I want us to consider the New Testament in our discussion. Most of us understand that the NT is the portion of the entire Bible where we are introduced to Jesus through the Gospels, invited to walk alongside the early church in Acts, are able to learn valuable lessons through the letters written to particular churches, and bewildered by the sights & sounds of the Revelation. There are several tools we have to use when trying to interpret these writings.
1) Original Language
I am not a Greek scholar. However, I do have the books & programs to look into the Greek. What I can tell you is that things do get lost in translation.
2) Context is King
This tool keeps us from lifting a verse out of the text. In other words, it keeps things in the flow.
3) Original Thought
This one is a little bit tricky because it requires us to not read into the text. We need to see things from the writer's perspective.
Even with all of these tools in place, there is still so much that we have to learn (or unlearn). It's this portion of the blog where I get to ask you some questions. Hold on to your hat because these may be some big ticket items.
How many you have heard that we are born sinful?
How many of you have been taught that man is totally depraved (unable to do good - bound to sin)?
How many of you have been brought up in a church that taught predestination (God chooses some to go to Heaven & others to go to Hell)?
Not only have many of us been taught these things, we were given Bible verses to uphold these ideas. Unfortunately, these are not Biblical ideas. What do I mean by that? I mean that you cannot read these things from the original writers. They have to be read into the text.
The New Testament is a collection of writings from the Apostles of Jesus Christ. These were Jewish men who followed the Lord, believed Him to be the Messiah, saw Him after His resurrection, and are considered to be the pillars of the church. What has been lost over the years is this understanding. These men were Jews. Their understanding of God, faith, sin, repentance, etc. was established through their Jewish upbringing. While Jesus certainly went after some of their misunderstandings about the nature of God, there are certain things that He did not address. Why is all of this important? It's important because you will have to see things through a Jewish mindset to understand the NT writings.
Did you know that Jews believe that man was created in the image & likeness of God?
Did you know that Jews believe that man was born pure & morally neutral?
Did you know that Jews believe that man was born with free will?
These are all basic principles of the Jewish faith found in the Torah. And these are all principles that Jesus never corrects. So, as you look over these things and realize that this is part of the Jewish understanding, you cannot read Paul's writings to the church and say "Paul says we are all born sinners" or "Paul teaches predestination." These things do not line up with the Jewish understanding of God or man. We have simply interpreted these things through our Western/Greek Mindsets. While the New Testament was written in Greek, Greek thought was not in its writings.
I had a conversation with a friend of mine the other day who was dealing with a passage of Scripture from Jeremiah (Old Testament Prophet). Jeremiah states that "the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick..." My friend was using this particular verse to say that every person's heart is wicked. Which isn't a hard statement when you come from a background where you believe that man is totally depraved. My challenge to him was to ask him through an email to consider that Jeremiah may not be speaking to every human being. I challenged him to look at the verse in context. Who was Jeremiah talking to? What is surrounding this particular verse? Because the reality is that Jeremiah is speaking to Israel. He is the prophet, chosen by God, to stand before the nation so that they will turn from their ways. What we know about Jeremiah's tenure as prophet is that not one person in Israel repented. He's referred to as the "Weeping Prophet." I believe what he is saying in this particular verse states exactly how he feels about Israel in that moment in time. Everyone's heart was deceitful & sick. They could not see the truth about what was getting ready to come upon them. And here we are in our western mindsets using a verse like this one to keep people bound up in a line of thinking that says they are completely separated from God, totally depraved, sinful from birth, and that wickedness is at the core of their being. This could not be further from Jewish thinking.
This past Sunday, a friend of mine was sharing with our church. He used a phrase that we both enjoy and that phrase is "original you." Original You refers to that which God had in mind when He created you. It's the part of you that was created with image & likeness. Every person that we meet, at the heart of who they are is image & likeness. What has happened to us is there is a person that we created outside of relationship with God. This is what the Bible calls the "flesh." Depending on how long you lived before acknowledging Jesus as Lord, you may have a lot of the flesh to overcome. Thankfully, the Holy Spirit goes right past the flesh and into the original you so that it can emerge.
God does not see us as totally depraved, but He does see us as blind to the TRUTH. Listen to Paul's words about the Gentiles in Eph. 4:18, "They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts."
Sounds like someone who is living with blinders on.
Now listen to Paul's words concerning his Jewish brethren, "Brethren, my heart's desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation. For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge. For not knowing about God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God..." (Rom. 10:1-3).
Starting to make sense?
Paul believed that he was sent as a light to the Gentiles - to open their eyes to the truth of the Gospel. He was not being sent to people that were totally depraved. He was sent to people who were denied access to the God of Israel. He was sent to a people that had been despised & rejected. He was sent to open their eyes to God's love for them. Paul's words to them: You have been included.
I don't know about you, but that was a lot of unlearning for me. In fact, if we are not willing to repent of this line of thinking, it can be downright offensive. However, for those who are willing to embrace this, you will discover a freedom like never before. You can begin to see a God who came down into our darkness, into our despair, and into our utter blindness to His goodness, and rescued us. This...Is...the...Gospel. A God who didn't despise our flesh but wrapped Himself up in it. A God who embraced us in our lostness. A God who has shown His love through the coming of His Son. We have been REDEEMED. We Have been RECONCILED. IT IS FINISHED!!!
2 Corinthians 5:18-20, "Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God."
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