"live with your wives in an understanding way" -- 1 Peter 3:7

In popular culture I have encountered a phrase that people use to justify a divorce, "we just grew apart." The phrase usually indicates that no guilt and no responsibility should be attributed for the breakup of the marriage. The couple could not help it. It was just the natural course of life that we just "grew" or "drifted" apart.

In our men's study I am preparing to lead the group through 1st Peter 3. The apostle Peter in verse 3:7 lays the responsibility on the man for keeping the marriage together.

1 Peter 3:7
Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered. (ESV)

Notice the italicized part. Men are to "understand" or "know" their wives. A man's prayer life and his relationship with God depends on how he well he knows his wife and shows honor to her in light of that knowledge. Obviously, Peter wants to stress that living with our wives in an understanding way is very important to our spiritual lives.

To set the context, let us look at the very first phrase of the verse, "likewise, husbands" or "In the same way, husbands,". The husband's way is like the wife's path. "Likewise" is also used in verse 3:1 and is directed to the wives. This "likewise" points back Peter's instruction to the slaves in chapter 2. The way of Christ for husbands is the same as the path for wives and the way of Christ for wives is the same as the path for slaves: all of them are to humbly walk out their devotion to Christ by showing respect and loving everyone in the household.

George Clowney
Husbands, in the same way… The path of Christian living is no different for the husband than for the wife. Both are called to follow Christ in humble and compassionate love, accepting rebuffs with forgiving grace (3:8-9). Since the husband’s role is different, the form of his service is different. The wife is called to be submissive to her husband; the husband is called to honour his wife. That honour includes considerate understanding. (The Message of 1 Peter: The Way of the Cross, pp. 133)

The next phrase "in an understanding way" is interesting. It means a husband needs to know his wife. He must study her needs and wants. He must study in the Scriptures to see what God wants for his wife. The husband needs to figure out how to help his wife grow in the knowledge of Christ. How this principle works itself out in every marriage will be different. However, getting to know one's spouse takes time. It may mean finding activities to do with your wife that you both enjoy. Husbands will never fully know their wives or lead their wives perfectly. However, honoring this command involves a deliberate choice of resources of time and energy. A wise farmer who was an elder of my church once advised me that a porch swing could be the best marriage counselor. Just setting aside and spending time with your spouse is key.

George Clowney
The husband is to live with his wife considerately, literally ‘according to knowledge’. The expression describing their living together is not limited to sexual intimacy, but it has particular reference to it. In all their life together, and particularly in their sexual union, the husband is to relate to his wife ‘according to knowledge’. Does Peter mean knowledge of the wife, or the knowledge of God and his calling? The close connection with the description of the wife as the weaker partner favours the specific sense: the husband must dwell with wife as one who knows her needs, who recognizes the delicacy of her nature and feelings.
(The Message of 1 Peter: The Way of the Cross, pp. 133-134)

The apostle Paul wrote the sacrifices husbands must make for their marriage.

Ephesians 5:25
Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, (ESV)

I would like to think most husbands would lay down lives for their wives. Men should be willing to take a bullet intended for their wives, but Paul in Ephesians 5 intended more than an one-time sacrifice. Husbands are to daily give up their time and resources to study their wives in order to show love to them. This is not easy. Some men find it easier and less stressful to work overtime or listen to the game alone in the garage or drink a beer with friends at a bar. Family life can be difficult and messy. However, the joy of loving serving Christ with one's spouse through marriage will grow and outlast all these temporal pleasures.

Nazareth and Nazarene in Matthew 2:23

Matthew 2:23
And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene. (ESV)

I have always been curious about this verse. I can think of no prophecy in the Old Testament which calls Jesus a Nazarene. Commentators give widely different explanations as to what Matthew meant. As I look at this verse, I am reminded of C. S. Lewis's admonition of the need to understand literature in its historical context.

C. S. Lewis:
A man who read the literature of the past with no allowance at all for the fact that manners, thought, and sentiment have changed since it was written, would make the maddest work of it.
(Studies in Medieval Literature, 'DE AUDIENDIS POETS', p. 1)

A verse like Matthew 2:23 challenges our thinking about how the first century New Testaments writers did hermenuetics. One view of the verse is given by George Bray in his book on Historical Theology:

George Bray
The Nazirites were members of a strict Jewish sect, and the word has nothing to do with Nazareth. But "Nazirite" sounds like "Nazarene," and that was enough to permit this kind of word play, which was very common among the rabbis. Furthermore, there are other, more substantial similarities between the two stories. Like Manoah and his wife, Mary was visited by an angel who told her that she would bear a son, who would also save Israel from its enemies. Samson, the son of Manoah, was certainly not the promise Messiah, but as a judge of Israel he was a prototype of the Saviour who was to come and he is mentioned in the list of the great heroes of faith in Hebrews 11. The fact that Jesus succeeded where Samson failed was further proof that the two men were connected because the Old Testament was interpreted as a record of Israel's failure to achieve what only the Messiah could do. Christ therefore fulfilled the promise made concerning Samson just as much as he fulfilled those made to Abraham and Moses. A verse that appears to be mistaken in linking "Nazarene" to "Nazirite" turns out to have a profound theological meaning provides a good example of how the early Christians found Christ in all the Scriptures, as he taught them to do.
(God Has Spoken: A History of Christian Theology, pp. 46-47)

Here is the relevant passage on Samson in Judges:

Judges 13:2–5
There was a certain man of Zorah, of the tribe of the Danites, whose name was Manoah. And his wife was barren and had no children. And the angel of the LORD appeared to the woman and said to her, “Behold, you are barren and have not borne children, but you shall conceive and bear a son. Therefore be careful and drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, for behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. No razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb, and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.” (ESV)

The parallel events between Samson's story Jesus's story are remarkable. Both are destined to their role in history before they were born. Both were to be "deliverers of Israel". Both accomplished their task in their death. Samson killed the Philistine leadership by bringing down the building where he and his captors were standing. Christ conquered Satan and death through His death on the Cross. Notice that both men had their arms outstretched in death. In Bray's explanation, Matthew intended his audience to draw these parallels and gained insights into Jesus's life and death and perhaps, Matthew intended his readers to glory in how every page in the Old Testament points to Jesus. (Luke 24:27).

A different approach to interpreting Matthew 2:23 is by Bible scholar, Stanley D. Toussaint in his commentary on Matthew. His explanation is as follows:

Stanley D. Toussaint
A third view is more plausible. It looks at the Old Testament prophecies of reproach such as Psalm 22:6-9 and Isaiah 53 as being summed up in the title Nazarene. "To be called a Nazarene was to be spoken of as despicable.". Matthew is pointing to those prophecies in the Old Testament which portray the Messiah as rejected and despised and claiming their fullment in the fact that Jesus is reared at Nazareth. Israel's feeling of contempt for their King is indicated by this verse and is proven by the chapter which Matthew has just written. (Behold the King: A Study of Matthew, p. 57)

If we accept this explanation, we gain more understanding of the passage by seeing how Matthew and his audience in the first century understood the word, "Nazarene".

There are more explanations for this strange verse, but these two theories are my favorite and they are not mutually exclusive. Both views may be wrong, but the effort in considering the verse within its historical and theological context is not wasted. I consider this kind of research a form of meditation. Samson, is a type of Christ, in his way and the parallels are worth our meditation. The term "nazarene" is an insult and how Christ suffered such abuse in his life is worth remembering. Just by double-checking these explanations and cross-referencing the ideas with other passages, we are spending time meditating on the life of Christ.

Samson and Israel

The story of Samson in the book of Judges 13-16 has interesting parallels with the experience of the nation of Israel. The author/Author of Judges picked events in Samson's life that would have instructed the people of Israel of the folly of their idolatry and the wisdom of God's sovereignty. I have listed some of the parallels in the table below.

Samson/Israel Comparison
	Samson	Israel
Divine Calling	Judges 13:1-7	Exodus 19:6; Deut. 4:20; Hosea 11:1
Military Success through Divine Help	Judges 14:1; Judges 16:1	Exodus 15, Joshua 6; Joshua 6:20; 8:26; etc.
Disobedient to Calling through Adultery/Idolatry	Judges 14:1; Judges 16:1	Judges 2:11, 17: 1 Kings 9:9; Daniel 9:15
Failure due to Divine Judgment	Judges 16:20	Judges 4:1, 17: 1 Kings 9:9; Daniel 9:15
Water from Rock	Judges 15:18-19	Exodus 17:5-7; Numbers 20:11
God's purposes will be accomplished despite our faithlessness	Judges 16:28-31	Jeremiah 30:18-22; Zechariah 8:34

Divine Calling

Both Israel and Samson were called to fulfill a particular role. Samson was called to be a a "Nazirite" from birth and was destined to "begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines." (Judges 13:6)

Israel, based on covenant promises to its forbears, was called to be a "kingdom of priests and a holy nation" (Exodus 19:6).

Military Successes through Divine Help

The "Spirit of the Lord rushed upon Samson" 3 times before battle (Judges 14:5, 19; 15:14). Samson called upon the Lord for help (Judges 15:18; 16:29). God uses Samson's sinful desires to further God's own purposes (14:4)

God delivered Israel from Egypt and defeated Pharoah's army at the Red Sea (Exodus 15). Israel through God's help defeated the Amalekites (Exodus 17:12-14), conquered Jericho (Joshua 6), conquered AI (Joshua 8), and won the battle of the 5 kings at Gibeon (Joshua 10), etc.

Disobedient to Calling through Adultery/Idolatry

The book of Judges ties the concept of idolatry with infidelity in Judges 2:17, "Yet they did not listen to their judges, for they whored after other gods and bowed down to them."

Samson committed many sins and was never fully devoted to any person but himself. His main obsession was Philistine woman, which was a sin (Judges 14:3). He desired to marry a daughter of the Philistines (Judges 14:1), he "went into a prostitute" (16:1), and lived in sin with Delilah who was a Philistine. (Judges 16).

Israel committed idolatry by serving Baal and other gods is mentioned over and over again (2:11, 17, 3:7, 8:33, etc).

Water from the Rock

Samson after a battle where he killed a 1,000 men with a jawbone of a donkey, called upon the Lord to allow him to quench his thirst. "And God split open the hollow place." (Judges 15:19).

Twice, Israel quarreled with Moses about being thirsty and God had Moses strike the rock and water came out. (Exodus 17:1-7; Numbers 20:11).

God's purposes will be accomplished despite our faithlessness

God humbled Samson through the Philistines. Because of Samson's hubris, the Philistines were able to capture him, gouge out his eyes, imprison and humiliate him. God allowed Samson to fulfill his office as a judge of Israel (Judges 15:20, 16:31) to get revenge in Samson's death and "So the dead whom he had killed at his death was more than those whom he had killed during his life." (Judges 16:30).

God promises throughout scripture that he will gather Israel and Judah to be His kingdom of priests. In Zechariah 8:22, that "Many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem and to entreat the favor of the Lord." The "Lord says" in Jeremiah 30:18-22 that he will restore Israel and make them prosper. He ends the prophesy with the promise, "And you shall be my people and I will be your God" (Jer. 30:22)

Observations

• The story of Samson is written for our benefit (Hebrews 11:32-34). The author/Author of Judges wanted Israel to take heed of Samson's life of folly. The people of Israel were guilty of many of the same sins of Samson. The narratives were selected from the life of Samson, I think, to emphasize these parallels. Our Christian life has many parallels with Samson as well. We need to take heed of Samson's experiences.
  
• Take comfort that good and bad leaders are under God's control. (Proverbs 21:1). Every decision Samson made was for his own self interest. However, God's purpose for Samson that "he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines" (13:5) was fulfilled. God accomplished His purpose through and in spite of Samson's selfishness. (Judges 16:30)
  
• Joy comes through sincere obedience to God's commands. Samson lived for himself and lived a very tragic life. He was betrayed several times. He lost his fiancee (Judges 15:1-2). He died as a prisoner with his eyes gouged out. Samson may have suffered just as much if he pursued God wholeheartedly, but he would have seen his suffering was bringing him closer to God (Romans 5:3; James 1:2);
• Do not murmur about our leaders: both spiritual and governmental (1 Cor. 10:6-11). We need to keep some truths in mind. First, how God works through our choices and circumstances is a mystery. Second, God's purposes will prevail no matter what decisions we make. Third, God raises up certain leaders and brings down others (Ps. 75:6; Dan. 2:21). How and why God does this is not revealed to us. Fourth, we are to honor our government leaders (Romans 13:1-7; 1 Timothy 2:1-15; 1 Peter 2:17). Therefore, when we grumble and murmur about leaders, we grumble and murmur against God.

Take every thought captive:

I have been meditating on the phrase "Take every thought captive" and how people use the phrase. The phrase is part of a verse in 2nd Corinthians.

2 Corinthians 10:1-6
I, Paul, myself entreat you, by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—I who am humble when face to face with you, but bold toward you when I am away!— 2 I beg of you that when I am present I may not have to show boldness with such confidence as I count on showing against some who suspect us of walking according to the flesh. 3 For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, 6 being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.

I had a conversation with someone about this passage. He took the phrase "take every thought captive to obey Christ" to mean to not entertain negative thoughts but focus on positive thoughts. Other Christians use it to encourage themselves to combat temptation. When they become aware of an evil thought, they pray about it and confess it. This may be a good activity, but is this what Paul meant when he wrote this passage to the Corintian church? Years ago I read a biography of Martin Luther which gave me reason to question this interpretation of the verse.

Every Thought

Martin Luther's early life was not easy: he lived as a monk in a monastery. Luther was well aware of his sins and the holiness of God. To keep his sanity, he relied on the sacrament of confession. He would confess every sin and sinful thought to the priests until the priests were worn out. He would also confess his sins directly to God.

Roland Bainton
But Luther's question was not whether his sins were big or little, but whether they had been confessed. The great difficulty which he encountered was to be sure everything had been recalled. He learned from experience the cleverness of memory in protecting the ego, and he was frightened when after six hours of confessing he could still go out and think of something else which had eluded his most consceintious scrutiny. ^[1]

If we conscientously strived to take "every thought captive" as I described above, our Christian walk would be like Luther's experience: the more we focus on our inner life, the more we concentrate on sinful thoughts, the more sinful thoughts we would uncover. We have to ask ourselves, is this what Paul intended for us to do? Are we to continually focus inward instead of focusing upward toward God? This weight of sin is one of the burdens that Luther was set free from when he discovered that "salvation was by faith alone". Confessing our sin is good but our salvation is dependent on God's grace and not ourselves.

The Context

If "taking every thought captive" does not mean controlling one's inner thought life, what does it mean? To understand Paul's intention for the passage, we have to determine the context. Paul is writing to the Corinthian church, obviously. However, in this section, Paul seems to be warning in verse 2 that he is planning to show boldness against some of the audience who "suspect us of walking according to the flesh." There are some believers, a subset at the Corinthians church, who question Paul's motives, methodology and apostleship.

Another question to help us to determine context  is "why did Paul switch from first person singular in verse 1 to first person plural in verse 2 (from "me" to "us")? In other words, who is the 'We' in "We destroy arguments..."? To answer that question, let us look at verses 3 and 4. In these verses 3-4, Paul uses an elaborate war metaphor to warn the Corinthians about certain aspects of his ministry: he is planning to visit Corinth and those who oppose him should be wary because of the weapons he [they] may use. Paul and his team use spiritual weapons and not weapons of the flesh.

Divine Powers

1. destroy strongholds
2. destroy arguments
3. destroy every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God
4. take every thought captive to obey Christ
5. being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete

First, the first question we need to ask, "Does every Christian have all these divine powers?" Does the "we" in these verses mean every Christian? I can twist the meaning of "take every thought captive" to be something I could do, but did God gift me to destroy strongholds, arguments, and every lofty opinion? I am an elder in a local church whose location is in a college town. I know I can't articulate good arguments against "every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God". Since Paul is talking to the first person, I am thinking the "we" his talking about is the apostles, or even more likely, his ministry team (i.e. Titus and Timothy).

More evidence is that Paul and his team are planning to go to war against this oppositional sect is found a little further on in the passage:

2nd Corinthians 10:8
For even if I boast a little too much of our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for destroying you, I will not be ashamed

Paul is coming on strong in verses 5 and 6 and he is stressing that his authority over them is given to him and his team ultimately to build them up and not just to punish them.

Therefore, since we have "us versus them" scenario, Paul is indicating that if the oppositional sect in the Corinthian church does not give up their questioning of his authority, Paul will come after them with every spiritual weapon in his arsenal. The power of "taking every thought captive" is one of them. It is not something Paul was doing in his own mind, but is going to do to the obstinate Corinthians.

Taken

Let me illustrate what Paul is doing in the passage with Liam Neeson's character, "Bryan Mills", in the movie, Taken. Mills is a a retired, highly trained intelligence officer with years of experience in international missions. His daughter is being kidnapped. Mills talks to one of the the kidnappers on Mills's daughter's phone during the kidnapping. Mills states matter of factly, "But what I do have are a very particular set of skills, skills I have acquired over a very long career." He is using the indicative mode: Mills is telling the kidnapper facts. Mills is alerting the kidnapper that he has skills that the kidnapper does not have. Mills implying he will be able to find and punish the kidnapper if he does not let his daughter go. Paul, likewise, is not telling the Corinthians that we as Christians all have these particular ministeries or powers. Paul is telling the Corinthians that he is coming to clean house theologically with a particular set of specialized skills. Those who oppose him will be vanquished and will face punishment

Vocabulary

The next step in determining the meaning of the passage is to take a closer look at some key words in the passage: "Take Captive", "Thought", and the phrase, "when your obedience is fulfulled".

Take Captive

"take captive" or "αἰχμαλωτίζοντες", according to my linguistic key, is a present, active, participle. The key defines it as "to take one captive w. a spear, to bring into captivity, to bring into subjection. The pres. tense points to the continual struggle and warfare."^[2] This participle is not a command, but a statement of fact. The mode of the participle supports my argument that Paul is doing what the Bryan Mills character did in Taken. Paul is making a statement about his team's ministry: he is trying to intimidate them into obedience and respect, but he is not commanding the Corinthians to do anything.

Thought -- νόημα

My linguistic key has the following: "νόημα thought, purpose, design (s. 2 Cor. 3:14).^[3]"

Paul Barnett comments on "every thought"
With this image Paul the victor takes "every thought" captive and brings it in obedience to Christ. The "capture" of "every thought" appears to be closely related to the "reckonings" (of his local detractors?) that he "pulls down."

This captive-taking stage of the siege metaphor is a striking image for the apostle-minister as a military general who takes fortified rebels captive and brings them into submissive obedience to Christ. This is a highly figurative way of saying, "We...preach Jesus Christ as Lord (4:5) as well as--and with no contradiction--"We preach Christ crucified (1 Cor 1:23), the other side of the paradox of Christ. In v. 1 Christ is "meek...gentle...[humble]"; here Christ is a conquering king to whom prisoners are brought.

Although this is capable of application to his ministry in general, Paul probably has in mind his prospective relationships with the Corinthians in particular. This emerges from the next verse, when the image of obedience is pursued but in a context referring to Paul's planned return to Corinth and the discipline that he hopes he will not have to exercise (v. 2; cf. 12:20-21).^[4]

... when your obedience is fulfilled.

The next key phrase about the context of this passage is determining what verse 10:6 means. Hodge points out the Paul is willing to dispense discipline on his next trip. Hodge gives verse 6 its context:

Charles Hodge on 10:6
What was the nature of punishment which he threatened, he does not intimate. It may be that he purposed nothing more than excommunication. The fact, however, that the apostles were armed with supernatural power, that they exercised that power for the punishment of offenders, 1 Cor. 5, 5. I Tim. 1, 20, and the whole tone of the passage are in favour of the assumption that Paul was determined to use all the means at his command to suppress the insolence, and to destroy the power of the corrupters of the truth in Corinth. He gives what he had said a special application by adding, when your obedience is fullfilled. That is, he would not resort to severity until all other means had failed, and until it had become fully manifest who among the Corinthians would submit to God, and who would persist in their disobedience.^[5]

Conclusion

First, I am not saying we should we should stop praying for forgiveness when we have sinful thoughts. However, I am asserting this passage is about apostolic authority over the Church members and not about our personal thought lives. The passage is about humility and submission to authority. There are other passages about how we ought to think (e.g. Phil. 4:8). Notice how the verse in Phillippians is God-centered and not sin centered. Since the 1st Corinthians passage is about Paul's apostolic authority, we can conclude that the passage is about how the Bible is authoritative in our lives. Paul was combating believers who thought they were super spiritual. They were listening to other (false) teachers (see 1 Cor. 4). They felt they could disregard Paul because of his appearance and lack of rhetorical skills. If the "we" means, apostles/pastors/teachers that God has gifted with authority over the local church to teach the church, then we need humbly to submit to their teaching.

Applications

The passage is about authority and submission within the church. We must seek to be humble both in following our leaders and in our leading as leadership.

1. Humbly Study the Word. We need to do more than just do a daily reading. We need to find ways to understand the arguments and historical context of the epistles like 1st and 2nd Corinthians.To tear down strongholds, we need to understand how God instructed Paul to do it in the first century. We must humbly seek to apply our whole minds to the study of Scripture and humbly submit our thoughts to its teaching.
2. Humbly Submit to Church Leadership. Some of the members of the Corinthian Church listened to false teachers rather than Paul. In our day we have podcasts, TV shows, books and innumerable forms of media that spread false teaching. We need to submit to the leadership of the local church. Our leaders are not apostles and we can question them like the Bereans questioned Paul in Acts 17; however, we must question them humbly. If you are in a Church, you should follow the leadership without grumbling or mumbling. There is good teaching in printed and online media, but it needs to be used cautiously.
3. Humbly Lead and Teach. As leaders of a church, we really don't have a moral authority. The Word does. In counseling, we can advise and encourage using our life experience, but our advice, our exhortation, and our encouragements need to be grounded in the Word. We need to use the Word from the pulpit and in training young leaders. If a member of the flock questions us about a sermon or teaching, we must accept the questions and criticisms humbly. 
4. Argue humbly. If you think someone must have a certain political position then they are not a Christian, please reconsider. If you have used the argument that the Holy Spirit has given you special insight, you are being super spiritual like the Corinthians. Please go home, lock yourself into your figurative prayer closet, and pray for forgiveness. 
5. Confess humbly. I want to reiterate 1 John 1:9 is a command. I fully support confessing one's sin. The apostle John was battling "super christians" as well, but they thought they were without sin. Your confession should turn your focus back to God.

^[1]Roland Bainton, Here I Stand, p. 55 (Go Back)

^[2]Fritz Rienecker, Translated by Cleon L. Rodgers, Jr., A Linguistic Key to the New Testament: Volume 2, p. 140 (Go Back)

^[3]ibid (Go Back)

^[4]Paul Barnett, The New International Commentary on the Second Epistles to the Corinthians, p. 466 (Go Back)

^[5]Charles Hodge, A Commentary on 1st and 2nd Corinthians, p. 613 (Go Back)

C. S. Lewis and Total Depravity

I have a very narrow focus for this blog: it is to show how C. S. Lewis describes "Total Depravity" in his writings does not match how Calvinists (Reformed Theologians) define "Total Depravity". This blog's purpose is not to argue whether C. S. Lewis is an Arminian or a Calvinist. I am not claiming anything about whether C. S. Lewis is saved or not. I am not trying to persuade the reader whether his idea of "Human Wickedness" as defined in the The Problem of Pain is actually close to the Reformed definition of "Total Depravity." I am just trying to show how Lewis understood "Total Depravity" is different from the Calvinists' definition.

Lewis wrote much about "Total Depravity." In all his arguments concerning "Reason", he touches on "Total Depravity" tangentially. In order to keep the blog short, I focused on the statements where he specified the doctrine by name. I used an index of his works and these are the quotes I could find.

The Problem of Pain

The doctrine of Total Depravity--when the consequence is drawn that, since we are totally depraved, our idea of good is worth simply nothing--may thus turn Christianity into a form of devil worship. (p. 29)

This chapter [Human Wickedness] will have been misunderstood if anyone describes it as a reinstatement of the doctrine of Total Depravity. I disbelieve that doctrine, partly on the logical ground that if our depravity were total we should not know ourselves to be depraved, and partly because expereince shows us much goodness in human nature.(p. 61) [brackets mine]

God in the Dock

C. S. Lewis commenting on the danger of cruelty being the result of self-loathing:

Even Christians, if they accept in certain forms the doctrine of total depravity, are not always free from the danger. (p. 194, "Two Ways With the Self")

Christian Reflections

C. S Lewis to the Editor of Theology, (It was a response to Mr Bethell's Letter to the Editor):

(2) That my position 'logically implies...total depravity' I deny simply. How any logician could derive the proposition 'Human nature is totally depraved' from the proposition 'Cultural activities do not in themselves improve our spiritual condition', I cannot undertstand. Even if I had said (which I did not), 'Man's aesthetic nature is totally depraved,' no one could infer 'Man's whole nature is totally depraved' without a glaring transference from secundum quid to simplicitir. I put it to Mr Bethell that he has used 'logically implies' to mean 'may without gross uncharity rouse the suspicion of'--and that he ought not to use words that way. (Christian Reflections, pp. 25-26)

The Reformed Doctrine of Total Depravity

Charles Ryrie
Negatively, the concept of total depravity does not mean a) that every person has exhibited his depravity as thoroughly as he or she could; (b) that sinners do not have a conscience or a "native induction" concerning God' (c) that sinners will indulge in every form of sin; or (d) that depraved people do not perform actions that are good in the sight of others and even in the sight of God.

Positively, total depravity means (a) that corruption extends to every facet of man's nature and faculties; and (b) that there is is nothing in anyone that commend him to a righteous God.

Total depravity must always be measured against God's holiness. Relative goodness exists in people. They can do good works, which are appreciated by others. But nothing that anyone can do will gain salvational merit or favor in the sight of a holy God. (p. 253, Basic Theology)

J. I. Packer
The phrase total depravity is commonly used to make explicit the implications of original sin. It signifies a corruption of our moral and spiritual nature that is total not in degree (for no one is as bad as he or she might be) but in extent. It declares that no part of us is untouched by sin, and therefore no action of ours is as good as it should be, and consequently nothing in us or about us ever appears meritorious in God's eyes. We cannot earn God's favor, no matter what we do; unless grace saves us, we are lost.

Total depravity entails total inability, that is, the state of not having it in oneself to respond to God and his Word in a sincere and wholehearted way (John 6:44; Rom. 8:7-8). Paul calls this unresponsiveness of the fallen heart a state of death (Eph. 2:1, 5; Col. 2:13), and the Westminster Confession says: "Man by his fall into a state of sin, hath wholly lost all ability of will to any spiritual good accompanying salvation; so as a natural man, being altogether averse from that good, and dead in sin, is not able by his own strength to convert himself, or to prepare himself thereunto" (Concise Theology, IX. 3).

Conclusion

"Total Depravity" is a misnomer in a certain sense. Total depravity does not mean we all are bad and corrupted as we could be. It asserts we have consciences, although tainted by sin, that still recognize moral choices. Our consciences still convict us concerning our sin. Our reason, according to total depravity, is tainted by sin, but still exists in some form. Some people realize how corrupt they are. People still do incredible acts of love and kindness for one another. Men and women still build culture and the arts.

Packer and Lewis do agree in other areas. Lewis wrote in his response to Mr. Bethell, "Cultural activities do not in themselves improve our spiritual condition". Only repenting of our sin and placing our trust in Christ's work on the cross puts us in fellowship with God.

C. S. Lewis, Allegory, and the Church

C. S. Lewis

"The difference between the two [allegorist and symbolist] can hardly be exaggerated. The allegorist leaves the given--his own passions--to talk of that which is confessedly less real, which is a fiction. The symbolist leaves the given to find that which is more real. To put the difference in another way, for the symbolist it is we who are the allegory. We are the 'frigid personifications'; the heavens above us are the 'shadowy abstractions'; the world which we mistake for reality is the flat outline of what that which elsewhere veritably is in all the round of its unimaginable dimensions."

(The Allegory of Love, p.45)

This Lewis quote started me thinking about allegory and symbolism and how we are the allegory. First, let us flesh out the quote with an example of a symbol and an allegory. The American flag is a symbol. Each color and pattern on the flag represents something else. For example, the fifty stars represent all fifty states and the 13 rows of stripes represent the original 13 colonies. The people who created the flag were symbolists. When we look upon the flag, we leave the less real to think about the reality of the United States. Some people think about the sacrifices that they themselves and their kin suffered for freedom. Others think about how far we have to go in order to fulfill the dream of the United States for all her citizens. These things are real. The actual representations using stars and stripes expressed through cloth are less real.

An allegory goes in the opposite direction. John Bunyan, a master allegorist, took his real experiences, temptations, and feelings as a Christian and turned them into a fictional story, Pilgrim's Progress. Bunyan's protoganist, Christian, encounters companions like "Faithful" and "Evangelist". He faces enemies like Apollyon and the giant Despair. The story is designed to be an encouragement to the everyday Christian. The story and characters are less real than Bunyan's experiences.

When we look in the Bible we see glimmers how God used historical practices to represent something more real: the Old Testament Law and Practices are a down payment for the promises of the New Testament. The following verses show how the New Testament writers used the metaphor of "shadow" to explain how the Old Testament practices pointed to a deeper reality of Christ's ministry: His life, the Church, His offices (priest, prophet, king).

Colossians 2:16,17
16 Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. 17 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.

Hebrews 8:5
They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, “See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.” 6 But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises.

Hebrews 10:1
For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near.

The following passage in Ephesians expresses something about the purpose of the Church in the present age. We see this same pattern in the New Testament that God used in the Old Testament: God is using the Church to express the deeper realities about His manifold Wisdom.

Ephesians 3:7-10
7 Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace, which was given me by the working of his power. 8 To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9 and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things, 10 so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places

Notice the italicized passage. The universal church, the believers throughout the ages, is supposed to "make known" the "manifold wisdom of God." Look again to Lewis's explanation of the allegorist: "one leaves the given". The given in this case is the "manifold of wisdom of God." The second part is "to talk of that which is less real." The church and the believers who are the church are less real than God's Wisdom. God the allegorist is using the Church as an allegory to express the foundational reality of His maniford wisom to the rulers and authorities. We are the "shadowy abstractions" and "the frigid personifications" pointing to the ultimate and deeper realities of God.

Application

First, humankind is not the center of the universe. Life is not about us. God is the center. The chief end of men and women, according to the Westminster Shorter Catechism, is to worship God and enjoy him forever. God uses his Church to manifest his Wisdom. We are the allegory that expresses the deeper realities of God to the authorities and powers. The more we serve and love God through the Church, the more we fulfill the purpose God has for us.

Second, the Church is the expression of the manifold Wisdom of God. It is not individual believers. The whole of Ephesians is about the unity, structure, and purpose of the Church. God never intended individual believers to function properly without being involved in the local church. How the local churches look and function may look different from age to age and culture to culture, but "Lone Ranger" believers is not how God is working in this age.

Third, our present lives are not our ultimate reality. They are just a shadow of our future life with God. "The sufferings of this present time," as Paul wrote in Romans 8:18, "are not worth comparing to the glory to be revealed." Purified from our sin, we will become who we were intended to be. The church will become the bride of Christ. The glimpses of God's love in this present age through fellowship, through worship, through prayer, through serving, through our obedience, and through His Word are just the slightest glimmer of our life with God in eternity. As Lewis puts it elsewhere, these are but the shadowlands.

The Last Battle
"There was a real railway accident," sad Aslan softly. "Your father and mother and all of you are--as you used to call it in the Shadow-Lands--dead. The term is over: the holidays have begun. The dream is ended: this is the morning."

And as He spoke He no longer looked to them like a lion; but the things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them. And for us this is the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story, which no one on earth has read: which goes on for ever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.

First Thessalonians 3:11-13: A Prayer to Increase and Abound in Love

First Thessalonians 3:11-13

Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you, and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.

Introduction

This prayer in First Thessalonians caught my attention last week when I heard a sermon preached on it. The prayer is interesting in how it tied "increase and abound in love" to "establishing (strengthening) our hearts" to "blameless in holiness" to the "coming of our Lord Jesus." From my commentaries, I was hoping some scholar would trace the connections between love, holiness, strengthening, and the parousia. The search was encouraging. Here are some notes I gathered some from some commentaries.

On “clear the way” or “direct your way”

The fact that Jesus is God is further highlighted by Paul’s use of singular verb (trans. “clear”) with a plural subject: “may He clear the way, even the Father and Jesus,” and “may They clear the way.”” One can hardly conceive of a stronger way for Paul to indicate his unquestioning acceptance of the lordship of Jesus and His oneness with the Father” (D. Emond Hiebert, The Thessalonian Epistles, p. 154) (Thomas L. Constable, Bible Knowledge Commentary, p. 699)

On “may the Lord make you increase and abound in love”

The Thessalonians were already noted for their love, but Paul prayed that it might abound—increase (pleonasai) and overflow (perisseusai)—even more. “Genuine Christian love … is the one thing in the Christian life which cannot be carried to excess” (Hiebert, The Thessalonian Epistles, p. 155). The image of love overflowing its container suggests that Christian love is something that wells up from within a person naturally. (Thomas L. Constable, Bible Knowledge Commentary, p. 700)

On “establish your hearts” or “strengthen your hearts”

The abounding for which he prays is in order that the Thessalonians may be unshaken even at the second coming … The prayer here is that God will so supply the needed buttress that the Thessalonians will remain firm and unmoved whatever the future may hold … Paul longs to see his converts delivered from all such instability. He prays that they may have such a sure basis in love that they will be delivered from all this sort of thing. If God gives them this good gift, he will establish their whole personality.
(Leon Morris, The First and Second Epistles to the Thessalonians, p. 110)

On “blameless in holiness”

But the thought is not exclusively ethical. The apostle goes on to bring in the notion of holiness, in which the basic idea is that of being set apart for God. Paul’s word is one that signifies the state rather than the process. In the Greek Old Testament it is used only of God himself, and in the New Testament it is applied to people in only one other passage (2. Cor. 7:1). Paul leaves no doubt as the wholeheartedness with which the Christian is given over to his Lord. The most usual designation of Christians in the New Testament is simply “the holy ones,” or, as we usually translate it, “the saints,” the word being from this same root. Believers do simply live uprightly; they belong to God and thus are set apart entirely for God’s services. Paul’s pray is that this may be fully realized among the Thessalonians.
(Leon Morris, The First and Second Epistles to the Thessalonians, p. 110)

The Engraved Christ: Zechariah 3:9

The Introduction

The vision in the third chapter of Zechariah is extremely encouraging. Zechariah is prophesizing to Judah after the return of some of the exiles to Jerusalem. The returned exiles are not making the building of the temple a priority. God gives a vision to Zechariah to encourage Joshua and the people of Israel. God promises that he will establish the priesthood and He is in control. All the promises in this vision are encouraging, but I want to focus on verse 9.

Zechariah 3:9
For behold, on the stone that I have set before Joshua, on a single stone with seven eyes, I will engrave its inscription, declares the LORD of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day.

Earlier in the passage, Joshua, the high priest of the nation is being accused by Satan. His clothing is besmudged and besmirched by sin. God who chose Jerusalem rebukes Satan. He defends Joshua and by extension the returning exiles as his choice. God has plucked Joshua and the exiles from Babylon as a "brand from the fire." (3:2). God has him stripped of his filthy clothes, gives him clean, white clothing, and provides assurances about the future. In verse 9, God sets before Joshua a stone with seven eyes. Since the stone seems to be related to removal of iniquity, the rebuilding of the the temple seems to be in view. Isaiah [Isaiah 28:16] and David [Psalm 118:22] refer to a stone that will establish Israel. The consensus here is that the stone refers to Christ in his priestly office.

The phrase "seven eyes" has many interpretations. The Apostle John in his first vision references seven spirits [Revelation 1:4]. Isaiah mentions the sevenfold fulness of the Holy Spirit given to the Messiah [Isaiah 11:2].The consensus from the several commentaries I checked is the "seven eyes" are the Holy Spirit resting upon Christ during his earthly ministry.

The Definition

What interested me in the passage is how do we interpret the verb "engrave"? The following quote best sums up what the word means:

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
This clause, however, is rather to be regarded as an additional promise. My eyes, I have said, are fixed upon the stone. My hand shall engrave upon it whatever is needed to beautify and fit it for the place of honour it is to hold. The word here used for “engrave” occurs three times in Exodus 28, in the expression “engravings of a signet;” twice of the jewels in the High Priest’s dress (11, 21), once of the golden plate on his mitre (36). It is used, however, of a bolder kind of engraving, more like what would here be contemplated, of “cherubim, lions and palm trees,” on the panels of the “bases,” on which the lavers were set in Solomon’s Temple. (1 Kings 7:36)[1].

Let us put this together. If Christ is the stone and God the Father is engraving the stone to beautify it, what does it mean? It has to be refering to the scars left on Jesus's body from his suffering and crucifixion. Although we see scars as disfigurement, God and Christ sees the scars on Christ's body as a sign of a job well done. They are beautiful beyond all measure because they reflected how Christ bought and purified the Church, his Bride, to himself.

An Illustration

"Bryan Stevenson, a civil rights lawyer and author of Just Mercy, writes of an encounter he had after a speech with a man in a wheelchair:

He leaned foward again and said hoarsely, "you've got to keep beating the drum for justice." He gestured and after a long while said again, "Beat the drum for justice."

He leaned back, and in an instant he seemed tired and out of breath. He looked at me sympathetically and waved me closer. I did so, and he pulled me by the arm and leaned forward. He spoke very quietly, almost a whisper, but with a fierceness that was unforgettable.

"You see this scar on the top of my head?" He tilted his head to show me. "I got that scar in Greene County, Alabama, trying to register to vote in 1964. You see this scar on the side of my head?" He turned his head to the left and I saw a four-inch scar just above his right ear. "I got that scar in Mississippi demanding civil rights."

His voice grew stronger. He tightened his grip on my arm and lowered his head some more. "You see that mark?" There was a dark circle at the base of his skull. "I got that bruise in Birmingham after the Children's Crusade."

He leaned back and looked at me intensely. "People think these are my scars, cuts, and bruises."

For the first time I noticed that his eyes were wet with tears. He placed his hands on his head. "These aren't my scars, cuts, and bruises. These are my medals of honor."
(p. 46)

The world views the "word of the cross as foolishness"[1 Corinthians 1:18] and weakness. However Christians view the cross and Christ's suffering as the highest form of wisdom and an ultimate demonstration of God's power.[1 Corinthians 1:24-25]. Christ's scars, like the civil rights warrior's scars, contribute to his honor and glory.

The Exposition

The Reformed Expository Commentary: Zechariah explains the purpose and the result of the engraving well:

Richard D. Phillips
This probably indicates that God will beautify this stone the way an engraver does. Here we see Christ’s divine character, for what is more lovely than godliness, so eminently revealed in the person of Jesus. Paul says, therefore, that we see “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6). What could be more beautiful! Surely, Christians are not wrong to see this promise of engraving fulfilled especially at the cross, when the marks of thorns and nails and a spear-thrust were etched in Jesus’ flesh. Dave Baron writes, “Beautiful were the gifts and graces which Christ received as a man; but beautiful beyond all beauty must be those glorious scars with which He allowed His whole body to be riven, that throughout the whole frame His love might be engraven.” [2]

Conclusion

In Hebrews 12:2, Christ endured the cross for the "joy set before Him." His joy was that his bride, his church, would be presented to him pure and unblemished. Christ endured suffering and shame to secure our salvation and sanctify us. Later, in the same chapter in Hebrews, Christ is held up as our example to follow. We see Jesus's call to discipleship in the Gospels involves the taking up his cross, "Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." (Matthew 16:24). Our call is to follow Jesus through suffering into glory.

We, followers of Christ, are tied to Christ's suffering in a deeper sense. The Bible ties our current suffering to our future glory. In Romans 8:16-17, Paul writes of suffering as being bound to our future as fellow heirs with Christ. In 2nd Corinthians 8:16-17, Paul wrote that our current suffering is not worth comparing to the "eternal weight of glory" being prepared for us. The apostle Peter wrote that we should rejoice when we share Christ's suffering, so that "we may rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed." (1 Peter 4:13). If we are Christians, then we should expect suffering and be glad when we share Christ's sufferings because they assure us of our future with Christ.

Another observation, in John 20:27, after his resurrection, Jesus told Thomas to touch his scars. Jesus kept his scars in his glorified body. The world may see scars as disfigurement, but God sees the scars on His son's body as beautiful engravings. God's does not belittle the suffering of his children. The scars of our lives point to God's love, wisdom and providence.

Application

• We should behold Christ as he is revealed in the Bible. God, in Zechariah's vision, put Christ's future life and ministry on display so that Joshua (and thus then nation) may take encouragement from it. 
• View suffering as how the Bible views suffering. God has many purposes in allowing us to suffer. We should see the beauty in how God is shaping us for his purposes.
• Don't look at outward appearances. God looks at the inner person and so should we. The scars and wrinkles we have may indicate a life well lived for God's glory. [1 Samuel 16:7], [1 Peter 3:3-4] 

Scriptures

[Isaiah 28:16]
therefore thus says the Lord GOD,
“Behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion,
a stone, a tested stone,
a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation:
‘Whoever believes will not be in haste.’

[Psalm 118:22] The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.

[Revelation 1:4] John to the seven churches that are in Asia:
Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne,

[Isaiah 11:2]
And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.

[Romans 8:16-17]
The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

[2 Corinthians 4:16-18]
So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

[Hebrews 12:2]
looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

[1 Corinthians 1:18]
For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

[1 Corinthians 1:24-25]
but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

[1 Samuel 16:7]
But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart."

[1 Peter 3:3-4]
Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— 4 but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious.

Footnotes

[1] https://biblehub.com/commentaries/zechariah/3-9.htm

[2] p. 82, Zechariah: Reformed Expository Commentary, Richard D. Phillips

Retirement Rubric

This page is a work in progress. It is on ongoing meditation on preparing for retirement.

Current Goals

• Are you planning your retirement?
• Psalms 90:10-12; Proverbs 6:6-8
• Have you planned for providing for yourself and your spouse in retirement?
• 1 Timothy 5:8
• When should you retire?
• How can you better serve God? 
• 1) Retire early and serve God in ministries or
• Philippians 3:12-16 
• 2) Retire later and financially support ministries?
• 3 John 1:5-10
• Have you been committing your plans to the Lord?
• Proverbs 16:3
• Are you getting input from godly advisers?
• Proverbs 15:22
• How do you plan to finish the race with zeal?
• Psalm 71:18; Phil. 1:19-26; Timothy 4:7

Ministry Goals

• Do you have a plan to use your time to glorify god? 
• Are you planning for your comfort or for your service? 
• Are you seeking your own pleasure or pursuing God?
• Will you pursue hobbies and serve God or will you serve God through your hobbies?
• While you are saving for retirement, are you being rich toward God? (Luke 12)
• Are your eyes focused on the promises of Jesus? (Luke 2:25-32)

Financial Goals

• Can you provide for yourself and your wife? 
• Do you have health care paid for? 
• Can you afford funeral expenses?
• Do you have a will?

Quotes

John Piper
"The wasted life is the life without a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples." (Don't Waste Your Life, p. 32)

John Piper
The world is not impressed when Christians get rich and say thanks to God. They are impressed when God is so satisfying that we give our riches away for Christ’s sake and count it gain.
(Don't Waste Your Life, p.68)"

William Gurnall
The believer is to persevere in his Christian course to the end of his life: his work and his life must go off the stage together.
(The Christian in Full Armour(Kindle Edition)

Scripture

Numbers 8:23-26
And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “This applies to the Levites: from twenty-five years old and upward they shall come to do duty in the service of the tent of meeting. And from the age of fifty years they shall withdraw from the duty of the service and serve no more. 26 They minister to their brothers in the tent of meeting by keeping guard, but they shall do no service. Thus shall you do to the Levites in assigning their duties.”

Psalm 71:18
So even to old age and gray hairs,
   O God, do not forsake me,
until I proclaim your might to another generation,
   your power to all those to come.

Psalm 90:10-12
The years of our life are seventy,
   or even by reason of strength eighty;
yet their span is but toil and trouble;
   they are soon gone, and we fly away.
Who considers the power of your anger,
   and your wrath according to the fear of you?
So teach us to number our days
    that we may get a heart of wisdom.

Psalm 92:14-15
14 They [the righteous] still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green, 15 to declare that the LORD is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

Proverbs 6:6-8
Go to the ant, O sluggard;
   consider her ways, and be wise.
Without having any chief,
   officer, or ruler,
she prepares her bread in summer
   and gathers her food in harvest

Proverbs 16:3
Commit your work to the LORD, and your plans will be established.

Proverb 27:23-27
Know well the condition of your flocks,
   and give attention to your herds,
for riches do not last forever;
    and does a crown endure to all generations?
When the grass is gone and the new growth appears
   and the vegetation of the mountains is gathered,
the lambs will provide your clothing,
   and the goats the price of a field.
There will be enough goats' milk for your food,
   for the food of your household
   and maintenance for your girls.

Proverbs 15:22
Without counsel plans fail,
but with many advisers they succeed.

Isaiah 46:4
even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save.

Matthew 6:25-34
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his ispan of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?' For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Luke 2:25-32
Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen bthe Lord's Christ. And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said,

“Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace,
   according to your word;
for my eyes have seen your salvation
   that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
   and for glory to your people Israel.”

Luke 12:13-21
Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?” And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ 18 And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”

Philippian 1:21-26
For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. 23 I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. 25 Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, 26 so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again.

Philippians 3:12-16
Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for othe prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. 16 Only let us hold true to what we have attained.

1 Timothy 5:8
But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

Web Pages

1. www.medicare.gov
2. www.healthcare.gov

Other References

"Living to Work" in Unpopular Opinions by Dorothy L. Sayers

Meditations on 3rd John -- Supporting Missionaries

One of the shortest books of the Bible is 3rd John. This epistle is a letter from the apostle John to a dear friend in a different church. John praises Gaius for supporting missionaries by showing hospitality to them and financially supporting them in their missionary activities.

3 John 5-8
Beloved, it is a faithful thing you do in all your efforts for these brothers, strangers as they are, who testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God. For they have gone out for the sake of the name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles. Therefore we ought to support people like these, that we may be fellow workers for the truth.

John praises Gaius's faithfulness from a good report that some visitors gave at John's church of Gaius's hospitality. These visitors just came from Gaius. John encourages Gaius to continue to show hospitality by sending itinerant missionaries on their way. Sending missionaries on their way in New Testament times meant more than a hearty handshake and a wave goodbye. Coling G. Kruse explains what "sending them on their way" meant in the early church.

The expression 'to send them on their way' translates a form of the verb propempo, which functioned a a technical term for missionary support in the early church (cf. Acts 15:3; 20:38; 21:5; Rom 15:24; 1 Cor 16:6, 11; 2 Cor 1:16; Tit 3:13), and this is also its function here. These people were preachers of the truth as it was heard at the beginning, and so it was appropriate to send them on their way as faithful missionaries 'in a manner worthy of God'. This probably means to send them on their way in a manner befitting those who serve the living God. (The Letters of John, p. 223)

Zane Hodges in the The Bible Knowledge Commentary makes the following observations on verse 8.

But the fact that faithful Christian preachers sought no help from the unsaved meant that Christians were under a special obligation to assist them. By extending the needed help (showing hospitality to such men), Christians such as Gaius could work together for the truth. This last phrase might be better rendered "be fellow workers with the truth" (NASB). The thought is of partnership with what the truth accomplishes in people's hearts and lives. It was a noble objective for Gaius to follow. (p. 913)

I want to make a few observations. First, the apostle John is praising Gaius for not only opening his home for missionaries as they traveled, but also for giving them financial support to help them during their travels and to help them as they ministered. We can conclude that it is not only the local church who supports missionaries through their missionary budget, but individual believers as well. John praises Gaius individually for his support of the missionaries. This support is worthy a responsibility to be taken up for every member of the local church. The giver becomes a fellow worker with the missionary. To use the idiomatic phrase as explained earlier, missionaries and supporters become fellow workers with "The Truth."

Second, this term "fellow worker" is also used several times by Paul as a title of esteem and affection for those who helped him progress the gospel. [1]. The very fact that both Paul and John use this term to honor the people who financially and materially support the missionaries should draw our attention. This honoring by the apostles helps us to realize how important the Bible views missionary support in terms of prayer and material support. It is a effort worthy of praise.

Third, hospitality in the New Testament means more than opening up your house to relatives. Malina, A New Testament scholar writes writes about hospitality,

'might be defined as the process by means of which an outsider's status is changed from stranger to guest.' [2]

Although, in our day and age, we have hotels, inns, B&Bs, and other places where strangers can stay, the command; however, is still effect to show hospitality when called upon by the Church.

Hebrews 13:2
Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.

Romans 12:13
Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality..

[1] Romans 16:3, 9, 21; 1 Corinthians 3:9; 2 Corinthians 8:23; Philippians 2:25; Philemon 1:1, 24

[2] Malina, 'The Received View and What it Cannot Do', p. 181

Truthing It (Comments on Ephesians 4)

Packer and Nystrom have good insight on the phrase in Ephesians, "speaking the truth in love." This phrase is not just telling your friends hard truths in a loving manner. An oversimplified example comes to mind, "I love you, but you have bad breath." It may include that idea of interpersonal boldness in correction or exhortation, but it is a much grander concept.

Here's the passage to provide context.

Ephesians 4:12-16
And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers,to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

J. I. Packer and Carol Nystrom in their book on praying emphasized the need for community in the Christian life. They pointed out to live out the truth you need to be loved and to love others in community.

Praying: Finding our Way through Duty to Delight
First, "speaking the truth" is an unavoidable undertranslation, for the Greek word means expressing and living out the truth in every way possible, and there is no single English word for that. John Stott, following some older commentators, gave "truthing it" as a rendering, coining a new verb to catch the breadth of meaning. (p. 247)

Mike Cosper provides additional support to this idea that "speaking the truth in love" is living out truth in community.

Mike Cosper
Speaking the truth in love” is often understood as saying hard things or dealing with conflict: we “speak the truth in love” when we confront sin or say unpopular things lovingly. According to Peterson, though, “speaking the truth in love” is not so much about interpersonal boldness as it is about a community that shares a confession, a unified expression of faith in the God who saved them. The gathered body teaches the Word and proclaims it together; we speak the truth I love as we sing, read the Scriptures, and remember the gospel together.” (Rhythms of Grace, p. 80)

The Wise and the Sluggard

In my devotions I came across Proverbs 27. Since I am approaching retirement in the not so distant future, the poem about the wise man increasing his wealth seemed very pertinent to me. When I read commentaries on the topic, scholars point out that Proverbs 24 and 27 have parallels and one can learn much by comparing the two poems.

Bruce Waltke
In some ways it [Proverbs 27:23-17] matches the poem that ended Collection IV (24:30-34). Both are five verses that end a collection/section, and both refer somewhat chiastically to a field (24:30; 27:26). Meinhold notes that by placing them together one sees a contrast between the sluggard who neglects the good creation and his inherited field and the wise who, by working in harmony with the good creation, produces the wealth that buys a field. (p. 390, The Book of Proverbs 15-31)

Here are the passages I am meditating upon:

Proverbs 24:30 - 34
I passed by the field of a sluggard,
  by the vineyard of a man lacking sense,
and behold, it was all overgrown with thorns;
  the ground was covered with nettles,
  and its stone wall was broken down.
Then I saw and considered it;
  I looked and received instruction.
A little sleep, a little slumber,
  a little folding of the hands to rest,
and poverty will come upon you like a robber,
  and want like an armed man.

Proverbs 27:23-27
  Know well the condition of your flocks,
 and give attention to your herds,
for riches do not last forever;
 and does a crown endure to all generations?
When the grass is gone and the new growth appears
  and the vegetation of the mountains is gathered,
the lambs will provide your clothing,
  and the goats the price of a field.
There will be enough goats' milk for your food,
  for the food of your household
  and maintenance for your girls.

As we can see, one of the main differences between the wise and the sluggard is attentiveness. The wise person cares for the things God entrusted him. The godly man loves the people for whom he is responsible. Bruce Waltke quotes Van Leeuwen's commentary on Proverbs 27:23:

Our stewardship requires that we know intimately those things, creatures, and persons entrusted to our care (27:23). Governments need to understand the people, the land, and justice. Teachers need to know and love their students and their subjects. Workers and artists need to know their materials and their craft. Pastors...also need to know and tend their flocks. (Waltke, Proverbs 15-31, p. 391, footnote 90.)

God has given everyone the responsibility of stewardship. We are responsible to take care of the things given to us. As a homeowner, I am responsible for the upkeep on my house and property. As a husband and parent, I responsible to love and care for my family. As an elder, I am responsible for those under my care. The word condition in 27:23 is actually the word for "faces" in Hebrew. The shepherd should know the face of every sheep in his flock. Elders should know the condition and status of everyone under his care. These poems in Proverbs indicate that God will care for us (at least in part) through the people, things, and resources that God entrusted us to steward and oversee.

Singlehood and Isaiah

A Christian single has a unique set of challenges. This blog is about only one aspect of singleness. I came across a passage in Isaiah that expressed God's special fondness for singles in his covenant family. One blessing of singleness that the prophesy addresses is highlighted by Absalom's life. In 2 Samuel, David's son Absalom had no children and he wanted a legacy. He wanted his name and deeds to be remembered. However, even if he became king, he had no heir to the throne to takeover. His name and accomplishments would be forgotten. Absalom thought he could not achieve eternal fame so he decided to build a pillar.

2 Samuel 18:18
Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and set up for himself the pillar that is in the King's Valley, for he said, “I have no son to keep my name in remembrance.” He called the pillar after his own name, and it is called Absalom's monument to this day.

This desire to have one's name and accomplishments remembered is strong. It is not sinful. As it reads in Psalm 26:8, God's name and remembrance should be the desire of our heart. The desire to have children to pass on your name and remembrance to future generations is natural. Obviously, God's knows everyone has this desire: both single and married. God told the eunuchs in Isaiah's day, that he is better than sons and daughters to fulfill this need.

Isaiah 56:4-5 ESV
For thus says the LORD:
“To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths,
    who choose the things that please me
    and hold fast my covenant,
I will give in my house and within my walls
  a monument and a name
  better than sons and daughters;
I will give them an everlasting name
  that shall not be cut off."

Alec Motyer's commentary on Isaiah makes several key points about the passage[1]. God promises faithful singles, those who "grasped" his covenant, a better legacy than having children could ever provide. God will invite the singles into his home. Their name and monument will not be out in his courtyard, but within his own house. Furthermore, it will be an everlasting name. God will remember singles fondly forevermore.

In the New Testament, Jesus speaks about families. In his speech in Matthew 12, Jesus hints that in the Kingdom of God the family will be transformed.

Matthew 12:46-48
While he was still speaking to the people, behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside, asking to speak to him. But he replied to the man who told him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”

Families are established by God and are good, but they are only a shadow and a pointer toward our relationships in heaven. Christ is coming for his bride.[2] Our weak and pathetic loves on earth are going to be surpassed and subsumed by God's love for us. Our relationships with our brothers and sisters in Christ in heaven will be far stronger and deeper than any familial ties on earth (Ephesians 4:16).  Jonathan Edwards, an early American theologian, described the relationship of human love to our purified love for God in heaven.

“The enjoyment of God is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied. To go to heaven, fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here. Fathers and mothers, husbands, wives, or children, or the company of earthly friends, are but shadows; but God is the substance. These are but scattered beams, but God is the sun. These are but streams, but God is the ocean.” [3]

The states of being single and being married are temporal states. God has designed and gifted us for the state in which we are currently living. Where he has placed in us in our current circumstances is the best possible place for us to be in his loving sanctification of us at this time. Our married status or single status may change. Singles get married. Spouses are called home. However, our legacy as Christians is to be in God's love and be in his love forevermore.

[1] J. Alec Motyer
Keep and choose are imperfects of habitual action, denoting persistence in conformity to the Sabbath-code and in personal commitment to the Lord's will. On pleases me cf. of the Lord's 'will and pleasure' in 53:10; 55:11. And hold fast is probably the explanatory use of the conjunction, a summary statement of what keep and choose mean: 'that is/in a word, those who grip my covenant'. Since the Lord's covenant is first the pledge he makes (his covenant promises), 'taking a grip on his covenant' means taking his promises seriously so as to hold to them by faith through thick and thin. To those, however, who are within his covenant, the Lord speaks his gracious covenant law, teaching them how to live so as to please him. In this case, 'taking a grip on his covenant' expresses the practical life of obedience. The background to a memorial and a name (5) is found in 2 Samuel 18:18, where the childless Absalom sought to perpetuate himself by a memorial stone which would last beyond his own life-span. It is essential to translate temple as 'house' in order to establish the link with verse 7bef, and also to restore the second and literal 'within' before its walls. The eunuch is welcome 'in my house - yes, right inside my walls' not just vaguely within the precincts but right into the person (name) and is enriched with blessings far beyond those which even an earthly family (sons and daughters) might have brought. In 55:13, by gathering in a world-wide people the Lord makes for himself a name that will not be cut off. Here he shares that reality with those who were formerly excluded but have now become members of his house.
(pp. 466-467, The Prophecy of Isaiah)

[2] Ephesians 5:25-27
Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish

2 Corinthians 11:2
For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.

Revelation 19:7
Let us rejoice and exult
   and give him the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
   and his Bride has made herself ready;

[3] Jonathan Edwards, The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol. 17: Sermons and Discourses, 1730-1733

Haiti Spring 2018 Medical Mission Stories

Introduction
When I share about an upcoming Haiti Medical trip at our team commissionings during Sunday services, I break the talk into two topics: the medical team's mission and the discipleship team's (d-team) mission. From this trip I want tell two stories that exemplify the need for our ministries in Luly and Williamson.

The Medical Story
On the first day clinic, it was a very busy day. We saw scores of patients and around 2:00 p.m., I could finally see the end of the line in the waiting room. A young, pregnant woman with her 3-year-old child came in, sat down and looked frustrated. I asked through a translator what was her frustration. She told me that she woke up at 4:00 a.m. this morning and walked 4 hours with her child to the clinic. She then took a number, but had to wait 6 hours to finally get in to see a doctor. I realized because of her frustration that she would not want to talk to a pastor so I called over a medical team member. I stayed around for a while, but I was called away on another case. I checked in on her before she left. There was nothing seriously wrong with the child or her. They assured her, encouraged her, gave her some vitamins and pain reliever, and sent her on her way.

Two things struck me about this case. First, she is a very caring mother who is willing to walk for hours for her baby who just had a slight fever and a runny nose. Second, this clinic serves not only the villages of Luly and Williamson, but communities up in the mountains. This clinic provides crucial care to people who have no medical infrastructure within several miles. Most Haitians don't have cars so even a couple of miles make a big difference.

Discipleship Story
Later in the week, I saw a patient standing in line with large tumors on both sides of his neck underneath his chin. Another d-team member did the triage interview so I didn't have a chance to talk to him. Later that night, our team talked about the case. The doctors told us that his tumors were aggressive but not cancerous. The tumors started growing about 10 years ago. He showed his driver's license from 2004 to the team and there were no tumors on him in the picture. Unfortunately, we didn't have the resources to help him. One doctor told me that even in the United States because of the size and the type of tumors, there was not much that could be done. The patient had visited other doctors and hospitals in Port-Au-Prince and throughout Haiti. He always received the same answer that nothing could be done. Because of the tumors, his wife left him and he had to raise his two children by himself.

It is sad story, but there is a happy ending. The doctor and the d-team members did soul care with this patient. They encouraged him and shared the Gospel with him. A d-team member said when they asked him if he wanted to pray to receive Christ into his heart, the man dropped to his knees unasked and prayed. As a follow-up, they invited him to the men's conference later in the week. He showed up and was introduced to one of the Haitian pastors. He went from having no hope to having eternal hope. His life will be difficult, but we gave him context for his sufferings. One of the reasons for his tumors was that God used the tumors to bring him to Christ and God will continue to use these tumors to draw this man even closer to Christ.

Conclusion
This ministry is very important to this region of Haiti. We provide medical services to patients who would have a difficult time to getting these services anywhere else. This ministry is also important for giving hope. The discipleship team talks about Jesus to these patients. The gospels, especially Matthew and Luke, talk about how the healing ministry of Jesus drew people to hear the Gospel. In same way, the clinic draws people from miles away who don't belong to any church to hear the Gospel. Because of these ministries, God uses us to bring His hope and His joy to the people of Haiti.

Hebrews 12:2
looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

James 1:2-4
Count it all joy, my brothers,when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Different Approaches to the Millennium

I am preparing for an open forum on eschatology. Here is the main passage from Scripture that mentions the millennium.

Revelation 20:4-6
Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those wwho had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. 5 The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they cwill reign with him for a thousand years.

Here's a nice summary of the different views on the millennium by Michael Horton.

Christ will return prior to the millennium according to the premillennialists and after the golden era according to the traditional postmillennialists. Amillennialism, however, understands the reference to a one-thousand-year period as figurative for the era between Christ's two advents. Premillennialism anticipates increasing decadence in the condition of the world (including the visible church) until Christ returns at the end of history to establish his kindom. Postmillenniallism expects things to improve gradually through God's gracious blessing on the church's missinary endeavors until the nations officially recognize Christ as Messiah and wars, famine, disease, and other global disasters gradually cease. It is then expected that Christ will return to receive his kindom, to judge the living and the dead, and to commence the everlasting state. Amillennialism expects simutaneous growth and decline, suffering and success, witness and apostasy throughout this era between Christ's two advents. (Michael Horton, The Christian Faith, p. 920)

"Only let us hold true to what we have attained" (Philippians 3:16)

In Philippians 3, Paul explains his goal for the Christian life in verse 10,

that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection of the dead.

After encouraging the Philippians to do the same, Paul ends the paragraph with 3:16, "Only let us hold true to what we have attained". What is interesting is the verb, "hold true." If you look up this verb (στοιχεῖν) in a theological dictionary, you will find the following translation.

TDNT Vol. VII pp. 668
Phil. 3:16 says: "Nevertheless, whereto we have attained, (let us) remain in one and the selfsame thing."

Notice, the author of the article added the parenthetical thought "let us". The commentator did this because the word was a military term and indicated a team acting in unison. Peter O'Brien in his commentary noted the following about the verb,

Peter O'Brien
This verb, probably derived from stoikos (originally a military term for a ‘row’), initially meant ‘to stand in line, march in line’. Within the NT, where it occurs five times, stoikeo is used figuratively to mean ‘to be in line with, stand beside, hold to, agree with, follow’. (O’Brien, p. 441)

To re-iterate, the word was used as a military term to "work together". Paul in 3:16 was not encouraging the church as individuals to pursue the knowledge of Christ; Paul was encouraging the church as a whole to pursue Christ in unity. Paul laid out the overall goal, he wanted them to adopt the goal, and he encouraged them to help each other to pursue that goal.

Holiness is a group project. Sanctification is a team sport. The body of Christ should strive together to help each other to know Christ. O'Brien elaborates further on the verse.

Peter O'Brien
By using this particular verb Paul seems to be making two further points: first, if the connotation of marching in step is present, then the Philippians are being urged to move forward in unity. Recognizing that there may be differences of opinion, the apostle desires that the whole community should move forward together. He is not encouraging the presence of ‘spiritual virtuosos’, to use F. W. Beare’s expression; as Christians they need to be united in the contest in which all are engaged, working towards the same goal and ready to help one another, especially by bearing one another’s burdens. Secondly, στοιχεῖν marks a progression from attitude or orientation to that of practice. (O’Brien, p. 442)

The author of Hebrews encourages us to act in unison as well. We are responsible for one another.

Hebrews 10:24,25
And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.