Category: Bible Study

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Bible Study Cross-Centered Life Theology

1 John 2.24 Abiding in the gospel

Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you….
1 John 2.24

I have heard Christians pray many, many times, “Lord, teach us to abide in you.” Jesus commanded us in John 15 to abide in him as the branches abide in the vine. But how do we do that? What does it mean to “abide” or as other versions put it, to “remain” in him? This seems to me to be a longing that all believers have—they want to know how they can abide in Christ.

John’s first letter really fleshes out what is involved in abiding in Christ, but I want to specifically point out what he says in 1 John 2.24 “Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you.” The context of this statement is John’s warning that antichrists will come denying that Jesus is the Christ. In contrast to this, John says, the believers should continue in the truth about Jesus that had first been preached to them by the apostles: that Jesus is the Christ, who died, was buried, and then rose from the dead.

John is challenging the believers to abide, or “remain,” or “live in” the simple gospel that they had received in the beginning.

I don’t want to be reductionist and view the concept of abiding in Christ as only this one thing, but surely this is the foundation upon which the whole structure of “abiding in Christ” is built. It is by Jesus’ death and resurrection that we are “in Christ.” Therefore, everything else we do in the Christian life as we continue on in our relationship with Jesus is built on and connected to this gospel foundation.

So let us abide in Christ first by reminding ourselves constantly of this gospel foundation:

Jesus Christ died nailed to a Roman cross, was buried, and then three days later rose to life, never to die again, but ascended into heaven promising to return for his own. Even the calendar marks these events as the center of human history.

This is the gospel, and it is far more important than you probably realize. The gospel is not just the ticket that “got you in” to Christ, it is what sustains your life. You need the gospel like you need air to breathe. The gospel is your daily bread; you cannot live without it.

Because of a growing conviction that Christians need to understand better the centrality of the gospel to their relationship with Jesus, I have rethought the purpose of my blog. I am committing myself to a blog (with at least one post a week) that focuses on applying the gospel message to all of life. I hope to remind myself and anyone else interested in reading that to abide in Christ, I must start with the simple gospel

The gospel is found not just in a few chapters of the New Testament. It is the theme of the entire Bible. It is the duty and the delight of every Christian to seek for it every day as gold, and then to plumb its depths, to trust in it, live by it and to die clinging to it as his only hope.

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Bible Study Theology

1 Peter 3:7 Understanding the “weaker vessel”

Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.
(1 Peter 3:7 ESV)

What does Peter mean by referring to the woman as the “weaker vessel”? As I thought about this, the first question I asked myself was, “In what way are women weaker than men?” In order to make sense of Peter’s comment, we have to answer that question. It is undeniable that Peter is saying that the woman is in some way weaker. Rather than be offended by this or to reject the word of God outright, we have to come to grips that the Holy Spirit is really saying that the woman is weaker.

Sometimes when we react against something we read in the Bible, it is due to our own hardness of heart and unwillingness to submit our thoughts to the infinite wisdom of God. (see Francis Chan’s excellent thoughts on this here) Other times, what we are reacting against is a misinterpretation of what the Word is actually saying and we end up mad at God over something he never said in the first place.

I think Peter’s words here can easily fall into this second category. When we hear Peter say that the woman is weaker, we hear, “not as valuable” or “not as capable”. But is this really what God is saying to us in this verse? It’s interesting that the verse also includes a very strong statement of equality, “they are heirs with you of the grace of life.”

As I thought through what this verse could possibly mean, the first and most obvious possibility that came to mind is that Peter is referring to physical weakness. It is pretty much undeniable that in general men are stronger than women.

This does not mean that men are more valuable than women or that men are somehow superior to women. It simply means that the male/female relationship is impacted by the fact that men are stronger physically. Because of the fallenness of the human race, this strength differential, combined with a sinful distortion of the male/female role differences that God himself ordained, has led men to dominate women in sinful ways to the extent that we cannot even talk today about male headship or male authority without all kinds of misunderstandings of what the exercise of that headship looks like.

While many men would never dream of using their physical strength differential (or even the threat of it) to dominate the women in their lives, we still tend to operate from a sinful sense of superiority over women, and while we may not dominate them physically, we do hold on to sinful understandings of the male/female relationship that cause us to assert our own wills over the will of the women in our lives.

So what Peter is challenging us as husbands to do in honoring our wives as the weaker vessel is to refuse this sinful exercise of the strength prerogative in our relationships with our wives. Because my wife is weaker than me physically, I could force her to do my will, but rather than do that, Scripture commands me to honor her as a joint-heir of the grace of life.

You might think by this point in the post that I am arguing what theologians call the “egalitarian position” in male/female relationships. Actually I would consider myself to be firmly in the camp of the “complementarians” because I believe that Scripture clearly presents that there are different roles that God has designed for men and women. I also affirm that the Scripture clearly teaches that men are designed by God to be in authority over women. But I believe that much of the controversy that swirls around this question stems from an unbiblical, fallen understanding of authority.

The previous verse, 1 Peter 3:6, states with approval that “Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord.” This is obviously a clear reference to male authority.

What I am arguing for from verse 7 is that we as men in authority honor our wives, treating them as the helpers that God designed them to be, understanding that we are incomplete without them, and that God has the same eternal inheritance reserved for them that he has for us.

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Bible Study Cross-Centered Life Theology

Luke 6.20-26 The future nature of the gospel

Something very interesting about Luke’s version of the Beatitudes stuck out to me today. It is the little word, “now”. It helped me to see so clearly the contrast between the present condition of many believers and the glorious future state that is promised in the gospel message.

Here’s the passage…

Luke 6:20–26 (ESV)
20And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
21“Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied. “Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.
22“Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man!
23Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.
24“But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.
25“Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry. “Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.
26“Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.

You can see this little word, “now” in both the blessings (verses 21-22) as well as the woes (verse 25). And do you see the contrast? On the one hand, those who are blessed don’t look to be very blessed at the moment! They are poor, hungry, weeping, hated, excluded, reviled and spurned as evil. On the other hand, those who are not blessed (“woe to you” is hardly a good thing to hear) are rich, full, laughing and spoken well of.

This is the current condition of these two groups, but then look at the contrast in the future. On the one hand, those who are blessed will in the future receive the kingdom of God, satisfaction, laughter, and a great reward in heaven. While those who are not blessed will be hungry, mourning, and weeping as they face the awful reality that their “blessings” were nothing more than temporary.

How can a “prosperity gospel” which teaches health and wealth to all Jesus’ disciples now, explain away Jesus’ teaching here? The implications of the passage are obvious. Our present circumstances do not indicate at all the blessing that comes from being a disciple of Jesus.

And, even more importantly, let me point out here that being a disciple of Jesus is what makes the difference between these two groups. Jesus is not saying that all poor people now will receive the kingdom of God. Verse 29 is explicit: He is speaking to his disciples. And v. 22 also shows that these disciples are hated and reviled “on account of the Son of Man.” Jesus is talking to those who identify themselves with him, who are his followers, who name him as their Lord, and who are willing to suffer now because of their great confidence in Jesus.

The beatitudes, whether the Matthew version or the list here in Luke are not necessarily meant to be a list of virtues that we aspire to (although there are some virtues mentioned in Matthew) but rather are a description of the current state in which Jesus’ followers find themselves. The heart of the gospel is not that we attain to a list of virtues and thus become “blessed.” Rather the gospel (i.e. the good news of the Bible from beginning to end) is God’s grace extended to us through a promise. That promise, which was the first promise ever given on planet earth (Genesis 3.15) is that through Jesus’ death on the cross the sins of all those who trust in Jesus to save them are fully and completely punished. Jesus’ disciples then are blessed with a future great reward in heaven (v. 23).

On the other hand, those who do not trust in Jesus to save them will themselves suffer the punishment of their sins. The truth of coming judgment for those who do not follow Jesus, which is clearly taught in many places throughout the Bible is implicit in the word “woe” in verses 24-26.

Being rich now; being full now; laughing now and being spoken well of now is not necessarily evil in and of itself (see 1 Timothy 6:17-19), but it should never be taken as an indication of future eternal spiritual blessing–the blessing of forgiveness of sins and eternity in the presence of Holy God. Such temporal, transient blessings are God’s kindness “to the ungrateful and the evil” (Luke 6:35).

But the day will come when those in this group will have to give an account for failing to see God’s kindness to them in these temporal blessings. Thus the “woe” spoken to Jesus’ disciples here is a warning to them to make sure that they come to him daily by grace, with their eyes on the Son of Man, Jesus, and the promise of eternal reward in heaven (v. 23) that he offers through his death and resurrection.

There is a very real “woe” that is coming for those who fail to follow Jesus now and trust him now, regardless of the suffering that may involve (whether it be poverty, hunger, weeping or scorn). If we make our gods the gods of comfort, wealth, and status, we risk losing our souls. Woe to us if we don’t leave everything to have only Jesus. But blessing is ours when we look to Jesus alone and as true disciples trust him to keep his promise, even when it appears that we have nothing to show for it!