On Proper Exegesis and God’s Promises, Part 2

In his book, Satan and the Problem of Evil, Gregory Boyd asks the question, “What can we trust God for?” He says that Christians are often admonished to “trust God” during difficult times, but that it’s not self-evident exactly what that means. We need to define more precisely what it is we are to trust God for.

I couldn’t agree more. Let’s start with something basic. Romans 10:9 says: if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Since I’ve done that, I can trust God for my salvation.

So we could conclude that we should trust God for what he specifically promises in his word. Trusting in a promise of God is the basis of faith. In other words, you can’t have faith when you doubt God’s will or his word (Jam 1:6-8). So faith begins where the will of God is known.

Here’s another “promise of God”:

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 Jn 1:9)

We can see that both Romans 10:9 and 1 John 1:9 are conditional promises. If we will do x, then God will do y. If I confess my sins, then God forgives my sins and purifies me from all unrighteousness, and the promise becomes a fact. So far, so good. Now let’s dip into the Old Testament:

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. (Pro 3:5-6 NKJ)

There’s another wonderful promise I can trust God for, especially in times of doubt. But wait just a minute… Theologian and scholars tell me that the book of Proverbs is a literary genre known as “wisdom literature,” and that the reader must keep this in mind to correctly understand it. Wisdom literature of the Bible is a collection of wise sayings that contain general truths, not promises. The author expressed these general truths as absolutes in order to emphasize their importance.

As evidence, Boyd points out that oftentimes what is stated in a proverb does not play out in reality. For example, although Proverbs 12:21 says: “No harm befalls the righteous, but the wicked have their fill of trouble,” history and experience has shown that the righteous often suffer greatly while the wicked often live in peace and prosperity. According to Boyd, “If read as a universal law, this passage is nonsense.” He goes on to say, “As a general principle, however, righteous living helps one avoid harm while wicked living leads to trouble. The author states the principle in absolute terms to emphasize its importance.”¹

So where does that leave me with Proverbs 3:5-6? Does this passage also become “complete nonsense” if I take as a universal law or promise? Apparently I need to be versed in literary genres to properly interpret these passages, and I ought to consult with theologians and scholars, and their various commentaries, to tell me how.

Or here’s another thought: I can take God’s word at face value and trust in the Holy Spirit to correct me when I’m wrong. What a concept.

I’m not trying to over-spiritualize things or claim that we have no need for proper exegesis. But should my faith based on a passage’s literary genre, or the fact that it’s God’s Word? 1 Corinthians 1:20 says: For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. So should I put my faith in that and take Proverbs as part of those “many promises”? Or should I put my faith in the theologians who say that the “genre” of Proverbs means it’s not to be taken as literal promises?

Personally, I’d rather err on the side of trusting the Spirit as opposed to trusting the intellect. Maybe I’m naïve, but I choose to take Proverbs at face value – as a promise – and find that I’m wrong, rather than interpret it by its genre and wonder why I’m not experiencing God’s blessings.

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¹Boyd, Gregory A. Satan and the Problem of Evil: Constructing a Trinitarian Warfare Theodicy. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press,2001.

On Proper Exegesis and God’s Promises, Part 1

Exegesis is defined as “the careful, systematic study of the Scripture to discover the original, intended meaning; in other words, an attempt to hear the words of the Bible as the original recipients were to have heard them.” (Fee & Stuart) A “basic rule” of exegesis is that the text “cannot mean what it never could have meant to its author or his readers.” Makes sense to me.

Well then, I have an issue with the apostle Matthew. He seems to have violated this “basic rule” when he interpreted Jeremiah 31:15 as prophetic of Herod’s slaughter of the innocent children in Matthew 2:16-19:

When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:

“A voice is heard in Ramah,weeping and great mourning,Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.”

When we look at the entire passage of Jeremiah 31, we see that it begins with, “’At that time,’ declares the LORD,” which refers to the beginning of the previous chapter, Jeremiah 30, verse 3:

“The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will bring
my people Israel and Judah back from captivity and restore them to the land I gave their forefathers to possess,” says the LORD.

So in context, Jeremiah 31 is about God’s plans to bring the people of Israel out of captivity and restore them to the land. Meanwhile, Rachael is “weeping for her children” and “refusing to be comforted” because she looks over the land of Israel and sees that her children are “no more” in the land they once possessed. In verse 16-17, God responds to her sorrow:

This is what the LORD says:
“Restrain your voice from weeping
and your eyes from tears,
for your work will be rewarded,”
declares the LORD.
“They will return from the land of the enemy.
So there is hope for your future,”
declares the LORD.
“Your children will return to their own land.”

God is reassuring Rachel that, in spite of the fact that her children “are no more,” he will return her children to their own land. This is what the author meant, and this is how his readers understood it. When taken in context, it’s clear that Jeremiah was not talking about innocent children being slaughtered by an evil king several hundred years hence.

Someone should let God know that he broke a “basic rule” of exegesis.

From Hearing to Believing, Part 4

I’ve been talking about how, in order to overcome fear and worry regarding the economy, I needed to hear something other than the news media I’d been listening to and begin hearing and believing what God’s word says about recession, the economy, and my financial security.

The most oft-quoted verse on that topic is Philippians 4:19: “And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” But when I read that, I begin to think, “What exactly are my needs and what are my wants?” I certainly don’t need a house the size I’m living in. I guess I really don’t need my truck – I could certainly take the bus. What about my iPod? Do I really need to be able to download and listen to sermons on it? The list goes on…

But is that what God’s about, wanting to reduce me to the barest necessities? Some might say ‘yes’ – to teach us to depend more on him. So if I lose my job, my house, my car and am reduced “the bear necessities” (everybody sing now!), then it’s somehow God’s will, is that it? Is it somehow more spiritual to have next-to-nothing, live paycheck-to-paycheck, and depending on God to spoon-feed us our next meal when we can’t provide it for ourselves? Now, that may certainly be the condition many of us are in, and there’s nothing wrong with relying on God’s provision in those circumstances. But is that how he wants us to live? Shouldn’t I believe that he wants to bring me up and out of that situation, rather than leave me down-and-out? Or is that too much like the “prosperity gospel”?

Suppose I’m doing okay, or more-than-okay? Am I allowed to expect more? Or is there a certain limit I’m confined to? Is it okay to want to make $60, $70, or even $100k a year? I have two boys I’d like to send to college and retirement to think about, and I’m not sure how any of that will happen for any less money per year. Am I wrong to even want those things? After all, the average poor person in India lives in squalor; whereas a poor person here in the U.S. has a home, two cars and cable T.V. So no matter how much I lack, I’m really rich comparatively, so I suppose I should just suck it up and stop complaining.


“… I am not talking as the Lord would, but as a fool.” - 2 Cor 11:17

From Hearing to Believing, Part 3

When I was single and before I was a Christian, it seemed that God kept trying to get my attention in a strange way… by sending Christians my direction, disguised as attractive young women with whom I’d want to get romantically involved. One of these lived out-of-state and had a little sister living with her non-believing family. One day, I saw a note she’d sent to her little sister, pinned up above the girl’s bed. It read:

So do not fear, Regina, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Of course, at the time, I didn’t recognize that as being from Isaiah 41:10, but it was the first time I had seen anyone making the Bible into something personal. In my last post, I talked about “preaching the gospel to yourself” – that is, actually reading it out loud. But now I’m going to take it a step further and suggest, like Regina’s big sister did, to actually personalize it.

Now, as soon as someone talks about both personalizing scripture and saying it aloud, someone cries, “Foul! That’s the positive confession, name-it-and-claim-it prosperity gospel!” But exactly what is it about personalizing scripture that gets us into such a tizzy? Could it be that it makes God so, well… personal?

I’m sure that part of the difficulty for many of us is that it sounds a little too much like the “positive affirmation/positive thinking” self-help movement. The difference is that positive affirmations is self-righteousness disguised as truth. Consider the following, taken from one such web site:

• I approve of myself and feel great about myself
  
• I am a good person
  
• I am an important and valuable human being, and I deserve to feel good about myself
  
• I deserve to be happy and successful
  
• I have the power to change myself

One site even claims that “self-esteem is not given or obtained from external things.” Yet, we know the truth expressed in Romans 3:

“There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”

That’s just one scripture I can use to rebut the claims these affirmations make. So let me be very clear on this point: personalizing the Word of God and speaking it out loud is not the same as “positive affirmations” – because God’s word is truth. Whereas, a positive affirmation such as “I am a good person,” apart from God, certainly is not. So does speaking God’s truth out loud release some type of spiritual power that causes good things to come your way? I doubt it. But I do think that the truth of God’s word coming out of your mouth and back into your ear helps get it down into your heart much better, more so than just silently reading your Bible. And if that’s something that helps your believing and builds your faith, what exactly is wrong with that?

From Hearing to Believing, Part 2

In my previous post, I said that both faith and fear come the same way: “by hearing, by accepting it as truth and believing it could happen to you.” I also said that, in order to overcome fear and worry regarding the current economic situation, I needed to hear and believe something other than what I had been listening to (e.g., the news media) – that, specifically, I needed to hear and believe what the Word of God says about recession, the economy, and my financial security. I also gave some examples of Scripture that covered one part of the equation – what God’s word says. But I saved other two – hearing and believing – for today.

So here I sit, with underlined Bible in hand, or clutching a paper scribbled with verses. How to I get that from “mere words” to “truth believed”?

For me, believing seldom seems to come from sitting down and silently reading my Bible. (Learning comes, but not necessarily believing.) Keep in mind that the original Gospels and Epistles were carried from church to church and read aloud to the congregation. In the book of Acts, the apostles travelled about and preached the Gospel (aloud). Likewise, we go to church and listen to the pastor speak to us out loud. (Are you seeing a pattern develop?) There seems to be an element of believing that requires hearing the Word of God spoken out loud.

The problem is, most of us attend church once, maybe twice, a week. Okay, so we also listen to sermons on Christian radio or on our iPods but, ultimately, all of that remains a passive activity. If faith without works is dead, then what must I do to engage my faith and go from hearing to believing?

Here’s a thought. How about reading Scripture out loud to ourselves? Think of it as “preaching the gospel to yourself.”

From Hearing to Believing, Part 1

Okay, I admit it. I’ve succumbed to the economic fear and uncertainty that has gripped the nation. I’ve allowed myself to be conformed to the world by the gloom-and-doom media rather than being transformed by the renewing of my mind. Guilty as charged.

First Corinthians 10:13 says that “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.” So where exactly is my “way of escape”? Point me in the right direction and I’m outta here!

Unfortunately, for many of us, our way of escape(ing) is not God’s. Over-eating, over-working, over-sleeping, or wallowing in depression are just a few of the many ways we can try to avoid what we’re thinking and feeling and the problems we’re facing.

Just this week I read that, according to a recent survey, almost 50 percent of Americans are worried about losing their job. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports unemployment at 8.1 percent. But even if we reach the 10.1 percent we experienced in the 1981-82 recession (the highest post-WWII level), nearly 90 percent of us will still have a job. So why are half us worrying that we won’t?

The reason, of course, is that we’re all afraid of winding up amongst the 10 percent instead of the 90 percent. It’s been said that the opposite of faith is not unbelief, but fear. My pastor once said that both faith and fear come the same way… “By hearing, by accepting it as truth and believing it could happen to you.” Or, put another way: “Fear is the faith that it won’t work out.”

That pretty much sums up the problem: 50 percent of us hear about the recessionary job loss and believe “it could happen to me” – and henceforth comes the worrying. If that’s the case then, first of all, I need to hear something other than what I’ve been listening to (CNN, MSNBC, FOX, etc.). Next, I need to begin believing what I hear. In case you haven’t already guessed where I’m going, I need to both hear and believe the Word of God. More specifically, I need to hear and believe what God has to say about recession, the economy, and my financial security. Here are some examples.

Psalm 112 says, if I fear the LORD and delight in his commands, that:

• I am blessed and my children will be mighty in the land and will be blessed.
  
• Wealth and riches are in my house.
  
• Light dawns for me, even in darkness.
  
• Good will come to me, if I am generous and lend freely, and conduct my affairs with justice.
  
• I will never be shaken.
  
• I will have no fear of bad news.
  
• My heart is steadfast secure, and trusting in the LORD.
  
• I will have no fear.
  
• In the end, I will look on my foes in triumph.

Jeremiah 17 says, if I trust in the LORD and my confidence is in him, that:

• I am blessed.
  
• I am like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream.
  
• I do not fear when heat comes.
  
• I have no worries in a year of drought and never fail to bear fruit.

Isaiah 58 says that:

• The LORD will always guide me.
  
• He will satisfy my needs in a sun-scorched land.
  
• He will strengthen my frame.
  
• I will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.

Psalm 5, 84, and 90 say that:

• The favor of the Lord rests upon me and establishes the work of my hands. (Ps 90:17)
  
• The Lord has blessed me and surrounds me with his favor, as with a shield (Ps 5:12).
  
• The LORD God is my sun and my shield; he bestows favor and honor and no good thing does he withhold from me. (Ps 84:11)

Okay, that takes care of one part of the equation, what God has to say. But how about the other two, hearing and believing? I’ll save that for my next post. Stay tuned…

Unanswered Prayer

Photo by One From RM

Why do prayers sometimes seem to go unanswered? I know there’s been volumes written on that, but here’s a thought… What if what we are doing is not prayer at all?

Proverbs 15:29 says, “The LORD is far from the wicked but he hears the prayer of the righteous.” Are you a “righteous person?” If you think that you’re not, could this be the real reason for unanswered prayer?

It is only through salvation in Jesus Christ that we become righteous before God. But if we’re praying with a sin-consciousness rather than a righteous-consciousness, could it be that we are, in a sense, putting ourselves back under the law and allowing the consequences of Proverbs 15:29 to overflow into our prayer life?