The Collaborative Hermeneutic

“Life is like arriving late for a movie, having to figure out what was going on without bothering everybody with a lot of questions, and then being unexpectedly called away before you find out how it ends.” ~ Joseph Campbell

“Ultimately, man should not ask what the meaning of his life is, but rather must recognize that it is he who is asked. In a word, each man is questioned by life; and he can only answer to life by answering for his own life; to life he can only respond by being responsible.” ~ Viktor E. Frankl

“There's always a story. It's all stories, really. The sun coming up every day is a story. Everything's got a story in it. Change the story, change the world.” ~ Terry Pratchett

1. Before “the beginning”

   1. Certain verses in scripture speak of the things that happened before Genesis 1; the “from everlasting” or “age/eternity past”. This word – עולם – comes from a word meaning “hidden” or “concealed” and speaks of things that are beyond view or past the horizon (sometimes this is literal).

      1. "Before the mountains were born
         Or You gave birth to the earth and the world,
         Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God." - Psalm 90:2

         1. Before the earth and the world – “from the time of the hidden before to the time beyond our imagining”.

         2. God is God.

         3. God is pregnant with creation.

      2. "The LORD possessed me at the beginning of His way,
         Before His works of old.
         From everlasting I was established/brought forth,
         From the beginning, from the earliest times of the earth.
         When there were no depths I was brought forth,
         When there were no springs abounding with water. ...
         Then I was beside Him, as a master craftsman;
         And I was daily His delight,
         Rejoicing always before Him,
         Rejoicing in the world, His earth,
         And having my delight in the sons of men." - Proverbs 8:22-24; 30-31

         1. “from the hidden time before, I was brought forth for purpose”.

         2. Beside Him as a Master Craftsman.

            1. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being." - John 1:1-3

         3. Mutual delight and engagement.

            1. "Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was." - John 17:5

         4. Delight in the not-yet-existent creation, particularly humans.

            1. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved." - Ephesians 1:3-6

2. Creation of the world, the lesser elohim, and the sons of men.

   1. The darkness/chaos waters.

      1. "The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters." - Genesis 1:2

         1. Unformed chaos and emptiness – תֹהוּ וָבֹהוּ – speaks of a waste, a deserted land, of chaos and unreality.

         2. Darkness is pitch blackness or complete obscurity.

         3. Moving over – מְרַחֶפֶת – Qal to be soft or to be moved, yet in the Piel, this is intensified into a verb meaning to soften upon or to tenderly rest over and often means to cherish and used often of a mother hen brooding over her eggs/young.

            1. In many of the other Ancient Near East cultures, the good god conquers the chaos serpent by slaying it.

            2. In this story, chaos is an empty mess of completely unrealized potential… and the Holy Spirit cherishes it so much that she gently stretches herself over that chaos that it might incubate into the dreams she has for it.

   2. The Lesser Elohim

      1. "You were in Eden, the garden of God;
         Every precious stone was your covering:
         The ruby, the topaz and the diamond;
         The beryl, the onyx and the jasper;
         The lapis lazuli, the turquoise and the emerald;
         And the gold, the workmanship of your settings and sockets,
         Was in you.
         On the day that you were created
         They were prepared.
         "You were the anointed cherub who covers,
         And I placed you there.
         You were on the holy mountain of God;
         You walked in the midst of the stones of fire.
         "You were blameless in your ways
         From the day you were created
         Until unrighteousness was found in you.
         "By the abundance of your trade
         You were internally filled with violence,
         And you sinned;
         Therefore I have cast you as profane
         From the mountain of God.
         And I have destroyed you,
         O covering cherub,
         From the midst of the stones of fire. "
         Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty;
         You corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor.
         I cast you to the ground;
         I put you before kings,
         That they may see you." - Ezekiel 28:13-17

         1. Perfect on the day you were created.

            1. Full and complete, no growth element.

         2. Until unrighteousness was found in you.

            1. There was a change that took place, breaking righteousness/shalom with God.

         3. Corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor…

            1. Forsaking his identity with God for the narcissism of his own ego.

   3. The Stewards

      1. Humans are created to one day join the divine council as those who bear the very image of God. Yet, they are not immediately ready for this, with the quality of “likeness of God” something that they are pregnant with rather than something fully prepared.

         1. "Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them." - Genesis 1:26-27

         2. In direct contrast to the “King of Tyre”, humanity is created without being fully formed. They bear the image/silhouette of God, but they lack the likeness/substance of God.

            1. An invitation into our own personal – תֹהוּ וָבֹהוּ – hidden sea of possibilities

3. The Collaborators Forsake their Calling

   1. Humans accountable for their failure to “be before you do”.

      1. While God had demonstrated the way in which they were to rule the world – hang out together, talk about things, step forward when I ask you – humanity finds a shortcut…

         1. "Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Indeed, has God said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?" The woman said to the serpent, "From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.'" The serpent said to the woman, "You surely will not die! "For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings. They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden." - Genesis 3:1-8

            1. eyes will be opened → eyes were opened

            2. like God knowing good and evil → knew that they were naked

            3. They know themselves to be inadequate, which is accurate, but their response is wrong.

            4. Those destined to acquire the likeness of God through relationship decide to avoid relationship in shame because they don’t have the likeness of God yet, thus cutting themselves off from their only means by which to acquire the likeness of God.

               1. Humanity avoids it’s path to greatness because it’s ashamed it’s right where it should be.

            5. Instead of continuing with God in their development, they now choose an independent track of development, though their destiny remains the same (Godhead or bust).

   2. Lesser elohim accountable for their failure to rightly execute their offices.

      1. The whole King of Tyre debacle…

      2. The injustice within the Divine Council

         1. "A Psalm of Asaph.
            God takes His stand in His own assembly;
            He judges in the midst of the elohim.
            How long will you judge unjustly
            And show partiality to the wicked? Selah.
            Vindicate the weak and fatherless;
            Do justice to the afflicted and destitute.
            Rescue the weak and needy;
            Deliver them out of the hand of the wicked." - Psalm 82:1-4

            1. His own assembly – spiritual “principalities and powers” that have delegated authority to govern nations.

            2. God is admonishing these lesser elohim to rule justly or face judgment, indicating a choice that still remains for these lesser elohim to collaborate with God or suffer God’s slow but sure justice.

      3. We’ve seen that God also seems to hide his plans from the rest of this divine council.

         1. Michael and the Prince of Persia.

         2. The plan hidden from the “rulers of this age”.

            1. "Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; but we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory;" - 1 Corinthians 2:6-8

4. The Mystery of the Sons of Men

   1. Lower than the divine beings…

      1. "For the choir director; on the Gittith. A Psalm of David.
         O LORD, our Lord,
         How majestic is Your name in all the earth,
         Who have displayed Your splendor above the heavens!
         From the mouth of infants and nursing babes
         You have established strength
         Because of Your adversaries,
         To make the enemy and the revengeful cease.
         When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
         The moon and the stars, which You have ordained;
         What is man that You take thought of him,
         And the son of man that You care for him?
         Yet You have made him a little lower than the gods/divine beings,
         And You crown him with glory and majesty!
         You make him to rule over the works of Your hands;
         You have put all things under his feet,
         All sheep and oxen, And also the beasts of the field,
         The birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea,
         Whatever passes through the paths of the seas.
         O LORD, our Lord, How majestic is Your name in all the earth!" - Psalm 8

         1. David knows that humans rule the world with divine beings over them.

         2. Yet, God still shows favor and love towards humanity and crowns humans with glory and majesty.

   2. And then executing judgment over them?

      1. "Does any one of you, when he has a case against his neighbor, dare to go to law before the unrighteous and not before the saints? Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? If the world is judged by you, are you not competent to constitute the smallest law courts? Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more matters of this life?" - 1 Corinthians 6:1-3

         1. Paul flippantly mentions – and expects the Corinthians to take it as a given – that the saints will judge not only the earth, but the divine beings as well!

         2. He speaks of this as a future calling and responsibility that they must prepare for now by judging rightly between one another.

   3. The Hidden Plan

      1. "Now I say, as long as the heir is a child, he does not differ at all from a slave although he is owner of everything, but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by the father. So also we, while we were children, were held in bondage under the elemental things of the world. But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God. However at that time, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those which by nature are no gods. But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again?" - Galatians 4:1-9

         1. Paul lays out a clear meta-narrative for humanity.

            1. Infants – subjected to the powers of this world

            2. Children – held in bondage to these powers.

            3. Sons – adopted and restored to “Our Abba”

               1. Notice, the restoration of relational engagement.

            4. Heirs – as we return to relationship, we also return to the original calling of humanity: to rule through fellowship.

               1. Notice, this remains a choice through which we may be freed and empowered or “enslaved all over again”.

5. The Mystery of the Son of Man