From: Wong Wie Khiong February 17, 2008 Commentary: What Would Moses Do? By: Michael S. Horton
What would Moses do? We've all heard sermons especially from the Old Testament on the faithfulness of Abraham, David's heart for God, Joshua's leadership, and we were encouraged to "dare to be a Daniel." But the Bible is nothing like Aesop's fables, you know, a story to illustrate a moral point. Abraham was in many ways a moral failure, even his willingness to sacrifice Isaac wasn't an example for us, but was an occasion for God to foreshadow Christ as the ram caught in the thicket so that Isaac and the rest of us could go free. Moses was God's man, but waivered under the burden and was barred from leading God's people into Canaan. Joshua is not a source for leadership principles unless we are planning on leading a campaign of destruction against idolatrous nations in order to establish righteousness in God's Holy Land. Yet read in light of the history of redemption, Joshua and his ministry point forward to Jesus and his person and work. David can only ambiguously be held up as a heroic example because of his failures in fact, God didn't allow him to build the temple but gave this honor to his son Solomon. David's main role in the story was to pre-stage his greater son who assumed the everlasting throne that God promised to David's heir. Given the moralistic expectations often assumed, it is no wonder that people find the Old Testament boring and much of the New Testament incomprehensible. Contrast this approach, that I've just mentioned, to Luther's interpretation of the story of David and Goliath. "When David overcame the great Goliath there came among the Jewish people the good report and encouraging news that their terrible enemy had been stuck down, and that they had been rescued and given joy and peace. And they sang and danced and were glad for it. Thus this gospel of God or New Testament is a good story and report sounded forth into all the world by the apostles telling of a true David who strove with sin, death, and the devil and overcame them and thereby rescued all those who were captivate in sin, afflicted with death and overpowered by the devil." As Grahame Goldsworthy comments, "the important thing to note is that Luther has made here the link between the saving acts of God through David and the saving acts of God through Christ. Once we see that connection it is impossible to use David as a mere model for Christian living, since his victory was vicarious and the Israelites could only rejoice in what was won for them. In terms of our interpretive principles we see David's victory as a salvation event in that the existence of the people of God in the Promised Land was at stake." So see instead of drawing a straight line of application from the narrative to us, which typically moralizes or allegorizes these stories, we are taught by Jesus himself to understand these passages in light of their place in the unfolding drama of redemption that leads to Christ. Moralistic preaching, the bane of conservatives and liberals alike, assumes that we're not really not helpless sinners that need to be rescued, but decent folks who just need a few good examples, exhortations, and instructions. However, Goldsworthy continues, "we are not saved by our changed lives, the changed life is the result of being saved and not the basis of it. The basis of salvation is the perfection in the life and death of Christ presented in our place. By reverting to either allegorical interpretation on the one hand or to prophetic literalism on the other some Evangelicals have thrown away the hermeneutical gains of the Reformers in favor of a Medieval approach to the Bible. Evangelicals have had a reputation for taking the Bible seriously," Grahame Goldsworthy concludes, "but even they have traditionally propagated the idea of the short devotional reading from which a blessing from the Lord must be rested." Goldsworthy calls attention to the difference between this message and Reformation Christianity. "The pivotal point of turning in Evangelical thinking which demand close attention is the change that has taken place from the Protestant emphasis upon on the objective facts of the gospel in history to the Medieval emphasis on the inner life. The Evangelical who sees the inward transforming work of the Spirit as the key element of Christianity will soon loose contact with the historic Christian faith and the historic gospel. Inner directed Christianity which reduces the gospel to the level of every other religion of the inner man might well use a text from the Apocrypha to serve as its own epitaph for the Reformers, "there are others who are remembered; they are dead and it is as if they never existed." [.] how do we interpret the Old Testament? Do we moralize the Old Testament? Do we read it as the story of Christ, unfolding witness to Jesus Christ in history, or do we use the Old Testament to create examples for us to imitate for our own stories of transformed life? =================================================== From: Bayo Afolaranmi Dearly Beloved, THEY ARE IMPORTANT, BUT... "So there is no difference between Jews and Gentiles, between slaves and free men, between men and women; you are all one in union with Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:28, TEV). When I was led to compose the message I sent out last week about the importance of the girl child and women generally, I did not initially think of the negative implication of the message, especially in regards to the controversy of the roles of women in the church and the recent movement of women liberation. People's reactions to the message will make me to write a rejoinder to these reactions about those two issues. It is my submission that women are created in the image of God as helpers suitable for men, that they have their roles to play in the world and the propagation of the gospel of Christ, that they are equal spiritually with men, and that they can perform any role in the church and in any other place. However, women should remember that they are to be in submission to their husbands regardless of the position they find themselves. I would not want to join the controversy of the roles of women in the church or in the society. If you believe that women should not take any active role either in the church or in the society, good. Hold on to your position. Do not condemn people that believe otherwise. Let God do that. If you believe that God can use women as He is using men in the church and in the larger society, good. Hold on to your position. You also should not condemn people that do not hold your views. Interpretation of some passages of the Bible should not cause discord. Nevertheless, undue emphasis on women liberation negates the biblical injunctions on the position of women. Women should be contented with the fact that in God's order, men are the first, then women. Men also should not take unfair advantage over women because of the nature of women. Men are to treat women with respect as joint heirs of God's blessings so that they (the men) have God's favour (see 1 Peter 3:7). In His service, Bayo Afolaranmi (Pastor). NB 1. Send your reaction directly to me or copy me at <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. 2. I have a seminar paper written on this issue, I will send it to you on request. God bless you! ================================================= From: Suzianty Herawati "He hath said." --Hebrews 13:5 If we can only grasp these words by faith, we have an all-conquering weapon in our hand. What doubt will not be slain by this two-edged sword? What fear is there which shall not fall smitten with a deadly wound before this arrow from the bow of God's covenant? Will not the distresses of life and the pangs of death; will not the corruptions within, and the snares without; will not the trials from above, and the temptations from beneath, all seem but light afflictions, when we can hide ourselves beneath the bulwark of "He hath said"? Yes; whether for delight in our quietude, or for strength in our conflict, "He hath said" must be our daily resort. And this may teach us the extreme value of searching the Scriptures. There may be a promise in the Word which would exactly fit your case, but you may not know of it, and therefore you miss its comfort. You are like prisoners in a dungeon, and there may be one key in the bunch which would unlock the door, and you might be free; but if you will not look for it, you may remain a prisoner still, though liberty is so near at hand. There may be a potent medicine in the great pharmacopoeia of Scripture, and you may yet continue sick unless you will examine and search the Scriptures to discover what "He hath said." Should you not, besides reading the Bible, store your memories richly with the promises of God? You can recollect the sayings of great men; you treasure up the verses of renowned poets; ought you not to be profound in your knowledge of the words of God, so that you may be able to quote them readily when you would solve a difficulty, or overthrow a doubt? Since "He hath said" is the source of all wisdom, and the fountain of all comfort, let it dwell in you richly, as "A well of water, springing up unto everlasting life." So shall you grow healthy, strong, and happy in the divine life. CH Spurgeon ================================================= From: Suzianty Herawati "I have learned, in whatever state I am, therewith to be content." --Philippians 4:11 These words show us that contentment is not a natural propensity of man. "Ill weeds grow apace." Covetousness, discontent, and murmuring are as natural to man as thorns are to the soil. We need not sow thistles and brambles; they come up naturally enough, because they are indigenous to earth: and so, we need not teach men to complain; they complain fast enough without any education. But the precious things of the earth must be cultivated. If we would have wheat, we must plough and sow; if we want flowers, there must be the garden, and all the gardener's care. Now, contentment is one of the flowers of heaven, and if we would have it, it must be cultivated; it will not grow in us by nature; it is the new nature alone that can produce it, and even then we must be specially careful and watchful that we maintain and cultivate the grace which God has sown in us. Paul says, "I have learned . . . to be content;" as much as to say, he did not know how at one time. It cost him some pains to attain to the mystery of that great truth. No doubt he sometimes thought he had learned, and then broke down. And when at last he had attained unto it, and could say, "I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content," he was an old, grey-headed man, upon the borders of the grave--a poor prisoner shut up in Nero's dungeon at Rome. We might well be willing to endure Paul's infirmities, and share the cold dungeon with him, if we too might by any means attain unto his good degree. Do not indulge the notion that you can be contented with learning, or learn without discipline. It is not a power that may be exercised naturally, but a science to be acquired gradually. We know this from experience. Brother, hush that murmur, natural though it be, and continue a diligent pupil in the College of Content. CH Spurgeon
