Not because God is mocked, not because God does not care about justice, but because of this:
οὐ μὴ ποιήσω κατὰ τὴν ὀργὴν τοῦ θυμοῦ μου οὐ μὴ ἐγκαταλίπω τοῦ ἐξαλειφθῆναι τὸν εφραιμ διότι θεὸς ἐγώ εἰμι καὶ οὐκ ἄνθρωπος ἐν σοὶ ἅγιος καὶ οὐκ εἰσελεύσομαι εἰς πόλιν (Hosea 11:9)
Or perhaps this, a parallel text in the New Testament:
ὁ μὴ ἀγαπῶν οὐκ ἔγνω τὸν θεόν, ὅτι ὁ θεὸς ἀγάπη ἐστίν. ἐν τούτῳ ἐφανερώθη ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ θεοῦ ἐν ἡμῖν, ὅτι τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ τὸν μονογενῆ8 ἀπέσταλκεν ὁ θεὸς εἰς τὸν κόσμον ἵνα ζήσωμεν δι’ αὐτοῦ. ἐν τούτῳ ἐστὶν ἡ ἀγάπη, οὐχ ὅτι ἡμεῖς ἠγαπήσαμεν τὸν θεόν, ἀλλ’ ὅτι αὐτὸς ἠγάπησεν ἡμᾶς καὶ ἀπέστειλεν τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ ἱλασμὸν9 περὶ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ἡμῶν. (1John 4:8)
Both of these scriptures appear in the context of people not having knowledge of God, people living in ways that will result in God's wrath. And yet, this same God declares that he is to be trusted for amnesty, because he is God and it is his nature to love, not destroy.
Thursday, February 04, 2010
Tuesday, February 02, 2010
Colossians 1:18, This needs to be on my mind.
ὅς ἐστιν ἀρχή, πρωτότοκος ἐκ τῶν νεκρῶν, ἵνα γένηται ἐν πᾶσιν αὐτὸς πρωτεύων,
This one [Christ] is the beginning, first born from the dead, so that he might be most honored in all things.
I gave this a very colloquial translation, but only to demonstrate the meaning of the passage as clearly as possible. Jesus Christ is the beginning, or even the ruler, so that he might be most honored, or more literally, that he might be first in all things. So, since God raised him from the dead for this very reason, we might as well endeavor to be up to this in the church anyhow. If God raised Jesus from the dead to make him most honored, then the question of "what is God's will for our church" is in a way easily answered. If we want to do what God is doing, try to make Jesus most honored. Above church government, above nationality, above individual fears and self-obsessions, above our denominations, above our local churches, above our jobs, our traditions, even our families and personal success. This is all easy to say, but if God's already up to it, then we really just need to ride his coat tails, because we'll just be doing what the creator of all things is already doing.
This one [Christ] is the beginning, first born from the dead, so that he might be most honored in all things.
I gave this a very colloquial translation, but only to demonstrate the meaning of the passage as clearly as possible. Jesus Christ is the beginning, or even the ruler, so that he might be most honored, or more literally, that he might be first in all things. So, since God raised him from the dead for this very reason, we might as well endeavor to be up to this in the church anyhow. If God raised Jesus from the dead to make him most honored, then the question of "what is God's will for our church" is in a way easily answered. If we want to do what God is doing, try to make Jesus most honored. Above church government, above nationality, above individual fears and self-obsessions, above our denominations, above our local churches, above our jobs, our traditions, even our families and personal success. This is all easy to say, but if God's already up to it, then we really just need to ride his coat tails, because we'll just be doing what the creator of all things is already doing.
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