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WRITING (LAW)

The LORD… gave to Moses, when he had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God. (Exodus 31:18)

The Jews were jealous of the Law of Moses, and when Jesus began to teach, many questioned his credentials.  This was one of the reasons that by the final year of his ministry (that would conclude at Passover 33AD) many were seeking to be rid of him. This came to a head the previous year at the feast of Tabernacles:

About the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and began teaching. The Jews therefore marvelled, saying, “How is it that this man has learning, when he has never studied?” 

So, Jesus answered them, “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me…” 

(John 7:14-16)

While some openly question whether Jesus could be the Messiah, Jesus goes on to make a different assertion, albeit indirectly; importantly, one concerning his Godly authority.

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Conscience

Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience.  (Romans 13:5)

In the application chapters of his epistle to the Romans, Paul cycles through a number of scenarios where the justified walking the path of sanctification will be confronted with dilemma between conscience and commandment – in the case quoted above, to obey the God-appointed governing authorities.  Given that Paul appealed to Caesar and that emperor was Nero, the dilemma is immediately obvious.

But to understand better, one has to examine Biblically what is ‘conscience’.   The Greek word employed by Paul is συνείδησις syneídēsis is a compound of syn ‘together with’ and eido ‘to know or see’ and describes ‘shared understanding’.  Thus, conscience is the tempering of individual reaction and instinct with respect to others.  Conscience is also concerning with the regulation of conduct and this infers a concept of morality, hence it the Bible there is reference to ‘good’ conscience.  But the interesting consideration is how conscience might grow at all.

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ARMOUR (of God)

Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. (Ephesians 6:11)

The ‘whole armour’ is the full set of equipment needed to wage warfare, and translates πανοπλία panoplia, whence English derives ‘panoply’.  Doubtless, he had in mind the Roman soldier fully furnished with helmet, breastplate, sandals and short sword.  To the Ephesians, Paul has already used the analogy of believers clothing themselves, ‘putting on’ (the verb ἐνδύω enduo, to be clothed or enveloped) the new self, the spiritual part downpayment of the new creation; but Paul would also have it known that this new spirit can come under attack.  

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COMMAND

‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’ (Matthew 28:18-20)

This known as the Great Commission, is Jesus’ final instructions before he ascends heavenwards.  Here ‘command’ translates the Greek verb, ἐντέλλομαι entellomai, to charge or enjoin, to issue injunctions or instructions.  The aorist tense, conveying a single and discreet action, is in the first-person singular, ἐνετειλάμην eneteilamen.

In the companion post to ‘Obedience’, it is seen that Jesus expects discipleship to be based on obedience to his commands.  On other words, obeying to his commandments is the foundation of the relationship.  It is non-negotiable.

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Obedience

‘Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
    as much as in obeying the Lord?
To obey is better than sacrifice,
    and to heed is better than the fat of rams.
For rebellion is like the sin of divination,
    and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,
    he has rejected you as king.’ (1 Samuel 15:22-23)

The Hebrew word that is translated ‘to obey’ is שָׁמַע ‘to hear’.  When God speaks, all must not simply hear, but listen and take heed.   The same imperative proceeds what Jesus defines as the Greatest Commandment:

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.  (Deuteronomy 6:4)

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TAKEN

‘Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left.Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left.’  (Matthew 24:40-41)

Jesus is speaking to his closest disciples and the context is his return, ‘the coming of the Son of Man’; however, what Jesus is describing, where some are ‘taken’ while others are not, is usually referred to as ‘the Rapture’.  The word ‘rapture’ comes to English from the medieval Latin raptura which means to seize forcibly, (it is also the derivation of ‘rape’).  

The Greek verb Matthew employs is παραλαμβάνω paralambanó and although the verb lambanó is an active verb that conveys the sense of aggression, it is modified by the prefix para ‘close or alongside’.  That people are ‘taken’ may be forcible and one without consultation, but does this suggest that this is something to be feared?

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UNWORTHY

When you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’  (Luke 17:10 ESV)

In the latest post, the same passage based on a translation where ἀχρεῖος, achreios, the word above ‘unworthy’, was better rendered as ‘unprofitable’.  Is ‘unworthy’ poor translation? Hardly, for it correctly conveys the sense that someone or something is ‘lacks utility’, the very literal meaning of achreios, and it is short step from ‘useless’ to ‘being without merit’ – but it may possibly mislead if taken in isolation from all the Jesus taught, and indeed, all Scripture.

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UNPROFITABLE

when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.’  (Luke 17:10)

Jesus, through the unusual device of a parable based on rhetorical questions, seems to be challenging the stubborn thinking of his close disciples, and it is easy to see how the same attitude prevails in all who would follow Christ.

For it is easy to fall into the mistaken notion that in keeping the commandments, say the Great Commission, evangelising the Gospel and discipling those evangelised, a person adds to God’s purpose.  Put another way, the faithful disciples thinks that they are necessary for God to achieve his goals and without them God is at a loss.

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STRONGHOLD

For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.  (2 Corinthians 10:3-6)

Paul identifies ‘strongholds’ – the Greek is ὀχύρωμα ochuróma, literally ‘fortress’ –  which means conceptually and in context, ‘a place of refuge from reality’; in other words, Paul is speaking about inner desires, wishes, dreams and fantasies, alongside any other idolatrous and rebellious notions to which the follower of Christ may cleave.  These are inner and personal fastnesses that resist the Holy Spirit, and he says that the individual is to seek them out in themselves and tear them down.  

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SHREWD

‘I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore, be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.’  (Matthew 10:16 NIV)

This is Jesus’ advice to the twelve disciples as he dispatches them on their solo mission across Galilee, it may be obvious they go as sheep before wolves, in that people will vilify them; and in bringing the gospel of love and, in that vulnerability, they must necessarily be as ‘innocents’, unjudgmental, prepared to trust and risk rejection or worse, but what does Jesus mean when he says the must be as shrewd as snakes?

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