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E100-87: 1 Timothy 6:3-21: Censoring the Bible?

August 17, 2010 No comments

Traditionally red type in Bibles indicates words of Jesus, but suppose it indicated passages that we wanted to censor? (Photo by LivingOS)

Sometimes it is the very people who respect the Bible most who are moost tempted to censor Scripture. This passage is a fine example of how we are tempted to massage Scripture to remove “difficulties” and make it sound more like something our world can understand.

Why does our reading begin at v.3?

The chapter divisions are sometimes in the wrong place, but is that so here?

  • Is the topic of 1-2 very different from that of 3-21?
  • Do these verses connect more strongly with the material in ch.5?

The answer to both questions is NO – they don’t connect strongly to ch.5 (which was about a whole collection of good and bad deeds and seems to reach a conclusion in vv. 24-5. By contrast 1 Timothy 6:1-2 dealing with masters and slaves does fit well with talk of wealth and money in ch.6.

But all this talk of Christian slaves and Christian slave owners is uncomfortable for the heirs of William Wilberforce or Christians living in the USA (where a civil way was fought over slavery).I think the organisers of E100 did not want to associate Paul’s advice to Christian slaves to be respectful, well-behaved slaves with his strong warning against teaching “otherwise and not agreeing with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ”! They have (I expect unconsciously) censored the Bible!

This discomfort – and the consequent temptation (or even need) to censor the Bible – comes about because we forget that the Bible comes to us in human words. Muslim’s claim that the Q’ran was dictated to one man by God, it therefore contains divine words that MUST NOT be translated – for that would contaminate them. The Bible was written by dozens of people, inspired by God, but not taken as dictation. Therefore the Bible contains not the words of God but God’s message. Therefore, by contrast, it MUST be translated!

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1&2 Tim; Titus, E100 , , , , ,

E100-86: 1 Timothy 3:1 – 3:16: Leadership in the churches

August 16, 2010 No comments

Bishop Izabela Wilucka-Kowalska with Catholic Mariavte Church of Poland (Wikimedia)

In this chapter Paul sets out some simple effective rules for Timothy about who are suitable people to be leaders in churches in particular he deals with “Bishops” and “Deacons”. Deacon means very different things today in Anglican and in Baptist churches, to name only two of the bewildering variety of leaders called “deacon” (all claiming to be biblical).  And Bishops are potentially even more divisive – if only because some of us don’t have them. Some translations mitigate the problem by using different words: NIV e.g. uses “overseer” but keeps “deacons” – there is obviously a modern theological agenda at work here between NRSV (heavier with more established denominations) with Bishop and Deacon and NIV (with more Baptists and the like) having Overseer and Deacon.

The third group mentioned here intensifies the issues! In v.11 is it “women” NRSV or “wives [of these male leaders implied] NIV? If women, is it women in general, or women leaders?

If we use the band aid approach to reading the Bible the problem is solved because Paul has said the leaders (of both sorts) must be “the husband of one wife” which means they must be male (unless you think Paul allowed lesbian marriages ;) BUT the bandaid approach is dangerous – the Bible several times (using the band aid approach) says “there is no God” – so Christians are all called to be atheists!

If however we ask:
What were the main things Paul wanted Timothy to “get” from this passage?
Or more explicitly on this issue:
Is Paul determined that Timothy does not ordain women?
The answer is “obviously not”, if that had mattered to him he could have said: “All leaders must be men”. Or “All Bishops must be men”. Paul doesn’t say all leaders in church must me men because in Romans 16:1 he refers to Phoebe as a deacon.1 Then in Rom 16:3 Priscilla is his “fellow worker in Christ Jesus” (in 1 Cor 16:19 he reverses the usual order to talk about Priscilla first and her husband Aquilla after instead of listing Aquilla (as the man) first. This suggests her importance to Paul as a church leader.  In Romans 16:7 Paul refers to a male apostle, Andronicus, and a female apostle, Junia, as “outstanding among the apostles” (NIV) Every Greek and Latin church Father until Giles of Rome (circa 1000 CE) acknowledged  that Junia was a woman.

So we need to ask the question: What did Paul want Timothy to “get” when he read this chapter?

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  1. NIV translates diaconos “servant” here, but usually e.g. 1 Tim 3 it renders “deacon” [↩]
1&2 Tim; Titus, E100 none

E100: Week 18: Reading the Pastoral Epistles

August 15, 2010 No comments

The “Pastoral epistles” 1 & 2 Tim and Titus offer advice to two young companions of Paul’s travels called to church leadership – Timothy, in the big city of Ephesus and Titus on the island of Crete.

There is even more debate about whether these letters were written by Paul than was the case for Ephesians – but as always the issues are highly technical and one needs good Greek as well as significant knowledge of both what we know and how we know it about the development of the earliest churches so I’ll ignore the issue here ;) and as I did for Ephesians and Colossians just call the author “Paul” since that’s what he calls himself!

Because of the nature of the topics in this epistle there are always questions about where and how far Paul’s advice is ad hoc. And to what extent it is timeless. That question is badly posed. ALL Paul’s advice is timebound and culturally determined! We saw in Luke’s account of Paul’s preaching in Athens that he was too good a missionary not to be culturally sensitive!

If all the advice here is timebound and culturally sensitive then how can we draw teaching for running our churches today from it?

This is where the five step plan comes into its own! (The Five Step Bible Programme: Part 1: Introduction or for all the posts in order from the bottom of the list):

  • 1. What DID it say (back then, to the first hearers)?
  • 2. What is the difference (between then and now)?

Among the differences here are different forms of church organisation, different cultural contexts and taboos, different expectations on young and old, women and men…

  • 3. What does it teach about God and God’s relationship with the world and us (theology)?

This is always the key step – looking for the principles about God, and God’s relationship with the world and humanity – because if we really spot what principle(s) Paul was applying or asking Timothy to apply we can then in step 5 see how they apply today.

  • 4. How does Jesus fulfill (fill out fully) this passage?
  • 5. What DOES it mean (here and now)?

Applying this simple process will ensure a strong, biblically based, yet culturally sensitive application of the message of Scripture today.

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1&2 Tim; Titus, 5 Steps, E100 none

E100-85: Colossians 1:1 – 1:23: The Supremacy of Christ

August 13, 2010 No comments

Apsismosaik. Ravenna, 545 (Photo by Gryffindor)

Colossians – like Ephesians and the Pastorals (1 & 2 Tim and Titus) is often thought to be by someone copying Paul but it’s ideas (and some wording) seem to have been used in Ephesians, which would make it very early if it is not not really by Paul. I cannot understand the excitement over debating back and forward whether Paul wrote it. It is in the Bible, it is addressed a very early church, and has messages that are important for us. What more matters?

Our reading starts with the introduction to the letter.  First the greeting (Col 1:1-3) then a thanksgiving for the Colossians faith, love and hope, then Paul and his colleagues pray for the Colossians to know God’s will and so lead lives pleasing to God, to be strengthened and prepared to endure, while giving thanks to the Father.

Then Col 1:14-23 presents solid doctrine about who Christ is and what he has done.

This reading really ought to have come earlier in this week! It contains the Intro to a letter and also an Intro to thinking Christianly.

In Col 1:13-14 the hearers of the letter are reminded that they have been redeemed from sin, the power of darkness (bought out of slavery) into the kingdom of the beloved son cf. Israel ransomed from slavery to Egypt/Pharaoh to become child of Yhwh.

The in Col 1:15-20 there is a glorious hymn to Christ

He is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn of all creation;

for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created,
things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers-
- all things have been created through him and for him.

He himself is before all things,
and in him all things hold together.

He is the head of the body, the church;
he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
so that he might come to have first place in everything.

For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,
and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things,
whether on earth or in heaven,
by making peace through the blood of his cross.

Col 1:21-23 reminds them that this hymn describes their experience – estranged from God but now reconciled by Christ through his death, provided that they remain firm…

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Colossians, E100 , , , , ,

E100-84: Philippians 4:2 – 4:9: Rejoice in the Lord

August 12, 2010 1 comment

I searched for a picture on "confusion" and found this photo by bogenfreund

Unlike Paul’s other letters Philippians seems disjointed which can make it difficult to read. Goodspeed wrote that:

In chapter 1 he is making the best of his imprisonment; in chapter 2 he is sending Epaphroditus back to them; in chapter 3 he bursts forth against the Judaizers; in chapter 4 he acknowledges the gift Epaphroditus has brought him. Paul is usually much more orderly than this.

Polycarp (c.60-150AD) writing to the Philippians mentions that Paul “wrote letters” (plural) to Philippi. Maybe what we have is parts of more than one letter.

Despite the muddle the letter is treasured because it contains so many good things: like the Christological hymn in ch.2, and the line “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice” (Phil 4:4)  or the blessing in our reading (Phil 4:7) But our seven verse reading shows up the confusion too, since it opens with the sort of personal greetings and instructions we expect right at the end of the letter: urging Eudoia and Syntache to get along etc. then we return material suited to the more general body of a letter (Phil 4:4-6)

A lovely passage from a great if somewhat confusing letter – I like to imagine that the people who think sheets from more than one letter to Phillipi have got jumbled together somehow are right, then this letter is also a fine example of God bringing out fine pearls from human error and muddle and confusion. For “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guards us in Christ Jesus.”

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E100, Philippians , ,

E100-83: Ephesians 6:10 – 6:20: The armour of God

August 11, 2010 No comments

Photo by Rennett Stowe

Ephesians like Romans and Galatians splits neatly into two parts, with the second giving the practical outworkings of the first. Here opening (chs. 1-4) is “indicative” – it tells us what is – the second  (chs. 5-6) is “imperative” – it tells us what to do.

The letter has strong similarities to Colossians, some think it is an expansion, filling out the earlier letter. It is written with some long complicated sentences, and uses words and phrases that Paul does not use elsewhere. So some scholars think it is not by Paul. (My Greek is not up to deciding this, so I’ll call the author “Paul” since that is what he calls himself ;)

Generations of children’s talks have conditioned individualistic Westerners to hear this “armour of God” section as all about individual piety. But the collective nature of ancient cultures, the stress on unity and community in the letter, the echo of “put on Christ” in “put on the whole armour” suggests we read it more collectively.

There is debate over whether this Peroratio (the summary section just before the ending of ancient letters) only sums up the “imperative” section, or whether it sums up the whole.1 Looking for the key words (e.g. for the “breastplate of righteousness” look for “righteous*”) earlier in the letter seems to me to make it clear it sums up (Notice too the place of this concept in the glorious opening of the letter – which you surely MUST read as well as these verses!) the whole.

When we put on Christ (in putting on all these “bits” of armour) we change our relationship with the world, and in doing so we resist the power of the rulers of this world!

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  1. Great names like Aquinas, Calvin and FF Bruce supported the “only the Imperative section” view, while already Jerome saw it summing up the whole letter in the usual way. [↩]
E100, Ephesians

E100-82: Galatians 5:16 – 6:10: The Fruit of the Spirit

August 10, 2010 No comments

The grave of JRR Tolkien and his wife in Wolvercote Cemetery, Oxford (Photo by Michael Parry)

Unlike the theological treatise in Romans, Galatians seems to be written to particular people known to Paul, and with a particular situation in mind – Jewish Christian preachers who were calling for restoration of Biblical Principles (observance of the Old Testament law).

So after the greeting, Paul starts combatitively in Gal 1:6-10. In the light of this he needs to spend the rest of chapter 1 and all of 2 defending himself as an Apostle. Chs 3-4 the centre of the epistle. They present again the core gospel that we need not, cannot earn salvation but that we can receive it as a free gift. As with Romans the last major section chapters 5-6 show what this means in practice.

In our reading he starts by showing that liberty is not licence, that our freedom in Christ is freedom to become better not freedom to sink into depravity. How given salvation as a gift, we also receive the gift of the Spirit which is the power to overcome our base desires and to really live in freedom.

Running through the passage are two metaphors:

  • fruitfulness: “fruits of the spirit”, “you reap what you sow”
  • dying and rising with Christ.

If in Christ we die to our “old” natural – broken spoiled and twisted human nature – then with Christ we can be raised to a new and healthy life, because the Spirit produces lifegiving fruit:

…love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23)

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E100, Galatians , , , ,

E100-81: Romans 8:1-39

August 9, 2010 No comments

Photo by Coolm36

Romans is a long letter, and the divisions between “sections” are often not clear. So the end of the opening greeting is not obvious somewhere in Rom 1:14-17, but where? Nor is it clear that the division between Rom 1 and Rom 2 is in the right place.1 But Romans is packed full of crucial2 theology.

Paul’s manifesto (Rom 1:16) sets up the book, and he continues to argue, first that Gentiles are “without excuse” since enough of the design of the Creator God is visible in creation that they should kn ow better, but nor can Jews excuse themselves – having the law they should know better still! The next chapters present the righteousness that IS available through the faith of and in Christ. From Rom 5 into the middle of our reading he talks about “sanctification” – how, once we are declared “righteous” (rightly in a restored relationship with God), God makes us holy.3

Then from the middle of our reading a short section declares the wonder of our “glorification” – how in Christ our lives move beyond the ordinary and share here and now in the glory that is to come.

It is powerful stuff, and the last verses (Rom 8:18-39 and particularly Rom 8:28-39) are rightly a favourite of many Christians!

In 9-11 Paul turns to God’s righteousness and the ongoing destiny of the chosen people. The rest of the book till the closing deals with practical outworking of all this theology!

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  1. Remember that chapter divisions were only added to the biblical text in the middle ages. [↩]
  2. Pun intended ;) [↩]
  3. Sanctus in Latin. [↩]
E100, Romans none

E100: Week 17: Writing letters

August 8, 2010 No comments

One column from Oxyrhynchus papyrus XX, a papyrus roll (approximately 5×20 cm) from Wikimedia

As soon as Christian faith began to spread beyond its first (Jewish) homeland it became a faith based on community sustained by travel and letters. A bit just like blogs and FaceBook today, letters nourished community, and sustained arguments or brought them to peaceful conclusions. The combination of new(ish) technology and Roman roads and sea trade routes caused an explosion of letter writing. The newish technology was papyrus (not new since it was known since 3rd millennium BC but a rival technology, parchment (leather scraped to give a smoothe writing surface) in the 1stC BC & AD together with better trade (Empire) made writing materials more available. Previously many letters were written on clay tablets or ostraca (broken pieces of pottery).

Letters were usually dictated to a scribe, but perhaps with a bit written in the hand of the author, as a demonstration of authenticity (like 2 Thes 3:17 Philemon 19). Carried by a trusted intermediary, letters were read aloud to the recipients. Sometimes a group of bystanders joined in the writing – so both reading and writing were often communal activities.

Much like bloggers today seek to project a personality across a void, ancient letter writers sought an extension of relationship, reviving friendship, at a distance. Many phrases in Paul’s letters show he saw the epistle as a substitute for his own presence.

There was a standard form for letters:

Beginning:

Letter of Biridiya, prince of Megiddo, to the king of Egypt from Wikimedia

  • opening greetings, identifying senders and recipients
  • prayers (or in more secular letters good wishes)

Body:

  • statement of purpose
  • main content
  • conclusion: why written, how to respond, plans for further contact

Closing:

  • good wishes/blessing greetings from others

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E100, Epistles none

E100-80: Acts 25:1 – 28:31: Ending in Rome?

August 6, 2010 2 comments

Street conversation photo by Ed Yourdon

In the legal manouvreing at the start of this reading Paul quotes Isaiah:

“Listen and listen but not understand
look and look but not see!”

But if the Bible is perspicuous (listen to The Perspicuity of Scripture) so is creation: we can’t miss evidence of God, but sometimes we don’t want to hear…

And what a frustrating ending! How does Paul’s story end? Luke presumably knew if Acts was written about AD 70 because these events had happened some 8 years earlier. But Acts is not Paul’s story! Acts 1:8 as program for the book:

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.“
The book is over, go into the world in peace :)

They have witnessed to great effect in Jerusalem, beyond in the Jewish world, and beyond that to the heart of the empire the ends of the earth are just a matter of time… the story of Acts is over – whatever happened to Paul. Once again the Bible is not about US (human beings) it’s about God and the divine plan for the world. The story is over, before Paul reached Rome there were Christians there. The story is still not over we are still writing it as we witness to Christ wherever we are from one end of the earth to the other. Acts is a book of witnesses empowered by the Spirit are you one of its still being written heroes?

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Acts, E100 none
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