Category: Theology

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Sometimes a Light Comes On

wheat and weeds

Please read this:

Matthew 13:24–30 (ESV)

The Parable of the Weeds

24 He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, 25 but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. 26 So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. 27 And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ 28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ 29 But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’ ”

How have you read this? How has it been taught to you? I remember this being taught in several contexts, but the gist is that evil and good people co-exist until judgement, and we cannot be too quick to give up on people. Only in the End is it known for certain whether or not a person is saved.

But this passage doesn’t teach this. Now, if I’m the only one who is surprised, maybe I just have a poor memory of what was taught when I was younger. But if not, here goes.

It is obvious from the beginning who the weeds are. There is no change from weed to wheat, and there is change of the set path of fire or barn.

This parable is about delayed judgement, not delayed knowledge. While God may turn weeds into wheat, bad seeds into good, there really is no mistaking which is which. This is reprobation on display. Is it not possible that some people are simply reprobates, who, like Pharaoh, have been chosen for God’s wrath?

Romans 9:17 (ESV)17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”

In more times than not, a person either responds to the Gospel or hardens against it relatively early in life. Weeds are obvious.

 

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The Implications of Being Filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:15-27)

Ephesians

Ephesians 5:15–27 (ESV)

15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, 20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Wives and Husbands

22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.

25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

This passage may contain the worst paragraph break in the English Bible. In preparing messages on these passages, I noticed this: that the main verb in vs 18 “. . . but be filled with the Spirit” (present passive plural) is the last imperative until vs 25, “Husbands love your wives.”

The intervening verses may be diagrammed as below (I have oversimplified the diagram). The red-underlined word indicates the imperative, and the single underline indicates a participle.

Be filled with the Spirit

addressing one another

                        in psalms

and hymns

and spiritual songs

singing

and

making melody

to the Lord with your heart

giving thanks

always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ

submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Note that there are five adverbial participles (each are present active participles, plural, nominative, masculine) which form a “list” which modifies “be filled.” In this case, the participles take on the character of the imperative, but more than that, they describe the Spirit-filled.

If we may allow that these five attributes describe the Spirit-filled, then I wish to draw attention to the last one, “submitting to one another . . .”

It is here that I find the pericope division unfortunate: the ESV, NASB95, NIV84, NKJV all start a new section here, which leads the read to think that this is the place to start reading about wives and husbands.

Verse 22, however, is dependent upon verse 21: the verb, submit (or, as in other translations, be subject to, or be in subjection to) is supplied as an English gloss to assist the reader. Literally, verses 21 and 22 read, “submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, to your own husbands etc.”

The doctrine of the Christian family is challenging here, as is the practical implications of submission. But before the text is explained to wives as their duty to submit, the connection to “submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ” must be kept in mind, as well as its connection to the main verb. The Nestle-Aland and UBS4 both correctly place the paragraph  beginning at verse 21, keeping verse 21 and 22 together.

Being Spirit-filled (a command) has five evidences, or proofs: addressing one another outwardly, singing and making melody inwardly, thanksgiving, and mutual submission (ὑποτασσόμενοι ἀλλήλοις)[1]

This demands at least, then, that the idea of the wives’ submission to their husbands is not separate from all Christians’ submission to one another, and this is an outcome of being Spirit filled. Furthermore, The next imperative is in verse 25, “husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church, and gave himself up for her . . .”

So to simplify,

Be filled with the Spirit

→mutual submission

→wives to husbands

→husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the church

This understanding of the text may help to avoid some of the misuse of the concept of submission in the marriage relationship.. Submission and love are both necessary outcomes of being filled with the Holy Spirit, thus making the Spirit a requirement for submission and love.

If verse 21 modifies the wives’ submission, verses 25-30 modifies the husbands’ “submission,” in that the husbands’ love for their wives is to be marked by sacrifice, even submission to the wives’ best interests.

[1]Kurt Aland et al., The Greek New Testament, Fourth Revised Edition (Interlinear with Morphology) (Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 1993), Eph 5:21.

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41 Theses on the Megachurch Movement

I

Not all costs are financial.
Not all costs are financial.

I believe that as a movement, the mega-church movement is doing positive harm to the cause of Christ. Harm, not because churches are large, but because of the consumerist spin placed upon the Gospel which cannot sustain Christians to stand in the face of trial. The human-centered focus results in a pietism that is antithetical to the Gospel. So I also believe that this pietistic mindset is the cause of the call to retreat from fully engaging the culture. Preliminary research sources and theses here.