Authors in tension

  Proverbs – a tricky book I have spent more time in the book of Proverbs than any other book over the last few years. I have loved it, with my love increasing over time as I have understood it better and had more time to think upon it (though I have a lot more of both still to do!). But I imagine my personal experience with Proverbs was similar to many other Christians – it started with utter confusion ! I could just about follow chapters 1-9, but then when I hit the wall of proverb after proverb after proverb from chapter 10 onwards, my mind melted. While I could find encouragement from the individual proverb here or there, I had no sense of how they fitted together, and was lightyears away from seeing a coherent message from the book as a whole. Proverbs is a tricky book! Proverbs – a precious book Thankfully, the book has felt less and less tricky and more and more precious to me over these last few years of thinking. The aim of this series of blogs is to share things I...

 Over Christmas, I watched Don’t Look Up , and loved it. If you haven’t seen it, it is all about how the world fails to take seriously the threat of a massive asteroid heading towards earth to their peril, with the aim of showing the foolishness of our world’s similarly apathetic attitude to the threat of climate change. But funnily enough, I thought it was a brilliant film in showing the foolishness of a similarly apathetic attitude towards Christianity. Here are two big ways that Christianity parallels climate change shown in this film: Belief because of evidence Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence play two astronomers who know their stuff when it comes to asteroids. They don’t think an asteroid is coming because of a hunch or because they are deeply pessimistic; they know it is coming because of their scientific evidence. The parallel to climate is clear – it is evidence that underpins climate change, not just hunches or mindless doom mongering. The same idea is true w...

  “[Impersonating the devil:] ‘Call yourselves Christians? Call yourselves children of God? Would the LORD really let some nobodies like you become part of his people? Do you think the maker of the universe would really think that you are special? Do you really think God Almighty cares about little old you?’ “Being under attack from the devil is scary. It’s easy for us to forget that sometimes. Occasionally, he attacks us less ferociously so that we’ll get complacent and start thinking, ‘The devil’s not someone to worry about.’ But when he gets his daggers out, and his flaming darts, no matter who we are, no matter how long we’ve been a Christian, being under attack from the devil is scary. “Suddenly, everything we’ve ever believed can come into question. ‘Do I really believe in Jesus? Have I been tricking myself all along? Does God really care about me?’” Spiritual Warfare in Ephesians itself This is how I opened a sermon at my church when I was asked to preach about “the ...

  Family relationships then and now There isn't really a break in Ephesians 5: Paul continues talking about how the Gentiles can join the privileged way of life that God's people have been enjoying for centuries. However, there is a slight change in focus. Up until 5:20, Paul explains the general morality that comes from being God’s new dwelling place.  From about Ephesians 5:21 , however, Paul focuses specifically on the family relationship Gentile believers now have (along with all God's people) and how they can embody the privilege of being in God's family through the own family relationships, just as God's people have done for centuries before them. Again, as with the previous section, I have chosen a particular book in the Old Testament (Exodus) to demonstrate this, but really, these concepts are throughout the whole first five books of the Old Testament – known as the Law. Paul goes through three types of relationships: husbands/wives, parents/children, master...

Be Gentile with me, but not that Gentile If we are awake to the themes of Gentile inclusion running through Ephesians, 4:17 comes as something of a shock. Yes, it is wonderful that Gentile believers are now included in God’s people, and yes, this time of Gentile inclusion is a wonderful moment - God’s dwelling place is finally where it should be , but, for heaven’s sake, “you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds.” It’s wonderful that Gentiles are included, however, that does not mean that Gentiles should be completely unchanged as they come into God’s people. The great privileges of being God’s dwelling place mean that a change in behaviour is necessary. The simple question of the Old Testament Law At this point, there are several echoes of parts of the Old Testament Law (the instructions in the first five books of the Bible). Galatians and Colossians , which are in many ways quite similar to Ephesians, are very clear that following the Old...

The false dichotomy of theology and practical application It is almost a truism that Ephesians 1-3 are about theology and Ephesians 4-6 give us the practical response to that theology. There seems to be a clear shift in Ephesians 4:1 : “I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called.” We are no longer merely in the realm of describing the “calling”, but are moving beyond it, to what a “manner worthy of the calling” might look like. Having said that, Paul does not leave theology behind here. Instead, for the next few chapters, Paul keeps highlighting the wonderful truths from the rest of the book and applying them to the lives of the Ephesians. In so doing, he magnifies the privileges of the Gentiles’ inclusion more and more in various different ways. To start with, he focusses on the privilege of being God’s dwelling place. Rather than continuing to use the language of the temple, Paul increases the level of privi...

Ephesians Chapter 3 is where our patience will really pay off. Up until now, we’ve been considering that the Gentiles are included in the people of God. We’ve seen that that has been God’s plan since Genesis , we’ve seen that the Holy Spirit cares a lot about this in Acts, we’ve seen that Jesus’ rule over the whole world was an important idea in Daniel, and we’ve seen that Isaiah showed that Jews and Gentiles would both be included in God’s people by the same means . These themes of Gentile inclusion continue throughout Ephesians. The Daniel idea is particularly important in Ephesians 3 . Paul sets himself up as the Joseph/ Daniel figure, who is a Jew entrusted with the privilege of revealing a mystery to Gentiles, which he rejoices in, though it means being imprisoned. But is that all? Gentiles have what Jewish believers have. That is a relief for those feeling excluded, but it’s not positively that exciting. Greater than they dared hope Thankfully, Paul doesn’t stop the...