Last week we looked at New Testament texts that mention slavery, and some of what we found was pretty disturbing.

We saw that both Jesus and Paul used slavery as a metaphor to describe our relationships.

On the one hand, the metaphor of slavery (and/or servanthood) can describe our relationship to righteousness, to God, to Christ, and to one another. In 1st Corinthians 9:19 the apostle says,“I have made myself a slave of all, that I might win the more.”

On the other hand, the metaphor of slavery can be useful to describe our relationship to sin, death, and the devil, meaning all the powers of evil. Remember, to believe in the devil is to believe that evil is greater than the sum total of its parts (C.S. Lewis), and that the possibilities of evil are not exhausted by purely human evil. (Emil Brunner) In John 8:34 Jesus said, “the one who commits sin is a slave to sin.” Paul, Bob Dylan, and Etta James were right:

“Everybody has got to serve somebody!…
It may be the devil; it may be the LORD; but
Everybody has got to serve somebody.”

Now here is the hard part: Though both Jesus and Paul use the metaphor of slavery to illustrate our various relationships, neither spoke out against the powers that kept slavery in place as part of the world domination system.

We saw that there were at least three reasons for this strange silence.

First, slavery in the New Testament Era was very different from the peculiar institution as it was practiced in America. Slaves in many Roman households were better off than those who were free but poor. The poor often lacked the basics of life; but slaves almost always had food, clothing and shelter. So, too, slaves were often educated in the same vocation or trade as their masters. They served as doctors, scribes, accountants, artisans, artist, musicians, and the like. By the time that Jesus was twenty years old, slaves were entitled to trials like the free, could own property; and, best of all, they could often gain their freedom. Paul recognizes this in 1st Corinthians 7. There he says that if a slave can gain his freedom, he should avail himself of the opportunity.

Second, had Jesus or Paul led or inspired a slave revolt, there is no guarantee that a significant number of people would have been immediately better off than they already were; and, there is certainly a chance, that a significant number of people would have been immediately worse off than they already were. It may be that the Empire would have collapsed, and the New Testament itself teaches that God used the Empire to spread the gospel. As Barth said, “God can make even the devils praise him.”

Third, and this is the most important of all, both Jesus and Paul thought that this present world was passing rapidly away. The day was about to arrive when masters and slaves alike would stand before Judgment Seat of Christ to receive a reward for the things done in the body whether good or bad.

Some people may be troubled that Jesus was uncertain of the time that God’s kingdom would come in its fullness; but Jesus himself said it was so. In Mark 13:32 he says, “Of that day and hour, no man knows, not the angels in the heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.” I can promise you all one thing: The New Testament teaches that no one will have to wait more than a lifetime before we see the triumph of God.

Now today we are going to look at the single most important text in the New Testament with regard to slavery: St. Paul’s letter to Philemon. The content of this letter, does not vary greatly from the content of Paul’s other letters; but the Spirit of it something else again. The Spirit of the Letter to Philemon is in perfect harmony with Galatians 3:28 in which Paul says:

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free,
there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

The storyline in Philemon goes like this. St. Paul writes to his friend, and co-worker Philemon on behalf of Philemon’s runaway slave, Onesimus. There are four major characters in this drama.

First, there is Paul. He is “an ambassador in chains,” for the Letter to Philemon is one of Paul’s so-called Prison Epistles. Paul is the key figure in the whole drama. He knows Philemon, and Philemon’s family, and household, and the church which meets in Philemon’s house. Paul calls Philemon his brother, and his fellow worker; but Paul obviously regards himself as Philemon’s senior partner in the gospel.

Second, there is Onesimus, Philemon’s runaway slave. Having read the epistle several times over it is easy to surmise that Onesimus first heard Paul preach the gospel to the church that gathered for worship in the house of his master. Onesimus the slave must have been totally captivated by the gospel which promised freedom from sin, death, and the devil. Certainly he liked the idea of being a freeman in Christ. Yet we must also surmise that Paul must have left the house of Philemon before Onesimus could make a profession of faith. For a time Onesimus may not have known where Paul was, but when he heard that Paul was in prison, he ran from the house of Philemon to Paul’s prison cell to complete his conversion to Christ.

Third, there is Philemon. The epistle everywhere assumes that Philemon, like Onesimus, is one of Paul’s converts, and a devout Christian. Paul praises Philemon for his partnership in the gospel, and for his work with the church which meets in his house, and for his reputation in the church at large. Paul says that stories of the work that Philemon has done have refreshed the hearts of the saints. Paul is intentional in reminding Philemon that he is a public figure, for he wants to make a fourth character part of the unfolding drama.

The fourth character is a composite character. It consist of Paul companions, which he named in the letter as Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke. It also includes all the family and household of Philemon, and the church which meets in his house, and by extension, the larger church, and, of course, God himself. By the power of the Holy Spirit, the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is always present with us. God is always watching!

In speaking to Philemon about Onesimus in front of this large and august audience, Paul is invoking what theologians call a “triadic relationship.” This means that when any two people are in conversation, we are conducting that conversation in the presence of God, and in the presence of all others who are taking note of our exchange. We may think that the issue that we are deciding between ourselves is personal and private. Yet, in reality, it is about as public as anything can be. This is what Jesus was getting at when he said that words we utter in secret will be shouted from the housetops.

The Epistle of Philemon functions like a classic novel. A classic novel tells a story that is rooted in the lives of specific people who live in a specific time and place, yet, there is a sense in which the truth that is communicated in that story is universal.

When Paul writes to Philemon about Onesimus he is speaking to a very specific situation; yet that specific situation reveals a universal situation and response. That situation is this: Slavery is a fact of life in this world; however, slavery has nothing to do with life in the kingdom of God. In Christ we are all brothers and sisters; and God shows no favoritism. Of course, because God gives us our freedom, the question of whether or not we will show favoritism when God does not, is still up to us to decide. Paul makes that point with Philemon when he says:

8 I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required, 9 yet for love’s sake I prefer to appeal to you- I, Paul, an ambassador and now a prisoner also for Christ Jesus, 10 I appeal to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I have become in my imprisonment. (Philemon 1:8-11 RSV)

Paul does not tell Philemon that it is God’s will for him to free Onesimus, but he comes as close as possible without saying it when says that the reason Onesimus was parted from Philemon for a while was that:

“…15 (you) might have him back forever, 16 no longer as a slave
but more than a slave, as a beloved brother, especially to me but
how much more to you…”

Forever is a longtime! The relationship between slave and master is evolving!
Paul goes on to say that in sending Onesimus back to Philemon he is sending his own heart. He says that if Philemon considers him his partner, he should receive Onesimus as he would receive him. He says that if Onesimus has wronged Philemon at all, or owes him anything, Philemon is to charge the debt to Paul’s own account. Paul says the will make good on the debt, and puts his own hand to the Epistle, just as if he were signing a promissory note. Then, and this is the biggie, Paul reminds Philemon that he has credit in the bank of Philemon, because Philemon owes him his very life. Paul is referring to the roll he played in Philemon’s conversion.

Paul then says that he is confident that Philemon will do even more than he asks. And what is does that mean? Well, it can only mean that Philemon will not only receive Onesimus back without penalty, but will make him a free man, too. And Philemon will set Onesimus free not because Paul has threatened him, but because it is the right thing to do, and Paul knows Philemon wants to do the right thing.

It is easy to see that Paul trying to be very open and generous with Philemon; however the apostle cannot help but end this short letter with a barely veiled threat. Paul tells Philemon to prepare a guest room for him, for he is hoping, to be granted the opportunity to visit with him once more, in his house, where the church meets, for this is the very thing for which the church has been praying.

Now here is a question: What do you think that Philemon did? Judge Bill Wood once told me that in his courtroom the very existence of this letter that Paul wrote to Philemon would be considered evidence that Philemon freed Onesimus. “If he had not,” said Judge Wood, “he would certainly have destroyed the letter.”

Now, as we close this sermon, a third sermon on the subject of slavery looms large. For though we can safely conclude that Philemon undoubtedly did the right thing, we must also take note of the fact that many Christians who lived long after this letter became a part of our New Testament have not done the right thing. In our Western World, many people who thought of themselves as devout Christians continued to own slaves for more than 1800 years. It took a bloody Civil War to free the slaves in America. And it is pretty obvious from almost any edition of the Evening News that, in America, the sins of our fathers, and grandfathers, are still being visited upon the children, and grand-children. Whether we like to admit it, all Americans continue to suffer because some of us came here in chains.

I think Christian managed to escape the meaning of Philemon because we were hung up on the letter of the New Testament, even in those few places when the letter had been shown to fall short of the fullness of Christ. We can find a ready example in 1st Timothy 6:1-2. There we read:

1 Let all who are under the yoke of slavery regard their masters as worthy of all honor, so that the name of God and the teaching may not be defamed. 2 Those who have believing masters must not be disrespectful on the ground that they are brethren; rather they must serve all the better since those who benefit by their service are believers and beloved.

This text was very popular in Southern pulpits just before the Civil War. Today, it is difficult for some, including this pastor, to imagine that Paul could have written both Philemon and this text from 1st Timothy. That said, it really does not matter who wrote these texts. What matters is that we must decide which of these two texts were written down to appease the powers of the world, perhaps buying our fledging faith a little time to spread its wings and grow stronger—and which of these two texts represents the highest and best word the New Testament speaks about slavery and freedom. I vote for Philemon being God’s highest and best word; because it breathes much more the Spirit of Christ than the text from 1st Timothy. If you think I am bold to say this, I would simply remind you that it is a boldness born of a confidence with which God gifts us all.. In 2nd Corinthians 3:4-6 the apostle writes:

4 Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. 5 Not that we are competent of ourselves to claim anything as coming from us; our competence is from God, 6 who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not in a written code but in the Spirit; for the written code kills, but the Spirit gives life.

This text is not aimed just at ordained clergy. It is for us all. The truth is that most of you already weigh text against text, and know which represents the highest and best. I know this is true because I have lived among you for almost three decades. However, the outside world is ignorant of our process of selection. We need a way of communicating it to them. There is no better way, than to insist that Jesus Christ, the Eternal Word Made Flesh, continues to be the standard against which all the texts of scripture must be measured.

Finis

Mark 16, 1st Corinthians 11,14
Worth Green, Th.M., D.Min.

The Moravian Church was the first protestant denomination to educate its girls and women alongside its boys and men. In the Renewed Church of the18th Century, we had women in positions of leadership. Then, over the years, the church allowed society at large to affect our prophetic stance. When I was a boy in the 1950’s and early 1960’s all the pastors in the Moravian Church were men, as were all the elders and trustees in most of the local churches.

In those days, the only denominations that regularly permitted women in rolls of leadership were Quakers and Pentecostals. One of my professors at Asbury Theological Seminary, Dr. Harold Kuhn, was a Quaker. Dr. Kuhn was his denomination’s representative to the National Council of Churches. In the early 1960’s at one session of the Council, he was asked if he wanted to serve on a committee to study the issue of women in the ministry. He said, “It is not an issue for me. I belong to a small, obscure denomination that has been ordaining women for more than 300 years.”

I think it is interesting that the first denominations to ordain women, like the Quakers and some Pentecostals, had an emphasis on the continuing work of the Holy Spirit in the church. They took seriously the word of Jesus in John 16:13 that he would send the Holy Spirit to lead his disciples into all truth.

Today, Moravians are firmly behind the tradition of women in leadership and ministry. For instance, our board of Elders is made up of the pastor and 11 elders; at present six of the Elders are women. Likewise, our denomination has been ordaining women for decades. The Rev. Christy Clore is an ordained Moravian minister; and we now several women who have been consecrated bishops, including Bishop Blair Couch and Bishop Kay Ward. The past president of the Unity Board is a woman from South Africa, Sister Evangeline Swart; and the president of the Northern Province Provincial Elders Conference is a woman, the Rev. Betsy Miller.

Many of my friends in the fundamentalist churches have asked me how we Moravians can read the same New Testament they do, and permit women in leadership, even ordaining them?

There are at least three answers to that question.

First, as we have said in prior weeks, we recognize that some texts of scripture take precedent over other, primarily because they are more Christlike. For instance,when we read in 1st Corinthians 14:35 that “it is shameful for a woman to speak in church,” we balance it against texts like Galatians 3:28 wherein the apostle writes:

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

When we compare those two texts we simply know that the text from Galatians represents the highest and best the apostle had to say, and that the text from 1st Corinthians is inferior to it.

Second, Moravians, like Quakers and Pentecostals believe in the continual activity and leading of the Holy Spirit. Though we acknowledge that some texts of scripture forbid women from speaking in church and having authority over men, we also acknowledge that the Holy Spirit has continued to call women into God’s service. In the Moravian Church, it was as teachers that women initially demonstrated that they first class citizens in the Kingdom of God.

I shall never forget the honesty of a woman who was a member of my mother’s Sunday School Class at Pine Chapel Moravian Church where I grew-up. One day, after church, she told my father that my mother was a better teacher than he was a preacher. This gave rise to my father’s famous, and oft quoted exclamation, “She will never teach in the church again!” The truth is that by her own conviction my mother would only teach other women. She refused to teach men. Another woman in our church, Mrs. B___ E_______, was not so reluctant. B__ was the first woman to teach what was then known as “the Young Adult Class.” I used to attend that class when I was home from college. By that time, most of its members were in their forties and fifties, but I was attracted by B__’s teaching. She held this once young man’s attention in ways that even my father could not. Once Moravians allowed women like B__ to teach men, the future of women in our church was written large and clear: “There is no male or female, but we are all one in Jesus Christ.” Small wonder that we ordain women today!

The third reason Moravians have come to fully accepted women in leadership is our careful study of the texts of scripture itself. A careful study of these texts often sheds new light on them. Remember, our Bible did not drop down from heaven whole. There are 27 books in the New Testament alone, and we possess thousands of manuscripts containing one or more of these books. There is much to learn by comparing these manuscripts.

Sometimes, text criticism provides us with some low hanging fruit, that is easily picked and digested. Take the long ending of the gospel of Mark (Mark 16:9-20). The King James Bible (1611) includes the long ending, where in Jesus asserts that his disciples would speak in tongues, handle serpents, and drink poison without harm. The RSV (1952) still includes the long ending, but it also includes a note that the long ending is missing from the oldest manuscripts, all of which had been discovered since the King James was published. In the original text Mark’s gospel ends with verse 8, and the final word is the Greek preposition “gar,” which is translated by our English word “for.” This word cries out for an additional phrase, and it is not there. “For” is not a word on which to end a book or a gospel. Therefore, many scholars believe the original ending of Mark was lost. I agree. So did scribe who lived long after the Gospel was first published, and added the long ending we have now. (Note 1:) The scribe meant well, and his ending may have served the needs of its day; but, in our day, it has given rise to the churches of the southern highlands that pick-up snakes and drink poison. That kind of religion may be attractive to some, but it is not attractive to me. When I was in Seminary I saw a film that followed the career of a snake handling pastor. He said that those with strong faith need not fear the serpents, and the film showed actual footage of him taking up serpents, caressing and even kissing them. As the film closed, the narrator told us that, this particular pastor ultimately died of snakebite. Evidently, if we are to believe his own words, his faith wore so thin that it became too weak to save him. I left that film knowing that the faith of the snake-handlers was foreign, albeit certainly kin, to my own. We are all followers of Christ! That realization made me pray that the snake handling churches would produce just one good text critic who could then tell them that the long ending of Mark was not a part of the oldest and best manuscripts. Of course, that is not likely to happen, for as one of their number said on another occasion, “The King James Bible was good enough for Jesus and Paul, it is good enough for us.” Of course, this is completely ridiculous. Jesus and Paul lived in the first Christian century, and the King James Bible was not translated into English from the original languages until the 17th Christian century. Even the King James Bible is based on the best text criticism of its day.

Text criticism has provided us with some low hanging fruit. At times it is easy to apply its rules. At other times, we simply have to trust to the internal evidence of a text. That is the case in 1st Corinthians. In chapter 11 of 1st Corinthians St. Paul assumes that women are praying and prophesying in the church at Corinth. He accepts this, with one proviso: He says that women should only pray or prophesy with their heads covered. So far, so good. Women can teach in the church. Then, In chapter 14 of 1st Corinthians, St. seems to contradict what he says in chapter 11.. In chapter 14 he says that it is shameful for a woman to speak in church, and even orders women with questions refrain from asking them until they are home alone with their husbands. Noting this glaring contradiction, many scholars have been quick to point out that chapter 14 reads just as well, and perhaps even better, if we leave out those verses that seem aimed at silencing and subjugating women. (verses 34-37) The same scholars have concluded that these verses, like the long ending of Mark, are not original to the text; but added by a disciple of Paul, or perhaps by a scribe copying his original letter. They argue that the idea that women should keep silent in the church was not Paul’s idea at all.

I am in 100% agreement with this position, and it is vindicated by internal evidence that we have gathered from Paul’s other letters. We know from Romans 16 that Paul named at least one woman, Phoebe, as a deaconess in the church, and another woman, Junia, as an apostle. (Note 1) We know from 1st Corinthians 9:1 that Paul defined an apostle as “one who had seen the risen Lord.” Therefore, it is not Paul and the church, but the risen Christ himself who appoints women to the apostleship, beginning with Mary Magdalene in the Garden, on that first Easter Morning.

There are other texts attributed to Paul that seem to be against women in leadership and ministry. And we must also deal with those. In 1st Timothy 2:11-12 the apostle writes that women are to keep silent and learn in silence, and that he never permits women to have authority over men. Like my professor at Princeton, Dr. Bruce Metzger, I believe that some of the content of 1st and 2nd Timothy must be traced to Paul, but in their final form, these pastoral epistles reflect a later time in the church. They don’t concern themselves with the apostles and prophets of the early church, as much as they concern themselves with the deacons, and elders, and bishops of a later era. They treat the church more like an organization that the organism it was in the beginning.

Some fundamentalists will have fits to think that the writings of Paul were edited by another; but it really not such a big deal. In point of fact, in Romans 16:22 we learn that Paul did not even write the book of Romans. There we read:“I Tertius, the writer of this letter, greet you in the Lord.” Of course, Paul is the authority behind the letter to the Romans, and Tertius only served as his amanuensis or secretary. However, it illustrates a point. It is not so big a jump from being Paul’s secretary, to being Paul’s editor. Similar things happen in our own church office all the time. The fact that scripture has both authors and editors is to be expected. It is hardly a threat to the integrity of the Scripture.

Now at this juncture, some of you may be tempted to throw up your hands and say, “How can I ever be competent to judge things like this?” The answer, of course, is that not everyone has to be. The church sets aside scholars to study these things for us; and to communicate what they have learned. Some of us will want to pursue the questions. I have been doing so for forty years. This does not mean that we have to put our discipleship on hold. The important thing for each of us is that we remember that every text of scripture, as every decision in life, must eventually measure up to the person of Jesus Christ, for he is the Word of God which is living, and active, and it is with Him that we have to do. (Hebrews 4:12)

Consider once more the example of women in the church. Think about how important women have been in the whole long history of the church, reaching to the present day and beyond. I would not want to be a part of a church that denied itself the talents of more than 50 percent of its membership, yet some people are content to be. Not long ago Clyde and I met with a woman who was about to join New Philadelphia for lunche. She was a professional, not a Bible scholar, but she well understood the principals that we have been talking about. Before coming here, she was about to join a large successful church, and was attending a course of instruction that would lead to membership. As the final session drew to a close, she noted a great omission, and asked, “What does this church have to say about women in leadership?” The person leading the class told her that, at present, there were no women in leadership in the church. “But,” he said, “if the right woman came along, it might be possible.” Ouch! Aren’t you glad that Moravians believe that any woman who is obedient a disciple of Jesus Christ, and obedient to his Spirit is is the right woman, as many of you have proven.

Finis

Note 1: There is yet another “Shorter Ending,” occurring in some manuscripts after verse 8. There are variations, but it may be summed up as follows: “But they (the women) reported briefly to Peter and those with him all that they had been told. And after this, Jesus himself (appeared to them and) sent out by means of them, from east to west, the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation.”

Note 2: Some translations of Romans 16, including the KJV and the RSV read “Junias,” indicating a man. We now know this to be wrong. The NRSV reads “Junia.” In translating the NRSV scholars took into account that though there are lots of Junia’s in literature and correspondence contemporary to Paul’s letter, there is not one Junias. Juntas was never a masculine name. Paul was talking about a woman apostle; not a man.

(3rd in The Hard Texts of Scripture Series)

While teaching at the Virginia Military Institute, Stonewall Jackson nicknamed his four canons, “Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.” Jackson, an elder in the Presbyterian church, was making a play on words. There were many gospels written, but Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are the four canonical gospels, that were approved by the ancient church for inclusion in our New Testament.

The Canon of the Protestant Old Testament consists of 39 books. 5 books of the Law, 12 Historical Books, 5 Books of Wisdom, and 17 books associated with the Major and Minor Prophets.

The Canon of the New Testament consists of 27 books. Four gospels, a history of the early church we call “the Acts of the Apostles,” 21 epistles, or letters, and one book, the Revelation of St. John the Divine which is both a letter and an apocalypse, or an unveiling. The Revelation unveils some truths about history, and advances some truths about the end of history, which is still to come.

In 2nd Timothy 3:16, the apostle writes:

16 All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness…

Several of my friends are fond of reminding me that, in the original language, the word here translated “inspired by God,” is literally God breathed. They are absolutely right. This text overlooks the human authors of scripture, concentrating on Scripture’s origin in God himself.

Now in this text from 2nd Timothy, we can be quite sure that “all scripture,” is primarily a reference to the Hebrew Bible, which we now call the Old Testament. The Bible of the Early Church was the Hebrew Bible, but not in Hebrew. Early Christians mainly used a popular (koine) Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible that we call The Septuagint, named because, according to tradition, seventy scholars made the translation.

I would not have you to think that the Canon of the Hebrew Bible was fixed too early. In the lifetime of Jesus, the Sadducees and the Pharisees were divided over it. The Sadducees regarded only the five books of the Law as Canonical: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Pharisees regarded both the Law and the Prophets as Canonical, and some of them would have extend the canon to include the Writings, by which they meant “the rest of the books.”

2nd Peter 1:21 also talks about the origin of Scripture. Here God continues to be the source of inspiration, but the text from 2nd Peter takes into account the role of God’s human agents. The apostle writes:

21 … no prophecy ever came by the impulse of man, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. 2nd Peter 1:20-21 RSV

This text, like 2nd Timothy 3:16, insists on Divine Inspiration, but it also allows for human agency. “…men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”

Now here is the kicker. Inspiration is no longer limited to Moses and the prophets. By the time 2nd Peter was written the Canon of Scripture had been broadened to include at least some of the Epistles of Paul. We know this because in 2nd Peter 3:16 the author warns his readers that some of what Paul has to say is “hard to understand,” and, as a result, he said, and I quote, “the ignorant and unstable twist (them) to their own destruction, as they do the other scriptures.” End quote. The key phrase here is “as they do the other scriptures.” At the time that 2nd Peter was written, at least some of the Paul’s letters were already regarded as on a par with the Old Testament.

With the text of 2nd Peter as background, let us think for a moment, from a human perspective, about the creation of the New Testament. First, came the Epistles of Paul. 2nd Peter mentions them, but he does not number them, Paul is Peter’s contemporary. 2nd Peter did not mention the gospels as scripture. If the apostle Peter was at all connected with this letter that bears his name, it is easy to see why. Both St. Peter and St. Paul were killed in Rome during the reign of Nero Caesar, probably in the timeframe 65 to 68 A.D. We know from internal evidence that Mark, the earliest gospel, was not written down until just before the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD . Likewise, we know from internal evidence, that Matthew and Luke were written down at least a decade after the fall of Jerusalem; and scholars think that John’s gospel was written down a decade after that. Papias, who wrote in the mid second century AD, tells us that the Gospel of Mark was written down by John Mark, who was with Peter in Rome, and took down what Peter taught, though not in any particular order. Depending upon how you date them, the other epistles by Peter, James, John, Jude, and the Revelation, were spread out over the same time frame as the later Epistles of Paul, and the four canonical gospels.

Now let’s think about how it was, on a Sunday Morning, for the early churches. When they came together, they read the Hebrew Bible. Members shared a sniper of scripture, a psalm, a hymn, a spiritual song. (1st Corinthians 14:26). And they remembered what Jesus had said, and they told the stories about Jesus that were a part of the oral tradition. The gospels were not written down for a very good reason. Most of the early disciples were Jews before they were Christians, and most, like Jesus himself, were influenced by the teaching of the Pharisees. The Pharisees looked for a General Resurrection at the end of history, at which time the righteous dead would be raised to Eternal Life, and the unrighteous dead to Judgment. There was never any thought that just one person, like Jesus, would be raised from the dead in isolation from everyone else. Therefore, when Jesus was raised from the dead, and appeared to his disciples, the disciples naturally assumed that the General Resurrection of the dead had begun, and would soon be complete, undoubtedly at the triumphant return of Jesus. The first generation of Christians did not write the gospels down, because they thought that Jesus was coming back, the very next day, or perhaps, the week after that, and besides they still had the first generation of witnesses. In Paul’s letter to the church at Galatia we read about a fellowship meal featured two apostles, both Paul and Peter, a double apostolic dinner! It was only after the first generation of witnesses, like Peter, began to die out, that the gospels were written down. The gospel of Mark probably started to circulate as a result of Peter’s death. And, we know from the internal evidence of John chapter 21, that the death of the beloved disciple undoubtedly influenced the circulation of that gospel.

The important thing for us to see is that the New Testament as we know it was not circulated together for many, many generations. Some churches had only the Oral Tradition about Jesus, which was told and retold, Sunday after Sunday. In addition, some churches had one or more gospels, and one or more epistles, but few churches before the middle of the 2nd Christian century could boast of having all four gospels, or a majority of Paul’s epistles. There were as many scenario’s as there were churches. My point here is that for several generations Christians continued to give their close attention to the Hebrew Bible. The idea that the New Testament would ever completely supersede the Old Testament was absolutely foreign to their thinking, and it ought to be to foreign to ours. As we have seen, it is certainly true that there are some texts in the Hebrew Bible that are for us, so obviously pre-Christ and sub-Christ, that they are hardly worthy of debate. I know of few Christians who think that people with a disability are not worthy to serve in the ministry, or that people born out of wedlock, much less their great grandchildren ten times removed ought to be barred from the fellowship of the church. And Jesus does not asks us to kill our enemies. He ask us to love our enemies and to pray for those who persecute us. However, when we read the Old Testament in light of Christ, it continues to be goldmine of practical and spiritual wealth with nuggets of enormous value just waiting to be picked up with almost no effort at all.

Like the early church, we continue to go to the Hebrew Bible for glimpses of the Messiah, and we find them everywhere. We find them in the Law, and in the Prophets, and in the Wisdom Literature, especially in Proverbs and Psalms. Someday, I will do a sermon on these insights. Today, I want to call your attention to the practical and spiritual riches that are so easily available to us in the Old Testament. I will venture three examples.

First, let me call your attention to two very practical examples. Some years ago I had a friend whose house was burglarized. The only thing they took was a valuable collection he had inherited from his father, and improved. When the police investigated they asked if he had had any strangers in the house. He told them that he had recently shown his collection to two men, at different times, that he hardly knew. In fact, he could not furnish a complete name or address for either of them. It is a shame he had not read the story of King Hezekiah that is told in 2nd Kings 20:13. In that story Hezekiah received the envoys of the king of Babylon, and showed them all that was in his storehouses. He showed them his silver, and his gold, and all his spices and fine oils, and his armory, and everything else that was found among his treasures. There was nothing in his palace or in all his kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them. And when Isaiah the prophet heard of it he said:

“Hear the word of the Lord:17 Behold, the days are coming, when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up until this day, shall be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left, says the Lord. 18 And some of your own sons, who are born to you, shall be taken away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.” 2 Kings 20:16-18

Had my friend been familiar with that text, he may not have lost his valuable collection.

Now let me share a story of my own. Some years ago, I had a man in the church I was serving who was very angry at me. He was telling people that I was a good enough preacher, but that I was not very much of a pastor. It was obvious to me that I had let him down, but I did not know how. I prayed about how I should approach him. As I prayed, a line from the book of Proverbs came to me, “A man’s gift makes room for him.” Well, I knew that man wanted something I had. He had admired, and offered to buy my very rare 9 pt. Blue Grass Hardware handsaw. I had only paid ten dollars for it, but he counted it a rare jewel. So I took it, and I showed up on his front porch with that saw in my hands, and when he answered the door, and he “saw the saw,” I said, “I have a gift for you.” He said, “You had better come in.” And I did, and we talked and we became the best for friends. That is a pretty simple story about a pretty simple proverb, but it enable two people to grow spiritually. That man was my friend and ally until his death many years later.

Of course, there are other texts in the Hebrew Bible, our Old Testament that bear directly on our relationship to God. I would mention just one that has recently come to my attention.

It is from Exodus 3. Moses is tending the sheep of his father-in-law, Jethro, when he turns aside to see a bush that burns with fire and is not consumed. As he approaches the bush, a voice comes to him saying, “Put off you shoes from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. “ Moses is face to face with the glory of the God who calls himself, “I AM.”

In his book The Gifts of the Jews, Thomas Cahill talks about the insight that is unavoidable in this passage. He says that in this life, many things will cause us to burn with passion—-whether sex, or drink, or drugs, or power, etc.; and those things invariably consume us. By contrast God causes us to burn with a different kind of passion, and God does not consume us. God’s fire refines us and makes us more than we ever thought we could be. The apostle picks up this theme in the 1st chapter of 1st Peter, saying that “…now, for a little while, we may have to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of our faith, more precious than fine gold, which, though perishable is tested by fire, may redound to praise, and honor and glory, at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”The revelation of Jesus Christ will certainly come in its fullness at the end of history. However it is equally true, that the revelation of Christ comes to us, even today, when we are ready to receive it. When the refiner’s fire has done its work, Christ is frequently revealed to us in the here and now, and we come, at last to understand the trials that we have suffered. God treats us like the bush that Mose saw. He refines us with fire, but, to our relief, we are not consumed. We always emerge from the fire of God like gold made pure, and iron turned into steel.

All Scripture is inspired by God, and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the person of God may be complete, and equipped for any good work. 2 Timothy 3:16

There you have it. The Bible we have, including that portion of it we call the Old Testament, is the Bible that God intends for us to have. It will accomplish all that God purposes for it to do; And if we read it in light of Jesus Christ, it will complete us, and equip us for the good work that God has for us to do.

Finis