From Gary.... In Tampa bay

This unusual rainbow was on facebook today; presented by Tampa bay's own Fox 13 news.  As you are probably aware by now, rainbows are a favorite topic of mine. I love the beauty of the prismatic display and rarely seem the same type of bow twice.  This picture was listed as a cloud producing a rainbow, but to me it is yet another gift from God!!!

Genesis, Chapter 9 (WEB)

 8  God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying,  9 “As for me, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your offspring after you,  10 and with every living creature that is with you: the birds, the livestock, and every animal of the earth with you, of all that go out of the ship, even every animal of the earth.  11 I will establish my covenant with you: All flesh will not be cut off any more by the waters of the flood, neither will there ever again be a flood to destroy the earth.”  12 God said, “This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:  13 I set my rainbow in the cloud, and it will be a sign of a covenant between me and the earth.  14 When I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow will be seen in the cloud,  15 and I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh, and the waters will no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.  16 The rainbow will be in the cloud. I will look at it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.”  17 God said to Noah, “This is the token of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.” 

God is faithful and has kept is covenant and has not only kept his word, but has accomplished it with majesty and splendor that is beyond compare. Don't believe me? Just really look at a rainbow sometime and see for yourself!!!

From Gary... Bible Reading September 24

Bible Reading  

September 24

The World English Bible

Sept. 24

Psalms 98-100

Psa 98:1 Sing to Yahweh a new song, for he has done marvelous things! His right hand, and his holy arm, have worked salvation for him.

Psa 98:2 Yahweh has made known his salvation. He has openly shown his righteousness in the sight of the nations.

Psa 98:3 He has remembered his loving kindness and his faithfulness toward the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

Psa 98:4 Make a joyful noise to Yahweh, all the earth! Burst out and sing for joy, yes, sing praises!

Psa 98:5 Sing praises to Yahweh with the harp, with the harp and the voice of melody.

Psa 98:6 With trumpets and sound of the ram's horn, make a joyful noise before the King, Yahweh.

Psa 98:7 Let the sea roar with its fullness; the world, and those who dwell therein.

Psa 98:8 Let the rivers clap their hands. Let the mountains sing for joy together.

Psa 98:9 Let them sing before Yahweh, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity.

Psa 99:1 Yahweh reigns! Let the peoples tremble. He sits enthroned among the cherubim. Let the earth be moved.

Psa 99:2 Yahweh is great in Zion. He is high above all the peoples.

Psa 99:3 Let them praise your great and awesome name. He is Holy!

Psa 99:4 The King's strength also loves justice. You do establish equity. You execute justice and righteousness in Jacob.

Psa 99:5 Exalt Yahweh our God. Worship at his footstool. He is Holy!

Psa 99:6 Moses and Aaron were among his priests, Samuel among those who call on his name; they called on Yahweh, and he answered them.

Psa 99:7 He spoke to them in the pillar of cloud. They kept his testimonies, the statute that he gave them.

Psa 99:8 You answered them, Yahweh our God. You are a God who forgave them, although you took vengeance for their doings.

Psa 99:9 Exalt Yahweh, our God. Worship at his holy hill, for Yahweh, our God, is holy!

Psa 100:1 Shout for joy to Yahweh, all you lands!

Psa 100:2 Serve Yahweh with gladness. Come before his presence with singing.

Psa 100:3 Know that Yahweh, he is God. It is he who has made us, and we are his. We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

Psa 100:4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, and bless his name.

Psa 100:5 For Yahweh is good. His loving kindness endures forever, his faithfulness to all generations.

Sept. 24

2 Corinthians 4

2Co 4:1 Therefore seeing we have this ministry, even as we obtained mercy, we don't faint.

2Co 4:2 But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by the manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.

2Co 4:3 Even if our Good News is veiled, it is veiled in those who perish;

2Co 4:4 in whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the light of the Good News of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not dawn on them.

2Co 4:5 For we don't preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake;

2Co 4:6 seeing it is God who said, "Light will shine out of darkness," who has shone in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

2Co 4:7 But we have this treasure in clay vessels, that the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God, and not from ourselves.

2Co 4:8 We are pressed on every side, yet not crushed; perplexed, yet not to despair;

2Co 4:9 pursued, yet not forsaken; struck down, yet not destroyed;

2Co 4:10 always carrying in the body the putting to death of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.

2Co 4:11 For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus may be revealed in our mortal flesh.

2Co 4:12 So then death works in us, but life in you.

2Co 4:13 But having the same spirit of faith, according to that which is written, "I believed, and therefore I spoke." We also believe, and therefore also we speak;

2Co 4:14 knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus, and will present us with you.

2Co 4:15 For all things are for your sakes, that the grace, being multiplied through the many, may cause the thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God.

2Co 4:16 Therefore we don't faint, but though our outward man is decaying, yet our inward man is renewed day by day.

2Co 4:17 For our light affliction, which is for the moment, works for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory;

2Co 4:18 while we don't look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. 

From Jim McGuiggan... Salvation and world religions

Salvation and world religions

1. Judging by the biblical witness when our first parents rebelled against God the rest of us were drawn into that rebellion. One doesn't need to develop a hyper-Calvinistic slant on that to know that it makes sense. One doesn't need to be conceived and born a rebel against God; we become that soon enough—all of us, with a single exception.

2. Our rebellion affected us in a thoroughgoing way. We were guilty, of course, but our rebellion corrupted us and in all phases of our living we became polluted. This corruption affected our way of thinking as well as our deeds so it's no surprise that we became darkened in and alienated from God in our minds. Our corruption didn't mean that truth was utterly obliterated from the earth nor did it mean that the human family became incapable of rational reflection; but it did mean that even truths were made to serve in evil purposes and agendas.

3. A major expression of our sinful rejection of the one true God was the way we invented substitutes for God. A whole world of idols was manufactured. The idols took material form and were set up at shrines and worship centres and wherever, of course, but at the heart of it, idolatry was a mental restructuring of the world with the true God excluded. The teaching about these new gods was developed and systematised, cultic forms and liturgies were constructed and hymns and prayers were offered in accordance with the nature of the god. The will of that god, what pleased and displeased him was worked out and the now well defined religion had its rules and regulations.

4. All this to say that our religious systems—without exception—were worked out as part of our sinfulness so that our religious thinking and creativity was polluted as truly as our social, political and personal behaviour was. Romans 1:18-32 makes that very clear.

5. Let me repeat, this is not to say that truth had completely vanished from the earth but it does mean that truth was suppressed as we pursued our sinful agendas; it means even the truth that remained with us was used to further evil ends and it means that even our capacity for rational thinking and moral behaviour became building materials for shrines of apostasy.

6. God purposed to remain faithful to his creation purposes despite our sinfulness so his work had to include his redeeming us from our false imagining as well as our brutal, cruel and licentious appetites. His eternal purpose for us was that humans were to live with him in joy-filled holy fellowship in truth and righteousness. To that end he revealed himself in special ways to various individuals in various ages (Noah, Melchizedek, Abraham would illustrate). In generous grace he kept alive the truth he had already taught the world and had it spread from parents to children from generation to generation (Wisdom literature illustrates this well. See Proverbs in the Bible and see the sources on Ancient Near Eastern Texts for "wisdom" in other nations.)

7. "Special" revelation (by which we usually mean the kind of communication from God that we hear about relative to Noah, Abraham and Moses) didn't exclude the issue of moral behaviour—in fact it was often in the light of sin that special revelation was triggered (see Genesis 6:5-14 as illustration). But special revelation was more about God and what he was doing to redeem a human family that had suppressed truth in unrighteousness than it was about telling the human family more moral truths they should live by.

8. Special revelation included more than words from God—it included God's actions as well as the interpretation of those actions. God actually brought plagues on Egypt and gave a verbal context and explanation for those actions. Special revelation was not confined to matters of redemption—we're taught that God's redeeming activity is in support of his eternal purpose to bless. The Exodus was certainly redemptive but it was redemption to fulfil promises made to Abraham centuries earlier, concerning family and land. [The cross of Jesus Christ is redemptive, of course, but it is in confirmation and reaffirmation of God's creation intention purposed before the world began.]

9. Special revelation (that is, God revealing himself in peculiar ways to certain individuals) resulted in covenants and in the OT with the establishment of God's truth in Israel.

10. God's move toward Abraham and consequently Israel lightened the darkness into which the human family had hurried (Abraham's family included—Joshua 24:1-2). This truth of which Israel was made the trustee kept a light burning before the nations of the earth (compare Isaiah 49:1-6). The truth God revealed to Israel, his servant, was a gift to the human family that, at its best, stood opposed to the developed religions of the rest of the nations. But it was truth that was to be mediated through Israel.

11. That God chose Abraham and consequently Israel as his instruments of blessing is God's own sovereign grace and right and it had nothing to do with Israel's moral superiority or any other such thing and that choice did not automatically damn all other humans on the planet.

12. Nevertheless, the truth of God expressed in God's covenants with Abraham and Israel was—among other things—an indictment of polytheism, idolatry and all the moral corruption that led to and was expressed in these established religions. The religious systems of the nations could not and did not bring salvation. Where remnants of truth remained or were uncovered they were not to be denied but these did not alter the truth that the religious structures were corrupt at the core. If there were individuals who would be "saved" (approved by God) it would be in spite of their religious setting rather than a result of it.

13. The truth that God revealed to Israel was truth but it was truth that lacked full development. The Hebrew writer said that God spoke to the fathers in many and varied ways through prophets but finally through a Son (Hebrews 1:1-2) and throughout the book he stressed that while Israel had truth it was always truth waiting for the full delivery (compare Hebrews 11:39-40 with 12:23). The OT truth is part one and the NT is part two; neither is the complete truth without the other. Without the truth of Jesus the OT cannot come to its destined place (see Galatians 3:23-25, though we must allow for Paul's specific purpose when reading those verses).

14. I need hardly more than mention that even a religion without idols can be false to the core. It is part of our sinfulness that we bow before idols in worship but it is part of our sinfulness that we can bow before a God shaped in our own image in the absence of idols. It generates interesting questions when someone says that some Pharisees did not worship the true God. It's certainly the case that the true God revealed himself in the Jewish Torah but by the time some Pharisees were done they couldn't recognise the true God when he showed himself as a human (and compare John 5:38-40). Taking it to be true that some Pharisee types made a real mess of things, was their religion less corrupt than say the religious system of the ancient Moabites or Philistines with their images? Jews no doubt, like the rest of us, needed to be forgiven of injustice and immorality but did they not need also to be forgiven of false views of God? Didn't Paul say that that was part of his business as an ambassador of Jesus—to tear down false views (2 Corinthians 10:3-5)?

15. Focussing particularly, then, on the existence of various world religions; world religions have many facets and a few of these would be:

a. They exist as one manifestation of our sinful departure from God.
b. They embody some truths but they are essentially forts of folly.
c. They are not to be judged as on equal footing with the Judaic/Christian religions.
d. A Judaism that insists on severing itself from Jesus as the goal to which it was to point becomes one more world religion rather than the bearer of the truth of God.

16. Since it's true (at least in my judgement) that world religions despite their embodying some truths, despite their having sincere and devoted adherents are structures that have risen out of our sinfulness those of us who embrace them and engage in them need to be forgiven of that engagement.

17. Since I do not believe that God confined his generous grace to sinful Israel when he made a covenant with them in Abraham I do believe that saving grace was available to people outside Israel. Let me repeat, I believe that God's grace would be extended to people outside Israel not on the basis of their religious systems but despite them for these were barriers to the only God who can save.

18. To say that God cannot grant forgiveness to people because of their religious ignorance is essentially to say he cannot grant forgiveness to people because they sin—their religious ignorance is part of their sinfulness. Their sinning is not in doubt! The question is can their "religious" sin be forgiven as truly as their "moral" sin can be forgiven? (Abraham's family sinned "religiously" and God reached out in forgiveness to them and nurtured them to a fuller understanding of himself.) I believe that Romans 2:6-16 comes in at this point.

19. Who will be forgiven God will determine but I don't believe that not having been given the truth of the Christian faith automatically damns the non-hearers. Those who have heard and will not obey the gospel are lost—that we're plainly told but Arminian types will have to make up their minds here. Hyper-Calvinists like Packer, Piper, Geivett and T.R Phillips at least have a clear stance and it's this: If God doesn't grant you special revelation concerning himself and bring you to himself by it then he doesn't want and never meant to save you—you're lost, whether it's an individual or all the nations of the world. Arminians bob and weave all over the place, claiming that God wants everyone saved but yet they say he withholds from a countless host the means and opportunity to be saved—the gospel.

20. I'm persuaded that the business of Christians in the world is to live out the truth that God has given us in Jesus Christ in the presence of the entire world, to confront error and bring it into subjection to Jesus Christ; we're to tell the world that Jesus is Lord and is returning to right all wrongs and make this world right and we're to live the kind of life he lived and is coming back to bring.  

21. I'm persuaded that we are not to conclude that because God has called us to this privilege and salvation in Jesus by the gospel that that means all who have not been privileged to hear that invitation are automatically damned. See what you think of the various pieces on election on this site.

©2004 Jim McGuiggan. All materials are free to be copied and used as long as money is not being made.

From Jim McGuiggan... The faith and the written New Testament

The faith and the written New Testament

A reader wonders if "the faith" and "the gospel" are the same. Similar and related questions have been asked about "the (written) New Testament" and "the faith". Or the "new covenant" and "the gospel" or the "new covenant" and "the faith"—are all these phrases synonymous? Then there is a nest of questions about what is included in "the faith" or "the gospel".

It’s clearly a mistake to claim that "the faith" is the written New Testament. I’m not denying that one might come up with that as a theological construct but you certainly can’t get it from actual texts. That’s like defining "the elect" as "all those that God has eternally purposed to save and will come to him." That may be correct but you certainly can’t get it from the way actual texts use the phrase.

Be that as it may, it makes no sense to me to say that the multitude of priests in Acts 6:7 that became obedient to "the faith" were responding to Paul’s request in 2 Timothy 4:13 that the young man bring him his cloak when he comes. That personal request is there because God wanted it there but it isn’t part of the normative teaching concerning Christ. The "qualifications of deacons" is part of the New Testament but that isn’t what the priests became obedient to.

Jude 3 urges his readers to contend earnestly for "the faith". He said it had already been delivered and that it had been delivered once for all. This means that before Jude wrote his book, "the faith" had already been finally delivered. If that’s true, then Jude’s book is not part of the already and finally delivered faith. Since Jude 3 is certainly part of the written New Testament but in this text is not part of the already delivered faith we can’t simply equate the written New Testament and "the faith".

The written New Testament embraces "the faith," which in some texts is close to an equivalent to "the gospel". It also contains a "rule of faith" in light of which Christians understand and respond to the foundation truths of the gospel or the faith (depending on which texts we’re examining). And as we’ve noticed there are personal items included in the written New Testament that are not part of "the faith". In that respect the written New Testament is bigger than "the faith".

©2004 Jim McGuiggan. All materials are free to be copied and used as long as money is not being made.

From Jim McGuiggan... Where is heaven?

Where is heaven?

Where is "heaven"? It’s hard to talk about "heaven" without giving the impression you believe it is some "place". Some of us tend to think that if you got into a rocket ship and went in the right direction long enough that you’d get there; though I suppose we settle for that only because we don’t know what else to think. Others of us who are pretty sure that it isn’t an address in this material universe are a bit more sophisticated and think that we sort of step out of some "door" into a parallel universe. I suppose there must be something to that as long as it isn’t the same kind of universe as this one.

Wherever heaven is it’s where God is. But it’s that word "is" that generates our difficulties. God certainly "is" in the sense that he "exists" and that requires us to think he "is" somewhere. I mean, he cannot "be" nowhere, can he? If there is absolutely nowhere that God is then he is nowhere—he doesn’t exist. But if he exists "somewhere" then he takes up some space, doesn’t he? Or does he?

It isn’t possible for us to exist in this world without taking up space; that’s the nature of humanity. Each of us takes up space, which implies that there must be space to take up. We as "physical" beings exist in a "physical" universe. If there were no physical universe then we physical beings would have no place to "be".

But God can and does exist as "spirit" (John 4:24, whatever that means exactly). The scriptures suggest that to be a spirit is to be without flesh and bones (Luke 24:39). God can and does exist without needing a physical environment in which to exist because he is not a physical being.

Maybe it would be better to think of spirit as a kind of being that implies a way of existing rather than as a "substance" that needs "space" in which to exist. God then exists in a way completely different from us, in a "spaceless"place. So that it isn’t really a "place" at all but a mode of being. We’re accustomed to calling this world or earth a "place" and since it is not "nowhere" then it certainly is a place. We say of humans that they are "earthly," that is, of the earth, they belong to the earth, they exist on earth. Maybe when the Bible speaks of God dwelling in heaven it is telling us (at least expressing the truth as best it can) that God is "unearthly," that he is heavenly and is not bound to physical space, that he is a different order of being. Maybe it isn’t telling us where he is but what he is.

All this is a bit too much for all of us but we’re not to forget that we have difficulties conceptualising many things—it isn’t just issues about God that are difficult. "Where" are memories? is a difficult question to phrase much less answer. It seems clear that the brain is connected with their existence but what are they "made of" and where do they sit, are they "stored" somewhere. You can poke an area of the brain and generate a memory but what exactly does that mean? Oh well. Some things are true and real without our being able to explain them. For pity’s sake, if David Hume has made it difficult for us to prove "causation" when we virtually live and breathe it why wouldn’t we have difficulties when talking about heaven?

©2004 Jim McGuiggan. All materials are free to be copied and used as long as money is not being made.

From Jim McGuiggan... Frequency of Supper in NT

Frequency of Supper in NT

A reader has some questions about the Lord’s Supper. In particular he asks if the NT teaches that Christians engaged in Holy Communion (Lord’s Supper, Eucharist) every Sunday and was wondering if there was clear textual support for the view that they did.

I won’t rehearse all my reasons for saying I believe the apostolic age church broke bread every Sunday but that’s the conclusion I’ve drawn. This conclusion is based not on explicit texts that are indisputable but on texts that are taken together and the witness of immediate post-apostolic writers that in Christian assemblies, "The Lord’s Supper was a constant feature of the Sunday service." (On the witness of early writers see church historian Everett Ferguson’s Early Christians Speak, page 96 and elsewhere.)

Some questions aren't settled by an explicitly worded biblical text. We haven't been given an exhaustive blueprint. No text, for example, tells us we should 66 books in our Bible and no text tells us which 66 we should have if we have 66. No text deals explicitly with stem cell research or whether I should take a job in Pittsburgh or Belfast, whether Harold should marry Joan or Wilma (assuming either wants him), if the Coles should buy their house or live in rented accommodation or what exactly "modest clothing" means for us today. You hear quite a bit about the "qualifications" of church leaders but you don’t hear any debate about whether there should be church leaders. Because that’s true you don’t find texts written to prove we should have them.

Part of the reason some early practices are not addressed so as to put the matter beyond reasonable dispute is that some practices are taken for granted. You read of debates about Christ being the Messiah (in Acts, for example) but you don't hear debates about whether people should be baptized to become Christians. In part that's because one came under fire and the other was the universal practice. (Arguments about the mode and purpose of baptism were rife in the 19^th century days of Joseph Smith the Mormon leader so his Book of Mormon covers the matter in great detail, intending to put it beyond reasonable argument. This is in sharp contrast to the NT and speaks volumes about the origin of the Book of Mormon.)

I don’t think the lack of "indisputable proof" that they broke bread every first day of the week is because they didn't do it. Church history rehearses the weekly practice and in light of the piecing together of several texts and their context--Acts 20:7 and 1 Corinthians 16:2 (with chapters 10—14 as background) for example. The church history makes sense and in light of the woven testimony of texts the history seems natural. I think it was a universal practice that was taken for granted.

So many truths are taken for granted, so to go on a hunting expedition for indisputable proof for every position we hold tends to look at scripture as an exhaustive blueprint given via "proof texts," which it isn't.

I've heard people say that a weekly observance made the Supper a ho-hum thing for them and so they argued for a bimonthly or yearly observance. Weekly communion doesn't do that with me, or a host of people I know. Besides, God's ordinance is bigger than "what it does for me". This is a proclamation as well as a covenant renewal and unity meal. How I feel while engaging in it isn't the bottom line though it can be important. At the Supper we are fed by the presence of the risen Christ through the Spirit as we commune with him and one another through communing with him as one body. It is a unity meal where we gladly confess our oneness as we drink of one cup and eat of one loaf. 1 Corinthians 10 and 11 works with these concepts.

It isn't frequency that reduces Holy Communion (the Lord's Supper, the Eucharist) in power and meaning. Jews could have made the same argument about the yearly observance of major feasts or Yom Kippur but in those cases God explicitly called for them. If these had been made once in a lifetime or once every decade they would no doubt have felt different. If God allowed us only to pray to him once a year can you imagine how we'd feel on that day? But if we had a richer understanding of what we were doing at the Supper we'd be less inclined ever to think it ho-hum. But suppose we had it only once every decade, imagine how we'd feel if on that day we had a severe migraine headache.

As to the time of day when the Supper was eaten, we have to reflect on that too. The first Christian were Jewish and no doubt they retained their evening-morning custom and it's possible that they broke bread on Saturday evening, but this doesn't help us much. The day was divided into two. 6pm to 6am was the "night time part of the day" and 6am to 6pm the "day time part of the day". It was usual for them to engage in their daily affairs in the day time part of the day (compare John 11:9-10 and notice that the women waited until dawn before going to the tomb even though the first day of the week was already 12 hours old--Luke 24:1).

In any case, since the first day of the week doesn't occur at the same time for everyone in the world even if you worked from evening to morning so the issue doesn't truly affect anything. Well, unless someone should insist that all believers in the world should work out an arrangement to eat at the same moment. But then in Australia it would be....and in London it would be....

It might be the case that this latter question arises more out of curiosity than any real need. If (and where) this is true perhaps we should spend only enough time on it that curiosity warrants and move on.

©2004 Jim McGuiggan. All materials are free to be copied and used as long as money is not being made.

From Jim McGuiggan... Sin unto death

Sin unto death

A reader has been wondering about the "sin unto death" in 1 John 5:16-17. All unrighteousness is sin, says John, but there is sin unto death and sin that isn’t unto death. It’s almost unfair to try to say something here about the rich questions that come up in biblical study. Even presuming it’s accurate it’s always too brief or too rambling or too something. Oh well. A person would really need to see the literature on 1^st John to get a rich sense of the differing possibilities open to a student on this text.

1st John assures us that those who walk in the light in Jesus Christ find free and full forgiveness of sins (1.7-9). This takes it for granted that even those who walk in the light will sin (there’s only one Jesus!). He says he writes to his brothers and sisters in Christ to keep them from sinning (the Christ of the cross didn’t come to make it easier for us to sin, much less to do it with an a clear conscience). But he insists that when they do sin they have one who runs to their aid to the Father and that it is through his sacrifice that they gain forgiveness (2:1-2). I don’t know of a book that takes sin more seriously than 1st John but he makes no bones about it, in Jesus Christ sin and sins are fully dealt with and all sin is serious (5.17).

But various influences had begun to grow within the Christian movement and in the process the truths of the gospel about Jesus Christ began to be told and interpreted in a way that undermined foundational truths. Foundational truths that were known and taught "from the beginning" and consequently a lot of believers got all tangled up.

There were Jewish and Hellenistic strands that came together at some points and diverged at others. Ebionites, for example (they became prominent some time after AD 70), were a Christian sect that affirmed the full humanity of Jesus but denied to him any pre-incarnate existence. They lived according to the Law of Moses. Cerinthus, said to be an Egyptian born Jew and a disciple of Philo (who embraced much of Plato’s teaching), insisted that "Jesus" was the natural son of Joseph and Mary. But he claimed that "the divine Christ" came on Jesus to enable him to serve God and then left him at the cross. The Judaism of northern Palestine in the time of Jesus Christ was affected by Greek thought and scholars are sure that while there was no full-blown Gnosticism in the first century there were certainly such tendencies. Gnosticism as it developed was the smart man or woman’s philosophy which then became (we might say) philosophical theology. There were numerous angles to it—all inter-connected. One of the central claims of Gnosticism was that life and fellowship with God came to people through their intellect, their knowledge and grasp of truth. There was more than one school under the heading of Gnosticism but as the name implies (from the Greek word for knowledge) the way to salvation was intellectual light—the "knowing ones" were the saved ones. As in Colossians there appeared to be those that insisted the believers couldn’t be perfected in and by Christ alone—something else was needed, so the Gnostic types to whom John is reacting claimed that without their special knowledge the church was wandering. John insists that God had given to the Church by the Spirit and in Jesus Christ all it needed and it didn’t need the "knowing ones" to teach them anything (2:26-28). [He wasn’t saying that each individual Christian was infallibly guided and exhaustively equipped! He speaks of the body of Christ.] The wise ones were also the superior ones so they could hardly be faulted for looking down their noses at the poor ignorant peons who hadn’t grasped the profound truths about reality and God.

There is much in the epistle about lovelessness; about not loving God and about not loving one’s brothers and sisters. There is much in the epistle about not being righteous and pursuing an upright life.

There is still debate about what Gnostics held but it does seem clear that they had adopted the view that matter was evil (Plato and other prominent Greek philosophers held that sort of view). This had ramifications for the doctrine of the Incarnation of God. He certainly could not have become flesh and so the body of Christ wasn’t real—it only "seemed" to be and so we had the development of the Docetics (from the Greek word "to seem," only apparent) who insisted that if Christ was divine he couldn’t have been truly human. For some with whom John is dealing, salvation via knowledge was liberation from the flesh, the discarding of the body and in some mystic way, finally uniting with God, the Great Spirit.

If indeed we have that as background to 1st John we have Jewish and Greek elements combining to say (among other things) that Christ didn’t come in the flesh, that since matter is inherently evil we can’t be held responsible for personal behaviour, that since we’re so smart the rank and file are beneath us and, when you combine the inherent evil of the body with out inner enlightenment, the real us doesn’t sin. Just as the earthly Jesus was not the transcendent Christ so they were inwardly different from their physical appearance. They had risen [they claimed] beyond their place in this passing life. And if you add to that strange mix a Jewish protest against wicked behaviour, a protest that suggests that it’s the Christian faith that leads to sin, then John’s insistent call to holiness gathers strength and point.

Read the whole text of John’s short letter and see that this much we can be sure of, some seemed to think you could live however you wanted and still be Christ’s. More pointedly, they didn’t think they sinned—they "explained" that away. And there were those who despised their brothers and sisters.

With all that as background I’m guessing that the sin that inevitably leads to death in every sense is sin that isn’t confessed (1:7-9). The OT drew a distinction between sins committed wilfully in arrogance ("with a high hand") and those committed that inevitably occur because that’s part of the human condition in its moral weakness. For sins with a high hand sacrifice didn’t avail for the perfectly good reason that sacrifice was to express the contrite heart and arrogant sinners had no such heart. See Numbers 15:25-31 and other texts.

"Unintentional" sins in the OT embraces more than sheer ignorance. Unintentional covers what is not done in arrogance or wilfulness. One kind of sin was weakness (moral and/or the weakness that is part of humans in social relationships) and the other was wilful defiance. One was the inevitable result of lacking the moral (or other) strength to completely avoid transgression and the other was the arrogance choosing to transgress.

The Bible doctrine of sin takes into account the nature of the sinful deed itself, of course, but that is only a fragment of the truth. To steal a piece of a family’s land by moving the boundary marker was indeed a sin but seducing people to worship others gods was a greater sin. The impenitent heart sins at the level of the emotions, the will and attitude as well as in the deed, great or small. A sin unto death is a sin done in the face of the threat of death (moral, physical or spiritual death). "Unintentional" sins are sins within the covenant but sins of a high hand are covenant-breaking sins whose fruit cannot be other than death.

I’m guessing that John’s unto death sinners simply refuse to confess that they sin—they say they don’t (1:10). They profess to know Christ but they sever knowing him from seeking to live as he lived (2:3-6). John insists that those who "know" Christ will follow in his steps and that this has been the faith from the beginning (2:7-11). No wise and knowing ones should be allowed to deceive them. But how could people think they didn’t sin? [I met such a one several years ago.] If the "real me" is not the person you see and associate with in life then it doesn’t matter how I behave for the real me is independent of the flesh. I’m not "of this world" (and texts can be quoted to say that)—I have transcended it all. You can’t hold me responsible for what the flesh does for that isn’t the real me.

Such a person sins sins that inevitably lead to death. Others sin despite their wanting only to please God, they sin sins that are not unto death. This doesn’t mean that some sins are sin and others aren’t. All unrighteousness is sin but some sin brings death because if we believe there is no sin to be forgiven (and that's what they said), why, then, they can’t be forgiven.

Let me summarise. I think that in this epistle the "sin unto death" is sin that 1) rises out of Gnostic-type heresy that says the body is evil, 2) it is sin they won't confess because they think it isn't them that is sinning, 3) it is sin that involves arrogance and a despising of brothers and sisters they think are poor ignorant dullards. 4) It is not the sin that we sin simply because we're morally weak and aren't able to avoid it always. This was sin the "wise" were sinning and refusing to acknowledge. Without that confession (penitent acknowledgement) there is no forgiveness (1:10).

I don’t think this section of scripture has anything to do with the blasphemy of the Spirit or the Hebrew 6:4-6 danger. It has a Jewish/Gnostic background and neither Hebrews 6 nor Matthew 12 relates to John’s concerns.

©2004 Jim McGuiggan. All materials are free to be copied and used as long as money is not being made.

Living With the Arrows By Ben Fronczek

Living With Arrows

Living With the Arrows    By Ben Fronczek

This past week I read an article about a man who holds the Guinness World Record for living the longest with a bullet in his head. He recently passed away in Central California at age 103.  William Pace lived for nearly 95 years with a bullet lodged in his skull after a shooting accident. In 1917, his older brother accidently shot him in the head playing ‘stick em up’. Neither brother knew that the rifle was loaded.

The injury damaged one of his eyes and facial nerves, but did not prevent Mr Pace from working as a cemetery custodian, but he still had to learn to live with how that bullet affected him the rest of his life. Despite his infirmity, his obituarysaid Mr. Pace was known for his kindness and sense of humor.  He was married to his wife Onetia for more than 70 years before she died in 2004.

As I thought about Mr. Pace and what he had to live with for 95 years, and how he maintained a good attitude, I thought about each of us and the wounds that we have to live with that the devil has inflicted us; spmetimes secret things.

As most Bible students know, the Apostle Paul reminds Christians that we are in a spiritual battle with the devil and his demons. Paul reminds us of our need to be ready when attacked however subtle or powerful those attacks may be. Using the imagery of a soldier suiting up for battle, he encourages every Christian to take up the spiritual armor that we have at our disposal so we can take a stand against those evil forces and their attacks.

He wrote about putting on the belt of truth, and the breastplate of  righteousness, fitting your feet with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. He tells us to put on the helmet of salvation and take up the sword of the spirit which is the word of God.  In addition he tells us to take up the shield of faith which can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

As I thought about this armor, and the shield of faith, I could not help but think about all those flaming arrows of the evil one which pierced us before we put on this armor or even knew about it. That is before we even became a Christian. Or even what about those arrows that have caught us off guard and struck us when as a Christian we fail to take up our armor?

Now what am I talking about? Some of us did not become a Christian until later in life… we did not even know about this supernatural armor.  Some of us even though we are Christians have left our self wide open to the devil’s attacks and temptations.

And so I wonder if we could see with spiritual eyes, I wonder how many of his arrows have been driven deep into us; how many are still there, arrows that are meant to hurt us deeply, tempt us, discourage us, cause us to fear, or cause us to degrade ourselves, causing guilt, or simply wounding us?

And sad to say, just like with Mr. William Pace who lived with a bullet in the brain for 95 years and had to suffer from some ill effects of that bullet, we likewise demonstrate some side effects of those dastardly arrows that the devil has already sunk into us.

I could not help but think of the poem written by Dr. Dorothy Nolte years ago called Children Learn what They Live. He is part of it:

If children lives with (or has been shot with the arrows of) criticism, they learn to condemn.
If children lives with (or has been shot with the arrows of) hostility, they learn to fight.
If children lives with (or has been shot with the arrow of) fear, they learn to be apprehensive.
If children lives with (or has been shot with the arrow of)  pity, they learn to feel sorry for themselves.
If children lives with (or has been shot with the arrows of) ridicule, they learn to feel shy.
If children lives with (or has been shot with the arrows of) jealousy, they learn to feel envy.
If children lives with (or has been shot with the arrows of) shame, they learn to feel guilty.

Some of us have been pierced with all kinds of hurtful arrows that are still sticking deep within us leaving us with less than perfect personalities and ways of thinking. Maybe no one else knows, but some may have had:

-       Critical or abusive parents and that criticism or abuse struck deep at your heart and has affected your ability to love.

-       Maybe without anyone else knowing it maybe someone sexually abused you when you did not know better, and now that arrow pains you with guilt or maybe you have a problem with intimacy.

-       Maybe it was a health issue, or a physically cosmetic problem you had when you were young. When I was a teen I had a problem with acne.  It was like painful arrow plunged into my psyche of self esteem.

Whatever that hurtful arrow, it may still be affecting you today in how you think or how you act.  Speaking of today, those who let their guard down can still be wounded.    The devil is still aiming for our heart; using arrows that discourage, tempt, make us feel anxiety, fear or guilt.

That’s why Paul tells us we need to be ready to raise our shield of faith which can help extinguish the impact of those flaming arrows.

But the question I mulled over in my mind is, ‘What about those arrows or things that are already planted deep within us that still hurt, that still fester every now and then?’

Should we just ignore them now that we are Christians? Sad to say, sometimes we just can’t. Just like that bullet in William Pace’s brain, sometime we do just have to learn to live with them and do our best despite those old wounds.

 And today I’m here to tell you that whatever it is that has wounded you, God is here to help us.

What I find ironic is how God can take the very things that the devil is trying to destroy us with, and turns them around and uses them to help draw us closer to Him, empowering us to become even stronger.      

No matter what blows life has dealt you and no matter what effect it has had on you, one thing you have to remember is that your Father God loves us so very much. Just like we love our children when we see them hurt, God loves us the same way and more..

But because of who He is, I don’t believe our heavenly Father will allows you to experience anything beyond what you can handle with Him by your side… And I believe that is the key, having Him by your side. Like I said already, He can actually twist things around and turn what may seem bad into something good, or something that can draw us closer to Him and empower us.

As I looked for an answer as to how to put up with, or deal with the pain or ramifications of these arrows planted in us, the Lord reminded me of something that Paul wrote to the Corinthian church in 2 Corinthians 12:7 as he dealt with something painful in his life, he wrote,   “… In order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

Paul had an amazing epiphany that he shared with all his readers; That his thorn (his arrow) had been left there in his life so that he would learn to lean on and depend more on God everyday for strength and help.

He learned and then wrote, “For when I am weak I am strong.”

He came to that conclusion because the Lord let him know that His Power is made perfect (or fulfilled completed, and show itselves most effective in our weakness.)

Paul recognized that God helped him see that thorn or arrow that was meant to hurt and discourage him could be the very things that made him stronger. Why? Because it humbled him and he had to depend on God just to get through each day.

That’s a lesson for us today! It isn’t when everything is hunky-dory, and all is well, and life is carefree we find ourselves clinging to our Lord and talking to Him a lot. But rather, many us have grown closer to Him in the most difficult times of our life; those times when we’ve been shot with arrows that are meant to hurt us, confuse us.

Like when someone close to us really hurts us, or when we get really sick or injured, or when someone close dies, or we have a financial loss.   God told Paul, “My Grace (My favor and loving-kindness and mercy) is enough for you)… My power is perfected (or is shown or comes through in your times of weakness.)

Some of those arrows and their effects on our life have dissipated and are long forgotten but others have are still implanted deep in us. And as I see it, we can either moan and groan, and complain, or lash out on others because of what has happened to us. We can turn in on our self and become introverts and hide our self from the world.

Or, we can turn to God, confess our weakness, and ask Him to help us with our pain, and even to help us grow from what we have experienced.  And maybe even help others along the way who may have be shot with the same arrows and had the same experiences.  It’s times like that when His power is perfected or comes through in our time of weakness.

And it is in this way that arrows of the evil one that we meant to hurt and destroy you can be turned around to help and serve others and glorify our great and awesome we God.

For more lessons click on the following link: http://granvillenychurchofchrist.org/?page_id=566