Divine Inspiration & CPR

“We might say that Origen views Scripture as a sort of divinely inspired Rorschach test. As we are interpreting Scripture, Scripture is, by means of the Spirit, interpreting us. And as it concerns the interpretation of violent divine portraits, the question to be resolved, from Origen’s perspective, is a question of where our true loyalties lie.” ~ Greg Boyd

""For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me. "But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?"" - John 5:46-47

1. The Divine Breathing of Scripture

   1. The Importance of scripture recorded by the Hebrew Scriptures.

      1. Joshua is to keep it before him constantly!

         ""Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go. "This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success." - Joshua 1:7-8

         1. Interestingly enough, the book of Joshua primarily records Joshua being faithful to Moses (and the law, by extension) as an intermediary to the LORD.

      2. The Kings were required to make their own copy.

         ""Now it shall come about when [the Israelite king] sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself a copy of this law on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests. "It shall be with him and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, by carefully observing all the words of this law and these statutes, that his heart may not be lifted up above his countrymen and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, to the right or the left, so that he and his sons may continue long in his kingdom in the midst of Israel." - Deuteronomy 17:18-20

   2. The Elevation of scripture by David and the Prophets.

      1. The Love of the Word & the Scriptures.

         "Gimel.
         Deal bountifully with Your servant,
         That I may live and keep Your word.
         Open my eyes, that I may behold
         Wonderful things from Your law." - Psalm 119:17-18

         1. Your word = what You say to me

         2. Your law = the scriptures

         3. David has a view that God will reveal things hidden within the text to him (“Open my eyes”) as he meditates upon the scriptures and asks for the LORD to be present as he reads/sings/contemplates the scriptures.

      2. The divine promise of the Scriptures.

         ""For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
         And do not return there without watering the earth
         And making it bear and sprout,
         And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater;
         So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth;
         It will not return to Me empty,
         Without accomplishing what I desire,
         And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it." - Isaiah 55:10-11

         1. While “word” here refers to a word from God rather than the Torah, Isaiah makes it clear through context that God's word – while not being limited to the scriptures – definitely includes the prophecies and promises recorded within the scriptures.

   3. The continued insistence upon the divine nature of the Scriptures in the Early Church.

      "You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work." - 2 Timothy 3:14-17

      1. While Paul, like all other NT writers, makes a clear distinction between the Scriptures and Jesus – who is the only true Word of God – he nevertheless confirms here the presence of the Breath of God within “all Scripture”.

         1. Note also that the “sacred writings” being referred to consist entirely of the Hebrew Scriptures as most all of the New Testament hasn't even been written yet, much less when Timothy was a child.

   4. Jesus anchors Himself to the Scriptures and affirms their importance.

      1. Scripture points to Him.

         ""You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me;" - John 5:39

         1. Jesus is not presenting Himself as an alternative to the Scriptures, but as someone who is firmly anchored within them.

         2. Oh man, I'm saving a doozy of a verse about this for next week!

      2. He will fulfill all Scripture... what?!

         ""Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. "For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. "Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. "For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven." - Matthew 5:17-20

         1. Law & the Prophets – Idiom for the books of Moshe as well as the major and minor prophets.

            1. Jesus will also quote the Psalms as well – in fact, that's the book He quotes the most – so He's probably using the idiom to refer to the entirety of the Hebrew Scriptures here.

         2. Jesus ties the “keeping and teaching” of the Scriptures to a “righteousness that surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees” (the most scriptural-literate and ethical religious leaders of the time).

            1. Indicating that, despite their memorization, training, and ethical lifestyles, they are still somehow missing what the Scriptures teach.

2. Jesus demonstrates “fulfilling Scripture”... by totally messing with it!

   At this point I have to acknowledge that the standard “Sean model” of teaching – you know, hint at something, make an outlandish statement, blow to pieces the common conception, then put it all together in a new way – was totally stolen from Jesus (and not nearly well enough, but I'm trying).

   1. Oaths

      1. Scripture says swear by the LORD and fulfill your oaths.

         "'You shall not swear falsely by My name, so as to profane the name of your God; I am the LORD." - Leviticus 19:12

         ""You shall fear only the LORD your God; and you shall worship Him and swear by His name." - Deuteronomy 6:13

         ""If a man makes a vow to the LORD, or takes an oath to bind himself with a binding obligation, he shall not violate his word; he shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth." - Numbers 30:2

      2. Jesus says oaths are of the evil one.

         ""Again, you have heard that the ancients were told, 'YOU SHALL NOT MAKE FALSE VOWS, BUT SHALL FULFILL YOUR VOWS TO THE LORD.' "But I say to you, make no oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet, or by Jerusalem, for it is THE CITY OF THE GREAT KING. "Nor shall you make an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. "But let your statement be, 'Yes, yes' or 'No, no'; anything beyond these is from the evil one." - Matthew 5:33-37

         1. This is from the same speech where just a few sentences before this He said that anyone teaching against a commandment would be “least in the Kingdom of Heaven”.

            1. Yet, He is using deliberate contradiction with the text.

            2. Still, He honors Scripture

               "Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth,
               Is Mount Zion in the far north,
               The city of the great King." - Psalm 48:2

            3. Yet, He criticizes the very idea of oaths as evil.

               "Jephthah made a vow to the LORD and said, "If You will indeed give the sons of Ammon into my hand, then it shall be that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the sons of Ammon, it shall be the LORD'S, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering." So Jephthah crossed over to the sons of Ammon to fight against them; and the LORD gave them into his hand. He struck them with a very great slaughter from Aroer to the entrance of Minnith, twenty cities, and as far as Abel-keramim. So the sons of Ammon were subdued before the sons of Israel. When Jephthah came to his house at Mizpah, behold, his daughter was coming out to meet him with tambourines and with dancing. Now she was his one and only child; besides her he had no son or daughter. When he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, "Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low, and you are among those who trouble me; for I have given my word to the LORD, and I cannot take it back." So she said to him, "My father, you have given your word to the LORD; do to me as you have said, since the LORD has avenged you of your enemies, the sons of Ammon." She said to her father, "Let this thing be done for me; let me alone two months, that I may go to the mountains and weep because of my virginity, I and my companions." Then he said, "Go." So he sent her away for two months; and she left with her companions, and wept on the mountains because of her virginity. At the end of two months she returned to her father, who did to her according to the vow which he had made; and she had no relations with a man. Thus it became a custom in Israel, that the daughters of Israel went yearly to commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in the year." - Judges 11:30-40

               1. Everyone in this story sees God as someone who demands a vow to be kept – regardless of if it results in child sacrifice – since God helped Jephthah slaughter twenty cities.

               2. Leviticus 20:2-5 forbids any kind of child sacrifice to Molech, but Jephthah seems to think child sacrifice to Yahweh is fine (that it's about allegiance rather than morality).

            4. Still, he develops an idea that, looking back, we can see within the original text.

               1. Torah says that we are to keep our oaths so that we do not disgrace the Name of God but that we are faithful to keep our covenant and our obedience to Him. While Jesus hates the oath, He affirms that we are to be people who keep our word, but that it should be about maintaining our character rather than fulfilling a ritual.

   2. Purity

      1. Scripture says you become unclean by touching/eating the wrong thing.

         "'Concerning all the animals which divide the hoof but do not make a split hoof, or which do not chew cud, they are unclean to you: whoever touches them becomes unclean." - Leviticus 11:26

         "'Now if a woman has a discharge of her blood many days, not at the period of her menstrual impurity, or if she has a discharge beyond that period, all the days of her impure discharge she shall continue as though in her menstrual impurity; she is unclean. 'Any bed on which she lies all the days of her discharge shall be to her like her bed at menstruation; and every thing on which she sits shall be unclean, like her uncleanness at that time. 'Likewise, whoever touches them shall be unclean and shall wash his clothes and bathe in water and be unclean until evening." - Leviticus 15:25-27

         1. “Unclean” carries with it the notion of separation, since a person must separate themselves from their people and undergo a purification ritual to be “clean” before they are allowed back into society.

            1. Not necessarily sinful or evil – uncleanness happens, what're you gonna do?

               1. You're not bad, just compromised.

               2. We don't let Karl in from the rain/mud until he sits down and undergoes the cleaning ritual of toweling him off.

            2. Not allowed in society though – you're not safe.

               1. Anthropologists see some of the cleanliness laws as being the first signs of a pre-science version of hygiene and quarantine.

               2. Being unclean doesn't make you bad, but forgoing the cleaning ritual does!

                  1. Again, Karl is a good boy – though dirty – until he runs into the house with muddy paws, then he's a bad dog.

      2. Jesus says that the words you speak and the actions you perform determine whether you are clean or unclean for the community.

         "After [Jesus] called the crowd to Him again, He began saying to them, "Listen to Me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside the man which can defile him if it goes into him; but the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man” When he had left the crowd and entered the house, His disciples questioned Him about the parable. And He said to them, "Are you so lacking in understanding also? Do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him, because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and goes out in the latrine?" (Thus He declared all foods clean.) And He was saying, "That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. "For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. "All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man."" - Mark 7:14-23

         1. Jesus would be a great youth leader, He makes poop jokes.

            1. We also see the editor making a theological point for those that missed it.

         2. Jesus is saying that there is such a thing as being defiled/unclean.

            1. Yet, Jesus is refuting the scriptures and deliberately saying that they are wrong about what makes a person unclean.

            2. Still, He is using the clean/unclean framework to illustrate something important about the foundations of an ethical society – He isn't knocking the concept, He's using it.

            3. Yet, in classic Jesus form, He looks at the heart of a person rather than what is, quite literally, a matter of flesh.

            4. Still, the application of clean/unclean (when it is applied in the way Jesus is using it) illustrates a very deep truth we can read backwards into the text.

               1. In much the same way that proper physical hygiene saves your communities health, emotional hygiene reveals who is/isn't healthy for community.

                  1. Evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, etc. are signs that indicate a person is unfit for community – not that they are evil, just defiled/unclean – and indicates a need for a “ritual cleansing” of some sort to reintroduce them to healthy fellowship.

                  2. When properly applied this allows us to practice clear moral discernment without practicing condemnation of any kind.

         "And a woman who had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and could not be healed by anyone, came up behind Him and touched the fringe of His cloak, and immediately her discharge of blood stopped. And Jesus said, "Who is the one who touched Me?" And while they were all denying it, Peter said, "Master, the people are crowding and pressing in on You." But Jesus said, "Someone did touch Me, for I was aware that power had gone out of Me." When the woman saw that she had not escaped notice, she came trembling and fell down before Him, and declared in the presence of all the people the reason why she had touched Him, and how she had been immediately healed. And He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace."" - Luke 8:43-48

         1. Significantly, after this Jesus does not remove himself from the crowd, nor perform a ritual cleansing, but “while He was yet speaking” another matter of healing comes up within the crowd and they continue moving on to resurrect the man's daughter (whom He revives by taking her hand). Thus, Jesus completely disobeys all of the Leviticus 15 requirements for something touched by a woman with an issue of blood.

            1. On a deeper level, however, Jesus is simultaneously fulfilling another passage of scripture.

               ""Take also for yourself the finest of spices: of flowing myrrh five hundred shekels, and of fragrant cinnamon half as much, two hundred and fifty, and of fragrant cane two hundred and fifty, and of cassia five hundred, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, and of olive oil a hin. "You shall make of these a holy anointing oil, a perfume mixture, the work of a perfumer; it shall be a holy anointing oil. "With it you shall anoint the tent of meeting and the ark of the testimony, and the table and all its utensils, and the lampstand and its utensils, and the altar of incense, and the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and the laver and its stand. "You shall also consecrate them, that they may be most holy; whatever touches them shall be holy." - Exodus 30:23-29

               1. Holy things are defiled when unclean things touch them, but Most Holy things actually “make holy” whatever they are used to consecrate.

               2. Jesus is either a rule breaker or something Most Holy being used in a way no one ever thought possible.

               3. This is one of only two instances of “whatever touches this shall be holy” and is only used of tabernacle furniture (altar and anointing oil) in the book of Exodus (29&30), indicating that this “purification principle” was only for “tabernacle service”, but what if Jesus is applying this towards “street service”?

   3. Justification for Revenge

      1. Scriptures stipulate a “just revenge” policy that (extra-biblically) became looser over time.

         "'If a man takes the life of any human being, he shall surely be put to death. 'The one who takes the life of an animal shall make it good, life for life. 'If a man injures his neighbor, just as he has done, so it shall be done to him: fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; just as he has injured a man, so it shall be inflicted on him. 'Thus the one who kills an animal shall make it good, but the one who kills a man shall be put to death." - Leviticus 24:17-21

         1. While you can see here the foundations for this becoming monetary – “make it good” being a statement of equitable accounting – the certainty of death for anyone who kills a man is definitively clear.

      2. Jesus forbids retributive violence.

         ""You have heard that it was said, 'AN EYE FOR AN EYE, AND A TOOTH FOR A TOOTH.' "But I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also." - Matthew 5:38-39

         1. Nonviolent resistance to non-lethal violence.

         "And behold, one of those who were with Jesus reached and drew out his sword, and struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his ear. Then Jesus said to him, "Put your sword back into its place; for all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword. "Or do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels? "How then will the Scriptures be fulfilled, which say that it must happen this way?"" - Matthew 26:51-54

         1. Non-violent response to lethal violence

         2. Jesus is, once-again, anchoring this within the Scriptures even as He seems to act against them.

            ""Whoever sheds man's blood,
            By man his blood shall be shed,
            For in the image of God
            He made man." - Genesis 9:6

         3. We can dive deeply into this as one of the most clear aims of the ministry of Jesus is to condemn every form of violence as being born of the evil one, but notice for a moment that the cycle of violence that bloodshed creates is it's own punishment.

            1. God doesn't need to do anything to get violence to destroy it's master, that's it's nature.

            2. God actually restrains this cycle in His patience until a “tipping point” is reached.

   4. Us vs. Them

      1. Scriptures make a clear point of identifying the righteous and the wicked and assigning loyalty to one's tribe.

         "Do I not hate those who hate You, O LORD?
         And do I not loathe those who rise up against You?
         I hate them with the utmost hatred;
         They have become my enemies.
         "Search me, O God, and know my heart;
         Try me and know my anxious thoughts;
         And see if there be any hurtful way in me,
         And lead me in the everlasting way." - Psalm 139:21-24

         1. David throughout the Psalms justifies his “righteous anger” because it is against those who are enemies of God.

            1. Uh, David? I think I found one of those “hurtful ways” you were talking about.

         ""Remember what Amalek did to you along the way when you came out from Egypt, how he met you along the way and attacked among you all the stragglers at your rear when you were faint and weary; and he did not fear God. "Therefore it shall come about when the LORD your God has given you rest from all your surrounding enemies, in the land which the LORD your God gives you as an inheritance to possess, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven; you must not forget." - Deuteronomy 25:17-19

         1. This is vengeance for something that happened from the generation previous, but they must never forget the blood feud!

      2. Jesus says that if we are the children of God, we have to do the exact opposite.

         ""You have heard that it was said, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.' "But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous." - Matthew 5:43-45

         1. Bear witness, also, that Jesus is directly contradicting the writer of Deuteronomy (who is supposedly quoting Moshe, quoting God):

            ""It shall come about, if you listen obediently to my commandments which I am commanding you today, to love the LORD your God and to serve Him with all your heart and all your soul, that He will give the rain for your land in its season, the early and late rain, that you may gather in your grain and your new wine and your oil. "He will give grass in your fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied. "Beware that your hearts are not deceived, and that you do not turn away and serve other gods and worship them. "Or the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you, and He will shut up the heavens so that there will be no rain and the ground will not yield its fruit; and you will perish quickly from the good land which the LORD is giving you." - Deuteronomy 11:13-17

            1. You could argue that Jesus is speaking universally where the author of Deuteronomy is speaking about a specific instance.

               1. Kind of a weak argument.

            2. You could argue that this is something that only applied to the Israelite nation while they were in Canaan. In essence, though this isn't like God, this is something He would do to them at that time to get their attention.

               1. Careful, are you suggesting God changes?

               2. However, this is how all of the other ANE peoples thought of rain, grain, and faith.

            3. Either way, Jesus is implying that favor and fortune do not carry with them God's stamp of approval, but that God is generous to all, very much disagreeing with the mindset of Deuteronomy.