Though I'm certain that nobody reads this anymore I found something interesting in my sermon research.
The word for authority in Jesus' great commission in Matthew's gospel is the same as in Matthew 7:29. So after Jesus gives the sermon on the mount Matthew points out that he seems to have authority. At the end of Matthew's gospel, Jesus declares to us that he indeed has been given all authority. Funny, some people think that the resurrection nullifies the sermon on the mount as a manifesto of discipleship. From what I can tell, for Matthew it confirms that Jesus indeed has authority to say such things and that Matthew in following his commission wrote such a sermon to make disciples.
(I know I can't know what Matthew was thinking, but I can try to reconstruct an audience from the 1st century, seek to determine their response, and guess that Matthew was trying to elicit such a response.)
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Unity in early Christianity
Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ,
(Rom 1:1-6)
And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
(Mat 28:18-20)
Obedience to the one God and the calling to being others into that obedience is a major part of earliest Christianity's self understanding. Even if Matthew's great commission isn't what Jesus said(I have no reason to doubt that it is), it still shows what Paul says, God acted through Jesus Christ to bring this obedience about.
Anyway, obedience to the one God as the purpose of the gospel is a very important thing to remember, as the gospel is a message of deliverance but also a proclamation of kingship.
(Rom 1:1-6)
And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
(Mat 28:18-20)
Obedience to the one God and the calling to being others into that obedience is a major part of earliest Christianity's self understanding. Even if Matthew's great commission isn't what Jesus said(I have no reason to doubt that it is), it still shows what Paul says, God acted through Jesus Christ to bring this obedience about.
Anyway, obedience to the one God as the purpose of the gospel is a very important thing to remember, as the gospel is a message of deliverance but also a proclamation of kingship.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Books
I finished up three books today.
Experiment in Criticism by C.S. Lewis
Read this to learn to read a book primarily to receive what the author gives, seeing the book as an end in itself. The method of criticism is actually quite negative. All Lewis really does is say that books are best judged by the type of readers that reread them and then makes note of all the things that make for bad reading/readers. One reads this the first time thinking, "what...why?" The second time it seems to make more sense. The problem of course is that even if one reads a book to get what the author is giving it is still a means to an end that is determined by the reader, Lewis does this some in the last chapter, saying that such a style of reading gives a person small glimpses beyond his/her own limited psychology. It such a thing is a worthy pursuit, a broadened view, then reading to receive is still a means to an end.
After further reflection I'm beginning to understand why Eugene Peterson recommends this book as a guide to spiritual reading. If I read the gospels to receive the message of the writers as it is then I am confronted with Jesus and can accept or reject him. If I read the gospels to prove a point, confirm my suspicions, to look for wit (a problem according to A'Kempis), to fit in, or whatever else I'll miss the point.
Jesus and the Victory of God by N.T. Wright
Wright uses the methods outlined in "The New Testament and the People of God" to determine what Jesus was up to and to try and discover what his self understanding was. This book is a great exercise in method, as Wright seems to stay true to his own goals throughout, and gives many "aha" moments in the gospel texts themselves. As much sense as some of Wright's conclusions make though I still wonder sometimes how much we can psychologize a dead writer let alone the person being written about. At the same time I am convinced through experience that God has made provision for human cognition as I know people and things about reality that pan out pragmatically. Anyhow, Wright's epistemology is probably correct, and his method is more of a determining of how those present at the time of Jesus' actions and words would have understood them, which as it turns out is possible to do in the real world as well. All in all, a very enlightening book, I have benefited from the conclusions, the research, and the methodology used.
Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places by Eugene Peterson
Peterson sets about the task of reorienting Christian spirituality within the framework of creation, history, and community. He does a good job for those who could sit through it, it isn't boring by any means, but sadly the non-theologian Christian reader probably won't pick this up. The book is reminisent in aim to Francis Schaeffers "True Spirituality," essentially saying that God's fellowship with man takes place in the context of creation with skin, food, dirt, and everything else, history with plots, narrative, real events that happened and are happening, and that it takes place in community with people. The consequence of course is that salvation takes place in all these contexts as well. I can't recommend this book highly enough as it is also a case study in spiritual reading, all of Peterson's reading of scriptural texts are highly academically informed and yet keep with Paul's claims of scripture, "useful for....equipping for good works."
Experiment in Criticism by C.S. Lewis
Read this to learn to read a book primarily to receive what the author gives, seeing the book as an end in itself. The method of criticism is actually quite negative. All Lewis really does is say that books are best judged by the type of readers that reread them and then makes note of all the things that make for bad reading/readers. One reads this the first time thinking, "what...why?" The second time it seems to make more sense. The problem of course is that even if one reads a book to get what the author is giving it is still a means to an end that is determined by the reader, Lewis does this some in the last chapter, saying that such a style of reading gives a person small glimpses beyond his/her own limited psychology. It such a thing is a worthy pursuit, a broadened view, then reading to receive is still a means to an end.
After further reflection I'm beginning to understand why Eugene Peterson recommends this book as a guide to spiritual reading. If I read the gospels to receive the message of the writers as it is then I am confronted with Jesus and can accept or reject him. If I read the gospels to prove a point, confirm my suspicions, to look for wit (a problem according to A'Kempis), to fit in, or whatever else I'll miss the point.
Jesus and the Victory of God by N.T. Wright
Wright uses the methods outlined in "The New Testament and the People of God" to determine what Jesus was up to and to try and discover what his self understanding was. This book is a great exercise in method, as Wright seems to stay true to his own goals throughout, and gives many "aha" moments in the gospel texts themselves. As much sense as some of Wright's conclusions make though I still wonder sometimes how much we can psychologize a dead writer let alone the person being written about. At the same time I am convinced through experience that God has made provision for human cognition as I know people and things about reality that pan out pragmatically. Anyhow, Wright's epistemology is probably correct, and his method is more of a determining of how those present at the time of Jesus' actions and words would have understood them, which as it turns out is possible to do in the real world as well. All in all, a very enlightening book, I have benefited from the conclusions, the research, and the methodology used.
Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places by Eugene Peterson
Peterson sets about the task of reorienting Christian spirituality within the framework of creation, history, and community. He does a good job for those who could sit through it, it isn't boring by any means, but sadly the non-theologian Christian reader probably won't pick this up. The book is reminisent in aim to Francis Schaeffers "True Spirituality," essentially saying that God's fellowship with man takes place in the context of creation with skin, food, dirt, and everything else, history with plots, narrative, real events that happened and are happening, and that it takes place in community with people. The consequence of course is that salvation takes place in all these contexts as well. I can't recommend this book highly enough as it is also a case study in spiritual reading, all of Peterson's reading of scriptural texts are highly academically informed and yet keep with Paul's claims of scripture, "useful for....equipping for good works."
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