theologer

"And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working." - James 5:15-16

(because I missed it yesterday)

"O house of Israel, bless the LORD!
O house of Aaron, bless the LORD!  
O house of Levi, bless the LORD!
You who fear the LORD, bless the LORD!  
Blessed be the LORD from Zion,
he who dwells in Jerusalem!
Praise the LORD!"
- Psalm 135:19-21

"Great peace have those who love your law;
nothing can make them stumble." - Psalm 119:165

"He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it."
- Revelation 2:17

"O LORD, my heart is not lifted up;
my eyes are not raised too high;
I do not occupy myself with things
too great and too marvelous for me.
But I have calmed and quieted my soul,
like a weaned child with its mother;
like a weaned child is my soul within me.
O Israel, hope in the LORD
from this time forth and forevermore."
- Psalm 131:1-3


Oh also, as I was thinking about this, I decided to pose a question about it over in the forum.

"The clouds poured out water; the skies gave forth thunder; your arrows flashed on every side. The crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind; your lightnings lighted up the world; the earth trembled and shook." - Psalms 77:17-18

"So when the people set out from their tents to pass over the Jordan with the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people,  and as soon as those bearing the ark had come as far as the Jordan, and the feet of the priests bearing the ark were dipped in the brink of the water (now the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the time of harvest),  the waters coming down from above stood and rose up in a heap very far away, at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan, and those flowing down toward the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, were completely cut off. And the people passed over opposite Jericho.  Now the priests bearing the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firmly on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan, and all Israel was passing over on dry ground until all the nation finished passing over the Jordan." - Joshua 3:14-17

Chew on this.

"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters." - Gen 1:1-2

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." - John 1:1-5

"He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. For God shows no partiality."
- Romans 2:6-11

"But he said, 'Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!'" - Luke 11:28

One of my brothers in law is here staying with us for the weekend. He'll be heading home today but he's an interesting guy to talk with as he's in the last semester of his seminary education. He's also lived overseas for a couple of years doing ministry and will likely go back.

I was talking with Him this morning about some of the blogs I read and how many people I read who are educated in the original languages or carry seriously interpretive Bibles to church on Sunday mornings and scrutinize everything the pastors say. I don't mean this in a bad way, being educated and not taking everything your pastor says at face value is not a bad thing. My comment was how I wasn't sure I would want to preach to these people feeling like they would pick apart my every argument.

His response was something along the lines of how it doesn't matter if you can preach to those people or not. There are people out there who are much more interested in the academia than they are in being able to preach and relate Christ. You need to worry yourself with the latter.

I thought this an interesting argument. The field in which I work is filled with several seminary educated people but our discussions are never about theology or scripture or these things at all. Rather we're always discussing what so and so needs to hear before they'll likely turn to the Lord, or about broken relationships, or disfunction in our churches and how we address such issues.

Then I get on a plane and I go to seminary in the summer for a few weeks at a time and I'm surrounded by people who care much more about a specific interpretation of one verse, or how great of professors they've had etc...

The field is just a different world than the academic campus. I guess I'm glad I get the best of both worlds. I just want to make sure I'm hearing the word of the Lord and spending my time keeping it rather than scrutinizing it. Seeking the Lord and loving Him and following His commands needs to have precedence in my life over my head knowledge. Both are important, but the Love and obedience need to come first.

A little while back I discovered Tim Ricchuiti's Blog "if i were a bell i'd ring" and have been impressed by a number of things. First of all he posts frequently and most of his posts are of good substance. I desire to write a blog with mostly original content as I develop a taste for teaching and discover where my interests lie, and his blog is inspiring to me in such ways.

I have, in fact, enjoyed it enough that I've gone ahead and added him to my blogroll. Keep writing Tim.

That said, I apparently sparked off a much larger discussion than I had intended with my post in response to a Christianity Today Is John 7:53-8:11 even scripture? I have to thank him for doing a lot of the research that I attempted to do and gave up on. But I also have a few things to respond to in his very well written post The Pericope Adulterae and the Canon of the New Testament.

First of all Tim presents his arguments against the Johannine origin of the text which, after some looking into, I have to agree this passage was likely not written by John.

Next I want to get to the issue of canonicity. The criteria I want to use for its validity in the canon is not weather or not its nice, or not weird but this:

Apostolic Origin
Universal Acceptance
Liturgical Use
Consistent Message
(see this)

According to the notes in my NET Bible this passage may very well have had Apostolic Origin. Though there are arguments the language is not Johannine, it still may have been, other evidence points that it may have been written by Luke and even one notable manuscript (f13) attaches it after Luke 21:38 (see NET Bible notes).
We simply do not know if it was or not.

Universal Acceptance/Liturgical Use: For these two criteria Tim points to an argument for a lack of early recognition. But in response to this I point here,

"Until recently, it was not thought that any Greek Church Father had taken note of the passage before the 12th Century; but in 1941 a large collection of the writings of Didymus the Blind (c313- 398) was discovered in Egypt, including a reference to the pericope adulterae as being found in "several gospels"; and it is now considered established that this passage was present in its canonical place in a minority of Greek manuscripts known in Alexandria from the 4th Century onwards."

(the entire wikipedia section on the textual history is quite interesting.)

Finally and I think most interesting is the consistency of the message. The message of this passage seems very much in line with the teachings and character of Jesus. The NET Bible notes this passage could just as easily fit into the context if it was originally here or if it was taken out altogether.

Also, I don't think the Gospel of Thomas is a very good criteria for arguing this point. When I say the Gospel of Thomas is weird, or bizarre I mean its teaching is not consistent with the rest of the Bible. This is the verse which comes to mind:

"Simon Peter said to Him, "Let Mary leave us, for women are
not worthy of Life."
Jesus said, "I myself shall lead her in order to make her
male, so that she too may become a living spirit resembling you
males. For every woman who will make herself male will enter the
Kingdom of Heaven." - The Gospel of Thomas 114

And seems something more likely for a Mormon view of women than most modern evangelicals(saying that might rain some fire on me) or something out of our Bible.

Finally I would like to say this passage being included or not simply does NOT have a clear cut answer. The NET Bible notes conclude with

"Double brackets have been placed around this passage to indicate that most likely it was not part of the original text of the Gospel of John. In spite of this, the passage has an important role in the history of the transmission of the text, so it has been included in the translation."

Tim makes some compelling arguments and I can understand why someone would believe what he does about this passage. That said, I take the view that while this likely was not written by John, I believe it to be scripture.

In my initial post I was simply stating an opinion, now I have to thank Tim for his help in making that opinion an educated one.

"The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life,
And he who is wise wins souls." - Proverbs 11:30 (NASB)

In discussing the Proverbs we looked at the meaning of wisdom as it is the main topic throughout the book. After looking at several verses this one came up. "He who is wise wins souls." Has this ever occurred to you? My reaction was, "Yea that sounds about right because a wise person would understand the situation and share a gospel more relevant to the hearer than an unwise person."

But this is a mistake because I'm understanding the modern "American Heritage" dictionary definition which says, "The quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgment."
This is how we would understand wisdom today, whereas a more fitting Biblical definition seems to be (my prof. would argue) "skill in life." Wisdom is often translated skill in our text.

So read this as "He who has skill in life wins souls."
Or as Napoleon Dynamite might say "He wouldn't convert 'cause I don't have any skills, like nun-chuck skills, or drawing skills, or life.... skills."

I have to re-evaluate the role wisdom plays in my evangelism. And re-think seeking wisdom in relation to seeking salvation for friends.

"They answered him, “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they cast him out." - John 9:34

This whole section (John 9) about the man born blind is awesome for a few reasons. First because Jesus proclaims he was born blind so God may be glorified. Second because Jesus heals a man, he could not see and then he could, this is an AMAZING gift to receive.

Finally I like it because the Pharisees get so worked up over the healing and the man handles it so well. First they call him in to challenge that he was indeed originally blind (because they don't believe). Next they ask how Jesus did and establish clay should not have been made on the sabbath (looking for grounds to call it false). Then they go to the man's family and question them about his vision (they still do not believe) and the final section when they call the man back in is by far the best.

Them: "Give glory to God because this Jesus you talk about is a sinner and therefore should have had no power to heal you"

Man: "What do I care if He's a sinner, all I know is I was in utter darkness and now I see the beauty of the world around. I can walk without a guide, I can see the sun set and rise, I can gaze at the stars and trees whenever I want to!"

Them: "Tell us how he healed you."

Man: "Are you deaf? Have I not already told you? Maybe you need healing in your ears like I had in my eyes. Or maybe you want to become His disciples."

Them: "Don't even associate us with this man. We are disciples of Moses, we know he is great, we know nothing about this Jesus, not even where He came from, he must be a nobody, why would we follow a nobody."

Man: "That is amazing. You are the scribes, the teachers, the wise men, and ya'll have never heard of Him. Yet I was only a blind man and he thought me worthy of knowing Him. Even though you claim He is a nobody He had the power to heal my eyes! God wouldn't heal through Him if He was a sinner. God must have thought Him worthy of some power. No one has ever heard of blind man healed from his blindness and yet Jesus did it. If that's not from God what is? If ya'll don't want to be associated with this man, who DO you want to be associated with?

Them: "Woa there, WE are the the teachers, the scribes, the wise men, and YOU would presume to lecture us?"

And they threw him out....

I love this story because this guy was in their face, calling them morons for not tuning into the power of Jesus and where it must come from. I love when the Lord uses the weak to shame the wise. And this man's personality is something I can totally relate to. He is a biblically famous smart-alec.

*please take my interpretation of the verse with a grain of salt and understand I'm illustrating the situation, not re-translating it.

"A person hearing these words should recognize that they have no authority as authentic words of Jesus," he said. Christians who are reading the story, he said, should give it the same authority as any other unsubstantiated early Christian teaching about Jesus."
- DTS Professor Daniel Wallace on John 7:53-8:11

I read this article over at Christianity Today and was shocked this was the conclusion drawn.

Basically the article is about how, as my ESV puts it, "[The earliest manuscripts do not include John 7:53–8:11]," and how most lay Christians who read this will just assume they were placed in the Bible or accepted by the translators because they have some merit.

Admittedly this is the position I took/take. I assume someone along the lines thought it important enough to be included, and lean towards to the view presented by another professor:

"There is no reason to pull this out," said Craig Evans, a professor at Acadia Divinity School. "Nothing about it says Jesus didn't have this encounter." All of the stories about Jesus began orally — it was a few decades before they were written down — so it is possible that this story just did not get written down until much later, Evans said."

I've heard this section of the scripture be disputed in the past but until I know more about it I assume I'll continue to read this as the words of Christ.

I tend to think when it says "all scripture is breathed out by God," that God had some idea what the Bible ending up in our hands would look like, he knew this would be in, it is compatible with other teachings by Christ and probably should be taken as equal to the rest of the scripture. Take a gander, its not a long article, and quite fascinating.

Edit (4/28/08): This has been carried on here by Tim Ricchuiti, and here by me.

Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God's word is not chained. Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.

Here is a trustworthy saying:
If we died with him,
we will also live with him;
if we endure,
we will also reign with him.
If we disown him,
he will also disown us;
if we are faithless,
he will remain faithful,
for he cannot disown himself.

"(2)But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.  
(3)He is like a tree planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers." - Psalm 1:2-3

This Psalm, particularly verse 3 is something that has been quoted to me throughout my life. Since I was small my mother has drilled into my head that I'm to be like a tree planted by streams of water. Later in life a mentor of mine picked this verse to pass on to me to send me off. But yesterday for the first time I understood verse 2.

See the man prospers in all he does because he delights in the law of the Lord. He meditates on it day and night. He is steeped in the word and the word becomes the stream that feeds him. The Hebrew here is an irrigation canal, water sent to the tree specifically to water it.

It occurs to me that many things might define my life, my work, the place I live, my friends, perhaps even my love for the Lord, but I don't think that "steeped in the word," or "meditates day and night on the law of the Lord," is yet on the list. And I want it at the top of my list. I want to yield fruit in and out of season. I want to not wither but prosper in all I do. I want to steep myself in the scriptures. After all...

"All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,"
- 2 Timothy 3:16

I live like the scripture is important, not like it is breathed out by God. But even this verse goes on to say...

"that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work." - v17

I want to be competent, equipped for every good work.

Are you steeped in the scripture?