Passover arrests - James and Peter

Drawing on biblical and other historical sources, including Clement of Alexandria, D. Thomas Lancaster [1] draws some interesting parallels between events of 44 in the early church and those of Jesus' death.

Around the time of the Passover of 44, both James and Simon Peter were separately arrested and tried before Herod Agrippa. A backslidden believer betrayed James, who was beheaded for his loyalty to another king, Jesus. James had known for some time that he would ultimately be executed (Matthew 20:22-23), but may have anticipated a more brutal means.

Simon Peter was Agrippa's next target; he was arrested during the Passover celebration (Acts 12:3). Because his public execution in Jerusalem during the feast may have caused social disorder (compare with Matthew 26:5), Agrippa held him in prison for a few days. The night before Simon Peter's certain execution, he was released from prison by divine intervention (Acts 12:6-10). The last-minute deliverance, the haste required, and even the angel's instructions to Peter to gird himself and put on his sandals, all remind one of the Passover exodus (Exodus 12, especially verse 11).

Lancaster suggests that the time (around Passover) and betrayal of James reflect Jesus' betrayal and execution. And the time and deliverance of Simon Peter reflect Jesus' resurrection and, I would add, the redemption of his people.

[1] Lancaster, DT 2013. The Passover Arrests, Messiah Magazine #2, Spring 2013. First Fruits of Zion.

Faith in biblical context: part 2

The previous post provided a word study of the various words in the original languages of the Bible for faith, noting in particular how the Hebrew scriptures generally speak of faithfulness rather than faith.

The Word of Faith movement "emphasizes speaking, stating, or confessing verses found in the Bible, called the Word of God. The belief is that if one believes the Word of God and confesses it then the believer shall receive what they confess" [1]. This appears to be strongly supported by Mark 11:22-24, but I think the Word of Faith folk are missing some important points. Firstly, this is not meant to be a formula used as a magic wand to get what you want. We are to yield our desires to God, and then ask and trust (πιστις, pistis) God to fulfill them in our lives. If we really believe, we can rest in him, in "trusting faith" that he will provide. We don't have to wind ourselves up to believe, cranking up our levels of faith to some high, often elusive, level. We don't have to repeat certain words over and over to persuade our spirits to believe; that's brainwashing and it's based on a wrong interpretation of Romans 10:17. This verse does not state that faith comes "by hearing the word," but that "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by (or through) the word." It's not about hearing the word spoken again and again; it's about our ability to "hear" coming through the Word. Hearing, in this case, suggests perceiving something spiritually, not simply hearing an audible message. That is, receiving the Word enables us to perceive God's revelation. (Nevertheless, to hear spiritually does require one to hear the Gospel audibly -- or to read it.)

The ESV says, "faith comes from hearing" (emphasis added), not "by hearing" because the Greek is εξ (ex, meaning out of, or from). Moreover, the text says "the word of Christ", though the King James Bible used a manuscript that said "God," not "Christ". Textual criticism suggests "Christ" was the original word. So, thus far, we have, "faith comes from hearing, and hearing by/through the word of Christ." What word of Christ is the text talking about? All his words? One of his commandments in particular? No, "the word of Christ" is not Christ's word, but rather "the word about Christ" -- that is, the Gospel. If you are not convinced, try reading the verse in context: verse 14 speaks of someone preaching the Gospel to unbelievers; verse 15 speaks of sending people who proclaim the Gospel; verse 16 indicates that not everyone believes the Gospel. Verse 18, following our verse, says that the Gospel has been proclaimed abroad. So taking the word of Christ to mean the Gospel makes perfect sense. Thus we have come from: "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (often wrongly shortened to "faith comes by hearing the word of God"), to "faith comes from hearing, and hearing [comes] through the word about Christ [i.e. the Gospel]."

Finally, the word in this case is not λόγος (logos) in the Greek manuscripts, but ῥῆμα (rhema). It's not just talking about a single word, but rather a statement. I believe the statement it refers to is the Gospel -- the good news about Jesus' life, death and resurrection, making a way for the forgiveness of sin for all who believe (and go on believing) in Him. Putting it all together, my understanding of Romans 10:17 is that faith comes from spiritually perceiving [a divine revelation], and spiritually perceiving [this revelation] comes through the proclamation of the good news about Christ.

This has nothing to do with picking a verse from the Bible that contains a promise we have to meditate on in order to get God to deliver it! It's about hearing "the word of Christ" (Gospel). The Word of Faith people often claim the promises of blessing for themselves, not acknowledging that they are usually assuming they can take the conditional blessings of God's covenant with Israel and apply them unconditionally to themselves -- without any of the curses, of course! They argue that "all promises of God are yes and amen in him [Christ]" (2 Corinthians 1:20). However, this is not a licence Christians to adopt every blessing in the Mosaic Covenant. Rather, it means that every time God fulfills a promise, he does so through Christ.

That said, if we receive a genuine prophetic word (perhaps even through reading the Bible) about a specific response God will make to our prayers, we can rest in that. We don't need to wind ourselves up to a certain level of faith; the revelation itself brings a "knowing" that God will do it, and this allows us to rest (not strive to believe) in that word. This is a far cry from speaking a promise to oneself again and again like a mantra in order to generate sufficient faith to receive it.

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[1] Word of Faith. (2011, October 13). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 07:13, October 29, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Word_of_Faith&oldid=455301677

Faith, faithfulness and trust in biblical context: 2

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Faith in biblical context: part 1

Something valuable that I have learned over the past two years concerns the concept of faith in the Bible. The gist of it is that very often the Bible is speaking of faithfulness and trust, rather than the kind of 'faith' so strongly and widely emphasized in charismatic churches and the Word of Faith movement. Faithfulness is about being faithful on an ongoing basis. Trust is what I would call a 'resting belief'; it's not about winding oneself up to believe harder, it's about resting in the belief that the LORD will answer one's prayer.

In the Hebrew scriptures, there is no word that corresponds exactly to our English word 'faith'. Rather, the words used to convey a similar meaning are the verb אָמַן (aman, roughly pronounced uh-mun) and its cognates -- related words from the same root. Aman, in one of its forms (hifil), means 'to believe, put faith, trust, have confidence... believe to be true, be confident of' [1]. It is related to the word 'amen', which we typically use to affirm our prayers. The cognates of aman are אֵמוּן emun: eh-muhn) and אֱמוּנָה (emunah: eh-moo-nah). Emun can be an adjective meaning 'faithful, reliable, trustworthy', or a noun meaning 'faithfulness, reliability, trustworthiness', and emunah is a noun primarily meaning 'faithfulness, trustworthiness, steadiness' [2]. And there is yet another word with essentially the same meaning, אֱמֶת (emet: eh-met): 'faithfulness, reliability, trustworthiness' [2]. Emet and emunah occur 'in the context of moral language (steadfast love, righteousness, justice, etc.) and [are] used to reveal God's character, often in the language of praise.' There are many worship songs which praise God's faithfulness to us, or his faithfulness to his promises or covenants, with scriptures to support them like Lamentations 3:23 and Deuteronomy 32:4. Habakkuk 2:4 is worthy of special mention, as it is quoted three times in the New Testament (Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11; Hebrews 10:38). Traditionally the second half of the verse is translated 'the just [or righteous] shall live by his faith', but some newer translations are using 'faithfulness'. The NET is one example, as its translators' notes explain,

Or “loyalty”; or “integrity.” The Hebrew word אֱמוּנָה (’emunah) has traditionally been translated “faith,” but the term nowhere else refers to “belief” as such. When used of human character and conduct it carries the notion of “honesty, integrity, reliability, faithfulness.”... In this case the LORD is assuring Habakkuk that those who are truly innocent will be preserved through the coming oppression and judgment by their godly lifestyle, for God ultimately rewards this type of conduct. [3, colour added]

Interestingly, the word 'faith' is hardly found in English translations of the Hebrew scriptures: 10 times in the NET, 28 times in the ESV. (The difference is largely explained in the ESV's preference to say 'breach of faith' or 'break faith' instead of 'unfaithful' (NET), for example, and 'acted in good faith' (ESV) instead of 'shown loyalty' (NET).)

The New Testament writers (except perhaps Luke) were living, thinking, and writing from a foundation of the Hebrew scriptures, even when writing in Greek, so there ought to be a continuity of meaning that flows into the New Testament. That is, the three quotations made of Habakkuk 2:4 I mentioned above should likely be interpreted, 'the righteous [person] shall live by his faithfulness'. In the NET it is, 'the person of integrity will live because of his faithfulness.' Certainly faith is needed, but the emphasis is on faithfulness.

The biblical Greek word for faith is πίστις (pistis), meaning trust, trustworthiness, belief, confidence, faith or faithfulness. So, are we saved by faith or by faithfulness? And if by faithfulness, whose faithfulness -- ours, or the Lords? The answer to both questions is: Yes! Amen! If that doesn't make sense to you, consider that we are saved by faith in Jesus, which is expressed through faithfulness to him throughout the rest of our days; yet we are also saved by his faithfulness to us, and to the covenant that binds us to him. Consider Romans 3:22; Galatians 3:22; Ephesians 3:12 and Philippians 3:9 which all speak of the faithfulness of Jesus. Many Bibles have translated the phrase as 'faith in Jesus' which has merit in that we are required to believe in him, but it doesn't seem to be what the text is saying in those places. Rather, it is saying 'that we may be justified... by the faithfulness of Jesus Christ' (Galatians 2:16 NET).

The next post will discuss what I think is the wrong use of the concept of faith promoted in many churches today, particularly those aligned with the Word of Faith movement.

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[1] Swanson, J. (1997). Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains : Hebrew (Old Testament) (electronic ed.). Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

[2] Mounce, W. D. (2006). Mounce's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old & New Testament Words. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

[3] Biblical Studies Press. (2006). The NET Bible First Edition Notes (Hab 2:4). Biblical Studies Press.

A sheet full of treif

Acts 10:1 - 11:18 covers the story of Peter's thrice-repeated vision of the sheet full of unclean animals and its interpretation. This exegesis concludes that the meaning of the vision is only about Gentiles - that they are not to be regarded as unclean by Jewish believers - and that it has nothing to do with them eating unclean foods or with the Law of Moses supposedly being terminated. It should, therefore, not be used to substantiate the claim that the Law is obsolete since it does not address that topic. One of the demands of good hermeneutics is to see how one's exegesis fits in with the overall sweep of scripture but I am going to restrict the discussion to the selected passage because I'm trying to show that Acts 10:1 - 11:18 on its own does not support the claim that the Law is done away with.

You can read through this article briefly and get the gist of what I am saying, but I suggest you set aside a couple of hours to do it thoroughly and resolve all the issues. This study requires absolute honesty of interpretation. I encourage you to put aside your own theology and join me in looking simply at what the text says. If you come with the idea that you already know what the story is about before studying it, you may fall into the trap of eisegesis - reading into the text what you think (and perhaps want) it to say, instead of exegesis - reading the meaning out of the text.

To start, read the entire passage. The story describes:

• Peter’s visions of the sheet during his stay with “Simon the tanner” in Joppa, 
• his mission and preaching to Gentiles in Caesarea (Cornelius and his household), 
• their reception of the gospel and baptism in Spirit and water, and 
• Peter’s defence of his actions to believers in Jerusalem leading to the revelation of God’s inclusion of the Gentiles in his Kingdom.

I say "visions" (plural) because Peter saw the same vision three times over. Repetition in the Bible is a technique to emphasise a message strongly, and a triple declaration is the strongest possible statement. In Isaiah and Revelation, for example, God is praised with the cry, "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD God Almighty!" (Revelation 4:8, almost verbatim in Isaiah 6:3) By saying "holy" three times in succession, the creatures are emphatically stating that God could not be more holy. So Peter's triple vision was something of great importance.

The narrative is a crucial part in the historical spread of the gospel (hence, the Kingdom) to every nation. First it went from Jews alone to semi-Jews (outcast Samaritan “half-breeds”) in Acts 8 and then, in the same chapter, to the Ethiopian eunuch. (He was either a proselyte to Judaism or a God-fearer, but in either case unable to enter the Temple due to his emasculation, Deuteronomy 23:1). In Acts 10, the gospel is preached to God-fearers (Gentiles who worshiped the God of Israel together with the Jews) and by Acts 11 it was being presented to all Gentiles - even pagans! Peter's vision of the sheet was pivotal to this development. In Acts 15:14, Jacob ("James") affirms to the Jerusalem Council Peter's claim that Israel itself was selected by God "from among the Gentiles". The vision Peter saw was God's directive to the chief apostle to open wide the door to the Gentiles, and it changed the course of history forever.

Purim: a time for thanksgiving and a call to intercession

Did you see the full moon last night? It's the Jewish feast of Purim this weekend, a celebration of the salvation of the Jewish people from the satanic attack of their enemies during their exile in Babylon in the 6th century BC. The story is recorded in the book of Esther, a young Jewish lady who was married to Xerxes, the king of the Persia. One night she put her life on the line to appeal to her husband to spare her life, and the lives of her people. Xerxes, whose empire stretched all the way from Egypt to India (!), could not annul the decree to kill all the Jews in the empire but he did authorize them to defend themselves on the day planned for their extermination -- and even to kill their attackers. Thus the Jews survived one of the greatest threats to their existence, and now celebrate their victory in the feast of Purim.

Purim is a time for us to read the book of Esther. It has incredible relevance in our day, even as radical Islamists seek to exterminate the Jewish people worldwide. Read these words by Hassan Nasrallah, Secretary General of Hezbollah:

We have discovered how to hit the Jews where they are most vulnerable. The Jews love life, so that is what we will take from them. We are going to win, because they love life and we love death. [Source]

Purim is a time for us to pray for the Jewish people to come to know their own Messiah, Yeshua (Jesus). Circumcision is not enough; it never saved anyone from his sins. People need Jesus! Jews are loved by God on account of the patriarchs, but they are enemies of the gospel for our (Gentiles') sake (Romans 11:28) and unsaved (11:14). This is the Church that has persecuted them for 19 centuries, instead of loving them and interceding for them as it should have.

Purim is a time for us to pray for Messianic Jews (Jewish believers in Jesus). They are generally rejected by mainstream Judaism and by mainstream Christianity (unless the "de-Judaize" themselves by forsaking all things Jewish). Messianic Jews are facing increasing persecution, especially in Israel, as this short video shows.

Purim is a time for us to give thanks for the Jewish people, through whom we have received the Bible and the Saviour of the world! It was with Israel that the New Covenant was made (Jeremiah 31:31-34), and by their preaching to the Gentiles that we came to share in the wonderful gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 10:44). It is into the Olive Tree (Israel) that Christians have been grafted, connecting us to the blessings of Abraham (Romans 11:17), through whom all nations have been blessed (Genesis 18:18, 22:18, 26:4). Purim is a time for Christians to:

remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. (Ephesians 2:12-13)

Purim is a time for us to stand up for the rights of Jews to life and to their homeland, Israel. Esther put her life at risk to save her people. The ultimate outcome of this is that Jesus was born! Similarly, the Jews -- and particularly the religious establishment in Jerusalem -- have a crucial role to play in bringing about Jesus' return (Matthew 23:37-39). This is why Hitler was, and Ahmadinejad is, inspired by Satan to exterminate the Jews -- just like Haman in the story of Esther. Haman was hanged and you know what became of Hitler. Internationally, pressure is mounting for Christians to condemn Israel regarding the Palestinian conflict, but we who form the bride of the King are to speak up for Israel and to intercede for the Jews. If we fail to do so, deliverance for them will rise from another place, but we will have failed to fulfil God's calling on us. It is time for the Church to take up the challenge of Mordecai to Esther (4:13-14):

Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, "Do not think to yourself that in the king's palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?"

More great biblical language resources online

In addition to the New Testament resources I pointed to in my post last week (SBLGNT, HEB and more), I just discovered some super Greek and Hebrew study resources at Lionel Windsor's interesting blog Forget the Channel. These include spreadsheets listing:

1. the entire vocabulary of the Greek New Testament (5393 root words) together with an English "gloss" (not a full definition but a couple of words explaining the most common meaning);
2. over 800 root words from the Hebrew Old Testament*.

The great thing about the spreadsheet format is that you can manipulate the data; you're not stuck with having to copy it from a PDF and losing the field delimiters.

*Note: I had to install the obsolete SIL Ezra font to get the Hebrew spreadsheets to work, even though I had the newer Ezra SIL font installed. All the instructions are given, however.