The Epistles Begin with the Gospel

Reading Romans (1)
The Epistles Begin with the Gospel

Paul, a slave of King Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for God’s good news, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the sacred writings — the good news about his son, who was descended from David’s seed in terms of flesh, and who was marked out powerfully as God’s son in terms of the spirit of holiness by the resurrection of the dead: Jesus, the king, our Lord!

Through him we have received grace and apostleship to bring about believing obedience among all the nations for the sake of his name. That includes you, too, who are called by Jesus the king.

This letter comes to all in Rome who love God, all who are called to be his holy people. Grace and peace to you from God our father, and King Jesus, the Lord.

– Romans 1:1-7, Kingdom NT

* * *

When talking about “the Gospel” in the epistles, many people start with 1Corinthians 15. That is, indeed, a good place to start. The Corinthian letters are among the earliest in the New Testament, and 1Cor. 15 reflects what Paul “received” and “proclaimed” as the message of “first importance.”

“For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures,and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve….” (15:3-5, NRSV)

In The King Jesus Gospel, Scot McKnight calls this text, “a lifting up of the curtains in the earliest days of the church; it tells us what everyone believed and what everyone preached. This passage is the apostolic gospel tradition.”

After giving a brief list of a few main events in the Gospel story, the chapter goes on to focus our attention on one particular aspect of the message: the resurrection of Jesus and its significance now and forever. Paul shows how the narrative that begins with the person of Jesus whose story is told in the Gospel records — the story that had its culmination in his death, resurrection, and appearances — leads ultimately to “the end” (v. 24), when the kingdom is consummated and all the powers arrayed against God are destroyed (vv. 24-28).

I agree with McKnight: Paul proclaimed a “King Jesus” Gospel. The message is bigger than a “plan of salvation” for individuals (the “soterian” gospel). I would summarize the Gospel and its call, as set forth in the epistles, in these words:

  • Jesus came to fulfill Israel’s hope of a King who would defeat the enemies of God (sin, evil, death, “the powers”), gather a people from the ends of the earth to be his new community in the world, and bring about a new creation over which God reigns without rival.
  • The Gospel doesn’t begin with my salvation. It begins with Jesus — who died, rose again, ascended to heaven, and poured out the Spirit — the crucified and exalted King (Messiah) who is making all things new.
  • This good news message calls me, and all people, to enter his Kingdom by turning from the alternate narratives that rule our lives (repentance) and making his story the guiding narrative of our lives (faith).
  • Upon responding to the Gospel and entering Jesus’ Kingdom through baptism, I die to the old life and am raised up with Christ to walk in newness of life (Rom. 6:1-4), I become part of a community that is marked by the story of Jesus alone and not by other factors that divide people (there is no Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female — Gal. 3:28, Col. 3:11), I live in a community of “resident aliens” in this present age who are “in” the world but not “of” it; as God’s own “workmanship” we walk in good works he has prepared for us that we might show forth his goodness and love (Eph. 2:10, 1Pet. 2:9-12).

In the New Testament, this is exactly how the Epistles begin.

Continue reading “The Epistles Begin with the Gospel”

Teaching One Another: A Little Fish Story

Give a man a fish, feed him for a day.
Teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime.

* * *

The other night, during my prayer time, the text was Matthew 17:24-27, a bizarre little “fish story” about Peter going fishing so he and Jesus could pay their tithes.

I am going to throw this one open to the community today. What do you make of this story? What is it all about? 

Make sure you read it in context and see if there is anything in the surrounding narratives that might give you clues. You’re welcome to bring in insights from commentaries, lessons, or sermons from which you have gained understanding.

Help me here today.

‘Cause folks, to be frank, I could use a little scratch. Should I break out the ol’ fishin’ pole?

* * *

When they reached Capernaum, the collectors of the temple tax came to Peter and said, ‘Does your teacher not pay the temple tax?’ He said, ‘Yes, he does.’ And when he came home, Jesus spoke of it first, asking, ‘What do you think, Simon? From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tribute? From their children or from others?’ When Peter said, ‘From others’, Jesus said to him, ‘Then the children are free. However, so that we do not give offence to them, go to the lake and cast a hook; take the first fish that comes up; and when you open its mouth, you will find a coin; take that and give it to them for you and me.’

– Matthew 17:24-27 (NRSV)

 

James D.G. Dunn on the Importance of the New Perspective

I think the so-called “New Perspective on Paul” is of tremendous importance for a more accurate understanding of the Gospel and the teaching of the New Testament.

I have always felt that way, from the my first exposure to E.P. Sanders, Krister Stendahl, and James D. G. Dunn in seminary back in the 1980s.

On the other hand, I never thought that what they were saying was necessarily in contradiction to more traditional “Reformation” readings. In my view, they added context to those readings and broadened my understanding of such teachings as justification by faith. I never could fathom the harsh reactions of many to “the new perspective.”

One of my favorite commentaries on Romans is James D. G. Dunn’s two-volume work in the Word Biblical Commentary. In the Author’s Preface, Dunn explains why this “new perspective” is so important, and I would encourage you to think about his words today.

* * *

The conviction began to grow in me that the reasons why Romans is such a powerful piece of writing, and why it has been so influential in Christian history, are one and the same. Because in it we see the emergence of Christianity from Judaism actually taking place; we see Paul the Pharisee, Paul the apostle, caught in the tension between his Jewishness and the impact of the risen Christ, between his inability to escape from the Jewish conviction of God’s special choice of and revelation to Israel and the impact of a gospel that came to him independently of his Jewishness and despite his Pharisaic zeal for the law. We see Paul the Jew wrestling with the implications of his own and his converts’ experience of grace and Paul the Christian wrestling with the implications of his Jewish heritage. We see in Romans Paul operating at the interface between Pharisaic Judaism and Christianity, and the transition from the one to the other in process of being worked out.

That, I would suggest, is why the letter has always struck a chord in those of subsequent generations conscious of a similar tension, caught at a similar point in time when long established traditions came under question from their own insight and experience, when well entrenched institutions and ideologies ceased to provide an answer to the sharpest of the new questions. That is probably why it exerted such a powerful influence on such as Augustine, Luther and Barth. Not for its literary or aesthetic appeal; not because they saw it as some dogmatic treatise; but because they too were at similar transition points in history (the disintegration of the Roman Empire, the breakdown of medieval Christendom, the profound shock of the 1914-18 war on the old European empires and on the hitherto dominant liberal optimism). And in the Paul of Romans they recognized a kindred spirit whose wrestlings with his tradition and his experience spoke with word-of-God power to their own situation.

This also points up the importance of maintaining the right hermeneutical balance, why the attempt to get back into the historical context of the letter is so important. Because it is when Paul is most clearly seen within his own times and context, when the function of Romans is most clearly understood as Paul’s thinking out the questions which deeply disturbed and profoundly affected him as a Jew who believed in Messiah Jesus as Lord, it is then that we come closest to Paul. And it is as we learn to hear him speaking to the reality of his own situation (not compiling an abstract treatise) that we begin to recognize that such periods of transition and tension are not new within the purposes of God, we begin to hear him speaking to our own situations of transition and of confusion in personal and national identity.

One of the most challenging lessons about Romans then is this: the more we see it as a dogmatic treatise which speaks the same message to every age, the less able we are to hear it in the way it was intended to be heard; whereas when we hear it in all its historical relativity, then we may begin to appreciate the full power of its message to the great moments of crisis in world and ecclesiastical (as well as personal) history. To rediscover Romans as a statement sketched out on the interface between diverse traditions and visions and cultures is to liberate it to speak with fresh force to those concerned at the interface between Judaism and Christianity. To appreciate something of its power as word of God to the Christians in first-century Rome may be a vital first step to hearing it as God’s word to equivalent situations today.

The Barton Lies

David Barton is a Texan, and we know everything is larger in Texas. Even lies are bigger in Texas. Take Barton’s latest book, The Jefferson Lies. There are lies aplenty in this work, so many in fact that the publisher, Thomas Nelson, made the very rare move last week to pull all copies of the book from sellable locations. I ordered a copy from Amazon hours before it was removed from their site. Even if you could obtain a copy (and you can still buy it on Barton’s Wallbuilders web site), I would recommend against it with all my might.

The problems begin with the promo copy on the inside front cover flap where Barton is referred to as an “influential historian.” Well, half of that statement is true. He is influential. His books and videos are widely used to teach history to homeschool and Christian school students. He makes regular appearances on TV and radio shows to talk about his version of U.S. history. Members of Congress consultant with him on matters that matter to him. Glenn Beck refers to him as the “most important man in America right now.” And the state of Texas included Barton as a member of a committee that shaped public school curriculum for the Lone Star state.Continue reading “The Barton Lies”

Eagle Update: 8/13/12

Please renew your prayer efforts!

 

Eagle was transferred to a rehabilitation facility at the end of last week.

It has not gone well.

Tonight his fever had spiked again and he was having other symptoms that required him to be readmitted to the hospital.

The condition of his leg remains serious.

Please intercede for our friend as God brings him to mind.

 

The Lord helps the fallen
and lifts those bent beneath their loads.

– Psalm 145:14

An Invitation from John Armstrong

My friend John Armstrong has a heart that those of us from different traditions in the Church will increasingly come together to serve the world with God’s love and the Good News of the Kingdom. His ministry, ACT 3, exists to equip leaders for unity in Christ’s mission. One of John’s primary activities these days is gathering people together for a special educational and motivational opportunity — he calls them ACTS 3 Cohort groups (click HERE to watch a video about them).

John is forming groups now for 2012-2013, and asked if I would help him get the information out. So, here it is, starting with a personal note from John himself, and then after the jump, information about the groups.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I have recently shared with many of you how God has been pleased to give me a fourth quarter life-vision for ACT 3’s purpose of “equipping leaders for unity in Christ’s mission.” This new vision is to mentor leaders, both lay and ministerial, through a series of missional-ecumenical cohort groups gathered around the country. These groups are intentional small groups focused on mission, joined across traditional denominational boundaries, for the kingdom of Christ.

These training sessions are four day-long meetings, spread over the course of eight months, shared with other Christians committed to understanding and pursuing these same goals together. If you are interested, then please read on, and register online. It is imperative that you sign up and begin this process soon. Please feel free to contact me directly. These cohort groups include 1,200 pages of carefully selected reading, personal interaction with group members through a web-based (password protected) site and the opportunity to become part of growing network of focused missional practitioners around North America.

These cohort groups are unique. I know this because I have taught this material in seminary and college settings only to see very few students really embrace this teaching in their daily practice. As I analyzed this failure to see transformation I went back to basics and asked, “How can I give this vision to people who will be transformed in both thought and practice?” This led me to prayerfully explore how I could communicate this life-changing content and experience so that a growing missional-ecumenical movement might spread to every part of the church in our contemporary context. I believe the answer God gave to me is this missional-ecumenical cohort training experience.

Pleases read on if you are interested. (If you cannot afford the price please contact me to talk about scholarship options.) My life is deeply committed to those people who want to share with me in this journey in the years ahead.

John

John H Armstrong
President, ACT 3
Carol Stream, IL 60188
JohnA1949@gmail.com
www.act3online.com
www.johnharmstrong.com

Continue reading “An Invitation from John Armstrong”

“The Gospel” Discussion Continues…

“The Gospel” continues to be a lively discussion in Christian circles these days. Two good posts on by D.M. Williams add insight and fodder for further discussion:

In his first post, Williams includes several written definitions and video discussions on the subject by adherents of (New) Reformed doctrine, such as the Resurgence, R.C. Sproul, John Piper, and Ligon Duncan. He identifies their definitions with the core of Luther’s teaching in the Reformation — justification by faith. Though Williams appreciates the importance of this doctrine and thinks it correct (as far as it goes), he sees a significant problem with identifying justification sola fide with the Gospel:

If one identifies the gospel with the doctrine of justification sola fide, then, by implication, one has to say that only (some) Protestants believe in the gospel.  Not only does this equation require one to automatically put contemporary Catholics, Orthodox, and many other Christians in the “unbeliever” box, it also means putting everyone from the 1st century to the 16th–Ignatius, Irenaeus, Basil, Thomas a Kempis, Augustine, Anselm, Aquinas, etc.–in that box as well.  Most of the spiritual greats of Christian history–the Church Fathers and Mothers, the Medieval doctors, the great mystics–are all cast outside.  To my mind, this implication alone is sufficient to warrant a reconsideration of the evangelical equation of the gospel with Luther’s doctrine of justification.

To make the point clear: Williams is not quarreling with the doctrine of justification by faith. He is questioning whether it should be equated with “The Gospel.”

Instead, D.M. sets forth this definition: “The gospel is, properly speaking, the royal announcement that Jesus of Nazareth is the God of Israel’s promised Messiah, the King of kings and Lord of lords.”

Continue reading ““The Gospel” Discussion Continues…”

Frank Schaeffer Reconsiders His Style

Frank Schaeffer is saying he’s had a change of heart.

Over the years the son of Francis and Edith Schaeffer of L’Abri famously abandoned his role as a leader in the religious right, embraced Orthodox Christianity, and became a spokesman for the political left. At every stage he has been known for being blunt and harsh in his style of speaking and writing.

In April, I wrote a post about his “dyslogy” for Charles Colson to which he gave the title, “Colson: An Evangelical, Homophobic, Anti-Woman Leader Passes On,” which many, including myself, described as spitting on Colson’s grave. I also wrote Frank personally at that time (an excerpt is in my post) and encouraged him to consider that he might be doing more harm than good by using such a sledgehammer approach.

And now, this week I saw that Frank published a piece in Huffington Post reconsidering the way of verbal condemnation. He wrote:

From supporters of President Obama to Tea Party activists Americans agree that we live in a time of deeply polarized politics. There are numerous explanations but I suspect it comes down to bad theology. I should know. I was my evangelist father’s (Francis Schaeffer) sidekick on the religious/political circuit in the 1970s and 80s. We did our bit to launch the religious right. Then I changed my mind and fled.

One thing didn’t change when I changed sides: My slash and burn fundamentalist style of attacking those with whom I disagree. This combative “style” lands me on cable news shows because these days even us “progressives” direct derisive exclusionary condemnation at our enemies. So I’ve been both a perpetrator and victim of retributive exclusion.

Now I’m questioning the wisdom of being a practitioner of dudgeon for hire, even for good causes.

I’m sure many will adopt a “wait and see” attitude to evaluate if this new attitude sticks, but I want to step forward and thank Frank for taking a step in the right direction. I dropped him a Facebook message telling him so, and now I want to commend him publicly for expressing a willingness to speak and write with more gentleness and kindness.

As for me I’m burnt out on rhetorically burning others. I’m going to try Hume’s agreeableness for a bit. Instead of damning each other, maybe we can learn to show mercy to those with whom we disagree, taking our cue from a teacher who said that love of enemy — not correct theology or politics — is all that can make us whole.

“What is desirable in a man is his kindness,” says the wise teacher in Proverbs 19:22. This does not mean we cannot engage in the occasional firm and direct rebuke, but it does frame that speaking in such a way that eliminates meanness and demonizing others from the equation.

We can all learn from that.

Psunday Psalms: Psalm 1

King David, Chagall

Psunday Psalms
Devotional Thoughts on the Psalms

* * *

Psalm 1
Happy is the man who has not followed the counsel of the wicked,
or taken the path of sinners,
or joined the company of the indolent;
rather, the teaching of the Lord is his delight,
and he studies that teaching day and night.
He is like a tree planted beside streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season,
whose foliage never fades,
and whatever it produces thrives.

– Psalm 1:1-3, Tanakh (JPS)

* * *

The Book of Psalms, a five-fold collection of worship songs, has been transformed by its introductory psalm into a book of torah (God’s instruction). Though it is always appropriate that God’s people sing the psalms, their primary use, according to Psalm 1, is that we study them day and night.

The word “study” in verse 2 is often translated “meditate.” The word means to “murmur,” to “recite,” to “speak to oneself” repetitiously. When I was in college and seminary, learning Biblical languages by memorizing vocabulary and various forms and principles of grammar and syntax, I would use memory cards. I would pace for hours at a time, working through those cards, speaking aloud what was written on them, repeating them over and over again in rhythmic patterns as I attempted to carve grooves in my brain that I could recall on the exercises and tests our professor gave us.

The Book of Psalms was compiled and edited to encourage this kind of meditative reading. The individual texts have been arranged into groupings that share common words and themes. As we read through the book from psalm to psalm, we hear these shared thoughts over and over again and it prompts contemplation.

One traditional Christian practice of Bible reading is known as Lectio Divina. This ancient practice follows four steps:

  • Lectio—hearing the Scriptures
  • Meditatio—ruminating on the Scriptures
  • Oratio—praying, having conversation with God through the Scriptures
  • Contemplatio—letting the Scriptures lead us into the love of God

Psalm 1 encourages us to let this kind of conversational relationship with God form us as people. The alternative (vs. 1) is that we may find ourselves accepting and being conformed to other voices — voices that lead us along unhealthy and unwise paths, that harden rather than soften our hearts, that put us in the center of the universe rather than the One who created and redeemed us.

The Lord knows us (see vs. 6), which means he understands what is good for us and oversees our lives in such a way that his goodness and mercy follow us each day (Psalm 23:6). In the Book of Psalms, the first psalm says, God has given us a resource by which we may know him better through having regular contemplative and prayerful conversations with him.

* * *

For further reading: Meditating on Scripture

iMonk Classic: Surprising Encouragement

Wheat Field with a Partridge, Van Gogh

Classic iMonk Post
by Michael Spencer
 From August 2008

Note from CM: Tomorrow morning, I will preach a sermon on the same basic theme as this post, using the text with which Michael ends his essay. Surely God’s hesed goes before us and surrounds each and every day of our lives.

* * *

Just a couple of stories about the grace that’s all around us, that appears in small ways, and might appear more often if we prayed and took notice of where Jesus said the Kingdom appears.

Story I.

On Thursday, almost everyone I work with was at a waterpark about an hour away, including my family. I opted to stay home and get work done, as school is about to start and I am way behind on several projects that have to be completed soon.

While the entire staff is gone, a volunteer group from one of our supporting churches comes and does whatever needs to be done in order to keep everything safe and running in the absence of all the support staff. These are people who come a very long way just to do a servant ministry on this one day.

So I was on campus and had to go to the main office for a moment, and outside that building was one man from this group, enjoying the beauty of the day on our nearly deserted campus. I passed him going in and spoke briefly, and on my way out I did the same. He was friendly, but it was all small talk.

So as I approached my car across the street from the bench where he was sitting in the yard, he says, “I like that Internet Monk web site.”

Now, a bit of a detour. I’m not the internet monk around here. In fact, while I know a lot of my co-workers read the site, not all do so in a supportive way. So not only do I never mention it, I really make an effort to completely keep it under the radar as much as possible.

But it’s important to know that a good bit of what I do hear is from those few who are offended by something I say. And that has caused me endless hours of stress and confusion over whether I should stop writing or not. My choice, obviously, is to keep writing, because God has given me hundreds of thousands of readers and what happens at this site is, if my mail is accurate, overwhelmingly positive.

I’ve decided that God made me who I am: a communicator and a writer. I can be a better one in my context, but I won’t ever cease to be one.

But I just never know what someone who is a supporter of our ministry thinks, because it’s the nature of things that it’s the criticism that is brought to my attention.

So here sits this Baptist man, a middle aged deacon, and I didn’t even know he knew my name. And he wants to say to me that he, for one, likes this web site and likes what I write.

I turned around and was silent for a moment, then I said “Well, thank you very much. It’s good to hear that.”

He walked toward me and said, “I’ve had some Bible questions I wanted to ask you….” and away we went on the witch at Endor.

I needed that.

Continue reading “iMonk Classic: Surprising Encouragement”