Reading the other side of the New Testament
Commentary
It is important that we never forget that the New Testament was written in the midst of real life, real flesh and blood situations, that it was written to a real people who were facing real problems.
We are not always told what the problems are but that does not mean that we cannot know them. All we have to do is to hear what is being said in order to know the problem addressed.
If a strong statement is made about some item of faith then we can assume that someone is watering it down or taking an opposing view.
If some direct command is given regarding the faithful and obedient life then we can bet that someone is failing.
In most of the Scriptures today it is clear that the gnostics are at work in the church. Everywhere in the New Testament you run into admonitions against a "too spiritual" approach to the faith.
It will be worth your time to do some careful study of this movement and the impact it had on the early church. One impact was and is important to us. Since the opposition was giving them problems the early church had to get its act together and say what it meant to say. That caused them to put down what they considered vital. Because of that we have a rather clear view of what the apostolic faith was and still is. So, when you listen to the New Testament, be sure to keep one ear open for what the other side is saying. It will help in understanding why these things are written down.
OUTLINE I
The early church preaches
Acts 3:12-19
Introduction: In the book of Acts we are privileged to listen in on the content of the preaching of the 80s of the first century. Here Luke is making the claim that what is being preached in the 80s is consistent with the preaching of the apostles. Here he makes points of great importance to a church which was struggling under the persecution of Domitian (81-96 A.D.) and is seeking to bolster a church that must have been asking whether it had made a wrong choice. Luke has Peter answer:
A. This is an act of God. It was necessary that the case be made that God was in Christ. This God has taken the worst that men could do and turned it to good. The evidence is before them in the man healed of his lameness. They had better listen. That word was for Luke's church.
B. Repent. That call which was given by Peter in his first sermons was meaningful in Luke's day. There were those who were wavering and some leaving the fellowship and crucifying Christ anew. Even so, they can be forgiven. If God could forgive those who crucified Jesus then the good news is that Luke's readers too can be forgiven.
Conclusion: When one reads the gospels it is important to remember that they are more than records, more than history. They are preaching. That preaching is directed to the current church. And that is what preaching is now. Taking the message, the rod, and displaying it again and again it becomes a contemporary word. It is always contemporary because we continue to do what they did. We need to hear the good news that we too can be forgiven if we repent.
OUTLINE II
A certain word
1 John 2:1-5
Introduction: In today's passage we have a wonderful summary of the method of the Christian gospel. The word is first proclaimed, assurance of forgiveness is given and the proper response is made.
A. God's initiative. It is not our repentance that moves God to forgive, but the knowledge that he is gracious and forgives which brings us to the throne of grace. To speak of Jesus as our advocate is to picture him as our attorney standing with us before the bar of justice and pleading our cause. He is also our expiation; the word means covering. In him our sins are blotted out from God's sight. Watch that one. It may sound as if they are blotted out from memory. Here the writer means that they are covered, blotted out from God's sight by our advocate. Moreover, this is already done for all, even if they do not know it.
B. A response. There is always a therefore in the gospels. Obedience is required. Those who seek to live obediently and to follow his commands are those who can know that all is well between them and God. Here, I suppose, that we are listening to more than a command to keep ten commandments. Here we listen to a command to keep his spirit, his intent, his words.
Conclusion: There are many who get things backwards. They imagine that they must be perfect before God will accept them. That can only be called the bad news. Paul knew that it was impossible and in Romans 5:8 declared that "while we were yet sinners Christ died for us." That is the good news.
OUTLINE III
Battling the opposition
Luke 24:35-48
Introduction: There were, in the early church, those who seemed bent on out spiritualizing everybody else. Paul had trouble with them at Corinth. It is clear that Luke has trouble with them also. These are the gnostics. For them all material things are evil and all things spiritual are good. The more spiritual they can make Jesus the better for them.
A. Flesh and bones. In verses 36-43 Luke takes up the cudgel against the gnostics by presenting Jesus, not as a spirit, but as a real person who can be seen, handled and who can eat. Those who are claiming him to be spiritual and only seeming to be real are wrong. Those who criticize and claim that the apostles have had a hallucination are mistaken. Jesus was real.
B. Prophecy fulfilled. Note an interesting thing here. Jesus says that all that is in Moses and the prophets, AND THE PSALMS, speak of him. By Luke's time the church is discovering the expectant word in the Psalms as well as other literature. In this passage we have a brief creed of the early church. It sounds somewhat like the opening of 1 Corinthians 15.
Conclusion: There are always those who are trying to outdo others in the matter of spirituality. Those who listen carefully, however, discover that both Old Testament and New are quite "this worldly" and not "other worldly." The faith we hold is meant to be lived out in life, in our daily experiences. Those who become too spiritual tend to detach themselves from real life and more than that begin to look down their noses at ordinary Christians.
We are not always told what the problems are but that does not mean that we cannot know them. All we have to do is to hear what is being said in order to know the problem addressed.
If a strong statement is made about some item of faith then we can assume that someone is watering it down or taking an opposing view.
If some direct command is given regarding the faithful and obedient life then we can bet that someone is failing.
In most of the Scriptures today it is clear that the gnostics are at work in the church. Everywhere in the New Testament you run into admonitions against a "too spiritual" approach to the faith.
It will be worth your time to do some careful study of this movement and the impact it had on the early church. One impact was and is important to us. Since the opposition was giving them problems the early church had to get its act together and say what it meant to say. That caused them to put down what they considered vital. Because of that we have a rather clear view of what the apostolic faith was and still is. So, when you listen to the New Testament, be sure to keep one ear open for what the other side is saying. It will help in understanding why these things are written down.
OUTLINE I
The early church preaches
Acts 3:12-19
Introduction: In the book of Acts we are privileged to listen in on the content of the preaching of the 80s of the first century. Here Luke is making the claim that what is being preached in the 80s is consistent with the preaching of the apostles. Here he makes points of great importance to a church which was struggling under the persecution of Domitian (81-96 A.D.) and is seeking to bolster a church that must have been asking whether it had made a wrong choice. Luke has Peter answer:
A. This is an act of God. It was necessary that the case be made that God was in Christ. This God has taken the worst that men could do and turned it to good. The evidence is before them in the man healed of his lameness. They had better listen. That word was for Luke's church.
B. Repent. That call which was given by Peter in his first sermons was meaningful in Luke's day. There were those who were wavering and some leaving the fellowship and crucifying Christ anew. Even so, they can be forgiven. If God could forgive those who crucified Jesus then the good news is that Luke's readers too can be forgiven.
Conclusion: When one reads the gospels it is important to remember that they are more than records, more than history. They are preaching. That preaching is directed to the current church. And that is what preaching is now. Taking the message, the rod, and displaying it again and again it becomes a contemporary word. It is always contemporary because we continue to do what they did. We need to hear the good news that we too can be forgiven if we repent.
OUTLINE II
A certain word
1 John 2:1-5
Introduction: In today's passage we have a wonderful summary of the method of the Christian gospel. The word is first proclaimed, assurance of forgiveness is given and the proper response is made.
A. God's initiative. It is not our repentance that moves God to forgive, but the knowledge that he is gracious and forgives which brings us to the throne of grace. To speak of Jesus as our advocate is to picture him as our attorney standing with us before the bar of justice and pleading our cause. He is also our expiation; the word means covering. In him our sins are blotted out from God's sight. Watch that one. It may sound as if they are blotted out from memory. Here the writer means that they are covered, blotted out from God's sight by our advocate. Moreover, this is already done for all, even if they do not know it.
B. A response. There is always a therefore in the gospels. Obedience is required. Those who seek to live obediently and to follow his commands are those who can know that all is well between them and God. Here, I suppose, that we are listening to more than a command to keep ten commandments. Here we listen to a command to keep his spirit, his intent, his words.
Conclusion: There are many who get things backwards. They imagine that they must be perfect before God will accept them. That can only be called the bad news. Paul knew that it was impossible and in Romans 5:8 declared that "while we were yet sinners Christ died for us." That is the good news.
OUTLINE III
Battling the opposition
Luke 24:35-48
Introduction: There were, in the early church, those who seemed bent on out spiritualizing everybody else. Paul had trouble with them at Corinth. It is clear that Luke has trouble with them also. These are the gnostics. For them all material things are evil and all things spiritual are good. The more spiritual they can make Jesus the better for them.
A. Flesh and bones. In verses 36-43 Luke takes up the cudgel against the gnostics by presenting Jesus, not as a spirit, but as a real person who can be seen, handled and who can eat. Those who are claiming him to be spiritual and only seeming to be real are wrong. Those who criticize and claim that the apostles have had a hallucination are mistaken. Jesus was real.
B. Prophecy fulfilled. Note an interesting thing here. Jesus says that all that is in Moses and the prophets, AND THE PSALMS, speak of him. By Luke's time the church is discovering the expectant word in the Psalms as well as other literature. In this passage we have a brief creed of the early church. It sounds somewhat like the opening of 1 Corinthians 15.
Conclusion: There are always those who are trying to outdo others in the matter of spirituality. Those who listen carefully, however, discover that both Old Testament and New are quite "this worldly" and not "other worldly." The faith we hold is meant to be lived out in life, in our daily experiences. Those who become too spiritual tend to detach themselves from real life and more than that begin to look down their noses at ordinary Christians.
