Threads from Henry's Web

Tag: New Testament

  • Witness without being a Pest

    Over on Philosoraptor, Carol Roper has an open letter to theists entitled Sick and Tired of God Talk. Carol talks about how tired she is of various standard questions from theists, general theists who want to convert her, and in this country one would assume mostly Christian theists. Carol is an adamant atheist, and she finds these people and their words and behavior annoying.

    I’ve been planning to write a response to this essay for more than a year, if I remember correctly, but I haven’t gotten around to it. My response is not directed at Carol. After all, she knows what annoys her and what doesn’t, and I’m not about to try to tell her what’s what. But reading her article suggested some things that Christians do that I think are quite annoying and also counterproductive.

    There seems to be a divide between some Christians who want to push themselves on everyone in a frantic race to convert and bring into church membership as many people as possible. “Jesus is coming back,” they think, “and he’s going to accidentally fry a bunch of people if I don’t get busy.” The answer, they seem to think, is to work on the statistics as fast as possible. Going door to door or randomly down the street and confronting people with what they think is the gospel is the only way they can see to really get into action and catch all those people before they go to hell. Their level of panic is matched on the other side by people who are quite apathetic. To hear them, Christianity is a dirty secret that one ought to keep as quiet as possible. Jesus may be returning, but he’ll have to deal personally with the people, because these folks aren’t going to do anything.

    The first group supports their behavior by claiming that the gospel does offend people, and if they share the Good News with someone and they become offended, it’s not their problem. They gave the warning! But the question is, is it the gospel message that’s offending people, or is it you and your behavior? Studies have shown that people who are persuaded to accept Jesus as their savior by means of manipulative monologue generally do not stay in the church, while those who enter the church through a relationship with an individual Christian normally do stay. (My copy is loaned out right now, but you can find extensive discussion of this issue in Faith-Sharing, by Fox & Morris.)

    I mention this because I think it shows that the frantic, manipulative method of witnessing is ineffective, even when measured by numbers. I don’t think measuring by numbers is the appropriate way for a Christian to measure witnessing. A witness is about being obedient to God. The fruit of that may show in your challenge to others to behave better, to help others more, or to think more seriously about spiritual issues. You may never see any fruit that you can hang on your church wall, so to speak. Fruit is God’s measuring stick, not yours. If we remembered this as Christians, we would cause far fewer problems.

    The usual excuse is simply that we are commanded to be witnesses and to make disciples, so how can we stop? I am absolutely not telling anyone to stop witnessing. In fact, I don’t think you can stop. If you are a Christian, you are a witness. The question is what kind of witness you are going to be.

    I’m also not saying that everyone on the street or knocking on a door is a pest. There are many legitimate reasons to do this sort of thing. If you are truly there to help, that’s one thing. If you are there to teach them your theology, that’s another.

    A person who is so apathetic that most people don’t know of they are a Christian at all sends the message that Christianity is a sort of sideline that has a very low priority in their life. Christians are, to borrow the words of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, “mostly harmless,” but they also aren’t much good for antything.

    A person who is frantic, and portrays panic, while bumbiling ineffectually from person to person sends the message that Christianity is a group of people in a panic, afraid that the world will end. Not only that, they have a God who is not really prepared for the end. These Christians portray their faith as something that is actually dangerous to the world, as they live their lives contrary to the command of Jesus, as though the world would end at any moment. Ecology? Who cares? Jesus is coming. Social Security headed for bankruptcy? Don’t worry! Jesus will come before I need it!

    So how does one manage to witness without being a pest?

    Start by living your faith. Christianity worships God as creator and upholder of all that is (Hebrews 1:1-3), and also as a God who offers unearned favor to humanity, so much so as to cross the gap between infinity and the finite in Jesus Christ, who showed to us what God was like. We needn’t be in a panic.

    Love your neighbor. This does not mean to sneak your way into your neighbor’s heart so you can convert him. It means that you build relationships because you love and value people. People will know if you are insincere. If you live up to your Christian principles and don’t make your Christianity either a secret or a wall between you and your friend, you are being a witness.

    Learn to speak other spiritual languages. By this I mean to learn to talk about topics of interest in terms that the other person understands. Even as a Christian I am offended when a politician uses his or her faith as lever to get my support. I don’t know the sincerity of those faith claims. But if a candidate, of any faith or none at all, has lived according to certain principles, that is something I can understand and test. In communicating with a non-Christian, for example, WWJD (What Would Jesus Do?) is probably not the best question to ask. But if you think that your Christian principles are also good principles, perhaps you can find a way to express those good ideas other than by claiming they are divine commands. You are not denying Jesus just because you argue for his moral principles based on something other than the fact that he gave them as commands.

    Learn the basis for your faith. This may not be the same as the basis for my faith. What brought you to your position of faith? Are you confident of that? Your personal testimony is more important than any amount of logical argument. If you are not an apologist by nature or training, you don’t have to behave like one. (An apologist is one who answers questions about the Christian faith professionally.) When people ask, answer for yourself. That’s not waffling. That’s just talking about what you know.

    Wait for questions. If you live a life that is a good witness, inevitably people will ask something about your beliefs. That is your opportunity to answer. But remember it is not your opportunity to manipulate them. You believe that your Christian experience is a good thing, and it’s natural for you to want to share. When someone asks that means they want you to share. Then is when it’s fine.

    Don’t resort to force. Many Christians today are trying to get the government to do their job for them. By this I mean by advocating state-sponsored, teacher led prayer in public schools, public displays of religious documents such as the Ten Commandments, introduction of intelligent design into the schools, and radical action against abortion and abortion clinics. I think all of those things demonstrate that we don’t really believe in the power of the gospel shared with the power of the Holy Spirit to change lives. We think we need to use force in society just as we sometimes use manipulative language and behavior in our personal witness. Be a witness. Then let God do his part.

    Think about it this way. You might be a pest, rather than a witness if:

    • You knock on doors belonging to people you don’t know, but can’t name your own next door neighbors
    • You know all the details of soteriology*, but don’t know where to get help for a homeless person
    • You think salvation is equivalent to joining your church congregation
    • You talk to people you despise so you can “save” them, and yet continue to despise them
    • You’re sure your relationship with Jesus makes you more special than everybody else
    • The only language you know how to speak is “church-ese”
    • You set a mental timer counting down until you will break off a friendship if the stubborn jerk doesn’t accept Jesus
    • You can’t carry on any conversation that isn’t about your religion
    • You try to befriend someone only because you think you can get him to attend church

    *If you have to ask what that is, you’re probably a pretty reasonable person to talk to!

  • Hebrews 1:1-4: Jesus and the Word

    We now start on the meat of Hebrews 1:1-4. I will refer back to this verse a number of times and expand on comments I make in this entry, but I want to provide a fairly clear, point by point summary of what we can learn from these verses.

    Introductory Notes

    Let me display the text in close to the order of the Greek text, phrased. (I prefer outlining, but I don’t have any really good way to display outlines as part of the blog.) Remember that I mentioned previously that these four verses constitute one long sentence in Greek.

    in many portions

    and

    in various ways

    in ancient times

    God spoke

    by the prophets

    in these last days

    he spoke

    to us

    by a son

    whom he made heir of everything

    by whom also he made the universe

    who is the brightness of his glory

    and

    the exact representation of his real essence

    who carries everything by his powerful word

    who when he had made purification of sins

    sat down at the right hand of the majesty in high places

    thus becoming as much greater than the angels

    as the name he has inherited is greater than theirs.

    There are several places where my phrasing might be questioned, but I think the structure is fairly clear. This phrasing tends to show the entire sentence aiming like an arrow to the key statement of verse 4, which leads into the argument from verse 5 and following. You might want to look again at my comments about translation. I suggested that verse four should be separated in an English translation from verses 1-3, in order to show how it both concludes verses 1-3, and also points forward to verse 5. In other words, it should be connected equally to both passages. I still think that, but one might call my position some interpretive structuring of the text. But is there any way you could structure verses 1-3 that doesn’t bear on interpretation?

    Key Elements

    There are several key elements of this passage that we need to notice. These will form a foundation for our study of the rest of the book, as they formed the author’s introduction to his topic.

    The Word of God

    The word of God has come at various times or portions, and in different ways. This is an essential point for the book of Hebrews because our author is going to try to establish firmly the idea that in his day, the word of God came in yet another way, by a son. Translators often say “by the son,” or “by the Son” but I leave out the article in English, a valid option based on the lack of the article in Greek. (Greek and English use of the article is not identical. Here I’m suggesting it refers to quality.) God is speaking now in a fundamentally different way, using Jesus, a son, albeit the only son. That is an important point. In later chapters, he will argue that the son has brought a new covenant, and a new law, and that his revelation is superior to the Torah. But the foundation is laid here by talking about the different portions and different ways in which the word is delivered.

    To our author there is not just Torah, with all else being secondary and commentary. Rather, the revelation of God’s word came through various prophets at various times. Indeed, he treats all Old Testament passages equally. Thus God is simply continuing a pattern he has already established when he now presents another portion (the perfect portion as far as our author is concerned) and does so in a different way.

    What are some of the ways God had already used to present his word?

    • Creation itself
    • Historical events, and God’s intervention in them
    • Messages given to prophets
    • Dreams
    • Visions
    • A talking donkey
    • Legislation
    • Common wisdom

    This list is not necessarily exhaustive. I like to consider some modern methods to put with those:

    • Artistic banners
    • Art
    • Movies
    • Scientific discoveries
    • Music

    Do you think these should be included as means that convey the word of God? How would they relate to the perfect revelation of Jesus? These are some questions to think about as we follow the argument of this book.

    The key here, however, is that the greatest “portion” as presented in these verses, is Jesus, the Son, a revelation that is different in nature from any before and has revolutionary importance to the world and especially to the group of Christians who are being addressed.

    For some more thoughts on the word of God, see What is the Word of God?.

    Who is Jesus?

    Having introduced Jesus as the culmination of a chain of revelations of God’s word, our author immediately moves to giving the characteristics of Jesus.

    • Heir of everyting
    • Agent of creation
    • Brightness of God’s glory
    • Exact representation of who God is
    • Upholds everything by his own word
    • Provided a means to deal with sin
    • Is now sovereign (sitting at the right hand of God)

    With all those characteristics, he is clearly much greater than the angels. Chapters 2 & 3 will continue the argument about Jesus and his superiority to the angels. It is interesting that our author first establishes that Jesus is greater than the angels, and then discusses his relationship to Moses. What he wants to do is establish superiority to Moses, and at the same time the superiority of Jesus to the Torah. Just as the Torah is the central revelation of Judaism, against which all else is tested, so Jesus is the central revelation of Christianity, against which all else is tested.

    The characteristics of Jesus can be divided into two parts: Creation and Redemption. For creation, let me reference another post of mine, Biblical Doctrine of Creation, and also one of my Participatory Study Series pamphlets, God the Creator. For the doctrine of redemption, let me reference What is the Good News?. These are just starting points, as the notion of redemption is going to be our topic in practically every chapter, but it is nice to get at least to the same starting point. I can’t help seeing a summary of Paul’s teaching in Philippians 2:5-11 here where the glorification comes from, and after, the activities of redemption.

    Before I go on to verse 5 I will be posting some other material on the word of God based on the suggested reading for lesson #1 of my study guide, and also from the thought questions there.

  • Hebrews 1:1-4: Translation Issues

    In some passages, I may divide discussing translation issues into one section on how a passage is rendered into English, and another on the textual issues, but this passage has only one textual issue of any consequence.

    Textual Issues

    In verse three we have the following general options:

    • “when He had by Himself purged our sins” (NKJV), also the reading of the KJV, Darby, and YLT.
    • “After he had provided purification for sins” (NIV), also the reading of the remaining translations available to me.

    The issue is the presence of either Greek “di’ heautou” or “di’ autou” preceding the word “katharismon (cleansing).” The bulk of modern translators have chosen to follow those manuscripts that leave out those words. And there are some very good ones there–Sinaiticus, Alexandrinus, and Vaticanus, for starters, a very good trio of witnesses. But for the alternative text we do have P46, which is the oldest known manuscript to contain this passage, along with the bulk of the Byzantine tradition.

    In this case, however, internal evidence, combined with good external evidence, overwhelms even the testimony of P46. One of the principles of textual criticism is that you accept as oldest that reading that can best explain the others. In Greek we have three variants: “autou” alone, “autou, di’ heautou”, and “autou, di’ autou.” These do seem to involve explanatory additions, explaining how the cleansing was accomplished. In addition, I would note that this seems to break the very compact style of expression in the prologue.

    Translation Issues

    There are basically two categories of translation issues to consider: The structure of the passage and the translation of the two keywords describing Jesus and his relation to the Father in 1:3.

    Structure

    In Greek, this entire passage is one sentence. Various translations have dealt with this in different ways. English readers may miss the point of verse 4, which is pointing forward to the first element of the author’s argument that Jesus is greater than the angels, if that point is included in the same sentence or even in the same paragraph as verses 1-3. Many versions do divide this long sentence into multiple English sentences, but only a few, such as the NLT, which places verse 4 in the next section, and the CEV, which places part of verse 3 and verse 4 in a separate paragraph.

    The difficulty with including it in the first introductory paragraph is that this leaves the reader without a thesis sentence for the material in verse 5ff. Verse 4 tells us what our author is about to argue. First, he will argue that Jesus is greater than the angels (1:5ff), and then he will say he is greater than Moses and the Torah (3:1ff). This is a good example of a case in which a reader can be led astray by the divisions presented in a Bible edition. There were no such separations in the Greek manuscripts. These are features of modern Greek editions, and modern translations. Always be prepared to “think across the boundary.”

    I personally prefer the option of putting verse 4 into a separate paragraph which will allow us to see it as a transition point, but you’ll notice that in my outline of Hebrews, I don’t follow my own rule. In that case, however, I carry over the thought by labeling point II.A. “Jesus is Greater than the Angels.”

    Key Words

    There are a number of key words in this passage, and I will discuss them when dealing with interpretation of the passage. Two terms in the first part of verse 3, however, have evoked a broad range of translations. My own translation of this line follows:

    3This Son is the brightness of his glory and the exact representation of his real essence.

    The Greek word I translated “brightness” is “apaugasma” and the phrase I translated “exact representation of his real essence” is “charactEr tEs hupostaseos autou.” The first of these may mean either something shining on its own, or reflecting the light of another. This is why some translations will use the term “reflection” in their translation (“The Son reflects God’s own glory” NLT). A good parallel to this is Wisdom of Solomon 7:26:

    26For she is the radiance of the eternal light,
    and the spotless reflector of the activity of God,
    and the image of his goodness. (my translation)

    By putting “radiance” and “reflector” in parallel, the author suggests a more passive understanding. Nonetheless, Wisdom of Solomon is referring to wisdom, while Hebrews 1:3 is referring to Jesus. Those with a high Christology may well prefer “brightness” or “radiance.”

    My use of “exact representation” comes directly from the Greek English Lexicon of the New Testament Based on Semantic Domains. This is the word from which we get the English “character,” but the meaning we normally find in the literature contemporary more or less to the book of Hebrews is something like “stamp” or “impression.” In combination, these terms state that Jesus presents God to us exactly, and I think this view will be supported by our later study of the book.

    There is some remarkable theology in these few verses, and I look forward to blogging about some of the things we can learn from it.

  • New Bible Study Blog

    I’m creating a separate blog as I start to post Bible studies online. Threads from Henry’s Web is a place for me to post general commentary and background information on religion functioning in the world. As I got ready to start blogging through the book of Hebrews, I started to believe that it would be better to separate that kind of posts from my general posting here. The audiences are very different. Those who read this blog especially for material on Christianity and the creation vs evolution controversy will rarely be all that concerned with my exegesis of a particular Biblical book. (Some may be interested when I blog on Revelation, as I expect to do in a few months. I’ll post a notice here.)

    So let me introduce Participatory Bible Study Blog on my domain hneufeld.com. I have already posted the first introductory entry there, and will start getting into the meat of the book this weekend.

    I expect to continue to blog here about as much as ever. I’m simply moving another piece of my offline work online. This material will be made available to my upcoming face-to-face class on the book of Hebrews, and indeed people who comment may expect that some of my students will read their notes.

  • Introduction to Hebrews

    Many introductions to Hebrews spend a great deal of time on the date, authorship, and audience of the book. I’m not so sure that these questions can be answered with any degree of certainty, so I tend to focus on what we can come to understand from the structure and content, and the theology we can picture clearly from them.

    To supplement this introduction with the kind of details one normally finds in an introduction, try one of the following introductions:

    There are many other fine Bibles with study notes and good introductions. These are just some suggestions. In addition, you might want to consider a couple of commentaries, such as the Anchor Bible volume on Hebrews by Craig R. Koester, or the New International Commentary on the New Testament volume Hebrews by F. F. Bruce. My study guide includes a translation with some notes, but it is intended to supplement the study guide, and does not replace any of these fine resources. My translation is, of course, a one person translation, and I strongly recommend committee translations for the best balance. (See What’s in a Version? (Pamphlet) or What’s in a Version? (Book), both from Energion Publications.)

    Also, please note that I’m going to try to keep these entries reasonably short, something I’m not really that good at, and so I will probably split them up to some extent. All scripture links are to my Totally Free Bible Version project, which is really simply me posting my ongoing translations online. I use this because of copyright considerations. I recommend you use your own favorite version, or access one of the online options linked from that site.

    Now let me highlight just three portions of the book that I think point us to the general theme. There are many individual arguments, but it is helpful to keep in mind just what the author is trying to get across to his readers. I believe that he has a single central point in mind, and that the book of Hebrews is unusually systematic and theological amongst the books of the New Testament. (You can find my translation and outline here.)

    1. Hebrews 1:1-4
      This passage really sets the theme; we are going to be talking about who Jesus is and the importance of his mission on earth and his position in heaven. We are not told in this passage precisely why the author is focussing in this way on the person of Jesus. We also see a part of the author’s method, which is use of and application of the scriptures of the Old Testament. This is lesson #1 in my study guide.
    2. Hebrews 5:11-6:12
      I believe that this is where we get to the key issue of the book in practical terms. The author wants to challenge his readers with the importance of following this greater revelation provided in and through Jesus, and this greater salvation, and to endure in it until the reward is reached. He is letting his audience know that they aren’t there yet, but they need to keep on moving, because the reward is sure for those who are faithful. This is lesson #7 in my study guide.
    3. Hebrews 12:1-12; 13:1-16
      The final message is on who we are and how we are to behave as recipients of the ministry of Jesus as described earlier in the book. How are Christians to behave? This is lesson #13 (of 13) in my study guide.

    This general structure makes me believe that the central issue is endurance, but an endurance that is filled with hope and backed by history.

    I will begin in my next entry with looking at Hebrews 1:1-4, and applying this structure to understanding the individual elements of each passage.

  • Welcome!

    I’m Henry Neufeld, and I have been blogging on Threads from Henry’s Web since September, 19952005. This new blog is specifically for me to follow my heart which is in critical and exegetical Bible study that leads to exposition and application. I’m the author of two study guides, To the Hebrews: A Participatory Study Guide, and Revelation: A Participatory Study Guide. I’m going to begin this blog by going through the book of Hebrews.

    I will be teaching a several week class at a local church using my study guide, and I will blog here about the passages first. You can follow the entire discussion here, although for those who want to learn the Bible for themselves, I strongly recommend studying the passages I am writing about before you read what I write. You don’t have to buy and use my study guide, but obviously I wouldn’t mind if you do! I will be discussing the major questions and projects mentioned in that book. My Bible study method is available briefly on the web at I Want to Study the Bible!, and in more detail at The Participatory Bible Study Method.

    Comments are open! Join me in this important study.

    Note: Nobody caught me, but let me correct “1995” to “2005.” I’ve been blogging since 2005. I have, in fact, been online since before 1995, since I first got online with a 300 baud modem in 1983, I think. It could have been 1984. 🙂

  • The Kingdom of God is a Monarchy

    Brian McLaren, author of The Secret Message of Jesus and co-author of Adventures in Missing the Point with Tony Campolo, among many other books, has an article currently on the Sojourner web site entitled Found in Translation. I want to thank Shane Raynor of Wesley Blog for calling my attention to this article with his entry Brian McLaren: Shark-Jumper or Prophet. Raynor expresses his concern at abandoning the kingdom terminology.

    I first want to say that I have really appreciated Brian McLaren’s writing. While I did not agree with everything in it (who could?) I found Adventures in Missing the Point to be challenging and helpful. Indeed, I found the article itself quite helpful. McLaren offers six new metaphors to use in discussing what the rest of us would call “the kingdom of God.” He calls the term “kingdom of God” so “last century.” All of these metaphors have an element of truth in them about God’s work. All of them have some value in communicating God’s will and God’s way to modern people. He says, “In addition, for many today, kingdom language evokes patriarchy, chauvinism, imperialism, domination, and a regime without freedom

  • Marks of the Jesus Message

    This passage is from the lectionary selection for February 5, 2006, Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany.

    29And immediately as he came out of the synagogue he went into Simon’s house. 30Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and immediately they told him about her. 31And coming near he raised her up, taking her hand, and the fever left her, and she served them.

    32And it became evening, when the son went down they were bringing him everyone who was sick and those troubled by demons. 33And the whole city gathered near the door. 34And he healed many who were ill with various diseases, and he threw out many demons but he wouldn’t allow the demons to speak because they knew him.

    35And he rose up very early while it was still night and went out and went away into a deserted place where he could pray. 36And Simon and those with him pursued Jesus, 37and they found him and they said to him, “Everybody is looking for you!” 38And he said to them, “Let us go elsewhere into the nearby country towns, so that I might preach there as well. Because it was for this that I went forth.” 39And he went into all of Galilee preaching in their synagogues and casting out the demons.

    — Mark 1:29-39 (taken from my TFBV project)

    The gospel of Mark introduces Jesus in a whirlwind from his first appearance through his baptism and into ministry. In fact, the entire book of Mark runs at a very fast pace. It’s easy to miss the depth of what’s going on.

    I often hear pastors and evangelists wondering how they should test their ministry. What tells them that they are proclaiming the right message and doing the right things? Well, that can be a big question and the answer might differ greatly from person to person. After all, there is a lot of service that needs done to people, from education to emergency disaster assistance. A wide variety of things can be keys to good ministry.

    But consider our passage today. I see three elements to the activity of Jesus, and an interesting reaction on the part of the crowds. The three actions are:

    • Healing
      Wherever Jesus went he brought healing. It seemed to come naturally to him. I think the first question to ask when testing one’s own ministry to others is simply this: Is it bring healing, spiritual and/or physical? Sometimes we’ll find that in our attempts to help other people we’re actually leaving injured people behind us. I’m often told that the gospel offends, and indeed there are those who are offending by a free gift of salvation. But much, much more often people are offending because those who proclaim and carry out the ministry behave in an offensive way. If there is offense, make sure the offense is because of the good news, and not because of “bad news you!”
    • Demons cast out
      Now I’m not suggesting that everyone’s ministry needs to include exorcisms, at least in the traditional sense. But your ministry needs to push out evil, and allow good to grow. It should cast out ignorance, and let true knowledge increase. I notice that in Mark Jesus doesn’t seem to go out of his way to cast out demons. They just keep popping up and getting in his way, and he promptly chases them off. Are you doing so much good that evil is just naturally driven away?
    • Proclamation
      Yes, Jesus actively claimed that the kingdom of God was near. He proclaimed the message. It’s very easy to get an unbalanced ministry. On the one hand we can do good so quietly that nobody else has an opportunity to join in. On the other hand we can spend so much time proclaiming that we have little time to do. A balanced, Christ-like ministry proclaims enough to bring people on board and keep the ministry going, but not so much that one can’t help but be a hypocrite–so much has been claimed that nobody can possibly live up to it.

    And what was the result of this? When Jesus went away for some rest, the people were looking for him. How many of those of us in Christian ministry experience this particular problem? I know some who do, but not that many. Often we’re working hard to try to drag people in to listen to us. The example of Jesus was that when ministry was taking place the demons fled, but the people flocked in to hear. That is how attractive we should make our lives and activities.