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Hebrews: Going On Toward Perfection
The first time I taught a class on Hebrews following publication of my study guide, we were studying lesson #7, Falling Away. The primary reading for the lesson is Hebrews 5:11-6:12, and thus includes the passage, “going on toward perfection” which is very famous in Methodist and Wesleyan circles. In discussing the passage we noted that some translations used the word “maturity” while others used “perfection.” I explained why one might use either term properly as a translation of the Greek “teleiotes” but added that I felt that “maturity” was a little bit weak for the message.
On my way home after the class I got this nagging feeling, and so I went to the translation I had written for the study guide and checked my own translation. There large as life and twice as annoying was the word “maturity.” I had managed to contradict myself within days of publication. The next week I pointed it out to the class, which resulted in another discussion. Of course, the inevitable question was, “What do you really think?”
That’s a fair one, and I’d like to answer it in an overview fashion here. I do feel that “maturity” is a little bit weak of a translation on this occasion, but “perfection” goes a bit astray of the author’s intent. Either English word overlaps the Greek word in the source. Which is best must be determined from the immediate context. To get a broad view of how I understand the structure of Hebrews, check my outline and translation. (I do not recommend my own translation as a clear, accurate, and natural one. Use a good modern version for reading. The reason I created a translation was so that I could have one in modern language without copyright restrictions to use to hang my notes on. All modern versions with copyrights do restrict one from including the entire text of a Biblical book in a published work.)
So what is the broad view here? First, in the text leading up to Hebrews 5:11, our author has brought us to the brink of discussing the priesthood of Jesus. He has hinted at the topic and started to lay out the requirements for that role and the importance of it. He has established the importance of Jesus as one who reveals God to us.
Now he pauses for a moment, in what I believe is the key to his central point. The readers are not mature enough to really get into the meat. They want milk. So first he talks about their immaturity. But then in a turn that has been noted by many commentators, he says he is going on anyhow. He presents the grave dangers of not going on (Hebrews 6:4-8). Why does he say they are not ready and then go on anyhow?
I believe our author sees the addressees standing at precisely this point of danger. They are ready to be weaned and start on the meat of the word, but they are looking back and asking if this is worth it. Is it worth all the trouble? Is there really something to look forward to? Can we do it? So having told them where they are, he suits actions and words and charges forward with them. As I have noted previously, I believe that all Christians are in danger of the situation depicted in Hebrews 6:4-6. While it describes the extreme case, falling away under extreme hardship, it also points us to the danger that we are in every time we say no to something God has called us to do.
So in 5:11-14, maturity is the thing that the addressees have failed to obtain. In 6:1-3 it is that which the author is calling them toward. In 6:4-8, he warns them against its opposite, and in 6:9ff he expresses his certainty that despite the dangers they will not fail. They will attain “it.” So what is “it”?
I would suggest that it is that final, unshakable kingdom (Hebrews 12:26) in which everything that can be shaken has been and is gone. In the meantime, the call is always to move in that direction, and not to fall back or change course, no matter what comes up. We have Jesus, the high priest, who has gone this way before and proven that it can be done.
In the Wesleyan tradition we use Hebrews 6:1 in connection with the doctrine of Christian perfection. In context, I don’t see that it has that exact intent. The perfection to which we are called is a maturity, or “rightness” at each point in our journey with the final, true perfection coming on that day when everything shakable has been shaken out.
Note: I say some more about this “going on” in my podcast presentation on Seven Kingdom Principles of Choice (also part 2), which is based on the pamphlet by the same name.
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Devotionals from 1 Corinthians 13
I’m writing a series of devotionals from 1 Corinthians 13 for my wife’s devotional list.
The first three entries have been posted. Entries on the devotional list are posted each weekday morning.
Understanding Love
The Priority of Love
Characteristics of Love I
Characteristics of Love II
Love is Eternal (Update)
Love is Boring (Update)
Love and Childishness (Update)
The Greatest of These (Update)(That completes the series.)
In case you can’t guess, tomorrow morning Characteristics of Love II will appear!
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Christian Carnival CLXXIII Posted
. . . at Pseudo-Polymath. Go look at it for the fine pictures used to separate the sections. Oh–read the articles too!
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Christian Carnival CLXXII
. . . has been posted at Crossroads: Where Faith and Inquiry Meet. For unknown reasons my post isn’t there, but it’s still a good collection. I’ll have to make sure I made it through the time related hoops.
Enjoy!
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Inerrancy and Wheaton
I was interested to see a quote about Biblical inerrancy for candidates for faculty positions at Wheaton College. Check the note out at Through a Glass Darkly.
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NPP: A Starting Position
I’ve been reading some more on the new perspectives on Paul, and particularly focusing on a <a href="http://www.thepaulpage.com/Summary.html"summary written by Mark W. Mattison and provided by The Paul Page, and a response to that summary by Chan Lai Ping. I’m going to use the list of key points in the response as a starting point. In this entry I’m merely stating where I start from as I study, and am not really trying to support that more than superficially.
Chan Lai Ping lists five issues, giving the traditional position (since Martin Luther) and the summary position of the new perspectives. Note that there are many scholars involved in what’s loosely called the “new perspectives on Paul” and they do not necessarily agree on all issues.
The five key issues are:
- Individualism – whether justification is primarily about the individual or the community
My own view is that we tend to misread the entire Bible in the western world because of our individualistic view. The Biblical writers were always more concerned with community than we are, and this applies to Paul as well. Paul writes pastorally, as the pastor of church with the intent of building the health of those churches. This involves individual action and individual choices, but all of that is on the way to community - Judaism – whether Judaism in the first century was a religion of legalism, and whether Paul’s attacks on the old Jerusalem can be read as an attack on Judaism
Until I studied Galatians through the commentary by J. Louis Martyn I would have said that while Judaism is not primarily a religion of legalism, and the old covenant was not intended as legalistic, Paul was combating folks who made it into something legalistic. I think Martyn makes a good case that Paul’s “earthly Jerusalem” is that element based in the Jerusalem church that opposes his mission. Their particular legalism was in requiring the gentiles to be circumcised, and so become Torah observant Jews in order to be Christians. Now I believe it was Christian Jews who were placing this requirement on gentiles, one that was not actually a requirement of Judaism itself. - The core of Paul’s message – was it more narrowly justification or a broader view of Christ’s death and resurrection
This is a hard one for me to answer, because it seems to me that for Paul the opening of the door to the gentiles was the key element of the meaning of the death and resurrection of Jesus. This act of grace made it possible for the old age and it’s barriers to be removed and exchanged with the new age. Justification is a key fruit of that. - What Paul meant by the law – was Paul against all actions that might become regarded as a work, or just the misuse of the law
Here I believe Paul was strongly opposed to misuse of the law, including the law as a means of gaining God’s favor. He obviously had no problem with admonitions and requirements, however, because he gave his churches quite a number of them. I suspect our theology might be different if students of Paul spent more time in 1 Corinthians and less in Galatians. Paul was pastoral first, which I believe is one reason that sometimes he doesn’t seem as clear and consistent as we’d like in his theology. If we just knew the pastoral situation he was addressing, I think things would make more sense. - Paul’s conscience – did he face a constant battle, or was he convinced of his own standing
This one I’ll have to work on. It seems to me that Paul had a testimony of struggles that ended in victory, so that his writing doesn’t speak with one voice. My guess as I start looking at him more seriously is that he lived a life of victory, but didn’t spend all his time on the mountaintop, much like many of us today.
(For discussion, please see the <a href="http://www.thepaulpage.com/Summary.html"summary and response cited above.)
I expect to spend some time going through various of these articles on Paul and making further notes on some of the key passages.
- Individualism – whether justification is primarily about the individual or the community
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Miracles and Community
I’ve been reading Mark through as part of preparation to resume my series on the Gospel of Mark for the Bible Pacesetter Podcast. Right now I’m listening to and then podcasting recordings of the radio program from which this developed just before we closed that program down three years ago. It’s an interesting process getting back into a series after a three month break!
A couple of days ago I was reading the following:
(1) And he went out from there and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. (2) And since it was the Sabbath, he started teaching in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed, and said, “Where do these things come from, and what is the wisdom that is given to him, and these miracles that happen through his hands? (3) Is not this the craftsman, the son of Mary and the brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And aren’t his sisters here with us?” They were scandalized about him. (4) And Jesus said to them, “A prophet does not fail to receive honor except in his own country and among his kinsmen in his household.” (5) And he was not able to perform any miracle, except that he laid hands on a few people and healed them. (6) And he was amazed because of their lack of faith. — Mark 6:1-6
That’s my working translation that I make as part of my preliminary study, so check it out in your own version. What I was asking myself as I read this was just what it was that prevented Jesus from doing as many miracles at home as he did elsewhere?
The easy answer, of course, is that the people lacked faith. But then a second question comes up: Why could he heal a few sick people anyhow?There is very little said here about the causes of this story, but I often tell folks to learn from the story and not just the text, so I want to think just a little bit about this story. What makes Nazareth different? Jesus has encountered many people who believed in him, and many people who did not. He has encountered opposition as well as support. But here in Nazareth he encounters this wall of unbelief that prevents him from performing miracles, with a few exceptions.
One cause we can see from the story is familiarity. The people cannot see how God can come to them in the person of a common person that they knew all their lives. It’s the standard problem of the young pastor coming to his home church, and being informed by various people that they changed his diapers when he was a baby. This allows them first to feel very proud of their contribution to making “a fine young pastor” and at the same time to doubt that they can learn anything real from him.
That would certainly reduce the number of miracles. Less people would ask. Why should that little fellow who used to play in the street be able to heal me? We often diminish what we can receive from God because we despise the channels by which he sends it. God may be trying to send you peace and comfort by means of your dog. Are you ready to receive it? He can be trying to invade your life through the person who comes in and does your yard. Is that OK with you?
Apparently it wasn’t OK with the people at Nazareth. They weren’t ready for that. But I suspect there was a bigger issue here. You see, Jesus has been preaching the kingdom of God and repentance. Repentance is often not a welcome message. It means that we’re doing something wrong, we have to acknowledge it, and get moving in a better direction. If I’m going to be put straight, I want the correction to come from someone who is both smarter than I am and more spiritual.
In Nazareth, there was a general rejection of a message of repentance that came from the home town boy. They were amazed at what he had to say, but they couldn’t bring themselves to believe that he was the right person to say it. They couldn’t bring themselves to accept the kingdom of God in that form.
And that’s where the miracle problem came in, I believe. When Jesus healed people and drove out demons it was a sign of the arrival of the kingdom of God. A new community was on the way, and new way of looking at one another. God was invading history and changing everything around, bringing on a new creation. Reject the kingdom, and what happens to the signs?
I know of many churches that are longing for God to become active in their congregation and community. How can that happen? It’s the sign of God’s community. Look for the barriers to being the kingdom of God wherever you are. You can’t have the sign without the event. You can’t have the healing power of Jesus without the person of Jesus.