Attempts at Honesty

Reflections on the interplay of the Bible and Culture

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Speculation in the Evangelical community

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Speculation“As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith.” (1 Timothy 1:3–4, ESV)

There are two categories of those who Paul condemns in these verses. The first is those to teach a different doctrine. The second are those who promote speculations (ESV) or controversies (NIV).

A different doctrine

In the first category I would put organizations like the LDS Church and the Watchtower Society. What sets them apart from Scripture is their teaching on the person of Jesus Christ and the means of salvation. They clearly teach a different doctrine than the catholic (universal) church has for the last two thousand years. When the teachings of these organizations are compared to Scripture, it becomes clear that their doctrine is different than what Scripture presents.

Promoting speculation

Those who promote speculation are often less obvious. We must be willing to look inside the Evangelical community with honesty to identify when we have begun to promote speculation.

For example, the Book of Revelation is full of symbols. It would have been so much easier if Jesus just gave us a timeline and provided specific dates and descriptions of events yet to happen. He did not. Therefore, we must look at the symbols to see what lessons are in them for us.

The danger in this is that depending on presuppositions we can come to different understandings of what the symbols mean. The fact that they are symbols that can be interpreted differently should lead us to caution in declaring that our understanding is the only right interpretation. Yet, there are many churches who make such a declaration.

Let us stand firm on the teaching in Scripture that is clear. About the meaning of the birth, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ we can be confident in our understanding. On those issues that are not clear or are open for interpretation, we mush allow for difference of opinion and be wary of those who promote only one possible understanding.

I am reminded of the phrase attributed to Rupertus Meldenius:

In essentials unity
In non-essentials liberty
And in all things charity

A lesson learned from a genealogy

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Genealogy TreeIn reading through the names in the genealogy in Matthew 1, it is tempting to skip through to verse 18 where the text gets more interesting. “Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of . . . .” is not riveting reading. It is like walking through a graveyard. There are a bunch of names of dead people who seemingly have very little impact on how I get through my day.

Some of the names are important people in Israel’s history. Of others we know nothing more than their name and where they fit in the genealogy. Some were obedient to God and were praised; some were disobedient and went on to ignominy.

This is exactly the choice that all men (and women) have to make. We choose to be obedient or disobedient; we must make this choice every moment of every day. Like those men in the genealogy, our lives will be defined by the sum of our choices. We cannot work our way into Heaven (Ephesians 2:8-9), but Jesus does give indication that there will be rewards and a hierarchy in eternity. It is through obedience and service that the rewards are accumulated.

Rich or poor, influential or insignificant, popular or unknown, talented or untalented, we all are called to follow God in obedience. In that sense we are all the same. We cannot use the excuse that our choices do not matter, because all of Scripture teaches us that they do. Specifically, the words of Jesus in Luke 16:10-13 come to mind:

“He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much. Therefore if you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous wealth, who will entrust the true riches to you? And if you have not been faithful in the use of that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own? No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” (NASB)

Someone told me “mind your pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves.” In the same way, if we choose faithfulness in the little things, the foundation will be laid for faithfulness in the big things.

Let us choose to be obedient in the small things.

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