scripture(12/4)
For the most part rabbis hailed from the ranks of ordinary folk
In the centuries prior to Jesus’s time, certain men distinguished themselves by their earnest desire to study and teach the Torah. In Jesus’s day, a person would honor one of these learned men by addressing him as “my master,” which in Hebrew is rabbi. Some decades after Jesus’s time, this became a formal title, and these teachers became known as “the rabbis.” For the most part these teachers did not hail from wealthy or priestly classes, but from the ranks of ordinary folk.…
Lifes supreme achievement is to be a scholar of the scriptures
In Jesus’s time and throughout the ages, the Jewish people believed that becoming a great scholar of the Scriptures represented life’s supreme achievement.
The new testament was written by practitioners
The entire New Testament was written exclusively by missionary practitioners.
These are the words he read
I find myself aware that in reading the Hebrew Scriptures I am handling something that gives me a closer common link with Jesus than any archaeological artifact could do. For these are the words he read. These were the stories he knew. These were the songs he sang.
God wants more humans
Sometimes it’s thought that the Hebrew Bible is more judgment-focused while the Greek Bible is grace-focused, but it just takes more pondering to see it in the first 3/4 of the Bible. For example, in the Noah story, the LORD reflects on the human condition and determines that humans from Noah’s generation will be no better than those wiped out in the flood for filling the earth with violence. Nevertheless, He promises to never again destroy all living things with a deluge.…
The bible is for wisdom and pleasure
While reflecting on one of the Psalms, I thought, “Wow, this song is so generic; I’m not getting anything out of it.” Then I noticed in the textual notes that the Psalm and the one to follow were an acrostic, and the Holy Spirit reminded me of a verse out of Genesis. God’s words both supply nourishment and delight. 💬 And out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food.…
Interpretive replacements sometimes erase context
There’s a practice I’ve encountered in Biblical interpretation which often leaves me with some unease. Not because I haven’t done it myself, I have. Maybe it’s because the practice feels too close to interpretation by mystic symbology. The practice is finding a term or phrase in the New Testament that gets applied to Jesus, then interpreting that term as a pseudonym for Jesus in the Old Testament. The example I run into most regularly is the transformation of “Angel of the LORD” to “Jesus pre-incarnate”.…
Design Pattern: Judgment
This is an overarching note that explores the theme of judgment as it exists from Genesis to Revelation. Judgment in John’s Gospel The first use of the word ‘judgment’ is in John 3:19, when the author says that people’s rejection of the light that has entered the world is their judgment. Then in John 5:22-24 Jesus says that the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son so that people honor him equally.…
Design Pattern: Light
This is an overarching note that explores the theme of light as it exists from Genesis to Revelation. Light is a pattern that begins with the first page in Genesis in reference, first to spiritual beings (and by implication, the one God), but later to humans acting as image bearers (see Moses' glowing face and the high priest’s white garb). Light applies to all humans, to be sons of light, lights of the world, etc.…
Design Pattern: Tree of Life
This is an overarching note that explores the theme of trees and life as they exist from Genesis to Revelation. Life is another pattern that begins in Genesis with the tree of life. Humans are mapped onto trees throughout the Bible, sometimes as trees of life (that is, those who transfer God’s own life) and also trees of knowing good and bad. Life is closely connected with light, such that Jesus can say that he is the light of life (John 8:12), probably because life emminates from the source of life, Yahweh.…
Ways to define the Bible
The return of my understanding of the Bible as Story began with The Bible Project, and this book gives fresh appreciation for the subtle but crucial importance of the Story vs the many other approaches one might take to the Book. For posterity, I’ll list the others: Morsels of Law. To learn how to behave and to think. The Bible as foremost a book to learn how to submit and obey, and to spot rebellion and disobedience.…
Direct application hinders discovery
Well-meaning interpreters will sometimes make a mistake in their application of the Bible. Out of conviction in the Bible’s authority, an interpreter will anchor a contemporary topic on a verse that appears to directly address the topic. By so doing, the interpreter both assures their audience of the Bible’s relevance to the topic and suppliments their own authority with the Biblical author’s. The interpreter also communicates an interpretive assumption that short-circuits the audience’s discovery.…
Biblical interpretation is cyclical
As I’ve matured, one of the ambiguities I’ve learned to accept is the journey of interpretation. When I was younger, I expected that a full and complete grasp of the Bible was a matter of time and effort. Now that I’m a little wiser, I realize that I am on a journey of discovery that has no final end nor milestones to mark progress. The best I can claim is that I understand a part of the whole and part of any one page, and that’s true for every person I’ve met.…
Epistles are real correspondence
The New Testament letters have fit into my mental model as a synopsis of the whole Bible, and the Old Testament primarily as historical background. If the Bible were written as I imagine, the letters would be the treatise, and the Old Testament would be an appendix. The claim that the letters are real correspondence rooted in the circumstances of the Roman Empire is scandalous. This means that the central content of the Bible is actually the Old Testament and the Gospel accounts, and the letters are nearer to practical footnotes on how to understand and apply the core than a synopsis of it.…
The bible is not a business rulebook
Employees want to receive a fair wage, to work in a safe environment, and to have the freedom to possess differences of viewpoint when those opinions don’t relate to the work being done (or, to be respected). Employers want their employees to work towards the benefit of the business in an efficient and consistent manner. The dramatic examples where this does not occur only reinforce the rule. Burkett’s descriptions, if followed as rigidly as they’re written, would not produce the results employees and employers want.…
Jesus identity was formed by the hebrew scriptures
Jesus identity was formed by the Hebrew Scriptures Find a quote in Christopher Wright’s book.