The City of God(ly Humanity)

And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.”
Revelation 21:2-3 ESV

Many readers think the City is something that exists at or after the end of the world and/or after death. This is understandable. The next verse says there is no longer any death in this city.

Ultimately, the new Jerusalem, won’t be perfectly realized until after the resurrection, but I don’t think that means it is nothing but a future hope. My main concern here is that people assume, whatever their eschatology, that the city is simply a heavenly creation given to us like manna was given in the desert or Jesus gave blind men their sight.

Election and Union: Eph 1:3-14

I think most people read Ephesians 1:3-14 as an overflowing of verbiage, powerful statements lacking any coherent order.

I propose that the passage is quite organized. It has an initial statement (vv. 3, 4) and then two re-statements (vv. 5-10; 11-14). The first of these re-statements has a tw0-part structure (vv. 5-6, 7-10).

Here is the text:

The Pattern of Ephesians 1:12-14

I was once trying to get a sermon out of Ephesians 1:12-14 and it seemed obvious that I should look for two parallel statements both ending with the phrase, “to the praise of his glory.” Paul here begins talking about two groups of people (“you” and “we”), and he later reveals that these two groups are (from his perspective) we Jews and you Gentiles. The text read in the New American Standard:

to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation–having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.

Election in Ephesians

Ever since the conflict between Pelagius and Augustine and then between the Reformed churches and Jacob Arminius, what the Bible says about election (“choice”) and predestination had caused Christians to form two opposing camps. To get it out of the way, I am in the “calvinist” camp.

But I thought I might point out something about Ephesians that may be helpful no matter which camp one is in…

In Thick Darkness

When Solomon finished building the Temple in Jerusalem, we read that

And when the priests came out of the Holy Place, a cloud filled the house of the LORD, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD. Then Solomon said, “The LORD has said that he would dwell in thick darkness. I have indeed built you an exalted house, a place for you to dwell in forever.”
1 Kings 8:10–13 ESV

Question: When and where did God say this?

Are You a False Balance or a Just Weight?

Sometimes, when a Biblical writer is addressing one thing, he is actually talking about something else.

According to the Apostle Paul, the Biblical law about not muzzling the ox while he is treading the grain (Deuteronomy 25:4) is actually about people.

For it is written in the Law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain.” Is it for oxen that God is concerned? Does he not certainly speak for our sake? It was written for our sake, because the plowman should plow in hope and the thresher thresh in hope of sharing in the crop. If we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap material things from you? If others share this rightful claim on you, do not we even more?
1 Corinthians 9:9–11 ESV

Spirituality or Sloth?

In studying Ephesians, it came as a bit of a shock for me to realize that Paul is basically urging Christians, in response to the Gospel (chapters 1-3, or perhaps 1-4:16 since there’s something like a “false start” in the beginning, a possible mirror image to the “non-conclusion” in 3:1 that is then resumed in 3:14), to adopt or learn new habits.

Can new habits do anything?

The Path to Personal Integrity from First Command to Tenth

It may seem strange to follow up a post on the First “Commandment” of the Decalogue with one on the Tenth. But I think it may help demonstrate to you how all Ten are a unified message, not simply a list. Consider what happens if he go straight from One to Ten. I submit that this sounds quite natural and logical:

I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me… You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.
Exodus 20:2, 2, 17 ESV

The Obedience of Faith in the First Word

I recently had a chance to plan a Sunday School lesson of “the first commandment”…

(I use quote marks because the term common at Mount Sinai is “word” or “matter.” Maybe “rule” would cover the nuances better. It is not wrong to call them commandments. Jesus (Matthew 19:17), Paul (Ephesians 6:2), and Luke (23:56) refer to them as “commandments,” for instance. But it is not the word used in the Pentateuch, even though they are emphatically commanded by God to keep the Ten Words.)

When I set about the task, it surprised me that it did not seem obvious how to go about it. What point do you make about the First Word if you are not 1. Refuting atheism and defending theism, or 2. teaching a series on “The Doctrine of God,” or 3. teaching about the Trinity or the incarnation, etc.? In other words how do you exhort Christians to live better, or to amend their lives, to conform better to the First Word in a practical way?

Psalms & Gender

When I wrote my book on Proverbs, I pointed out that the book was framed as advice to a son from a parent–first, from Solomon as father, then ending with the wisdom of a mother (who also represents Wisdom–v. 32). I stressed that, the literary device of a father advising a son, or a king talking to a royal heir, Proverbs was to be read and heeded by everyone.

Thus, I wrote on page X of the preface, that the “intended audience of Proverbs is more than just those who are set to inherit political authority. Proverbs was published as wisdom for everyone.” And again: “Proverbs seems to be Wisdom’s call to everyone to seek to be true sons (and also daughters) of Solomon.” And again: “Young men are in a transitional stage. They are on the cusp of adulthood. Proverbs is especially aimed at them, though everyone can and should profit from the book.”

It is obvious to me that, to the extent that one is concerned about Biblical masculinity, that Proverbs is especially relevant. But the results may surprise some. One would expect a book on masculinity to contrast it with femininity. There is some of that (i.e. Proverbs 11:16) but more attention is paid to the difference between children and adults. Proverbs has far more to say about the authority of mothers over their sons than about the authority of husbands over their wives.