Do Matthew, Mark, and Luke Present Jesus as Divine?

Many blogs and conservative websites have recently posted on old interview of Bart Ehrman by Stephen Colbert. Colbert gets into character during the interview and it is very entertaining. Colbert actually does decently well in his rebuttal of Ehrman, even though it is a bit 'tongue in cheek'. Erhman actually admitted that Colbert was correct in presenting the Gospel of John as holding forth Jesus as God incarnate in flesh. Where Colbert could have taken Ehrman to task was in the assumption that the Synoptic Gospels (Matt, Mark, and Luke) did not present Jesus as God. Ehrman, in his book Jesus Interrupted, proposes that the Synoptics paint a picture of Jesus as the purely human Jewish Messiah. He believes that the Divinity of Jesus is a later 'add on' of the Church. I would like to propose that Ehrman has not considered the Synopics as the original audience would have heard them. For example, if we could go back in a time machine and ask a Second Temple practicing Jew a few questions it may shed light on this issue. If one were to ask a practicing Jews the following questions: Who can forgive sins?, Who is the Lord of the Sabbath?, Who could be worshiped?, and Who could restructure or reconstitute what it means to be and Israelite? The resounding answer would be, "Only the one true God of Israel!" Now take that into consideration when you think about how Jesus claimed all of these roles in the Synoptics. In Mark 2 we read of Jesus' healing of the paralytic man let down through the roof of a home. Mark 2:5-7 reads, "And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” 6Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, 7“Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” (ESV) One can quickly see that Jesus claims to have the authority to forgive sins and the reaction of the scribes says it all, "God ALONE can forgive sins" Here is just one implicit claim to divinity by Jesus of Nazareth. Matthew bookends his gospel with folks worshiping Jesus. We see that he is worshiped as a baby in Matthew 2:11 and worshiped after His resurrection in Matthew 28:9. We know that only to God alone is worship allowed but Matthew is rubbing our nose in the fact that the story of Jesus is bracketed with worship. The question Matthew is asking the reader is, "Will you worship Him too?" Jesus does other provocative things such as claim to be the Lord of the Sabbath and reconstitute what it means to be an Israelite by literally 'making 12' (his disciples) and determining the boundaries of being God's people as those that are with Him. One could just look at the only accusation that stuck to Jesus in his trail before His crucifixion and see that His claim to Divinity was what put Him on the cross. Mark's Gospel records the sham trial of Jesus and how the Council tried to get false witnesses to testify against Jesus. The problem was that the false witnesses had contradictions in their testimony. What finally stuck was that Jesus claimed equality with God. We read in Mark 14:61-63 "Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” 62And Jesus said, “I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.” 63And the high priest tore his garments and said, “What further witnesses do we need? 64You have heard his blasphemy. What is your decision?” And they all condemned him as deserving death." (ESV) Jesus claimed the right to sit at the right hand of God which clearly means to share in His glory. One can witness the violent reaction of the high priest to see the effect of this claim. The very reason that Jesus was put on the cross was because of His claim to Divinity. To the Romans it was presented as a claim to Kingship but the Sanhedrin wanted Him on the cross because of their perception of blasphemy. In this post I just explored a few of the examples of Jesus' claim to Divinity in the Synoptics. It is a shame that Ehrman and other scholars try to discount the Christian faith using less than honest tactics. In a sound-bite society I am afraid that many people stop short of truly investigating some of the wild claims by a man like Ehrman.

The Intolerance of the Tolerant

Many of you have heard of the controversy surrounding Brendan Eich the former CEO of Mozilla that came to its climax last week. Eich was actually the founder of Mozilla and the board of directors of the company recently decided to name him CEO of the company. This announcement touched off a firestorm in the liberal community. In protest some businesses blocked the Mozilla Firefox search engine from visiting their sites. Their reasoning was to put so much financial pressure on Mozilla that they would have no other recourse but to fire Eich. Eventually, Eich stepped down and is no longer employed by the very company that he helped found. You may ask what had Eich done that was so terrible? Had he committed a heinous crime? Had he stolen some poor person’s last meal? His only fault was that he had given $1,000 to support a California amendment to ban same-sex marriage. It was found that Eich actually endorsed traditional marriage. Can you believe that! The audacity! With all joking beside it is a sobering reminder that we live in interesting times. The irony of this entire pitiful situation is that one of Mozilla’s commitments as a company is to tolerance and equality. I guess that commitment is only extended to people that agree with the country’s current slide into moral oblivion and relativism. What should we do as Christians? 1) Pray for our country. 2) Wake up and decide that we are willing to give up personal comfort so that we can take stand. 3) Realize that we belong to God’s kingdom first and we are just aliens in a world that has turned its back on God.

A Life and Death Struggle

A Life and Death Struggle

                I remember as a teenager seeing a movie about a foreign country invading the United States and a group of high school kids fought a guerilla war against this invading army.  I vividly remember thinking about what I would do if I were in the same situation.  I dreamed about going into the woods and fighting this communist invader just like the kids in the movie did. 

                It was easy after watching that movie thinking about being in a life and death struggle and the excitement of being in that type of situation.  Many Christians today have no idea that they are in a struggle that is much greater than any military conflict.  We are in a struggle that is more important than D-Day, Guadalcanal, or the fiercest battles of our nation’s history.  But this battle is not seen with the physical eye but is seen with the eye of faith. Paul tells us in Ephesians 6 that we are in a spiritual struggle.  We are in a spiritual battle with Satan and the stakes are the souls of men and women. 

                If you doubt that you are in a struggle just pick up the most recent newspaper and you will see the reality of this struggle playing out in the public stage.  Disney Channel recently announced that it will have an episode of a popular kids’ show that will introduce children to the idea of a child having two “moms”.  Gay marriage is now supported in popular polls by over half of the American people.  Our national government is turned upside down by multiple scandals that hit at the root of folks just not telling the truth.  In the coming months we will see a call for women to become part of the selective service for possible drafting into the armed forces. 

                It doesn’t take long to see that our country is literally flying upside down and not looking to God’s word for our guidance.  So what are we to do?  I would propose to go back to the model of the first century church.  How did they turn the Roman Empire upside down and basically win over an Empire for Christ?  They were committed to the faithful obedience and teaching of God’s word and they were willing to be fed to the lions in the Coliseum.  Or simply put – radical obedience to the Bible and radical self-sacrifice to Christ.  We must be willing to teach the Bible, implement the Bible in our lives, and offer our lives and ambitions as a sacrifice for Christ. 

 

Study of the Church - The Trinity - A Community of Love

I put this study together for our adult class during VBS and I thought I might share this online for anyone that would be interested.  I will continue to share installments in this series. 

I.                   God as Trinity

One of the basic tenets of the Christian faith is the idea of a triune God that reveals Himself and is characterized as perfect love. 

The Trinitarian nature of God would not be known by man unless it was revealed by God.  One could not just look at the created order around him and determine that God is Triune.  This fact must be revealed by God. 

A.      God the Father, Son, and Spirit

The Old Testament reveals God as ‘Father’ as the creator of the world (Deut 32:6).  Israel is known as God’s firstborn son (Exodus 4:22).  God is also known as the Father of the King of Israel.  God is also revealed in the Old Testament as the Father of the poor, the orphaned, and the widowed (2 Samuel 7:14, Psalms 68:6).

From the Old Testament revelation of God the Father we can learn two things about His nature and they are the following:  He is the origin of all things and He is intimately involved with His creation.

The Son Reveals the Father:  Jesus states in Matthew 11: 27, “All things have been handed over to Me by My Father ; and no one knows the Son except the Father ; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.”(NASB)

Jesus states that the Son reveals the Father and one can turn to the pages of the New Testament and find this to be true.  It is in the pages of the New Testament that the doctrine of the Trinity is made clear in the annals of salvation history.  The Father’s relationship to the Son is an eternal relationship in which the Father is eternally the Father and the Son is eternally the Son.  In other words, there was never a time that the Father did not exist or the Son.  The Father –Son relationship revealed in Scripture does not mean that the Father created the Son but just denotes the relationship.

John 1:1-2 states, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.”

John leaves no doubt that the Word (Son) has always existed through all eternity with the Father.

Jesus, just before His final Passover, mentions another ‘Helper’ (Paraclete) that will be sent to empower the Church (John 14: 17, 26; 16:13).

John 14:16-18, 26

16 "I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever ; 17 that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. 18 "I will not leave you as orphans ; I will come to you.   26 "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.

John 16: 12-15

12 "I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 "But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth ; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak ; and He will disclose to you what is to come. 14 "He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. 15 "All things that the Father has are Mine ; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you. (NASB)

 The completion of Christ’s revelation of the Trinity is found in the sending of the Holy Spirit into the world especially after His glorification by the resurrection from the dead and coronation in Heaven (John 7:39)

The Spirit will share in the life of God the Father and the Son to Christ’s followers after His glorious ascension.  

Jesus taught His disciples that it would be better for Him to ascend to the Father because of the gift of the Spirit.  The Spirit would bond the followers of Jesus together but would also reveal God’s truth to them.  This idea of truth and unity go hand and hand.

Spheres of Work in the Trinity:

In the relational names of the persons of the Godhead we can observe the following:  the Father is related to the Son, the Son to the Father, and the Holy Spirit to both.  While they are called three persons in relation to one another we believe that they are one nature or substance (the early Church used the term ‘Consubstantial’ to illustrate this one nature- which literally means of the same substance).

1)       All Things Come from and originate in the Father (Romans 11:36, 1 Corinthians 8:6)

2)      All things are created through the Son- The Son is the instrument of the Father in Creation.

John 1: 1-3 “ 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 came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.” (NASB)

3)       The Holy Spirit brings life into the world and energizes.  The word Spirit in Hebrew (Ruah) is synonymous with breath or wind.  The word in Greek (Pneuma) is also connected with breath or wind.  The Holy Spirit also brought order from the primordial chaos in the beginning. (Job 26:13; 33:4, Psalms 33: 6; 104: 30, Genesis 1:2; 2:7)

This community of Love found in the Trinity is evidenced in the role of the Trinity in the redemption of man.

One of the earliest evidences of this is found in the baptism of Jesus found in Matthew 3: 13-17.  In this passage we see Jesus go into the waters of the Jordan River and when he comes out of the water we witness the descending of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove and the voice of the Father.  In this one instance we see the confirmation of the Trinity together in the plan of redemption by the ratification of Christ’s mission in His baptism. 

The most obvious place in the New Testament that we witness the role of the Trinity in God’s plan of salvation is in the Great Commission of Matthew 28.  In Matthew 28:19 Jesus instructs His followers to baptize new converts in the name of the Father, Son, and Spirit thus tying in the entrance into the Church with calling on the authoritative name of the Triune God. 

The epistles of the New Testament make it clear the Trinitarian shape of our redemption. 

Ephesians 2: 18

18 for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father (NASB)

Ephesians 2: 18 shows that through Jesus we have access to the Father through the Spirit.  Paul tells us that it is the work of Christ on the Cross and the mediating of the Spirit that brings us back into the courts of God the Father and back to the family relationship that God had planned for us from the beginning.

God as Love: 

God’s Love is first revealed in the Creation of the Universe.  God does not need anything but created man to be able to share His love with man.  Pure love is always expressed by wanting to share and that is exactly what the Bible reveals as God’s nature and desire.  God wants to share His love and glory with us. 

One analogy may help us understand why God wanted to create the Universe.  We may ask ourselves, “Why do people have children?”  The purest answer to this question is for the woman and man to be able to share their love with a child.  In marriage we see an example of Trinitarian love (in a very limited and imperfect sense).  A man and woman love one another so much that they become ONE flesh and that unity is so real that in nine months in becomes a tri-unity.  That love that a child shares with their parents was already there in the family before the child arrives.  In the same way God the Father, the Son, and the Spirit already existed in a community of love before we were created.  We were created to share in that divine love and to live in a covenantal family bond with God. 

            One of most revealing passages about the love of God comes from Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer found in John 17. 

John 17:22-26  "The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one ;  I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.  "Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.  "O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me;  and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them." (NASB)

Jesus makes it clear that the ultimate purpose for His ministry is for man to share in the love of God and that love had already existed for eternity between the Father and Son.   The Church is to ‘image’ that love of God by loving one another.  The love that the church has one for another is to be a sign to the world about the unity and love of God. 

1 John 4:8 expounds a spiritual law that is unshakeable and that is God is Agape.  God is Love.  One should consider God’s love as a spiritual gravity that pulls all men to Him.  This is God’s ultimate purpose is to call man back into communion. 

Christ tells us in John 17 and in John 14: 23 that the person that keeps His words will have fellowship with God the Son and the Father.

One can see this displayed in the worship scene before the throne of God in Revelation chapters 4 and 5.  We see in Revelation chapter 4 that the human representatives and the entire created order worships God the Father as Creator and a shift occurs in Revelation chapter 5 when that worship and adoration is shifted to the Lamb (the Son) for redemption.  This worship is all enabled through the Spirit and this worship is all in the Spirit. 

Another way to understand the life of the Trinity is to understand the inner workings of the love reflected in the Godhead.  Christ is the very image of God and God the Father gives love to the Son in the form of the Spirit.  The Son then reflects that love back to the Father through the Spirit.  This love is then offered to man through the victory won on the cross.  That victory on the cross was a victory over sin and death.  When Christ was resurrected and glorified in His heavenly coronation the Spirit was sent into the Creation to enable the communion with God.

We can see this theme over and over again in Scripture.  We can summarize it as follows:

1)      God the Father sends His Son Christ in an act of Love (John 3:16)

2)      Christ the Son submits Himself to God the Father in humility and out of self-sacrificial love gives up His life for man (see Philippians 2)

3)      Because of this sacrifice and victory the Spirit is sent into the world to bring communion between the Father and man.  (John 14, John 16, Acts 1 and 2, et al) 

Through this brief investigation of the Trinity we can see that God’s purpose is to have communion with man and bring His just Kingdom rule to this earth.

In this study, I will propose that the vehicle to bring about this communion is the Church.  The Church is best understood in this light.

The Dividing Wall

The sin that once separated us from God is best illustrated in the architecture of the Jewish Temple.

In the Temple the most central part was the Holy of Holies and this was the most sacred space of all.

It was kept separate from the people to illustrate the point that God is Holy and they are not. Their sin has kept them from fellowship with Him.

Outside of this Holy of Holies was a court in which the Priests performed their priestly duties.

Outside of this court was one in which Jewish men that were not of the priestly class could inhabit.

Outside of that court was the Court of the Women in which the Jewish women were allowed to go.

And outside of this was the Court of the Gentiles. Separating the Court of the Jews and the Court of the Gentiles was a wall of separation.

On this wall hung a sign that explained to the Gentiles that they would be killed if they entered the Court of the Jews.

In this picture of the Temple we see how man is separate from God and segregated in a way that God never wanted to happen.

God has always wanted fellowship and a familial relationship with man.

Paul takes this image of separation in the Jewish Temple and drives home a point about Jesus.


WALL OF SEPARATION

Ephesians 2: 12-19

12 remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

14 For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, 15 by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, 16 and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. 17 AND HE CAME AND PREACHED PEACE TO YOU WHO WERE FAR AWAY, AND PEACE TO THOSE WHO WERE NEAR ; 18 for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God's household



Through the fleshly body of Jesus and His sacrifice He took on the curse of the Law.


The Scripture tells us that Jesus came to uphold and fulfill the Law.

It is best understood as God’s Law being a consuming fire. Just like the burning bush.

Israel was consumed by this fire of God’s holiness because they could not fulfill the requirements. Jesus stepped into that fire of God’s Law and stood strong and was able to do what Israel could never do. Not only did He fulfill the Law perfectly but He also took on the curses that we could not endure. He bore it perfectly and destroyed that barrier.

New Sermon Series - The Task of the Church

I started a new series of Sermons this week at the congregation that I preach for. In this series of sermons we will look at the life and work of the local Church in God's plan of redemption and rescue for this world. Sunday we began this series with pointing out that God chose the Church as his vehicle for bringing the message of salvation to the world and chose to make his manifold wisdom known to the world through the Church. The first sermon in this series focused on a topic that divides many Christians and that is the topic of baptism. An act that was meant to unify a broken and divided humanity in Christ has become a subject that has divided Christianity. When we say that baptism puts us into the Church it becomes very confusing as to what we mean. Does it mean a local denomination that one is placed in by baptism? Let us define what we mean by the term Church. To understand the Church we must repudiate the reduction that many people have tried by likening it to the Classical Greek Ekklesia. The term Ekklesia is where we get the English term Church. In the Classical Greek world the ekklesia was a body of land owning men that were called to an assembly to make decisions for a particular city state. This assembly was not open to slaves, women, or children. This term is a bad visual picture for the church in the NT because the earliest Christian assemblies were composed by many women, slaves, and people that did not own land. The idea of the Church in the NT is more like the idea of the Assembly of God in the OT known in Hebrew as the Qahal. The Qahal is a term used in the OT in Deut 9:10; 10:4; 18:16, et al, in regards to the Assembly of Israel. This assembly was the people of God that were gathered together to hear the reading the Law and assent to a covenant with God. These were truly God’s people formed by Covenant. If we understand this concept of the Qahal it makes sense of the act of baptism and what it means to be the Church. In the Exodus story the Israelites were lead out of Egypt and the came to the Red Sea. God miraclulously parted the Red Sea and they crossed over on dry land. At that moment on the shores of the Red Sea the people made a decision to be God’s people and never look back. Paul likens the crossing in I Corinthians 10:1-2 to baptism. Paul speaks as to how this going through the sea was like a baptism ‘INTO’ Moses. It was at this point that God lead them to Sinai and they became God’s ‘qahal’ or the Assembly of God. The Hebrew writer nails home this theme in Hebrews 12: 18-24 where he compares the two Mountains of Sinai and Zion. We, as Christians, are the new Assembly but now we assemble at Mount Zion. We are gathered there at this new Mount because of Jesus work on the Cross. We are brought into this assembly of God out of the slavery of sin through baptism. In Romans 6 Paul makes it clear that this is through immersion. That by the very act of baptism we reenact the very dying and rising of Christ. Romans 6 also draws the parallel with that Exodus event by pointing out that we are now free from slavery because of our burial in baptism. Because of our baptism we are now free from the slavery of sin and are now ‘IN CHRIST’. We are identified with Christ and not the old way of slavery. God’s kingdom is open to all that are willing to put down all personal agendas and completely rely on Him. Out of all the themes that Jesus uses in the NT to describe His kingdom one of the most common is the theme of God’s family. To understand this motif we must look at what Jesus said about becoming like a little child. Jesus made it clear in His teachings that one must humble themselves and become like a child to enter the Kingdom.Matthew 18: 1-41 At that time the disciples came to Jesus and said, "Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" 2 And He called a child to Himself and set him before them, 3 and said, "Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 "Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.Luke 10: 2121 At that very time He rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit, and said, "I praise You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight.Children have an attitude of dependence and it is that attitude that Jesus hammers home to his Disciples. One must loose all of the selfish ambition and self reliance if they want to inhabit this Kingdom of God.One way that the Scripture coveys this point is by describing baptism as a type of new birth. In John 3 Nicodemus comes to Jesus and Jesus teaches him this truth about baptism. Nicodemus comes to Jesus and tells him that he knows that Jesus is a teacher that came from God. In this passage we see Jesus response to Nicodemus.John 3: 1-51 Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; 2 this man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him." 3 Jesus answered and said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." 4 Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he?" 5 Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.Jesus specifically tells Nicodemus that one must be born of water and Spirit before he can enter the Kingdom. He likens this birth of the water and spirit with being ‘born again’ or more specifically in the Greek being ‘born of above’. Many say that this passage is not talking about water baptism in this passage and that He is talking about ones natural birth and then a spiritual birth. They way that the ‘water’ of the passage refers to the amnionic fluid of a birth. The only problem with this proposal is that there is no ancient records that show that people used the expression, of ‘breaking water’ in regards to natural birth. This is a modern anachronism that is propping up a bias against water baptism. The context of this passage most naturally fits water baptism because just previously we learn that John was baptizing in water in John 1 and later in chapter 3 verse 23 we witness that John was baptizing in Aenon near Salim because there was much water there. The immediate context of this passage fits that Jesus conception of water in this passage would be Christian baptism.Also, the earliest Christians interpreted this passage to refer to water baptism. The point that Jesus is making is that one is to become like a child and enter into this kingdom through the new birth of baptism. All human power games, status, money, and selfishness have no place in this kingdom. Baptism becomes the great equalizer in which this fractured human family is grafted and adopted into the true family of God. The greatest example of a union of Heaven and Earth is in the person of Jesus Christ. John 1:14 tells us that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. He is the ultimate intersection of Heaven and Earth. But there are glimpses of Heaven and Earth coming together in other places. Baptism is on of those events when the veil between Heaven and Earth is rent. At the event of Jesus Baptism we see an event that is sign post of what is to come for those that baptized into the name of Jesus.Mark 1: 9-109 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 Immediately coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens opening, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon Him; 11 and a voice came out of the heavens: In this passage we see term in the New Testament that is used in one other place in the NT. The term used for ‘heavens opening’ literally means that the heavens were rent open. It is the same term for the tearing of the veil in the Temple that separated man from the Holy of Holies in the Temple. The message is simple, that in the work of Jesus the dividing wall of Heaven and the blessings of Heaven have been torn open by Jesus.In our baptism we are connected with those blessings from the Heavenly realm. Acts 2:38 calls is forgiveness of sins.I Peter 3:21 calls is salvation.Colossians 2: 1212 having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.RAISED UP WITH CHRIST IN BAPTISMThis idea of being raised up with Christ is not emphasized much when people speak of baptism but it is a Biblical concept. Ephesians 2: 4-74 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.Paul points out in this majestic passage that we are ALREADY in a sense raised up with Christ. In the same way the Hebrew writer says that all things are subject to Christ in Hebrews chapter 2 but it doesn’t seem that way at the present. It may not seem like it now but a transaction has taken place between Heaven and Earth in our baptism. We, through the work and grace of God, have been raised up with Christ as a signpost to the world what is to come.

Faith of Christ

I recently heard John Ortberg talk about Michael Novak's categories of the types of convictions that people have. He pointed out that there are three types of convictions. The first type is our public convictions that are characterized by what we say that we believe when we are around other people. They sometimes indicate what we really believe and many times we don't mean them at all. For example, I may ask my wife if I have started to gain weight. She may answer, "You look great." Deep down she may really think that I have put on weight and look a lot different (my wife would never do this because she is brutally honest!). We say things many times that we really are not convicted about. The second type of conviction that Novak points out is our private convictions. Private convictions are ones that we believe but can be convinced otherwise. I at one time thought I could play professional football. After my college football career was over I attended a rookie tryout camp. At that camp I came to the conclusion that my belief of my ability was a false belief. It was made painfully obvious that I was not good enough to continue my football career. Lastly, Novak points out that many people have core convictions. These are convictions that will not change. My belief of gravity does not need to be re-verified every day of my life. My love for my children does not need to be re-committed to each day. These are unchanging beliefs. Ortberg points out that Jesus had no incongruencies in any of these beliefs. His public, private, and core convictions were all in alignment.

My question is, "How do we come to the type of faith of Jesus?"
We many times talk about having faith 'IN' Jesus but I would purpose that the faith 'OF' Jesus is what we should be shooting for.
Many of the earliest followers of Jesus had faith in Jesus and trusted in Jesus but it was not until they came face to face with the risen Christ that those convictions became CORE convictions. In other words, their trust 'IN' Jesus changed to the faith 'OF' Jesus.

Mary Magdalene came face to face with Jesus in the Garden and thought He was the gardener. Her faith was transformed into action when she realized that Jesus had risen from the dead. She quickly became the apostle to the apostles.

Thomas at one point in the gospel narrative proclaimed that he was ready to go to Jerusalem and die with Jesus. It wasn't long after that he was telling the other followers that Jesus would have to prove to him that He had risen from the dead. In the account that John gives us we see Thomas face to face with the risen Jesus and he proclaims, "My Lord and and my God".

Peter is a great example of this transformation. Peter proclaims faith in Jesus but later denies Him. We see Peter go through his crisis of faith and later be told by Jesus to "Feed My sheep". After this we witness Peter acting with the type of faith that Jesus had. Peter goes from having faith in Jesus to having the faith of Jesus.

How do we accomplish this?

We trust in Jesus but we also live like Jesus lived. When we live a cross formed life of self sacrifice we will be introduced to the resurrection. The message of the Scripture is that New Creation began at the resurrection of Jesus Christ. As a sign post of what is to come in the New Heavens and the New Earth, God has established a kingdom of NEW people. We are the advanced sign of the resurrection to come by our changed lives in the shape of Jesus Christ.

Church and State Relations

How many times have we heard, "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's."? Many people use this sentence to justify a sharp Church and State separation. We see this interplay of Church and State in two extremes in the example of Emperor Theodosius I. Theodosius was raised to be a Christian and was an emperor in post-Constantine Rome.
One particular story illustrates how the Church's influence over the most powerful is used in a positive way. On one occasion Theodosius was angered at an uprising in Thessalonica. The Governor of the city was killed in a riot and the Emperor ordered the killing of 7000 people that were supposedly implicated in the murder. The Bishop of Milan, Ambrose, heard of this action and was outraged that a Christian Emperor would order such a thing. He blocked Theodosius from Communion and ordered him to do penance. Ambrose had such a strong influence over Theodosius that the logistics of how he could carry out the death penalty was altered and a 30 day wait period was instituted before the Emperor could carry out an execution. Ambrose was famously quoted as saying, "The Emperor is in the Church and not above the Church."

On the flip side we observe the opposite of Church and State relations with Theodosius making the Nicene Creed and dogma the official religion of the Roman Empire in 380 AD. No longer would paganism be the official religion of the Empire but now Christianity becomes the only religion recognized by the Empire. This would lead to many unsavory things that Theodosius probably never expected.

We look at the example of Theodosius and see the two visions of Church and State relations. This is a very complex subject that I definitely do not have the ability to answer. It is something that I have thought a good bit about because of the recent elections and many social issues that have come to the fore. Issues such as sanctity of life, justice for those less fortunate, and the struggle over all people being treated as if they are made in the image of God.

Going back to the original comment about Rendering unto Caesar and the popular perception of modern day people's thinking on how Jesus thought about the Church and State may be useful.

Jesus had just cleansed the Temple and wheels were being put in place that would take Him to the cross. The Temple cleansing act would have been a very Messianic act to the Jews and highly controversial. The two groups that come to Jesus only have one thing in common and that is their common goal to trap Jesus. The Herodians were in the back pocket of the Romans and had compromised with the pagans. The Pharisees were the Puritanical bunch that one day would side with the rebellion in AD 66 that would see the utter destruction of Israel. Two completely different agendas are trying to trap Jesus. If Jesus answers soft on the question then He basically sides with the pagan sympathizers and will be discredited with all of the people. If he answers as a revolutionary and says, “hey stick the thumb in the eye of the Romans”, they would have immediately gone to the Roman authorities and shared the info with them. His answer is radically different and they are just floored by it.

1^st of all – having the coin itself is against the Jewish Law. Even Herod Antipas would not have his own image put on a coin because of the prohibition against the elevation of oneself by the image. But this coin is even more over the top. The Roman Denarius would have an image of Tiberius Caesar and would say the ‘son of Augustus.’ Augustus was a divine title given to the Caesar by the Senate in 31 BC. to Octavian.

We have a false impression by Jesus comment, “Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's; and to God the things that are God's.”

From a Jewish mindset they would know that Jesus was quoting and augmenting a statement by Mattathias Maccabeus some years before.

We find in the 1^st book of Maccabees a statement by Mattathias right before his death.

“Pay the Gentiles what is their due, and obey the commands of the Law”

By this statement Mattathias meant to rebel and expel the Greeks from Palestine and Judas his son took up the banner and did just that. The people went through a rigorous time of returning to the Torah and taking up the sword.

Jesus is cryptic on purpose. This statement could not be used by either groups for their advantage. At face value the Romans would not see this statement as a threat.

Is Jesus saying rebel against the pagan power? Yes. But not like the Jews wanted to do.

Jesus' Kingdom is more real than any other and the ones of this earth are mere shadows and caricatures. Jesus is calling out both mindsets. Jesus would see both the Herodian stance as compromise and also the eventual violent revolution as compromise. By taking part in a violent revolution they would play right into the hands of the way Rome does things. Compromise on both fronts.

I don't know if this blog brings up any points for discussion but I would like to know what others think about this debate. I am still working through all of this and I find Christ constantly calling me into account and I am reminded of His Kingdom and the fact that we are to pray, "Thy will be done in Heaven as on Earth."

If God were in charge how would He run this show?

Return From Exile

One cannot read the beautiful passages of Isaiah chapters 40-55 without being moved by the wonders of God's plans for Israel and the return from Exile. Isaiah paints a picture of God renewing Creation and sending forth a Servant that would accomplish His purposes. Isaiah 55 also gives us a picture as to how powerful God's word really is. Isaiah tells us that God's word will go forth and accomplish His purpose.
We know from history that Israel returned from Babylonian Exile after the Persians took over, but at the time of Christ many Jews were wondering if they had truly returned from Exile. Many read the passages of Isaiah and saw that they were still under bondage in their own homeland. Just a look at the Roman garrisons in Jerusalem would quickly remind them of this. Many of these 'Return from Exile' passage had not been fulfilled yet and many saw themselves as still in a state of Exile.
With this in thought we see the coming of Christ. In this post I would like to propose that John chapter 1 is a passage chocked full of connections to Isaiah's vision of the Return. John presents to us that Christ is the true Return from Exile that all of the Jews had anticipated.

First, we pick up in John chapter 1:1-3 and verse 14

“ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.

4 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth."

We see here a parallel with Isaiah 55:10 -11

"For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, And do not return there without watering the earth And making it bear and sprout, And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; 11 So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding {in the matter} for which I sent it.

In John chapter 1 we see the very personification of the Word. We see God incarnate come into our world to accomplish the purposes of the Father in ways that the Jews could have never imagined. God's Word would truly accomplish His purpose by completing His rescue operation by returning man from the Exile of Sin.

Secondly, we pick up on the idea of God's Presence in the Temple. Many pre-exilic prophets envisioned a time when God's Glory would leave the Temple because of Israel's sin. God would leave the Holy of Holies and leave the Jews to the Babylonians. We see in John 1:14 that God's presence has returned in a new and more full sense. John tells us that the Word became flesh and Tabernacled (skene- or Templed) among us. God's presence had truly returned to His people and it was found in Jesus of Nazareth.

Thirdly, we see John the Baptist as the fulfillment of the prophecy of the forerunner. In Isaiah 40:3-4 we see that passage about the one that would prepare a way through the desert for the return. The Jews in Isaiah's day saw this as a literal highway that would be plowed through the desert that separated Babylon from Israel. The path the Jews would normally take to Babylon would have them travel north and then South East. This new path would go directly to Zion. John the Baptist in John 1: 23 tells us that he is the fulfillment of this passage and he is the voice that calls in the wilderness. He is the one that makes the paths straight. It would not be a literal path through the desert but it would be a spiritual path of repentance that would lead people to the true return from Exile through the Christ.

Lastly, Isaiah presents to us a mysterious figure of the Servant that would become like a Lamb to fulfill God's purpose of Return From Exile. This Servant would suffer for the people and be vindicated. He would be punished for Israel's sin. Many people in Jesus' day saw the Servant as the nation of Israel but Jesus would take on the role of the Servant and would represent the entire nation. We see in John 1:29 that John the Baptist identifies Jesus as this Servant by calling Him the Lamb of God. Jesus would be the one that would suffer for the people but be vindicated.

In this post I tried to lay out a case that John 1 is giving us a message of a true Return from Exile in Jesus Christ. This return is God's ultimate purpose to lead us from the Exile of Sin and into a New Creation.

Promise, Prophet, King

In the Great Commission found in Matthew 28: 16-20 we find the wrapping up of three of the great OT themes. The Israelites all knew well of the promise made to Abraham in Gen 22:15 that all nations would be blessed in the seed of Abraham. In other words, a descendant of Abraham would bring about the blessing of all people (Gentiles included). Also, in Deut 18:18 we see Moses' prophecy that there will be a great prophet raised up among the people of Israel. This great prophet would bring teachings that would be adhered to by all. Many of the Jews of Jesus day saw this prophecy as Messianic. We also find the next great OT theme in the promise made to David that a descendant of his would sit on the throne of Israel forever as found in II Samuel 7. Many Jews saw this as a Messianic prophecy in which God's anointed would come to Zion and sit upon a literal throne. So thus far we have laid out the three great themes that are the subject of this post: Promise (Abraham), Prophet (Moses), and King (Davidic).

In the Great Commission given by Jesus we see all three of these. We see Jesus state in verse 18 that all authority was given to Him. With this statement we see the Kingly role of Jesus in that He has authority. Next, we see Jesus state in verse 19 that they are to go and make disciples of ALL nations and this would be the fulfillment of the prophecy to Abraham that all nations would be blessed through his seed. Finally, we witness Jesus in verse 20 telling the disciples to teach others to obey His teachings. This would be the fulfillment of His role as the great prophet or teacher.