One In Jesus

I made a point in a comment that, on reflection, should be expanded on and refined a bit. Consider Jesus’ explanation for why his disciples weren’t required to wash their hands before eating —

(Mar 7:1-8 ESV) Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem,  2 they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed.  3 (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands, holding to the tradition of the elders,  4 and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.)

5 And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?”

6 And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me;  7 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’  8 You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.” Continue reading →

The greatest teacher of hermeneutics is Jesus. Jesus goes out of his way at times to put his disagreements with the Pharisees on display, and we can learn a lot about how to read the New Testament (and the Law and the Prophets) from Jesus.

Consider the Sermon on the Mount —

(Mat 5:17-20 ESV)  17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.  18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.  19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.  20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Continue reading →

Jerry wrote,

I remember reading in the papers several decades ago an objection to some suggestion on hermeneutics, “But if we adopt that as our hermeneutic we will not be able to support….” and a particular doctrine prevalent in the Church of Christ was named.

Exactly. We have a long history of testing our hermeneutics by whether a given hermeneutic produces a desired result. If the hermeneutic requires a changed conclusion, it’s rejected — and that is exactly wrong. After all, we don’t really know what the Bible says unless we have a proper hermeneutic!

These leaves us with something of a riddle — how do we develop a sound hermeneutic without knowing what the Bible says until we have a proper hermeneutic? Well, because the real process is more complicated than 1, 2, 3. But it’s not that hard; it’s just very different from how we have customarily thought. Continue reading →

It’s an interesting fact that we insist that a church isn’t “scripturally organized” if it has no deacons, even though the scriptures do not tell us what the deacons are supposed to do — at least not very clearly.

But we don’t bother to honor the qualifications list of 1 Timothy 5 respecting enrolled widows, which is very similar to the lists regarding elders and deacons. Indeed, many today would brand a church with female deacons damned for liberalism even though many congregations of the early church had female deacons and the fathers of the Restoration Movement approved deaconesses! Why the reversal? Continue reading →

Scholars, ancient and modern, conservative and progressive and moderate and liberal, struggle to understand what Paul says about widows in 1 Timothy 5.

(1Ti 5:3-16 ESV) 3 Honor widows who are truly widows.  4 But if a widow has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to show godliness to their own household and to make some return to their parents, for this is pleasing in the sight of God.  5 She who is truly a widow, left all alone, has set her hope on God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day,  6 but she who is self-indulgent is dead even while she lives.  7 Command these things as well, so that they may be without reproach.  8 But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. Continue reading →