Thoughts on hell

I often get asked about the Hebraic understanding of Hell and what Scripture says (or doesn’t say) about it. In response to one of the more recent exchanges I was in I presented this and since I worked so hard putting it together I thought I’d share it instead of trying to do it again. These are my current thoughts and I can’t say they won’t change, mature, finesse, etc., over time, but I offer them for what dialogue they may provoke.

I believe that hell is a Greco-Roman construct that is based on the mythology of the god Hades. I believe it was imposed into theology when the catholic church (little c from the time that “catholic” meaning universal was the only church) separated itself from the Jewish Sect known as the Way that was the faithful expression of the early believers who were first called Christians (this is history found in the New Testament that I’m referring to — if you want to read about the separation that took place for primarily socio-political reasons and resulted in different theologies you can check out Stern’s “Restoring the Jewishness of the Gospels”) Some Christian believe this -- but I don't

I believe that Jesus’ parable about the rich man and Lazarus was consistent with the Jewish understanding of Abraham’s Bosom which contained Paradise (where the faithful went to await Messiah) and Torments (where souls unhindered from the body were given the opportunity to learn lessons that they did not learn while in the body that they needed to learn to recognize Messiah — the rich man sought to fulfill himself with food and drink which is why he was thirsty — he needed eternal waters that only Jesus could provide). It has nothing to do with a Greco-Roman idea of Hell.

The idea of Gehenna also has nothing to do with a Greco-Roman idea of hell because it is referring to where the body of one tried and found guilty of violating Torah would have been thrown if they were put to death for their sins. That is why Jesus refers to it in the ways that he does — it would be better to be . . . . than to have your body thrown to the place where someone tried for violating Torah and found guilty would have their body thrown, etc.

Some people try to say that the Lake of Fire is hell but, again, there is no Hebraic concept of a hell where people who don’t believe in God are sent to be tormented forever in burning fire. The Lake of Fire is understood to be God’s bosom because God is eternal holy fire — imagery that is used throughout Scripture to refer to God and the reality in stories is that those who enter God’s presence in an unworthy manner or with their sin still upon them burst into flames and burn up. Death, Hell, the Grave, the Accuser — all created for a purpose in this life to bring about God’s purposes — will burn forever in the Lake of Fire. Those who follow them will be cast in after them but it is reading too much into the text to add to it that they will also be tormented forever. It is more consistent with Scripture to take Jesus at his word that no one survives the 2nd death without faith in him — and that the Lake of Fire is the 2nd death. (Rev 2:11 “He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.”; Rev 20:6 “Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.” and Rev 21:8 “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”)

Now, it might seem unrelated but I believe it’s vital so I want to address the idea that God cannot be in the presence of sin. It is foolishness — it is sin that cannot be in the presence of God without burning up. If we die and we are still carrying our sins then we cannot survive the 2nd death which is the Lake of Fire. We will burn up in the presence of God — like Aaron’s sons in the Temple. I believe that Jesus carried all of mankind’s sins into the presence of God and they were burned up and he remained because he was without sin. This is GOOD NEWS! We do not have to fear the 2nd death. We are freed from the power of sin and death so that we can live righteous lives!

The Good News is you have been freed from the power of sin and death by Jesus

I do not believe we have to understand this, or what it means, or how it happened, or anything because our finite brains will never truly understand the things of God. I do believe you can reject God’s gift — but I do not believe any of us can know when someone has truly done that and our words and actions are not the final say. God judges the heart and we cannot see one another’s hearts. We can disagree with doctrine. We can have different understanding of theology. We *cannot* judge someone’s salvation and to try and do so is to sit ourselves on the throne of God and that is blasphemy! Therefore I focus on sharing the Gospel by doing just that — sharing the Good News. You have been freed from the power of sin and death by Jesus and if you accept that is true you will be able to live an abundant life full of blessings! You will have experienced forgiveness and be able to forgive others and you will have been first loved by God and that will provoke you to love! And we will know you are a believer by your love because anyone who loves God will love their neighbor and loving your neighbor is loving God. You cannot love without God because God IS Love.

Therefore, if anyone says they are in the light but hates their brother they are a liar and are still in darkness (1 John 2:9) and 1 John 4:20 “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?” Yet 1 John 4:12 says this “No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.” 1 John 4:18 “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” is one of the main reasons that I don’t believe in sharing the Good News that Jesus saved us from the power of sin and death with the threat of punishment — eternal or otherwise. We love God because he first loved us — not because we are afraid of what will happen if we don’t.

Rejecting Bad News is not rejecting God

Anyone who says they are saved because they are afraid of the alternative is someone still walking in darkness because they do not understand the Good News and are not walking and living in the abundant life that is expressed through love. I would rather spend my time with people who are loving others and revealing that God is at work in their lives (even if they don’t have my same doctrinal expression of faith) than with people who can string verses together to prove they are saved but do not have love and reveal themselves to be liars. And when the supposed “Good News” is delivered with a threat it has ceased to be the Good News and rejecting it is not the same as rejecting God or His Love and free gift of salvation from the power of sin and death.

Matthew 25 Pledge — something you can do

One of the things that will be done at Thomas Talks is linking to worthwhile things around the internet and the world that people can do to effect change in their life. This is one of those things.

Take the Matthew 25 Pledge

Thomas Talks about Contentment

There comes a time where you have to acknowledge your limitations and rely on the people who God has put around you to shore you up. When you cast the vision that God put in you and trust that the people it relies on are going to catch the vision and do what they need to do to see that vision realized.

In this case the vision is for something I’m so very excited about — Thomas Talks.

The people I need to rely on are the amazing team of women that God has brought into my life over the years who understand, much more than I do, what it’s going to take to get this going the right way. I’m so grateful they believe in the vision and see what God is doing — but of course they do, God brought us together to do this!

Thomas Talks is a Reconciliation ministry.

What does this mean?

1) Thomas Talks is purposed to make amends where people have been wounded and wronged by those who claimed to be representing God — whether institutions or individuals. If someone was wounded and wronged then the one(s) who came to them were not representing God — whether correctly or at all. We want to remove unnecessary obstacles to God that have been put in people’s lives. What comes of that we trust the Lord and the individual to work out and while we’d be honored to be a part of that, we believe it’s inappropriate to create goals for other people’s lives.

and

2) Thomas Talks is about open and inclusive dialogue about anything related to Biblical faith. In too many faith communities there isn’t a respect for questions and those who have them are deemed trouble makers, doubters, and, if they are women, Jezebels. This is wrong and God is bigger than our questions! We believe questions are valid and are often an expression of faith, rather than doubt. We say ask the questions — and then get good information as you seek out the answers. We also say that too many people have been arguing about the right answers to the wrong questions and we want to help you ask better questions!

We want to provide comprehensive answers to questions that include what is really found in Scripture (in context) as well as the history of how issues have been dealt with over time and encouragement for how to shine God’s love and truth into those situations today. Towards these ends we are committed to collaborating with amazing people and ministries who are addressing relevant and important issues — and doing it well.

We have a website that I’m so excited about! ThomasTalks.net As it turns out, to get us started correctly it’s going to take a lot more talent and skill set than I bring to the table. We opened up a membership chat room right after the election because we wanted to make our space available, and several people joined. In the end, it was easier to move that to a Facebook group, but right in the aftermath I was so grateful for that space! We’ll use it again. In the meantime we have put out information about a Pre-Inaugural Time of Meditation and Prayer that we co-hosted with Imagine Yoga in our local area. Eventually we want to provide resources and encouragement for similar types of meetings that people might want to hold to address various issues. Goodness knows there is no shortage of issues right now!

While I give my team the time they need to build the site in it’s entirety and correctly I’m focusing my energies on growing the community. As I mentioned, we’re on Facebook. We’re a closed group, but you can find us and we’d love to have you if you need this kind of space. I’m also going to be blogging here more while I wait. The goal will be to move the articles from here out onto the Thomas Talks site so many of them will be written with the goals of Thomas Talks in mind. Feel free to comment and engage with me. I keep the comments moderated but I really do approve them! Just want to keep out the very clever spammers and the people who troll around without good intentions. We don’t need that kind of negativity in our lives so I try to keep it out of yours.

In addition, if you have a ministry (blogging, books, speaking, music, whatever) and you think that your heart meshes with what we’re trying to do here, reach out to me. Post a comment or contact me through the group on Facebook. I want to know about you so I can let others know about you. When people want to find good resources I want them to be able to!

So there it is. We’re in the stage of moving towards and I’m accepting the things I cannot change and working on what is mine to do. In the end I am convinced that God’s timing is going to be perfect and what God has called us to do will be amazing. I don’t want to do it in my own strength anyway. I just want to put my strength towards what I can do today.

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I love watching my daughter dance

and I’m so grateful for Amani Jae and his awesome hip hop instruction

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Patriarch does not equal Patriarchy

I’ve been wanting to write about this for some time now and some recent discussions I’ve been in this last week have made it clear that I need to start now. So here we are.

Let me start by sharing what I grew up being taught.

When I encountered ideas, actions, and teachings, in churches I attended or in books that I read, that left me uncomfortable as a young girl and as a young woman I would ask about them. Probably their first hint I wasn’t going to make it in their communities, and maybe that influenced their responses, but I suspect it worked the other way around. The answers I would get some apology (meant here not as the apology we offer when we’ve done something wrong, even though that is what it should have been in my not so humble opinion, but apology as in “defense of”) that explained how God created men to be in charge and women to be subordinate. God created hierarchy — because God exists in hierarchy.

God existing eternally in hierarchy is called Subordinationism and it’s heresy, plain and simple. You can read more on my thoughts about it.

It was explained to me that Patriarchy (the doctrine of male rule) was merely a continuation of the Patriarchy of Judaism. God gave us stories of the Patriarchs to help us learn that men are supposed to rule and that women are supposed to embrace this, etc., etc. And there were stories of Patriarchs. That was true. They just didn’t seem to behave the way the men around me did.

This bothered me, and all of this garbage was a big part of my Crisis of Bad Theology, but it was all I seemed to get. Of course it was paired with strong women in the church trying to share subtle ways to work around it, and talking about how they are challenged all the time to be more submissive and God wants to challenge us to help us grow, right? All I could think was, “apparently God just wants women to grow because men seem to be predetermined by God to do whatever they want — how does that fit with iron sharpening iron!?!”

I did eventually learn very different things — after my Crisis of Bad Theology and my return to Christian community I married an amazing husband who believed in empowering instead of dominating and, with his encouragement and full support, studied at Fuller. I now identify, despite the fact that I hate labels, as a Christian Egalitarian. What this simply means is that I believe God created male and female to live in unity with one another, with mutual submission and empowering one another to be all that God created them to be in the home and in the community and in ministry. I believe hierarchy came in as a consequence of the Fall and that Jesus fixed this problem, and this is a main thrust of Paul’s teachings.

There is a lot involved in both ideas that others have written about extensively so I won’t try to reproduce the great work already done. What I bring that is unique is the deep desire God put in me to understand the Jewish foundation into which Jesus and Paul and the others we meet in the New Testament were born and steeped. The place I landed after I committed to let God sort out my Crisis of Bad Theology involved trusting God and allowing him to help me understand and study the Scripture. I had thrown out everything except, “Jesus loves me, this I know.” I couldn’t even add, “for the Bible tells me so,” because I had been taught all of these horrible things using the Bible as a weapon against me. At least God knew what he was getting when he chose me for all of this — I was laid bare before him.

It was as I really got into the Jewish doctrinal foundations for the New Testament that I began to have real healing from the bad doctrines. Imagine the joy I was flooded with when I was preparing my daughter for her Bat Mitzvah and in the book I got to help prepare her I read this,

We bless our daughters that they follow the example of the Matriarchs. As the foundational pillars of our nation, they create the spiritual base for all future generations. (Bat Mitzvah Treasury, Rabbi Yonah Weinrib, pg 14)

Plural Unity

Plural Unity

This is confirmed on the page about the role of women in Judaism at jewfaq101.

The equality of men and women begins at the highest possible level: G-d. In Judaism, unlike traditional Christianity, G-d has never been viewed as exclusively male or masculine. Judaism has always maintained that G-d has both masculine and feminine qualities. As one Chasidic rabbi explained it to me, G-d has no body, no genitalia, therefore the very idea that G-d is male or female is patently absurd. We refer to G-d using masculine terms simply for convenience’s sake, because Hebrew has no neutral gender; G-d is no more male than a table is.

Both man and woman were created in the image of G-d. According to most Jewish scholars, “man” was created in Gen. 1:27 with dual gender, and was later separated into male and female.

According to traditional Judaism, women are endowed with a greater degree of “binah” (intuition, understanding, intelligence) than men.

It’s not that Patriarchy wasn’t part of the Jewish culture — there were Patriarchs, and men did have specific roles in society that women did not have (though some were kept from women, others were actually things women were excused from — a fact that isn’t often understood when modern Christians teach about these things). It’s that Matriarchy was also a vital part of Jewish culture and women, while they did serve in different roles, were in roles that were often considered even more vital to the continuation of the Jewish culture and people than the roles that men held.

Modern Christian Patriarchy is not a continuation of Jewish Patriarchy found in the Old Testament. It is a distortion of it — just as it teaches a distortion of Scripture’s view of men, women, and God. Modern Christian Patriarchy is toxic and is nothing more than Modern Christian men wanting to believe that God created them to have special jobs and hold special power. Because of that it is infested with power/control dynamics and not the unity and servanthood that Scripture clearly teaches and that Jesus specifically stated his people would exhibit.

I am so glad I didn’t take the word of the Patriarchy-apologists in my life. They rely on women feeling shamed and put in their place so that we won’t keep searching and studying for ourselves. Jewish women weren’t forbidden to study, merely excused from the obligation to study that men were under. Jewish religious leaders believed women would learn things intuitively that men would have to study to understand. And every good Rabbi on record taught this wife and daughters Torah in their home — they even heeded their counsel.

Jewish marriage and divorce counsel books are also incredibly supportive of women escaping abusive power/control dynamics as well as calling men out on those things as early as they become known. More and more Christian Marriage and Family Therapy books and counselors are moving in that direction, but Patriarchy has a strong hold in many quadrants of Christianity. Too many that the people in bondage to them don’t even realize are from Patriarchy.

My point is, the presence of Patriarchs in Scripture is not the same and does not support Modern Christian Patriarchy. The first is Biblical, and balanced by the presence of Matriarchs in Scripture and the Jewish teachings on both. The second is unbiblical and produces unbiblical fruit.

Synthesizing Election and Free Will in Ephesians 1-2

Olive Tree at Sunset

Olive Tree at Sunset

Christians spend generations mired in debate over what the right answer is to the wrong question. This may be the most poignant example.

Ask a good Calvinist and they will tell you that Election, or Predestination, means that God does all the work of salvation. Yes, that means if you aren’t saved then he didn’t do the work and that leads to distinctions between 5-point TULIP Calvinists who believe that God also chose who he would reject and send to burn in hell and 4-point Calvinists who will say that he didn’t actually choose who he would reject, he just didn’t choose to save them so it’s nothing personal that they’re going to hell.

The issue of hell is a whole other topic, but go with me here, please.

Ask a good Wesleyan Arminian and they will tell you that because God gave us free will and has said he desires all to be saved, it is the response we have to God’s Prevenient Grace (the grace that goes before that empowers us to have a response to him) that allows us to choose salvation. Anyone can be saved, they must simply choose to respond in love and acceptance to the offer extended to them.

Then the Calvinist starts yelling “Works Righteousness!” and the Wesleyan Arminian starts declaring the Calvinist God a rapist when everyone knows God would never force himself on people. Then someone throws their coffee or cake at the other (it’s my birthday today so I’ve set this imaginary dialogue at a birthday party. I probably should have said that up front).

I skipped over some of the middle dialogue there and it doesn’t always end with throwing cake and coffee but I’ve seen it come close almost every time people get going on it. That’s because salvation is such a foundational issue. You know all the issues that most reasonable people will eventually admit aren’t really salvific (having to do with salvation and how it happens)? Well salvation and how it happens is definitely salvific. So the war rages on through the generations!

When I’ve sat down and had reasonable dialogues with people they will usually acknowledge that at the end of the day these are probably two sides of the same coin. Calvinists will admit that at some point the person being saved does have to acknowledge that salvation and maybe that’s what the Wesleyan Arminianists are calling Free Will. Wesleyan Arminianists will acknowledge that the person being saved is only able to be saved because of what Jesus did so in a sense it is God who does the saving. In those dialogues no one throws cake or coffee.

This is what I walked into when I chose to respond to God’s irresistible call to ministry (see what I did there? I had to think for awhile to find that transition so I don’t want you to miss it 😉 ).

I’ve mentioned before that I grew up going to Air Force Base chapels and all manner of denominational churches around the world so I was taught all of these ideas long before I knew the names of them. I also have a personality type that sees all the options and, wherever possible, seeks to synthesize seemingly opposite ideas and find the common ground. I admit I had to wrestle with this one for some time, asking God to help me see what was going on that people who all love Him were reading the same words and walking away with such fundamentally different understandings.

Then one day I was reading Ephesians and I had a major aha moment.

So I read it again.

And again.

And WOW — there it was!

I should mention that this moment came after years of studying Scripture from a Hebraic perspective and trying to understand the Jewish doctrines surrounding different ideas in my goal of understanding Paul as a Pharisee of Pharisees based on what he would have learned before his experience on the road to Damascus.

So let’s break down Ephesians 1 and 2 and see what he had to say.

vv 1-3 Paul starts with a beautiful greeting

vv 4-12 use of word predestination with regards to ‘us’ and all of the blessings and privilege that come with it (bold added by me)

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.

vv 13-14 statement that ‘you’ trusted after hearing the gospel (bold added by me again)

In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

I am convinced no other verses so dramatically highlight both the conflict and the evidence that this issue is honestly one of not understanding the context and the people involved in writing and receiving this letter.

What we need more of today, in order to resolve this generational conflict, is really some what Paul does next.

vv 15-21

Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.

Paul doesn’t start telling them that their understanding of how they got saved is wrong wrong wrong and start using analogies to convince them. He doesn’t say they aren’t saved. He says he heard that they are saved and he rejoices daily! He prays for them! And before anyone suggests that praying for them to have wisdom and revelation is just another way of saying he prays they sort out their wrong understanding of how they got saved, he clarifies that it’s because now that they are saved he wants them to understand the calling on their lives and what this means!

Here is where I’m going to skip ahead a bit. Paul starts chapter 2 talking about the fact that God saved everyone involved and how they will sit together in heavenly places and other awesome things.

In verse 8 he says this,

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

By grace through faith would seem to be free will but then he ends with not of yourselves, it is a gift from God and not of works which would seem to be predestination. No wonder no one can sort this out!

Then he says this

Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands— that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances*, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.

Keeping our focus here on the tension between Election and Free Will I want to challenge with the idea that in these two chapters Paul is explaining what both ideas really mean and those who have studied from a Hebraic perspective will hopefully be seeing this already.

Paul is using very specific “we” and “us” to speak of one group and “you” to speak of another. In these last verses cited he clarifies who the “we” and the “you” are.

“You” are the once and no longer Gentles who are now brought near by what Jesus did. You are the ones who were far off from God who he came to reconcile to himself. You are the ones who heard preached the message of peace and the invitation to be closer to the Father. You are the once but no longer outsiders — the uncircumcised who were not born as Jews and who were kept out by virtue of the Hedge developed by the Rabbi’s to keep anything clean from becoming common in the presence of what is unclean.

“We”, however, are the Jews. The people who have been called the Chosen Ones because we were chosen for a purpose. That purpose was to be responsible for his Word that contains all wisdom and understanding and to be the ones through whom Messiah would come and redeem the whole world. Moses spoke of this. Their Prophets foretold it. The message is clear and consistent throughout. Abraham’s children would include more than Jews by birth.

It is those who were Jews by birth who were marked through circumcision of the flesh according to the covenant with Abraham.

It is those who were Gentiles by birth who were not marked through circumcision of the flesh according to the covenant with Abraham.

And now, because of what Jesus did that broke down the barriers and called us all to live in unity together with him, we are no longer “us” and “you” but “we all.” There is no longer enmity between us. You have joined us and now share our purpose and calling.

This is where the Hebraic understanding of “election” and “free will” is important to understand.

The Jews were predestined to be the people of God. They were elected for that purpose. God was doing something with them, and if you are born into the Jewish nation you are part of that elected people called for that purpose. The illustration usually involved the Olive Tree illustration that Paul uses specifically in Romans.

They did believe, however, that you could choose (Free Will) to cut your branch off of the tree of Israel and go and attach yourself to a wild tree from one of the 70 (Gentile) Nations.

It was also possible, they taught, for a branch from one of those 70 (Gentile) Nations to choose (Free Will) to be cut off from their wild tree and, through their own hard work and effort, the could convert to Judaism and be grafted into the tree of the Nation of Israel.

Circumcision was the final act of this process and marked you as a Son of Abraham, included in the elected/chosen people. This is what Paul is referring to when he says that works are not what save you.

Paul is adamant that the thing that grafts you into the tree of the Nation of Israel is accomplished by faith (believing & receiving it) through grace (the free and unmerited gift of God) when you hear about who Jesus is and what he accomplished for you. Or, as John said much more silly,

We love him because he first loved us (1 John 4:19)

There is no debate in the text between Predestination and Free Will. There is only a need to understand what is meant by each of those ideas in Paul’s day.

There is a group that was predestined to be the people who were entrusted with God’s Word and through whom the Messiah would come. They were elected for this purpose. If you were born into it, you were in it, through nothing you did and nothing you earned. We do not choose where we are born.

Now, because of what Jesus did for all mankind, anyone could respond with faith to the message of salvation and they would, through no work or effort on their own to prove their understanding or worthiness, be immediately grafted into the Tree of the Nation of Israel.

This is Paul’s message in his letter to the Church in Rome.

This is Paul’s message to the Church in Ephesus.

This is Paul’s consistent message in all of his letters.

The group, not the individual, is predestined. The group, not the individual, is elected. Some individuals are born into the group. Some individuals come from outside the group and because of faith they are part of the family.

This is what God meant when He promised Abraham more descendants than the sands on the beach.

I would suggest it is time to stop arguing about how we get here and start talking together about why we’re here and what we are supposed to be accomplishing as part of this chosen and elected group. Whether we got here through birth, or through making a choice to be here, if we’re here there is a reason. I guarantee you the reason isn’t to fight at birthday parties about whose doctrine is right.

*I will address this more in future writings and will add a link when it is ready. In the meantime I will say that the translations of this verse do not give justice to what it seems to be saying based on the Hebrew ideas being expressed. Jesus himself said he did not come to abolish the Law (Matthew 5:17) so it seems contradictory to Jesus’ stated purpose to try and argue that he did in fact abolish it. Rather, based on the context, it seems more likely Paul was making a point similar to the point he makes in Galatians 3:13 where he speaks of Christ redeeming us from the “curse of the Law” — in this verse expressed as “enmity of the Law”. If this is the case then he is speaking to the little ‘l’ law that was the Hedge created by the Jewish leaders through court rulings and orders (commandments contains in ordinances) that served to keep Jews in and non-Jews out as opposed to the instructions given by God for righteous living that were handed down by Moses. Not understanding the distinction between these things has created a lot of confusion about what Judaism is and isn’t and many of the things that Paul teaches. I will address this in a future article as well.

“a bruised reed he will not break”

This is from Isaiah 42.

What a beautiful tweet to wake up to from a dear friend in ministry who inspires and encourages me and is absolutely brilliant.

So here I am, pre-coffee (I’ll have to come back later to check for spelling), still in bed, compelled to post what I started responding to her and then realized I wanted to share it here and not try to cram it into the character limits of Twitter or an epic reply on her Facebook wall.

Not too long ago in our study at Chloe’s House we worked our way through Zechariah’s contribution to Biblical prophecy. Prior to this time through it I had been tossing the idea around in an ever growing momentum that we have been missing something huge about God and the Gospel and I’m so grateful for the friends who endured my endless efforts to verbally process this . . . something! . . .that was just edging in but not yet clearly visible.

It sparked to life the day that I firmly solidified my rejection of the idea presented in Penal Substitution Atonement that God had to punish someone so he sent Jesus to be tortured and put to death on our behalf. God’s justice required blood and Jesus did that for us. I do believe he died to bridge the gap between God and us, but I reject the idea that there is an angry, wrathful God in the Old Testament who required blood and we need to love New Testament Jesus God who suffered for us so that we can be protected from God’s wrath.

I reject the idea that God could not be around Jesus because of all of the sin on him. Sin is not God’s Kryptonite. God can absolutely be in the presence of sin — it is sin that cannot be in the presence of God without burning up! I believe Jesus, without sin himself, was able to carry our sin into the presence of the Holy Fire that consumed it completely and yet could do him no harm.

While I had never embraced the idea of a vengeful wrathful angry God, I did struggle with how to understand all of the talk about justice in Scripture. I knew the answer was in the Prophets but I also knew I needed to study and understand some other things before I was ready to go there. When God told me this last year it was time to begin studying the prophets I knew something big was about to happen.

Then we read Zechariah.

God tells Zechariah:

“Say to all the people of the land, and to the priests: ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months during those seventy years, did you really fast for Me—for Me?

‘When you eat and when you drink, do you not eat and drink for yourselves? (Zechariah 7:5-6)

The fasting and mourning of the fifth month is Tisha B’Av while the fasting of the seventh month is Yom Kippur.

Then the word of the LORD came to Zechariah, saying, “Thus says the LORD of hosts:

​‘​Execute true justice,
​​Show mercy and compassion
​​Everyone to his brother.
​Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless,
​​The alien or the poor.
​​Let none of you plan evil in his heart
​​Against his brother.’ vv8-10)

We began reflecting on the seeming contrast in the first two lines of God’s Word to the people. Why had we always been told this was a list? Especially considering punctuation is provided by translators. Then we wondered why justice was qualified as “true” justice. That must be significant!

He’s just told them their approach to the fasting of the Holy days of the fifth and seventh months is not being done for God. And when they eat and drink they don’t do it for him. They do it for themselves. Then he tells them to execute true judgment.

Turns out ’emeth speaks to faithfulness, sureness, uprightness. It speaks to integrity of mind. Zechariah is telling the people to execute righteous, upright, true and faithful justice. And in order to do that you have to show mercy and compassion.

Realizing that caused the kaleidoscope to shift just enough to reveal the paradigm I’d been trying so hard to wrap my mind around. The pattern in the text shifted into such clear and clarifying perspective that we almost wept.

God tells the people, through Zechariah, to show true justice by showing mercy and compassion.

We know this is how God executed judgment on humanity.

God IS the defining standard of holiness.

When Isaiah encountered the awesome holiness of God and realized how unholy he was in comparison he said this:

“Woe is me, for I am undone!
Because I am a man of unclean lips,
And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips;
For my eyes have seen the King,
The LORD of hosts. (Isaiah 6:5)

In response, God causes a Seraphim to take a burning coal from the fire in the throne room of God and touch it to Isaiah’s mouth and in verse 7 he says this to Isaiah:

“Behold, this has touched your lips;
Your iniquity is taken away,
And your sin purged.”

A sanctified Isaiah is ready to deliver God’s Word and when the voice goes out asking, “Who can I send?” Isaiah responds, “Here I am! Send me!”

I can relate so much to this experience. When I responded to God’s call on my life it was because I had experienced standing before him and realizing how holy he is and how unholy I was. I told him that he didn’t want me. I wasn’t worthy to be called because I simply did not measure up against his standard of holiness and I could see no way that I would be useful to him. The gap between my filthy righteousness and his righteousness was the measure of my judgment.

God’s response to me was the same as his response to Isaiah. He took away my iniquity and purged my sin.

His true justice was to show mercy and compassion.

I want to circle back to the bruised reed he will not break and put that in context for you and hope you will even more clearly see this idea expressed.

“Behold! My Servant whom I uphold,
​​My Elect One in whom My soul delights!
​​I have put My Spirit upon Him;
​​He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles.
He will not cry out, nor raise His voice,
​​Nor cause His voice to be heard in the street.
A bruised reed He will not break,
​​And smoking flax He will not quench;
​​He will bring forth justice for truth.
He will not fail nor be discouraged,
​​Till He has established justice in the earth;
​​And the coastlands shall wait for His law.”

Thus says God the LORD,
​​Who created the heavens and stretched them out,
​​Who spread forth the earth and that which comes from it,
​​Who gives breath to the people on it,
​​And spirit to those who walk on it:
“I, the LORD, have called You in righteousness,
​​And will hold Your hand;
​​I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people,
​​As a light to the Gentiles,
To open blind eyes,
​​To bring out prisoners from the prison,
​​Those who sit in darkness from the prison house.
I am the LORD, that is My name;
​​And My glory I will not give to another,
​​Nor My praise to carved images.
Behold, the former things have come to pass,
​​And new things I declare;
​​Before they spring forth I tell you of them.” (Isaiah 42:1-9)

The Gospel — The Good News — isn’t that God did away with the Law. The former things that have come to pass are our sins that separated us from God. The new thing that is declared isn’t that there is no standard of holiness. It’s that God has shown us mercy and compassion and all of the ways in which we don’t measure up can’t separate us from Him.

He saw us as the bruised reeds we were and did not break us. Instead, he established justice in the earth by extending mercy and compassion to all mankind.

Sin Leveling or Why Throwing Out The Law Has Huge Consequences

I’ve been wanting to write this for some time and I’m starting it because of a discussion I’ve been in on sin leveling and how much abuse against women and children is excused because of it. There are a lot of different ideas tying into this and if you know me at all you know it’s going to get deep, and that means it will of course be long. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. . .

Sin leveling is the idea that all sin is the same.

This idea is especially strong in Evangelical circles. It’s a child they inherited from various traditions. It thrives in Patriarchy.

Sin Leveling: We are all sinners and all sin separates us from God. Sin is sin is sin is sin and if you lie you are no better than the person who murdered so you can’t judge anyone and we all need Jesus.

The extension of this that begins to show the cracks in the veneer plays out as this:

If I am right with God and He has forgiven me for my sins and you refuse to forgive me for my sins then you need to remember that unforgiveness is a sin and that means I’m right with God and you aren’t so you are the one with the problem.

As to the question of what is wrong with it let me just say so very very much.

And the only way you can come up with a flawed doctrine of this particular kind is when you have thrown out God’s Law as irrelevant. When you study God’s Law with the desire to understand what it really is and why God gave it to His people (and if you’re claiming to be a follower of Jesus you are one of his people!) then you begin to understand the incredible relevance of his Law.

So let’s break it down and lets start by laying a foundation to make sure we’re all on the same page and talking about the same thing . . .

All sin, no matter how seemingly insignificant or how earth shatteringly damaging, is present in the world and evidence that man was separated from God at the Fall.

“Sin” means “missing the mark” and the mark is Jesus. God said about the Law the same thing Jesus said about how those who love him would live . . . “If you love me you will keep my commandments.” (John 14:15) Jesus is God and God is the same yesterday, today and forever.

Jesus is very clear that he did not come to abolish the Law (teach in opposition to it or undermine it, let alone do away with it). (Matthew 5:17)

Paul says very clearly, “So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.” (Romans 7:12)

When Paul tells Timothy, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the messenger of God may be complete, equipped for every good work,” (2 Timothy 3:16-17) we have to understand that Paul was not talking about his and the other Apostles’ letters. Yes, we see how integral they are in understanding faith, and we include them with the Scriptures for the purpose that he expresses about the Scriptures, but they only accomplish that purpose when they are consistently in agreement with the Scriptures. The Scriptures in Paul’s day were Torah and the Prophets.

This becomes incredibly significant when we realize that Jesus never said that the Greatest Commandments — to love God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength and to love your neighbor as yourself–replace the Law. What he said, when asked the question of his day on which much has been written and much studied from a Rabbinic perspective, was not even a new answer! He was found to be with much wisdom because he expressed an idea understood to be wise by those who understood things in his day.

Let’s take a second to look at the exchange in Matthew 22:36-40.

One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Let’s break that down.

An Expert in the Law tested him. It doesn’t say, “was confused,” or, “needed help understanding,” or, “didn’t get it.” What were they testing him about? About the thing they were an expert in. The Law. In fact, Matthew then goes into Jesus asking them what they really think they are looking for when they say they’re looking for Messiah. He knew they were testing him to see whether he fulfilled the Law (upheld it, lived it, taught it correctly) or not. They were never able to fail him in these tests!

So if Jesus answered this question correctly, what is the correct answer?

Well, we see that Jesus immediately and correctly identified the “trick question” that was part of this test. The greatest commandment isn’t one commandment — it is a two-fold Truth about God’s Law!

God’s Law cannot be summed up by one rule. It has to be summed up with two ideas of eternal Truth.

‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ AND ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

The second is equal to the first when you want to live obediently to God’s Law.

And this brings us to the problem with sin leveling as a doctrine.

All sin is present in the world as evidence that mankind was separated from God at the Fall.

If Jesus did what those who are his followers claim he did, then he fixed the problem of sin. Paul says it this way,

“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.” (Galatians 3:13)

If this doesn’t mean that Jesus did away with the Law, and it most certainly does not because if it did that would make Jesus the man of Lawlessness, not the Messiah, then what does it mean?

Exactly what it says — he redeemed us not from the Law, but from the curse of the Law.

What was the curse of the Law?

Sin is present in the world as evidence that mankind was separated from God at the Fall.

Without God’s intervention, mankind would not be able to hit the mark.

Because of what Jesus did on the cross, about which he said, “It is finished,” we are now granted the right to be called Sons of God.

We are not merely sinners saved by grace.

We were sinners and the Good News — the Gospel — is that we are now granted the right to be called children of God!

But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. (John 1:12)

For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:26)

And then in 1 John 3:10 we encounter this hard truth.

So now we can tell who are children of God and who are children of the devil. Anyone who does not live righteously and does not love other believers does not belong to God.

About now is when echoes of Jesus’ words might want to ring into the discussion.

“If you love me you will keep my commandments.” (John 14:15)

And that summary of the Greatest Command that requires two expressions of eternal Truth when summing up the Law

‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ AND ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

Right at this crossroads of Truth, at this place where I’m hoping things are starting to slide together and the tumblers are falling into place in a way that you’ve wanted them to for so long that you forgot you wanted them to, because that is what happened to me when I realized this . . . .right here, is the problem with sin leveling.

All sin is evidence that mankind was separated from God at the Fall.

The curse of the Law is the awareness of the reality that we are separated from God.

The Good News is that Jesus redeemed us from the curse of the Law and we are no longer separated from God.

Resulting in the reality that to all who believe and accept him he granted the right to become children of God!

How do we know the children of God?

They live righteously and love others.

Love your neighbor as yourself

Love your neighbor as yourself

Sin leveling is heresy because it flies in the face of this Truth from God’s Word.

All sin is evidence we were separated from God.

In no other way is all sin equal.

Salvation fixes the problem of sin separating us from God.

Then a hard Truth from the Law becomes incredibly relevant — one you might miss if you never study it, or if you don’t study it to see what it has to teach you — there were sacrifices people were required to offer for two kinds of sins:

The sins you didn’t know were sin and when you find out they are sin you regret what you have done

and

The sins you knew were sins and didn’t know you were doing them and when you find out you regret what you have done

The first of those is about gaining understanding. You were doing something, you learn it’s a sin, you immediately regret it and want to stop and want to express your sorrow and regret to God that you were doing something you now understand is a sin.

This is what Paul is expressing in Romans 7:9-10a when he says,

At one time I lived without understanding the law. But when I learned the command not to covet, for instance, the power of sin came to life, and I died.

The second speaks to things you knew were a sin but you didn’t know you were doing them. One of the specific examples addressed in the Law is if you are in a field and don’t know there is a dead body nearby. When you discover you are in the presence of the dead body, and have been made unclean by it’s presence, you want to quickly bathe and correct the situation. Jesus gave this example:

“So if you are presenting a sacrifice at the altar in the Temple and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, leave your sacrifice there at the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God.” (Matthew 5:23-24)

Matthew 18:15 is relevant here as well.

“If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother.”

If you can shift gears and put yourself in the place of the brother (or sister) who is confronted with how you wronged someone, when you become aware of that sin you did that you may not have realized you did, you will understand the response of the person who realizes that they did something they knew was wrong but didn’t know they were doing.

Sacrifices were for unintentional and accidental sins. Intentional sins required repentance and making amends.

The penalty for a violation of the Law was determined by what it would take to make amends to those who were wronged by it.

If you stole something, you repaid 4 times the amount.

If you injured someone and rendered their eye, or arm, or leg, or life unable to be used for their benefit, you compensated them financially for that loss.

If you murdered someone accidentally, you were given the opportunity to flee to a City of Refuge before someone from that family found you and exacted revenge before you could have a fair trial. You were granted safe passage for a fair trial and if you were found not guilty of murder, if it was truly an accident, then you are allowed to live but you still have to live in the City of Refuge until the death of the sitting High Priest because accident or not you killed that person and their family has to be given time to grieve and move to forgiveness.

And that right there is why sin leveling is unbiblical.

The Greatest Command involves BOTH loving God and loving your neighbor as yourself.

Thank God that Jesus took care of the curse of sin so that when we miss the mark we are not separated from God because of it. And we cannot judge anyone because we know Romans 3:23 tells us,

“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

And yet we are impacted by some sins more than others.

When we harm someone, we have to make amends. God requires it!

Live in the City of Refuge so that the family who lost their loved one isn’t confronted daily with the smiling and still alive face of the one who killed their person.

Leave the altar if you remember that you wronged someone and don’t go back until you have made amends — then your sacrifice will be pleasing to God.

The heresy of sin leveling denies this. It teaches that God forgave me so you have to. If you don’t then unforgiveness is a sin and that makes you no better than me.

It says I’m right with God and if you aren’t right with me then you are the one with a problem.

No matter what I did.

No matter how badly I wronged you.

And that is not loving. In fact, it is hateful. It slights, wrongs, and deprives someone. It violates the Greatest Command in a way that is expressed this way:

Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. (1 John 2:9)

When you learn you have wronged someone, the presence of the love of God and the love of your neighbor inside of you moves you to regret and compassion. Guilt is a good thing and provokes you to stop sinning. The curse of the Law is gone, but the wisdom of it lives on!

Sin leveling tells those who were wronged that their feelings matter less than the eternal status of the person who wronged them and that isn’t true. The second eternal Truth of the Greatest Command is equal to the first. You have to embrace them both before you can even hope to walk in the two-fold Truth that sums up all Torah and the Prophets.

The moment you realize a worship song says something horrible

I am currently IN that moment so I thought I’d share. Have to get the thoughts out!

You can read all of the lyrics and see if it stands out to you, but it might not because I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen and sung these lyrics and suddenly today I almost did a spit take.

For those who don’t know, Cornerstone is inspired by and uses lyrics from the hymn Solid Rock by Edward Mote in 1934. That may be why this slipped by me for so long. It’s all Olde English-y words. I love Olde English but it’s not usually the headspace I’m in during worship.

This is the line . . .

I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
but wholly lean on Jesus’ name.

In all fairness, the group at Hillsong might not realize what they’re singing, because o the Olde English-y stuff, but this is not cool.

If you’re still wondering what’s wrong with these lyrics, “the sweetest frame” that he “dare not trust” is saying that he knows better than to trust a woman.

He’s basically saying

I know better than to trust even the most beautiful woman, but I trust completely in Jesus’ name.

Why are these things incompatible?

Why can’t you trust a woman and be saved by Jesus?

If you trust a woman, unlike the hymnist, does that mean you can’t be saved?

These lyrics are HORRIBLE!

I can’t enjoy this song anymore.

I’m bummed, but glad I’m not mindlessly singing mysogyny (at least in this song) anymore.

Speaking the Truth in Love

We’ve all heard the person who says, “I’m telling you this because I love you,” before they cut into you with laser sharpness or verbally offer what feels more like a sucker punch or a slap.

That is not at all what Ephesians 4:15 is saying to do when it says, “But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:”

Let’s actually look at some context by reading the entire statement that Paul is making and see if that helps us understand what this should look like.

“1 I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to walk worthily of the calling with which you were called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 being eager to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, even as you also were called in one hope of your calling, 5 one Lord, one faith, one immersion, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all, and in us all. 7 But to each one of us, the grace was given according to the measure of the gift of Messiah. 8 Therefore he says,

“When he ascended on high,
he led captivity captive,
and gave gifts to people.”

9 Now this, “He ascended”, what is it but that he also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.

11 He gave some to be emissaries; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, shepherds and teachers; 12 for the perfecting of the holy ones, to the work of serving, to the building up of the body of Messiah, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a full grown man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Messiah, 14 that we may no longer be children, tossed back and forth and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error; 15 but speaking truth in love, we may grow up in all things into him who is the head, Messiah, 16 from whom all the body, being fitted and knit together through that which every joint supplies, according to the working in measure of each individual part, makes the body increase to the building up of itself in love.”

Paul starts by laying out the Gospel as a reminder of why we need to walk in a way that properly reflects our calling. He encourages believers to be humble, gentle, patient, and to “bear with one another” in love.

In what Paul wrote in the Greek the ideas of “humble” and “gentle” are connected in a way that explains the variety of translations of the idea here. You might encounter “lowliness and humility” or “humility and gentleness”, but the lightbulb came on for me when I learned about the Jewish understanding of humility.

In Hebrew thought humility is expressed as taking up exactly as much space in the world as God created you to take. No more – as that would reflect thinking yourself better than others and trying to steal the space God intended for them). No less – as that would reflect a lack of understanding of who you were created to be that rejects God’s intentions in making you. Trying to steal someone else’s space is as inappropriate as attempting to leave space empty as though God made a mistake in who He created you to be.

Humility is the what – gentleness is the how.

Paul is talking with believers about accepting who God created them to be, the space He intended them to take up, and the purposes He created them to fulfill . . . in community. And as these believers are coming to understand and figure out who God intended them to be, the space He intended them to fill, add the purposes He intended them to accomplish, they are going to bump into each other. They are going to find they are trying to steal this person’s space while also leaving space intended for them empty – resulting in jobs undone. They are going to make mistakes as they shed their junk from their pagan lives, and as they try to understand and embrace the walk God put before them.

Doing that and maintaining relationship requires everyone involved to be gentle with one another. Lowliness and humility means being willing to admit when you overstepped and the attitude with which we tell someone they overstepped . . . as well as how we encourage them to consider whether they were intended to actually fill the space they don’t feel worthy to fill. Humility is the what – gentleness is the how.

Paul gives us an example of how to speak the truth in love.

He then references Psalm 68:18

18 You have ascended on high.
You have led away captives.
You have received gifts among people,
yes, among the rebellious also, that the LORD God might dwell there.

It stands out to me that he left off that last line, but it wouldn’t have been lost on his audience in that day. Paul gives us an example of how to speak the truth in love. The reader gets the message that they are the rebellious people that the Lord is bringing gifts, without Paul coming out and calling anyone rebellious. Paul is gentle and humble because he is the one delivering the message but he is not the Holy Spirit who is responsible for doing the work of convicting.

Paul then lists some specific jobs that God calls various people to fulfill.  My understanding of these roles has changed since I began studying them from a Hebraic perspective and trying to look at how they were expressed and fulfilled in Paul’s world as a Pharisee.

emissaries – those who are commissioned to take the message out to the world beyond the church walls and establish new communities of believers

prophets – those who understand the Word of God in Scripture and can help translate it for their community while being connected to God with a spiritual awareness that allows them to see how and when those truths of God’s Word apply to an immediate situation

evangeliststhose who are called to brightly shine God’s love and truth into the world by the very way they live and share their love with those around them, serving as a beacon that calls others to want to know what is fueling their brightness

shepherds – those who are called to serve and love a particular community and serve as overseers responsible for feeding, nurturing and growing them up while keeping predators from entering the community and being able to attack

teachers – those who have a gift for explaining the truths of Scripture that apply to how we are to live and what we need to understand in order to walk a faithful life

Why did God assign people to these roles?

12 for the perfecting of the holy ones, to the work of serving, to the building up of the body of Messiah,

How long will we need people in these roles?

13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a full grown man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Messiah,

What are they protecting us from until then?

14 that we may no longer be children, tossed back and forth and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error;

How are they supposed to accomplish this?

15 but speaking truth in love, we may grow up in all things into him who is the head, Messiah,

What will it look like when they do their job right and we grow up into full grown adults in the faith and reach the measure of the stature of the fullness of Messiah?

16 from whom all the body, being fitted and knit together through that which every joint supplies, according to the working in measure of each individual part, makes the body increase to the building up of itself in love.  Truth in Love meme

The truth that needs to be spoken is Biblical Truth

This is a beautiful example of where the sum is greater than the whole of its parts.  Paul has provided us with a roadmap to maturity in the faithful walk of a believer and a picture of how to create an environment that nurtures them along that road.  The truth that needs to be spoken is Biblical Truth – starting with the Gospel and moving through the instructions that God gives us for how to live, how to worship, how to interact with each other in a Godly way, and everything Scripture provides for the boundaries and direction in our lives.

God wants us to learn these things in community with other people who are also learning these things. Those called to roles of authority in these communities are tasked with a very important job of protecting the “sheep” from the things they don’t know are waiting to take them down – paths that are not safe for them to go down, wolves who would kill them and use their skin to deceive others into thinking they are also an innocent sheep, and all manner of things that are able to discourage us and cause us to be fearful.

Love is the context that allows you to speak Truth

The only people we will be able to hear speak Truth into our lives are those we already trust and know love us. They are the people we will feel safe going to when we struggle.  They are the people who will know us well enough to know when to speak and when not to speak.  They are the people who know us well enough to know HOW to speak to us so that we can hear.  Love is the context that allows you to speak Truth.

The depth of love determines the level of authority

King David was able to hear Nathan the Prophet when he came to him about his improper relationship with Bathsheba because their story didn’t start there.  The foundation of their interactions and the development of their relationship with each other started long before and was based on mutual love and respect as well as a shared history.  Nathan knew how to talk to David, and David knew that if Nathan was talking to him it was Truth he needed to hear.

It is the depth of love that determines the level of authority someone will be given.  Leaders are not exempt from the requirements of those living within the community that Paul begins this passage by laying out in verses 1-3.  Leaders should come from those who are modeling these things to the level that people are already following them.  Since leaders can only lead you where they are going, it’s important to have leaders who are going towards the goal of spiritual maturity that Paul lays out as the goal of our journey.  When leaders are going to that destination we will want to walk with them.