It’s inspiring to see a seasoned New Testament scholar focusing her attention on something at the heart of the Christian life.  Below is an abstract of an article by Cambridge scholar Morna Hooker. It’s in the current issue of Theology — January/February 2013, 116 (1).   

Conformity to Christ

Abstract

Following Paul’s experience on the Damascus Road, his life was drastically changed. Although he continued to maintain his loyalty to Israel’s God and the Scriptures, he now believed himself to be commissioned to preach the gospel to the Gentiles. At the heart of his theology lay his relationship with Christ – summed up in the phrase ‘in Christ’ – a relationship shared by all Christians, who must be ‘shaped’ by the gospel – conformed to the pattern of self-giving, death and resurrection seen in Christ – not simply in baptism but in their daily lives. Paul’s hope for the future envisages its final fulfilment.

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Posted on by Dustin Ellington

A Very Brief Guide for Interpreting a Whole Book of the Bible

I recently spent a morning with young Zambian women who are thinking about attending seminary. Our focus was learning to interpret the Bible, and we studied the whole of Paul’s letter to the Philippians using these questions below.

1.  Read through the book in its entirety, seeking to understand it as a whole. Does the reading of the whole enable you to see things you had not noticed before, or which haven’t been emphasized in your prior exposure to the book? Do certain aspects stand out as characteristic of this book?

2.  Can you find evidence for the occasion that led the author to write the book, or the situation which the writer is addressing? Do you find information about the original audience and their circumstances? What aims for the book do you find? What does it seem the author was trying to accomplish by writing this book?

3.  What primary themes stand out? Look for repetition of key words, images, phrases, and ideas. (As you read this book of the Bible, keep asking what the main themes are and where they change.)

4. In light of your attention to the book as a whole, what have you come to understand about this book’s perspective on God and the Christian life? What clues do you find regarding how the Christian life looks and works? Do you have any new insights into key verses that have been meaningful to you in the past?

5. In light of all that you have discovered above, how does this book speak a living word to you personally, and how might it speak to your church or to others you know? If you were to teach or preach from this book, what would you wish to emphasize?

Posted on by Dustin Ellington

Grace moves through us, but not without pain and vulnerability

Here’s another principle concerning how grace works: The extension of grace through us tends to involve us in vulnerability and difficulty, which then opens us up to receive empowering grace again.

That part about vulnerability and suffering needs some explanation. The paradigm here is Christ himself.

2 Cor 8:9 — “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.”

There has never been a greater catalyst for grace than Christ’s incarnation and death. And these events meant suffering for Jesus and self-emptying so that others could be filled. He became poor and weak so that we might be enriched with grace.

That’s a paradigm. It was true for Christ, and it’s also true for us. Christ suffered so we could have life. But Scripture also teaches that, like Christ, people who minister suffer difficulty, and as a result, others can receive grace and new life.

Consider 2 Corinthians 1:6 –“If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer.”

Paul saw that the difficulties he walked through turned into comfort and even salvation for others.

2 Cor 4:7-15 is important for this principle.

In 4:7 Paul says we who bring the treasure of Christ and the gospel to others have the experience of being clay. We’re like fragile clay jars.

He goes on to say he’s hard pressed on every side. He’s persecuted. He gets struck down. But look at what he says in verses 10-12. As he goes through these hardships, he sees these experiences as a carrying around in his own body the suffering of Jesus, and as a result, Christ’s life gets revealed to others. Paul’s pain is others’ gain. He goes through difficulty, but others see Christ in his life.

And then he says in verse 12, “So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.”

We who do service and ministry sometimes feel like the ministry is going to do us in. Sometimes obedience and ministry feel like death. Paul says in 1 Cor 15:30, “I die every day.” But the result is life (and I would add grace) for others.

2 Corinthians 4:15 — All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.

This experience of difficulty and weakness also has a special result for the ones doing the ministry. This takes us back to the principle of 2 Cor 12:9 “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” Difficulties in ministry put us back in the position of readiness for the grace that’s sufficient for us. The weakness and difficulty become the thorn that pierces us but that also opens us up to the grace that’s sufficient for us.

Obedience to God in ministry involves us in weakness, difficulties, disappointments, and pain – but these are all are doorways, entries, to the grace and power of Christ. And then that grace which we receive empowers us again. It’s like a cycle, a grace cycle.

Posted on by Dustin Ellington

Refreshment for the Weary

When I noticed everyone was looking exhausted, I used this Bible study with the small group I lead for our first-year students.

Isaiah 40:25-31   25 “To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One.  26 Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.  27 Why do you say, O Jacob, and complain, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD; my cause is disregarded by my God”?  28 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.  29 He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.  30 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; 31 but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

1.    What does this passage in Isaiah affirm to be true about God?
2.    What do these verses promise for the weary?
3.    What do you tend to put your hope in? What does it mean to put one’s hope in the Lord?

Matthew 11:28-30  28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

1.    In this passage from Matthew, do the people Jesus invites to himself have special qualifications?
2.    What does Jesus promise?
3.    What does Jesus tell us to do?
4.    How might being yoked with Jesus bring rest?
5.    What ideas do you have for how one can come to Jesus, take on his yoke, and learn from him?

Remember: A good night of sleep is not something to feel guilty about. Psalm 127:2b “For he grants sleep to those he loves.”