Tag: religion

Examining Our Relationship With God’s Restrictions

Examining Our Relationship With God’s Restrictions

Marissa

I’ve been rereading one of my favorite one-year devotional books, and I’d like to start today’s post by quoting part of one devotional entry.

God is holy, and we must conform to His holiness. This means restrictions on our behavior. But when the restraints become the essence of our faith, as they did for the Pharisees, we are far from the heart of God. … Faith is about following His character. That’s the whole point of obedience.

Chris Tiegreen, 365 Pocket Devotions, Day 49

It’s very easy for humans to go to extremes. On the one hand, you’ll meet Christians who build their lives around what they can and cannot do as if keeping the law perfectly can save them. On the other hand, you’ll meet Christians who say they don’t have to be obedient to God’s law because grace covers all that. The truth is somewhere in between. Obedience isn’t what saves us, but it is the right and proper response to receiving salvation. Having the right understanding of our relationship with God helps us have a right understanding of our relationship with His law.

Image of a man reading the Bible overlaid with text from John 14:15, NET version: “If you love me, you will obey my commandments.”
Image by Matt Vasquez from Lightstock

Start With Love

There are certain things that God expects from people who follow Him. It is much like any healthy relationship. I expect people that I am friends with to generally treat me well and follow a basic standard of good conduct, and they expect the same from me. If one of us violated these unspoken “rules” of friendship, the friendship would dissolve or at the very least become more distant. Healthy relationships require things like regular communication, trustworthiness, reciprocity, a way to resolve conflicts, and mutual respect for the other’s needs, morals, and boundaries.

Our relationship with God works the same way, and He doesn’t leave us guessing about how the relationship works. He invites us into a covenant relationship with Him and lets us know exactly what He expects from us as well as what we can expect from Him. It’s actually pretty simple, and can be boiled down into just two commandments:

Jesus said to him, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. The second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”

Matthew 22:37-40, NET

There are lots of other commands in scripture, of course (both Old and New Testament), but they are all just elaborations on these two expectations. At the most basic level, God’s restrictions on our behavior are all connected to making sure that we love Him and love the people around us in the right way. Remembering that helps us have the right perspective on obedience.

Owe no one anything, except to love one another, for the one who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not covet,” (and if there is any other commandment) are summed up in this, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

Romans 13:8-10, NET

I like how Paul frames all the “do not” commandments as telling us how to love the way God does. A lot of times people describe God’s laws as restrictive or oppressive or outdated, but at the heart of it all is healthy relationships with God and with other people. He wants what is best for us, and He wants a personal relationship with us. His instructions reflect that truth.

Check Your Heart

Image of a woman reading the Bible, overlaid with blog's title text and the words, "How and why we obey God is a matter of vital importance."
Image by Pearl from Lightstock

God knows what our motives are. He looks inside our hearts and searches our minds to understand us even better than we understand ourselves (1 Sam. 16:7; Jer. 17:5-10). He knows if we’re flippantly disregarding His laws because we don’t care about what He says, and He also knows if we’re obeying from wrong motives.

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the kingdom of heaven—only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. On that day, many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many powerful deeds in your name?’ Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you. Go away from me, you lawbreakers!’”

Matthew 7:21-23, NET

This has got to be one of the most sobering passages in the entire Bible. Jesus warns us that calling Him Lord is not enough to get into the kingdom of heaven. Even doing wonderful things in His name isn’t enough. Only those who do the Father’s will and are known by Jesus Christ will be in His kingdom.

“I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me—just as the Father knows me and I know the Father …

“My sheep listen to my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish; no one will snatch them from my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can snatch them from my Father’s hand.” 

John 10:14-15, 27-29

Once again, it comes back to relationships. We must listen to Jesus and follow Him, “conforming to His holiness” and “following His character,” as Tiegreen puts it. So, how do you view the restrictions God places on our behavior?

As something you must do perfectly or else you’ll lose your salvation?

As something not worth bothering with?

As guides for how to live in close relationship with God and enjoy all the blessings that accompany adopting His character?

I don’t really like to think of God’s laws as “restrictions.” They do restrict my behavior, but I see them more as guides, guardrails, and insights into God’s character. We keep the law because we’re walking in the spirit; law-keeping is a side-effect of becoming like God. Christians today ought to obey God because we want to be like Him and follow Him faithfully, and His law tells us how to do that.

Featured image by Inbetween from Lightstock

Song Recommendation: “Refiner’s Fire” by Vineyard Worship feat. Kate Cooke

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Ideas to Hold Loosely and Closely

Ideas to Hold Loosely and Closely

Marissa

I was thinking the other day about the topic of prophecy. Specifically, about how attached some people get to their ideas of how Biblical predictions for the future are going to play out. They want to figure out (or think they already know) when Jesus will return, what the mark of the beast is, which modern nation correspond to names used in prophecy, and other specifics. But I think we need to get comfortable accepting that there are some things we simply don’t know. For some future events, Jesus told His disciples that we are “not permitted to know” the details (Acts 1:6-7). For other things, even though we are permitted to “know the mysteries/secrets of the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 13:11), it takes time to learn the “deep things of God” and we will never fully understand all there is to know in this human life (Rom. 11:33; 1 Cor. 2:10). With that in mind, I think it is healthy to hold our pet interpretations of prophecies loosely.

I have often wondered how people who are absolutely, 100% sure that God will do things a certain way will react if they’re wrong. Will they miss what God is doing because they are looking somewhere else? Will they get upset with Him if He comes back on a day they weren’t expecting? Will they be so focused on figuring out prophecy that they’ll neglect something more important? And as I wonder these things about other people, I also have to turn these questions back on myself and see if there are any areas where I am doing something similar. For me, it’s not so much about prophecy, but about interpretations of more complex scriptures or less clear points of doctrine. I need to remember that my speculations and pet theories might be wrong.

We must be very careful that the knowledge we (think) we have doesn’t blind us to the reality that we have so much more still to learn (1 Cor. 8:2; 10:12). For things that are speculative, unclear, and/or unrevealed it is the mark of a humble and teachable mind to admit that we don’t really know. We can have ideas that we think are true, and they may even be good ideas solidly grounded in Biblical reasoning, but there are some things that we simply can’t know with 100% certaintly. We should hold those ideas loosely, willing to reconsider them and to give them up if we learn something that tells us we were wrong.

At the same time, there are prophecies, commands, and doctrines that are clearer than others. God gives us promises that He has not yet fully fulfilled, and we can be 100% certain that He will keep those promises. Those are things that we should hold onto tightly, never letting them go or permitting our faith to be shaken. For example, the timing for Jesus’s return is something that we cannot know. If we have ideas for when that might happen, we should hold those ideas loosely. But we so know for certain that Jesus will return and that He will set up God’s kingdom on earth. That is a promise that we should hold close and let it make a home in our hearts.

Image of a man reading the Bible overlaid with text from 1 Thess. 5:21, WEB version: "Test all things, and hold firmly to that which is good."
Image by Matt Vasquez from Lightstock

Things to Hold Fast, and Things To Let Go

Depending on which English translation of the Bible you’re reading, the phrase “hold fast” is used multiple times in scripture. There are some things that we are told to hold fast to, and there are others things that people are warned against holding onto. On the negative side, the people of ancient Israel were warned not to “hold fast” to the pagan nations living around them (Joshua 23:8-13). Later in ancient Israel’s story, God asked why the people “continually turn away from me in apostasy” and “hold fast to their deception” (Jer. 8:5, NET). By Jesus’s time, the Jewish people had rejected the ways of pagan nations around them, but some were still holding onto a different type of deception.

The Pharisees and the experts in the law asked him, “Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with unwashed hands?” He said to them, “Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites, as it is written:

‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me.
They worship me in vain,
teaching as doctrine the commandments of men.’

Having no regard for the command of God, you hold fast to human tradition.”

Mark 7:3-8, NET (bold italics mark a quotation from Isa 29:13)

The Pharisees Jesus spoke with here held tightly to the wrong things. They should have held on tight to God’s commandments, but instead they held fast to human traditions and let the commandments slip away. We need to be careful that we don’t do the same thing by holding so tight to human traditions or ideas (including our own) that we let the most important things slip. Some of the key things that the Bible tells us to hold fast to are

Image of a group of people sitting in church pews, overlaid with blog's title text and the words, "When interpreting the Bible, we must keep a tight hold on things that God has made sure and certain, and a loose hold on our own speculations."
Image by Brown Bag Photography from Lightstock

Holding fast to the right things has a lot to do with staying faithful. No matter what people say or weird ideas that pop into our heads, we need to hold tight to God, to His clear instructions, to His promises, and to our commitment to Him. We must not let any of the less certain things draw us away from that. There’s nothing wrong with studying prophecy and having ideas for how things might happen, or with studying difficult scriptures and doctrinal topics and having thoughts on how we should interpret those. We just need to make sure we are holding on to the right things, keeping a tight hold on things that God has made sure and certain and a loose hold on our own ideas and theories.

Featured image by Pearl from Lightstock

Song Recommendation: “Find Us Faithful” by Steve Green

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Were There Women Serving at God’s Ancient Tabernacle?

Were There Women Serving at God’s Ancient Tabernacle?

Marissa

I mentioned in my newsletter last week that I wasn’t sure if I could write about this topic, but as you can see I’m going to try anyway. If you didn’t get that newsletter, basically I noticed a verse near the end of Exodus that I can’t stop thinking about. This section of scripture describes the construction of the Tabernacle or Tent of Meeting (where the priests and Levites ministered before Yahweh, and where the Ark of the Covenant was kept). During construction, many ancient Israelites donated materials, and skilled craftspeople worked to make the Tabernacle according to God’s specific instructions. Right after the section describing how a craftsman named Bezalel made the altar for the burnt offerings, we read this interesting fact:  

He made the basin and the base from bronze, with mirrors from the women who served at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting.

Exodus 38:8, TLV

I was reading in the TLV when I noticed this, so that’s what I quoted here. The NET says basically the same thing, and the WEB says, “He made the basin of bronze, and its base of bronze, out of the mirrors of the ministering women who ministered at the door of the Tent of Meeting.” Most translations describe them as serving or ministering women. Other translations might say that the women assembled at the tent. A few describe them as vigilant women or watchers (click here to compare a variety of translations).

It is commonly accepted that women did not serve as priests or have anything to do with tabernacle or temple service in the Old Testament. Even today, it is often the case that women do not serve as ministers of God in a formal or ordained capacity (and many maintain that they should not). And yet, here is a verse that in some translations seems to indicate a group of women were serving at the Tabernacle. What is going on here?

Image of a stained glass church window overlaid with text from Exodus 38:8, AMP version: “Bezalel made the basin and its base of bronze from the mirrors of the attending women who served and ministered at the doorway of the Tent of Meeting.”
Image by Sr. Maria-Magdalena R. SMCB from Pixabay

Other Bible Verses

If you start looking for other verses that talk about “the attending women who served and ministered” (Ex. 38:8, AMP), you’ll find only one that uses the same Hebrew phrase. Once again, most English translations describe the women as serving at the Tabernacle.

Now Eli was very old; and he heard all that his sons did to all Israel, and how that they slept with the women who served at the door of the Tent of Meeting.

1 Samuel 2:22, WEB

That is the only other verse we have to go on for descriptions of these women. It does not give us much information. In both cases, the verses are not directly about the women. They are mentioned as if everyone reading would already understand who these women are and what they are doing at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. These verses are there to tell us where the metal for the bronze basin came from and to illustrate the horribly evil things that Eli’s sons were doing. At the same time, these two verses are now the only evidence we have for women doing something related to the Tabernacle.

We can learn a little bit more about what they might have been doing by looking at the Hebrew word for serving. The word is tsaba (H6633) and it means “to go forth, wage war, fight, serve” (Brown, Driver, Briggs). It is used 13 times in the Old Testament. Most of the uses refer to fighting in war, but it is also used of the serving women and for the Levite’s service (Num. 4:23; 8:24). The Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (TWOT) states, “No doubt service for Yahweh is seen as involving total dedication and careful regimentation, and since God is Yahweh of hosts, enthroned between the cherubim housed inside the tent of meeting, work associated with the tent may be considered spiritual war” (entry 1865). The TWOT believes that the women mentioned by this word “ministered at the door of the tent of meeting” in some capacity.

Image of a stained glass church window overlaid with text from Luke 8:1-3, NET version: Jesus “went on through towns and villages, preaching and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The twelve were with him, and also some women ... Mary (called Magdalene), from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna the wife of Cuza (Herod’s household manager), Susanna, and many others who provided for them out of their own resources.”
Image by falco from Pixabay

Extra-Biblical Scholarship

With only two verses directly mentioning these women and only so much we can learn from dictionaries and other uses of the word translated “serve” or “minister,” I started investigating commentaries and scholarship. There is not much scholarship on these women and within that scholarship there is not much of a consensus. I’ve seen explanations for their roles ranging from “they were cultic prostitutes who used mirrors as a form or religious expression” to “they were prostitutes who had their mirrors removed as punishment” to “they were devote women who must have served Yahweh in some fashion.” Scholarship on this verse often examines mirrors as religious and feminine symbols and examines female roles in other cultic religious at the time (see “Through a Glass, Darkly: Reflections on the Translation and Interpretation of Exodus 38:81” by Laura Quick and “Serving Women and Their Mirrors: A Feminist Reading of Exodus 38:8b” by Janet S. Everhart).

Given a basic understanding of Yahweh’s stance on sexual morality, I think it is safe to say that these women were certainly not cultic prostitutes sanctioned by God. Despite the lack of other verses describing women as playing a role in tabernacle service, I think it is safest to assume that these women were doing some kind of service for God that was approved by God. What we cannot be sure of is what, exactly, that service invovled.

The word for “serve” is not the ordinary one. It means “to serve in a host,” especially in a war. It appears that women were organized into bands and served at the tent of meeting. S. R. Driver thinks that this meant “no doubt” washing, cleaning, or repairing (Exodus, 391). But there is no hint of that (see 1 Sam 2:22; and see Ps 68:11 [12 HT]). They seem to have had more to do than what Driver said.

NET study note on Exodus 38:8

Many commentary writers believe that donating the mirrors was the extent of these women’s service and that they had gathered themselves into troops at the tent of meeting rather than being assembled for service as the Levites were. Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers says “women wont to frequent the ‘tent of meeting’ … and to flock thither in troops–offered voluntarily for the service of God the mirrors” (BibleHub). Matthew Henry notes that “Some women, devoted to God and zealous for the tabernacle worship, expressed zeal by parting with their mirrors” (BibleHub). This does not, of course, explain what the women in 1 Samuel were still doing there (though some writers do use that verse as evidence that they were prostitutes).

Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown stray into modern views on what mirrors symbolize when they say, these women were “not priestesses, but females of pious character and influence, who frequented the courts of the sacred building (Luke 2:37), and whose parting with their mirrors, like the cutting the hair of the Nazarites, was their renouncing the world for a season, and devoting themselves to ascetic modes of life” (BibliaPlus). We need to be cautious about reading in our assumptions about women into texts that are thousands of years removed from our culture. It is often better to admit we don’t have a clear answer than to guess.

Ways that Women Serve

Image of a stained glass church window, overlaid with blog's title text and the words, "Exodus 38 and 1 Samuel 2 mention women who served at the entrance of God's tabernacle. Is it possible to figure out what their roles were?"
Image by Dorothée QUENNESSON from Pixabay

Of the commentaries I’ve looked at, I find Adam Clarke’s the most intriguing. Firstly, I like that he admits “What the employment of these women was at the door of the tabernacle, is not easily known” (BibleHub). I’m always more inclined to trust a scholar that admits he doesn’t know everything than one who assumes his view must be truth. Secondly, Clarke points out that women serving the same role in 1 Sam. 2:22 were being abused by Eli’s sons rather than trying to shift blame onto the women or using this as an excuse to call them cultic prostitutes. Thirdly, he bases his speculation on scripture and other ancient texts instead of on his own cultural assumptions about what women can and cannot do in service to God.

Some think they assembled there for purposes of devotion. Others, that they kept watch there during the night; and this is the most probable opinion, for they appear to have been in the same employment as those who assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation in the days of Samuel, who were abused by the sons of the high priest Eli, 1 Samuel 2:22. Among the ancients women were generally employed in the office of porters or doorkeepers. Such were employed about the house of the high priest in our Lord’s time; for a woman is actually represented as keeping the door of the palace of the high priest, John 18:17 . …

Many other examples might be produced. It is therefore very likely that the persons mentioned here, and in 1 Samuel 2:22, were the women who guarded the tabernacle; and that they regularly relieved each other, a troop or company regularly keeping watch: and indeed this seems to be implied in the original, צבאו tsabeu, they came by troops; and these troops successively consecrated their mirrors to the service of the tabernacle. 

Clarke’s commentary on Exodus 38

Like many others, Clarke assumes these women had distinctly feminine roles to play in relation to the Tabernacle. Rather than making assumptions based on his own contemporary ideas of “women’s work,” he examined the Bible for work that other women did at the entrances of other places. I am not completely convinced by his argument, partly because there was a family of Levites designated as doorkeepers (see “The Sons of Korah” by Truth Be Told podcast for a good analysis). The Korahites’ role as “keepers of the thresholds of the tent” (1 Chr. 9:19, WEB) was confirmed by David, and the text notes that “Their ancestors had guarded the entrance to the Lord’s dwelling place” (1 Chr. 9:19, NET). It appears their family filled this role for some time, though I suppose that doesn’t eliminate the possibility of women acting as doorkeepers before or alongside them.

While we cannot say for sure what the women assembling at the entrance to the tent of meeting did, it is certain that women have always been involved in service to God. We looked at this in relation to both the Old and New Testament in my article “Focusing On Authority Misses the Point (How Do Women Serve in the Church?)” We know that women have served as prophetess, deacons/servants, church hosts, workers/laborers in the church, and at least one judge/leader. One of those prophetesses, a woman named Anna who met the infant Jesus and spoke to people about him, “never left the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day” (Luke 2:36-38, NET). Perhaps she was continuing the tradition begun by those women back in Exodus 38, who assembled at the entrance of the newly built tabernacle.

Featured image by Dorothée QUENNESSON from Pixabay

Song Recommendation: “We Will Glorify” by Twila Paris

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What Are Ordained Roles in the Church?

What Are Ordained Roles in the Church?

Marissa

A couple weeks ago, some of my family was talking about deacons and deaconesses in the church today. Who gets to be ordained deacons, what do they do, why we don’t see as many today, and things like that. That got me thinking about different service/authority roles that the New Testament talks about. I wanted to study the Greek words used, since English translations often use different words to represent the same Greek word and that can confuse things for modern readers.

As ground work, I started looking at the topic of ordination, assuming it would be relatively simple (spoiler warning: it is not). Different Christian denominations handle this topic differently, and also recognize different roles that men (and occasionally women) can be ordained into. Figuring out the Bible’s stance on all of this is not entirely straight-forward, which is probably why there are so many different takes on it in different groups. It also seems that things were a little less formal in early New Testament times.

The Surprisingly Complicated Topic of Ordination

According to GotQuestions.org, which is a good source for non-denominational overviews of Christian topics, “The modern definition of ordination is ‘the investiture of clergy’ or ‘the act of granting pastoral authority or sacerdotal power,'” and in most cases “the ceremony involves the laying on of hands.” There is Biblical precedent for this practice, but there are also differences between the modern tradition of ordination and the Biblical examples we see for selecting New Covenant church leaders.

In the King James Version of the New Testament, the word “ordain” is found in 21 verses and it’s translated from 14 different Greek words. I don’t use the KJV much, but it’s the easiest translation to find versions linked with Strong’s numbers for studying the Greek text, and it’s a hugely influential translation. One of the big limitations of the KJV, though, is that the English language has changed dramatically since 1611. Some of the translation choices that were accurate 400+ years ago no longer work today. For example, “ordain” came into English by way of Late Latin, to Anglo-French, to Middle English with the meaning “to put in order, appoint” (Merriam Webster). Some of the times when it appears in the KJV, it’s in the sense of ordaining someone into a role. Other times, it’s about a fact that God appointed or decrees someone put in order.

My favorite modern translation for the New Testament, the New English Translation, only uses “ordain” once. For the 21 verses where that word is used in the King James version, they use the English word “appointed” most often, but also “become,” “decided,” “designated,” “intended,” “instituted,” “determined,” “give direction,” “commanded,” “administered,” and “prepared.” Those words give a better idea of the range of Greek words behind “ordain.” For today’s post, we’re looking at the Greek words that include the sense of appointing people for certain tasks.

  • poieo (G4160). Primary meanings are “to make” or “to do” (Thayer). This word appears 586 times in the New Tesatament, with a broad range of meanings.
    • “He appointed twelve so that they would be with him and he could send them to preach” (Mark 3:14, NET).
  • tithemi (G5087). Primary meanings “to set, put, place,” “to make,” and “to set, fix, establish” (Thayer). This word appears 94 times, with meanings ranging from putting a candle under a bushel (Matt. 5:15) to preparing a corpse for burial (Mark 6:29; Acts 9:37) to laying down your life as a sacrifice (John 10:17-18; 15:13) to making Abraham a father of nations (Rom. 4:17).
    • “For this I was appointed a preacher and apostle—I am telling the truth; I am not lying—and a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth” (1 Tim. 2:7, NET).
  • kathistemi (G2525) means “to set, place, put,” including “to set one over a thing” or “to appoint one to administer an office” (Thayer). Used 21 times in the New Testament, often in the sense of putting someone in authority over something (see Matt. 24:45; 25:21; Acts 6:3; 7:10).
    • “The reason I left you in Crete was to set in order the remaining matters and to appoint elders in every town, as I directed you” (Tit. 1:5, NET). Also used of high priests in Heb. 5:1 and 8:3.
  • tasso (G5021). “To put in order, to station” (Thayer). Used 8 times in the New Testament, always with the connotation of a person appointed for something, whether it’s an office of authority or a location they’re supposed to go (Matt. 28:16; Luke 7:8; Acts 15:2; 22:10; 28:23; Rom. 13:1; 1 Cor. 16:15).
    • “When the Gentiles heard this, they began to rejoice and praise the word of the Lord, and all who had been appointed for eternal life believed” (Acts 13:48, NET).
  • cheirotoneo (G5500). “To vote by stretching out the hand,” such as appointing “one to have charge of an office or duty” (Thayer). Only used twice (2 Cor. 8:19).
    • “When they had appointed elders for them in the various churches, with prayer and fasting they entrusted them to the protection of the Lord in whom they had believed” (Acts 14:23, NET).

These words all have to do with appointing someone to a task, sometimes with the idea of setting them in place, sometimes in the sense of making them hold an office, and sometimes by voting. There wasn’t just one word that meant “ordain” the same way we have in English. It does appear there was some type of ceremony involved (see Acts 6:6; 13:2-4 for laying on of hands as part of setting people apart for service) and that there was a selection process of some kind (e.g. choosing, voting, listening for God’s direction). Roles appointed in this way included preacher, apostle, elder, and high priest (under the Old Covenant). Some also include all believers in the sense of being appointed to eternal life (Acts 13:48) or appointed to bear good fruit (John 15:16).

Looking at Roles In The Church

When I wrote earlier this year about women serving in the church, I argued that focusing on who gets to be in charge (i.e. who holds authority roles in the church) misses the point. Positions we think of as having “authority” are described as responsibilities for service. That’s not to say having authority is necessarily bad; Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth and gave certain kinds of authority to people in His church. But if we think about ordained positions like pastor or elder primarily as positions of authority, then we’re missing focus on humility and service (Matt. 20:24-28; Luke 22:24-27).

That’s important background understanding to keep in mind as we study roles in the church. We all have a vital part to play but we don’t all hold the same roles (1 Cor. 12). There are two main lists of what we might call authority or leading roles in the church, one in 1 Corinthians and one in Ephesians. Putting them together, we have “some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers” (Eph. 4:11), as well as those gifted with “miracles, gifts of healing, helps, gifts of leadership, different kinds of tongues” (1 Cor. 12:28, NET). Paul also talks about overseers (bishops) and deacons or deaconesses (servants) in other letters (Phil. 1:1; 1 Tim. 3:1-4, 8-13; Titus 1:7-9). Elders also come up frequently (Acts 11:30; 14:23; 15:2-6, 22-23; 16:4; 1 Tim. 5:17; Tit. 1:5; Jams 5:14; 1 Pet. 5:1), and it appears their roles overlap with overseers (Acts 20:17, 28).

  • Apostles. Greek apostolos (G652), “a delegate, messenger, one sent forth with orders” (Thayers). This category definitely included the 12 apostles hand-picked by Jesus, Matthias (who replaced Judas), and Paul. However, it is uncertain if it applied to any others (like Barnabus, Timothy, Silvanus, and Junia). Scripture is also unclear on if any humans should be designated as apostles today, but Zodhiates notes in his dictionary that it is probable “there is no continuity of the office of an apostle since in no place were the churches instructed to ordain apostles.”
  • Prophets. Greek prophetes (G4396). Broadly speaking, it means one who speaks as they are inspired by God, often “concerning future events” (Thayers). This word “corresponds to the person who in the OT spoke under divine influence and inspiration” to foretell “future events,” deliver messages from God to people, and act as “the interpreter of His will” (Zodhiates). This is one of the roles that we definitely know can apply to both men and women.
  • Evangelists. Greek euaggelistes (G2099), “a bringer of good tidings” (Thayers). Could be a formal title, but may also simply apply to those who share the gospel of salvation. “Evangelist” is only used three times in the New Testament (Acts 21:8; Eph. 4:11; 2 Tim. 4:5), but the verb “to bring good news” (euaggelizo, G2097) is used 60 times. Though we don’t have a lot of information on this role, some scholars infer that evangelists (along with apostles and prophets) were “itinerant ministers … preaching wherever they found an opportunity, while pastors and teachers were attached to some congregation or location” (Zodhiates).
  • Teachers. Greek didaskalos (G1320), “one who teaches” (Thayer). The word is often used of Jesus as The Teacher, as well as His followers who teach whether they “hold the office of teacher” or are “endowed with the teaching gift” and minister “in an unofficial capacity” (Zodhiates).
    • Pastors. Greek poimen (G4166), literally “a herdsman, especially a shepherd” and metaphorically, “the presiding office, manager, director of any assembly” (Thayer). I have “pastors” nested under “teachers” because of how Ephesians 4:11 is phrased in Greek. Some interpret “pastors and teachers” as one group (i.e. all pastors are teachers and all teachers are pastors) because there’s only one definite article in Greek. The NET translation, however, points out this is “extremely unlikely” given that both “nouns are plural …. It is better to regard the pastors as a subset of teachers. In other words, all pastors are teachers, but not all teachers are pastors” (study note on Eph. 4:11). Zodhiates concurs, noting that “there is a growing consensus that pastors are a sub-group within the larger body of teachers.”
  • Elders. Greek presbuteros (G4245) can refer to someone who is “the elder of two people” or someone “advanced in life … a senior” (Thayer). It is also used as “a term of rank or office” in both Christian and Jewish communities of the New Testament. You’ll often see “elders” used in the gospels to talk about judges and Sanhedrin members in the Jewish community. In Christian communities, Thayer’s dictionary notes that “the NT uses the term term bishop, elders, and presbyters interchangeably” and Zodhiates agrees elder is equivalent to overseer/bishop. It also is worth noting that this word typically seems to refer to men, but is used once for women (1 Tim. 5:2 is typically translated “elder women” or “older women,” and it’s the feminine version of presbuteros).
    • Overseers. Greek episkopos (G1985), someone “charged with the duty of seeing that things to be done by others are done rightly” (Thayer). Also translated “bishops.” I have this role nested under “elder” because in Actus 20, Paul tell the elders he gathered (v. 17) that the holy spirit made them overseers of God’s flock (v. 28). This supports our assumption that the words are used interchangeably. We find qualifications for overseers in 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9.
  • Deacons. Greek diakonos (G1249), “one who executes the commands of another, especially of a master” (Thayer). Typically translated “servant,” “minister,” or “deacon.” The word is applied to some specific people: Jesus (Rom. 15:8), Phoebe (Rom. 16:1), Apollos (1 Cor. 3:5), Paul (Col. 1:23), Tychicus (Eph. 6:21; Col. 4:7), Epaphras (Col. 1:7), and Timothy (1 Thes. 3:2). We find qualifications for deacons in 1 Timothy 3:8-13. I’ve seen arguments that all the people named as diakonos are just “servants” rather than ordained “deacons” because they argue the role of deacon should be attached to a single church congregation, not overlap with pastor or apostle, and only apply to men, but it seems strange to me to insist on that distinction given that it’s all the same Greek word.

Why Does This Matter?

Image of people sitting in church pews, overlaid with blog's title text and the words, "What leadership roles did God set up in the church, and why should we care?"
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I found this a very interesting study, but as I continued working on it I started to wonder what the point is. There’s scholarly and doctrinal interest in this topic, but what does it have to do with the lives of Christians as a whole?

I think there is value, even for the majority of Christians who are not formally ordained, in understanding what the Bible has to say about authority or leadership roles in the church. It helps us understand that God did put structure in place and we should accord respect and honor to the men He charged with serving the church (1 Tim. 5:17). We are not meant to see elders, pastors, and others like them as adversaries, but as helpers and fellow workers (2 Cor. 1:24). It may be hard to trust people in leadership positions if you have experience with those who have abused those positions, but we must keep in mind that the roles themselves are not the issue.

That said, we’re also not called to blindly follow human beings no matter what they do. Understanding what the Bible says about people God entrusted with leadership roles in His church also helps us recognize when not to follow someone who claims authority. For example, if someone today claims that God appointed him an apostle and we should follow whatever he says, we should not believe that person. If a minister, elder, deacon, etc. starts teaching things contrary to God’s law or living a completely dissolute life, we should recognize that we have an obligation not to follow them.

Jesus Christ is the Head of all things to the church. As the Head of the Body, He sets people in different positions to fill different roles so the body is complete, diverse, unified, and accomplishing the variety of tasks the church needs to be doing (1 Cor. 12). The whole church–consisting of every person He has called to follow Him and who responded to His call by committing to Him–is under His authority. We can follow and imitate other respectable Christians, but only in so far as they are imitating and following Jesus (1 Cor. 4:16-17; 11:1; Phil. 3:17; 1 Thes. 1:6; Heb. 6:12).

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The God of [Your Name Here]

The God of [Your Name Here]

Marissa

Did you ever notice how often God introduces himself as “The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob” in the Old Testament, or how often people refer to Him as “the God of” a specific person or group of people?

Even today, connections help define us. When we meet new people, we often help them understand who we are by explaining who we work with or mentioning relatives they might know. Knowing the connections of new people we meet helps us understand who they are if we already know their spouse, kids, parents, or coworkers. A connection with someone we like helps ensure the new person makes a positive impression on us. On the other hand, if they’re connected with someone we don’t have a good experience with, that will color our first impression of them. We can still remind ourselves to judge the other person based on their own merits, but their associations impact our reaction to them.

Similarly, when a voice spoke to Moses from the burning bush and said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (Ex. 3:6, WEB), the association with Moses’s ancestors helped him understand who was speaking to him. It was only after introducing Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and claiming Israel as His people that God shared His name. Even then, He reiterated His association with His follower as part of His identity.

God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM,” and he said, “You shall tell the children of Israel this: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” God said moreover to Moses, “You shall tell the children of Israel this, ‘Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and this is my memorial to all generations.”

Exodus 3:6-8, 14, WEB

When you think about it, it’s mindboggling that Almighty God decided to connect His reputation to human beings. What if Moses had heard Abraham’s name and thought, “You mean you’re the God of a guy who let two kings take his wife because he thought lying would save his own skin? who banished his firstborn son and the slave-girl who gave birth to him, and didn’t seem to care if they lived or died?” Those are things that Abraham did, and they were not good things. At the end of the day, though, those mistakes are not what Abraham is known for. He is remembered for his faithfulness and his friendship with God (James 2:21-23; Heb. 11:8-10, 17-19).

What does that have to do with us? Much like Moses’s understanding of Yahweh was impacted by knowing Him as “the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,” the people we meet might have their understanding of God the Father and Jesus Christ impacted by our lives as Christians.

Image of a man and a woman with their hands raised looking up to heaven, overlaid with text from 2 Thess. 1:11-12, NET version: “we pray for you always, that our God will make you worthy of his calling and fulfill by his power your every desire for goodness and every work of faith, that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you”
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Names and Reputations

Much like God chose to connect His reputation to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, He did the same for ancient Israel. In Hebrew thought, names are linked to reputation. So when God says He’s putting His name on someone, He’s linking them to His family and to His reputation.

Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, ‘This is how you shall bless the children of Israel.’ You shall tell them,

‘Yahweh bless you, and keep you.
    Yahweh make his face to shine on you,
    and be gracious to you.
Yahweh lift up his face toward you,
    and give you peace.’

“So they shall put my name on the children of Israel; and I will bless them.”

Numbers 6:22-27, WEB

Several times through scripture, God refers to His people as the ones who are called by His name (Deut. 28:10; 2 Chron. 7:14; Is. 43:7). Placing His name on people indicates they belong to Him. With His name on us, there are certain things we are and are not supposed to do.

“You shall not misuse the name of Yahweh your God, for Yahweh will not hold him guiltless who misuses his name.

Exodus 20:7, WEB

A more traditional rendering of this verse is “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.” The Hebrew words behind “take in vain” or “misuse” include the idea of us carrying God’s reputation with us. An expanded translation could be something like, “You shall not lift up or invoke the name/reputation of Yahweh your Elohim in a false, empty, or worthless manner.”

Leaving a Legacy

Image of a woman praying with one hand raised, overlaid with blog's title text and the words, "God identifies Himself with His people, and how we live reflects on His reputation."
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We ought to be careful how we conduct ourselves as representatives of God. Our actions reflect on Him. When King David committed adultery with Bathsheba and had her husband Uriah killed, Nathan the prophet said, “Yahweh also has put away your sin. You will not die. However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to Yahweh’s enemies to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you will surely die” (2 Sam. 12:13-14, WEB). David’s actions did not change God’s nature, but by acting in a way contrary to God’s character he gave God’s enemies ammunition to use in their railing against God.

It is good to remember that we don’t have the power to ruin God’s reputation with our mistakes, or to make Him so angry that He refuses to forgive us when we repent. Even as high-profile as some of Abraham’s and David’s mistakes were, sincere repentance and humility repaired the relationships they had with God. God called Abraham His friend and David a man after His own heart. Both left a legacy that speaks to God’s faithfulness, forgiveness, and investment in humanity.

“I know that you have little strength, but you have obeyed my word and have not denied my name. … I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have so that no one can take away your crown. The one who conquers I will make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will never depart from it. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God (the new Jerusalem that comes down out of heaven from my God), and my new name as well.”

Revelation 3:8, 11-12, NET

We can also leave a legacy that reflects well on God, despite our inevitable human shortcomings, so long as we continue following Him and repenting when we miss the mark. Sometimes, we’ll be demonstrating that our God can forgive and work with deeply flawed people. Overall, though, we should be showing how much God can transform us into better people as we carry His name and reputation in a true, meaningful, and worthy manner.

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Song Recommendation: “You Changed My Name” by Matthew West

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Reflecting on Psalm 37: Hope In Troubled Times

Reflecting on Psalm 37: Hope In Troubled Times

Marissa

I had a different post topic in mind for this week, but I keep thinking about Charlie Kirk’s murder on September 10. I didn’t follow any of his work, and wasn’t even sure if his name sounded familiar when I saw the news of his assassination. But I immediately thought of how much other political violence I’ve been hearing about lately, and how much more prevalent it seems than ever before in my lifetime (“Charlie Kirk killing deepens America’s violent spiral,” Zachary Basu, Axios.com).

“With Charlie Kirk’s slaying, we’ve witnessed more high-profile assassinations or assassination attempts in the past 14 months — including two assassination attempts on President Trump, the killing of a Democratic Minnesota lawmaker and an arson attack on the residence of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) — than at any point since 1968, when the nation lost the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., then Robert F. Kennedy just two months later.”

“Behind the Curtain: Four ominous trends,” Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen, Axios.com

It’s sobering to realize that my feeling that political violence (in my country at least) is the highest it’s ever been in my life is based on facts (King and Kennedy were killed more than 20 years before I was born). And while I do see people struggling to encourage unity and condemn political violence as a bi-partisan issue, it seems like many are becoming even more extremely polarized. It’s a frightening and uncertain time.

In the midst of all this, I happened to read Psalm 37 this past week. It’s one of David’s longer psalms, but I found it helpful to read through it slowly this week, and I want to quite it in it’s entirety for today’s post. This is a different format than we’ve done before, so quick word of explanation. If you’re on a computer, you’ll see Psalm 37 (WEB translation) in the column on the left and my commentary is in the column on the right. If you’re on mobile, you’ll see all of Psalm 37 first, then my comments underneath the psalm with numbers next to the comments to indicate which verse I’m reflecting on.

Psalm 37

1 Don’t fret because of evildoers,
    neither be envious against those who work unrighteousness.
2 For they shall soon be cut down like the grass,
    and wither like the green herb.
3 Trust in Yahweh, and do good.
    Dwell in the land, and enjoy safe pasture.
4 Also delight yourself in Yahweh,
    and he will give you the desires of your heart.
5 Commit your way to Yahweh.
    Trust also in him, and he will do this:
6 he will make your righteousness shine out like light,
    and your justice as the noon day sun.
7 Rest in Yahweh, and wait patiently for him.
    Don’t fret because of him who prospers in his way,
    because of the man who makes wicked plots happen.
8 Cease from anger, and forsake wrath.
    Don’t fret; it leads only to evildoing.
9 For evildoers shall be cut off,
    but those who wait for Yahweh shall inherit the land.
10 For yet a little while, and the wicked will be no more.
    Yes, though you look for his place, he isn’t there.
11 But the humble shall inherit the land,
    and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.
12 The wicked plots against the just,
    and gnashes at him with his teeth.
13 The Lord will laugh at him,
    for he sees that his day is coming.
14 The wicked have drawn out the sword, and have bent their bow,
    to cast down the poor and needy,
    to kill those who are upright on the path.
15 Their sword shall enter into their own heart.
    Their bows shall be broken.
16 Better is a little that the righteous has,
    than the abundance of many wicked.
17 For the arms of the wicked shall be broken,
    but Yahweh upholds the righteous.
18 Yahweh knows the days of the perfect.
    Their inheritance shall be forever.
19 They shall not be disappointed in the time of evil.
    In the days of famine they shall be satisfied.

20 But the wicked shall perish.
    The enemies of Yahweh shall be like the beauty of the fields.
    They will vanish—
    vanish like smoke.
21 The wicked borrow, and don’t pay back,
    but the righteous give generously.
22 For such as are blessed by him shall inherit the land.
    Those who are cursed by him shall be cut off.
23 A man’s steps are established by Yahweh.
    He delights in his way.
24 Though he stumble, he shall not fall,
    for Yahweh holds him up with his hand.
25 I have been young, and now am old,
    yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken,
    nor his children begging for bread.
26 All day long he deals graciously, and lends.
    His offspring is blessed.
27 Depart from evil, and do good.
    Live securely forever.
28 For Yahweh loves justice,
    and doesn’t forsake his saints.
    They are preserved forever,
    but the children of the wicked shall be cut off.
29 The righteous shall inherit the land,
    and live in it forever.

30 The mouth of the righteous talks of wisdom.
    His tongue speaks justice.
31 The law of his God is in his heart.
    None of his steps shall slide.
32 The wicked watch the righteous,
    and seek to kill him.
33 Yahweh will not leave him in his hand,
    nor condemn him when he is judged.
34 Wait for Yahweh, and keep his way,
    and he will exalt you to inherit the land.
    When the wicked are cut off, you shall see it.

35 I have seen the wicked in great power,
    spreading himself like a green tree in its native soil.
36 But he passed away, and behold, he was not.
    Yes, I sought him, but he could not be found.
37 Mark the perfect man, and see the upright,
    for there is a future for the man of peace.
38 As for transgressors, they shall be destroyed together.
    The future of the wicked shall be cut off.
39 But the salvation of the righteous is from Yahweh.
    He is their stronghold in the time of trouble.
40 Yahweh helps them and rescues them.
    He rescues them from the wicked and saves them,
    because they have taken refuge in him.

Commentary

1. Much easier to say “don’t fret” than to do it. I often find myself battling anxiety about things that might happen, which is the type of fretting I though of first. Here, though, David seems more focused on the temptation to envy those who seem like they’re “getting away with” unrighteousness.

4. This is one of my favorite verses. I prayed it for years before God granted my desire for a family of my own, and I always smile now when I read it, thinking of my husband and daughter.

5-6. There are so many verses in the Bible reminding us that our focus should be on trusting God and following Him. It’s so much simpler than we often make it.

7. Here is where the psalm starts to feel particularly relevant today. It feels almost impossible not to fret over those “who make wicked plots happen.”

8-11. A key set of verses for times like this, when it’s so easy to react with anger to things we see around us. We must remember that wrath leads to evildoing and evildoers, no matter how well-intentioned they think they are, will be stopped by God. We must wait humbly for God to act. See also Romans 12:14-21.

12-15. Further assurance from the Psalmist that no matter how much wickedness seems to run rampant, even to the point of killing upright people, we can be assured that the Lord will act to put an end to the evil that they do and repay their deeds.

17-19. “Yahweh upholds the righteous” is a recurring motif in the psalms and Isaiah. Here, we also start to get hints that David understand the cosmic timescale where God’s justice plays out: “their inheritance shall be forever.” Not all of God’s promised blessings on the righteous are fully realized in this life, but they will certainly come to pass.

20. Likewise, God’s justice on the wicked doesn’t always happen as quickly as we might like, but it will happen. He is victorious in the end, and what seems like delay to us is actually mercy (2 Pet. 3:9-10; 1 Tim. 2:1-4).

25. Here’s one of the spots that pops up frequently in the psalms where we see the writer’s personal experience rather than a general rule that applies to all time. This is what David has seen; it is not a promise that righteous people will never go hungry. Even earlier in this same psalm, David acknowledges that sometimes the wicked kill the righteous (v. 14). It is possible to hold both truths in our minds: that God is always faithful to His people, and that sometimes He allows bad things to happen.

28. The fact that “Yahweh loves justice” is very reassuring to me. The Hebrew word is mishpâṭ (H4941), and I’ve written about it before. The word encompasses all the functions of a proper government and reflects God’s desire and ability to set things right.

33-34. These are hard verses to reconcile when it does seem as if the wicked might be triumphing over the righteous. Once again, we must remember the timescale that God operates on. In the last days when the righteous are resurrected and stand before God in judgement, He will not condemn them. Those who wait on God and keep His way will be there to see Him bring justice to earth.

Image of people holding hands to pray, overlaid with blog's title text and the words, "God's word offers hope even during times of violence, unrest, and political polarization"
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Often during times of great stress, we feel like we ought to do something. That is true, but it’s not always the sort of thing we think. Two of the most powerful, and the most counterintuitive, things we can do is lament and pray. Lament is something I don’t think we talk about nearly enough in society today. It’s a Biblical model for talking to God about anguish, pain, grief, and confusion. All too often, we get angry or afraid when we ought to be sighing and crying (see Ezk. 9:4). We want to lash out or take action externally when the Biblical answer is to start with lament and prayer. That doesn’t mean we won’t say anything to take any action, but what we do and say must spring from godly motives rather than human impulses if we want to walk uprightly. I want to close with two more verses that I think are important to keep in mind right now, no matter which side of the intellectual/political divide you lean towards.

First of all, then, I urge that requests, prayers, intercessions, and thanks be offered on behalf of all people, even for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. Such prayer for all is good and welcomed before God our Savior, since he wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

2 Timothy 2:1-4, NET

 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor’ and ‘hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be like your Father in heaven, since he causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Even the tax collectors do the same, don’t they? And if you only greet your brothers, what more do you do? Even the Gentiles do the same, don’t they? So then, be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Matthew 5:43-48, NET

Song Recommendation: “Fear Is Easy, Love Is Hard” by Jason Gray

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