Leadership: Tongues and Prophecy 8

Previous posts in this series:

• Corinth: AD50
• The Synagogue
• First Tier Apostles
• Paul, the Apostle
• Developing House Church Leadership
• Elders and Overseers
• Chaotic Worship

2. Paul has nothing but positive things to say about prophecy at Corinth. When he sets downs rules to bring order to the congregation, his controls on prophecy are that prophets speak one at a time, with there being only two or at the most three (1 Cor. 14:29-32). Further, he makes it clear that prophesies are to be evaluated by other prophets.

On the other hand, he is much more regulative when it comes to tongues. The whole thrust of 1 Corinthians 14 seems to elevate prophecy over tongues (14:1-2). Prophecy is presumably one of the greater gifts (12:31), second on his list in 1 Corinthians 12:28 (tongues is eighth).

The tone of 1 Corinthians 14 is generally dissuasive from the use of tongues in worship. It is true that he twice adds the exception, "unless someone interprets" (14:5 and 13). However, notice that these are quite the minority of the chapter. The rest of 1 Corinthians 14:1-25 argues repeatedly against the use of tongues in worship. Even when he says he speaks in more languages/tongues than all of them (14:18), this is the lead up to a "but" [2]

In the end he says not to forbid speaking in tongues in the worship service as long as there is an interpretation (14:39-40). If there is an interpretation, like prophecy, they should speak one at a time, two or at the most three (14:27-28). Of course these instructions were written to the Corinthian congregation with a view to their specific issues.

Today, there are churches where everyone there seems spiritually uplifted even when there is no interpretation. And there are churches today where the church would split if tongues were spoken. The recontextualization of Scripture calls for spiritual discernment in different times and places. Paul's bottom line is that everything be done decently and in order (14:40).

3. The main point is that the early church--at least some of Paul's churches--were rather charismatic. Prophecy was far more an element of the early church than many of us realize today. When Ephesians 2:20 says that the church was built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, it is not likely thinking about the Old Testament prophets but the New Testament ones.

In every age, there is a tension between the church as structured and the church as prophetic. In the first century, the apostles provided the ultimate structure, followed by elders as they became established. Apostles had a clear lineage in the sense that the Twelve could trace their leadership identity to Jesus. Even those apostles who were not from the Twelve could trace their apostleship to a resurrection appearance from Christ. [3] They were the closest thing to an establishment at that time.

By contrast, prophets could come from anywhere. The Spirit could speak through either gender. The Spirit was the great equalizer, regardless of nation or tongue or social background.

Accordingly, false prophets soon became a concern. The latest books of the New Testament deal extensively with false prophets and false teachers (e.g., 2 Peter 2 and Jude). It is no surprise that books like 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus are concerned about church structure and the qualifications for a church leader.

Nevertheless, there is nothing in the New Testament that suggests the prophetic role came to an end at some point. 1 Corinthians 13:8 is not saying that prophecy as a function will cease one day but that any individual prophecy has a date stamp on it. 1 John 4:1 exhorts John's community to test the spirits, and it warns that false prophets will abound. But the ongoing validity of prophecy is assumed within the church.

That is not necessarily to say that we should have a "prophecy time" in our worship services. The form leadership and the use of spiritual gifts take will inevitably change from context to context. What persists are the functions of leadership and the gifts, not necessarily the form in which they are expressed or exercised.

[2] This verse reminds me of the girl that told a guy, "I like you, but I don't want to go out with you," and the guy only heard, "I like you."

[3] Although in the case of Paul, many no doubt disputed that he was truly an apostle.

Leadership: Chaotic Worship 7

1. Leadership Before Christ

• Corinth: AD50
• The Synagogue

2. An Apostle in Town

• First Tier Apostles
• Paul, the Apostle

3. House Church Leadership

• Developing House Church Leadership
• Elders and Overseers

4. Prophecy in the Church
1. It was apparently a mess when the varied house cells came together for worship on the Lord's Day and to eat the Lord's Supper. Paul wrote 1 Corinthians 11-14 to address the chaotic nature of worship. 1 Corinthians 14 seems to point to the use of tongues in worship as the focus of the issue, but 1 Corinthians 11 also shows that the participation of women in prophecy caused some awkwardness.

As Acts 2:27 indicates, a clear consequence of the coming of the Spirit was the exercise of prophetic gifts among women: "your sons and daughters will prophesy." Women of course prophesied in the Old Testament as well. When the male high priest in the days of Josiah wanted to verify that the Book of the Law was authentic, he took it to the prophetess Huldah, who apparently was his spiritual superior (2 Kings 22:14). Philip the "evangelist" also had four daughters who were prophetesses (Acts 21:9).

1 Corinthians 11 clearly indicates that the wives of the Corinthian church were full participants in the spiritual worship of the community. [1] The problem that Paul is addressing in this chapter resulted from the strange situation where 1) husbands and wives were in close association with other husbands and wives in close quarters, 2) indeed in a house, where women would not normally wear a veil, 3) and where women were speaking and prophesying to men who weren't their husbands.

Paul's solution is for the wife to make sure she is wearing her veil (1 Cor. 11:5). The passage likely refers to a hair veil, leaving the face uncovered. This veil indicated modesty/honor and, like a wedding ring today, made it clear that the wife was in proper relation to her own husband while prophesying to men who were not her husband. This chapter thus assumes that women will prophesy in corporate worship. Paul's goal is to create an environment where women can prophesy without shame or unnecessary turmoil.

Interestingly, Paul mentions prophecy in this passage as the second most important role in the church after apostle (1 Cor. 12:28). Accordingly, when he and Silas were with the Corinthians, he and Silas held the most important role. Then those women and men who had the gift of prophecy played the second most authoritative role in the church, even above teaching. As we have already said, he never mentions any elders at Corinth.

[1] Making it clear that, if 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 are original, they had to do with disruptive speech, not with spiritual or prophetic speech.

Leadership: Elders and Overseers 6

Previous posts:

1. Leadership Before Christ

• Corinth: AD50
• The Synagogue

2. An Apostle in Town

• First Tier Apostles
• Paul, the Apostle

3. House Church Leadership

• Developing House Church Leadership

3. So a city like Corinth might have had four or five house cells, all of whom could come together in assembly for the Lord's Supper each week in the large house of Gaius (Rom. 16:23). The house cells would be like Bible study groups today that meet in homes. They would each have their own personality.

Some would likely be loyal to Paul. There might be one that was more "conservative" and in line with Jerusalem. There might be some that were made up primarily of Jews and others of Gentiles. There might be some that were higher social class and others of much more lowly means. Some might consist of converts under Paul's ministry.

As church leadership structure developed, perhaps smaller house cells in a city eventually contributed one or two elders to a growing council of elders that served as a repository of wisdom for the "assembly at x." The greeting of 1 Corinthians still addresses a "church" in the singular (1:2), so Paul conceptualized the believers in this city as one assembly and one church. These may have come together each Sunday for a meal in the evening (1 Cor. 11:25). [3]

If they went by Jewish reckoning, perhaps this took place on what we would think of as Saturday night after sundown, since the Jewish day began at sundown. That would then allow smaller groupings to gather early in the morning on Sunday at dawn, the time when Jesus rose from the dead. They would not have Sunday off work, so we would expect them to meet early before then going about their day's activities.

4. We probably should not think that the elders of the early churches necessarily did much ministry. There were "ministers" (diakonoi) who actually did more of the foot work of ministry in the congregation. I am of the opinion that the group we sometimes have called "deacons" were actually the ones more like the "pastors" we know today. More on them to come.

Paul never uses the word elder (presbyteros) in any of his early letters. Only 1 Timothy and Titus refer to elders. Paul never speaks of elders in the church at Corinth or any of his early churches. He does refer to the "overseers" (episkopoi) of the church at Philippi, and these are probably equivalent to elders (Phil. 1:1).

Once there were councils of elders or overseers in Christian communities, they would have served to make important judgments. Given the patriarchal pull of the culture, we can expect that these councils would have eventually become overwhelmingly male, but we have no evidence that individuals like Lydia or Priscilla were not elders in their communities.

5. From 1 Timothy, Titus, and 1 Peter, we can see that the titles of elder and overseers both seem to refer to the same role. Titus 1:5-7 flows seamlessly from one term to the next in the same conversation. These are not solo pastors. These are a group of individuals providing wisdom and guidance to a community.

Peter refers to himself as an elder in 1 Peter 5:1, showing that the role of apostle and elder were not mutually exclusive. Then in 5:2 he speaks of the elders (presbyteroi) providing oversight (episkopeo). 1 Peter 2:25 also flows seamlessly from Jesus as the great "pastor" or "shepherd" (poimen) of our souls to Jesus as the "overseer" (episkopon).

The church structure in these letters distinguishes them from Paul's earlier letters, where the church seems far more charismatic and prophetic in flavor. Many will know that there is a lively debate among scholars about whether the Pastoral Letters belong to a period after Paul's death when false teaching was abundant and the need for a more developed church structure came into play. Although most evangelicals do not side that way, the debate reflects the uniqueness of 1 Timothy and Titus within the Pauline corpus. At the very least, they seem to reflect the church more at the end of Paul's ministry than at its beginning.

[3] Or did they meet for the meal on Thursday nights to mirror the Last Supper?

Leadership: House Church Leadership 5

Previous posts:

• Corinth: AD50
• The Synagogue
• First Tier Apostles
• Paul, the Apostle

1. The arrival of the gospel in a city like Corinth was socially disruptive. The beliefs and practices of the synagogue were relatively uniform and stable prior to Paul's arrival in town. When he arrived, the synagogue is suddenly divided. Many Jews believe, including the synagogue leader. Others no doubt do not. Paul becomes a divisive figure in the Judaism in the city.

God-fearers are elevated. Where before they were peripheral figures not fully included in the synagogue, now they are equal participants. A wealthy Gentile Roman citizen like Titius Justus is now a person with power. [1] Is this individual possibly the Gaius of Romans 16:23 and 1 Corinthians 1:14?

The church as a whole can apparently meet in Gaius' house, suggesting a group of 40-50 (Rom. 16:23). Perhaps once a week they meet together to eat the Lord's supper, which seems to be a meal in 1 Corinthians 11. During the week, perhaps they meet in smaller groups in the houses or apartments of other believers. It is in these smaller groupings that factions in the congregation likely congealed.

You had Jews and Gentiles loyal to Paul. You had Jews and Gentiles who used Apollos as an excuse to undermine the first group. Perhaps you had Jews who preferred Peter and the Jerusalem approach over and against Paul. All the disagreements within the church addressed in 1 Corinthians reflect differing social groupings in the assembly.

2. The synagogue would have had a council of elders that provided leadership for it. We can imagine that such a collection of elders eventually formed for the house churches of the early church. A smaller house church probably would not have enough people for a full council. We can image that these cells often did not have ten people in them.

So it seems more likely that collections of elders first developed on a more city-wide basis, or that the churches of many cities did not have elders at all. Women in these churches quite likely played prominent roles not least because many of the first believers were women. A Priscilla or a Lydia likely were every bit as influential and played just as much a leadership role as anyone in their churches, whether they were called elders or not.

We should probably take Acts 14:23 in this developing way. Paul and Barnabas recognized leaders in individual house churches. They likely charged them with the ongoing continuation of worship and teaching in those locations. But these would mostly have been more like the size of our modern Bible studies than full blown churches like we have today. There were no church buildings.

So we can picture Paul designating Lydia as the leader of the church that met in her house or Priscilla and Aquila as the "elders" of the church that met in their house. [2] Then, perhaps, when you took all these individual elders in the individual house churches and looked at a city as a whole, this group might be called a council of elders for the city (e.g., 1 Tim. 4:14; 5:17). At this early stage, these things were likely very informal rather than formal structures. If a house church disagreed with the other groups in the city, there was nothing to stop them from going their own way.

[1] The name Titius Justus looks like a Roman name, perhaps Gaius Titius Justus or some such.

[2] There is the question of age. Were these women and men old enough to be considered "elders"? One way or another, formally or informally, we can imagine that they had the equivalent authority and power in their churches.

Journey through 1 Corinthians!

Tonight my spring journey through 1 Corinthians begins. I'm teaming up with Sam Maddox at Light and Life Wesleyan Church again to do a small group Bible study on Thursday nights from 6:30-7:30. This is a live meeting at a URL I give.

If a small group in your church or you as an individual would like to join, just contact me through the comments, Facebook, etc...

1 Corinthians
1. February 7 - 1 Corinthians 1
2. February 14 - 1 Corinthians 2-4
3. February 21 - 1 Corinthians 5-6
4. February 28 - 1 Corinthians 7
5. March 7 - 1 Corinthians 8-10
6. March 14 - 1 Corinthians 11-12
7. March 21 - 1 Corinthians 13-14
8. March 28 - 1 Corinthians 15-16

There's no need to buy any books, but I have written a couple books on 1 Corinthians:

Paul: Messenger of Grace (on Paul's early writings)

Commentary on 1 and 2 Corinthians

Church Leadership: Paul the Apostle 4

Previous posts:

• Corinth: AD50
• The Synagogue
• First Tier Apostles

3. Still, Paul was an apostle. He was what I might call a "second tier" apostle. He was not one of the Twelve and he had not been a disciple of Jesus. Yet the risen Jesus had appeared to him and commissioned him to go as a witness to the risen Lord.

1 Corinthians 15:7-9 is a good place to start to understand what Paul means when he calls himself an apostle. As he talks about resurrection appearances, he first mentions the Twelve. He also mentions some five hundred people to whom Jesus appeared, but he does not call them apostles.

Then in verse 7 he gets to the second layer, the apostles, beginning with James, the brother of Jesus. The way Paul words this group suggests that he saw himself as the last of this layer of apostles. Indeed, he sees himself as unusually late to this group, one "abnormally born" (15:8).

What are the characteristics of this group? Clearly they are sent, since the core notion of an apostle is that of someone sent. In 1 Corinthians 9:1, Paul says, "Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord?" Then he indicates that while other communities of Christians may not consider him sent to them, the Corinthians should know that he is an apostle to them. He has been sent to them.

Acts 4:33 makes it clear what apostles were sent to do. They were sent to testify to the resurrection. Jesus appeared to them risen from the dead. Jesus sent apostles to testify to his risen Lordship.

So the New Testament considers Paul an apostle, but not one of the Twelve apostles. And he is the last of a second group of apostles to whom the risen Christ had appeared. Perhaps there have been individuals since who have claimed to have received a visit from the risen Christ. Perhaps they would have a claim to be called an apostle today. But from Paul's perspective in 1 Corinthians 15:8-9, he would seem to be the last of this group.

We should add here that Paul himself probably did not see himself in a second tier of apostleship. He considered himself among the apostles that included Peter (e.g., 1 Cor. 9:5; Gal. 1:17; perhaps 2 Cor. 11:5). It is rather the book of Acts that does not place him on this highest level. I personally am quite happy to consider his perspective more precise on this issue than the perspective of Acts.

4. Acts 14:14 does call Paul and Barnabas apostles. This is the only instance in Acts where he is called such. All the other instances refer to the Twelve and distinguish Paul from the role. However, it does perhaps suggest that certain individuals in the early church could be called apostles who did not fit in either of the two previous groups. These would be something like a cross between a missionary and a church planter, individuals who were sent on mission to plant churches.

Paul can speak of "messengers" of the churches while using the same word apostolos (2 Cor. 8:23). He refers to Epaphroditus as a "messenger" of the church of Philippi. English translations rightly question whether the word apostle is the best English word to use to translate apostolos in these instances.

5. When it comes to the church today, a key question is the sense of the word apostle in key passages like 1 Corinthians 12:28-29 and Ephesians 4:11. Both speak of various roles that God has appointed within the church. What is important to recognize here is that, especially in 1 Corinthians, Paul probably believed that he was living in the last generation. "The time has been shortened... the form of this world is passing away (1 Cor. 7:29, 31).

Therefore, it is overwhelmingly likely that Paul was not thinking of the prolonged future when he spoke of apostles in 1 Corinthians 12. He was far more likely speaking of his own day, where the word apostle was used in the ways we mentioned above. There would not be any more apostles of that sort still today.

I personally believe this is also the best way to take the role of apostle in Ephesians 4:11 as well. Ephesians is thinking of the foundations of the church (Eph. 2:20), which by that time were already established. It is only because we find ourselves still here two thousand years later and now want to apply Ephesians to a different time and place that we feel the impulse to assign that role within the church today. This is our impulse to forget that while Ephesians is for us as Scripture, it was not originally written to us.

It would therefore seem that, from a New Testament perspective, there are technically no more apostles of Paul's sort today. Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles (e.g., Gal. 2:8). Peter was the apostle to the Jews. There were a number of other apostles to whom Jesus had appeared and whom Jesus had sent to witness to his resurrection and Lordship. The husband-wife couple Andronicus and Junia appear to be two such apostles (Rom. 16:7).

6. Is that the end of the story? I do not think so. The New Testament authors did not realize that Christ would tarry this long. The need for those who are sent to testify to the risen Lord has not disappeared. So we have a need today for those who feel called to go on mission. The Spirit of Christ still sends people out. There are still entrepreneurial church planters today.

We can call them apostles. We can celebrate these missionary church planters today. They do not have the authority of Peter or Paul. They do not write Scripture. Yet the need for apostolic ministers is real and God is sending them in the church today.

Church Leadership: An Apostle in Town 3

Leadership in the Early Church
1. Leadership Before Christ

• Corinth: AD50
• The Synagogue

Chapter 2: An Apostle in Town
1. In around the year AD50, a believer named Paul arrived in Corinth. Up to this point, the only Christians we know in the city are Priscilla and Aquila. However, it is certainly possible that they had won some others in the synagogue to the understanding that Jesus was the Christ.

In come Paul and Silas. Very shortly, Timothy would also arrive back from Thessalonica. Paul did not evangelize in stealth mode. No doubt he soon took the opportunity during Sabbath worship to speak about Jesus.

Our knowledge of synagogue worship at this time is limited--the destruction of the temple in AD70 probably moved synagogue practice toward some standardization. Nevertheless, from the New Testament we can infer that many Jews did gather on the Sabbath to hear Scripture and a word of exhortation. When Paul came to Antioch in Pisidia, they offered an opportunity to speak to him (Acts 13:15). The fact that Paul is able to find a worship gathering at Philippi suggests that there was a normal time for this reading. Since women are present outside the city by a river (Acts 16:13), it seems more likely to be early on Saturday morning than after dark Friday night. [1]

We do not know how many Sabbaths it took before Paul felt unwelcome in the synagogue at Corinth. It seems clear that many of the Jews in the city believed because both of the synagogue leaders when Paul was there believed. In the first year Paul was there (AD50-51), Crispus was synagogue leader and a believer. In the second year Paul was there, Sosthenes was synagogue leader and a believer (cf. 1 Cor. 1:1).

However, it seems that Paul eventually removes himself from the synagogue--or at least shifts the focus of his mission outside its walls. It seems likely that other believing Jews, perhaps most, continued to participate in synagogue worship. But now that Gentiles were believing, we see the rise of the house assembly, the house church. The house church, rather than the synagogue, becomes the center of worship.

2. Paul was an apostle (1 Cor. 9:1). He was not one of the twelve. Acts 1:13 gives Luke's list of twelve apostles: Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas (not Iscariot). Matthias is chosen to replace Judas Iscariot (Acts 1:26). The names are slightly different in Matthew and Mark. Mark has Thaddeus instead of the second Judas. John mentions a Nathanael.

It is common for people to think that Paul should have been Judas' replacement, but we should note that he did not fit the criterion of Acts 1:21-22. According to Peter's criteria, you had to have been with Jesus from the time of his baptism through the resurrection to be what we might call a "first order" apostle, one of the Twelve (e.g., Matt. 10:2). This criterion sparks all sorts of thoughts and questions.

Our first observation is that Jesus had more than twelve followers. While it is common to align Judas with Thaddeus and Bartholomew with Nathanael, none of the biblical texts actually say anything along these lines. We also know that many women followed Jesus (Luke 8:2-3; 23:27, 55; 24:10). They are almost the only ones who have the courage to stand at the cross (John 19:25-26).

The number twelve is significant because it implies the restoration of Israel. It seemed less important who the exact twelve were, at least on the edges. Apparently there were both men and women who were disciples, followers of Jesus, who traveled with Jesus during his earthly ministry. Matthias was one of them. Mary Magdalene was one of them.

Paul was not one of these. He not know Jesus during his earthly ministry. He was not one of those to whom Jesus appeared immediately after his resurrection. It was probably three years after the resurrection before Paul believed. Paul was not a "first tier" apostle. In most of the instances where the book of Acts refers to the apostles, Paul is clearly not one of them (e.g., Acts 15:4).

[1] The Sabbath began at sundown on Friday and went till sundown on Saturday.

Sermon Starters: Don't Be Troubled

Chapel, Indiana Wesleyan University, February 4, 2019 (Bible Monday)

Text: John 14

Introduction

• For the next four weeks--Farewell Discourse. Quite unique in the Gospels, very theological/philosophical. Go to place for the Holy Spirit's job description. Culminates in Jesus' high priestly prayer in John 17.
• Starts by telling them not to be troubled: "Do not let your heart be troubled."
• We could probably all use the secret sauce for that--it is an anxious time.
• Gen Z, the freshman, is said to be an anxious generation. Why? Let's see. There was 9-11 in 2001. There was the Great Recession in 2008-9. These last three years have been a political roller coaster in America.
• For the disciples? Jesus is about to be arrested, tortured, crucified, buried. The disciples have to sense it is coming. There will be plenty to be troubled about in the next couple days.

Jesus' Answer #1
1. I'm going to make the way to the safe house.

• I'm going to prepare a place for you. I'll come back to take you there so that you can be where I am. There is plenty of living space in my Father's house (p.s. there usually aren't mansions in a house, so the KJV probably doesn't give the best translation here).
• Queue the hero movie. We're in danger. The house is on fire. The place is filling with water. There's gun fire all around us. The hero says, "Wait here. I'll find a way out and come back for you." Indiana Jones in first movie, "If you insist, señor."
• But why can't Jesus just take us with him. He can deflect the bullets, right?
• Turns out the way is dying. That's the path. OK, Jesus, you go on ahead. We'll wait for you to come back and take us in a rapture or something like that!

And now, Silly Songs with the Disciples, the part of the Gospel where the disciples ask Jesus a silly question.

Batter #1: Thomas

• How are we going to know the way?
• Come on, man, Jesus just said he was coming back for you! Swing and a miss.
• But since you asked, John 14:6--"Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life."
• The Father is the safe house.
• His death and resurrection are the way. The only way. Even if God judges people by the light they have, Jesus is still the one and only way.
• He is the truth. Not as in, "1 + 1 = Jesus." He is the key to everything. He is the logos, which means he is the will and purpose of the universe.
• He is the life. He is the way to eternal life.

Batter #2: Philip

• Show us the Father, and we'll be fine.
• A swing and a miss.
• Reminds me of Monty Python 
• Illustration: the magic food bowl needs the human to put food in it for the dog. So we cannot simply go around Jesus to get to the Father. It's when we see Jesus that we see the Father.
• We can't be good or victorious in our own power. We can't cast out demons in our own power. Only Jesus can empower us for these things.

Jesus' Answer #2
2. I'm going to send you a guide to help you through the minefield of life: The Holy Spirit.

• But I'm only sending the Spirit to those who believe in me. Only those who keep my commandments will know the truth of the Spirit. The world won't.

Batter #3 Judas (not Iscariot)

• Why aren't you telling everyone these truths? Why only those who keep your commandments?
• This is a good question. I'll give it a bunt.
• 1 Corinthians 1:18-25 - the world thinks Christ-thinking is foolishness, stupid. But there is a spiritual wisdom for the mature in Christ (2:6).
• Reminds me of Pascal - if the truth were completely obvious, we wouldn't know people's hearts. Because the evidence is susceptible to multiple interpretations, God can see our heart.
• I thought of a scene in the first Poseidon Adventure. There are some who realize they need to go up, which is toward what used to be the bottom of the boat. Many others think they need to stay down, near the top of the boat where you can get out. The second group all die.

What is this way of spiritual insight that is different from worldly wisdom?

• It is away from self. Jesus' commandment is to love one another. Jesus' commandment is for us to give to others of our abundance, to forgive, to sacrifice. (1 John 3:17)
• It is away from idols (last verse of 1 John). It's easy for us to rely on what we can see rather than God whom we often cannot see.
• It is away from security. John 6:54. We are not to be troubled while we undergo the deeply troubling. The way is not a way of safety. It is a miraculous way of peace in suffering.
• It is away from worldly victory. Nietzsche hated this "slave morality." We may be called to choose to lose.

Conclusion
"My peace I leave you, not a peace that the world gives." This is a peace that passes understanding. It is a peace that does not escape the trouble, but can be at peace in it.

• Jesus is the way through the trouble to the safe house, the Father's house.
• The Spirit is the one to bring us through the minefield of this world.
• This peace is a miracle. There's no magic food bowl. Only Jesus through the Spirit gives us this calm, this peace in the midst of the storm.

Before Christ 2: The Synagogue

continued from yesterday
______________
3. When Priscilla and Aquila arrived at Corinth, they found a synagogue there. This synagogue was apparently a building, located next to the house of a man named Titius Justus (Acts 18:7). Titius Justus was a "worshiper of God," which suggests he was a non-Jew who had believed in the God of Israel but had not fully converted by circumcision and such.

This synagogue seems to be in a building. It was not always the case. The core idea of a synagogue is a gathering, a coming together. The use of dedicated buildings for synagogues was only becoming common at about this point in history. We cannot really assume that the New Testament is speaking of a building when it mentions a synagogue.

According to the later Talmud, a synagogue required ten men for the Scriptures to be read. [2] However, it is not clear how standardized or consistent such practice was at the time of Paul. The Mishnah dates to around AD200 and the Talmud to the 400s. In all likelihood, Jewish practice at the time of Christ was much less consistent. Given the culture of the day, we would not be surprised if most of the "elders" of your typical synagogue were men, but we have no basis to say definitively that no women ever played this role.

Nevertheless, it seems likely that synagogues functioned with a group of elders as their ultimate leaders, with a role of synagogue leader that was rotated. These elders probably were older men. We have to remember that while our culture tends to prize youth and associate truth with the newest and latest discovery, the ancient world viewed the elderly as a repository of wisdom. The Mishnah defines a city as a place where there are "ten idle men," the sense being that these men have lived long enough for their children to take over the work of living. [3]

Scholars have long speculated why there was no synagogue meeting within the city of Philippi in Acts 16:13. One suggestion is that there were not ten married Jewish men in the city, but we cannot know definitively. If that is the case, then the leadership of the church at Philippi must have initially consisted mostly of women, including Lydia (Acts 16:15).

The Sanhedrin in Jerusalem perhaps gives us a little sense of what a group of synagogue elders was like. The elders gather to consider what to do with Jesus (e.g., Matt. 26:57; Mark 15:1), with the high priest presiding. Stephen and Paul also appear before them (Acts 6:12; 22:30). In Mark 13:9, Jesus pictures the leadership of synagogues in the Diaspora as similar councils.

So it is likely that the synagogue at Corinth was led by such a council of elders when Priscilla and Aquila arrived. We cannot be sure but this council probably consisted of men, and Crispus was the synagogue leader at that time (Acts 18:8). A year later, the synagogue leader would be a different man named Sosthenes (18:17). Both are mentioned in Paul's writings and both apparently were believers.

[2] Talmud, Megillah 23b:4-5, drawing on Mishnah, Megillah 4.

[3] Mishnah, Megillah 1.

New Testament Church Leadership 1

1. Leadership before Christ
1. At some point around AD49, a Christian couple arrived at the city of Corinth named Priscilla and Aquila. I put the wife's name first because the New Testament typically puts her name first when it is referring to their ministry together. This fact suggests that she generally took the lead in ministry between the two.

Acts 18:2 mentions him first when the couple is first introduced. At that point they have just arrived at Corinth from Rome because the emperor Claudius had expelled Christian Jews from the city. However, she is mentioned first the other two times that the couple is mentioned in Acts. She is mentioned first in Acts 18:18 when they leave Corinth with Paul to go minister at Ephesus. Then she is mentioned first in 18:26, when the couple disciple a man named Apollos in the faith.

Once we realize how male-oriented the Roman and Jewish world was, we immediately find this word order striking. It suggests that Priscilla was more prominent in this couple's ministry than Aquila was. It suggests that she took the lead in relation to the church. Acts 18:26 makes this fact especially clear: when it came to discipling Apollos, Priscilla is mentioned first. This is of course the Apollos who would be the second great "minister" to the church at Corinth, following Paul.

When Paul greets Priscilla and Aquila in Romans 16:3, he mentions her first in the same breath that he speaks of both of them as co-workers with him. He goes on to greet the church that meets in their house. 2 Timothy 4:19 similarly mentions her first in its final greetings. He does mention Aquila first when sending greetings from them to the Corinthian church (1 Cor. 16:19).

The bottom line is that she must have been a spiritual force to reckon with, and none of these texts give any indication that she played some secondary role in their ministry. On the contrary, by far the most natural way to read these texts sees her taking the lead in spiritual things. Perhaps in worldly things like tentmaking he took the lead; we do not know. She seems more prominent in ministry matters.

2. Priscilla and Aquila arrive at Rome before Paul does. They had apparently become believers in Christ at Rome. We do not know exactly how the good news reached Rome. Perhaps some individuals heard the gospel of Jesus on the Day of Pentecost and took it back to Rome. "All roads lead to Rome," the saying went, so it was only a matter of time before some Jews would bring the good news there that the Messiah had come.

It is important to keep in mind that Christianity was not distinct from Judaism at this time and would not be for a long time. The first believers were Jews, and they did not see themselves as part of some new religion. For them, Jesus was the promised Messiah and so believing in him was in fact the culmination of all the promises to Israel. They were the true Israel. They were not abandoning Israel.

Of course belief in Jesus as Messiah was very controversial. As Paul explains in 1 Corinthians 1:23, the claim that God had let the Romans crucify the anointed king of Israel was a "stumbling block" to Jews. It was more than an insult. It was outrageous from an earthly perspective. The Messiah was supposed to be a conqueror, not a "loser." Those were more than fighting words. That was the kind of suggestion that could get you killed!

So it is no surprise that controversy over Christ became so heated in the synagogues at Rome that it not only came to the Roman emperor's attention. He expelled at least the Christian Jews out of Rome, perhaps also some non-believing Jews as well. The Roman historian Suetonius (ca. AD69-126) famously wrote that Claudius "expelled those Jews from Rome who were constantly making disturbances at the instigation of Christ." [1]

Priscilla and Aquila were apparently two of those expelled. We can see them telling other Jews in their synagogue at Rome that Jesus was in fact the Messiah, and we can see incredible controversy taking place. Finally, Claudius expelled those he thought were causing the trouble. The Romans did not like civil disturbances of any kind.

[1] Claudius 25.4. There is some debate of course whether this is a reference to Christ or some Jewish instigator named "Chrestus," but most think it is a reference to Christ, especially given Acts 18:2. The Jewish presence in Rome was so great at this time, that it seems far more likely that Claudius expelled a certain group of Jews rather than all Jews.

Who are the Wesleyans?

I recently created a PowerPoint presentation on the question of "Who are the Wesleyans?" Decided to record the presentation in podcast (and video) form. Here are the links:

1. Before there was Wesley (20 minutes)

• Podcast
• Video

2. John Wesley

• Podcast
• Video

3. Meet the Parents

• Podcast
• Video

4. The Wesleyan Church Today

• Podcast
• Video

OT Theology of God 3 (God of Israel)

continued from here
_______________________
The God of Israel
The starting point for an Old Testament theology of God is the fact that God is the God of Israel. The Old Testament does not approach God as an abstract philosophical or theological concept. The Old Testament exists because God chose to reveal himself to a people. Through that people, God revealed the Scriptures. The Scriptural understanding of God thus is predicated on the relationship between God and Israel.

Someone might object, "Does not the Old Testament begin with creation?" "Is not Abraham the father of all of those who believe (Rom. 4:11-12)?" These are good questions that lead to important hermeneutical questions. Once we have left the theology of the individual books of the Bible, we have left the orbit of inductive Bible study for the world of the canon and the church. The inductive begins to blur into the theological.

Our approach is to begin with the inductive and move toward the theological. At some point, the Pentateuch was bound together as a package. It would not be too controversial to suggest that the individual books in the Torah were edited into their current form as they became a single canonical bundle. From one perspective, we can consider the Pentateuch as a single work, despite the distinct histories various parts of the Pentateuch may have had as sources and individual books.

Within this literary whole, it seems apparent that the giving of the covenant at Sinai is the center, the fulcrum point of the Torah. The parts of the Pentateuch that precede Exodus 20-40 are leading toward the giving of the Law, and the other books of the Pentateuch play out its consequences. From this perspective, Genesis is a preamble to the covenant, which is found in the latter part of Exodus but expressed more powerfully in Deuteronomy where Moses recapitulates the Law a second time.

Within the Old Testament as a whole, the Law is clearly the centerpiece, the sun around which the other books orbit. What we might consider the historical books point back to the giving of the Law as the point of departure. This fact is especially clear in 2 Kings 22, where Josiah discovers the book of the Law and initiates a thoroughgoing reform.

The prophets proper are best organized in relation to the history of Israel expressed in the historical books. Some prophets functioned before the exile. Some during the exile. Others after the exile. This organizing principle, however, ties them to the organizing principle of the historical books themselves, which we have already seen look to the giving of the Law as their fulcrum point.

The last section of the Jewish Bible, the Writings, are headed by the Psalms, the worship texts of Israel. These of course make reference to the Law in a number of places (e.g., Ps. 19:7; Ps. 119), suggesting that the Law and, at one point, the temple centered their use. Once again, we find that the inductive starting point to conceptualize the Old Testament is the Law.

So the Law is the centerpoint of the Old Testament, and the covenant is the center of the Law. This fact suggests that the covenant is the starting point for Old Testament theology. It is the codification of the relationship between Yahweh and Israel.

Several texts ground this covenant relationship, many of which are in Deuteronomy. "I am Yahweh, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. There will be no other gods above me" (Deut. 5:6-7). The cornerstone of Israel's faith is the Shema of Deuteronomy 6:4: "Hear, O Israel, Yahweh is our God, Yahweh alone." These passages embody the covenant relationship between one God and one people.

In the ancient world, each nation had its patron deities, the gods that they served. Babylonians did not normally worship Dagon. Philistines did not normally worship Marduk. When two groups of people went to war, they understood their gods also to fight. In the case of the Trojan War, Athena especially took the side of the Greeks, while Poseidon took the Trojan side. The Romans typically invited the gods of whatever city they were surrounding to switch sides, with promises of honor after victory.

Psalm 82 draws on this imagery when it pictures God as the "Most High" in the counsel of the gods of the other nations. From a Christian perspective, this is a figurative rather than a literal portrayal. The point of the psalm is that God is going to judge the other nations for the way they have treated their own poor and needy. To the extent that Israelites might have referred to other gods, Christians might think mostly of demonic forces.

Yet Deuteronomy 32:8-9 uses this imagery as well, "When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance and when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the boundaries according to the number of the sons of God, for his people are the portion of Yahweh, Jacob, the place of his inheritance." The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls (100BC) have confirmed that the original reading here was "sons of God" rather than "sons of Israel," as the much later Masoretic text says (AD900s).

Again, Christians would not take this passage literally, but it gives us the same sense that, of all the peoples of the earth, Yahweh especially chose Israel. Deuteronomy 7:7 puts it well: "Yahweh did not love you or choose you because you were more numerous than all peoples, for you were the least of all peoples. The book of Jonah makes it clear that God was not uncaring toward the other peoples of the earth, even the enemies of Israel. As Christians we might say that God used Israel as an entry point to the world with a view to the world's eventual salvation.

The Ten Commandments stand at the beginning of a covenant agreement between Yahweh and Israel. [1] They are to have no other gods above him. They are not to make images of him or any other god. They are to keep any oath they make in which they invoke his name. Deuteronomy 28 invokes both blessings and curses on Israel depending on whether they keep the covenant or break it. Keeping the covenant results in many material blessings. Breaking the covenant will result in even more cursings.

The books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings are often known as the "deuteronomic history" for the way that they embody the consequences to Israel depending on their faithfulness to the covenant. We see what happens to Israel in battle after one man, Achan, violates God's command (Josh. 7). The book of Judges in particular is a case study in the consequences of such obedience or disobedience. Whenever Israel turned to other gods, Yahweh allowed them to be defeated and enslaves.

The starting point for an Old Testament theology of God is the fact that God is the God of Israel. The story of creation, more than anything else, served to show that the one God of Israel was the creator God, not Marduk of the Babylonians or the god of any other ANE people. It was Yahweh, the God of Israel, who laid the foundations of the earth (e.g., Ps. 102:25), not some other god.

[1] The similarity of this pattern to ancient suzerainty treaties is often noted (e.g., Hittite treaties). The ruler of a people agreed to defend and provide for a people if they in turn would give their complete loyalty to the ruler.

OT Theology of God 2 (canon 2)

Continued from last week

The Christian Old Testament
The same books that are the Jewish Scriptures are also the Old Testament for Christians. It is important to understand the distinction. The ultimate meaning of words is a function of their contexts. Accordingly, the words of the books of the Jewish Scriptures and Old Testament--although they are the same words--have quite different connotations and implications depending on the canonical context in which we place them.

The meanings of words are ambiguous without context. Words tend to have multiple possible definitions, not to mention the virtually limitless metaphorical uses to which they can be put. Additionally, the books of the Old Testament are not one book but a collection of books written over hundreds of years in differing contexts themselves. When this multiplicity of factors is conjoined with the question of appropriation for today, the import of these books can vary widely depending on who is doing the appropriation.

For those who do not accept the New Testament as Scripture, the Old Testament is not "old." It is not incomplete. For Judaism, the Old Testament is the testament. For such a person, the Jewish Scriptures may not anticipate a coming king. A Jewish reader may or may not see human nature as fallen or intrinsically corrupted. Such a person may see prayer and worship as the contemporary equivalent of the sacrificial system of Leviticus.

For a Christian reader of the Old Testament, Jesus Christ is the king who continues the royal line of David. The death and resurrection of Christ provides a fulfillment of the Levitical sacrificial system. For the Christian, default human nature is under the power of Sin, with Adam as either the literal or symbolic demonstration.

This biblical theology is a Christian biblical theology. That is to say, while we will try to listen to each biblical text first on its own terms, the ultimate organizing principles assume that a New Testament followed the Old Testament. Further, we assume that the Christian church followed the New Testament.

Of course Christians disagree on the precise contents of the Old Testament canon. They agree on sixty-six of those books. They agree on the five books of the Law: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. They agree on the "Former Prophets" of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings. They agree on the "Latter Prophets" of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi.

It is in the Writings that there is some disagreement. Nevertheless, even here, there is agreement on Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Ruth, 1 and 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Lamentations, and Daniel. To these books, the Roman Catholic Church would add Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, 1 and 2 Maccabees, as well as additions to Esther and Daniel. The Orthodox and Ethiopian churches include one or more others.

In keeping with Jerome's categorization of these as "deuterocanonical," as a kind of second canon. While we may reference them on occasion, we will focus on the books on which all Christians agree. Where these other books are most relevant for us is when they illuminate some aspect of New Testament belief or practice.

Annual Women in Ministry post

About once every year, I make a post here supporting women in ministry and/or egalitarianism. Here is this year's post.

1. Adam and Eve were made with complete equality in the beginning.

• "Let us make humankind in our image. In the image of God he created humanity, male and female he created them" (Gen. 1:27).
• "Helper" (2:20) does not imply subordination (e.g., Ps. 54:4).

2. Subordination is a consequence of the fall in Genesis 3:16, not a consequence of the creation.

3. Nevertheless, God uses women in the Old Testament in the highest political and spiritual roles, even though it is less common.

• Deborah--the highest leader in all of Israel both spiritually and politically (Judg. 4:4, 8)
• Huldah--a higher spiritual authority with greater spiritual insight than the high priest of Israel (2 Kings 22:14-20)

4. Jesus elevated women in his ministry above their default level and role in the culture of that day.

• Matthew 1 elevates women in the genealogy of Jesus.
• Elizabeth and Mary are given atypical attention for that culture in the story of Jesus birth in Luke 1-2. Luke in general pays a lot of attention to the role women played in the gospel story--this would have been striking to an ancient reader.
• Luke mentions that wealthy women provided for Jesus and his male disciples as they traveled (8:3).
• The names of the twelve vary some. The choice of twelve men fits the patriarchal culture. His women disciples were there too in the mix (cf. Acts 1:14).
• But Jesus did not appear first to a man but to Mary Magdalene (John 21:11-18). And women were the first witnesses to the resurrection, in a sense making them the first apostles (Matt. 28:5-10).

5. The Day of Pentecost brings the Holy Spirit, the great equalizer.

• A sign of the new covenant and the new age is that sons and daughters will prophesy. Of course, because the Holy Spirit fills them both equally (Acts 2:17).
• "In Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither slave nor free; there is not 'male and female.'" (Gal. 3:28). This is what we would expect as God reorients identity to the spiritual dimension, above the earthly and physical and tribal.
• Note the slightly different wording for male and female in Galatians 3. It may echo Genesis 1:27 where God creates them "male and female." Perhaps not any more in the new creation.
• We are thus not surprised to find women ministering in Acts. Lydia hosts the church at Philippi. I suspect this implies she was an elder in the church at Philippi.
• Priscilla is mentioned before her husband in the discipleship of Apollos in Acts 18:19, 26.

6. Paul's letters also witness to the ministry of women in his churches.

• The purpose of 1 Corinthians 11 is to continue the equality of the spirit for wives to prophesy in public worship without shaming their husbands culturally. The veil is the solution. Women will be able to prophesy to men and women in the Spirit if they will veil their heads so as not to culturally dishonor their husbands while being in unusual proximity to other men and their wives (in a house church).
• So the goal is to free up women to minister spiritually despite the husband-headship of the culture.
• Paul seems to call Junia an apostle in Romans 16:7, indicating that Jesus appeared to her and her husband in an apostolic resurrection appearance and commissioned them both to go as witnesses to the resurrection. Some later manuscripts tried to change her name to a male name likely because the idea of a female apostle made them uncomfortable.
• Phoebe (Rom. 16:1) is a deacon (diakonos) of the church at Cenchraea. In my opinion, these diakonoi were the closest parallel to what we call a minister in a local church today.
• Priscilla is again mentioned first in Romans 16:3 as Paul's co-worker and as host of a church in her house, probably implying that she is an elder of that church or collection of churches.
• Euodia and Syntyche were coworkers of Paul at Philippi alongside male coworkers like Clement (Phil. 4:2-3). Other female workers are mentioned (Mary in Rom. 16:6; Tryphena and Tryphosa in Rom. 16:12; he singles out Persis as a hard worker in the Lord in Rom. 16:12).
• Paul mentions a church at Colossae that met in the house of a women named Nympha (Col. 4:15), making her the host and likely an elder in relation to those churches.
• None of these passages make any point that these women only ministered to other women or that they were carefully subordinated to male lead pastors or that they only ministered under the direction of their husbands.

7. The curse is undone by the redemption of Christ.

• Theologically speaking, if the subordination of women was a consequence of the Fall, then the redemption of Christ implies the re-equification of women in relation to men and their husbands.
• Jesus points to such an equification of women in the kingdom when he says in Mark 12:25 that women will not "be given in marriage" in the kingdom. Since we live in a culture today that is open to such equality, contextualization suggests we should enact it now, even within marriage.
• The idea that someone has to make the final decision seems like an excuse, especially if mutual submission is going on (Eph. 5:21). (By the way, the word submit is not actually present in the Greek of 5:22).
• It is in Hebrews that the new covenant insight of the totality of Christ's atonement comes fully into view. That is to say, it is in Hebrews that we fully see the end of all need for further atonement in Christ. All sins--past, present, and future--are redeemed through Christ. This truth is not as clear in the rest of the New Testament (cf. Acts 21:24) and may have taken the destruction of the temple to be fully understood by the New Testament church
• This may have implications elsewhere in the New Testament. Are there places in the rest of the New Testament where the implications of Christ's full atonement are not yet fully appropriated because of the cultural context of that day? E.g., 1 Tim. 2:15 speaks of childbearing playing some saving role. This is an odd statement given the full atonement provided through Christ!
• As another example, the household codes with regard to slavery accommodate the societal structure of the day rather than enacting the firestorm that would have come from living out the kingdom trajectory of total abolition.
• There is nothing uniquely Christian about the household codes of the NT when they subordinate wives to men. Aristotle structures the household in exactly the same way (Politics 1.1259a-b). It is pretty much what everyone thought. It is thus when the biblical texts move toward the equality of women with men that they are being distinctively Christian.
• The trajectory of the kingdom is thus toward the non-subordination of women to men in any way. Since our culture is open to this position, it would be ironic for us to push for the earthly and cultural when God has opened up the way for the heavenly and eternal!
• 1 Corinthians 11 shows that in Paul's day husband-headship was a distinct cultural issue from women engaging in prophetic ministry. Paul is finding a pathway to honor both in his cultural context. Most men with wives in ministry are fully supportive of that ministry... so wouldn't it violate husband-headship if that wife defied her husband and didn't obey her call? :-) And since Christ is the head of the man, who trumps the situation--a disobedient husband or the Lord of all? It is better to obey God rather than man. 

8. Misunderstood Passages

• In the light of 1 Corinthians 11, the later verses in 14:34-35 cannot be talking about spiritual speech but about disruptive speech. Women are assumed in 1 Corinthians 11 to participate in the spiritual speech of the worship service. For this reason, these verses do not have any bearing on this question.
• I might mention that a number of scholars do not think these verses were in the original copy of 1 Corinthians for several reasons. Such faith-filled scholars include Gordon Fee, Richard Hays, and Kenneth Schenck.
• 1 Timothy 3 does seem to assume that elders and deacons will be men, and probably the majority were. But this chapter does not explicitly forbid women from being elders or deacons. This argument against women in ministry is thus an argument from the typical to the universal, an argument from silence.
• That leaves us with only one verse in the entire Bible that even sounds like it could prohibit a woman from being the teacher of a man. You should never build a theology on one verse. 
• Indeed this issue tends to reveal one's hermeneutic. Like those who used individual verses in the Bible to argue against abolition, those who argue against women and ministry argue from individual verses rather than the arch of Scripture as a whole. Did Christ redeem women from the sin of Eve or not?

9. 1 Timothy 2:12-15

• The words woman and man here, used in such proximity, with Adam and Eve mentioned, suggest to me that 1 Timothy has husbands and wives in view. The words used here usually mean husband and wife when used in proximity to each other.
• If so, then we have here another husband-wife passage and our discussion is at an end. Husband-wife relationships are a different discussion from women in ministry, as I have argued above.
• These verses are unique in Paul's corpus. Nowhere else does Paul say anything of this sort. The uniqueness of the statement leads us to wonder if something is going on in the context of Ephesus leading to such a stark statement. (Scholars actually debate whether Paul wrote 1 Timothy) 
• I've heard it suggested that the present tense of 1 Tim. 2:12 could be significant--"I am not (currently) allowing a wife to teach or be an autocrat over a husband."
• The context of the Artemiseum at Ephesus is often mentioned, where women played dominant roles. The unusual strength of the word "dominate" or "usurp" in 1 Tim. 2:12 is often mentioned. I. Howard Marshall once suggested that Paul does not tell men that they can dominate their wives either.
• The train of thought is difficult (never base a theology on an unclear and disputed passage). For example, although 2:13 mentions the creation order of Adam and Even, my friend David Ward has pointed out how limited such an argument is. After all, the plants and animals were made before Adam and he isn't subordinated to their authority!
• 2:14 sounds like it refers to the deceivability of Eve. Certainly women were less educated at the time of Paul, but that isn't true today at all. That argument may have fit Paul's world and Ephesus, but it is not a timeless argument.
• I've already mentioned how strange 2:15 is, given that Christ has saved all men and women from the shame of the fall. Wives are saved through the blood of Jesus Christ, not through childbearing!
• In short, we tend to fixate on this verse today because a certain segment of the Christian community uses it as a proof text. But these verses are atypical of Paul. They are atypical of the whole of Scripture. They are often used to point in a different direction than the overarching story and trajectory of Scripture as a whole. They are often used to point in a different direction than the trajectory of the kingdom.

10. Common Sense

• If those who have questions about women in ministry will allow this one idea, it will change everything...
• Would you at least allow that there are exceptional circumstances where God might call a woman to minister. Deborah would seem to say so.
• If so, then the question shifts to, "Is this specific woman called to a role in ministry?" 
• And if you will let this be the question, then you will find that in this age of the Spirit, God is calling lots of women into ministry.
• And let's be honest, if a plane is crashing, I want the best pilot to be in charge. That's the question that makes sense--is this person (male or female) the most gifted, graced, and called person to lead this church?

Women are being called by God into ministry. Woe to us if we put any stumbling block in front of them!

OT Theology of God 1 (canon)

The Old Testament Canon
The starting point for an Old Testament theology of God is the fact that God is the God of Israel. That is to say, the Old Testament does not approach God as an abstract philosophical or theological concept. The Old Testament itself does not exist as a collection of musings from philosophers. The Old Testament exists as the Scriptures of a people--indeed of two peoples.

The Jewish Scriptures
The first people for whom the Old Testament exists as Scriptures are those who practice Judaism as a religion distinct from Christianity. For such individuals, these are the Jewish Scriptures rather than the "Old" Testament. For practicing Jews who do not believe Jesus to be the Messiah, the Jewish Scriptures are not an "old" testament but the testament, the covenant.

The canon of Judaism is the canon of most Protestants today. A canon was a measuring rod, and in this case a biblical "canon" is a collection of books considered to be a measuring rod for a religious group. Both Christians and Jews consider the books of the Jewish Scriptures to be such a measuring rod.

This canon had not yet reached its definitive shape at the time of the New Testament. Its first two parts were established by then, but not the third. The first section of the Jewish Scriptures is the Law (Torah), the Pentateuch--Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. In both Jewish and Christian Bibles of all sorts, these are the first books of the Bible.

The second section of the Jewish Bible is the Prophets (Nevi'im). This section includes not only what Christians think of as historical books (Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings) but also what we actually consider to be the prophetic writings of the Old Testament (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the twelve "minor" prophets). The Jewish canon is thus conceptualized by a different grouping of the books.

The limits of the third section of the Jewish Bible was not yet finalized at the time of Christ, the Writings (Kethuvim). Disagreements between Catholics and Protestants over the contents of the Old Testament may in fact relate in part to the fluidity of this collection in New Testament times. Luke 24:44 alludes to this section when it speaks of the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms, since the Psalms are first in this section.

At the time of Christ, various Jewish groups also disagreed on the contents of this section. Samaritans of course limited their canon to the Pentateuch, and they had their own version even of it. Some Essenes likely considered some of the books in the Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS) to be Scriptures. These included books that were known even previous to the discovery of the DSS, such as 1 Enoch and the book of Jubilees. These two books are part of the canon of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church even to this day.

The books of the Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and Anglican Old Testament canon include several books that are not in the Bible of most Protestants. These include books like 1 and 2 Maccabees, Wisdom, Sirach, and Tobit. As part of the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, these relatively late books had more lasting influence in Greek-speaking Jewish circles than in Aramaic-speaking ones. Since the early church quickly became more of a Greek-speaking than Aramatic-speaking movement, it is no surprise that Christians in the earliest centuries tended to consider these writings as Scripture of a sort. [1]

The Christian Old Testament
The same books...

[1] Jerome in around the year AD400 considered them "deuterocanonical." That is to say, he considered them a secondary part of the canon, not quite as significant as the other books but significant enough to be considered part of the canon.

High School to Masters in Five Years (KERN program)

For Graduating High School Students:
The School of Theology and Ministry (STM) at Indiana Wesleyan University (IWU) has a special program that has really become the backbone of our undergraduate school: the KERN Mentoring Program

• About 25 students a year receive a significant scholarship from their second semester freshman year for 5 years (in the past, some have received as much as $3000 a year in their undergraduate time)
• Graduate with a bachelor's degree in three years.
• Then receive a Master of Practical Theology degree in two more years (an MDIV equivalent in hours and coursework)

The Bachelor's Degree Part
Major in one of four ministry tracks: Christian Ministries, Worship Ministry, Youth Ministries, or Children's ministry.

• Admitted into the Kern program in the second semester, with a significant scholarship each semester.
• Take the ministry core with courses like evangelism, inductive Bible study, Christian theology, advanced Bibles, and church history.
• Take general ordination courses like counseling, preaching, worship, and local church education.
• Take courses in your specialization in ministry, like teaching the Bible to children (Children's Ministries), the Christian year (Worship Ministry), youth in culture (Youth Ministries), or church leadership (Christian Ministries).
• Finish in three years if you want--one year less translates to about $10,000 in savings!

The Master's Degree Part (four possibilities)
The Master of Practical Theology

• A 72 hour curriculum (the required number of courses in an MDIV)
• Up to 9 hours of advanced standing with credit from your undergraduate work
• Your first year is onsite in a cohort with courses like spiritual direction, worship renewal, strategic pastoral counseling, biblical theology, hermeneutics, and more.
• Your second year is a residency (usually a paid residency) in a teaching church, finishing out your course work online while you are being mentored at a church. 
• These include courses like multi-ethnic ministry, pastoral care, church health, youth and family education, and philosophy for ministry. 
• Normally finish in two years, while possibly receiving almost $200 a credit hour in scholarships.

Other Master's Degree Possibilities

• Master of Arts in Spiritual Care (a one year option beyond the bachelor's degree)
• Master of Arts in Biblical and Theological Studies (a one year option after bachelor's)
• Master of Arts in Theology (a two year option after bachelor's)

Old Testament Theology on Patreon

I have been doing some videos/podcasts on Isaiah but it wasn't energizing me or (I think) my patrons.

So I'm switching it up. For a few months I plan to look at verses in the Old Testament in a series on Old Testament theology. The revised weekly plan is:

• Monday - continue to do a video on the letters and pronunciation of a Hebrew verse of the week.
• Tuesday - for patrons only, continued work on my inductive Bible study textbook
• Wednesday - podcast on patreon covering the OT theology relevant to the verse of the week
• Thursday - for patrons only, continued work on my inductive Bible study textbook
• Friday - continue to do a video on the Hebrew grammar of the verse of the week
• Saturday - patrons only, continued work on my inductive Bible study textbook
• Sunday - Christian Sabbath :-)

New Year's Resolutions (2019)

"I have a feeling it's going to be an odd year."

The new trend is to pick a word for the year. I'm picking the word INVENT.

Something Old

• I want to finish writing two books this year, two textbooks. They are both already about half written. One is on inductive Bible study. The other is "Greek for Ministry."
• I'll renew last year's goal of 6 miles of running a week in the winter, with 15 once it warms up.
• I'll continue my trajectories on Patreon and Bible study.

Something New
I want to innovate this year, both personally and professionally.

• Personally, Trent Nettleton, myself, and a couple designers have been in conversation to create a New Testament Survey app. This would function like a textbook except it would be interactive. Perhaps finished in spring.
• Professionally, I want to 1) reach new students in new ways, 2) continue to connect the church with the academy, and 3) enrich student formation and experience. Here is where my principal investment in INVENTING may be.

Something Borrowed

• I'm sure I will read several books before the year is out. I'm not always sure what they will be. I suspect the first one will be The Coddling of the American Mind, by Jonathan Haidt.
• Dare I continue my quest in math and science? Perhaps I will feebly aim to continue.

Something Blue

• I'll take this in the sense of family. This is truly launching year and the goal is God-directed launches! My two older step-daughters are on trajectory to leave Indiana. My son has a major decision to make. My daughter is looking at various Christian colleges. May the Lord direct their paths!

The Year in Review (2018)

I have not posted nearly as much on this blog as in previous years. I post nearly daily on Facebook, which I have come to see as a tool of teaching and discipleship. Social media is also a marketing tool. My "marketing" has primarily been for the School of Theology and Ministry at Indiana Wesleyan University.

Here is my year in review.

Personal
The biggest personal change this year was my son Thomas going to college. He has a full tuition ROTC scholarship to Purdue (yes, he was present in Nashville at that horrible game Friday). Pray for the Lord to show him the best path for his future! This coming year will probably see all of our children out of the home. Pray for them if you think of it!

Preaching and Teaching
I preached at least nine times this year, including IWU chapel, the Holiness Emphasis Week at Southern Wesleyan University and a chapel at Asbury Orlando.

I also piloted an 8 week Bible study series on Romans with Sam Maddox and Light and Life Wesleyan Church in Three Rivers, Michigan. We will probably do another study this spring, perhaps on 1 Corinthians. If you have a small group at your church that is interested, this is a live Bible study probably on a Thursday night for an hour, using Zoom. I see possibilities here!

Patreon
1. One of the most interesting ventures this year was my shift from blogging to Patreon. Someone made an off comment on Facebook around April 7 about Patreon, about which I was unacquainted. On April 8, I started posting videos--and then podcasts (at the suggestion of Marc Jolicoeur) on Acts.

It took 35 weeks but I went through the entire book of Acts in Greek both in video and podcast. It turned out to be 220 videos, which you can watch in order at this playlist. It amounts to a course in Acts, minus the homework. Every week I did a special video for my patrons, almost all of which are now public.

I have several patrons who give $5 a month to support my work here. On December 10 I started working through Isaiah 40-66. Here is the playlist site. This week I hope to finish up Isaiah 41.

Books Read
I either read or skimmed several books this year:

• Demographics and the Demand for Higher Education. This is a must read for all of those involved in university leadership in the next decade. From the looks of things, the demographics look good for OKWU and SWU, but challenging for IWU and Houghton.
• This fall our Monday reading group read American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America. There's obviously some value judgments here, but also many insights gained.
• I wasn't as impressed with The Evangelicals, the book we read in the spring.
• I finally finished A Brief History of Time, since Stephen Hawking passed this year. I think I started it in the 80s. :-)
• I read a book called Just Six Numbers. It deeply informs the fine tuning argument. I posted a number of videos on philosophy this summer. 
• I finally finished reading Conrad Heiden's Der Fuhrer, which I started in the fall of 2016.
• For a class I was teaching, I read Craig Keener's, Spirit Hermeneutics. Interesting book, but I don't think I'll use it again.
• I read a biography of Ludwig Wittgenstein, a philosophy of great impact in the area of hermeneutics.

Books I've Written

• I wrote two more novellas in my Gabriel's Diaries series. 
• A book on Hebrews moves forward. We'll see what comes of it.
• I floated a proposal something like Sophie's World, spent some time writing a sample chapter. The lack of an enthusiastic response has it on hold.
• This fall I invested a good deal in a Greek for Ministry idea I've had for years. I have about 150 pages written. I hope to send a proposal to a publisher in January.

Math and Science
I have always loved math and science. Several years ago I started making videos going through physics, calculus, and chemistry. Inevitably, I don't have time during the year to work much on these, but I have done quite a bit in the summer. I still hope to better understand relativity and quantum mechanics before I die. Did some study in the summer.

Dean Matters

• This is my third year as Dean of the mostly undergraduate School of Theology and Ministry (STM). Each year surprises with a different challenge, but each year also brings successes and opportunities. 
• STM is a spectacular team. Charlie Alcock is a one man recruitment army with the work he does bringing thousands of young people to campus and running ministry teams in the summer. Amanda Drury is a grant-writing monster who has brought many students to campus who would not otherwise have come, including many diverse students. David Smith has been teaching Bible study in churches all over the US. Eddy Shigley continues to foster connections with the KERN Foundation. Brian Bernius has configured and reconfigured our curriculum into a lean and mean teaching machine. I could go on and on about STM's faculty and divisional leadership.
• The challenge of middle management is always partial power. You can facilitate some decisions, but the most impactful ones are out of your hands. You find yourself daydreaming a lot about what you would do. Suffice it to say, I have a large number of ideas (I've started keeping a notebook). We'll see if the Lord opens the door to use any of them!

So farewell, 2018. Onward to 2019!

Top Ten Reasons to go to a Christian College

In these days of multiplying options, I repeatedly come back to the question, "Why would someone choose a Christian college today?" We can break down this question even further:

• In a perfect world, why would or should someone choose a Christian college? and
• How do our Christian universities line up?

Top 10 Reasons
10. Because it's a solid education
This factor must be a given. A Christian shouldn't suffer educationally because they go to a Christian college. The education they get must be on a par or better than what they would get at a secular institution.

9. Because it's accessible
If going into the world to proclaim the good news of Jesus is at the heart of Christian identity, then Christian colleges will not only be "havens for saints" but also will reach out to the ends of the earth with education from a Christian perspective and with Christian values. It makes sense that Christian institutions would have online and satellite programs in the same way that a healthy church reaches out beyond its walls.

8. Because it's affordable
There should be a partnership between the church and Christian universities that evens out (ideally, that even betters) the financial proposition of going to a Christian university. The most efficient way for the church to make a Christian college education affordable is to give directly to the students with scholarships. The church and university should partner in this endeavor.

7. Because it's a safe, quality environment
By safe I not only mean physically but in terms of things like the tendency of many universities toward rampant drug and alcohol use. By all means a Christian university should be fun and full of all the creative playfulness of the late teens and early twenties. But it should not be the party wasteland that is so many colleges and universities today. In fact, non-Christians should find Christian colleges attractive because of the quality environment.

6. Because of friendships
Many of us formed key life friendships in college. This is one strength of a residential college experience over a commuter college or a university where one gets lost among the masses. In this day and age it may be thought a luxury, but it should be a strength of the Christian residential college that you have close, life friends with deep Christian values. You become who you are around. Those who do not go for whatever reason should recognize that they are missing out on a special community.

5. Because of mentors
If a Christian college is working right, a student should form relationships with professors and other mentors that remain for life. Professors should not be "ivory tower" personalities who don't have time for their students. They should be regularly available for conversation on every level. Informal counseling, life coaching--what happens outside of class will probably be of more lasting value than what happens in class. Decades later, these relationships should continue. As I have told students, you're paying to have me as a resource for life.

4. Because of life trajectory
Where you go to college will likely set your life on a trajectory. Suffice it to say, you should be more likely to leave college headed in a Christ-centered direction if your starting point is a Christian college than if your starting point is not. This makes going to a Christian college extremely significant.

3. To be formed spiritually
A Christian college is not a church but it is a para-church community. Think of it in terms of a small group within a church. You do worship together. You have koinonia. There should be organized discipleship taking place in the dorms and among athletic teams. It should even happen in classes. Spiritual formation is the most important dimension of our lives, and it should be a major dimension of a Christian college.

2. To be formed intellectually as a Christian
Perhaps the focal task of an educational institution in general is intellectual formation. Spiritual formation is more important eternally, but it is not the reason a Christian college exists. There will no doubt be a significant degree of overlap between the learning of a secular and Christian institution, but at a Christian college faith should be integrated with the learning. This integration takes place on several levels: 1) with the faith of the professors and environment, 2) in the way knowledge is applied to life, and 3) in the very presuppositions from which subject matters are approached. A major reason to go to a Christian college is so that one can see one's area of study from a Christian worldview.

1. To be formed in Christian identity
Several of the above points make it clear that the 18-22 years are some of the most formative years of one's life. Where you end up spiritually in your life is more crucial than where you started out. For this reason, the life direction aspect of a Christian college should be of inestimable value. This direction goes beyond what career you choose or who you marry. It has to do with who you are. Because the ideal Christian college is far more likely to form you to be a Christ-follower for life in this most crucial transition period of your identity, this is an incredibly strong reason to go to a Christian college.

For Patrons: Beginning Hebrew III

My third patron post on the alphabet is up, covering the letters he, chet, mem, nun, and tsade. In particular, I cover the letters whose final form is different from their initial or "medial" forms.

Patrons are those who donate at least $5 a month to my Patreon.com page, supporting my daily podcast commentaries on Acts, along with the daily videos on the Greek of these same passages.

For Patrons: Beginning Hebrew II

Another patron post today on the Hebrew alphabet on patreon, a great way to learn Hebrew gradually. Today covered aleph, ayin, bet, gimil, dalet, kaph, pe, and tav.

Patrons are those who donate at least $5 a month to my Patreon.com page, supporting my daily podcast commentaries on Acts, along with the daily videos on the Greek of these same passages.

For Patrons: Beginning Hebrew 1

One feature of my new series on Isaiah 40-66 is that on Saturdays I am going to be plugging away at a new book draft: Hebrew for Ministers and Scholars. What that means is that my patrons will be able to learn biblical Hebrew at a gingerly pace. After all, I'm only working on the book once a week for a Saturday post.

This will be a really easy way to learn Hebrew, especially if you also watch the two videos on the Hebrew of Isaiah during the week. Patrons are those who donate at least $5 a month to my Patreon.com page, supporting my daily podcast commentaries on Acts, along with the daily videos on the Greek of these same passages.

For Patrons: The Background of Isaiah 40-66

This week I started my second Patreon series on Isaiah 40-66 (see here for my previous series on Acts). Just this week I have:

• Looked at the Hebrew letters of Isaiah 40:1.
• Done podcast commentary on Isaiah 40:1-8 in their original OT context
• Made the patron video/podcast at the bottom of this post.
• Tomorrow I will go public with a look at the Hebrew grammar of Isaiah 40:1
• On Friday I look at Isaiah 40:1-8 again from a New Testament perspective
• Saturday for patrons I will begin to post information toward a Hebrew for ministers book.

For patrons today I made this 22 minute video on two possible settings for the writing of Isaiah 40-66: 1) a vision/prophecy of Isaiah in the eighth century BC and 2) prophetic material from the sixth century BC integrated with prophecies of Isaiah.

Patrons are those who donate at least $5 a month to my Patreon.com page, supporting my daily podcast commentaries on Acts, along with the daily videos on the Greek of these same passages.

For Patrons: The Church at Rome (end of series)

After 35 weeks and 220 videos and almost as many podcasts, I have finished going through the book of Acts in English and Greek. The end result is the equivalent of a college course in Acts, minus the reading, writing, and tests. Here is the playlist where you can watch almost all the videos in order.

The final podcast is my reconstruction of the first 50 or so years of the church at Rome. Full of educated guesses and debated possibilities. Roams through Romans, Mark, 1 Peter, and Hebrews. On Monday, I start Isaiah 40-66 and Hebrew!

Patrons are those who donate at least $5 a month to my Patreon.com page, supporting my daily podcast commentaries on Acts, along with the daily videos on the Greek of these same passages.

Adventures in Isaiah and Hebrew

1. For 35 weeks (including this week) I have slowly made my way through the book of Acts. On weekdays I have done a daily podcast commentary on a passage, trying to cover about a chapter a week. Also on weekdays, I did YouTube videos on the Greek of that passage, accumulating more than 200 videos. Together, these podcasts and commentaries amount to a college course in Acts, without the tests and papers. :-)

2. Beginning December 10, we are switching to Isaiah 40-66 and Hebrew. The schedule above was quite intense, so I'm planning on a slightly less demanding schedule. Here is the plan:

• Weekly - The goal is about 15 verses a week.
• Monday - On YouTube, I plan to go through the Hebrew letters of a key verse in the passage for the week. So you can start learning Hebrew.
• Tuesday - Patreon podcast on 7-8 verses
• Wednesday - sometimes, something more for patrons
• Thursday - On YouTube, go through another key verse in Hebrew, this time looking at the Hebrew grammar of the verse. Again, you can learn Hebrew.
• Friday - Patreon podcast on 7-8 verses
• Saturday - for patrons, work on "Hebrew for Ministers and Scholars" book

3. Patrons are those who donate at least $5 a month on Patreon. I have been making patron videos available on YouTube after about a three weeks delay. I will probably continue to do that with any Saturday videos. The book writing however is toward a book so wouldn't be available until the book came out.

For Patrons: Paul's Shipwreck and Ancient Sailing

My podcast/video for patrons this week is now available. It's a brief 11 minutes, but I did a little research on ancient sailing in relation to Paul's shipwreck.

Patrons are those who donate at least $5 a month to my Patreon.com page, supporting my daily podcast commentaries on Acts, along with the daily videos on the Greek of these same passages.