Threads from Henry's Web

Tag: Ephesians

  • The Value (or not) of the Spiritual Warfare Metaphor

    My daily lectionary readings for the day included both Ephesians 6:10-24 and Mark 5:1-20. (I get my readings from The Voice.) It’s an interesting combination, because the Ephesians passage is the famous one about the armor of God and thus features in just about any discussion of spiritual warfare, while the passage in Mark, regarding the healing of the demoniac on the other side of the Sea of Galilee, is spiritual warfare.

    Now what interests me here is the demonstration of what is meant. In his just released study guide to Ephesians, Bob Cornwall notes:

    For Christians uncomfortable with military imagery, this passage can prove challenging. The ingenuity of it, however, needs to be recognized. The author took a picture that every one of his readers would immediately recognize, and used it to encourage them to become actively engaged in their faith, thereby helping to bring to an end the rule of the evil one. Such a calling would be difficult, which is why the word of encouragement is central to this message: Stand firm.

    There are several points here that I’d like to emphasize, because I believe spiritual warfare is often misunderstood and certainly misapplied.

    1. Spiritual warfare is a metaphor. It is not intended as an endorsement of violence. Notice how Jesus behaves in Mark. There is no violence or fighting, except on the part of the demonized man.
    2. Spiritual warfare is not a method. We’re not the ones who defeat evil by practicing some set of techniques. I know people who feel that they need to “pray on” the armor of God every morning or they might be susceptible to the attacks of the devil that day. Now as a spiritual exercise, I see no problem with praying through this passage, but this is not some magical ritual that protects you. It’s about belonging to Christ. Bob uses the excellent phrase “actively engaged in their faith.”
    3. A metaphor may be especially valuable to a particular time. I think spiritual warfare provides one way of understanding the conflict with evil. Unfortunately, when it gets into the hands of those who think violence solves everything, it just imports ungodly habits and behavior into our spiritual lives and the damage can be substantial.

    I really liked having these passages together, because the way Jesus is portrayed in the gospels is peaceful and confident. The evil spiritual realm falls, not to combat, but to a confident faith in God.

    Stand firm indeed!

  • Ephesians 3:1-12 – To the Rulers and the Authorities

    This is from the Epiphany 1A lectionary.

    This passage interested me because of the reference to revealing God’s wisdom to the authorities in the heavenly realm through the church (Eph. 3:10).  The reason for this interest is the “great controversy” theme that I grew up with as a Seventh-day Adventist. The foundation for this is Ellen G. White’s book The Great Controversy, and it has been taken up by a number of Adventist authors.

    One of these was my professor Dr. Malcolm Maxwell, and another is Dr. Alden Thompson, author of Who’s Afraid of the Old Testament God?, which is published by my company.

    This great controversy theme essentially sees the world as a theater with heavenly beings watching the way good and evil plays out. Amongst the texts on which this is based are Job 1 & 2, which has God demonstrating his righteousness to the waiting heavenly court, and of course this passage, in which the church shows the heavenly powers God’s wisdom.

    It is one explanation for the reason that sin has to run such a long course. Why doesn’t God step in if he can and if he cares? There are many, many explanations for this, but this explanation suggests that if God wants to deal with sin permanently, the entire universe must see just how evil sin is on its own, and also see how good God is in redeeming fallen creation.

    Alternatively one can connect this with ancient cosmology. To quote the just released Ephesians: A Participatory Study Guide (also by my company):

    However, we should remember that according to the ancient world view what happens on earth mirrors what is also happening in heaven (Matt. 6:1 0). Therefore, even as the church delivers this message ? concerning the mystery of God ? on earth, the church is also delivering the message that God is sovereign over all things to the rulers and authorities in the heavens. This message is rooted in the belief of the church that in the resurrection of Christ, these powers that be, which seek to block the purposes of God, have been defeated (40).

    Come to think of it, the two aren’t really in opposition, though they look at the issue from different angles.

    I wonder how many pastors will have the guts (or lack of good judgment) to preach on the authorities in heavenly places?

  • Ephesians: A Participatory Study Guide

    I try to publish some reflections on each book that my company, Energion Publications, releases. Sometimes it takes me  few months after release, but I try to get to it sooner. Please be aware that while I will say some things I might say in a review, this is not a review, and is intended to be subjective. It’s my reflections on publishing this book, why I did it, and what I hope for it.

    This week, we’re releasing Ephesians: A Participatory Study Guide, by Robert D. Cornwall. Bob Cornwall is actually author of two releases in close succession, the other being Ultimate Allegiance: The Subversive Nature of the Lord’s Prayer. Note that while you will not see it in stock at Amazon.com on Monday, January 3, you should see it at some point during the first week of January.

    Ephesians: A Participatory Study Guide

    This book is a milestone both for Energion and for the Participatory Study Series, and it’s especially gratifying to me. When I first started the participatory series (for which this blog was named), it was a way for me to publish notes and handouts. I looked at what I was doing to provide materials for my classes, then at the costs involved in printing, and gathered the material together. I thought I could sell enough just for classes I taught to pay the expenses, and indeed I did. But I also sold quite a number more. (My study guides are to Revelation and Hebrews.)

    Then my former student, Geoffrey Lentz, now a minister at First United Methodist Church in Pensacola suggested adding a study guide to the book of Luke. As a publisher, this meant some considerable changes. I’d put the whole series on the back burner. I was much more interested in publishing things written by others than my own work. But after some thought Geoffrey signed a contract and duly produced the study guide to Luke.

    While Geoffrey followed the outlines of the method I had created and written about on the web, he also added some nuances, especially in terms of making the study guides reflect the emphasis on prayer. If anyone compares one of my guides to his, they will note that while I emphasize prayer while talking about the method, I don’t do as much to make it part of the structure of each lesson. Geoffrey also added a certain amount of art and iconography, amongst other things.

    To summarize, I was much happier with his study guide than I was with my own, and I invited Geoffrey to join me in writing a basic guide to the method used in the series. I’d had a manuscript gathering the cyber equivalent of dust for a couple of years, so I dusted it off, and sent it to Geoffrey. We passed it back and forth several times, added many pages of his work, deleted some of mine, and I think the results were good. The book is Learning and Living Scripture: An Introduction to the Participatory Study Method.

    The foundation was laid to make this a real series, with the vision of making guides that will help individuals, but especially small study groups dig into the Bible and study it for themselves, while at the same time not studying it in isolation.

    Besides Ephesians, there are currently two other study guides in progress, and we’re looking for more authors who would like to write one of these guides. The method gives considerable leeway for individual approaches, while setting broad boundaries in terms of the level and the overall approach. (If you’re interested in writing a guide contact me, pubs@energion.com.)

    Bob Cornwall has taken hold of the vision of the series and produced a study guide that is thoughtful and challenging. He’s set a new high standard for what this series should produce. I hope some time to revise my two guides, and I’m planning on borrowing ideas from him (as well as from Geoffrey) when I do so.

    Bob’s study guide plows head-on into the major issues raised by Ephesians, not in a destructive way, but in an open and honest approach that will allow groups to discuss and come to their own conclusions about many of the issues in the book. What about submission, gender roles, spiritual warfare, the demonic realm, and authorities in the heavens? They’re all here, and you’ll have a chance to think seriously about them and share.

    One of the great distinctive features Bob has added is a historical reflection with each lesson. I wanted this series to emphasize looking at the history of interpretation, i.e. not seeing the community in which one studies as just contemporary Christians, but rather as those who have read, interpreted, and applied the book since it was written. These historical reflections are an extraordinarily effective approach to accomplishing this goal.

    There is always a struggle in a study guide to decide what is included. Huge amounts of material ends up cut, either due to space, or because you don’t want to overburden or distract students who may be studying a book for the first time. In his introductions, Bob has chosen carefully and introduced issues that are profitable and more importantly that will tend to help build dialog.

    One of the elements of the participatory study method is sharing, by which we mean not just (or even primarily) telling other people what you learn, but also listening to the community of faith and to others throughout history. If you are going to conduct dialog across various denominational and theological lines, you have to know what the issues are. A good example of this is the issue of pseudonymity. Was Paul the author, and if he was not, does it matter? Many church members are not aware of the alternatives on this issue. Bob gives them a good introduction. Whatever you believe regarding this issue, it’s a good idea to be aware of the possibilities.

    This guide shares with the other guides good exercises and challenging thought questions. I think it’s “further reading” section is again exceptionally good.

    I hope many church education coordinators and other leaders and teachers in the church will give strong consideration to using this guide in their teaching. I’m gratified and blessed that Bob Cornwall has been willing to offer his expertise to this series, and I am excited about seeing new volumes as they develop.

    I should write one final general note about the series. This isn’t your “Bible in five minutes a day” series. Members of the class need to commit to reading the material in the guide and the scriptures for each lesson. It is also useful if they study the questions and are prepared to discuss. These questions are not designed for a quick sharing of existing opinions; they’re designed to challenge your existing opinions. I hope that you’ll come away from sharing with a group using these questions and reflections better informed, and better able to express and support your understanding.

  • Christmas 2A – Celebrating Redemption

    That’s a pretty obvious theme, but it would seem even more odd to skip it! The second Sunday in Christmas is a good day to commemorate these events.

    There are a few different items that strike me here.

    1. The connection of the return from exile with the redemptive mission of Jesus.
      This shouldn’t be surprising, considering that we get many of the prophecies of Jesus from the exilic books of Ezekiel, Jeremiah, and 2nd Isaiah. The exile incorporated the ideas of the exodus, which are, of course, also incorporated into Christianity. In fact, if you work the connections far enough, this idea of redemption starts in Genesis 1 and goes through Revelation, as the exodus from Egypt, exile to Babylon and return, advent of Jesus and eventual final redemption in Revelation are all connected in imagery and language.
    2. Redemption is God’s idea.
      In each of our texts we see a strong expression that God initiates. He brings his people back in Jeremiah, strengthens and gives peace in Psalm 147, becomes flesh and brings light in John 1, and he does it because it’s his pleasure and because of his glorious grace in Ephesians 1.
    3. We are told to praise.
      Redemption draws a response. I think this is a universal theme both in the Old and the New Testaments. See my essay A Fruitful Faith.

  • Thoughts on Lists of Spiritual Gifts

    In one of the sermons I heard this morning (I attended services at two different churches), the scripture reading was from Ephesians 4:1-12. When Ephesians 4:11 was read, I remembered a discussion I had some time back about whether pastors and teachers here was intended to refer to one group of people. The individual with whom I discussed this found it fairly important. He thought that it would be better that authoritative church teaching be done by the pastor. Others could work under him, but the that would be the authority source.

    The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers — Ephesians 4:11 (NRSV)

    I can see how this might work together with a complementarian view of gender roles, reserving authoritative teaching to the ordained, who would all be male. I have never heard that specific argument made by any actual complentarians, so I don’t know that it is used. There are quite a number of commetators, however, who maintain that either these two groups are the same, or that they are much more closely related than are the other groups in the list.

    In looking at it, I would note that Daniel Wallace discusses the matter on page 284 of Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics, and maintains that the Greek does not require that these two groups be identical. Nonetheless he also makes the point that they are more closely connected to each other than to the rest of the list. In general I think he makes a good point.

    But does Ephesians 4:11 mean that pastor and teacher are the same office in either case? Whether or not we place a great deal of weight on this, it’s an interesting question.

    I think the answer lies in the lists of gifts that Paul gives. He speaks of spiritual gifts in three different places, here in Ephesians 4:11, in 1 Corinthians 12 twice, and in Romans 12:6-8. The list is not identical in any two of these places. They are not identical even between 1 Corinthians 12:8-11 and then in verses 28-30. The two lists give a different perspective. I would suggest that there is an important point in these differences.

    And this leads me to the reason I wanted to write a blog entry on this. It goes back to something I say repeatedly about Bible study, and most recently about interpreting parables. The key to understanding is finding the right question, and in this case we have to look at the questions Paul is answering in these passages. If you look at the context, not a single one of these passages was written to answer the question “What are the gifts of the Spirit?” Rather, the questions all relate to unity. In 1 Corinthians the primary issue is spiritual pride, and the gifts are used as an example of how all of us, coming from varied backgrounds and with various gifts, are brought together by one Spirit to become the church. In Romans 12 the topic is becoming conformed to Christ rather than to the church, with the issue of unity again key. Similarly in Ephesians 4:1-16, though we tend to stop at verse 12.

    What would Paul’s answer be if he was asked just what were the gifts of God’s Spirit? I suspect he would decline to try for an exhaustive list. Rather, we need to look for the simple test. Is this gift useful (and hopefully used) to spread the gospel message and to build the kingdom? If the answer is “yes” it’s a good candidate to be called a spiritual gift. Otherwise, not so much!

  • Ephesians 5:21-33: A Short Lesson in Focus

    It often amazes me to notice the difference in what I get from the scriptures when I approach a book or a passage simply asking what message God has for me in that passage as opposed to when I search out various passages of scripture in order to answer a particular theological question.

    That second procedure is not always a bad one; there are questions that can be answered by going to scripture and studying a particular topic. Getting a variety of scriptures that bear on a particular topic can help you keep your balance. Paul addresses the law in both Galatians and Romans (amongst others). You’ll get a more complete understanding if you read both.

    Very frequently, however, we view the topical study of scripture as the shortcut method. It’s easier to know topics than it is to know the Bible. But that is the danger. Quickly surveying a topic is a good way to fall into proof-texting, and that is dangerous ground.

    What brought this to my mind today in particular was my pastor’s Father’s Day sermon this morning. He used Ephesians 5:21-33, and he pointed to many of the balancing features of the entire passage.

    Let me suggest that you read the passage over, and then answer the following two questions:

    1. What is the primary focus of this passage?
    2. What from that passage have you heard quoted the most?

    My suspicion is that if you read the passage carefully, you’ll see it talking about the relationship been husbands and wives, and its focus is on the love that husbands are to have for their wives. This love is to be like the love Jesus Christ had for the church–self-sacrificing love.

    Now while I might debate issues of just what submission means and how this applies today. But that’s not my point. Whatever you believe about the structure of the home and authority there, Paul talks only a little bit about authority, secondary to his main point about the way a person in authority is to love, following the example of Jesus.

    Now what about the second question? Though I’ve heard quite a number of balanced sermons from this passage in conversations I’ve heard largely verses 21 and 22 quoted. Jesus is really, truly, and absolutely the head of the church (v. 23), and that’s the way the husband is the head of his wife (v. 22). While that fits the words of those two verses, if you add the remainder of the passage, starting with mutual submission (v. 21), and going on to note that the characteristic of Christ’s headship that husbands are asked is self-sacrificing love.

    The focus makes a great deal of difference. Now I’m not suggesting that the details of a passage don’t matter. What I am suggesting is that it’s important to see the overall focus–what it was that Paul was most interested in communicating in this case–before applying the details.

  • Ephesians 6:18: Always Pray in the Spirit

    Today as I was driving I noticed a church sign with a message that went something like this: “As a child of God, prayer is like phoning home every day.” Perhaps I’m being too tense about it, but it seems to me that prayer is very much unlike phoning home every day. In fact, to paraphrase the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, “phoning home every day” is almost, but not quite totally unlike phoning home every day.

    Phoning home every day, or even somewhat less, was quite adequate for my relationship with my parents when I went away to college. They were happy even with a weekly phone call. There weren’t so many flat rate long distance plans in those days, so they preferred a few letters, and something like a weekly phone call that we kept short.

    But there was a big difference between my developing relationship with my parents when I was in my late teens, and my developing relationship with God today. I was establishing independence from my parents, as is appropriate. I am hoping to get closer and closer to God right up to the end of my race here on earth. My parents were not always present, always aware, and always available, nor did they have “the plan.” God, as I know him, does. “E.T. phone home” is not the formula for an active prayer life.

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