Justice

  Today I thought I'd make a comment about justice. I have recently been re-watching Batman: The Animated Series, an old childhood favourite of mine. As I was watching it, a thought occurred to me. Why do people find such stories attractive? There are many reasons, of course. Mark Hamill's superb acting as the Joker is one excellent reason for watching the show, but the thought that immediately struck me was Batman's connection with justice. Justice is a complex issue, as anyone who has read Plato's Republic can affirm. What I am getting at here is a basic desire to see wrongdoing punished, to see the victims vindicated, to see damage repaired, and protection guaranteed for the future. Batman is built on the basic assumption that something is wrong with the world: the hero would have no villains to fight, no raison d'être, unless there already existed some uncontrollable urge in humanity to do what is evil.

  But it doesn't stop with the hero: what makes Batman and other similar comics so interesting is the ability to empathize with the villains also. They too are often trying to correct some injustice. Revenge is often their motive, and more than once they ask Batman what the difference is between him and them. It's not my intention to argue the rights and wrongs of vigilantism here; rather, I wish to highlight the close connection between psychology and justice as a motif in art and literature. In the West, Christians often talk about Christ's Crucifixion in a legal framework, following the Apostle Paul. We talk of sin, and that is understood to mean 'crime'; the sin/crime deserves to be punished and Christ takes the punishment that we deserve. Thus Christ's sacrifice is presented as meeting the requirements of justice, with God as the Judge and injured party, and humanity as the wrongdoers. This is not the only way of talking about the Crucifixion and what it means, but I would like to suggest that it is an important and powerful one because of the place justice occupies in the human condition and psyche, as seen in our artistic expression.

  I do not mean that our psychology creates this interpretation of the Cross. It is objectively true that Christ died for the sins of humanity, whether we see it this way or not. What I am saying is that God built into us a sense of justice, a remembrance of the way things were and should be - there is no getting away from Eden. Fallen as we are, we still have a conscience, something that bears witness against the evil we do, against the current state of the world. It fills us with a longing for Paradise and points us back towards God.

Do you cry out for justice? Turn to Christ.

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled." (Matthew 5:6, NIV)

God bless.

Things In Common

  One of the many blessings and challenges I have received during my time at university is meeting Christians from other denominations. I would describe myself as a 'non-denominational' Christian, but I do fall roughly within a Protestant framework. Often when  talking with someone about a doctrinal matter, one easily forgets the things both people have in common. While I am skeptical of the Ecumenical Movement, and don't believe one can cover up major differences between the denominations, I do believe it is important for all Christians to remember the things we have in common, especially at this time when there are so many religious, philosophical, and moral challenges to our faith.

Below is a list of things I believe my Catholic and Orthodox friends would share in common with me, a Protestant:

-Jesus is the Son of God and the Son of Man - fully human and fully God - He was crucified to reconcile us to God and He was raised from the dead three days later as a sign of His victory and His promise to give everlasting life to all who believe in Him (John 3:16)

-the importance of the Bible in discovering who God is, what He has done in history, and what His will for our lives is

-the importance of confession to God when our conscience and the Holy Spirit prompts us concerning sin

-the need to exercise our free will in our relationship with God; He won't make our choices for us

-the sanctity of the Eucharist

-the love of God for all people and the desire of God for all people to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9)

-the need for a Christian to frequently meet with other Christians for prayer, encouragement and correction, and worship (Hebrews 10:24-25)

-Christ has promised to come again and will - at that time the dead will be raised to life, and He will judge the nations (Matthew 24-25)

-the importance of prayer in the life of the Christian

-the importance of the work of the Holy Spirit in the personal and corporate lives of Christians (John 3, 15-17; 1 Corinthians 12-14)

-the need to share the Gospel of Jesus' Crucifixion, Resurrection, and Ascension with all people, regardless of background

-the need to avoid and expose syncretism and compromise in the presentation of the Gospel

-the need to show love to others and respect their free will

  More could be said here, but I hope I have shown that the Holy Spirit's work in all true believers has not fallen by the wayside - he is bringing us to the 'unity of the Faith' longed for by the Apostle Paul - but what that unity looks like does not always conform to our expectations.

God bless.

The Whole Counsel of God

   'For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God..' (Acts 20:27, NKJV)

   These words were spoken by the Apostle Paul to the elders of the church at Ephesus when he was returning to Jerusalem, where it was prophesied he would be taken prisoner. This speech was a final address of sorts. He said to them, 'And indeed, now I know that you all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, will see my face no more' (Acts 20:25, NKJV). Paul was concerned that the Ephesian church must be prepared to weather all the trials and challenges of the future, and so it needed to be established in all of God's truth and have the courage and endurance to remain true to it.

  Some time ago I was asked to lead a Bible-study at my home-church. At the time I was reading Acts and I came across this passage. I use a study-Bible for my daily readings and there was a passage written by one of the editors regarding this point. It emphasized the need for pastors to cover in time a wide array of topics from the Bible. This really struck me and I decided to make the point that it is also incumbent on all believers to address our blind-spots. For example, in Britain talking about money is often awkward, so we mind not tackle it so often in our private study.

 Below is a non-exhaustive list of topics for study. This is offered merely as a way of drawing attention to things one might have overlooked and is not suggested as a stringent programme to be slavishly followed.

-God's character
-the Trinity
-salvation
-the work of the Holy Spirit
-the gifts of the Holy Spirit
-the fruit of the Holy Spirit
-prophecy
-the Second Coming
-money
-Biblical history
-Old Testament types of Christ
-the Church
-the Kingdom of Heaven
-parables
-prayer
-legalism
-deliverance & demons
-healing
-repentance and confession
-marriage & family
-sexual ethics
-evangelism & outreach
-idolatry
-other religions

  I would like to end by saying we should all seek God's will and prompting in this. If He puts it on your heart to explore some part of His Word, follow Him.

God bless. 

Studying the Bible

  In my last post I emphasized the guidance of the Holy Spirit, who helps us to understand the Bible. In this post I would like to give some practical advice to help readers really engage with the Bible.

  One of the first things I would recommend is getting a Bible with good cross references and marginal notes. The New Testament is built upon the Old Testament, and a lot of it won't make sense unless the reader is familiar with the relevant Old Testament passages. Here's an example to demonstrate my point: in Luke 4 Jesus reads from the Book of Isaiah, specifically a passage prophesying the healing ministry of the Messiah, and He applies it to Himself, telling the synagogue that the passage is fulfilled in their hearing (i.e. at that very time). But if one consults the passage in Isaiah, one finds that Jesus stopped half-way through a sentence, the rest of which reads: 

'And the day of vengeance of our God;
To comfort all who mourn,
3 To console those who mourn in Zion,
To give them beauty for ashes,
The oil of joy for mourning,
The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;
That they may be called trees of righteousness,
The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.' (Isaiah 61:2-3, NKJV)

  The implication is that Jesus would fulfill the rest of the passage, but not at that time. In other words, Jesus will at some point in the future execute the vengeance of God upon the enemies of God's people. Only by consulting the passage in Isaiah would one pick this up. The Bible is meant to be read holistically: it is meant to be searched and its various parts brought together.

  It follows from this that one needs to read the whole Bible, and not just parts. When I became a Christian and got my own Bible, I came across the common practice of reading the whole Bible in a year and I did so. This can be an extremely useful thing to do as it reveals different aspects of God's plan and His dealings with mankind and the angels, and it gives the reader a better grasp of the overall sequence of Biblical history. I would suggest that someone who has just become a Christian start in the New Testament; but once a certain amount of familiarity with it has been attained, it makes sense to have a look at the Old Testament. One doesn't need to read the Bible in the space of a year: it's good to meditate on God's Word. But a specific reading plan is very helpful for making sure one reads the whole Bible.

  Having a good grasp of grammar is essential for studying the Bible. If one finds a tough passage, it's better to take one's time and go through it step-by-step, rather than rushing on to read the rest of the chapter. People can go too far with this, and I confess I have often done so because my education has trained me for close-reading of texts. Nevertheless, I am glad that I have been trained as a classicist because my knowledge of Greek has helped me engage a great deal more with the New Testament and Septuagint translation of the Old Testament. I realize of course that we don't all have the time and opportunity to learn Greek, but consulting a good concordance or textbook concerning key vocabulary and concepts will help in grasping some of the finer points of Scripture.

  Concordances, commentaries, timelines, and interlinear Bibles are all helpful, but they are not a substitute for prayer. Perspective is important.

I highly recommend this website: http://biblehub.com/

There's a great deal on here and it's easy to get lost, but it's worth exploring, and is very useful for people who have a solid foundation in the Scriptures and want to build on it.

'The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,
But fools despise wisdom and instruction.' (Proverbs 1:7, NKJV)

God bless.

Introduction to the Bible

  The Bible plays a central role in the life of Christians. We believe that it is a gift of God to us: it tells us about who He is and who we are; it gives us comfort and guidance in times of need; it proclaims the Truth of Jesus Christ as a witness in the world. We believe that the Bible is without error, was written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and contains the guidance we need for knowing God and living a life pleasing to Him.

  However, understanding the Bible requires the help of the Holy Spirit. Jesus says of the holy Spirit, 'I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority,but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.' (John 16:12-15, NKJV.) 

  Earlier Jesus had said, 'If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.' (John 14:15-18, NKJV.) A couple of points need to be drawn from this: the world - that is, non-believers - cannot receive the Spirit of truth. This is not to say that the Holy Spirit is not at work around non-believers; I believe it is His ministry that softens people's hearts to help them become believers (see Jesus' words about being 'born again' at John 3:1-21). But it does mean that the Holy Spirit is the one who leads people to the truth. Only by becoming a believer and receiving the promised Holy Spirit will you be able to truly understand the Bible. The Apostle Paul says, 'But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.' (1 Corinthians 2:14, NKJV.)

 When Jesus stood before the Roman procurator, Pontius Pilate, Pilate asked Jesus, 'What is truth?' (John 18:38, NKJV.) The answer was standing right in front of him. Jesus had said to His disciples earlier, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.' (John 14:6, NKJV.) Jesus is the truth; if truth is what you really seek, then you will find Jesus. How the Lord speaks to someone is of course up to Him; but the Bible is one of the ways He uses. If you seek the truth, if you seek God, search for Him diligently. 'Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.' (Matthew 7:7-8, NKJV.)

  Lastly, I would like to say a few words about the structure of the Bible to help anyone who is new to it to find their way around. The first five books, known as the Pentateuch or Torah contain the history of God's relationship with Man and His people Israel from the time of Man's creation to the time of Moses. A number of passages, and all of Leviticus, are laws that God gave to the Israelites to live by, which is why these five books are known as the Law. The books of Joshua to Esther contain the history of Israel from the time of Joshua, who succeeded Moses to the return of Israel to their land after their captivity in the Babylonian Empire. Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes are books about life and wisdom, while the Psalms are songs (poetry) in praise of God and reflecting on life and relationships with Him. The Song of Solomon/Song of Songs is a love song. Isaiah to Malachi are prophetic books: these are contain a variety of messages and predictions, some already fulfilled, others awaiting fulfillment  They deal with God's relationship with Israel and mankind, and they reflect the promise of a time when God will be reconciled with Man and all things will be restored. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John (the Gospels) are accounts of Jesus' life: they contain many of His teachings, records of how He fulfilled the promises of God predicted by the Prophets, and stories that show His life - the life of God and Man - how he wept, became angry, and rejoiced. The Epistles or letters (Romans to Jude) are letters written by early Christian leaders to the Church. Revelation is about the Second Coming of Jesus and the establishment of His Kingdom in glory - the book ends on the high note of God's desire fulfilled, that he should live among mankind and that the two would know and love each other perfectly.

Search for Jesus in the Scriptures.
God bless.

The Jewish Roots of our Faith

   In this post I would like to make a couple of points about the Jewish roots of Christianity. There are a number of reasons for why I consider this to be important. The first of these is that the New Covenant or ברת חדשה which Jesus the Messiah brought was promised and offered first to the House of Israel and then to the Gentiles. The second reason is that I believe this issue, though often addressed in some circles, still needs to be discussed by wider groups both Jewish and non-Jewish. Thirdly, considering the years of bad relations between the Church and the Jews both recently and in more ancient times, I feel it is good to make this reminder about the common links we share in order to help people make informed decisions about Judaism and Christianity. As always, my words will serve merely as an introduction to this subject, and I hope they will encourage people to do their own personal study.

   My first point is that Jesus is Jewish. When I was at school, I remember a friend of mine observing how commonly Jesus is depicted in European art as blond-haired and blue-eyed. While I make no claims as to Jesus' actual appearance, I would like to highlight, as my friend did, the tendency to imagine Jesus  according to our own ethnic background. In reality, he was born not of Germanic or African parents, but to Mary, who was Jewish. He was a descendant of David, who was a descendant of Jacob/Israel, who was the grandson of Abraham, who was descended from Shem (see Matthew 1:1-17; Luke 3:23-38). 

  Similarly, our Western art and the largely Gentile composition of the Church has led some to imagine the disciples, Apostles, and early Christians as Gentiles, whereas in fact they were largely Jewish. In the early days of the Church, which started in Jerusalem, Jesus' followers met to worship God in the Temple or in people's homes (Acts 2:42-3:1). The Apostle Paul, or Sha'ul as he was formerly known, whenever he came to a new town would generally preach in the local synagogue first, before preaching elsewhere (e.g. Acts 17:1-4). So far as we can tell, Christian communities often started out among the local Jews of a given city and Gentiles would join them, meeting in people's homes (Acts 18:1-8). It is hard to say at what point exactly Christian evangelists dropped Paul's pattern of preaching to the Jew first and then the Gentile (see Romans 1:16), but this appears to have set in by the Late Antique period (3rd century AD onward) - but your guess is as good as mine.

   This leads on to another point: that the New Covenant was promised first to the Jews and then the Gentiles and that Paul maintained this priority in his Apostolic and evangelistic ministry. I'm not sure how well known this is, but the New Covenant was not plucked out of thin air when Jesus came - it had been declared by God through his holy prophet Jeremiah, centuries before Jesus was born to Mary (or Mariam מרים, if you prefer). The relevant passage is Jeremiah 31:31-34, and it is discussed at Hebrews 8:7-13 (but see the preceding passage and chapters for fuller context). Throughout the Law and the Prophets God makes a series of Covenants, some of the most famous being the Abrahamic Covenant, the Mosaic Covenant, and the Davidic Covenant. A notable feature of these covenants is that they are often connected with God's people Israel. The same is true for the New Covenant - God speaks it through the Jewish prophet Jeremiah to the Jewish kingdom of Judah. The verses that follow this announcement, interestingly, are a promise that Israel will always be a people before God - this promise is witnessed by history: the Jews have never ceased from being a distinctive people among the Gentiles, known for their special connection to the One and Only God. The Church is a recipient of the New Covenant, but one must remember how Paul explains this in Romans 11:11-36. We Gentile believers are grafted into the tree of Israel; Israel's roots support us, not we them. Therefore a  degree of respect, gratitude and humility is to be shown the Jews by Gentile believers - it is through Israel that Messiah came who brought the New Covenant whereby our sins are forgiven, as God promised. Jesus himself says, 'salvation is from the Jews' (John 4:22, NIV).

  Lastly, I would like to point out that Jesus' title, Messiah, is Jewish. He is commonly referred to as 'the Christ' by Gentiles because the New Testament was written in Koine Greek and Christos is the Greek translation of the Hebrew Mashiach (Hellenized to Messias), which means 'Anointed One'. The coming of the Messiah was formally announced to the prophet Daniel by the angel Gabriel:

“Know therefore and understand,
That from the going forth of the command
To restore and build Jerusalem
Until Messiah the Prince,
There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks;
The street shall be built again, and the wall,
Even in troublesome times.

 “And after the sixty-two weeks
Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself;
And the people of the prince who is to come
Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.
The end of it shall be with a flood,
And till the end of the war desolations are determined." 

(Daniel 9:25-26, NKJV)

There are of course many other prophecies that are held to refer to the Messiah by both Jewish and Christian scholars, but this is one of the occasions where the word Messiah is used directly. Thus the Messiah is not a concept dreamed up by Christians - God proclaimed that He would send the Messiah at the right time.
  More could be said on this topic, and I intend to address it again in a future post, but for now, this is plenty of food for thought.

Shalom al-Yerushalaim.
God bless.

Why did Jesus Come?

   At Christmas time Hark! The Herald Angels Sing is often sung and it contains these lyrics:

Mild, he lays his glory by;
Born, that man no more may die,
Born to raise the sons of earth,
Born to give them second birth.

  I would like to draw on these wonderful words for this post's discussion. Paul in his Epistle to the Romans says, 'Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned— (For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.' (Romans 5:12-14, NKJV). A link here is made between sin and death: death is the consequence of sin. Paul earlier emphasizes the Biblical line that, 'all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God' (Romans 3:23, NKJV).  Therefore, just as all have sinned, so all are subject to death. But wait, there's more: the Epistle to the Hebrews states that 'it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment' (Hebrews 9:27, NKJV). The question that arises from this is the nature of the judgement and the potential results of the decision made. 

   Revelation 20:11-15 (NKJV) says, 'Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.'

   From this it emerges that the way to escape the judgement is to be written in the Book of Life. Earlier the Book of Life is related to 'the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world ' (Revelation 13:8, NKJV). John the Baptist described Jesus as the 'Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world' (John 1:29, NKJV). This is a reference to the sacrificial system found in the Law of Moses (sidenote: animal sacrifices were carried out before Moses' time; see Genesis 4:1-5, 8:20-22, 46:1). 

   In the Mosaic sacrificial system several important concepts are present. The Passover (Pesach) sacrifice, a lamb, protected the Israelites from Death, when they applied the blood of the sacrifice to the lintel and jambs of their doorways (Exodus 12:1-13). The Lamb in the sacrificial system was especially celebrated with Passover. By referring to Jesus as the 'Lamb of God', John was pointing to Passover, and Passover was the time of year when Jesus was crucified (Luke 22:7-23:56; John 18:39-19:16). 

  Secondly, the sacrifices were meant to take away the sin of those who offered them: that is, they served as substitutes - the innocent died in place of the wicked. Leviticus 17:11 (NKJV) reads, 'For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.’ This is particularly emphasized in the Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) ceremony, which can be found at Leviticus 16, while a New Testament commentary on it may be found at Hebrews 10:1-22.  

  Thirdly, the sacrifices were meant to restore fellowship between God and Man. That is, sin caused separation of Man from God, because God is righteous and holy and will not tolerate sin (Habbakuk 1:13). Once the sacrifice had taken away the sin of the offender, he was no longer viewed by God as unrighteous, and therefore the two could commune together. This is the desire of God's heart - before Adam sinned, God would walk in the Garden of Eden and talk with Adam (Genesis 2-3). When Jesus offered Himself up to take away sin and restore fellowship between God and Man, God tore the curtain that separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the Temple (Matthew 27:51; Mark 15:37-38; Luke 23:45-46 ). This is commented on in Hebrews 10:19-22. The meaning is that Jesus made the way open for Man and God to come together and be one.

  Much more could be said about why Jesus came. He came to destroy the works of Satan - that is, death and evil (1 John 3:8). He came to bear witness to the Truth (John 18:37). He came to fulfill the Law (Matthew 5:17-20).

  I would like to end with this quotation: 'For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit' (1 Peter 3:18, NKJV).

May you know the Lord Jesus Christ. God bless.