The Easter Sabbath – on Theology Review

I have started a team blog for Pastors and other people interested in theology for churches (as if there were any other kind!).

I have post this item - click here to see it - because I think the Sabbath Rest of Jesus on Easter Saturday deserves more thought than it is usually given.

Some of my more scriptural musings are likely to end up there so feel free to check it or subscribe to the feed.

The Weapons of our Warfare?

3 For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh.
4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.
5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,
6 being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.

Is this quote [ESV] from 2 Cor 10 true of modern believers?

We are often socially engaged and campaign on issues of rights and justice. Indeed, you will commonly find campaigners on both sides of modern controversies each of whom sees him/herself as obeying God with their efforts.

And there are so many parachurch organisations who want to stir us to action. Write to your MP about debt relief, religious persecution, homosexual “marriage” etc.. Send more money to our organisation which is doing God’s work but strangely never seems to be properly funded by Him.

They all assume the power and the glory belong to the governing institutions – Parliament, UN, EU, etc. or to the Media and (that strange monster) Public Opinion.

The weapons of our warfare are no longer the weapons of the cantakerous Jewish convert who wrote Second Corinthians. Neither are they mighty.

Bible Authority – continued

Some searchers were disappointed with my previous post which was just basically a plug for a good article by Don Carson.

Click here for a good article by N T Wright on Bible Authority.

This article is much better than his later book.  He seems to be slowly turning into a Roman Catholic and now seems to see “the Church” (by which he seems to mean the Hierarchy, the teaching elite and their adherents) as being much more important than mere congregations .

You have probably guessed that I take an opposite view.

Nevertheless, his emphasis on the way God’s Authority works through the Biblical Story is refreshing and rings a lot of bells.

Are Christians really meant to be good for society?

Last Sunday I preached on “Salt and Light”. I pointed out that the virtue of salt there is that it tastes salty and NOT that it is a preservative. I am sure that the reference is to be being tasty to God – as in Leviticus 2:13

Season all your grain offerings with salt . Do not leave the salt of the covenant of your God out of your grain offerings; add salt to all your offerings.

and Jesus is not worried about preserving our culture. The context is that of being persecuted for the Gospel’s sake since that is when we are likely to play down our convictions to avoid suffering.

It occurs to me that the persecutors could be right. Loyalty to Jesus could make us a disruptive and divisive element.

The traditional Anglican interpretation of “salt and light” is that we are the preservers of all that is good in our culture and that we must continue to strive for social improvement. As I get older that looks more and more like a red herring. In any case, it isn’t working.

“The Didache” – a very early guide to Christian living

This little text is from very early in the life of the churches – it might well be from the middle years of the first christian century and contemporary with the Apostolic writings.

Like the New Testament, it is written in the common “man in the street” kind of language rather than proper Greek.  Unfortunately, most of the well known English translations go for “thees” and “thous” and a false exalted tone.  I stumbled across one version which feels more right and here is the link:

http://ivanlewis.com/Didache/didache.html

The instructions are fascinating – obviously based on the sermons on the mount and plain – and show that the early church took Jesus’ ethical teaching and a consistent holiness very seriously.  The re-write of the “ten commandments” for the Roman context is bold and interesting.
People say it is legalistic and lacking in grace.  That is a fair criticism but it seems to be designed to answer the question “How do disciples behave”.  Any answer to that will be culturally conditioned and directive.  This is how one group of very early believers discipled each other.