Facing Bible Dragons

Is there a book of Scripture that you find both fascinating and terrifying?  You love to meditate on certain verses and feel guilty for avoiding the rest of it, but it just seems too hard to even try to understand?

Hebrews was like that for me.  This anonymous sermon-transcript contains some of the most beautiful, profound statements in the Bible, like "it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest: holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens;" but at the same time it contains some of the most doctrinally thorny passages.  What do you do with something like "if we go on sinning deliberately, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins but a fearful expectation of judgment"?!

When we're confronted with an intriguing but intimidating portion of Scripture, we should stop avoiding it and instead confront the challenge head on.  God gave it to us so we could know Him better and love Him more!  But if you're like me, simply reading through the whole  book doesn't do the trick.  By the time we're half-way through we've already forgotten key details, even on our second or third or tenth trip through. It's hard to remember all the  important dots, let alone connect them!

 

So here's an idea:  Memorize it!  Memorize all of it, not just your favorite bits.

 

A year and a half ago I committed to memorizing Hebrews as a 30th birthday present to myself.  I wanted to become familiar with the less attractive passages and better understand what God is saying through all the parts put together. And having committed the whole of it to memory,  I can testify that through memorization it is possible to hold more of the "dots" in your head at once and think through the connection between them.   Do I now have a perfect understanding of the Hebrews?  Definitely not!  But I have a much better understanding and much greater enjoyment of the text.  And that, friends, is well worth the effort.

 

P.S.

The little book His Word in My Heart is a great help and encouragement for the challenge of memorizing Scripture in bulk.  An Approach to Extended Memorization of Scripture also looks helpful although I've not read that one.

 

P.P.S.

Still reading?!  Then here's a little more about my Hebrews project. 

 

I memorized most of it backward, starting in chapter 13 and working up from there.  That way even if the memorization effort were aborted I would at least be more familiar with a part that I wasn't before.  (If you decide to try this approach, just be aware that it can mess with how you view the flow of the text.)

I exercise my memory by compiling indexes.  Hebrews in particular is rich with recurring themes, so as I continue to study the book I sometimes try to list on paper every occurrence of a certain key word or concept, only looking at the text to double-check my work afterward.  This is a great study tool as well as a way to help retain the memorized text.  (Another great exercise is creating an outline from memory.)

 

I leverage my memorization to hold proof-texts accountable.  That is, if a speaker or writer cites an isolated verse from Hebrews I make a habit of reviewing the context in my mind.  Sometimes it helps me better appreciate the speaker or writer's point as well as the meaning of the text.  It can also help me recognize when a verse has been kidnapped and used out of context.  Either way, this practice further reinforces the memorized text for greater retention.

 

 P.P.P.S

Seriously, if you're still reading this you need something better to do.  Go find a text to memorize and start working!

It Ain’t Easy Having Green

James seems very random.  I like random, but not in Scripture-writers.

Paul is not very random.

Verses 2-8 make sense together, so they’re okay.  You lack? Ask.  Verses 9-11 are where James starts to get scary, because out of the blue we’re hating on the rich man.

Wait for it….

I think there’s a connection.

On both sides of these verses (9-11), James writes about success in suffering.  Before them, he says the purpose of suffering is to ultimately not lack any virtue; but virtue (specifically wisdom) must be supplied by the giving God.   After them, James looks at the man who remains steadfast in suffering and earns the crown of life.  And there’s a hint of suffering within verses 9-11: the sun rising with scorching heat.   

So suffering is a thread.

What are poor people good at that rich people aren’t?  Depending.   What does it take to succeed in suffering? Dependence.  In Pastor James’ example, I think the lowly man understands his profound need, and thus is more likely to succeed in suffering.

Badger Badger Badger Badger

(from July 12, 2009)

Sunday. Time to use up before 11:00 Bible study.

I really was going to actually run this morning.  But when I stumbled out into the hallway I met Andy and Papa Jianwei looking very much as though they were up to something (which they generally are whenever a person can see them both at the same time). A bucket, a trash bag, and two pairs of vinyl gloves--what's this?

Mushroom hunting.

But no ordinary mushroom: The Mushroom of Immortality.

You can read about it here: The Mushroom of Immortality. It has many various and wonderful properties, including antifungal ones. The antifungus fungus. Amazing. For obvious reasons LZ (for its other name is Lingzhi) is highly treasured in China, where it is dried and brewed as a tea (for its other name means "herb of spiritual potency"). And Mama Xiuhua discovered it humbly growing on a tree on South Huntington! 

Actually it was devouring the tree, which isn't so humble after all, but that's beside the point.

Well, it's not very often that one gets to harvest The Mushroom of Immortality.  Jianwei had been beside himself with joy ever since discovering it. So I postponed the run and went with the apartment family to harvest this great treasure. There it was, all white and red and slimy, happily absorbing its host tree...Jianwei and Andy filled the bucket--Xiuhua made him pull all the little worms off first--and when we got home spread them out to dry. Soon we'll grind them up and brew them, and then hello, immortality!!!

The Giving God

Probably the most famous progression in James is in the first few verses—from rejoicing in trials to patience to lacking nothing spiritually, and from lacking wisdom to asking God for wisdom.

For a long time, verses 5-8 troubled me.  What are they saying?  Really believe that God will give you wisdom, and He will.  A warning that if your Belief-o-Meter hasn’t reached critical mass, your experiment will fail.

Now I think this little section hinges on the God statement: “the God who gives generously to all, without reproach.”  Without reproach could mean either without cruel jeering, or without pointing out a real fault.  Generously is amazing: “of guileless response to someth(ing) that arrests one’s attention.”  If our God were finite it would mean dropping all His other tasks to meet a need that captured His attention, not thinking of how much it will cost or how silly it will make Him look.

The problem is not that someone fails to muster up the required amount of belief, but that someone fails to believe God is the kind of God He says He is.  And since our spiritual growth absolutely depends on God being that for us, the one who does not believe Him is truly at a loss.

The definitions above, both directly quoted and summarized by me, are from BDAG: Arndt, W., Danker, F. W., & Bauer, W. (2000). A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament and other early Christian literature (3rd ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

The Thatching

1:2-15	This is how I think James goes: Suffering is a vehicle for spiritual growth, but spiritual growth isn’t guaranteed.  Essential to sanctification is a posture of absolute neediness, a belief that God is faithful to Himself, and a recognition that the impulses of the heart are contrary to the purposes of God.
1:13-21	Whereas I desire badly and my desires bring forth death, God gives perfectly and He has brought me forth as a new creation.  The Word is the instrument of my new birth, and I will only grow spiritually as I return to the Word.
1:19 - 3:18	The irony is that although I won’t get anywhere apart from God’s work and Word, words aren’t enough for spiritual growth.  I must put the Word into action; and the prime case study for doing the Word is the way I treat other people.
3:13-18	To recap, another case study: proclaiming my own wisdom means nothing.  True wisdom will be seen in my works; and true wisdom is from above, given by the sanctifying God.  So when I grow in grace, my works show God’s work.
3:13 - 4:10	True wisdom makes peace; counterfeit wisdom is betrayed by jealousy and selfish ambition.  Far from making peace, my desires birth only strife, destruction, and enmity with God.  The answer is to come back to God’s gracious work and acknowledge my absolute neediness.
4:11 - 5:6	[This is where Pastor James starts shouting from the pulpit.  I think the last section (5:1-6) might be addressing unbelieving oppressors, for the benefit of his suffering congregation.]
5:7-20	In conclusion, be patient in your suffering because it has an end and a purpose.  Don’t waste your suffering.  Pray to the sanctifying God, for yourself and for your fellow believers.  This is how God works.

*On the title: It's a pun.  Luther called James an epistle of straw; thatching is straw woven together; this is how I think James is woven together...

 

“A Right Straw-y Epistle”

One of my college roommates memorized the Epistle of James for a small scholarship.  I listened to her quote the entire thing for practice, and came away disturbed; the epistle didn’t make sense to me.  It seemed like James couldn’t concentrate for any length of time, or was simply unconcerned with writing down a coherent chain of ideas.  The letter came off as a random collection of alarming moralizing statements.  What’s up with that guy?

But I decided to make this summer The Summer of Not Being Afraid of James.  (It’s the first step toward Not Being Afraid of Anyone Who Isn’t Paul.)  And over the past few months as I’ve read the epistle over and over, listening to James speak on his own terms, I found that he actually does make sense.  His style isn’t the Lego-stacking logic of Paul, but it is tightly coherent.  And his practical admonitions are woven into a rich fabric of theology that’s every bit as Calvinist as Paul’s.

[Yeah.  I just said that.]

~Jo