This blog is not about some deep theological concern, it is more personal. This is about the journey we have been on these last nine weeks, moving from Beavercreek, Ohio to Brooksville, Florida.
First, let me say that above all it has been the hand of God, and it has been amazing. That is not to say that it has never been difficult or testing. I simply mean that in all circumstances both good and not so good that we have seen God's hand, and faithfulness ever present.
We left Beavercreek on Thursday morning, June 23, but not without difficulty. We did not finish packing a very stuffed truck on Wednesday night because it started to rain really hard. Our friends that were helping us load the truck said, Ohio was weeping that we were leaving. That morning we said goodbye to our oldest son, Tyler, who was heading west to Oklahoma and his new life as an aerospace engineer. We were proud, but we cried. We miss him so very much. then we finished loading and headed off for the open road (I-75 South). That night in the small town of Sweetwater, Tennessee we blew a tire. The hot summer highway ate up our tire. The truckers who watched it happen quickly blocked the road and let me get off the highway and to the next exit. What a blessing! There we found a hotel and we contacted U-Haul. Before going to bed we got the tire fixed, but not without getting the shake down from the local U-Haul tire man. What a piece of work that guy was. He tried to shake me down for a pay-off until he realized I had purchased the Super Safemove insurance. He used every scare tactic, but after he realized I was covered he then tried to make nice and back-up from all the stuff he told me. It shook me up, but God kept me blind to some of it so that it was not until after he left that I realized what his game was.
The next day as we got back on the road, a light rain cooled the highway, and we made good time, and got as far as Lake City, Florida before the very used tires he gave us blew. This time a kind ol'boy from West Virginia sporting his Mountaineer paint job and hat came to our rescue. This guy brought us new tires, and assured me that we were not over-weight and that we had done nothing wrong. He checked every tire, and when he was done he told us the problem was the used tire the guy in Tennessee had installed. That night we arrived at our friend's, the Leibenspergers, to home cooked food and a joyful reception.
A short day of rest on Saturday, led to a very exciting Sunday when nearly 30 people filled the house to hear a message about the kingdom of God. the worship was sweet, the people were kind, and I already knew God was going to do more than we ever imagined. that night as we wrapped up, the last guest did not leave until well after 9:00 pm we marveled at the trip we had just made and God's provision. We scheduled our next meeting two weeks into the future.
The following week we packed our hosts for their trip to Italy and took them to the airport. As we returned to the house we felt a great peace that God was with us, and that we were not alone in Brooksville.
Over the next few weeks we entertained and built new friendships and got to know people. By the end of the three weeks the church had already picked up some more momentum and the Leibenspergers returned to a full house. As excited as we all were, the need to get on with life was very heavy on our hearts. We did not have a house and the kids needed to enroll in school and we needed to register our cars, get insurance. and become Floridians. So far we were on an extended vacation.
Over the next month we searched every house for sale in the city and we finally had to register at school, and our cars, etc using our friends address and our mailing address. Still no house, not even as I write this blog. No sooner did we get everything and everyone registered and then our mailbox company, Pak Mail, went belly-up here in Brooksville. Then a few days later the mall we were trying to put the church in turned down our lease because they did not want a church, but still we have our joy.
You see, in the midst of being homeless, and the church meeting in our friend's house, and sending our children off to school ( Joel off to college 30 miles away), and a number of other glitches, we have to look around at the beauty of this place, the beauty of our friends country home, and God's abundant provision and smile. We are so well cared for, and we have really enjoyed our little two family "commune." there is always someone to talk to, to make dinner with, and to share life with. With nine people in the house (it was 10 before Joel left) someone will go to the store with you, or feed the chickens, or fold laundry.
In the middle of all this I had an old friend pass away, and I went to Muskegon, Michigan the town where I planted my first Vineyard Church fourteen years ago. There I saw many friends and we played catch-up, and laughed and told stories from over a decade ago. I should note that the Leibenspergers (our hosts) were part of that church in Muskegon. In that moment I realized the journey that God has had me on for over fourteen years and how it led to my being in Brooksville now. I saw how many of the events in the last decade have shaped my theology, my understanding of the kingdom of God, and my uncompromising commitment to making disciples of Jesus that make disciples of Jesus. You know what else . . .
I realized that God was in control through the good and the bad of those last fourteen years. I saw his hand and his provision more clearly. Suddenly my house situation, my Pak Mail problem, my car situation, and my church meeting place problem were not problems at all. They became God's direction, his leading, his hand, leading me, sometimes pushing me toward his plan. How foolish of me to resist his kindness, and his plan, with my agenda. My mind goes to the excellent little book of Philippians at moments like this: "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you." (Philippians 2.4-9, ESV).
Most of us spend all of our energy waiting to arrive. We tell ourselves that we will be happy when happenstance hands us the right conditions. We will be happy when stuff happens, like when we get the house or when we sell it, when we get the job or leave it, when we get married or we get divorced, when we go to college or when we graduate. It is exhausting waiting for happiness. The Proverb writer says, "Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life." (Proverbs 13.12, ESV). However, if I can with the Apostle Paul say,"I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me." (Philippians 4.11-13, ESV) then I will find joy in the journey, not just in the destination. Happenstance controls happiness, but I can choose joy always.
So how can you pray for us? Pray Romans 15.13 over our lives that we may be filled with joy and peace for the journey ahead of us.
"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope." Romans 15.13, ESV
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Without Vision the People Perish (Part 3)
Over the last two weeks I have been talking about Proverbs 29.18 “Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law.” (ESV). During week one I ended my commentary on Proverbs 28.19 with the conclusion that the overall thrust of the passage taught that the people of God need divine instruction (i.e. the Word of God) to keep in step with God and the community of faith, and that without God’s instruction, vis-à-vis the Bible, preaching, parental and pedagogic instruction (i.e. Christian education) the people lose their way, and their joy, and they are destroyed. In week two I pointed out that the Apostle Paul wrote the Epistle to the Romans as if he was addressing Proverbs 28.19 with an entire letter. He’s not, but it is clear that his address, especially to the Jews, that Paul has in mind the difference between authentic righteousness rather than nationalistic righteousness. With that dichotomy in mind, I turned to Romans 12.2, which instructs the community of faith to avoid outward conformity (more specifically to the world) and to pursue internal transformation. I said in my commentary on Romans 12.2 that it is clear that Paul expected us to make an effort to change rather than waiting for it to happen miraculously, and I pointed to the kind of change as being in contrast to the worldly behavior Paul rejects in Romans 1. Today we pick up in Romans 12.2 with the idea of testing to discern what is good and pleasing.
“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Romans 12.2
In the last part of this verse the ESV uses the word testing for the Greek word, dokîmázeîn, which can be translated as test, examine, prove, or approve.[1] This word contains the idea that once someone has been transformed by the renewing of their mind then this person will know the will of God. But it does not tell us how that transformation of the mind take place? How does Paul expect the readers to stop conforming to the ways of this world? Stepping back to the larger context of Romans, as we did last week, there is a thematic value placed on the Jews and their experience of covenant righteousness, their way of life, as instruction (torah) and that this trust they have been endowed with, is of great value. Keeping this in mind, it seems that the trust that the Jews have been given, and the instruction that these Gentile Christians are in need of, is about to understand covenant righteousness (i.e. How does one behave as a member of the covenant?). The advatage of the Jews is that they already know, probably better than they are actully behaving, and the loss of the Gentile, is that they do not know, and they need to be transformed even as the Jews need to be renewed.
While Paul is certainly constructing a way of life that is less ethnic, and more inclusive, his methodology and intent are still essentially the same. In the words of Dr. James D.G. Dunn:
Here too, then, Paul spells out the equivalent obligation of the redefined people of God. In particular the echo of [Romans] 2.18 is hard to ignore. Paul had characterized “the Jew” as confident that he knew God’s will and could discern the right order of priorities by virtue of his being instructed in the law. Here, no doubt deliberately, he uses the same language: the objective is still discerning the will of God. But no longer is that a matter of observing all the statutes of the law. For the eschatological people of God it is rather a matter of recognizing the eschatological tension of living between the two ages: on the one hand, resisting the danger of adapting too much to the norms and values of this age, and on the other, of submitting to the power of the risen one to renew from within.[2]
What is compelling about Dunn’s quote is that it holds several of the previously expressed ideas I introduced last week via Barth, Calvin, and Würthwein, as well as his own view, held altogether in tension. It is not simply ethical change, like Barth suggests, but it is that also. It is not wholly the change from depraved mind to sanctified mind like Calvin suggests, but it is that as well. It is not all new patterns of thought, brought on by the Spirit of God as Würthwein suggests, but it is that too. Succinctly, it is all of these things because of the eschatological tension of living between the two ages. This is what the Jewish socio-religious culture seemed to address. It created space in life for God to reclaim the heart and mind of the follower. In a similar manner, the Apostle Paul, as an heir of torah and as an author of this new Way, says that for the person of faith to know and do God’s will, they must be transformed, which he concludes, takes place through an intentional process of renewing the mind (and spirit) of the person. Thus, throughout the biblical witness, the concept of covenant righteousness is not merely subscribing to a set of shared philosophical ideas or values. Neither is it external submission to a religious practice or a codex of behaviors. Instead, it is the whole person being changed, beginning with the mind, to affect the whole person.
In overview, Proverbs 29.18 is not a passage about obeying the desires of the “Big Man of God,” but about living in step with the Law and the Prophets. Secondly, for those of us in Christ this is accomplished by turning our hearts and minds toward Christ, to be discipled by him. Those who do this will be blessed. Conversely, those who conform to the world (cast off restraint) rather than being discipled by Christ (according to the Prophets and the Apostles) are still on a path of destruction. If you want to know the joy and blessedness of God its found in giving yourself wholly to Christ to learn his way of life. And that way of life is not found through quick fixes or Sunday morning religion but through intentional Spirit empowered transformation that begins inside and works its way out.
[1]Walter Bauer, A Greek English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 4th ed., rev. William F. Arndt, and F. Wilbur Gingrich (Chicago: University of Chicago, 1952), 201.
[2]James D.G. Dunn. Romans 9-16, WBC, vol. 38b. (Dallas: Word, 1988), 717.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Without Vision the People Perish (Part 2)
Last week I ended my commentary on Proverbs 28.19 with the conclusion that the overall thrust of the passage taught that the people of God need divine instruction (i.e. the Word of God) to keep in step with God and the community of faith, and that without God’s instruction, vis-à-vis the Bible, preaching, parental and pedagogic instruction (i.e. Christian education) the people lose their way, and their joy, and they are destroyed. Then I pointed to a brief overview of biblical history would indicate that this is exactly what happened to Israel and Judah when they strayed from divine instruction. While they may have retained some outward conformity to biblical norms, it was not enough to keep them on track, which led to their eventual destruction. That leads us to today as I continue on the subject of perishing from casting off restraint vs. the blessedness of living in covenant with God. The Apostle Paul writes in the Epistle to the Romans as if he is addressing Proverbs 28.19 with an entire letter. He’s not, but it is clear that his address, especially to the Jews, that Paul has in mind the difference between authentic righteousness rather than nationalistic righteousness. With that dichotomy in mind, I turn to Romans 12.2, which instructs the community of faith to avoid outward conformity (more specifically to the world) and to pursue internal transformation:
“Do not be conformed to this world,
but be transformed by the renewal of your mind,
that by testing you may discern what is the will of God,
what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Romans 12.2
In the epistle to the Romans, Paul opens the letter with commentary on the human condition and need for God in the life of both Jew and Gentile. Paul then proceeds to explain that both are in the same predicament; both Jew and Gentile need the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ. What is different, says Paul, is that the Jew has grown up with this life-education model of tôrah, or instruction, as was explained earlier in this chapter, while the Gentile has been devoid of this kind of covenant tutelage. Paul feels the need to instruct Gentile Christians on how to live rightly, according to covenant. After Paul has rearticulated to both Jews and Gentiles what right living is, according to covenant, and why it is so important, Paul begins in Romans 12.2 to expound on the idea that this new way of living that can only be experienced through transformation, which Paul says comes about through the renewing of the mind.
Of first note, this entire passage is written in the form of a command, indicating that there is an expectation that the reader should take some kind of initiative, and that the task is something he or she can accomplish. In other words, Paul expected them to do something about it and not just wait for it to happen to them “miraculously.” In this verse, the Apostle Paul, contrasts the verbs conforming and transforming. Some have argued that there is no significant difference between the two words, while others are convinced that the two verbs are antonyms as basic as inward and outward.[1] In the writings of Paul, conforming is “bad” or at least undesirable while transforming, in contrast, is “good” and possible. Thus the major considerations in this text are: 1) what does it mean to be conformed to this world? 2) Exactly what does Paul mean by transformation? 3) And what does the Apostle Paul mean when he speaks of the renewing of the mind?
Let’s begin with the English word, ‘conforming’, which is suschêmatízesthe, in the Greek and is translated: form or to mold after something. [2] This word is tied to the dative word ‘to aioni’ (this world or this age) and together they mean that Paul did not want them to be molded into this present age.[3] The “present age” is in contrast with that which Paul desires them to be transformed into. N.T. Wright on this subject notes that, ‘“The way of the world is’ is a powerful, insidious force . . . ”[4] However, what is objectionable specifically, apart from the fact that it is not the will of God, is not spelled out for the reader. So what is it that Paul wants them to not be like? The implication from the broader context of Romans would seem to be that Paul wants them to live in contrast with a life full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness, etcetera, the way-of-life, described in Romans 1.29-32.[5] (Don’t forget Paul did not divide the letter into chapters and verses, or those often ridiculous headings.) Paul wrote a letter and the whole letter has cohesive thoughts that run from front to back.
The word in juxtaposition is the word for transformation, metamorphoûsthe, is the word from which the English word metamorphosis is derived. The word is typically used in reference to physical change, like the change from caterpillar to that of a butterfly, but it has been used in religious literature to sometimes refer to changes that cannot be perceived by the natural eye.[6] The use of the word, which is not uncommon in Hellenistic mythology, often refers to moments when divine beings take on human form or when people are transformed into other beings by use of mystical ritual (i.e. magic).[7] In Christian literature, the use of metamorphoûsthe, as to the change of spiritual condition, only occurs two times and both times are in the writings of Paul (2 Corinthians 3.18 & Romans 12.2). In both texts, Paul used it to communicate a kind of change that cannot be perceived by the eye, yet is a perceivable reality.[8] This is seen more clearly, when one considers the contrast between the transforming of the mind and the conforming to the world.
So how do these two words work together and against one another? The Greek word ‘suschêmatízesthe’ which is translated conforming in the English Standard Version (ESV) is concerned with the outward (schêma) while transforming is concerned with the inward (morphé), meaning that Paul is looking for a change at the deepest level and not just posture or attitude that can be changed at will.[9]
Paul continues the phrase, with the word, ánakainôsei, translated in the ESV as renewal, which is unique to Christian literature[10] and simply means to renew or restore. The combination of these words, ‘transformation’ (metamorphoûsthe) and ‘renewal’ (ánakainôsei), Dunn believes, may indicate some sort of balance of continuity and discontinuity with the Jews’ previous understanding of covenant righteousness, but that Paul is also indicating that some fundamental attitudes must be changed and a new perspective taken up.[11] Christianity and Judaism, while rooted in the same narratives, have significantly different understandings of what it means to be the people of God, and what the intended outcome is meant to be. What then is the new perspective Paul wants them to adopt?
As was mentioned before, in this specific text, the reader is only told that being transformed by the “renewal of your mind” will allow one to “discern what is the will of God.” (Some have argued here that Paul did not mean to say that one would be enabled to discern, but that it is something that every renewed person will have already done in the process of being renewed.[12]) The implication is that a renewed mind is a discerning mind.
N.T. Wright is instructive when he says, “Being trained to think “Christianly” is the necessary antidote to what will otherwise happen.”[13] In other words, the specifics are not as important, as much as the transformation that will result when the mind is renewed. Whatever that renewal of the mind produces, that will be the desired outcome. Philip Melanchthon, Martin Luther’s student and fellow Reformer, believed that this was, “the will of God set forth in his commandments and promises.”[14] Calvin echoed Melanchthon, and went on to say that, “The world praises itself, and takes delight in its own inventions; but Paul affirms, that nothing pleases God except what he has commanded. The world, in order to find perfection, slides from the word of God into its own devices; Paul by fixing perfection in the will of God, shows that if any one passes over that mark he is deluded by a false imagination.”[15] These assertions by Calvin and Melanchthon were that the will of God, and the law, along with its promises, are what Paul meant when he said “the will of God” in Romans 12.2. While their inferences are more speculative than Wright, it would seem that Calvin and Melanchthon’s inferences are reasonable in light of Paul’s statement in Romans 2.18, which equates knowing the will of God with knowing the law.[16] Looking over the whole of Romans chapters 12-15, this section seems to be a treatise on Christian living in which 12.1-2 would be the opening introduction. In that case, the will of God is summed up in the ideals expressed by Calvin and Melanchthon, in as much as the topics in chapters 12-15 are all in keeping with this theme of the will of God as being the same as the law of God. This of course assumes that by the “law of God,” Paul meant the spirit of the law, rather than the very letter of the law.
The last part of the phrase, noós, translated mind in this text, in the ESV, was widely used in Hellenistic philosophical and religious thought to articulate a concept of reason, which was an equivalent with spirit.[17] In Philo’s fusion of Hellenistic philosophy and Jewish religion, there is a sense of cosmology and mysticism associated with the word.[18] However, in the New Testament, 21 out of 24 times, Paul uses the word, with no connection to any mystico-religious use.[19] Neither is it equated with the words pneúma (spirit) or psuché (soul) as in the popular usage of the Greeks.[20] Instead, Würthwein, a Greek Scholar, argues that it is a moral word and is strictly associated with disposition or moral consciousness.[21] This makes the use of this word in the New Testament, and especially in the works of the Apostle Paul, distinct. Reading the text, with this understanding of the mind as the moral conscience, makes the most sense in the larger context of the passage. This is probably referring back to the whole idea of surrendering the body as an act of worship.[22] The point is that the change of mind that Paul suggest, from the Romans 12.2, is not a new thought or idea, but a completely different way of thinking, that makes the mind as if it were new. Two great thinkers go in very divergent processes at this point. Karl Barth felt that this change was simply repentance and a shift toward ethical behavior,[23] but John Calvin thought that the mind of humanity was actually opposed to the work of God, and that renovation of the mind was absolutely necessary before one could prove what is the will of God.[24] While Calvin’s estimations of the unconverted mind are harsh, they draw the contrast of the text to a fine point. Metamorphosis, the process of change, leaves little of the previous incarnation of mind before Christ, and leads the disciple into a new consciousness, that allows him or her to test and approve what God’s will is. If that is true, then what does Paul mean when he says, ‘that by testing you may discern what is the will of God’?
Well, I have a lot more to say about that, but this is getting long, so I will continue that thought in next week’s edition (Part III of "Without Vision the People Perish.")
[1]Leon Morris, The Epistle to the Romans, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1988), 435.
[2]συσχηματιζεστε in the The Greek New Testament, ed. Kurt Aland, Matthew Black, Carlo Martini, Bruce M. Metzger, and Alen Wikgren (London: UBS, 1966), ΠΡΟΣ ΡΩΜΑΙΟΥΣ 12:2.
[3]“συσχηματιζω” in Walter Bauer, A Greek English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 4th ed., rev. William F. Arndt, and F. Wilbur Gingrich (Chicago: University of Chicago, 1952), 803.
[4]N.T. Wright, After You Believe: Why Christian Character Matters, (New York, NY: HarperOne, 2010), 152.
[5]Romans 1:29-32, ESV.
[6]J. Behm, “μεταμορφόω,” in Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. Gerhard Kittel, trans. and ed. Geoffrey W. Bromiley (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1967), 4:755-759.
[7]Ibid.
[9]Morris, 435.
[12]Morris, 436.
[13]Wright, 151.
[14]Philip Melanchthon, Commentary on Romans, trans. Fred Kramer, (St. Louis, MO: Concordia, 1992), 213.
[15]John Calvin, Commentaries on the Epistles of Paul the Apostle to the Romans. Trans. John Owen. (Grand Rapids: Eerdman, 1947), 455.
[16]Romans 2:18.
[20]Ibid.
[21]Ibid.
[23]Karl Barth, The Epistle to the Romans. Trans. Edwyn C. Hoskyns. (London: Oxford, 1933), 434-438.
[24]John Calvin, Commentaries on the Epistles of Paul the Apostle to the Romans. Trans. John Owen. (Grand Rapids: Eerdman, 1947), 454-55.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)