equip.org/PDF/JAJ210.pdf

The dualistic world view of that day [spirit=good/superior vs. matter=evil/inferior, i.e. matter is that which was created, e.g. flesh, body; thus “Creator” became an inferior deity. Marcion rejected the God of the OT] led to full blown Gnosticism in the following centuries with its docetic view of Jesus ( (dokeo—to seem). Jesus only ‘seemed’ to be a man.  “Docetists, claimed that Jesus had only the appearance of flesh, without substance or reality (like a phantom). (‘Docetism’ comes from a Greek word, dokeo, meaning ‘to seem’ or ‘to appear.’) Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross, they said, was not real, for the body was not real.” 

This ‘Christianized’ spirit of the times, which developed into a more formal Christian Gnosticism by the mid-second century, emphasized an intuitive, special knowledge (gnosis) of mysteries, which separated out the true believers and gave them true salvation.

 Thus, as we read John’s letter, note his emphasis, starting in the first two verses, on the original, apostolic teaching “from the beginning” which his fellow Christians have received. John stresses the physical reality, e.g. “…our hands have handled.”  This stands in contrast to the new claims and new ways of those who “went out” from them.

Note the key verses, which test the doctrine of this new teaching:

Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ?…(2:22).

By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, (4:2).

Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God,…(5:1).

 The ‘liars’ denial led to new ways.  Denial of the Incarnation, results in denial that “…the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin”(1:7). For those with this ‘new’ knowledge, sin is no longer of consequence.  This is merely a concern of the inferior, created order. So, as you read through John, note his repeated emphasis on sin.

   And as you read, underline all the times he uses “know” and “Jesus” to help you see his emphasis.  Then, see if you understand the opening verse  at the top of this post.–“ you do not need that anyone teach you…(2:27).

We will look at that in the next post (linked).

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Note: other articles in this series linked here: 1 John 4:9 I John 2: Teachers versus False Teaching I John 5:16, Sin Unto Death I John: “God Is Love” vis-a-vis Heresy Love One Another 1 John 4

Homosexuality, False Contexts, and Perverting Scripture

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LEVITICUS 18

6  “‘No one is to approach any close relative to have sexual relations. I am the Lord…..
22 You  shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.

Today, many Christians try to defend sodomy by attempting to place the condemnation of Scripture in a false context.  The prime example is Leviticus 18.  A pastor, from one of those denominations that endorses sodomy, explained to college students that the prohibition in Leviticus, chapter 18, was no different from the prohibition against eating pork or frog legs in Leviticus, chapter 11.
Of course, this is absurd. The clear divisions in Leviticus begin with, “And the Lord spoke…,” as in chapter 11 where the context is dietary laws and in chapter 18 which condemns sexual immorality: incest, adultery, and sodomy.
To be consistent with his argument, the pastor would have, also, had to defend these other sexual sins and child sacrifice (v.21).

The clear warning to God’s people at the beginning of chapter 18 is to NOT accept the sins of the nations around them.

The answer to God’s prohibitions against sin is not to defend sin but to acknowledge it and repent.  That is the call to all. We are all sinners. Christ died to deliver us from sin, not to enable us to make excuses for it.
The sad state of our society today is, to a large degree, due to the salt losing its savor. Another sin which is condemned in Leviticus is the failure to give faithful witness by remaining silent.
[See Ch. 4, Sin and Silence, in Love, Prayer, and Forgiveness: When Basics Become Heresies]

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[Be a Disciple=LEARN. Be Salt and Light: Speak Up. Thorough background on the texts of Scripture that prohibit sodomy, including Leviticus, by N.T. Prof. Robert Gagnon, here. ]

[A key resource for those Christians who care to be equipped for being light to those around them in our dying culture Outstanding review of two influential, heterodox books defending sodomite “marriage” Here ]

Luke 2: The Shepherds’ Faithfulness

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“Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you, who is Christ the Lord.  This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

 “Glory to God in the highest,
    and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”

 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

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 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.  When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.  But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.  The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

It will be wonderful to be glorifying and praising God in our gatherings during Christmas week. In this very familiar passage of Scripture, there is one line that seems unfamiliar, at least if we judge by our actions.

“…When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child…”

How many have heard us spreading that word during this Holy Season?

We have many wonderful works of art depicting the Angels and the Shepherds, and of the Shepherds at The Manger Scene. But how hard it is to find just one that depicts the shepherds sharing the Good News of  our Saviour’s birth.

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May we find ourselves in this picture.

May it be said of us, “… they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child…”

Thinking outside the box (link)

Improbable Advent: “Prepare Ye the Way…”

“The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined….  For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given…”–Isaiah 9

Before the bustle of the coming Holy Day consumes our time, now would be an opportune moment for us to pause and look ahead for opportunities to seize this time in order to share Christ with another.  How often are we given such a favorable time?

Most of our attention during this Season is focused inside the box, inside the four walls of our church and our home.  We rejoice in sharing Christmas through our church programs and presents; through worship and family gatherings.

Many churches follow the Advent calendar, seeking to prepare our hearts to celebrate Jesus’ birth, the Incarnation, the Light of the world. And we ought to remember His words to us: “You are the light of the world.”

What would this Christmas look like if every follower of Jesus Christ would prepare his heart to share this Light, this Story with one other person who is outside the box?…with someone who needs Good News?…with someone on the fringe of Christianity?…with some friend or co-worker or acquaintance who does not know Christ?

 

Such an event would be an amazing display of His lights in this world!

Such an Advent seems impossible, certainly improbable!  But it begins in each place with one person at a time.  Let it be you no matter what others may do.

Prepare your heart. Pray and seek God to guide you to that person.  Prepare to open the conversation.  Perhaps a Christmas book or video or cd can be the conversation starter.  Pray for God to guide you and to open the door.

Then, make a commitment to God to do it.  And ask fellow Christians to pray for you in this endeavor.  Trust in His strength and wisdom, not your own.  Leave the results in His hands.  All that any of us can do is to simply sow the Seed, give the Bread, shine the Light, and leave it in God’s hands as we remain open to whatever way He chooses to use us in this.

In this busy time of preparing for winter or for holidays or for travel and with so many heavy burdens, it would be easy for any of us to give up on such an idea.

But what if God had given up on us before that first Christmas?

{More Reflections on Christmas for disciples to  share, Here }

Oh Holy Night: The Peace of 1914

Having just passed what was originally Armistice Day, the celebration of the end of  The Great War, and before we are all caught up in the new Holiday season,  I will add this to the book display.

U.K. Christmas Truce 1914 editor, Alan Cleaver, says, “…what a superb book. It’s obviously been a labour of love and it’s a fantastic read.”

A reflection on the Christmas truce of The Great War

Reviews: [Note, RIGHT Click to open in New Tab}

“Christmas Reading” (Catholic Media Review)

“…a truly moving account of the Christmas Eve in 1914…a worthy accompaniment to Dickens’ A Christmas Carol in reminding us of the true meaning of Christmas in bringing Christ’s light into the world.”

“Highest recommendation.”

“Reader Review”

“Christian Book Notes”

Emerging Journal

Everyday Christian

Look for opportunities to Share The Christmas Story through this unique story, with someone ‘outside the box’ this coming Christmas Season.

Book Page Display  including Johnny Cash on the Truce with link to Amazon

Love, Prayer, and Forgiveness–Now, also, in ebook format

InTestaments of Love, Leon Morris asks, “How do we
harmonize the assurance that ‘God is love’ with the assertion
that ‘our God is a consuming fire’? Most of us never
think about such problems, and in the end our idea of love is
indistinguishable from that of the world around us.”1

Love, Prayer, and Forgiveness: When Basics  Become Heresies. 

“…an excellent piece…one that many Christians need to hear”–R.C. Sproul on the essay, “When Love Becomes Heresy.”

“The book (is)…an astringent corrective of misinterpreted love.” – Vernon Grounds, late Chancellor, Denver Seminary

[These posts, below, are excerpts from the book:  Exhortaton…do right;   Heart and Mind;  The Love Chapter; Of Ponds and Pitfalls;    Repentance and Forgiveness ]

Now available in ebook format through Barnes & Noble,  Kindle and Smashwords for 3 dollars.

Amazon, UK

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Smashwords

The print edition, here or Barnes&Noble ( Marketplace for UK)

“Sometimes really great books are written by unknown authors; this is one of them.”—The Determined Christian

Update, New Review here

 

House of the LORD–Not Made with Hands

I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go into the house of the LORD.”–Psalm 122:1

 

The Dwelling Place of God

Naos (temple) was a word for a ‘dwelling’ that became ‘the dwelling place of a god’; a temple. For God’s chosen people, that dwelling place was the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle and then, in the Temple.

Jesus showed his zeal for the Temple area, declaring, “Do not make my Father’s house a house of merchandise.” Yet, Jesus also told the Samaritan woman at the well that “the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father.” And he foretold the destruction of the Temple to his disciples (Mark 13:2).

In Acts, Stephen echoed words of Jesus, saying that “the Most High God does not dwell in temples made with hands” (7:48).  Paul, also, echoes those words, in Acts 17:24, before the citizens of Athens.

The wondrous development of the New Covenant is that, now, God’s people are God’s dwelling place.  As it is written, “Do you [ye, i.e. plural, the congregation of believers] not know that you [pl.] are the temple [naos] of God…? (1 Cor. 3:16).

“…you are God’s building” (1 Cor. 3:9).

“…you also, as living stones, are being built into a spiritual house” (1 Peter 2:5).

Thus, it makes us look backwards when we speak of going into the house of the LORD with reference to any building.  The Quakers understood this and refused to call their buildings ‘churches.’ They understood that a church was a gathering of believers, the congregation. So, they would call their building, where they worshiped, a “meeting house.” [And rather than “going to church” they spoke of going to “meeting.”]  Over the years, I have seen other churches with  signs like, “The church of _____meets here.”

Because of what Scripture teaches us, we are glad that we gather together as the house of the LORD.

God’s Assignment: Teach Your Children His Word

 

  

 

Thankful for those who have gone before us, we should daily remember “…the equipping of the saints [that’s all Christians] for the work of ministry….”–Ephesians 4:12

Deuteronomy 6, verse 4, begins, “Hear” which calls God’s people to ‘hear and do.’ This begins the Shema, which Jesus and his disciples would have recited morning and evening. We are called to hear and do the Great Commandment, to love the LORD our God with all our heart[link-most Am. X’ns miss breadth of meaning] and with all our soul [life] and with all our strength.

And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children,

and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.  You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.  You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates….

{How many of you have EVER heard this Text from the Pulpit? Would like to see a poll on that.}

Now, who is the “you” who is to teach the children God’s commands? It is not the preacher; it is not the Sunday School; it is not the youth pastor. It is those who sit in the house, who go to bed there and wake up there, it is the parents of the children.

God gives to parents the distinct responsibility to teach their children God’s word. While there are other good things like Sunday School where they can learn, these things are the icing on the cake that parents bake. They are no substitutes for this sphere of responsibility that God entrusts specifically to parents.

… that you may fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son’s son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life…

Get Started, here: An easy way to begin.

The Ten Commandments in Verse-a poem (LINK)

[And pay close attention to THIS:    “Your Child and Your TV” ]  Elisabeth Elliot used this as the format on one of er radio broadcasts.

Repentance And Forgiveness

Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance . . . –Dietrich Bonhoeffer

The exception proves the rule.

We have rules and we have exceptions—each has its proper place.

Today, however, when the topic is forgiveness, we hear many Christians thoughtlessly citing the exception just as if it were the rule; it appears as if they have never heard and applied the true rule.  (Shades of Murphy’s Law! See Introduction) We hear the exception from Jesus on the cross (an exceptional circumstance indeed!) with reference to his executioners: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).

When this verse is quoted out of context, the emphasis always falls on “Father, forgive them.” The remainder of the verse is all but forgotten.  Who are the “they” who “know not what they do”? I. Howard Marshall explains the verse in this manner: Jesus, addressing God, “asks him to forgive ‘them’ (the executioners, possibly all who are involved in his crucifixion), on the grounds of their ignorance; their sin is unwitting.”*

But Jesus also teaches us the clear rule that forgiveness is conditional based upon the repentance of the sinner: “Take heed to yourselves.  If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him” (Luke 17:3).

First, note that this concerns a “brother,” that is, a fellow believer.

Here, Jesus’ exhortation to forgive rests upon the conditional phrase, “if he repents.” The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia states, “Jesus recognized that there are conditions to be fulfilled before forgiveness can be granted.  Forgiveness is part of a mutual relationship; the other part is the repentance of the offender.  God does not forgive without repentance, nor is it required of mankind.”1 (This aspect of a mutual relationship has been banned from today’s self-centered, therapeutic notions about forgiveness.)

In expositing Peter’s preaching on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-47), F. F. Bruce states, “It would be a mistake to link the words ‘for the forgiveness of sins’ with the command ‘be baptized’ to the exclusion of the prior command to repent. . . . blotting out of the people’s sins is a direct consequence of their repenting and turning to God.”

And we must not confuse these two aspects: though forgiveness is conditional on repentance, it is also unlimited, even to seventy times seven.

*The New International Greek Testament Commentary 

From Chapter Three,  Love, Prayer, And Forgiveness 

“…an excellent piece…one that many Christians need to hear”–R.C. Sproul

Follow that link. Ebook only three dollars. 140 pages.  STUDY the Key Texts in Context. READ and GROW, i.e. Be a disciple of Christ Jesus

The Kingdom of God: In Your Midst (Not ‘within’)

“…behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.” Luke17:21 English Standard Version [also RSV, NASB, NIV, CSB]

The kingdom of God is God’s reign; his rule.  It is both present and future; inaugurated with the ministry of Christ but not yet consummated. As in the title of George Eldon Ladd’s book, it presently is  The Presence of the Future.

In Christ, the kingdom has come near (Mat, 12:28; Luke 21:31, etc.). Some enter it; some do not (Mark 10:23ff.). See the ISBE, s.v. Kingdom of God

As the forerunner before Christ’s ministry, John the Baptist cried, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”

Jesus began his ministry with those same words, following the temptation in the wilderness (Mat. 4:17).

In Luke, in response “to the Pharisee’s question, ‘When is the kingdom of God coming?’, Jesus can therefore answer, ‘The kingdom of God  is in the midst of you” (Lk. 17:20f.; not as AV ‘is within you’).”—The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, s.v. King.

[Jesus is not telling the Pharisees that the Kingdom of God is ‘within’ them. He warns them, “The tax collectors  and the harlots go into the Kingdom of God before you” (Mat. 21:31).  And he rebukes them, “You shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither enter yourselves, nor allow those who would enter to go in“ (Mat. 23:13).]

I. Howard Marshall, in The New International Greek Testament Commentary on Luke, states that “nowhere else is the kingdom regarded as something internal….A different translation is demanded, and is not difficult to find. With a plural noun entos means ‘among, in the midst of’ …Such a meaning gives good sense. Jesus is speaking of the presence of the kingdom of God among men, possibly as something within their grasp if they will take hold of it.”