Gospel for October 22, 2023

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Matthew 22:15-22
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

The adversarial pressure on Jesus intensifies.  The Pharisees and Herodians collude with one another seeking to entrap Jesus.

This hostility toward Jesus is highlighted by the unlikely alliance of the Pharisees and the Herodians.  The Pharisees (whose name literally means the separated ones) aspire to holiness based on a rigorous and legalistic practice of the Mosaic and the oral law as passed down by rabbinical teachers.   Normally Pharisees have nothing to do with the Herodians.

The Herodians are worldly aristocrats loyal to the dynasty of the royal Herodian family.  Their allegiance is not to the temple, but to the king who insures their privileges. Nevertheless, they also see Jesus as a threat.

For the Pharisees, Jesus is a threat to the religious traditions of the law and the temple.  For the Herodians, Jesus is a threat to political stability and to their king because of his supposed pretensions to the throne as a descendant of David.

They contrive to ask a question of Jesus, pretending to respect him as an objective, impartial teacher of truth:

Teacher, we know that you are honest, and teach the way of God in truth, no matter whom you teach, for you aren’t partial to anyone.  Tell us therefore, what do you think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?

This is fascinating. The ultra-religious Pharisees and the ultra-secular Herodians have found just the question that they believe will place Jesus on the razor’s edge.  They know that the common people, known as the ha eretz (people of the earth), hate the tax collectors and the Roman military occupiers who enforce the tax for the Roman emperor.

If Jesus answers that it is lawful to pay the Roman tax, the Pharisees and Herodians hope to drive a wedge between Jesus and his energized followers.  If he says no it is not lawful, they will have a pretext to accuse him of sedition against the state.  Note that the question of whether it is lawful concerns the Mosaic and oral law, not the laws of Rome.

Jesus sees through their ruse immediately:

 But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, “Why do you test me, you hypocrites?”

He calls them hypocrites (in Greek, this word literally means a pretender, a play actor).  He knows they are baiting him and are pretending to ask a sincere question.

So, Jesus asks to see the tax money.  He points out the obvious — the denarius is minted and issued under Roman authority:

He asked them, “Whose is this image and inscription?”
They said to him, “Caesar’s.”
Then he said to them, “Give therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

The fact is that someone, either one of the Pharisees or one of the Herodians, actually possesses this Roman coin bearing the likeness of Caesar. This suggests that whoever owned this coin had already answered the question for themselves — they acknowledged the authority of Rome because they were using Roman money.

In other words, if you use Roman currency, you are obliged to pay the Roman tax.  But God deserves all that which belongs to God.  And what belongs to God?  Read on in the Apply section for an opinion on that question.

The Pharisees and Herodians have no comeback for Jesus.  He has demonstrated that if a person uses the Roman coin, they acknowledge Roman authority.  But there is a higher authority to whom all are to answer — the authority of God.

The adversaries of Jesus are stymied:

When they heard it, they marveled, and left him, and went away.

APPLY:  

Many expositors and preachers, especially in the United States, have made this encounter between Jesus and his adversaries an illustration of the so-called “Separation of Church and State.”

This interpretation is anachronistic at best.  Jesus was not exploring the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights in the United States Constitution.  He was actually saying something far more radical than that.

The real question is — what belongs to God?  Caesar has imprinted his image on coins because of his military and political power to do so.  He rules the Roman empire by raw power.  But where is Caesar now?  His sovereignty was temporary.  The Roman empire is remembered in the history books and in the ruins and in the Romance languages that derive from their Latin tongue.  But Roman dominance is no more.  They have been swept away, as every world power has been swept away, by the tides of history.

The answer to the question —what belongs to God — is in the statement Jesus makes:

Give to God what is God’s.

What is God’s?  EVERYTHING.

The earth is Yahweh’s, with its fullness; the world, and those who dwell therein (Psalm 24:1).

We must remember that all of us are merely temporary tenants on this earth.  Empires, nations, the pride of military glory, political systems will all be superseded by the Kingdom of God.

This does beg the question, though.  Do we pay taxes or not?  The answer is simple — even Christians benefit from the good things taxes can provide, though we may complain about paying them.  Roads, fire departments, police protection, inspection of our foods and medicines, all can be a great benefit.

Paul makes it quite clear that even the Roman government, which represents a violent and idolatrous system, can provide security and stability.  And he urges the Christians in Rome to be in subjection to civil authorities:

Therefore you need to be in subjection, not only because of the wrath, but also for conscience’ sake. For this reason you also pay taxes, for they are servants of God’s service, attending continually on this very thing.  Therefore give everyone what you owe: if you owe taxes, pay taxes; if customs, then customs; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor (Romans 13:5-7).

But ultimately, we are reminded that the world, and everything in it, belongs to God and returns to God.

RESPOND: 

The custom of imprinting images on coins goes back millennia.  By embossing the image of a Roman emperor on the coin, the authority of the coinage was established.  It was a way of stating that the “full faith and credit” of the Roman political and economic system would back the value of the coin.

It shouldn’t escape our notice, though — no one really owns anything.  We are merely temporary tenants who are given the opportunity to temporarily use land, houses, rivers, forests and mountains.  The only One who really owns anything is the One who created all things.

And another truth shouldn’t escape our notice — coins may be embossed with the images of kings and presidents and national heroes.  And those images can be changed as past heroes fall into disfavor, and new heroes arise.

However, there is one “coin” that is stamped with an indelible image — the image of God:

God created man in his own image. In God’s image he created him; male and female he created them (Genesis 1:27).

Coins imprinted with the image of ancient Roman emperors (no doubt the image of Tiberius in the time of Jesus) have become relics, of value to antiquarians and archaeologists, but of no use as actual currency.  But the image that has been stamped on our human nature — the image of God — is of inestimable value.

We can easily give up the coins of our day — they rise and fall in value.  But we must give to God that which is most precious to him, the coin that bears his image — our own lives.

Lord, you have stamped your image on our lives, and restored your image in us through the life, death and resurrection of your Son. I pray that I may render to you what belongs to you — myself.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
"The Biblical Tribute Penny: Tiberius AR Denarius 16-34 AD; Obverse" by Essam is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs license.

Epistle for July 30, 2023

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Romans 8:26-39
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Romans 8 climaxes in a theological and spiritual tour de force. These verses in the lectionary reading for this week are theologically deep and rich, relating to prayer, God’s providential plan for those who are called, God’s benevolence expressed through Christ, and the impossibility that those who love Christ can be separated from him.

The Apostle Paul continues to explore the work of the Third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, with whom he began this meditation in Romans 8:1.  Here, he describes the work of the Spirit in aiding the prayer of the believer. Paul acknowledges the inefficacy of human prayer:

In the same way, the Spirit also helps our weaknesses, for we don’t know how to pray as we ought.

We are finite, fallible, and weak.  The Spirit is God, who projects his infinite, infallible and omnipotent nature onto our prayers.

Not only that, the Spirit is deeply concerned for us, and cries out to the Father on our behalf:

But the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings which can’t be uttered.

This language suggests a deep concern and compassion on behalf of those who are too weak to know how they ought to pray.  The Greek verb stenagmois (groaning, or sighing) is used three times in Romans 8. First, the groaning of a suffering creation that awaits the final consummation at the end of the age (Romans 8:22). Second, the groaning of those who have experienced the first fruits of the Spirit, but who are still awaiting the final act of adoption, the redemption of our body (Romans 8:23). In the third use of this verb, the Spirit is groaning on our behalf in a way that brings his prayers to completion.

And the reason the Holy Spirit is able to pray effectively is because of his intimate knowledge of our hearts:

He who searches the hearts knows what is on the Spirit’s mind, because he makes intercession for the saints according to God.

The mind of the Spirit is able to penetrate our minds and know our thoughts, and through the Spirit these thoughts are conveyed to God.  This is a good, working definition of God’s omniscience.

In the second section of this complex passage, Paul addresses the subject of God’s providential plan for those whom he has called.  Ultimately, God’s plan is to bring good out of all circumstances for his people: 

We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.

Paul elaborates on what it means to be called, in a passage that has become very controversial for Calvinists and Arminians:

For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.  Whom he predestined, those he also called. Whom he called, those he also justified. Whom he justified, those he also glorified.

Volumes could be written — and have been written — on these verses.  Paul is venturing into the mysteries of God’s omniscience.  God foreknew those who were called to be justified and glorified.  For the Calvinist, this suggests that those who are to be saved have been elect from the very beginning.  All of the benefits of salvation are given to them.

The Arminian would argue that this passage must be taken in context with all of the other passages related to salvation — that God loves the whole world (John 3:16); and that those who are not saved have chosen that because of their unbelief, not because God has predestined their damnation:

He who believes in him is not judged. He who doesn’t believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God (John 3:18).

And we also have the witness of other texts that express God’s desire that as many as possible might be saved:

The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some count slowness; but is patient with us, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).

Paul doesn’t argue here that the damned have been pre-selected for rejection. Instead, he is speaking positively about the blessings that accrue to those who have been foreknown by God.  God’s omniscience obviously transcends time and space, therefore he knows those who are predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ, justified and glorified with him.

This is a strong affirmation that those who are saved are to become like Christ himself! The image of God in which we were created, severely damaged in the Fall, is restored.  And as Paul has said earlier in Romans 8, believers are to be co-heirs with Christ — and therefore Christ is the firstborn among many brothers.  We note again that the imagery used to describe the relationship of the Triune God with believers is familial.

Paul then turns to God’s benevolence expressed through Christ toward us.  He begins with a series of rhetorical questions which he answers himself in the form of a question:

What then shall we say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who didn’t spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how would he not also with him freely give us all things?

The logic of Paul’s argument is unassailable — if the omnipotent, almighty Creator of the universe is for us, there is nothing stronger or greater.  And if this same God offered his own Son on our behalf, then all of the inheritance that he has promised will be ours as well.

The chosen ones are also acquitted of all “legal” charges made by the law, because God has justified them through Christ’s atoning death:    

Who could bring a charge against God’s chosen ones? It is God who justifies.

And, in another question that requires a positive twist, Paul writes:

Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, yes rather, who was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.

No one can condemn the believer because the death and resurrection of Jesus has delivered the believer from the power of sin.  Here Paul sums up the victorious doctrine of Christ’s death, resurrection and ascension.  And he also underlines the ongoing ministry of Jesus as High Priest, who intercedes even now.  This is consistent also with the doctrine of the Book of Hebrews:

Therefore he is also able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, seeing that he lives forever to make intercession for them. For such a high priest was fitting for us: holy, guiltless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and made higher than the heavens (Hebrews 7:25-26).

This is full circle.  The Holy Spirit intercedes with groans too deep for words, and the Son of God also intercedes.  The Second and Third Persons of the Trinity join in intercession for us!

Finally, Romans 8 ends on a climactic note.  Paul stresses the impossibility that those who love Christ can be separated from him. In lyrical, poetic, sweeping language, he makes it clear that no suffering or persecution of any kind can ever ultimately separate us from the love of Christ:

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Could oppression, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Even as it is written, “For your sake we are killed all day long. We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Embedded in this litany of those threats that are unable to separate us from God’s love is a Scriptural reference — a proof text, if you will — from Psalm 44:22:

Even as it is written, “For your sake we are killed all day long. We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”

Paul is a realist about human suffering, even for believers — he has his own experience for witness.  But despite all the suffering, and even despite those cosmic and supernatural forces — angels, principalities and powers (which relates to those supernatural angelic forces of the highest order) — God’s love in Christ Jesus will not be torn away by those forces.

APPLY:  

The applications of a passage like our lectionary reading for this week are like a kid in a candy store.  Where do we begin?

First, there is inestimable comfort in Paul’s description of the intercessions of the Holy Spirit on our behalf.  We can honestly say that we don’t know how to pray as we should — we don’t know what is best in some cases, or we don’t know what all the circumstances may be.  But the Holy Spirit is God!  Not only does he know our minds, he knows the mind of God as well!  Who better to intercede for us?

And the description that he intercedes for us with groanings which can’t be uttered tells us that he intercedes for us with deep passion and compassion.  Moreover, we are also told that when Jesus ascended to the right hand of God, he:

also makes intercession for us.

When we don’t know how to pray, or for what we should pray, we can be comforted by the knowledge that the Second and Third Persons of the Triune God are on our side, praying for us constantly.

Second, we can also take comfort in the acclamation that all things work together for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.  Again, this is of inestimable value to those who may go through adversity, and even tragedy. God can take tough circumstances and bring good out of those circumstances.  Paul will underline this powerful claim in further assertions:

If God is for us, who can be against us?

For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Third, while I don’t intend to duck some of the theological questions raised by Paul’s description of predestination, I wish to point out the obvious.  Paul never states the so-called doctrine of “double-predestination,” which is the logical argument — if God has elected some to salvation, then logically he has elected others to reprobation.

What Paul is focused on in this passage is the glorious and dynamic process of salvation that begins and ends with the grace of God:

For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. Whom he predestined, those he also called. Whom he called, those he also justified. Whom he justified, those he also glorified.

To argue that God doesn’t know who will be saved would be a denial of his infinitude and omniscience.  But to argue that he chooses some and not others is to argue that God is arbitrary and capricious.  Paul declares that nothing can separate us from God’s love.  But it may be possible that we may separate ourselves from God by not returning his love.

RESPOND: 

I’m reluctant to focus on a controversial subject when writing about such a magnificent passage — however, I’m also aware that the controversy about predestination and free will never quite go away.

I have two very good friends who regard themselves as Calvinists, which means they believe in the doctrine of predestination.  I am an Arminian Wesleyan, which means that I believe that by his grace God has granted us free will.

We have gotten into some very emphatic — but I’m pleased to say still charitable — debates.  I have tried to avoid what I call “Bible Battleships,” where both parties find their own proof-texts and start blasting away at one another.  But it is difficult, I admit.

Predestination is a fact in Scripture — the notion that God knows and has foreordained all things.  I think that for me, the simplest explanation of this is that God is infinite and eternal — which means that God transcends time and space.  He sees all time as present, in contrast to our own view.  We can only see time from our finite perspective — beginning, middle and end.  God is the beginning and the end (Revelation 22:6).

But the word for predestination is curious.  It comes from the Greek proorizo.  Although my Greek is very rusty, I am able to figure out that the root of this word is horizo, which gives us our word horizon.

So, I have developed my own theory concerning predestination, which is entirely my own.  There are tensions and paradoxes in the ways of God.  God knows the outcome of history, and directs our paths; and yet, allows us to make free choices, and doesn’t compel us to love him.  What if God has foreordained the horizons of history — those great events of salvation history that lead us to the saving events of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, and on to the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven?  God sees the horizons of history, and all things work together for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.

So, those who love God cannot be separated from God — but if they don’t love God, can they be separated?  I think that Paul gives his own answer a little later in Romans, and also amplified in Ephesians, when he speaks of his love for his own people, the Jews.  He makes it clear that the Jews are God’s chosen people.  Perhaps that is what he means by predestination — they were predestined to be the nation through whom salvation comes in Jesus.  But he also says there is hope for the Gentiles, who were not part of the original covenant.

He uses a rather complicated metaphor — comparing Israel to the original olive tree chosen by God.  But he also points out that God has allowed even the Gentiles to be grafted into the tree.  The only condition for that is faith.  Let me re-emphasize that.  The only condition to be included in the covenant for both Jews and Gentiles is faith! For individuals, what is required to be included in God’s great plan of salvation, is faith:

But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them, and became partaker with them of the root and of the richness of the olive tree; don’t boast over the branches. But if you boast, it is not you who support the root, but the root supports you.  You will say then, “Branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in.”  True; by their unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by your faith. Don’t be conceited, but fear; for if God didn’t spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you (Romans 11:17-21).

Though God knows our destinies, nonetheless we are free within his gracious will to choose to be grafted in, or cut off, because of our unbelief.

I wonder if it is a little like a play.  There is a plot, and the character who is consistently present — God, who manifests himself throughout the plot as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  The plot of the play is working its way out toward its glorious conclusion in the Final Act — but we also have a part to play.

But what if we choose not to play the part we’re assigned? What if we don’t rehearse, or we mess up our lines, or we just don’t show up?  Can we interfere with the overall plot that God, the playwright and director, has planned?  No way!

If we don’t play our part, God will find other actors to fulfill that role.

Again, this is my own speculation — but what if it was God’s original will for Israel to enter immediately into Canaan after the Exodus from Egypt instead of wandering in the Sinai desert for forty years? They might have gone on in if 10 out of 12 of the spies hadn’t scared all of Israel away!  And if King Saul had been obedient to the Prophet Samuel, would he have gone mad and squandered away the throne, meaning that David replaced him as God’s anointed? And what if the rich young man had decided to forsake his wealth and follow Jesus — how might his own life have been different?  We know that Jesus loved him, and was saddened when he turned away.

Again, the individual refusals and disobedience would not ultimately affect the overall plot that God has planned — remember, God makes all things work together for good for those who love God — no matter how we mar them.

To quote Shakespeare (another playwright), when Hamlet says to his friend Horatio:

There’s a divinity that shapes our ends,
Rough-hew them how we will—

I believe that is true.  God works patiently and deliberately throughout history to bring his plans to fulfillment — no matter how messy our lives and history may become.

PHOTOS:

"Predestination, foreknowledge, and free choice" by Martin LaBar is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic license.

Psalm Reading for June 4, 2023 Trinity Sunday

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Psalm 8
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Psalm 8 is the classic expression of the majesty of God. In just nine brief verses, David’s Psalm surveys the sovereignty of God over heaven and earth, contrasts the seeming insignificance of humanity to the vast heavens, and then firmly establishes the unique relationship of human beings with God.

The Psalm is addressed to the Sovereign God, as a Psalm of praise:

Yahweh, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth,
who has set your glory above the heavens!

And then, there is a twist in the plot, so to speak.  Instead of describing the mountains or the oceans, the Psalmist speaks of the praises of the tiny and the most vulnerable creatures on earth:

From the lips of babes and infants you have established strength,
because of your adversaries, that you might silence the enemy and the avenger.

There is a paradox here — that the babbling of infants becomes a kind of fortress against malefactors!  The God who created heavens and earth and all that is in them values those things that seem so insignificant. Innocence defeats evil!

We can’t help but think of Mary’s Song in Luke’s Gospel:

He has put down princes from their thrones.
And has exalted the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things.
He has sent the rich away empty. (Luke 1:52-53).

There is a kind of inversion that recurs in the Scripture, where the small and insignificant are exalted, and the big and powerful are diminished.  We see this again in these next wonderful verses of the Psalm:

When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have ordained;
 what is man, that you think of him?
What is the son of man, that you care for him?

Here, David is appropriately aware of human insignificance in contrast to the cosmos that stretches out on a starry night.  He asks the right question — how can God possibly even notice me in comparison to the vastness of the heavens?

And yet, as it is for the babes and infants, and the lowly and hungry, we might say the world is turned right-side up:

For you have made him a little lower than God,
and crowned him with glory and honor.

We are reminded of creation theology, which makes clear what the relationship is between God and humanity, and between humanity and creation:

You make him ruler over the works of your hands.
You have put all things under his feet:
All sheep and cattle,
yes, and the animals of the field,
The birds of the sky, the fish of the sea,
and whatever passes through the paths of the seas.

This echoes the creation theology of Genesis 1:26.

God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

Human beings are subordinate to God, but are nonetheless just below God in the hierarchy of beings.  And with this exalted position comes great responsibility for all creatures.

Kings in ancient times placed their images in the lands over which they had dominion.  In a similar way, human beings are the living images who represent God’s dominion over the world, and act as stewards of it.

The Psalm ends with a refrain of the first verse, as David seems filled with wonder for what God is and what he has done for humanity:

Yahweh, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!

APPLY:  

When we turn our attention to the heavens, two things seem to be impossible.

First, it seems impossible for us to conclude that the cosmos came into existence by accident.  There  is mystery and wonder when we consider the origin story of the universe. But to conclude that all has come into being by random accident seems to require more faith than admitting that there was a creating mind behind it all.  And of course, from the Biblical perspective, that creating mind is God.

Second, it is impossible to look at the moon and the stars and not conclude that we are microscopic in comparison, especially as we have learned about the vast distances of space.

And yet. And yet.  And yet! We are created in the very image of God — which means that at our best, when we are living lives of love, reason, and justice, we are God’s representatives in the world.

The notion of the image of God was that humans were to be God’s ambassadors.  This is why we are given rule over creation, because we are to be stewards of creation.  Our dominance over creation is not given so that we might exploit it, but so that we may care for it responsibly.

RESPOND: 

This Psalm provides a balance for me in my self-image.  On the one hand, I am keenly aware of how insignificant I can feel in the cosmos, and in the human world of celebrity and historical events.

I am reminded of a story about President Teddy Roosevelt.  He owned an estate called Sagamore Hill on Long Island in New York. As a man with deep passion for hunting, the outdoors, and nature in general, this was a favorite retreat for him.

One of the things he loved to do was to go outside on a starry evening with a friend and look up at the skies, identify the constellations, and speculate about the vast distances in the universe.  And then, when they had gazed awhile and grew silent with awe, he would say, “Well, I think we’re small enough now.  Let’s go inside.”

I always remember this tale when my wife and I go outside and look at the moon and the stars.  If Teddy Roosevelt, that larger-than-life hunter, writer, and statesman could recognize how small he was when looking at the stars, how small do I feel?

On the other hand, this Psalm reminds me of God’s regard for me, far above what I deserve.

I am reminded of Hamlet’s famous speech in Shakespeare’s play:

What a piece of work is a man! how noble in reason! how infinite in faculty! in form and moving how express and admirable! in action how like an angel! in apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the world! the paragon of animals!
[The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, Act II, scene ii, lines 303-307]

This is an important balance to maintain — we are rightly humble in our relationship with God, but we are made bold by his grace that has created us in his own image and has saved us from the sin that damaged that image.

Our Lord, your creation leaves me speechless with awe, and I become aware of how tiny a part of it all I really am.  But then you remind me that you care enough for me to become a human being and die for me! That is truly awesome!  Amen. 

PHOTOS:

"Psalm 8:3-4 What is man that you are mindful of him?" by Unlocking the Bible is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license.

Old Testament for June 4, 2023 Trinity Sunday

And God said… LET THERE BE LIGHT!

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Genesis 1:1-2:4
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

This week’s lectionary readings focus on Trinity Sunday in the Church year.

OBSERVE:

This passage for Trinity Sunday is the beginning of the origin story for the entire Bible.  All of the ingredients for all life and existence are introduced here.  But the central character that is introduced is God himself:

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and empty. Darkness was on the surface of the deep and God’s Spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters.

As someone has said, anyone who has trouble with the premise of the first sentence of the Bible, telling us that God has created the heavens and the earth, is going to have trouble with the entire book.

For those looking for evidence of the Trinity in the Old Testament, they need look no farther than Genesis 1 for the first hint.  The first word used for God is the Hebrew word Elohim.  The word El is the root of the word for God; but Elohim is a plural word.  In the Hebrew Bible, the most common grammatical use of Elohim for God is singular.  We might say, it is a singular plural.  An analogy might be when we describe a forest of trees — it is one forest made up of many trees.

So, when Elohim says in verse 26:

Let us make man in our image, after our likeness….

He may not simply be speaking in the so called “royal we;” he may actually be speaking as One God in Three Persons, relating within himself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

This premise is reinforced by these words:

Darkness was on the surface of the deep and God’s Spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters.

This is a description of the chaos and formlessness that existed before God’s first act of creation.  But God’s Spirit is present as an agent of creation from before the very beginning.

Then there is the act of creation itself.  God speaks, and light comes into existence.  It may be a far-fetched speculation, but we are reminded of John’s Prologue, when he says:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  The same was in the beginning with God.  All things were made through him. Without him was not anything made that has been made (John 1:1-3).

The Word (Greek Logos) is the very mind of God — and in John’s Gospel the Second Person of the Trinity.  The three persons of the Trinity are all represented — Father, Son and Holy Spirit, in the singular plural Elohim.  One God in three persons.

In his act of creation, God not only creates existence and matter, but also time itself.  By creating finite beings, matter itself becomes a kind of created “clock” by which time may be measured.  Each act of creation is done in a day. 

In his Systematic Theology Trilogy, Thomas Oden writes of God’s providence in creation, and speaks of four classes of creaturely beings in an ascending scale (from The Living God, p. 288):

• Lifeless matter (inanimate creaturely beings)
• Living plants (living, but immobile, vegetable beings)
• Animals (living mobile beings lacking human rationality)
• Humans (living, rational, accountable, self-determining moral agents)

This ascending scale does seem to reflect the order of creation in Genesis 1:

• Light, sky, waters, earth all fall under the category of “lifeless matter” that provide the stage and foundation for all that follows. All of this happens from day one to day three.  The sun, moon and stars also fall into this category, but they aren’t mentioned until the fourth day.
• Grass, herbs yielding seeds, and fruit trees bearing fruit after their kind, with their seeds in it, on the earth are created on the third day — they are the “living plants” that will make animal and human life possible.
• Animals of all kinds — sea creatures and birds, livestock and creeping things, and animals of the earth after their kind, moving, swarming and abounding — were created on the fifth day.
• And the piece de resistance, God’s ultimate act of creation, was human beings — God created man in his own image. In God’s image he created him; male and female he created them.

This does seem to be a kind of “hierarchy,” or what the ancients might have called a great chain of being. 

And it is clear that all of this creation, from the inert and impersonal matter from which the earth and waters and skies are made, to the most sentient and personal human beings, are all declared to be good by God.  Moreover, when God completes his creative work, he announces it is very good. 

Once this work is completed, God rests from his work following the sixth day.  The seventh day is blessed as holy, and will become a sabbath day of rest for the people of Israel.  This will become a mandate in the fourth commandment given to Moses on Sinai:

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy…for in six days Yahweh made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore Yahweh blessed the Sabbath day, and made it holy (Exodus 20:8,11).

APPLY:  

This passage is a theological statement, not a scientific treatise.  It tells about the nature of God as Creator, and his goodwill toward all creation.  And there are multiple layers in this theological statement.

First, all creation is very good.  This is a rebuke to philosophical and religious doctrine that suggests that the material world is corrupt and evil, and that only the “spiritual” is desirable.  That worldview represents a kind of dualism that rejects the material world.  The Biblical worldview embraces both spirit and matter.  John’s Gospel reaffirms this when the Word who is God and who has created all things, actually becomes flesh!

The Word became flesh, and lived among us. We saw his glory, such glory as of the one and only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14).

Second, this description of the creation makes it clear that there is One God — Elohim (the proper name “Yahweh” — I Am — is introduced in Genesis 2:4).  God is the creator of all things.  God’s nature is in contrast to both polytheism and pantheism.

Polytheists tended to look upon certain creatures as gods and goddesses — for example, the Egyptians worshiped Ra as the sun god.  Sin was the moon goddess of Mesopotamia.  Genesis 1 makes clear that though the sun rules the day and the moon rules the night they are created objects that provide light — they are not deities.  Elohim alone is creator and ultimate ruler over all creation.

And this passage also makes it clear that God is creator of the world — the world and all that is in it is not itself imbued with divinity.  God is distinct from his creation in the way that an artist is distinct from her painting.  Although her creativity and brush strokes reflect her character, there is a distinction between artist and art.  God’s character is reflected in creation, but nature is not God.

Third, human beings are the apex of God’s creation.  God makes that very clear:

“Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”  God created man in his own image. In God’s image he created him; male and female he created them.  God blessed them. God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

There are several applications of this imago Dei: 

• Genesis doesn’t carefully define what it means for us to be made in the likeness of God. Obviously, this doesn’t mean that we literally look like God!  Rather, we can deduce that our character and nature — the capacity for reason, for love, for creativity, for freedom of the will — reflect God’s image.
• One role for human beings includes dominion over all the creatures. This is to be as God’s representatives, and implies stewardship of the earth’s resources, not mere exploitation.   As God has dominion over us and cares for us, so we are to have dominion over and care for all living things and the planet.
• To be created in God’s image is inclusive of both men and women. God’s nature transcends gender, although we are taught in the New Testament to call upon him as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Nevertheless, there are aspects of God’s character that we might traditionally describe as masculine or feminine.  The point is both genders reflect God’s image — and God’s nature and character reflect characteristics that might be thought of as masculine and feminine.
• Just as all living things have been commanded to be fruitful and multiply, so are human beings. Human sexuality and procreation are hardwired into human nature by God.

Fourth, and finally, the rhythms of work and rest are built into creation.  God worked and rested, and commands us to do the same.

RESPOND: 

Genesis is among the most majestic and powerful passages in all of Judeo-Christian Scripture — and it is also among the most controversial.

Creation takes place when Elohim speaks the word let there be.  In contrast, most scientists say that the whole universe began with a tiny, compacted particle of matter known as a singularity that suddenly and brilliantly began to expand in what they call the Big Bang. 

Creation of the earth and its creatures takes place in six days. In contrast scientists say that the universe is 13.8 billion years old, and the earth, though younger, is 4.5 billion years old.

Light, sky, waters, earth, vegetation, sun and moon and stars, animals and human beings all are created whole, it seems, in one moment.  Most scientists today argue that the development from inert material to life and on toward complex organisms and sentience evolved over hundreds of millions of years.

The sincere Christian who also wishes to respect the claims of scientific research can be very confused.  We remember that Copernicus and Galileo were persecuted by the Church because they followed their scientific research, which led to different conclusions than what the Church was then teaching.

For perspective, we need to remember a few things.  First, all truth is God’s truth.  And God has provided our senses and our brains so that we may use reason, as well as his own special revelation in sacred history and Scripture.  It seems impossible for these to contradict one another.

My own view is that the Bible is not a scientific treatise.  It teaches me what I need to know for relationship with God and for salvation through revelation.  Science teaches me about God’s physical world as experienced through reason, which is another of God’s gifts.

One way of putting it is to use the old questions posed by journalists, researchers and police investigators — Who, What, Why, How, Where, When.  It seems to me that the Bible answers two of these questions — Who and Why — in a way that science simply can’t.  Scientists don’t pretend to be theologians.  Scientists deal in empirical facts.  But the Scriptures reveal Who (God), and Why (because he is good and his lovingkindness endures forever).  Science can answer What, How, Where, and When.  But they don’t pretend to answer Who and Why.

Frankly, I can see a correlation between the so-called Big Bang and the instant of creation when God spoke:

Let there be light.

And my own “traditional” and “orthodox” faith in the Scriptures doesn’t preclude me from accepting the possibility that the stages of creation depicted in Genesis 1 correlate with some form of the theory of evolution.  God created all life — how God creates is in his power.

And finally, I don’t have difficulty understanding that the days referred to in Genesis 1 aren’t necessarily solar days of 24 hours.  Twenty-four hours is the length of a day on Earth, measuring the length of time it requires for Earth to rotate completely on its axis.  By comparison, a day on the planet Venus is 5,832 hours!

I would argue that because God transcends time, all time is relative to him. After all, God’s relation to the universe and to time is not limited to planet Earth. This is suggested by Scripture:

But don’t forget this one thing, beloved, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day (2 Peter 3:8).

We may not be able to calculate exactly how much time the day in Genesis 1 measures — or even whether it is intended to be of the same length in each case.  After all, if we wish to be literal, light was created on day one — the sun wasn’t created until day four in this narrative!  Hypothetically, a day in cosmic time might have spanned millions or even billions of years!

A little levity might be needed to lighten this very serious subject.   A man is talking to God, and asks:  “God, how long is a million years to you?”  God answers, “About a minute.” So the man pushes on: “God, how much is a million dollars to you?” God says: “About a penny.”  So the man seizes the opportunity:  “God, may I have one of your pennies?” And God replies with a smile: “Sure, in a minute.”

Lord, you are creator of all things.  And you make all things good. Help us to be good stewards of your creation, as you bring time and history to its blessed consummation in your kingdom.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
“Creation” by Jeff Simms is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.

Psalm Reading for June 12, 2022 Trinity Sunday

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Psalm 8
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OBSERVE:

Psalm 8 is the classic expression of the majesty of God. In just nine brief verses, David’s Psalm surveys the sovereignty of God over heaven and earth, contrasts the seeming insignificance of humanity to the vast heavens, and then firmly establishes the unique relationship of human beings with God.

The Psalm is addressed to the Sovereign God, as a Psalm of praise:

Yahweh, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth,
who has set your glory above the heavens!

And then there is a twist in the plot, so to speak.  Instead of describing the mountains or the oceans, the Psalmist speaks of the praises of the tiny and the most vulnerable creatures on earth:

From the lips of babes and infants you have established strength,
because of your adversaries, that you might silence the enemy and the avenger.

There is a paradox here — that the babbling of infants becomes a kind of fortress against malefactors!  The God who created the heavens and earth and all that is in them values those things that seem so insignificant. Innocence defeats evil!

We can’t help but think of Mary’s Song in Luke’s Gospel:

He has put down princes from their thrones.
And has exalted the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things.
He has sent the rich away empty. (Luke 1:52-53).

There is a kind of inversion that recurs in the Scripture, where the small and insignificant are exalted, and the big and powerful are diminished.  We see this again in these next wonderful verses of the Psalm:

When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have ordained;
 what is man, that you think of him?
What is the son of man, that you care for him?

Here, David is appropriately aware of human insignificance in contrast to the cosmos that stretches out on a starry night.  He asks the right question — how can God possibly even notice me in comparison to the vastness of the heavens?

And yet, as it is for the babes and infants, and the lowly and hungry, we might say the world is turned right-side up:

For you have made him a little lower than God,
and crowned him with glory and honor.

We are reminded of creation theology, which makes clear what the relationship is between God and humanity, and between humanity and creation:

You make him ruler over the works of your hands.
You have put all things under his feet:
All sheep and cattle,
yes, and the animals of the field,
The birds of the sky, the fish of the sea,
and whatever passes through the paths of the seas.

This echoes the creation theology of Genesis 1:26.

God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

Human beings are subordinate to God, but are nonetheless just below God in the hierarchy of beings.  And with this exalted position comes great responsibility for all creatures.

Kings in ancient times placed their images in the lands over which they had dominion.  In a similar way, human beings are the living images who represent God’s dominion over the world, and act as stewards of it.

The Psalm ends with a refrain of the first verse, as David seems filled with wonder for what God is and what he has done for humanity:

Yahweh, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!

APPLY:  

When we turn our attention to the heavens, two things seem to be impossible.

First, it seems impossible for us to conclude that the cosmos came into existence by accident.  There is mystery and wonder when we consider the origin story of the universe. But to conclude that all has come into being by random accident seems to require more faith than admitting that there was a creating mind behind it all.  And of course, from the Biblical perspective, that creating mind is God.

Second, it is impossible to look at the moon and the stars and not conclude that we are microscopic in comparison, especially as we have learned about the vast distances of space.

And yet. And yet. And yet! We are created in the very image of God — which means that at our best, when we are living lives of love, reason, and justice, we are God’s representatives in the world.

The notion of the image of God was that humans were to be God’s ambassadors.  This is why we are given rule over creation, because we are to be stewards of creation.  Our dominance over creation is not given so that we might exploit it, but so that we may care for it responsibly.

RESPOND: 

This Psalm provides a balance for me in my self-image.  On the one hand, I am keenly aware of how insignificant I can feel in the cosmos, and in the human world of celebrity and historical events.

I am reminded of a story about President Teddy Roosevelt.  He owned an estate called Sagamore Hill on Long Island in New York. As a man with deep passion for hunting, the outdoors, and nature in general, this was a favorite retreat for him.

One of the things he loved to do was to go outside on a starry evening with a friend and look up at the skies, identify the constellations, and speculate about the vast distances in the universe.  And then, when they had gazed awhile and grew silent with awe, he would say, “Well, I think we’re small enough now.  Let’s go inside.”

I always remember this tale when my wife and I go outside and look at the moon and the stars.  If Teddy Roosevelt, that larger-than-life hunter, writer, and statesman could recognize how small he was when looking at the stars, how small do I feel?

On the other hand, this Psalm reminds me of God’s regard for me, far above what I deserve.

I am reminded of Hamlet’s famous speech in Shakespeare’s play:

What a piece of work is a man! how noble in reason!
how infinite in faculty! in form and moving how
express and admirable! in action how like an angel!
in apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the
world! the paragon of animals!
(The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, Act II, scene ii, lines 303-307)

This is an important balance to maintain — we are rightly humble in our relationship with God, but we are made bold by his grace that has created us in his own image and has saved us from the sin that damaged that image.

Our Lord, your creation leaves me speechless with awe, and I become aware of how tiny a part of it all I really am.  But then you remind me that you care enough for me to become a human being and die for me! That is truly awesome!  Amen. 

PHOTOS:

"God revealed through the Milky Way" by Martin LaBar is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic  license.

Old Testament for June 12, 2022 Trinity Sunday

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31
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OBSERVE:

The book of Proverbs is one of five books in the Bible included in the “Wisdom” genre (Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Song of Solomon, Ecclesiastes).  Wisdom literature deals with many aspects of the human condition — the problem of suffering;  the yearnings of the human soul for God;  the multi-dimensional human experience of anger, hope, romance, philosophical despair; and often simply good, practical advice for living.

In this passage from Proverbs, the theme of Wisdom is introduced with the personification of Wisdom as a feminine character.  Wisdom is searching everywhere for those who are seeking understanding:

Does not wisdom call,
and does not understanding raise her voice?
 On the heights, beside the way,
at the crossroads she takes her stand;
beside the gates in front of the town,
at the entrance of the portals she cries out:
“To you, O people, I call,
and my cry is to all that live.

In verses 22-23, the tone becomes more speculative, even mystical.  Wisdom describes herself as an entity present with the Lord even before he began the work of creation:

The Lord created me at the beginning  of his work,
the first of his acts of long ago.
Ages ago I was set up,
at the first, before the beginning of the earth.

Wisdom describes herself as being in existence prior to the depths, or springs abounding with water, and before the mountains or hills were shaped.  She watched as the Lord circumscribed a circle on the face of the deep, set boundaries for the oceans and for the skies, and marked out the foundations of the earth .

We note that Wisdom is an observer in all this.  She is not described as the primary agent of creation.  She repeatedly states that she was there at the beginning and watched it all take place.  The initiative and the work are carried out by the Lord.  She assists him, but the Lord is the creator.

Only in verses 30-31 does she state:

then I was beside him, like a master worker;
and I was daily his delight,
rejoicing before him always,
rejoicing in his inhabited world
and delighting in the human race.

Wisdom appears to have been created by the Lord to observe and to rejoice in his acts of Creation — perhaps so that she may later instruct the human race about the true source of creation.

APPLY:  

The personification of Wisdom as a feminine character is somewhat mysterious.

It may simply be a poetic device, a way to describe the nature of Wisdom that accompanies the creative acts of God from the beginning. It may be a reminder to us that God’s creation follows certain logical, intelligible principles of cause and effect, as well as order and purpose.  And it may serve to remind us that when we study nature as scientists we are in some sense studying theology because we assume that reason is at the heart of it all.

But some of the early church fathers interpreted this persona to be the same as the Word described in the Prologue to John’s Gospel.  There, Jesus is described as the Word (Word is the translation of the Greek Logos which can also be interpreted as the Mind or the Wisdom of God):

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being (John 1:1-3).

This interpretation seems a little problematical, though.

First, Jesus is clearly described as being one with the Father — although he has a distinct personhood. The Word was not merely passively observing the creation of all things, but was an active agent along with God the Father.

Second, we are told that Wisdom in Proverbs was created at the beginning; but the Gospel of John tells us that Jesus was begotten of God, not created:

the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth (John 1:14).

An alternate and more traditional translation is that Jesus is:

 the only begotten of the Father.

This is significant for Christian theology  because Jesus is uniquely the Son of God; he is, as the Nicene Creed says:

the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made.

Third, of course there is the obvious observation — Jesus is male, and the persona of Wisdom is female.  But at least one early church father, Irenaeus, identifies Wisdom in Proverbs 8 with the Holy Spirit:

I have also largely demonstrated, that the Word, namely the Son, was always with the Father; and that Wisdom also, which is the Spirit, was present with Him, anterior to all creation.
(Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 4.20.3 – Ante-Nicene Fathers 1.488.)

This is an intriguing possibility suggesting that the Third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, represents the feminine character of God.  Obviously this thought may seem a bit audacious, but we are reminded that in the very first chapter of Genesis, God creates humanity.

What does he say?

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”  So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them (Genesis 1:26-27).

It is no stretch to suggest that we cannot completely understand the nature of God unless we begin to understand that both male and female together fully represent God’s image.

Although the imagery for the feminine aspects of God are somewhat rare compared to the masculine imagery, they are certainly present. God is described as a mother eagle in Deuteronomy 32:11-12; a mother in Hosea 11:3-4; a mother bear in Hosea 13:8; a comforting mother in Isaiah 66:13; a nursing mother in Isaiah 49:15; a woman in labor in Isaiah 42:14;  a reassuring mother in Psalm 131:2;  a woman in charge of her servants in Psalm 123:2-3.  Deuteronomy describes God as giving birth to Israel in Deuteronomy 32:18.  And Jesus describes himself as a mother hen longing to gather her brood under her wings in Matthew 23:37 and Luke 13:34.

We must be careful about constructing a theology around these thoughts, especially because they haven’t been confirmed by the authority of orthodox Christianity over the millennia. However, they do provide a source of provocative meditation about the nature of God and God’s wonders.

Perhaps we should simply remember that Wisdom is God’s creation, and it is by wisdom that we seek to understand the world around us and God himself.

RESPOND: 

I am humbled when I reflect on the nature of the Triune God.  Greater minds than my own have meditated on the inscrutable character of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

I must admit that I am intrigued by the notion that the Holy Spirit might represent the more “feminine” nature of God.  If God has created us as male and female in his own image, then it does stand to reason that God’s nature possesses characteristics that we often identify as male and female.

As Hamlet said to his friend in Shakespeare’s play that dealt with supernatural elements:

“There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”

I won’t go so far as to suggest that we refer to God as Father, Son and Mother — that is not the classical, orthodox reference for God.  But these reflections do challenge me to realize that God is far bigger and more mysterious than I can possibly comprehend.

Lord, by Wisdom you have created the universe, and set its frame and its boundaries.  And you have placed in our minds the sense of wonder and the capacity for intellect that leads us closer to you as we set our own minds to use wisdom.  We are also reminded of some other words of Proverbs: “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”  Increase my faith, my love, and my fear of you.   Amen.

PHOTOS:
“Wisdom…” by Art4TheGlryOfGod by Sharon is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.

Gospel for October 18, 2020

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Matthew 22:15-22
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

The adversarial pressure on Jesus intensifies.  The Pharisees and Herodians collude with one another seeking to entrap Jesus.

This hostility toward Jesus is highlighted by the unlikely alliance of the Pharisees and the Herodians.  The Pharisees (whose name literally means the separated ones) aspire to holiness based on a rigorous and legalistic practice of the Mosaic and the oral law as passed down by rabbinical teachers.   Normally Pharisees have nothing to do with the Herodians.

The Herodians are worldly aristocrats loyal to the dynasty of the royal Herodian family.  Their allegiance is not to the temple, but to the king who insures their privileges. Nevertheless, they also see Jesus as a threat.

For the Pharisees, Jesus is a threat to the religious traditions of the law and the temple.  For the Herodians, Jesus is a threat to political stability and to their king because of his supposed pretensions to the throne as a descendant of David.

They contrive to ask a question of Jesus, pretending to respect him as an objective, impartial teacher of truth:

Teacher, we know that you are honest, and teach the way of God in truth, no matter whom you teach, for you aren’t partial to anyone.  Tell us therefore, what do you think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?

This is fascinating. The ultra-religious Pharisees and the ultra-secular Herodians have found just the question that they believe will place Jesus on the razor’s edge.  They know that the common people — known as the ha eretz, or people of the earth — hate the tax collectors and the Roman military occupiers who enforce the tax for the Roman emperor.

If Jesus answers that it is lawful to pay the Roman tax, the Pharisees and Herodians hope to drive a wedge between Jesus and his energized followers.  If he says no it is not lawful, they will have a pretext to accuse him of sedition against the state.  Note that the question of whether it is lawful concerns the Mosaic and oral law, not the laws of Rome.

Jesus sees through their ruse immediately:

 But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, “Why do you test me, you hypocrites?”

He calls them hypocrites (in Greek, this word literally means a pretender, a play actor).  He knows they are baiting him, and are pretending to ask a sincere question.

So, Jesus asks to see the tax money.  He points out the obvious — the denarius is minted and issued under Roman authority:

He asked them, “Whose is this image and inscription?”
They said to him, “Caesar’s.”
Then he said to them, “Give therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

The fact is that someone, either one of the Pharisees or one of the Herodians, actually possesses this Roman coin bearing the likeness of Caesar. This suggests that whoever owned this coin had already answered the question for themselves — they acknowledged the authority of Rome because they were using Roman money.

In other words, if you use Roman currency, you are obliged to pay the Roman tax.  But God deserves all that which belongs to God.  And what belongs to God?  Read on in the Apply section for an opinion on that question.

The Pharisees and Herodians have no comeback for Jesus.  He has demonstrated that if a person uses the Roman coin, they acknowledge Roman authority.  But there is a higher authority to whom all are to answer — the authority of God.

The adversaries of Jesus are stymied:

When they heard it, they marveled, and left him, and went away.

APPLY:  

Many expositors and preachers, especially in the United States, have made this encounter between Jesus and his adversaries an illustration of the so-called “Separation of Church and State.”

This interpretation is anachronistic at best.  Jesus was not exploring the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights in the United States Constitution.  He was actually saying something far more radical than that.

The real question is — what belongs to God?  Caesar has imprinted his image on coins because of his military and political power to do so.  He rules the Roman empire by raw power.  But where is Caesar now?  His sovereignty was temporary.  The Roman empire is remembered in the history books and in the ruins and in the Romance languages that derive from their Latin tongue.  But Roman dominance is no more.  They have been swept away, as every world power has been swept away, by the tides of history.

The answer to the question —what belongs to God — is in the statement Jesus makes:

Give to God what is God’s.

What is God’s?  EVERYTHING.

The earth is Yahweh’s, with its fullness; the world, and those who dwell therein (Psalm 24:1).

We must remember that all of us are merely temporary tenants on this earth.  Empires, nations, the pride of military glory, political systems will all be superseded by the Kingdom of God.

This does beg the question, though.  Do we pay taxes or not?  The answer is simple — even Christians benefit from the good things taxes can provide, though we may complain about paying them.  Roads, fire departments, police protection, inspection of our foods and medicines, all can be a great benefit.

Paul makes it quite clear that even the Roman government, which represents a violent and idolatrous system, can provide security and stability.  And he urges the Christians in Rome to be in subjection to civil authorities:

Therefore you need to be in subjection, not only because of the wrath, but also for conscience’ sake. For this reason you also pay taxes, for they are servants of God’s service, attending continually on this very thing.  Therefore give everyone what you owe: if you owe taxes, pay taxes; if customs, then customs; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor (Romans 13:5-7).

But ultimately, we are reminded that the world, and everything in it, belongs to God and returns to God.

RESPOND: 

The custom of imprinting images on coins goes back millennia.  By embossing the image of a Roman emperor on the coin, the authority of the coinage was established.  It was a way of stating that the “full faith and credit” of the Roman political and economic system would back the value of the coin.

It shouldn’t escape our notice, though — no one really owns anything.  We are merely temporary tenants who are given the opportunity to temporarily use land, houses, rivers, forests and mountains.  The only One who really owns anything is the One who created all things.

And another truth shouldn’t escape our notice — coins may be embossed with the images of kings and presidents and national heroes.  And those images can be changed as past heroes fall into disfavor, and new heroes arise.

However, there is one “coin” that is stamped with an indelible image — the image of God:

God created man in his own image. In God’s image he created him; male and female he created them (Genesis 1:27).

Coins imprinted with the image of ancient Roman emperors (no doubt the image of Tiberius in the time of Jesus) have become relics, of value to antiquarians and archaeologists, but of no use as actual currency.  But the image that has been stamped on our human nature — the image of God — is of inestimable value.

We can easily give up the coins of our day — they rise and fall in value.  But we must give to God that which is most precious to him, the coin that bears his image — our own lives.

Lord, you have stamped your image on our lives, and restored your image in us through the life, death and resurrection of your Son. I pray that I may render to you what belongs to you — myself.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
"The Biblical Tribute Penny: Tiberius AR Denarius 16-34 AD; Obverse" by Essam is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs license.

Epistle for July 26, 2020

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Romans 8:26-39
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Romans 8 climaxes in a theological and spiritual tour de force. These verses in the lectionary reading for this week are theologically deep and rich, relating to prayer, God’s providential plan for those who are called, God’s benevolence expressed through Christ, and the impossibility that those who love Christ can be separated from him.

The Apostle Paul continues to explore the work of the Third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, with whom he began this meditation in Romans 8:1.  Here, he describes the work of the Spirit in aiding the prayer of the believer. Paul acknowledges the inefficacy of human prayer:

In the same way, the Spirit also helps our weaknesses, for we don’t know how to pray as we ought.

We are finite, fallible, and weak.  The Spirit is God, who projects his infinite, infallible and omnipotent nature onto our prayers.

Not only that, the Spirit is deeply concerned for us, and cries out to the Father on our behalf:

But the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings which can’t be uttered.

This language suggests a deep concern and compassion on behalf of those who are too weak to know how they ought to pray.  The Greek verb stenagmois (groaning, or sighing) is used three times in Romans 8. First, the groaning of a suffering creation that awaits the final consummation at the end of the age (Romans 8:22). Second, the groaning of those who have experienced the first fruits of the Spirit, but who are still awaiting the final act of adoption, the redemption of our body (Romans 8:23). In the third use of this verb, the Spirit is groaning on our behalf in a way that brings his prayers to completion.

And the reason the Holy Spirit is able to pray effectively is because of his intimate knowledge of our hearts:

He who searches the hearts knows what is on the Spirit’s mind, because he makes intercession for the saints according to God.

The mind of the Spirit is able to penetrate our minds and know our thoughts, and through the Spirit these thoughts are conveyed to God.  This is a good, working definition of God’s omniscience.

In the second section of this complex passage, Paul addresses the subject of God’s providential plan for those whom he has called.  Ultimately, God’s plan is to bring good out of all circumstances for his people: 

We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.

Paul elaborates on what it means to be called, in a passage that has become very controversial for Calvinists and Arminians:

For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.  Whom he predestined, those he also called. Whom he called, those he also justified. Whom he justified, those he also glorified.

Volumes could be written — and have been written — on these verses.  Paul is venturing into the mysteries of God’s omniscience.  God foreknew those who were called to be justified and glorified.  For the Calvinist, this suggests that those who are to be saved have been elect from the very beginning.  All of the benefits of salvation are given to them.

The Arminian would argue that this passage must be taken in context with all of the other passages related to salvation — that God loves the whole world (John 3:16); and that those who are not saved have chosen that because of their unbelief, not because God has predestined their damnation:

He who believes in him is not judged. He who doesn’t believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God (John 3:18).

And we also have the witness of other texts that express God’s desire that as many as possible might be saved:

The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some count slowness; but is patient with us, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).

Paul doesn’t argue here that the damned have been pre-selected for rejection. Instead, he is speaking positively about the blessings that accrue to those who have been foreknown by God.  God’s omniscience obviously transcends time and space, therefore he knows those who are predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ, justified and glorified with him.

This is a strong affirmation that those who are saved are to become like Christ himself! The image of God in which we were created, severely damaged in the Fall, is restored.  And as Paul has said earlier in Romans 8, believers are to be co-heirs with Christ — and therefore Christ is the firstborn among many brothers.  We note again that the imagery used to describe the relationship of the Triune God with believers is familial.

Paul then turns to God’s benevolence expressed through Christ toward us.  He begins with a series of rhetorical questions which he answers himself in the form of a question:

What then shall we say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who didn’t spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how would he not also with him freely give us all things?

The logic of Paul’s argument is unassailable — if the omnipotent, almighty Creator of the universe is for us, there is nothing stronger or greater.  And if this same God offered his own Son on our behalf, then all of the inheritance that he has promised will be ours as well.

The chosen ones are also acquitted of all “legal” charges made by the law, because God has justified them through Christ’s atoning death:    

Who could bring a charge against God’s chosen ones? It is God who justifies.

And, in another question that requires a positive twist, Paul writes:

Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, yes rather, who was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.

No one can condemn the believer because the death and resurrection of Jesus has delivered the believer from the power of sin.  Here Paul sums up the victorious doctrine of Christ’s death, resurrection and ascension.  And he also underlines the ongoing ministry of Jesus as High Priest, who intercedes even now.  This is consistent also with the doctrine of the Book of Hebrews:

Therefore he is also able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, seeing that he lives forever to make intercession for them. For such a high priest was fitting for us: holy, guiltless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and made higher than the heavens (Hebrews 7:25-26).

This is full circle.  The Holy Spirit intercedes with groans too deep for words, and the Son of God also intercedes.  The Second and Third Persons of the Trinity join in intercession for us!

Finally, Romans 8 ends on a climactic note.  Paul stresses the impossibility that those who love Christ can be separated from him. In lyrical, poetic, sweeping language, he makes it clear that no suffering or persecution of any kind can ever ultimately separate us from the love of Christ:

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Could oppression, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Even as it is written, “For your sake we are killed all day long. We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,  nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Embedded in this litany of those threats that are unable to separate us from God’s love is a Scriptural reference — a proof text, if you will — from Psalm 44:22:

Even as it is written, “For your sake we are killed all day long. We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”

Paul is a realist about human suffering, even for believers — he has his own experience for witness.  But despite all the suffering, and even despite those cosmic and supernatural forces — angels, principalities and powers (which relates to those supernatural angelic forces of the highest order) — God’s love in Christ Jesus will not be torn away by those forces.

APPLY:  

The applications of a passage like our lectionary reading for this week are like a kid in a candy store.  Where do we begin?

First, there is inestimable comfort in Paul’s description of the intercessions of the Holy Spirit on our behalf.  We can honestly say that we don’t know how to pray as we should — we don’t know what is best in some cases, or we don’t know what all the circumstances may be.  But the Holy Spirit is God!  Not only does he know our minds, he knows the mind of God as well!  Who better to intercede for us?

And the description that he intercedes for us with groanings which can’t be uttered tells us that he intercedes for us with deep passion and compassion.  Moreover, we are also told that when Jesus ascended to the right hand of God, he:

also makes intercession for us.

When we don’t know how to pray, or for what we should pray, we can be comforted by the knowledge that the Second and Third Persons of the Triune God are on our side, praying for us constantly.

Second, we can also take comfort in the acclamation that all things work together for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.  Again, this is of inestimable value to those who may go through adversity, and even tragedy. God can take tough circumstances and bring good out of those circumstances.  Paul will underline this powerful claim in further assertions:

If God is for us, who can be against us?

For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,  nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Third, while I don’t intend to duck some of the theological questions raised by Paul’s description of predestination,  I wish to point out the obvious.  Paul never states the so-called doctrine of “double-predestination,” which is the logical argument — if God has elected some to salvation, then logically he has elected others to reprobation.

What Paul is focused on in this passage is the glorious and dynamic process of salvation that begins and ends with the grace of God:

For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. Whom he predestined, those he also called. Whom he called, those he also justified. Whom he justified, those he also glorified.

To argue that God doesn’t know who will be saved would be a denial of his infinitude and omniscience.  But to argue that he chooses some and not others is to argue that God is arbitrary and capricious.  Paul declares that nothing can separate us from God’s love.  But it may be possible that we may separate ourselves from God by not returning his love.

RESPOND: 

I’m reluctant to focus on a controversial subject when writing about such a magnificent passage — however, I’m also aware that the controversy about predestination and free will never quite go away.

I have two very good friends who regard themselves as Calvinists, which means they believe in the doctrine of predestination.  I am an Arminian Wesleyan, which means that I believe that by his grace God has granted us free will.

We have gotten into some very emphatic — but I’m pleased to say still charitable — debates.  I have tried to avoid what I call “Bible Battleships,” where both parties find their own proof-texts and start blasting away at one another.  But it is difficult, I admit.

Predestination is a fact in Scripture — the notion that God knows and has foreordained all things.  I think that for me, the simplest explanation of this is that God is infinite and eternal — which means that God transcends time and space.  He sees all time as present, in contrast to our own view.  We can only see time from our finite perspective — beginning, middle and end.  God is the beginning and the end (Revelation 22:6).

But the word for predestination  is curious.  It comes from the Greek proorizo.  Although my Greek is very rusty, I am able to figure out that the root of this word is horizo, which gives us our word horizon.

So, I have developed my own theory concerning predestination, which is entirely my own.  There are tensions and paradoxes in the ways of God.  God knows the outcome of history, and directs our paths; and yet, allows us to make free choices, and doesn’t compel us to love him.  What if God has foreordained the horizons of history — those great events of salvation history that lead us to the saving events of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, and on to the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven?  God sees the horizons of history, and all things work together for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.

So, those who love God cannot be separated from God — but if they don’t love God, can they be separated?  I think that Paul gives his own answer a little later in Romans, and also amplified in Ephesians, when he speaks of his love for his own people, the Jews.  He makes it clear that the Jews are God’s chosen people.  Perhaps that is what he means by predestination — they were predestined to be the nation through whom salvation comes in Jesus.  But he also says there is hope for the Gentiles, who were not part of the original covenant.

He uses a rather complicated metaphor — comparing Israel to the original olive tree chosen by God.  But he also points out that God has allowed even the Gentiles to be grafted into the tree.  The only condition for that is faith.  Let me re-emphasize that.  The only condition to be included in the covenant for both Jews and Gentiles is faith! For individuals, what is required to be included in God’s great plan of salvation, is faith:

But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them, and became partaker with them of the root and of the richness of the olive tree;  don’t boast over the branches. But if you boast, it is not you who support the root, but the root supports you.  You will say then, “Branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in.”  True; by their unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by your faith. Don’t be conceited, but fear;  for if God didn’t spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you (Romans 11:17-21).

Though God knows our destinies, nonetheless we are free within his gracious will to choose to be grafted in, or cut off, because of our unbelief.

I wonder if it is a little like a play.  There is a plot, and the character who is consistently present — God, who manifests himself throughout the plot as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  The plot of the play is working its way out toward its glorious conclusion in the Final Act — but we also have a part to play.

But what if we choose not to play the part we’re assigned? What if we don’t rehearse, or we mess up our lines, or we just don’t show up?  Can we interfere with the overall plot that God, the playwright and director, has planned?  No way!

If we don’t play our part, God will find other actors to fulfill that role.

Again, this is my own speculation — but what if it was God’s original will for Israel to enter immediately into Canaan after the Exodus from Egypt instead of wandering in the Sinai desert for forty years? They might have gone on in if 10 out of 12 of the spies hadn’t scared all of Israel away!  And if King Saul had been obedient to the Prophet Samuel, would he have gone mad and squandered away the throne, meaning that David replaced him as God’s anointed? And what if the rich young man had decided to forsake his wealth and follow Jesus — how might his own life have been different?  We know that Jesus loved him, and was saddened when he turned away.

Again, the individual refusals and disobedience would not ultimately affect the overall plot that God has planned — remember, God makes all things work together for good for those who love God — no matter how we mar them.

To quote Shakespeare (another playwright), when Hamlet says to his friend Horatio:

There’s a divinity that shapes our ends,
Rough-hew them how we will—

I believe that is true.  God works patiently and deliberately throughout history to bring his plans to fulfillment — no matter how messy our lives and history may become.

PHOTOS:

"Predestination, foreknowledge, and free choice" by Martin LaBar is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic license.

Psalm Reading for June 7, 2020 Trinity Sunday

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Psalm 8
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Psalm 8 is the classic expression of the majesty of God. In just nine brief verses, David’s Psalm surveys the sovereignty of God over heaven and earth, contrasts the seeming insignificance of humanity to the vast heavens, and then firmly establishes the unique relationship of human beings with God.

The Psalm is addressed to the Sovereign God, as a Psalm of praise:

Yahweh, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth,
who has set your glory above the heavens!

And then, there is a twist in the plot, so to speak.  Instead of describing the mountains or the oceans, the Psalmist speaks of the praises of the tiny and the most vulnerable creatures on earth:

From the lips of babes and infants you have established strength,
because of your adversaries, that you might silence the enemy and the avenger.

There is a paradox here — that the babbling of infants becomes a kind of fortress against malefactors!  The God who created heavens and earth and all that is in them values those things that seem so insignificant. Innocence defeats evil!

We can’t help but think of Mary’s Song in Luke’s Gospel:

He has put down princes from their thrones.
And has exalted the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things.
He has sent the rich away empty. (Luke 1:52-53).

There is a kind of inversion that recurs in the Scripture, where the small and insignificant are exalted, and the big and powerful are diminished.  We see this again in these next wonderful verses of the Psalm:

When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have ordained;
 what is man, that you think of him?
What is the son of man, that you care for him?

Here, David is appropriately aware of human insignificance in contrast to the cosmos that stretches out on a starry night.  He asks the right question — how can God possibly even notice me in comparison to the vastness of the heavens?

And yet, as it is for the babes and infants, and the lowly and hungry, we might say the world is turned right-side up:

For you have made him a little lower than God,
and crowned him with glory and honor.

We are reminded of creation theology, which makes clear what the relationship is between God and humanity, and between humanity and creation:

You make him ruler over the works of your hands.
You have put all things under his feet:
All sheep and cattle,
yes, and the animals of the field,
The birds of the sky, the fish of the sea,
and whatever passes through the paths of the seas.

This echoes the creation theology of Genesis 1:26.

God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

Human beings are subordinate to God, but are nonetheless just below God in the hierarchy of beings.  And with this exalted position comes great responsibility for all creatures.

Kings in ancient times placed their images in the lands over which they had dominion.  In a similar way, human beings are the living images who represent God’s dominion over the world, and act as stewards of it.

The Psalm ends with a refrain of the first verse, as David seems filled with wonder for what God is and what he has done for humanity:

Yahweh, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!

APPLY:  

When we turn our attention to the heavens, two things seem to be impossible.

First, it seems impossible for us to conclude that the cosmos came into existence by accident.  There  is mystery and wonder when we consider the origin story of the universe. But to conclude that all has come into being by random accident seems to require more faith than admitting that there was a creating mind behind it all.  And of course, from the Biblical perspective, that creating mind is God.

Second, it is impossible to look at the moon and the stars and not conclude that we are microscopic in comparison, especially as we have learned about the vast distances of space.

And yet. And yet.  And yet! We are created in the very image of God — which means that at our best, when we are living lives of love, reason, and justice, we are God’s representatives in the world.

The notion of the image of God was that humans were to be God’s ambassadors.  This is why we are given rule over creation, because we are to be stewards of creation.  Our dominance over creation is not given so that we might exploit it, but so that we may care for it responsibly.

RESPOND: 

This Psalm provides a balance for me in my self-image.  On the one hand, I am keenly aware of how insignificant I can feel in the cosmos, and in the human world of celebrity and historical events.

I am reminded of a story about President Teddy Roosevelt.  He owned an estate called Sagamore Hill on Long Island in New York. As a man with deep passion for hunting, the outdoors, and nature in general, this was a favorite retreat for him.

One of the things he loved to do was to go outside on a starry evening with a friend and look up at the skies, identify the constellations, and speculate about the vast distances in the universe.  And then, when they had gazed awhile and grew silent with awe, he would say, “Well, I think we’re small enough now.  Let’s go inside.”

I always remember this tale when my wife and I go outside and look at the moon and the stars.  If Teddy Roosevelt, that larger-than-life hunter, writer, and statesman could recognize how small he was when looking at the stars, how small do I feel?

On the other hand, this Psalm reminds me of God’s regard for me, far above what I deserve.

I am reminded of Hamlet’s famous speech in Shakespeare’s play:

What a piece of work is a man! how noble in reason!
how infinite in faculty! in form and moving how
express and admirable! in action how like an angel!
in apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the
world! the paragon of animals!
(The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, Act II, scene ii, lines 303-307)

This is an important balance to maintain — we are rightly humble in our relationship with God, but we are made bold by his grace that has created us in his own image and has saved us from the sin that damaged that image.

Our Lord, your creation leaves me speechless with awe, and I become aware of how tiny a part of it all I really am.  But then you remind me that you care enough for me to become a human being and die for me! That is truly awesome!  Amen. 

PHOTOS:

"Psalm 8:3-4 What is man that you are mindful of him?" by Unlocking the Bible is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license.

Old Testament for June 7, 2020 Trinity Sunday

And God said… LET THERE BE LIGHT!

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Genesis 1:1-2:4
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

This week’s lectionary readings focus on Trinity Sunday in the Church year.

OBSERVE:

This passage for Trinity Sunday is the beginning of the origin story for the entire Bible.  All of the ingredients for all life and existence are introduced here.  But the central character that is introduced is God himself:

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and empty. Darkness was on the surface of the deep and God’s Spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters.

As someone has said, anyone who has trouble with the premise of the first sentence of the Bible, telling us that God has created the heavens and the earth, is going to have trouble with the entire book.

For those looking for evidence of the Trinity in the Old Testament, they need look no farther than Genesis 1 for the first hint.  The first word used for God is the Hebrew word Elohim.  The word El is the root of the word for God; but Elohim is a plural word.  In the Hebrew Bible, the most common grammatical use of Elohim for God is singular.  We might say, it is a singular plural.  An analogy might be when we describe a forest of trees — it is one  forest made up of many trees.

So, when Elohim says in verse 26:

Let us make man in our image, after our likeness….

He may not simply be speaking in the so called “royal we;” he may actually be speaking as One God in Three Persons, relating within himself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

This premise is reinforced by these words:

Darkness was on the surface of the deep and God’s Spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters.

This is a description of the chaos and formlessness that existed before God’s first act of creation.  But God’s Spirit is present as an agent of creation from before the very beginning.

Then there is the act of creation itself.  God speaks, and light comes into existence.  It may be a far-fetched speculation, but we are reminded of John’s Prologue, when he says:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  The same was in the beginning with God.  All things were made through him. Without him was not anything made that has been made (John 1:1-3).

The Word (Greek Logos) is the very mind of God — and in John’s Gospel the Second Person of the Trinity.  The three persons of the Trinity are all represented — Father, Son and Holy Spirit, in the singular plural Elohim.  One God in three persons.

In his act of creation, God not only creates existence and matter, but also time itself.  By creating finite beings, matter itself becomes a kind of created “clock” by which time may be measured.  Each act of creation is done in a day. 

In his Systematic Theology Trilogy, Thomas Oden writes of God’s providence in creation, and speaks of  four classes of creaturely beings in an ascending scale (from The Living God, p. 288):

• Lifeless matter (inanimate creaturely beings)
• Living plants (living, but immobile, vegetable beings)
• Animals (living mobile beings lacking human rationality)
• Humans (living, rational, accountable, self-determining moral agents)

This ascending scale does seem to reflect the order of creation in Genesis 1:

• Light, sky, waters, earth all fall under the category of “lifeless matter” that provide the stage and foundation for all that follows. All of this happens from day one to day three.  The sun, moon and stars also fall into this category, but they aren’t mentioned until the fourth day.
• Grass, herbs yielding seeds, and fruit trees bearing fruit after their kind, with their seeds in it, on the earth are created on the third day — they are the “living plants” that will make animal and human life possible.
• Animals of all kinds —  sea creatures and birds, livestock and creeping things, and animals of the earth after their kind, moving, swarming and abounding — were created on the fifth day.
• And the piece de resistance, God’s ultimate act of creation, was human beings — God created man in his own image. In God’s image he created him; male and female he created them.

This does seem to be a kind of “hierarchy,” or what the ancients might have called a great chain of being. 

And it is clear that all of this creation, from the inert and impersonal matter from which the earth and waters and skies are made, to the most sentient and personal human beings, are all declared to be good by God.  Moreover, when God completes his creative work, he announces it is very good. 

Once this work is completed, God rests from his work following the sixth day.  The seventh day is blessed as holy, and will become a sabbath day of rest for the people of Israel.  This will become a mandate in the fourth commandment given to Moses on Sinai:

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy….for in six days Yahweh made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore Yahweh blessed the Sabbath day, and made it holy (Exodus 20:8,11).

APPLY:  

This passage is a theological statement, not a scientific treatise.  It tells about the nature of God as Creator, and his goodwill toward all creation.  And there are multiple layers in this theological statement.

First, all creation is very good.  This is a rebuke to philosophical and religious doctrine that suggests that the material world is corrupt and evil, and that only the “spiritual” is desirable.  That world-view represents a kind of dualism that rejects the material world.  The Biblical world-view embraces both spirit and matter.  John’s Gospel reaffirms this when the Word who is God and who has created all things, actually becomes flesh!

The Word became flesh, and lived among us. We saw his glory, such glory as of the one and only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14).

Second, this description of the creation makes it clear that there is One God — Elohim (the proper name “Yahweh”  — I Am — is introduced in Genesis 2:4).  God is the creator of all things.  God’s nature is in contrast to both polytheism and pantheism.

Polytheists tended to look upon certain creatures as gods and goddesses — for example, the Egyptians worshiped Ra as the sun god.  Sin was the moon goddess of Mesopotamia.  Genesis 1 makes clear that though the sun rules the day and the moon rules the night they are created objects that provide light — they are not deities.  Elohim alone is creator and ultimate ruler over all creation.

And this passage also makes it clear that God is creator of the world — the world and all that is in it is not itself imbued with divinity.  God is distinct from his creation in the way that an artist is distinct from her painting.  Although her creativity and brush strokes reflect her character, there is a distinction between artist and art.  God’s character is reflected in creation, but nature is not God.

Third, human beings are the apex of God’s creation.  God makes that very clear:

“Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”  God created man in his own image. In God’s image he created him; male and female he created them.  God blessed them. God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

There are several applications of this imago Dei: 

• Genesis doesn’t carefully define what it means for us to be made in the likeness of God. Obviously, this doesn’t mean that we literally look like God!  Rather,  we can deduce that our character and nature — the capacity for reason, for love, for creativity, for freedom of the will — reflect God’s image.
• One role for human beings includes dominion over all the creatures. This is to be as God’s representatives, and implies stewardship of the earth’s resources, not mere exploitation.   As God has dominion over us and cares for us, so we are to have dominion over and care for all living things and the planet.
• To be created in God’s image is inclusive of both men and women. God’s nature transcends gender, although we are taught in the New Testament to call upon him as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Nevertheless, there are aspects of God’s character that we might traditionally describe as masculine or feminine.  The point is both genders reflect God’s image — and God’s nature and character reflect characteristics that might be thought of as masculine and feminine.
• Just as all living things have been commanded to be fruitful and multiply, so are human beings. Human sexuality and procreation are hardwired into human nature by God.

Fourth, and finally, the rhythms of work and rest are built into creation.  God worked and rested, and commands us to do the same.

RESPOND: 

Genesis is among the most majestic and powerful passages in all of  Judeo-Christian Scripture — and it is also among the most controversial.

Creation takes place when Elohim speaks the word  let there be.  In contrast,  most scientists say that the whole universe began with a tiny, compacted particle of matter known as a singularity that suddenly and brilliantly began to expand in what they call the Big Bang. 

Creation of the earth and its creatures takes place in six days. In contrast scientists say that the universe is 13.8 billion years old, and the earth, though younger, is 4.5 billion years old.

Light, sky, waters, earth, vegetation, sun and moon and stars, animals and human beings all are created whole, it seems, in one moment.  Most scientists today argue that the development from inert material to life and on toward complex organisms and sentience evolved over hundreds of millions of years.

The sincere Christian who also wishes to respect the claims of scientific research can be very confused.  We remember that Copernicus and Galileo were persecuted by the Church because they followed their scientific research, which led to different conclusions than what the Church was then teaching.

For perspective, we need to remember a few things.  First, all truth is God’s truth.  And God has provided our senses and our brains so that we may use reason, as well as his own special revelation in sacred history and Scripture.  It seems impossible for these to contradict one another.

My own view is that the Bible is not a scientific treatise.  It teaches me what I need to know for relationship with God and for salvation through revelation.  Science teaches me about God’s physical world as experienced through reason, which is another of God’s gifts.

One way of putting it is to use the old questions posed by journalists, researchers and police investigators — Who, What, Why, How, Where, When.  It seems to me that the Bible answers two of these questions — Who and Why — in a way that science simply can’t.  Scientists don’t pretend to be theologians.  Scientists deal in empirical facts.  But the Scriptures reveal Who (God), and Why (because he is good and his lovingkindness endures forever).  Science can answer What, How, Where, and When.  But they don’t pretend to answer Who and Why.

Frankly, I can see a correlation between the so-called Big Bang and the instant of creation when God spoke:

Let there be light.

And my own “traditional” and “orthodox” faith in the Scriptures doesn’t preclude me from accepting the possibility that the stages of creation depicted in Genesis 1 correlate with some form of the theory of evolution.  God created  all life — how God creates is in his power.

And finally, I don’t have difficulty understanding that the days referred to in Genesis 1 aren’t necessarily solar days of 24 hours.  Twenty-four hours is the length of a day on Earth, measuring the length of time it requires for Earth to rotate completely on its axis.  By comparison, a day on the planet Venus is 5,832 hours!

I would argue that because God transcends time, all time is relative to him. After all, God’s relation to the universe and to time is not limited to planet Earth. This is suggested by Scripture:

But don’t forget this one thing, beloved, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day (2 Peter 3:8).

We may not be able to calculate exactly how much time the day in Genesis 1 measures — or even whether it is intended to be of the same length in each case.  After all, if we wish to be literal, light was created on day one — the sun wasn’t created until day four in this narrative!  Hypothetically, a day in cosmic time might have spanned millions or even billions of years!

A little levity might be needed to lighten this very serious subject.   A man is talking to God, and asks:  “God, how long is a million years to you?”  God answers, “About a minute.” So the man pushes on: “God, how much is a million dollars to you?” God says: “About a penny.”  So the man seizes the opportunity:  “God, may I have one of your pennies?” And God replies with a smile: “Sure, in a minute.”

Lord, you are creator of all things.  And you make all things good. Help us to be good stewards of your creation, as you bring time and history to its blessed consummation in your kingdom.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
“Creation” by Jeff Simms is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.