5What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. 6I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. 7So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. 9For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building.
10By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. 11For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.
Dig Deeper
Many critics of the Bible have, over the years, argued that Paul is actually the founder of Christianity. They claim that Paul founded a religion that was quite different from what Jesus taught, and that he created a movement of which Jesus would not have approved. There is a sense in which Paul did found churches, in fact in his words he says, I laid a foundation as an expert builder. What is vital information in understanding Paul, however, is that he built on the foundation of Jesus Christ, for no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid. Paul certainly didn’t invent Christianity, and he wasn’t the only one teaching the same message. When any of them built churches, including Paul, they were doing so on the only foundation that any true church could ever be built, the Messiah. Truly, in Paul’s mind, the Church was built on the foundation of the crucified and resurrected Jesus Christ.
Paul’s primary point here, though, isn’t the relationship between himself and Jesus. He is mostly concerned between the relationship between he and the other teachers, including Apollos. He uses the image of a garden here to make his point. He may have planted the seed, Apollos came in and watered the seed, but all of the true work of growing, and all of the glory belongs to God alone. The work of any of the teachers and apostles is inconsequential when compared with God’s role in it all. Paul says that he and Apollos are but servants, a word which literally means ‘the one who waits at table’. At a restaurant there is a cook who selects and cooks the food you have ordered, then there are different waiters and servers who bring it to you. Which waiter brings your food is really of no importance. This is Paul’s point. God has selected and cooked the meal, he, Apollos, and the other teachers are little more than waiters. There should be no special pride or significance attached to the one who brought the meal.
This should stand out as a word of caution for us today. There is always a temptation to give special praise, honor, or significance to ministers, teachers, or those who have played a certain role in someone being baptized or a church growing. All of the real work and growth comes from God, not the servant. We should avoid any temptation to take any pride in the work that God has chosen to do through us. The glory is always due to God. The Corinthians, argues Paul, have become so worldly that they cannot see beyond the human ministers. They don’t realize that if there are any differences between them, they are differences that God has assigned each one, but there is no reason to esteem one of God’s servant more than another. They are after all fellow workers that belong to God. They are his field, his building.
In verses 8 and 10, Paul hints at the subject of whether or not the servants have done a good job in building on the foundation or Christ, but that is something that he will address directly in the next passage. Each one, he says, will be rewarded according to his own labor, and that each one should be careful how he builds.
Paul here has no no personal quarrel with Apollos. In fact, he has no problem singling out false teachers, so he is in no way implying that Apollos falls into that category. The assumption here is not that Apollos or Cephas are laying another foundation or building a shoddy building. Paul’s issue is with people who are attempting to play him and Apollos against one another as if there is a contest between them that is based on human standards of wisdom and rhetoric. We can assume that Apollos might come out on top based on those standards, but that isn’t Paul’s problem. He would have just as much of an issue with someone exalting him according to human standards. In fact, it is safe to assume that no one would agree with Paul here more than Apollos and Cephas. The only one that should hold any place of honor in the kingdom of God is Jesus Christ.
Devotional Thought
If Paul were to come to your church would he have to make the same point? Are you tempted to put certain people on a pedestal? It is one thing to recognize people for their hard work but quite another to begin to think of them as more important or better than others because of that work. Are you willing to be God’s servant, giving him all the glory, or do you seek out honor and attention when you have done some work for God?
Friday, June 29, 2007
Thursday, June 28, 2007
1 Corinthians 2:14-3:4
14The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment:
16"For who has known the mind of the Lord
that he may instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ.
On Divisions in the Church
1Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ. 2I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. 3You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men? 4For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," are you not mere men?
Dig Deeper
As a high school teacher at an inner-city school, it was not completely uncommon to have students come to class high, especially after lunch. Of course, we sent them to the office to be suspended, but I always wondered why they thought that was okay to do. When asked, nearly every one of them came up with the same reason. They all felt that the drugs made them better students and sharper mentally. The effect was quite the opposite, really. They thought the drugs were making them better and more attuned to what was going on, but they actually made them noticeably worse.
When the Corinthians were giving into the mind set of the world around them, this is exactly what they were doing. They were accepting that the wisdom of the sophists and philosophers, with all of its accompanying arrogance and arguments, made them more spiritual. The reality was, however, that it made them less spiritual. It, in fact, made them incapable of discerning the true spiritual wisdom for which they should be craving. They evidently believed that a bit of Christian truth mixed with the flash and belief system of the sophists might make them even better Christians; yet the truth was it did nothing but expose their immaturity and lack of spiritual discernment. The evidence of this immaturity was their in-fighting over who followed who.
In making his argument, Paul sets up a distinction between two types of people. He refers to those who are driven and led by the Spirit of God as spiritual. The other group is translated as ‘worldly’ here but could also be rendered ‘merely human’ or better yet, ‘soul-ish’. The meaning that Paul wants to convey is worldly as opposed to spiritual. The spiritual person is controlled and led by the Spirit, but the worldly person is controlled and led by their own soul or nature, the normal human way of thinking and acting. The spiritual person lives in a different realm of understanding than does the worldly individual. It would be like listening to a speech in Russian, which you understand, in a room full of people who only understand English. The spiritual person will see and understand things that are foolish babblings to the worldly man.
This is not to say that Paul believes that this should puff up the spiritual person in any way. The fact is, however, that the spiritual person lives and operates on a different plane. He makes judgments from a spiritual perspective rather than a mere natural perspective. The judgments that worldly men make, and their opinions, should have no effect on the man who is operating in the spiritual perspective. Paul uses the words of Isaiah 40:13, "For who has known the mind of the LORD, that he may instruct him," to make this point. The expected answer would be that no human can know the mind of the LORD, but Paul answers that the spiritual person has the mind of Christ. Paul has already said that the Messiah has "become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption" (1 Cor. 1:30). It is not a big leap, then, for Paul to argue that we also have access to the mind of the Messiah. That means that there is no limit, if we have the Spirit within us, to the depth of wisdom that we can explore.
The Corinthians may have been supposing that Paul was including them as part of the spiritual people. When he came to them, he could only teach them basic things, because they were not yet ready for the deeper teaching. This may also answer a charge leveled against Paul, that he only taught them basic things while the other teachers that came later were much deeper and more exciting. The deeper teaching of the other teachers had only appealed to their eagerness for social and spiritual status. It had appealed to their pride not strengthened their spirits, which of course, was a charge against them, not the teachers. This was a demonstration they were still not ready. Their behavior was putting on display the fact that they were still thinking as natural, worldly humans, not a spiritual people with the mind of Christ. In fact, Paul subtly shifts in this passage from them behaving as mere humans (2:14), to being so human that anyone would notice (3:1), to making a conscious decision to resist the spirit rather than showing no evidence of it (3:3). When the church engaged in the cult of personality, they were demonstrating that they were unspiritual and not ready for the deeper wisdom and teaching that he deeply desired to give to them. The real irony of this situation is that the more they argued about who they followed, and who was more spiritual, they more they displayed that they were not spiritual at all.
Devotional Thought
Are there any areas of your life that you have switched things around like the Corinthians did? Some times the things we do, which we think makes us look spiritual, actually demonstrate our lack of spiritual discernment and maturity. Think of one specific area in your life in which you have been operating on the merely human level and need more spiritual maturity. What do you need to do to develop a deeper spiritual maturity in that area?
16"For who has known the mind of the Lord
that he may instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ.
On Divisions in the Church
1Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ. 2I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. 3You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men? 4For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," are you not mere men?
Dig Deeper
As a high school teacher at an inner-city school, it was not completely uncommon to have students come to class high, especially after lunch. Of course, we sent them to the office to be suspended, but I always wondered why they thought that was okay to do. When asked, nearly every one of them came up with the same reason. They all felt that the drugs made them better students and sharper mentally. The effect was quite the opposite, really. They thought the drugs were making them better and more attuned to what was going on, but they actually made them noticeably worse.
When the Corinthians were giving into the mind set of the world around them, this is exactly what they were doing. They were accepting that the wisdom of the sophists and philosophers, with all of its accompanying arrogance and arguments, made them more spiritual. The reality was, however, that it made them less spiritual. It, in fact, made them incapable of discerning the true spiritual wisdom for which they should be craving. They evidently believed that a bit of Christian truth mixed with the flash and belief system of the sophists might make them even better Christians; yet the truth was it did nothing but expose their immaturity and lack of spiritual discernment. The evidence of this immaturity was their in-fighting over who followed who.
In making his argument, Paul sets up a distinction between two types of people. He refers to those who are driven and led by the Spirit of God as spiritual. The other group is translated as ‘worldly’ here but could also be rendered ‘merely human’ or better yet, ‘soul-ish’. The meaning that Paul wants to convey is worldly as opposed to spiritual. The spiritual person is controlled and led by the Spirit, but the worldly person is controlled and led by their own soul or nature, the normal human way of thinking and acting. The spiritual person lives in a different realm of understanding than does the worldly individual. It would be like listening to a speech in Russian, which you understand, in a room full of people who only understand English. The spiritual person will see and understand things that are foolish babblings to the worldly man.
This is not to say that Paul believes that this should puff up the spiritual person in any way. The fact is, however, that the spiritual person lives and operates on a different plane. He makes judgments from a spiritual perspective rather than a mere natural perspective. The judgments that worldly men make, and their opinions, should have no effect on the man who is operating in the spiritual perspective. Paul uses the words of Isaiah 40:13, "For who has known the mind of the LORD, that he may instruct him," to make this point. The expected answer would be that no human can know the mind of the LORD, but Paul answers that the spiritual person has the mind of Christ. Paul has already said that the Messiah has "become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption" (1 Cor. 1:30). It is not a big leap, then, for Paul to argue that we also have access to the mind of the Messiah. That means that there is no limit, if we have the Spirit within us, to the depth of wisdom that we can explore.
The Corinthians may have been supposing that Paul was including them as part of the spiritual people. When he came to them, he could only teach them basic things, because they were not yet ready for the deeper teaching. This may also answer a charge leveled against Paul, that he only taught them basic things while the other teachers that came later were much deeper and more exciting. The deeper teaching of the other teachers had only appealed to their eagerness for social and spiritual status. It had appealed to their pride not strengthened their spirits, which of course, was a charge against them, not the teachers. This was a demonstration they were still not ready. Their behavior was putting on display the fact that they were still thinking as natural, worldly humans, not a spiritual people with the mind of Christ. In fact, Paul subtly shifts in this passage from them behaving as mere humans (2:14), to being so human that anyone would notice (3:1), to making a conscious decision to resist the spirit rather than showing no evidence of it (3:3). When the church engaged in the cult of personality, they were demonstrating that they were unspiritual and not ready for the deeper wisdom and teaching that he deeply desired to give to them. The real irony of this situation is that the more they argued about who they followed, and who was more spiritual, they more they displayed that they were not spiritual at all.
Devotional Thought
Are there any areas of your life that you have switched things around like the Corinthians did? Some times the things we do, which we think makes us look spiritual, actually demonstrate our lack of spiritual discernment and maturity. Think of one specific area in your life in which you have been operating on the merely human level and need more spiritual maturity. What do you need to do to develop a deeper spiritual maturity in that area?
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
1 Corinthians 2:6-13
Wisdom From the Spirit
6We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7No, we speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. 8None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9However, as it is written:
"No eye has seen,
no ear has heard,
no mind has conceived
what God has prepared for those who love him"— 10but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.
The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.
Dig Deeper
When I coached high school basketball, we would begin each season with two weeks of strenuous running and conditioning before we ever got to the actual basketball stuff. The conditioning seemed foolish to many of the players, and many quit as a result. Running and conditioning wasn’t all that there was to our preparation, however. It was the stuff that the players had to really want to get through before we could get the basketball training that was both challenging and fun. This is something of what Paul is telling the Corinthians here. His message seemed foolish to the Greeks and scandalous to the Jews, but this isn’t all Paul has to offer. He has deep and profound wisdom for them, but it is only for those who have fought through the challenges of faith. It is for the spiritually mature that can handle and appreciate it.
Yet, he wants them to know, this is still not the same kind of wisdom that the sophists and philosophers of the present age offer. The wisdom that Paul is offering comes from the ‘age to come’ not the present age. This is wisdom that will only make sense to people who have already entered the ‘age to come’ during the present age, the people who believe in the resurrected son of God. Trying to give this wisdom to people who have not grasped the power and truth of the Resurrection is like trying to describe what blue is to someone who has been blind from birth.
This introduces one of the main concepts that Paul wants the Corinthians to understand. The world can be divided into two main epochs: the present age and the ‘age to come’. The present age is the current age of the world that is marked by rebellion against God. The ‘age to come’, though, is the time when God’s will shall be done on earth perfectly. It is the time when God will rule his creation definitively and bring an end to all the forces that would oppose him. Paul believes that this ‘age to come’ has broken through into the present age in Jesus. With his death and resurrection, Christians actually have the ‘age to come’ inside of them even though we still live in the present age.
Thus, Paul argues that none of the rulers of this age can understand this wisdom because it is a wisdom of the ‘age to come’. It would be like sticking a round peg in a square hole. Wisdom from the ‘age to come’ won’t fit into the understanding of those who only know of the present age. What does Paul mean, though, when he says that rulers of this age proved that they didn’t understand this wisdom or they wouldn’t have crucified Jesus? He is referring to the political powers of Rome, the religious powers of Judaism, and the spiritual powers of the kingdom of Satan. They all combined to work together for what they thought would be a rousing victory, but was actually the very thing that sealed their defeat. This is what happens when forces operating on the wisdom of this present age try to come against the wisdom of God and the ‘age to come’. In killing Jesus, they signed their own death certificates. Paul describes this moment of victory as taking place both at the Cross when it was implemented (Colossians 2:15) and at Jesus’ final appearing when it will be achieved fully (1 Corinthians 15:23-28).
Paul reveals another theme of the letter of Corinthians here as he references the work of the Spirit. God has prepared incredible things for those who love him, an Old Testament way of saying God’s people. He has revealed the wisdom of the ‘age to come’ through the work of his own Holy Spirit, not some lesser being. The Holy Spirit, the very presence of God, is given to all of God’s people in the Messiah.
This doesn’t mean that Christians have all the knowledge about God that is available. What it does mean is that Christians have access to the mind or wisdom of God. The people of God may explore and learn, through the leading of the Holy Spirit, the wisdom of God. But, in order to understand and appreciate this, they must have spiritual maturity. They must be ‘spiritual’, a concept that Paul will go on to explain.
This is a wonderful reminder that the Christian life has a veritable potpourri of wealth and knowledge in store for us to explore and uncover. It is far more than a set of beliefs or a study series that we can go through a couple of times and memorize. It is a quest of a lifetime that requires dedication and discipline. The second reminder for us in this passage is that this gospel message necessarily challenges the social, religious, and political power of the world. It is not a set of religious beliefs that can be tucked away into a corner of our life, that doesn’t effect any other part of our life. It is the very realization that we are the citizens of a different age and we need to act like it.
Devotional Thought
Does your Christian life reflect a disciplined and dedicated quest to learn the knowledge of wisdom of the Spirit? Develop a plan that will open up your life to consistently learning from the Spirit. Remember, your holiness will always be limited by your depth of knowledge of God’s word.
6We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7No, we speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. 8None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9However, as it is written:
"No eye has seen,
no ear has heard,
no mind has conceived
what God has prepared for those who love him"— 10but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.
The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.
Dig Deeper
When I coached high school basketball, we would begin each season with two weeks of strenuous running and conditioning before we ever got to the actual basketball stuff. The conditioning seemed foolish to many of the players, and many quit as a result. Running and conditioning wasn’t all that there was to our preparation, however. It was the stuff that the players had to really want to get through before we could get the basketball training that was both challenging and fun. This is something of what Paul is telling the Corinthians here. His message seemed foolish to the Greeks and scandalous to the Jews, but this isn’t all Paul has to offer. He has deep and profound wisdom for them, but it is only for those who have fought through the challenges of faith. It is for the spiritually mature that can handle and appreciate it.
Yet, he wants them to know, this is still not the same kind of wisdom that the sophists and philosophers of the present age offer. The wisdom that Paul is offering comes from the ‘age to come’ not the present age. This is wisdom that will only make sense to people who have already entered the ‘age to come’ during the present age, the people who believe in the resurrected son of God. Trying to give this wisdom to people who have not grasped the power and truth of the Resurrection is like trying to describe what blue is to someone who has been blind from birth.
This introduces one of the main concepts that Paul wants the Corinthians to understand. The world can be divided into two main epochs: the present age and the ‘age to come’. The present age is the current age of the world that is marked by rebellion against God. The ‘age to come’, though, is the time when God’s will shall be done on earth perfectly. It is the time when God will rule his creation definitively and bring an end to all the forces that would oppose him. Paul believes that this ‘age to come’ has broken through into the present age in Jesus. With his death and resurrection, Christians actually have the ‘age to come’ inside of them even though we still live in the present age.
Thus, Paul argues that none of the rulers of this age can understand this wisdom because it is a wisdom of the ‘age to come’. It would be like sticking a round peg in a square hole. Wisdom from the ‘age to come’ won’t fit into the understanding of those who only know of the present age. What does Paul mean, though, when he says that rulers of this age proved that they didn’t understand this wisdom or they wouldn’t have crucified Jesus? He is referring to the political powers of Rome, the religious powers of Judaism, and the spiritual powers of the kingdom of Satan. They all combined to work together for what they thought would be a rousing victory, but was actually the very thing that sealed their defeat. This is what happens when forces operating on the wisdom of this present age try to come against the wisdom of God and the ‘age to come’. In killing Jesus, they signed their own death certificates. Paul describes this moment of victory as taking place both at the Cross when it was implemented (Colossians 2:15) and at Jesus’ final appearing when it will be achieved fully (1 Corinthians 15:23-28).
Paul reveals another theme of the letter of Corinthians here as he references the work of the Spirit. God has prepared incredible things for those who love him, an Old Testament way of saying God’s people. He has revealed the wisdom of the ‘age to come’ through the work of his own Holy Spirit, not some lesser being. The Holy Spirit, the very presence of God, is given to all of God’s people in the Messiah.
This doesn’t mean that Christians have all the knowledge about God that is available. What it does mean is that Christians have access to the mind or wisdom of God. The people of God may explore and learn, through the leading of the Holy Spirit, the wisdom of God. But, in order to understand and appreciate this, they must have spiritual maturity. They must be ‘spiritual’, a concept that Paul will go on to explain.
This is a wonderful reminder that the Christian life has a veritable potpourri of wealth and knowledge in store for us to explore and uncover. It is far more than a set of beliefs or a study series that we can go through a couple of times and memorize. It is a quest of a lifetime that requires dedication and discipline. The second reminder for us in this passage is that this gospel message necessarily challenges the social, religious, and political power of the world. It is not a set of religious beliefs that can be tucked away into a corner of our life, that doesn’t effect any other part of our life. It is the very realization that we are the citizens of a different age and we need to act like it.
Devotional Thought
Does your Christian life reflect a disciplined and dedicated quest to learn the knowledge of wisdom of the Spirit? Develop a plan that will open up your life to consistently learning from the Spirit. Remember, your holiness will always be limited by your depth of knowledge of God’s word.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
1 Corinthians 2:1-5
1When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. 2For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. 4My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, 5so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power.
Dig Deeper
One of the great mysteries of life is trying to determine why we are here, how we got here, in short, what is the meaning of life. The Jews believed that they knew the answers to those questions. They were God’s people, here for God’s purposes. This doesn’t mean that the Jewish worldview wasn’t still full of mysteries though. Although they knew that God had called them to be his people for his purposes, there was still a profound mystery for the Jew when it came to knowing what that exact purpose was and what God was going to do with them and through them in the future. Much of the Old Testament consists of people trying to penetrate that truth and determine what God’s purpose was and where his people would fit into that purpose.
What the Jews were still contemplating, Paul declares clearly. He says that all of history, all of God’s purposes, past, present, and future had been revealed in Jesus the Messiah. Paul had first come to them around 50 AD, about five years before this letter was written. He spoke, he reminds them, a message that although foolish to the world, in fact contained all the mysteries of God and his purposes.
One of the reasons that Paul would classify the gospel as a mystery, still, was the fact that the last place anyone would look for the answer to the secrets of life was on a cross of execution in a small, rebellious outpost of the Roman Empire. God chooses the weak and seemingly insignificant things of the world. The message of the gospel seemed weak and unlikely, which was exactly the condition of the Corinthian Christians when they were called, and the same condition of Paul when he came to speak to them for the first time.
Imagine Paul’s situation. He was going to speak before some of the most intellectually impressive people of his time, in a city that valued and prized intellectual excellence. Yet he did not have any impressive or superior worldly message or technique with which to argue his message. He had nothing but a few stammering words about a strange event that had taken place twenty years previous in a city that few of them cared much about. This message would make no sense and the most likely reaction of the majority would be one of derision and ridicule.
His words were not wise and persuasive, but they had some sort of power all their own. Where that power came from is clear. It came from the Holy Spirit. In what form it came from, we can only speculate. Perhaps Paul is referring to the accompaniment of special healing miracles, but he may just be referencing the inner moving of the Holy Spirit in the spirit of each individual. Whatever form it came in, it was clear that although seemingly foolish and unlikely, for those that were open to it, it had a power that could not be explained. It was the power to change people’s hearts, lives, and minds.
What separated those who responded to this power from those who rejected it? Paul is clear that it all comes down to faith. He doesn’t describe explicitly what he means by faith in this verse but in Romans 10:9, Paul says that faith consists of declaring that Jesus is Lord and believing that God raised him from the dead. In chapter 15, when Paul summarizes the basic gospel message that he announced to them, he speaks of Christ’s death and resurrection. But here, he says he spoke of nothing except Jesus Christ and him crucified. Why would he do that? Does Paul mean that he spoke of only the death of Jesus and never mentioned his resurrection? No, what Paul means is that he emphasized the crucifixion, he didn’t try to cover it over, or candy-coat it. No decent person would speak of crucifixion in the ancient world. It was horrible, revolting, and degrading. It would be like going to a fancy restaurant, standing up, and announcing to everyone that you once saw a bunch of rats gnawing at the corpse of dead homeless person in an alley behind a restaurant. Paul wanted to be clear that by emphasizing the crucifixion, he wasn’t trying to pull any impressive rhetorical tricks. He wasn’t blowing into town and glossing over certain details to try to please the crowd. No self-respecting sophist would do what Paul did. He spoke plainly of the embarrassing and weak things. He let the power and mystery of the gospel speak for itself. The testimony and new-found faith of the Corinthian Church was a testament to the true power of his message.
Devotional Thought
When Paul announced the gospel, he was clear that its life-changing power came from the Holy Spirit, not from any fancy techniques or up-to-date methods. The trendy message in the religious world today is that we must use market-driven and popular techniques to attract people to the gospel. Do you believe that or do you believe that the raw power of the gospel is enough? When we preach nothing but the raw Word of God, the Spirit will move. Try it and see what happens.
Dig Deeper
One of the great mysteries of life is trying to determine why we are here, how we got here, in short, what is the meaning of life. The Jews believed that they knew the answers to those questions. They were God’s people, here for God’s purposes. This doesn’t mean that the Jewish worldview wasn’t still full of mysteries though. Although they knew that God had called them to be his people for his purposes, there was still a profound mystery for the Jew when it came to knowing what that exact purpose was and what God was going to do with them and through them in the future. Much of the Old Testament consists of people trying to penetrate that truth and determine what God’s purpose was and where his people would fit into that purpose.
What the Jews were still contemplating, Paul declares clearly. He says that all of history, all of God’s purposes, past, present, and future had been revealed in Jesus the Messiah. Paul had first come to them around 50 AD, about five years before this letter was written. He spoke, he reminds them, a message that although foolish to the world, in fact contained all the mysteries of God and his purposes.
One of the reasons that Paul would classify the gospel as a mystery, still, was the fact that the last place anyone would look for the answer to the secrets of life was on a cross of execution in a small, rebellious outpost of the Roman Empire. God chooses the weak and seemingly insignificant things of the world. The message of the gospel seemed weak and unlikely, which was exactly the condition of the Corinthian Christians when they were called, and the same condition of Paul when he came to speak to them for the first time.
Imagine Paul’s situation. He was going to speak before some of the most intellectually impressive people of his time, in a city that valued and prized intellectual excellence. Yet he did not have any impressive or superior worldly message or technique with which to argue his message. He had nothing but a few stammering words about a strange event that had taken place twenty years previous in a city that few of them cared much about. This message would make no sense and the most likely reaction of the majority would be one of derision and ridicule.
His words were not wise and persuasive, but they had some sort of power all their own. Where that power came from is clear. It came from the Holy Spirit. In what form it came from, we can only speculate. Perhaps Paul is referring to the accompaniment of special healing miracles, but he may just be referencing the inner moving of the Holy Spirit in the spirit of each individual. Whatever form it came in, it was clear that although seemingly foolish and unlikely, for those that were open to it, it had a power that could not be explained. It was the power to change people’s hearts, lives, and minds.
What separated those who responded to this power from those who rejected it? Paul is clear that it all comes down to faith. He doesn’t describe explicitly what he means by faith in this verse but in Romans 10:9, Paul says that faith consists of declaring that Jesus is Lord and believing that God raised him from the dead. In chapter 15, when Paul summarizes the basic gospel message that he announced to them, he speaks of Christ’s death and resurrection. But here, he says he spoke of nothing except Jesus Christ and him crucified. Why would he do that? Does Paul mean that he spoke of only the death of Jesus and never mentioned his resurrection? No, what Paul means is that he emphasized the crucifixion, he didn’t try to cover it over, or candy-coat it. No decent person would speak of crucifixion in the ancient world. It was horrible, revolting, and degrading. It would be like going to a fancy restaurant, standing up, and announcing to everyone that you once saw a bunch of rats gnawing at the corpse of dead homeless person in an alley behind a restaurant. Paul wanted to be clear that by emphasizing the crucifixion, he wasn’t trying to pull any impressive rhetorical tricks. He wasn’t blowing into town and glossing over certain details to try to please the crowd. No self-respecting sophist would do what Paul did. He spoke plainly of the embarrassing and weak things. He let the power and mystery of the gospel speak for itself. The testimony and new-found faith of the Corinthian Church was a testament to the true power of his message.
Devotional Thought
When Paul announced the gospel, he was clear that its life-changing power came from the Holy Spirit, not from any fancy techniques or up-to-date methods. The trendy message in the religious world today is that we must use market-driven and popular techniques to attract people to the gospel. Do you believe that or do you believe that the raw power of the gospel is enough? When we preach nothing but the raw Word of God, the Spirit will move. Try it and see what happens.
Monday, June 25, 2007
1 Corinthians 1:26-31
26Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29so that no one may boast before him. 30It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31Therefore, as it is written: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord."
Dig Deeper
Our society has perfected a cult of fame like no other time in the history of the world. We have created entire industries that are built around this cult of fame. In the American, western society, we have spent a great deal of time separating the important people from the nobodies. Most people spend a great deal of their time either trying to become a somebody, or stay a somebody. Very few Americans actually choose to be a nobody or want to voluntarily stay that way.
Corinth was a city that was not all that different from modern America in many ways. They, like many in our society, had an obsession with being somebodies. There were the typical ways of becoming a somebody such as being born into a wealthy or powerful family. In Corinth, though, they also gave special attention to those who could speak well, reason, well, and argue well. They idolized intellect and rhetorical skills. They were the people who became the somebodies in Corinth, those who were wise by human standards.
Paul calls his original readers to remember that before they became Christians, most of them would have been counted in the nobody category. Most of them weren’t from wealthy, powerful, or influentially political backgrounds. Probably none of them were famous or intellectual speakers. They were not wise, influential, or of noble birth, in words that echo Jeremiah’s from Jeremiah 9:23, "This is what the LORD says: ‘Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches’".
Paul has laid out the human situation, but God, he says has turned things upside down. He has changed things dramatically in making the nobodies of the world, somebodies. God took the foolish to shame the wise of the world. He chose the weak to shame the strong. He chose the lowly and despised to shame the important things of the world. God has a way of using the weak and incapable so that everyone can understand that things are happening because of His power and strength, not our own abilities. The important thing for them to realize was that God took the initiative in all of this. He came and chose them, he called them, he justified them. It is only because of God’s gift that God has given them the same status in his eyes that Jesus Christ holds (this is part of what Paul means by saying you are in Christ Jesus).
When the Corinthians began to argue about who they followed, the underlying motivation was to exalt themselves. When we argue about the supremacy of our position or group or whatever it may be, it is usually really a way of puffing our self up. Paul reminds the Corinthians, in no uncertain terms, that any status they may have is solely at the discretion, mercy, and grace of God. By human standards, they were nothing. Why would they then, begin to think that what they are matters. That’s worldly thinking. That’s the sure sign of someone who is no longer viewing the world from a Godly perspective. They have, in fact, got nothing to boast about. Everything they have is a gift from God (Paul will state this again in 4:7), a gift they did not deserve. You can’t rightly brag about anything that you didn’t earn or do on your own.
Paul’s point is that anyone in Christ, has no ground on which to stand and boast. This was common in their culture. Someone who wanted to make themselves appear as a somebody, would boast about how important or talented they were, or at the very least about how important they were because of the importance of the one they followed. No Christian, however, should boast or even worry about their status, because they, more than anyone, should realize that everything they have is a gift from God.
Paul, in bringing up this topic, is alluding to two Old Testament passages. The first is Deuteronomy 7, where God reminds Israel that they are what they are, only because God has chosen them. Paul also quotes from Jeremiah 9:23-24, where Jeremiah speaks out against the exact type of boasting that Paul is warning against. Anyone who would boast, says Jeremiah, should boast that they know and understand the Lord. Throughout this whole line of reasoning, Paul is drawing upon the theme of wisdom from Proverbs 1-9, in which wisdom is depicted as a human. In Paul’s thinking, Jesus Christ, is the true wisdom. Being in Christ means being, at last, a genuine human being, called and chosen to live by God’s wisdom rather than the world’s.
Devotional Thought
In what areas of your life are you still trying to be somebody in the eyes of the world? What do you need to do or give up to realize that the only boasting you need to do is the kind of boasting that talks about what God has done for you?
Dig Deeper
Our society has perfected a cult of fame like no other time in the history of the world. We have created entire industries that are built around this cult of fame. In the American, western society, we have spent a great deal of time separating the important people from the nobodies. Most people spend a great deal of their time either trying to become a somebody, or stay a somebody. Very few Americans actually choose to be a nobody or want to voluntarily stay that way.
Corinth was a city that was not all that different from modern America in many ways. They, like many in our society, had an obsession with being somebodies. There were the typical ways of becoming a somebody such as being born into a wealthy or powerful family. In Corinth, though, they also gave special attention to those who could speak well, reason, well, and argue well. They idolized intellect and rhetorical skills. They were the people who became the somebodies in Corinth, those who were wise by human standards.
Paul calls his original readers to remember that before they became Christians, most of them would have been counted in the nobody category. Most of them weren’t from wealthy, powerful, or influentially political backgrounds. Probably none of them were famous or intellectual speakers. They were not wise, influential, or of noble birth, in words that echo Jeremiah’s from Jeremiah 9:23, "This is what the LORD says: ‘Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches’".
Paul has laid out the human situation, but God, he says has turned things upside down. He has changed things dramatically in making the nobodies of the world, somebodies. God took the foolish to shame the wise of the world. He chose the weak to shame the strong. He chose the lowly and despised to shame the important things of the world. God has a way of using the weak and incapable so that everyone can understand that things are happening because of His power and strength, not our own abilities. The important thing for them to realize was that God took the initiative in all of this. He came and chose them, he called them, he justified them. It is only because of God’s gift that God has given them the same status in his eyes that Jesus Christ holds (this is part of what Paul means by saying you are in Christ Jesus).
When the Corinthians began to argue about who they followed, the underlying motivation was to exalt themselves. When we argue about the supremacy of our position or group or whatever it may be, it is usually really a way of puffing our self up. Paul reminds the Corinthians, in no uncertain terms, that any status they may have is solely at the discretion, mercy, and grace of God. By human standards, they were nothing. Why would they then, begin to think that what they are matters. That’s worldly thinking. That’s the sure sign of someone who is no longer viewing the world from a Godly perspective. They have, in fact, got nothing to boast about. Everything they have is a gift from God (Paul will state this again in 4:7), a gift they did not deserve. You can’t rightly brag about anything that you didn’t earn or do on your own.
Paul’s point is that anyone in Christ, has no ground on which to stand and boast. This was common in their culture. Someone who wanted to make themselves appear as a somebody, would boast about how important or talented they were, or at the very least about how important they were because of the importance of the one they followed. No Christian, however, should boast or even worry about their status, because they, more than anyone, should realize that everything they have is a gift from God.
Paul, in bringing up this topic, is alluding to two Old Testament passages. The first is Deuteronomy 7, where God reminds Israel that they are what they are, only because God has chosen them. Paul also quotes from Jeremiah 9:23-24, where Jeremiah speaks out against the exact type of boasting that Paul is warning against. Anyone who would boast, says Jeremiah, should boast that they know and understand the Lord. Throughout this whole line of reasoning, Paul is drawing upon the theme of wisdom from Proverbs 1-9, in which wisdom is depicted as a human. In Paul’s thinking, Jesus Christ, is the true wisdom. Being in Christ means being, at last, a genuine human being, called and chosen to live by God’s wisdom rather than the world’s.
Devotional Thought
In what areas of your life are you still trying to be somebody in the eyes of the world? What do you need to do or give up to realize that the only boasting you need to do is the kind of boasting that talks about what God has done for you?
Friday, June 22, 2007
1 Corinthians 1:18-25
Christ the Wisdom and Power of God
18For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19For it is written:
"I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate."
20Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. 22Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength.
Dig Deeper
Many people look back now and realize that Abraham Lincoln was one of the great public speakers in American history. Yet, Lincoln himself often poked fun at his own speaking abilities. He made great hay with the technique of pointing out how learned and eloquent his debating or political opponent was, while he, as he often pointed out, was not nearly as eloquent. He spoke a simple message and did not try to sway anyone with flash and dash. The irony of all that, however, was that he could turn out a beautifully eloquent and timeless speech better than nearly anyone. Perhaps the big difference was that, although he was capable of doing that, this is not what he put his trust in. What was important to Lincoln was the truth and sincerity of his message.
This is precisely what Paul is doing here. Paul sets about to contrast the wisdom of the world, wisdom that was so admired in Corinth, with the wisdom of God. In doing so, he perhaps has a bit of fun. In denouncing worldly wisdom and fancy speaking techniques, Paul demonstrates that he is every bit as capable as any sophist of delivering a finely crafted phrase. Truly, Paul is capable of producing a wonderful work of flowing and balanced rhetoric, but that is not where he hangs his hat. For Paul, the message of Christ and the Cross is what it’s all about.
This passage may be flowing and beautiful, but his original message when he first came to the Corinthians was not. His message was the simple, unadulterated message of the gospel. The Corinthians would have quickly realized, though, that this wasn’t a brilliant new philosophy. This was madness. He wasn’t speaking about something that would stimulate the intellect, Paul was preaching about an executed criminal from a race that everyone despised. This is not a message that would appeal to the Gentiles, but it didn’t do much for the Jews either. The word translated ‘stumbling block’ here, means something that would entrap them in sin, a scandal. Paul’s point was that this was not a message that was going to impress anyone who was listening from a worldly point of view. It was foolishness to Gentiles, and scandalous blasphemy to the Jews.
Notice that Paul says, in verse 18, those who are being saved. The New Testament picture of salvation is not a moment of new birth that happens in a once-for-all instance. It is a process that will continue through our lives and only end at the glorious resurrection of the saints. The hope of the resurrection is key for Paul as it distinguished the Christian faith from the pagan religions whose hope in their religion lied solely in this life in the form of health, wealth, prosperity, and rescue from peril.
When Paul got up to speak the message of the Cross, he let it do his own work. He didn’t try to trick or manipulate anyone into listening to his message by using fancy words or the latest speaking techniques. He spoke the simple story of Jesus and let the truth of it stand on its own. Sure, he can spin a few fancy sentences together like any of the great speakers, and he does so now to make a bit of a teasing point. He didn’t do that when he first came to them, though. He spoke nothing but the raw message of Christ crucified. Preaching that message released a different kind of power than the one the world was familiar with. It was the power of God. It may have seemed like ridiculous scandal through the eyes of the world, but it was the very power of God to those that would hear with spiritual ears.
Paul could have made the point that God’s wisdom and power would blow away that of the world, but he doesn’t. He makes his point even stronger by saying that God’s foolishness is wiser than any human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than any human power or strength. Paul wasn’t speaking an appealing announcement of some mighty king that was establishing an impressive kingdom, although in a sense that is exactly what he was doing. He was speaking the absurd message of God dying at the hands of the Romans in a backwater, insignificant part of the world. This crucified criminal was supposedly beginning a kingdom that did not derive its power from anything that could be perceived in this world. It was a kingdom in which the weak and foolish were just as welcome, if not more so, than the wise, powerful, and impressive.
As he said in Romans 1:16, this is a message of which Paul was not ashamed. He would preach this sort of foolishness because he knew that this kingdom had the power to change the world. When people listened to this message it changed things. It changed people, it changed their perceptions, it changed their priorities, it created new communities and a new reality.
Devotional Thought
Paul says that "to us who are being saved," the message of the cross is "the power of God." Have you truly unleashed the power of God in your life. Have you completely surrendered and turned over every aspect of your life to God, or have you tried to cling to the wisdom of the world? The problem is that when we try to hang on to worldly wisdom, it limits the ability to truly unleash the power of God in our lives. What piece of worldly ‘wisdom’ do you need to let go of in order to fully realize the power of the message of the cross in your life?
18For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19For it is written:
"I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate."
20Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. 22Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength.
Dig Deeper
Many people look back now and realize that Abraham Lincoln was one of the great public speakers in American history. Yet, Lincoln himself often poked fun at his own speaking abilities. He made great hay with the technique of pointing out how learned and eloquent his debating or political opponent was, while he, as he often pointed out, was not nearly as eloquent. He spoke a simple message and did not try to sway anyone with flash and dash. The irony of all that, however, was that he could turn out a beautifully eloquent and timeless speech better than nearly anyone. Perhaps the big difference was that, although he was capable of doing that, this is not what he put his trust in. What was important to Lincoln was the truth and sincerity of his message.
This is precisely what Paul is doing here. Paul sets about to contrast the wisdom of the world, wisdom that was so admired in Corinth, with the wisdom of God. In doing so, he perhaps has a bit of fun. In denouncing worldly wisdom and fancy speaking techniques, Paul demonstrates that he is every bit as capable as any sophist of delivering a finely crafted phrase. Truly, Paul is capable of producing a wonderful work of flowing and balanced rhetoric, but that is not where he hangs his hat. For Paul, the message of Christ and the Cross is what it’s all about.
This passage may be flowing and beautiful, but his original message when he first came to the Corinthians was not. His message was the simple, unadulterated message of the gospel. The Corinthians would have quickly realized, though, that this wasn’t a brilliant new philosophy. This was madness. He wasn’t speaking about something that would stimulate the intellect, Paul was preaching about an executed criminal from a race that everyone despised. This is not a message that would appeal to the Gentiles, but it didn’t do much for the Jews either. The word translated ‘stumbling block’ here, means something that would entrap them in sin, a scandal. Paul’s point was that this was not a message that was going to impress anyone who was listening from a worldly point of view. It was foolishness to Gentiles, and scandalous blasphemy to the Jews.
Notice that Paul says, in verse 18, those who are being saved. The New Testament picture of salvation is not a moment of new birth that happens in a once-for-all instance. It is a process that will continue through our lives and only end at the glorious resurrection of the saints. The hope of the resurrection is key for Paul as it distinguished the Christian faith from the pagan religions whose hope in their religion lied solely in this life in the form of health, wealth, prosperity, and rescue from peril.
When Paul got up to speak the message of the Cross, he let it do his own work. He didn’t try to trick or manipulate anyone into listening to his message by using fancy words or the latest speaking techniques. He spoke the simple story of Jesus and let the truth of it stand on its own. Sure, he can spin a few fancy sentences together like any of the great speakers, and he does so now to make a bit of a teasing point. He didn’t do that when he first came to them, though. He spoke nothing but the raw message of Christ crucified. Preaching that message released a different kind of power than the one the world was familiar with. It was the power of God. It may have seemed like ridiculous scandal through the eyes of the world, but it was the very power of God to those that would hear with spiritual ears.
Paul could have made the point that God’s wisdom and power would blow away that of the world, but he doesn’t. He makes his point even stronger by saying that God’s foolishness is wiser than any human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than any human power or strength. Paul wasn’t speaking an appealing announcement of some mighty king that was establishing an impressive kingdom, although in a sense that is exactly what he was doing. He was speaking the absurd message of God dying at the hands of the Romans in a backwater, insignificant part of the world. This crucified criminal was supposedly beginning a kingdom that did not derive its power from anything that could be perceived in this world. It was a kingdom in which the weak and foolish were just as welcome, if not more so, than the wise, powerful, and impressive.
As he said in Romans 1:16, this is a message of which Paul was not ashamed. He would preach this sort of foolishness because he knew that this kingdom had the power to change the world. When people listened to this message it changed things. It changed people, it changed their perceptions, it changed their priorities, it created new communities and a new reality.
Devotional Thought
Paul says that "to us who are being saved," the message of the cross is "the power of God." Have you truly unleashed the power of God in your life. Have you completely surrendered and turned over every aspect of your life to God, or have you tried to cling to the wisdom of the world? The problem is that when we try to hang on to worldly wisdom, it limits the ability to truly unleash the power of God in our lives. What piece of worldly ‘wisdom’ do you need to let go of in order to fully realize the power of the message of the cross in your life?
Thursday, June 21, 2007
1 Corinthians 1:10-17
Divisions in the Church
10I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. 11My brothers, some from Chloe's household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. 12What I mean is this: One of you says, "I follow Paul"; another, "I follow Apollos"; another, "I follow Cephas"; still another, "I follow Christ."
13Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul? 14I am thankful that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15so no one can say that you were baptized into my name. 16(Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don't remember if I baptized anyone else.) 17For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
Dig Deeper
Many churches have suffered through the sort of thing that Paul is dealing with here. Members of the church being to split off into factions, following one man or another, or splitting over a belief of doing things a certain way. Issues like this usually don’t arise over serious doctrinal issues, but rather over issues of faction and preference. Nearly all of these type of splits have one thing in common, they have lost sit of the centrality of the gospel of Jesus Christ. If not dealt with, these factions will get more pronounced and tear a church apart. This is the type of thing that Paul was facing here in Corinth. Paul had been the first one there in Corinth, telling them about Jesus Christ, and many were bent on following Paul and his brand of teaching. After being converted in Ephesus, Apollos had come to teach for a time in Corinth. Apollos was learned in the Scriptures, and was a powerful and effective teacher. Many people obviously preferred Apollos and the way that he taught, and began to identify themselves as Apollos’ disciples. To add to that, many began to identify themselves as followers of Cephas (Peter). It is not clear whether or not Peter ever actually went to Corinth, but many felt that they were his followers. Then there was the group that said they followed Jesus. Everyone else was with this leader or that leader, but they were just following Jesus. This is an-all-too-common power play in situations like this: "Thanks for your little opinions, now let me tell you what the Lord’s opinion is, that’s what I’m going to follow."
Many people think of the early church in overly romantic terms. They have a picture of a church that is a near-perfect community, happily carrying out Jesus’ words to love one another. The reality is not that simple. Right from the start, it’s clear that the churches had to struggle to become the type of people Jesus called them to be. In verse, 10, however, Paul states his entire purpose for writing this letter, and lets us know what the primary problem had been: divisions were arising in the congregation over issues that Christians shouldn’t be dividing over. Paul had, evidently heard oral reports which let him know that the situation was a bit more serious than the Corinthians may have let on in their letter to him.
In verse 13, Paul confronts them squarely with how silly it is, if their factional arguments were carried to the full extent of their logic. Can the Christ be split up into little pieces? His obvious point is that the Church is the Messiah, they are the body of Christ, and cannot be split into pieces anymore than the person of Christ could have been. Then he asks them if he was crucified for them. Again, the answer is obvious because the statement is absurd (Note that Paul wisely does not mention Peter or Apollos here, although he easily could have, so that it does not appear that he is attacking them in any way). Nor, he points out, were they baptized into the name of Paul. They have forgotten that the central, unifying theme of their community was Jesus Christ. They are the body of Christ not a bunch of little bodies following other teachers.
Corinth had been destroyed by the Romans in 146 BC and rebuilt by Julius Caesar in 44 BC. They were quite proud of being a very Roman city on Greek soil, and were equally proud of their reputation as a city with a lively and superior intellectual life. Particularly popular in Corinth were a group of traveling teachers called sophists. Sophists would come into a town and teach their philosophy, gathering disciples for themselves in each town. Once they left, the disciples of various sophists would argue with one another over whose teacher was the greatest.
The Corinthians had clearly allowed themselves to fall into this worldly way of thinking. They were not thinking as a new community of the Lord Jesus Christ. They were behaving like the culture around them. They had been caught up in their world of eloquent oratory and zealous followings of those great speakers. Paul will quickly address the value of this sort of wisdom. He is going to explain to them that they must choose between the wisdom of the world and the power of the Messiah.
Paul completes this passage by downplaying who baptized them. This is not, as some groups have argued, proof that baptism is unnecessary. Quite to the contrary. It was Paul who said that we are clothed with Christ at baptism (Gal. 3:27). Paul assumes that they have all been baptized and understand the significance of it (see 1 Cor. 1:13 and Acts 18:8). Paul actually shows in this passage that two things are necessary for a person to call himself a follower, in the Christian sense, of another person. First, Paul would have to die for that person; and second, they would have to be baptized into the name of Paul. This parallels quite perfectly with the Christian teaching that Christ died for us, and we clothe ourselves with him at baptism. Baptism is a vital part of the Christian gospel and community as the point where our faith and God’s grace intersect, but Paul was called to preach. There is no special significance in who actually does the baptizing. Paul is not speaking about baptism here, but about their attitudes about who baptized them.
Finally, it is common in the NT language where "not" doesn’t negate one of the two items but prioritizes them. For example, Paul tells Ananias that he has not "lied to men, but to God. He had, of course, lied to men, but lying to God was the most important thing. Paul, then is arguing that preaching and baptism are both important, but that faith and repentance that accompanies preaching is a prerequisite for baptism.
Devotional Thought
What is your attitude when it comes to the leaders of your church? Do you view them as fellow servants of King Jesus? Sometimes we have the tendency to base our experience in our Christian community heavily dependent on our positive or negative feelings about the leaders in our church. When we do this, we are guilty of the same thing that Paul is bringing up concerning the Corinthian church. It means that we have lost site of the centrality of Jesus. In what ways do you tend to put too much praise or too much criticism on the shoulders of the leaders in your church? What do you need to do to put Jesus back at the center rather than men?
10I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. 11My brothers, some from Chloe's household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. 12What I mean is this: One of you says, "I follow Paul"; another, "I follow Apollos"; another, "I follow Cephas"; still another, "I follow Christ."
13Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul? 14I am thankful that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15so no one can say that you were baptized into my name. 16(Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don't remember if I baptized anyone else.) 17For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
Dig Deeper
Many churches have suffered through the sort of thing that Paul is dealing with here. Members of the church being to split off into factions, following one man or another, or splitting over a belief of doing things a certain way. Issues like this usually don’t arise over serious doctrinal issues, but rather over issues of faction and preference. Nearly all of these type of splits have one thing in common, they have lost sit of the centrality of the gospel of Jesus Christ. If not dealt with, these factions will get more pronounced and tear a church apart. This is the type of thing that Paul was facing here in Corinth. Paul had been the first one there in Corinth, telling them about Jesus Christ, and many were bent on following Paul and his brand of teaching. After being converted in Ephesus, Apollos had come to teach for a time in Corinth. Apollos was learned in the Scriptures, and was a powerful and effective teacher. Many people obviously preferred Apollos and the way that he taught, and began to identify themselves as Apollos’ disciples. To add to that, many began to identify themselves as followers of Cephas (Peter). It is not clear whether or not Peter ever actually went to Corinth, but many felt that they were his followers. Then there was the group that said they followed Jesus. Everyone else was with this leader or that leader, but they were just following Jesus. This is an-all-too-common power play in situations like this: "Thanks for your little opinions, now let me tell you what the Lord’s opinion is, that’s what I’m going to follow."
Many people think of the early church in overly romantic terms. They have a picture of a church that is a near-perfect community, happily carrying out Jesus’ words to love one another. The reality is not that simple. Right from the start, it’s clear that the churches had to struggle to become the type of people Jesus called them to be. In verse, 10, however, Paul states his entire purpose for writing this letter, and lets us know what the primary problem had been: divisions were arising in the congregation over issues that Christians shouldn’t be dividing over. Paul had, evidently heard oral reports which let him know that the situation was a bit more serious than the Corinthians may have let on in their letter to him.
In verse 13, Paul confronts them squarely with how silly it is, if their factional arguments were carried to the full extent of their logic. Can the Christ be split up into little pieces? His obvious point is that the Church is the Messiah, they are the body of Christ, and cannot be split into pieces anymore than the person of Christ could have been. Then he asks them if he was crucified for them. Again, the answer is obvious because the statement is absurd (Note that Paul wisely does not mention Peter or Apollos here, although he easily could have, so that it does not appear that he is attacking them in any way). Nor, he points out, were they baptized into the name of Paul. They have forgotten that the central, unifying theme of their community was Jesus Christ. They are the body of Christ not a bunch of little bodies following other teachers.
Corinth had been destroyed by the Romans in 146 BC and rebuilt by Julius Caesar in 44 BC. They were quite proud of being a very Roman city on Greek soil, and were equally proud of their reputation as a city with a lively and superior intellectual life. Particularly popular in Corinth were a group of traveling teachers called sophists. Sophists would come into a town and teach their philosophy, gathering disciples for themselves in each town. Once they left, the disciples of various sophists would argue with one another over whose teacher was the greatest.
The Corinthians had clearly allowed themselves to fall into this worldly way of thinking. They were not thinking as a new community of the Lord Jesus Christ. They were behaving like the culture around them. They had been caught up in their world of eloquent oratory and zealous followings of those great speakers. Paul will quickly address the value of this sort of wisdom. He is going to explain to them that they must choose between the wisdom of the world and the power of the Messiah.
Paul completes this passage by downplaying who baptized them. This is not, as some groups have argued, proof that baptism is unnecessary. Quite to the contrary. It was Paul who said that we are clothed with Christ at baptism (Gal. 3:27). Paul assumes that they have all been baptized and understand the significance of it (see 1 Cor. 1:13 and Acts 18:8). Paul actually shows in this passage that two things are necessary for a person to call himself a follower, in the Christian sense, of another person. First, Paul would have to die for that person; and second, they would have to be baptized into the name of Paul. This parallels quite perfectly with the Christian teaching that Christ died for us, and we clothe ourselves with him at baptism. Baptism is a vital part of the Christian gospel and community as the point where our faith and God’s grace intersect, but Paul was called to preach. There is no special significance in who actually does the baptizing. Paul is not speaking about baptism here, but about their attitudes about who baptized them.
Finally, it is common in the NT language where "not" doesn’t negate one of the two items but prioritizes them. For example, Paul tells Ananias that he has not "lied to men, but to God. He had, of course, lied to men, but lying to God was the most important thing. Paul, then is arguing that preaching and baptism are both important, but that faith and repentance that accompanies preaching is a prerequisite for baptism.
Devotional Thought
What is your attitude when it comes to the leaders of your church? Do you view them as fellow servants of King Jesus? Sometimes we have the tendency to base our experience in our Christian community heavily dependent on our positive or negative feelings about the leaders in our church. When we do this, we are guilty of the same thing that Paul is bringing up concerning the Corinthian church. It means that we have lost site of the centrality of Jesus. In what ways do you tend to put too much praise or too much criticism on the shoulders of the leaders in your church? What do you need to do to put Jesus back at the center rather than men?
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
1 Corinthians 1:1-9
Introduction
1Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,
2To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours:
3Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Thanksgiving
4I always thank God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. 5For in him you have been enriched in every way—in all your speaking and in all your knowledge— 6because our testimony about Christ was confirmed in you. 7Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. 8He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.
Dig Deeper
A friend of mine recently became engaged. Everyone who knew him, knew that it was coming. Why? Because you couldn't have a conversation with him without hearing the name of his now-wife several times. She was at the center of his thoughts all of the time. This is the sort of thing going on with Paul here. In the first nine verses of his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul mentions Jesus Christ nine separate times. He is at the center of everything that Paul does. This is a good thing to keep in mind, because without that understanding, this letter can come across rather argumentative or bossy. The fact is, though, that Paul was motivated by Jesus Christ in every thought, word, and action, and he wants the Corinthians to be that way too.
Most of the Corinthians were not Jews, they were Gentiles. They did not understand what it meant to have God as the very center of every area of their lives. They were living a different story without the understanding that they were being swept up into the new narrative of what God was doing in the world through his new assembly of 'called out ones' (which is what is meant by ekklesia or the word 'church' in v. 2). He calls them the church of God rather than the church of Corinth, reminding them to whom the assembly belongs. Paul wants the Corinthians to understand that Jesus is shaping them into a new sort of community, a new sort of people, and in order to become that new type of people, they must learn to have Jesus at the very center of their life and thinking, the way Paul does. From the onset, then, Paul stresses two important things about being a Christian: it involves being set apart and it involves being a part of a group created by God that extends beyond their local congregation. It is worth noting that we must understand this as a letter from Paul to them, first and foremost. It is not a letter directly written to us. When we have that proper understanding, then we can begin to learn the timeless truths for ourselves that Paul was teaching the Corinthians.
Paul sets all this up in verse 1 by reminding the readers that he is an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God. Apostle means 'one who is sent'. Everything that he wants for them is a result of his being sent directly by Jesus. This calling did not come from his own will or sense of vocation, but from the will of God. He has been sent to help them to learn how to put Jesus at the center of their lives. He tells them in verse 2 that they are called to be holy, literally 'set apart'. They have become part of God's new story. He also wants them to see that they are but one part of that grand story. They are being joined together with God's children everywhere to take part in this incredible new work of God, that of crafting a holy and sanctified people that will represent Him to the world. The only thing necessary for entry into this people is to call upon the name of the Lord, a typical early Christian phrase denoting God's grace given out at the time of their baptism, which for Paul, was the time when one entered into the life of Christ, an extremely important concept for Paul to which he will appeal time and again in calling on them to conform their behavior.
Paul begins his letter (most ancient letters began with a greeting and a thanksgiving) by thanking God for the work he has already done in them. He also reminds them that the grace they have experienced is only available as a result of Jesus Christ coming into the world. One cannot separate the grace of God, shown to man, from the work and person of Jesus Christ. The practical result of this grace was that they had become a community that was growing in their speech and their knowledge. They had become a community of learners and had been confirmed as such by the fact that they had been given every sort of spiritual gift. So much so, as we will see, that the possession of these gifts had come to cause a problem.
That discussion will come in due time. For now Paul reminds them that Jesus will keep them strong to the end. He had called them in the past, would sustain them in the present, and will complete his work in the future. The present sign of that future promise is the incredible fellowship that they now share with other believers in Jesus Christ.
Devotional Thought
In writing this letter, Paul realized that what he would be telling the Corinthians would become a part of the work that God was doing in sustaining them, bringing the work he had begun in them to completion. The letter itself was a part of the process. In reading this letter now, we must realize that this letter will become part of the process through which God shapes and molds us into his people of 'called out ones'. The key to allowing Scripture have its full effect on us is to become what we read, not just to read it. We must let the words of God transform us as we meditate on it. Make a determination that you will read this letter with such a goal. Pray each day that God will use the words of this letter to transform you into the type of person and a part of the type of community that he desires.
1Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,
2To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours:
3Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Thanksgiving
4I always thank God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. 5For in him you have been enriched in every way—in all your speaking and in all your knowledge— 6because our testimony about Christ was confirmed in you. 7Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. 8He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.
Dig Deeper
A friend of mine recently became engaged. Everyone who knew him, knew that it was coming. Why? Because you couldn't have a conversation with him without hearing the name of his now-wife several times. She was at the center of his thoughts all of the time. This is the sort of thing going on with Paul here. In the first nine verses of his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul mentions Jesus Christ nine separate times. He is at the center of everything that Paul does. This is a good thing to keep in mind, because without that understanding, this letter can come across rather argumentative or bossy. The fact is, though, that Paul was motivated by Jesus Christ in every thought, word, and action, and he wants the Corinthians to be that way too.
Most of the Corinthians were not Jews, they were Gentiles. They did not understand what it meant to have God as the very center of every area of their lives. They were living a different story without the understanding that they were being swept up into the new narrative of what God was doing in the world through his new assembly of 'called out ones' (which is what is meant by ekklesia or the word 'church' in v. 2). He calls them the church of God rather than the church of Corinth, reminding them to whom the assembly belongs. Paul wants the Corinthians to understand that Jesus is shaping them into a new sort of community, a new sort of people, and in order to become that new type of people, they must learn to have Jesus at the very center of their life and thinking, the way Paul does. From the onset, then, Paul stresses two important things about being a Christian: it involves being set apart and it involves being a part of a group created by God that extends beyond their local congregation. It is worth noting that we must understand this as a letter from Paul to them, first and foremost. It is not a letter directly written to us. When we have that proper understanding, then we can begin to learn the timeless truths for ourselves that Paul was teaching the Corinthians.
Paul sets all this up in verse 1 by reminding the readers that he is an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God. Apostle means 'one who is sent'. Everything that he wants for them is a result of his being sent directly by Jesus. This calling did not come from his own will or sense of vocation, but from the will of God. He has been sent to help them to learn how to put Jesus at the center of their lives. He tells them in verse 2 that they are called to be holy, literally 'set apart'. They have become part of God's new story. He also wants them to see that they are but one part of that grand story. They are being joined together with God's children everywhere to take part in this incredible new work of God, that of crafting a holy and sanctified people that will represent Him to the world. The only thing necessary for entry into this people is to call upon the name of the Lord, a typical early Christian phrase denoting God's grace given out at the time of their baptism, which for Paul, was the time when one entered into the life of Christ, an extremely important concept for Paul to which he will appeal time and again in calling on them to conform their behavior.
Paul begins his letter (most ancient letters began with a greeting and a thanksgiving) by thanking God for the work he has already done in them. He also reminds them that the grace they have experienced is only available as a result of Jesus Christ coming into the world. One cannot separate the grace of God, shown to man, from the work and person of Jesus Christ. The practical result of this grace was that they had become a community that was growing in their speech and their knowledge. They had become a community of learners and had been confirmed as such by the fact that they had been given every sort of spiritual gift. So much so, as we will see, that the possession of these gifts had come to cause a problem.
That discussion will come in due time. For now Paul reminds them that Jesus will keep them strong to the end. He had called them in the past, would sustain them in the present, and will complete his work in the future. The present sign of that future promise is the incredible fellowship that they now share with other believers in Jesus Christ.
Devotional Thought
In writing this letter, Paul realized that what he would be telling the Corinthians would become a part of the work that God was doing in sustaining them, bringing the work he had begun in them to completion. The letter itself was a part of the process. In reading this letter now, we must realize that this letter will become part of the process through which God shapes and molds us into his people of 'called out ones'. The key to allowing Scripture have its full effect on us is to become what we read, not just to read it. We must let the words of God transform us as we meditate on it. Make a determination that you will read this letter with such a goal. Pray each day that God will use the words of this letter to transform you into the type of person and a part of the type of community that he desires.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Genesis 11:1-32
The Tower of Babel
1 Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. 2 As men moved eastward, [a] they found a plain in Shinar [b] and settled there.
3 They said to each other, "Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly." They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. 4 Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth."
5 But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building. 6 The LORD said, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other."
8 So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. 9 That is why it was called Babel [c] —because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth.
From Shem to Abram
10 This is the account of Shem.
Two years after the flood, when Shem was 100 years old, he became the father [d] of Arphaxad. 11 And after he became the father of Arphaxad, Shem lived 500 years and had other sons and daughters.
12 When Arphaxad had lived 35 years, he became the father of Shelah. 13 And after he became the father of Shelah, Arphaxad lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters. [e]
14 When Shelah had lived 30 years, he became the father of Eber. 15 And after he became the father of Eber, Shelah lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.
16 When Eber had lived 34 years, he became the father of Peleg. 17 And after he became the father of Peleg, Eber lived 430 years and had other sons and daughters.
18 When Peleg had lived 30 years, he became the father of Reu. 19 And after he became the father of Reu, Peleg lived 209 years and had other sons and daughters.
20 When Reu had lived 32 years, he became the father of Serug. 21 And after he became the father of Serug, Reu lived 207 years and had other sons and daughters.
22 When Serug had lived 30 years, he became the father of Nahor. 23 And after he became the father of Nahor, Serug lived 200 years and had other sons and daughters.
24 When Nahor had lived 29 years, he became the father of Terah. 25 And after he became the father of Terah, Nahor lived 119 years and had other sons and daughters.
26 After Terah had lived 70 years, he became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran.
27 This is the account of Terah.
Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot. 28 While his father Terah was still alive, Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans, in the land of his birth. 29 Abram and Nahor both married. The name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife was Milcah; she was the daughter of Haran, the father of both Milcah and Iscah. 30 Now Sarai was barren; she had no children.
31 Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there.
32 Terah lived 205 years, and he died in Haran.
Dig Deeper
We learned in Genesis 10:25 that the earth (or nations) was divided at the Tower of Babel over 100 years after the flood. How do we know that? It tells us that this event happened during Peleg’s life, and he was born about 100 years after the flood.
But what happened exactly during this time? Were these people so ignorant that they really thought they could make a tower that reached into heaven?
If we look at what the Hebrew text says literally, we find it says "let us build for ourselves a city and tower, and its head is the heavens." (Young’s Literal Translation). This is precisely the purpose of ancient Mesopotamian ziggurats. The top room represented heaven. Biblical expert John Whitcomb says "The inner walls, in all probability, were decorated with blue glazed tile, with the sun, the moon, and the five known planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn) lined up along the plane of the zodiac. In the centre of the room would be their ‘god’ seated upon a throne. . . The pyramids of Egypt and, much later, the great Mayan temples of Central America, reflected the design of the original Tower of Babel."
This passage does not describe a bunch of backwards hillbillies who thought they could build a tower that reached heaven. Rather this was a brilliant but blasphemous engineering endeavor intended to ignore the one true God. Instead of honoring him, they decided to disobey his command to spread out. Satan nearly succeeded in dominating mankind just as he had done in the Garden of Eden and before the Flood. God caused each family clan to miraculously speak different languages so that this enterprise would be ended. God, once again, protected mankind from themselves.
Devotional Thought
Have you ever seen a group of people get together and act a whole lot worse than they probably would have if they were alone? Oftentimes groups that are up to no good will try to get more people in on their behavior. It is usually best to have a plan for what you would do if a group of your friends or co-workers tried to get you to do something you know is wrong (It might be lying, gossiping, going somewhere you shouldn’t, looking at something you shouldn’t, etc.). Spend some time today thinking about or getting some advice from a spiritually wise person about how you might handle such a situation.
1 Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. 2 As men moved eastward, [a] they found a plain in Shinar [b] and settled there.
3 They said to each other, "Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly." They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. 4 Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth."
5 But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building. 6 The LORD said, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other."
8 So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. 9 That is why it was called Babel [c] —because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth.
From Shem to Abram
10 This is the account of Shem.
Two years after the flood, when Shem was 100 years old, he became the father [d] of Arphaxad. 11 And after he became the father of Arphaxad, Shem lived 500 years and had other sons and daughters.
12 When Arphaxad had lived 35 years, he became the father of Shelah. 13 And after he became the father of Shelah, Arphaxad lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters. [e]
14 When Shelah had lived 30 years, he became the father of Eber. 15 And after he became the father of Eber, Shelah lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.
16 When Eber had lived 34 years, he became the father of Peleg. 17 And after he became the father of Peleg, Eber lived 430 years and had other sons and daughters.
18 When Peleg had lived 30 years, he became the father of Reu. 19 And after he became the father of Reu, Peleg lived 209 years and had other sons and daughters.
20 When Reu had lived 32 years, he became the father of Serug. 21 And after he became the father of Serug, Reu lived 207 years and had other sons and daughters.
22 When Serug had lived 30 years, he became the father of Nahor. 23 And after he became the father of Nahor, Serug lived 200 years and had other sons and daughters.
24 When Nahor had lived 29 years, he became the father of Terah. 25 And after he became the father of Terah, Nahor lived 119 years and had other sons and daughters.
26 After Terah had lived 70 years, he became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran.
27 This is the account of Terah.
Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot. 28 While his father Terah was still alive, Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans, in the land of his birth. 29 Abram and Nahor both married. The name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife was Milcah; she was the daughter of Haran, the father of both Milcah and Iscah. 30 Now Sarai was barren; she had no children.
31 Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there.
32 Terah lived 205 years, and he died in Haran.
Dig Deeper
We learned in Genesis 10:25 that the earth (or nations) was divided at the Tower of Babel over 100 years after the flood. How do we know that? It tells us that this event happened during Peleg’s life, and he was born about 100 years after the flood.
But what happened exactly during this time? Were these people so ignorant that they really thought they could make a tower that reached into heaven?
If we look at what the Hebrew text says literally, we find it says "let us build for ourselves a city and tower, and its head is the heavens." (Young’s Literal Translation). This is precisely the purpose of ancient Mesopotamian ziggurats. The top room represented heaven. Biblical expert John Whitcomb says "The inner walls, in all probability, were decorated with blue glazed tile, with the sun, the moon, and the five known planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn) lined up along the plane of the zodiac. In the centre of the room would be their ‘god’ seated upon a throne. . . The pyramids of Egypt and, much later, the great Mayan temples of Central America, reflected the design of the original Tower of Babel."
This passage does not describe a bunch of backwards hillbillies who thought they could build a tower that reached heaven. Rather this was a brilliant but blasphemous engineering endeavor intended to ignore the one true God. Instead of honoring him, they decided to disobey his command to spread out. Satan nearly succeeded in dominating mankind just as he had done in the Garden of Eden and before the Flood. God caused each family clan to miraculously speak different languages so that this enterprise would be ended. God, once again, protected mankind from themselves.
Devotional Thought
Have you ever seen a group of people get together and act a whole lot worse than they probably would have if they were alone? Oftentimes groups that are up to no good will try to get more people in on their behavior. It is usually best to have a plan for what you would do if a group of your friends or co-workers tried to get you to do something you know is wrong (It might be lying, gossiping, going somewhere you shouldn’t, looking at something you shouldn’t, etc.). Spend some time today thinking about or getting some advice from a spiritually wise person about how you might handle such a situation.
Monday, June 18, 2007
Genesis 10:2-32
Descendants of Japheth
2The descendants of Japheth were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras.
3The descendants of Gomer were Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah.
4The descendants of Javan were Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Rodanim.[a] 5Their descendants became the seafaring peoples in various lands, each tribe with its own language.
Descendants of Ham
6The descendants of Ham were Cush, Mizraim,[b] Put, and Canaan.
7The descendants of Cush were Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. The descendants of Raamah were Sheba and Dedan.
8One of Cush's descendants was Nimrod, who became a heroic warrior. 9He was a mighty hunter in the LORD's sight.[c] His name became proverbial, and people would speak of someone as being "like Nimrod, a mighty hunter in the LORD's sight." 10He built the foundation for his empire in the land of Babylonia,[d] with the cities of Babel, Erech, Akkad, and Calneh. 11From there he extended his reign to Assyria, where he built Nineveh, Rehoboth-ir, Calah, 12and Resen--the main city of the empire, located between Nineveh and Calah.
13Mizraim was the ancestor of the Ludites, Anamites, Lehabites, Naphtuhites, 14Pathrusites, Casluhites, and the Caphtorites, from whom the Philistines came.[e]
15Canaan's oldest son was Sidon, the ancestor of the Sidonians. Canaan was also the ancestor of the Hittites, 16Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites, 17Hivites, Arkites, Sinites, 18Arvadites, Zemarites, and Hamathites. 19Eventually the territory of Canaan spread from Sidon to Gerar, near Gaza, and to Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, near Lasha.
20These were the descendants of Ham, identified according to their tribes, languages, territories, and nations.
Descendants of Shem
21Sons were also born to Shem, the older brother of Japheth.[f] Shem was the ancestor of all the descendants of Eber. 22The descendants of Shem were Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram.
23The descendants of Aram were Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash.
24Arphaxad was the father of Shelah,[g] and Shelah was the father of Eber. 25Eber had two sons. The first was named Peleg--"division"--for during his lifetime the people of the world were divided into different language groups and dispersed. His brother's name was Joktan.
26Joktan was the ancestor of Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, 27Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, 28Obal, Abimael, Sheba, 29Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. 30The descendants of Joktan lived in the area extending from Mesha toward the eastern hills of Sephar.
31These were the descendants of Shem, identified according to their tribes, languages, territories, and nations.
32These are the families that came from Noah's sons, listed nation by nation according to their lines of descent. The earth was populated with the people of these nations after the Flood.
Dig Deeper
In giving us the descendants of Noah’s sons we can learn much about the ancient history of the world. The 16 grandsons of Noah were the heads of their family clans. These clans became the large populations in their areas where several interesting things happened. People tended to identify themselves as a clan named after their common ancestor. They would call their land, and quite often their primary city and major river by his name. Occasionally these groups engaged in ancestor worship and named one of their gods after them or claimed them to be god (this was probably encouraged by the fact that many of these men lived for a long time after the flood, much longer than following generations). Here are three examples of the sixteen:
Meshech, mentioned in verse 2, is the ancient name for Moscow. Moscow is both the capital of Russia, and the region that surrounds the city. To this day, one section, the Meschera Lowland, still carries the name of Meshech, virtually unchanged by the ages.
Noah’s grandson mentioned in verse 13 was Mizraim. Mizraim is the Hebrew word for Egypt. The name Egypt appears hundreds of times in the Old Testament and is virtually always a translation of the word Mizraim.
Asshur is the Hebrew word for Assyria. Assyria was one of the great ancient empires. Every time the words Assyria or Assyrian appear in the Old Testament, they are translated from the word Asshur. He was worshipped by his descendants as a god.
Even in a section of the Bible that is easy to overlook, we find some incredible proof that the bible is true and accurate!
For a complete look at Noah’s grandsons:http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v20/i4/noah.asp
Devotional Thought
One Important thing for Christians to remember is that all humans on earth, no matter our differences, are all descendants of Noah. We are all related. Is this something that you believe or are there people of different cultures or skin shades that you consider different from yourself? Make an effort to look at all people as your relatives and treat them that way.
2The descendants of Japheth were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras.
3The descendants of Gomer were Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah.
4The descendants of Javan were Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Rodanim.[a] 5Their descendants became the seafaring peoples in various lands, each tribe with its own language.
Descendants of Ham
6The descendants of Ham were Cush, Mizraim,[b] Put, and Canaan.
7The descendants of Cush were Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. The descendants of Raamah were Sheba and Dedan.
8One of Cush's descendants was Nimrod, who became a heroic warrior. 9He was a mighty hunter in the LORD's sight.[c] His name became proverbial, and people would speak of someone as being "like Nimrod, a mighty hunter in the LORD's sight." 10He built the foundation for his empire in the land of Babylonia,[d] with the cities of Babel, Erech, Akkad, and Calneh. 11From there he extended his reign to Assyria, where he built Nineveh, Rehoboth-ir, Calah, 12and Resen--the main city of the empire, located between Nineveh and Calah.
13Mizraim was the ancestor of the Ludites, Anamites, Lehabites, Naphtuhites, 14Pathrusites, Casluhites, and the Caphtorites, from whom the Philistines came.[e]
15Canaan's oldest son was Sidon, the ancestor of the Sidonians. Canaan was also the ancestor of the Hittites, 16Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites, 17Hivites, Arkites, Sinites, 18Arvadites, Zemarites, and Hamathites. 19Eventually the territory of Canaan spread from Sidon to Gerar, near Gaza, and to Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, near Lasha.
20These were the descendants of Ham, identified according to their tribes, languages, territories, and nations.
Descendants of Shem
21Sons were also born to Shem, the older brother of Japheth.[f] Shem was the ancestor of all the descendants of Eber. 22The descendants of Shem were Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram.
23The descendants of Aram were Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash.
24Arphaxad was the father of Shelah,[g] and Shelah was the father of Eber. 25Eber had two sons. The first was named Peleg--"division"--for during his lifetime the people of the world were divided into different language groups and dispersed. His brother's name was Joktan.
26Joktan was the ancestor of Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, 27Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, 28Obal, Abimael, Sheba, 29Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. 30The descendants of Joktan lived in the area extending from Mesha toward the eastern hills of Sephar.
31These were the descendants of Shem, identified according to their tribes, languages, territories, and nations.
32These are the families that came from Noah's sons, listed nation by nation according to their lines of descent. The earth was populated with the people of these nations after the Flood.
Dig Deeper
In giving us the descendants of Noah’s sons we can learn much about the ancient history of the world. The 16 grandsons of Noah were the heads of their family clans. These clans became the large populations in their areas where several interesting things happened. People tended to identify themselves as a clan named after their common ancestor. They would call their land, and quite often their primary city and major river by his name. Occasionally these groups engaged in ancestor worship and named one of their gods after them or claimed them to be god (this was probably encouraged by the fact that many of these men lived for a long time after the flood, much longer than following generations). Here are three examples of the sixteen:
Meshech, mentioned in verse 2, is the ancient name for Moscow. Moscow is both the capital of Russia, and the region that surrounds the city. To this day, one section, the Meschera Lowland, still carries the name of Meshech, virtually unchanged by the ages.
Noah’s grandson mentioned in verse 13 was Mizraim. Mizraim is the Hebrew word for Egypt. The name Egypt appears hundreds of times in the Old Testament and is virtually always a translation of the word Mizraim.
Asshur is the Hebrew word for Assyria. Assyria was one of the great ancient empires. Every time the words Assyria or Assyrian appear in the Old Testament, they are translated from the word Asshur. He was worshipped by his descendants as a god.
Even in a section of the Bible that is easy to overlook, we find some incredible proof that the bible is true and accurate!
For a complete look at Noah’s grandsons:http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v20/i4/noah.asp
Devotional Thought
One Important thing for Christians to remember is that all humans on earth, no matter our differences, are all descendants of Noah. We are all related. Is this something that you believe or are there people of different cultures or skin shades that you consider different from yourself? Make an effort to look at all people as your relatives and treat them that way.
Friday, June 15, 2007
Genesis 9:1-10:1
God's Covenant with Noah
1God blessed Noah and his sons and told them, "Multiply and fill the earth. 2All the wild animals, large and small, and all the birds and fish will be afraid of you. I have placed them in your power. 3I have given them to you for food, just as I have given you grain and vegetables. 4But you must never eat animals that still have their lifeblood in them. 5And murder is forbidden. Animals that kill people must die, and any person who murders must be killed. 6Yes, you must execute anyone who murders another person, for to kill a person is to kill a living being made in God's image. 7Now you must have many children and repopulate the earth. Yes, multiply and fill the earth!"
8Then God told Noah and his sons, 9"I am making a covenant with you and your descendants, 10and with the animals you brought with you--all these birds and livestock and wild animals. 11I solemnly promise never to send another flood to kill all living creatures and destroy the earth." 12And God said, "I am giving you a sign as evidence of my eternal covenant with you and all living creatures. 13I have placed my rainbow in the clouds. It is the sign of my permanent promise to you and to all the earth. 14When I send clouds over the earth, the rainbow will be seen in the clouds, 15and I will remember my covenant with you and with everything that lives. Never again will there be a flood that will destroy all life. 16When I see the rainbow in the clouds, I will remember the eternal covenant between God and every living creature on earth." 17Then God said to Noah, "Yes, this is the sign of my covenant with all the creatures of the earth."
Noahs Sons
18Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the three sons of Noah, survived the Flood with their father. (Ham is the ancestor of the Canaanites.) 19From these three sons of Noah came all the people now scattered across the earth.
20After the Flood, Noah became a farmer and planted a vineyard. 21One day he became drunk on some wine he had made and lay naked in his tent. 22Ham, the father of Canaan, saw that his father was naked and went outside and told his brothers. 23Shem and Japheth took a robe, held it over their shoulders, walked backward into the tent, and covered their father's naked body. As they did this, they looked the other way so they wouldn't see him naked. 24When Noah woke up from his drunken stupor, he learned what Ham, his youngest son, had done. 25Then he cursed the descendants of Canaan, the son of Ham:
"A curse on the Canaanites!
May they be the lowest of servants
to the descendants of Shem and Japheth."
26Then Noah said,
"May Shem be blessed by the LORD my God;
and may Canaan be his servant.
27
May God enlarge the territory of Japheth,
and may he share the prosperity of Shem;[a]
and let Canaan be his servant."
28Noah lived another 350 years after the Flood. 29He was 950 years old when he died.
1 This is the history of the families of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the three sons of Noah. Many children were born to them after the Flood.
Dig Deeper
It has become quite popular, even among Christians, to claim that Noah's flood was local and not worldwide. Yet, this would make a mockery of God's promise to never destroy the world by flood again. If God was merely referring to a local flood, then He has broken His word. No, this was a worldwide flood of the type that has never been seen since and will never happen again. Plus, if this was just a local flood, then why the need for an ark? There would have been animals living in the non-flood areas, and God could have had Noah and his family go on a trip.
Shortly after exiting the Ark, we are told that Noah became a farmer and planted a vineyard. He managed to not be careful and get himself and probably his wife drunk as well. This passage is one of the cases in the Bible where it is difficult to understand without reading it in the original language. Another translation that is more of a word-for-word translation will help here. Here is the King James Version of verse 22:
"And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without."
Leviticus 20:11 in the King James Version says this:
"And the man that lieth with his father's wife hath uncovered his father's nakedness."
What we learn from this is that Ham did much more than merely see Noah without his clothes. Ham evidently took advantage of the situation and slept with his mother. This is the reason Noah pronounced a curse on Ham’s son’s descendants. We should be careful to note, however, that Noah pronounced this curse not God. We are never told whether God endorsed this curse, merely that Noah pronounced it.
Devotional Thought
Have you ever looked at a rainbow and thought of the flood? Has one ever caused you to think about God’s faithfulness in never sending another world-wide destructive flood again? When God says something, we can be sure that it is true. The next time you see a rainbow, take a minute to think about what it means and thank God for His faithfulness.
1God blessed Noah and his sons and told them, "Multiply and fill the earth. 2All the wild animals, large and small, and all the birds and fish will be afraid of you. I have placed them in your power. 3I have given them to you for food, just as I have given you grain and vegetables. 4But you must never eat animals that still have their lifeblood in them. 5And murder is forbidden. Animals that kill people must die, and any person who murders must be killed. 6Yes, you must execute anyone who murders another person, for to kill a person is to kill a living being made in God's image. 7Now you must have many children and repopulate the earth. Yes, multiply and fill the earth!"
8Then God told Noah and his sons, 9"I am making a covenant with you and your descendants, 10and with the animals you brought with you--all these birds and livestock and wild animals. 11I solemnly promise never to send another flood to kill all living creatures and destroy the earth." 12And God said, "I am giving you a sign as evidence of my eternal covenant with you and all living creatures. 13I have placed my rainbow in the clouds. It is the sign of my permanent promise to you and to all the earth. 14When I send clouds over the earth, the rainbow will be seen in the clouds, 15and I will remember my covenant with you and with everything that lives. Never again will there be a flood that will destroy all life. 16When I see the rainbow in the clouds, I will remember the eternal covenant between God and every living creature on earth." 17Then God said to Noah, "Yes, this is the sign of my covenant with all the creatures of the earth."
Noahs Sons
18Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the three sons of Noah, survived the Flood with their father. (Ham is the ancestor of the Canaanites.) 19From these three sons of Noah came all the people now scattered across the earth.
20After the Flood, Noah became a farmer and planted a vineyard. 21One day he became drunk on some wine he had made and lay naked in his tent. 22Ham, the father of Canaan, saw that his father was naked and went outside and told his brothers. 23Shem and Japheth took a robe, held it over their shoulders, walked backward into the tent, and covered their father's naked body. As they did this, they looked the other way so they wouldn't see him naked. 24When Noah woke up from his drunken stupor, he learned what Ham, his youngest son, had done. 25Then he cursed the descendants of Canaan, the son of Ham:
"A curse on the Canaanites!
May they be the lowest of servants
to the descendants of Shem and Japheth."
26Then Noah said,
"May Shem be blessed by the LORD my God;
and may Canaan be his servant.
27
May God enlarge the territory of Japheth,
and may he share the prosperity of Shem;[a]
and let Canaan be his servant."
28Noah lived another 350 years after the Flood. 29He was 950 years old when he died.
1 This is the history of the families of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the three sons of Noah. Many children were born to them after the Flood.
Dig Deeper
It has become quite popular, even among Christians, to claim that Noah's flood was local and not worldwide. Yet, this would make a mockery of God's promise to never destroy the world by flood again. If God was merely referring to a local flood, then He has broken His word. No, this was a worldwide flood of the type that has never been seen since and will never happen again. Plus, if this was just a local flood, then why the need for an ark? There would have been animals living in the non-flood areas, and God could have had Noah and his family go on a trip.
Shortly after exiting the Ark, we are told that Noah became a farmer and planted a vineyard. He managed to not be careful and get himself and probably his wife drunk as well. This passage is one of the cases in the Bible where it is difficult to understand without reading it in the original language. Another translation that is more of a word-for-word translation will help here. Here is the King James Version of verse 22:
"And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without."
Leviticus 20:11 in the King James Version says this:
"And the man that lieth with his father's wife hath uncovered his father's nakedness."
What we learn from this is that Ham did much more than merely see Noah without his clothes. Ham evidently took advantage of the situation and slept with his mother. This is the reason Noah pronounced a curse on Ham’s son’s descendants. We should be careful to note, however, that Noah pronounced this curse not God. We are never told whether God endorsed this curse, merely that Noah pronounced it.
Devotional Thought
Have you ever looked at a rainbow and thought of the flood? Has one ever caused you to think about God’s faithfulness in never sending another world-wide destructive flood again? When God says something, we can be sure that it is true. The next time you see a rainbow, take a minute to think about what it means and thank God for His faithfulness.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Genesis 8:1-22
The Flood Recedes
1But God remembered Noah and all the animals in the boat. He sent a wind to blow across the waters, and the floods began to disappear. 2The underground water sources ceased their gushing, and the torrential rains stopped. 3So the flood gradually began to recede. After 150 days, 4exactly five months from the time the flood began, the boat came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. 5Two and a half months later, as the waters continued to go down, other mountain peaks began to appear.
6After another forty days, Noah opened the window he had made in the boat 7and released a raven that flew back and forth until the earth was dry. 8Then he sent out a dove to see if it could find dry ground. 9But the dove found no place to land because the water was still too high. So it returned to the boat, and Noah held out his hand and drew the dove back inside. 10Seven days later, Noah released the dove again. 11This time, toward evening, the bird returned to him with a fresh olive leaf in its beak. Noah now knew that the water was almost gone. 12A week later, he released the dove again, and this time it did not come back.
13Finally, when Noah was 601 years old, ten and a half months after the flood began, Noah lifted back the cover to look. The water was drying up. 14Two more months went by, and at last the earth was dry! 15Then God said to Noah, 16"Leave the boat, all of you. 17Release all the animals and birds so they can breed and reproduce in great numbers." 18So Noah, his wife, and his sons and their wives left the boat. 19And all the various kinds of animals and birds came out, pair by pair.
20Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and sacrificed on it the animals and birds that had been approved for that purpose. 21And the LORD was pleased with the sacrifice and said to himself, "I will never again curse the earth, destroying all living things, even though people's thoughts and actions are bent toward evil from childhood. 22As long as the earth remains, there will be springtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, day and night."
Dig Deeper
Once the underground water sources stopped flowing and the rain stopped, God sent a wind to push back the flood waters. Evidently, the water pressure and the faults created from the underground water, thrust areas of the earth’s crust upwards to create the mountains we have today. Explorers have found seashells and other marine fossils near the top of Mt. Everest indicating that it was under water at one time. As the mountains rose up, the wind pushed the waters into what we now know as the oceans.
The Ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. This lies on the north-central border of modern Turkey and Armenia about 17,000 ft. above sea level. Many explorers over the years have claimed to have seen Noah’s Ark, but no one has ever offered conclusive proof. It is possible that it is above the ice cap on the mountain and is only visible every couple of decades. Very recently, a group claims to have potentially found pieces of Noah’s Ark in the mountains of Ararat in Iran.
As soon as Noah exits the Ark he offers up thanks and a sacrifice to God. It quickly becomes clear why God commanded Noah to bring seven pairs of certain animals rather than just two pairs. They were brought so that they could be sacrificed to God and still have enough left for reproduction purposes. God never commands us to do things without providing the means with which to do it.
Sacrificing to God and giving offerings to God went hand-in-hand in the Old Testament. They were both forms of worshipping God. Up through the life of Abraham, the Old Testament gives several examples of the natural order of the life of the righteouss including the act of worship through offering to God: Cain and Abel, Noah, and Abrham's offerings to the priest Melchizedek. Why is that important? Because it is clear that God has always expected man to worship Him through offerings. Many people today try to argue that a New Testament offering is unnecessary because it was a part of the law and not commanded in the New Testament. The fact is, however, that giving offerings to God was before the Law, but included in the Law for the benefit of man. Part of worship always has been giving God offerings, and it should continue today.
If we do the math given to us in the Bible, we find that Noah and his family spent about 371 total days on the Ark. The rain fell for forty days; the waters of the Flood rose for an additional 110 days; the waters receded over the next 74 days; after another 40 days, Noah sent out a raven; Noah sent out a dove after 7 days; 7 days later he sent out a second dove; 7 days after that he sent out a third dove; Another 29 days go by; Finally 57 days pass between Noah lifting the cover to their final day aboard. That means that Noah was on the Ark for just over a year.
Devotional Thought
The first thing that was on Noah’s mind after a year on the Ark was to build an altar and praise God by offering a sacrifice to Him. Is your first thought when something good happens, to praise God? Think of at least three things that you need to specifically praise God for and do so in your prayer time.
1But God remembered Noah and all the animals in the boat. He sent a wind to blow across the waters, and the floods began to disappear. 2The underground water sources ceased their gushing, and the torrential rains stopped. 3So the flood gradually began to recede. After 150 days, 4exactly five months from the time the flood began, the boat came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. 5Two and a half months later, as the waters continued to go down, other mountain peaks began to appear.
6After another forty days, Noah opened the window he had made in the boat 7and released a raven that flew back and forth until the earth was dry. 8Then he sent out a dove to see if it could find dry ground. 9But the dove found no place to land because the water was still too high. So it returned to the boat, and Noah held out his hand and drew the dove back inside. 10Seven days later, Noah released the dove again. 11This time, toward evening, the bird returned to him with a fresh olive leaf in its beak. Noah now knew that the water was almost gone. 12A week later, he released the dove again, and this time it did not come back.
13Finally, when Noah was 601 years old, ten and a half months after the flood began, Noah lifted back the cover to look. The water was drying up. 14Two more months went by, and at last the earth was dry! 15Then God said to Noah, 16"Leave the boat, all of you. 17Release all the animals and birds so they can breed and reproduce in great numbers." 18So Noah, his wife, and his sons and their wives left the boat. 19And all the various kinds of animals and birds came out, pair by pair.
20Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and sacrificed on it the animals and birds that had been approved for that purpose. 21And the LORD was pleased with the sacrifice and said to himself, "I will never again curse the earth, destroying all living things, even though people's thoughts and actions are bent toward evil from childhood. 22As long as the earth remains, there will be springtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, day and night."
Dig Deeper
Once the underground water sources stopped flowing and the rain stopped, God sent a wind to push back the flood waters. Evidently, the water pressure and the faults created from the underground water, thrust areas of the earth’s crust upwards to create the mountains we have today. Explorers have found seashells and other marine fossils near the top of Mt. Everest indicating that it was under water at one time. As the mountains rose up, the wind pushed the waters into what we now know as the oceans.
The Ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. This lies on the north-central border of modern Turkey and Armenia about 17,000 ft. above sea level. Many explorers over the years have claimed to have seen Noah’s Ark, but no one has ever offered conclusive proof. It is possible that it is above the ice cap on the mountain and is only visible every couple of decades. Very recently, a group claims to have potentially found pieces of Noah’s Ark in the mountains of Ararat in Iran.
As soon as Noah exits the Ark he offers up thanks and a sacrifice to God. It quickly becomes clear why God commanded Noah to bring seven pairs of certain animals rather than just two pairs. They were brought so that they could be sacrificed to God and still have enough left for reproduction purposes. God never commands us to do things without providing the means with which to do it.
Sacrificing to God and giving offerings to God went hand-in-hand in the Old Testament. They were both forms of worshipping God. Up through the life of Abraham, the Old Testament gives several examples of the natural order of the life of the righteouss including the act of worship through offering to God: Cain and Abel, Noah, and Abrham's offerings to the priest Melchizedek. Why is that important? Because it is clear that God has always expected man to worship Him through offerings. Many people today try to argue that a New Testament offering is unnecessary because it was a part of the law and not commanded in the New Testament. The fact is, however, that giving offerings to God was before the Law, but included in the Law for the benefit of man. Part of worship always has been giving God offerings, and it should continue today.
If we do the math given to us in the Bible, we find that Noah and his family spent about 371 total days on the Ark. The rain fell for forty days; the waters of the Flood rose for an additional 110 days; the waters receded over the next 74 days; after another 40 days, Noah sent out a raven; Noah sent out a dove after 7 days; 7 days later he sent out a second dove; 7 days after that he sent out a third dove; Another 29 days go by; Finally 57 days pass between Noah lifting the cover to their final day aboard. That means that Noah was on the Ark for just over a year.
Devotional Thought
The first thing that was on Noah’s mind after a year on the Ark was to build an altar and praise God by offering a sacrifice to Him. Is your first thought when something good happens, to praise God? Think of at least three things that you need to specifically praise God for and do so in your prayer time.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Genesis 7:1-24
The Flood Covers the Earth
1Finally, the day came when the LORD said to Noah, "Go into the boat with all your family, for among all the people of the earth, I consider you alone to be righteous. 2Take along seven pairs of each animal that I have approved for eating and for sacrifice, and take one pair of each of the others. 3Then select seven pairs of every kind of bird. There must be a male and a female in each pair to ensure that every kind of living creature will survive the flood. 4One week from today I will begin forty days and forty nights of rain. And I will wipe from the earth all the living things I have created."
5So Noah did exactly as the LORD had commanded him. 6He was 600 years old when the flood came, 7and he went aboard the boat to escape--he and his wife and his sons and their wives. 8With them were all the various kinds of animals--those approved for eating and sacrifice and those that were not--along with all the birds and other small animals. 9They came into the boat in pairs, male and female, just as God had commanded Noah. 10One week later, the flood came and covered the earth.
11When Noah was 600 years old, on the seventeenth day of the second month, the underground waters burst forth on the earth, and the rain fell in mighty torrents from the sky. 12The rain continued to fall for forty days and forty nights. 13But Noah had gone into the boat that very day with his wife and his sons--Shem, Ham, and Japheth--and their wives. 14With them in the boat were pairs of every kind of breathing animal--domestic and wild, large and small--along with birds and flying insects of every kind. 15Two by two they came into the boat, 16male and female, just as God had commanded. Then the LORD shut them in.
17For forty days the floods prevailed, covering the ground and lifting the boat high above the earth. 18As the waters rose higher and higher above the ground, the boat floated safely on the surface. 19Finally, the water covered even the highest mountains on the earth, 20standing more than twenty-two feet[a] above the highest peaks. 21All the living things on earth died--birds, domestic animals, wild animals, all kinds of small animals, and all the people. 22Everything died that breathed and lived on dry land. 23Every living thing on the earth was wiped out--people, animals both large and small, and birds. They were all destroyed, and only Noah was left alive, along with those who were with him in the boat. 24And the water covered the earth for 150 days.
Dig Deeper
Many people claim that the account of Noah and his flood is not an accurate account. One of the reasons for this is that they claim that all of the animals could not have fit on the Ark. People often say this without really considering how many animals would be necessary and how much room would have been available on the Ark. The Ark was about 450 feet long or the length of one and a half football fields. It was about 75 feet wide which is wider than ten railroad cars sitting side-by-side. It was also 45 feet tall, which is about the height of a four-story building.
The Ark could hold the equivalent of 522 railroad cars of people, animals, and equipment. Each one of those cars could hold 240 medium-sized animals. If Noah took one each kind of animal, he would have needed room for about 16,000 animals. To be on the safe side let’s assume that Noah would have needed room for 45,000 animals. This would take up only 188 of these railroad cars. That means there would be 344 cars left for a large aviary for the birds, cargo space for food and water, plenty of living space for Noah and his family, and a large area for the animals to walk around.
In the True Story of Noah’s Ark, author Tom Dooley says: "The Ark was six times longer than it was wide. Modern ocean-going vessels like aircraft carriers and oil tankers are still built to this same ratio. When it was fully loaded, the Ark displaced about 22 feet of water. Since it was 45 feet high, just about half of the Ark was submerged with the other half above the water line - the perfect ratio for stability in the water. In fact, it was one of the most stable floating platforms ever built. Even in a sea of gigantic waves, the Ark could be tilted through any angle to almost 90 degrees and still right itself."
There are many flood stories and legends from nearly all cultures around the world, so doesn't this prove that the account of Noah's flood is just another legend? Actually, it does not. The stories, legends, and remembrances from so many cultures regarding floods point to the fact that some sort of worldwide flood really did happen. What sets apart the Bible flood account, among other things, are the facts listed previously. Only the biblical account of the flood includes information that is not only scientifically possible or believable but actually has information that has been proven to be the scientific ideal. It can hardly be mere coincidence that the biblical account is so scientifically accurate. All of the other accounts share some common features with the biblical account, but they also include scientifically ridiculous details such as the Epic of Gilgamesh, from the Babylonian culture, which claims that the Ark was a perfect cube.
Devotional Thought
God told Noah that He considered him and his family to be the only righteous ones on the earth. It can be tough to behave righteously when everyone else around is not that way. Do you ever find it to be tough to act righteously when you are at school or at work, or are around your friends? Pray for the strength to be a righteous individual when no one else around you is interested in that.
1Finally, the day came when the LORD said to Noah, "Go into the boat with all your family, for among all the people of the earth, I consider you alone to be righteous. 2Take along seven pairs of each animal that I have approved for eating and for sacrifice, and take one pair of each of the others. 3Then select seven pairs of every kind of bird. There must be a male and a female in each pair to ensure that every kind of living creature will survive the flood. 4One week from today I will begin forty days and forty nights of rain. And I will wipe from the earth all the living things I have created."
5So Noah did exactly as the LORD had commanded him. 6He was 600 years old when the flood came, 7and he went aboard the boat to escape--he and his wife and his sons and their wives. 8With them were all the various kinds of animals--those approved for eating and sacrifice and those that were not--along with all the birds and other small animals. 9They came into the boat in pairs, male and female, just as God had commanded Noah. 10One week later, the flood came and covered the earth.
11When Noah was 600 years old, on the seventeenth day of the second month, the underground waters burst forth on the earth, and the rain fell in mighty torrents from the sky. 12The rain continued to fall for forty days and forty nights. 13But Noah had gone into the boat that very day with his wife and his sons--Shem, Ham, and Japheth--and their wives. 14With them in the boat were pairs of every kind of breathing animal--domestic and wild, large and small--along with birds and flying insects of every kind. 15Two by two they came into the boat, 16male and female, just as God had commanded. Then the LORD shut them in.
17For forty days the floods prevailed, covering the ground and lifting the boat high above the earth. 18As the waters rose higher and higher above the ground, the boat floated safely on the surface. 19Finally, the water covered even the highest mountains on the earth, 20standing more than twenty-two feet[a] above the highest peaks. 21All the living things on earth died--birds, domestic animals, wild animals, all kinds of small animals, and all the people. 22Everything died that breathed and lived on dry land. 23Every living thing on the earth was wiped out--people, animals both large and small, and birds. They were all destroyed, and only Noah was left alive, along with those who were with him in the boat. 24And the water covered the earth for 150 days.
Dig Deeper
Many people claim that the account of Noah and his flood is not an accurate account. One of the reasons for this is that they claim that all of the animals could not have fit on the Ark. People often say this without really considering how many animals would be necessary and how much room would have been available on the Ark. The Ark was about 450 feet long or the length of one and a half football fields. It was about 75 feet wide which is wider than ten railroad cars sitting side-by-side. It was also 45 feet tall, which is about the height of a four-story building.
The Ark could hold the equivalent of 522 railroad cars of people, animals, and equipment. Each one of those cars could hold 240 medium-sized animals. If Noah took one each kind of animal, he would have needed room for about 16,000 animals. To be on the safe side let’s assume that Noah would have needed room for 45,000 animals. This would take up only 188 of these railroad cars. That means there would be 344 cars left for a large aviary for the birds, cargo space for food and water, plenty of living space for Noah and his family, and a large area for the animals to walk around.
In the True Story of Noah’s Ark, author Tom Dooley says: "The Ark was six times longer than it was wide. Modern ocean-going vessels like aircraft carriers and oil tankers are still built to this same ratio. When it was fully loaded, the Ark displaced about 22 feet of water. Since it was 45 feet high, just about half of the Ark was submerged with the other half above the water line - the perfect ratio for stability in the water. In fact, it was one of the most stable floating platforms ever built. Even in a sea of gigantic waves, the Ark could be tilted through any angle to almost 90 degrees and still right itself."
There are many flood stories and legends from nearly all cultures around the world, so doesn't this prove that the account of Noah's flood is just another legend? Actually, it does not. The stories, legends, and remembrances from so many cultures regarding floods point to the fact that some sort of worldwide flood really did happen. What sets apart the Bible flood account, among other things, are the facts listed previously. Only the biblical account of the flood includes information that is not only scientifically possible or believable but actually has information that has been proven to be the scientific ideal. It can hardly be mere coincidence that the biblical account is so scientifically accurate. All of the other accounts share some common features with the biblical account, but they also include scientifically ridiculous details such as the Epic of Gilgamesh, from the Babylonian culture, which claims that the Ark was a perfect cube.
Devotional Thought
God told Noah that He considered him and his family to be the only righteous ones on the earth. It can be tough to behave righteously when everyone else around is not that way. Do you ever find it to be tough to act righteously when you are at school or at work, or are around your friends? Pray for the strength to be a righteous individual when no one else around you is interested in that.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Genesis 6:1-22
Noah and the Flood
1When the human population began to grow rapidly on the earth, 2the sons of God saw the beautiful women of the human race and took any they wanted as their wives. 3Then the LORD said, "My Spirit will not put up with humans for such a long time, for they are only mortal flesh. In the future, they will live no more than 120 years."
4In those days, and even afterward, giants[a] lived on the earth, for whenever the sons of God had intercourse with human women, they gave birth to children who became the heroes mentioned in legends of old.
5Now the LORD observed the extent of the people's wickedness, and he saw that all their thoughts were consistently and totally evil. 6So the LORD was sorry he had ever made them. It broke his heart. 7And the LORD said, "I will completely wipe out this human race that I have created. Yes, and I will destroy all the animals and birds, too. I am sorry I ever made them." 8But Noah found favor with the LORD.
9This is the history of Noah and his family. Noah was a righteous man, the only blameless man living on earth at the time. He consistently followed God's will and enjoyed a close relationship with him. 10Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
11Now the earth had become corrupt in God's sight, and it was filled with violence. 12God observed all this corruption in the world, and he saw violence and depravity everywhere. 13So God said to Noah, "I have decided to destroy all living creatures, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. Yes, I will wipe them all from the face of the earth!
14"Make a boat[b] from resinous wood and seal it with tar, inside and out. Then construct decks and stalls throughout its interior. 15Make it 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high.[c] 16Construct an opening all the way around the boat, 18 inches[d] below the roof. Then put three decks inside the boat--bottom, middle, and upper--and put a door in the side.
17"Look! I am about to cover the earth with a flood that will destroy every living thing. Everything on earth will die! 18But I solemnly swear to keep you safe in the boat, with your wife and your sons and their wives. 19Bring a pair of every kind of animal--a male and a female--into the boat with you to keep them alive during the flood. 20Pairs of each kind of bird and each kind of animal, large and small alike, will come to you to be kept alive. 21And remember, take enough food for your family and for all the animals."
22So Noah did everything exactly as God had commanded him.
Dig Deeper
The key to understanding this whole passage is to determine who the sons of God are. There is not time to fully discuss all the possibilities here, but the most likely and scripturally consistent view is that they were fallen angels. These fallen angels are alluded to in 2 Peter 2:4, the book of Jude, and the non-biblical book of Enoch (Enoch is not in the Bible but is quoted in the book of Jude, it seems that Peter may have used it as a source, and all of the early Church Fathers who mentioned it accepted it as accurate). What we find here is that these fallen angels went outside of God's intended order and took human women as their wives. They had children that were giant warriors (the Nephilim). The use of 'giant' may refer to their physical stature or their reputation. Verse 9 notes that Noah was blameless, this is the Hebrew word Tamiym, which indicates physical rather than moral perfection. In other words it seemingly indicates that Noah's family had not been perverted by these fallen angels.
According to the book of Enoch, these giants were just as evil as their angelic fathers. The fallen angels and the giants taught all manners of pagan worship, evil, and warfare to mankind. This created such a violent and evil atmosphere that God eventually caused the flood. All of the Nephilim were killed in the flood but were cursed bodiless spirits that would roam the earth until Jesus' returns.
We call these bodiless spirits demons. They are still very active and seem to be responsible for pretending to be the souls of dead humans (what the Bible calls "familiar spirits) as well as continuing to teach humans (1 Timothy 4:1). Apparently demons also posed as gods which were worshipped by ancient people as gods and idols (Deuteronomy 32:17; Psalm 106:37; 1 Corinthians 10:20-21).
Devotional Thought
Noah was commended in this passage for doing everything God told him to. Could this be said of you? Do you do everything the Word of God tells you to? What is one area that you need to improve in obeying God's Word. Write out the specific area of improvement and how you will go about being more like Noah in this area of your life.
1When the human population began to grow rapidly on the earth, 2the sons of God saw the beautiful women of the human race and took any they wanted as their wives. 3Then the LORD said, "My Spirit will not put up with humans for such a long time, for they are only mortal flesh. In the future, they will live no more than 120 years."
4In those days, and even afterward, giants[a] lived on the earth, for whenever the sons of God had intercourse with human women, they gave birth to children who became the heroes mentioned in legends of old.
5Now the LORD observed the extent of the people's wickedness, and he saw that all their thoughts were consistently and totally evil. 6So the LORD was sorry he had ever made them. It broke his heart. 7And the LORD said, "I will completely wipe out this human race that I have created. Yes, and I will destroy all the animals and birds, too. I am sorry I ever made them." 8But Noah found favor with the LORD.
9This is the history of Noah and his family. Noah was a righteous man, the only blameless man living on earth at the time. He consistently followed God's will and enjoyed a close relationship with him. 10Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
11Now the earth had become corrupt in God's sight, and it was filled with violence. 12God observed all this corruption in the world, and he saw violence and depravity everywhere. 13So God said to Noah, "I have decided to destroy all living creatures, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. Yes, I will wipe them all from the face of the earth!
14"Make a boat[b] from resinous wood and seal it with tar, inside and out. Then construct decks and stalls throughout its interior. 15Make it 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high.[c] 16Construct an opening all the way around the boat, 18 inches[d] below the roof. Then put three decks inside the boat--bottom, middle, and upper--and put a door in the side.
17"Look! I am about to cover the earth with a flood that will destroy every living thing. Everything on earth will die! 18But I solemnly swear to keep you safe in the boat, with your wife and your sons and their wives. 19Bring a pair of every kind of animal--a male and a female--into the boat with you to keep them alive during the flood. 20Pairs of each kind of bird and each kind of animal, large and small alike, will come to you to be kept alive. 21And remember, take enough food for your family and for all the animals."
22So Noah did everything exactly as God had commanded him.
Dig Deeper
The key to understanding this whole passage is to determine who the sons of God are. There is not time to fully discuss all the possibilities here, but the most likely and scripturally consistent view is that they were fallen angels. These fallen angels are alluded to in 2 Peter 2:4, the book of Jude, and the non-biblical book of Enoch (Enoch is not in the Bible but is quoted in the book of Jude, it seems that Peter may have used it as a source, and all of the early Church Fathers who mentioned it accepted it as accurate). What we find here is that these fallen angels went outside of God's intended order and took human women as their wives. They had children that were giant warriors (the Nephilim). The use of 'giant' may refer to their physical stature or their reputation. Verse 9 notes that Noah was blameless, this is the Hebrew word Tamiym, which indicates physical rather than moral perfection. In other words it seemingly indicates that Noah's family had not been perverted by these fallen angels.
According to the book of Enoch, these giants were just as evil as their angelic fathers. The fallen angels and the giants taught all manners of pagan worship, evil, and warfare to mankind. This created such a violent and evil atmosphere that God eventually caused the flood. All of the Nephilim were killed in the flood but were cursed bodiless spirits that would roam the earth until Jesus' returns.
We call these bodiless spirits demons. They are still very active and seem to be responsible for pretending to be the souls of dead humans (what the Bible calls "familiar spirits) as well as continuing to teach humans (1 Timothy 4:1). Apparently demons also posed as gods which were worshipped by ancient people as gods and idols (Deuteronomy 32:17; Psalm 106:37; 1 Corinthians 10:20-21).
Devotional Thought
Noah was commended in this passage for doing everything God told him to. Could this be said of you? Do you do everything the Word of God tells you to? What is one area that you need to improve in obeying God's Word. Write out the specific area of improvement and how you will go about being more like Noah in this area of your life.
Friday, June 08, 2007
Genesis 5:1-32
From Adam to Noah
1This is the history of the descendants of Adam. When God created people,[a] he made them in the likeness of God. 2He created them male and female, and he blessed them and called them "human."[b]
3When Adam was 130 years old, his son Seth was born,[c] and Seth was the very image of his father.[d] 4After the birth of Seth,[e] Adam lived another 800 years, and he had other sons and daughters. 5He died at the age of 930.
6When Seth was 105 years old, his son Enosh was born. 7After the birth of Enosh, Seth lived another 807 years, and he had other sons and daughters. 8He died at the age of 912.
9When Enosh was 90 years old, his son Kenan was born. 10After the birth of Kenan, Enosh lived another 815 years, and he had other sons and daughters. 11He died at the age of 905.
12When Kenan was 70 years old, his son Mahalalel was born. 13After the birth of Mahalalel, Kenan lived another 840 years, and he had other sons and daughters. 14He died at the age of 910.
15When Mahalalel was 65 years old, his son Jared was born. 16After the birth of Jared, Mahalalel lived 830 years, and he had other sons and daughters. 17He died at the age of 895.
18When Jared was 162 years old, his son Enoch was born. 19After the birth of Enoch, Jared lived another 800 years, and he had other sons and daughters. 20He died at the age of 962.
21When Enoch was 65 years old, his son Methuselah was born. 22After the birth of Methuselah, Enoch lived another 300 years in close fellowship with God, and he had other sons and daughters. 23Enoch lived 365 years in all. 24He enjoyed a close relationship with God throughout his life. Then suddenly, he disappeared because God took him.
25When Methuselah was 187 years old, his son Lamech was born. 26After the birth of Lamech, Methuselah lived another 782 years, and he had other sons and daughters. 27He died at the age of 969.
28When Lamech was 182 years old, his son Noah was born. 29Lamech named his son Noah,[f] for he said, "He will bring us relief from the painful labor of farming this ground that the LORD has cursed." 30After the birth of Noah, Lamech lived 595 years, and he had other sons and daughters. 31He died at the age of 777.
32By the time Noah was 500 years old, he had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
Dig Deeper
If we’re honest, most people skip over chapters like Genesis 5. We assume that these are simply nothing more than boring lists that tell us who was born and when they were born. The assumption is that there isn’t really anything that can be learned from these kinds of lists. In fact, however, there are many interesting things that we can find in many of these geneaological lists in the Bible.
One thing we can learn from this list is how many years passed from the time of Adam’s creation to the onset of the flood. Try adding up the years and see if you can figure out how many years had passed between these two events. Some people claim that this is a representative genealogy and that there may be many generations skipped. The problem with that line of thinking is that there would be absolutely no reason to include the ages of each man and his age when his son was born if the intent was not convey how much time had passed. In fact, by including the ages of each man when his son was born, there is no room given to insert other generations.
We also learn that none of these important patriarchs who are the ancestors of Noah, and ultimately Jesus, were alive at the time of flood. There is one interesting exception to that, however. Noah’s grandfather was named Methuselah. He lived to be 969, which makes him the oldest recorded man in the Bible. If we add up the dates, we find that Methuselah apparently died in the same year of the flood. Does this mean that Noah’s grandfather was not a righteous man and did not want to get on the ark, and so he died? Interestingly, the name Methuselah can be taken to mean ‘when he dies, it shall be sent’. It appears that God waited until Methuselah had died to send the flood.
There is one other interesting fact in this chapter. Verse 1 tells us that people were made in the likeness of God, but in verse 3, which is after the Fall, we are told that Seth was in the image of his father. If you remember, image can mean ‘representative’. This seems to indicate that after the Fall, man ceased to be God’s direct representative.
In this passage, we see that the purpose of representing God has also not escaped the devastating effects of sin. In chapter 1, we were told that God made man in his image. Now, however, we are told that Adam’s son is born in his image. Sin separates us from the ability to truly represent God’s wisdom to His creation (see Ephesians 3:10).
Devotional Thought
Just as we can be tempted to overlook passages like this and miss the wonderful things that we can learn, there is also a temptation to overlook certain people in our lives. Take time to look at the people in your life and see if there is someone (particularly an older person) that you haven’t paid much attention to. Make an effort to spend some time with them and learn from them. They may have many wonderful things to teach you.
1This is the history of the descendants of Adam. When God created people,[a] he made them in the likeness of God. 2He created them male and female, and he blessed them and called them "human."[b]
3When Adam was 130 years old, his son Seth was born,[c] and Seth was the very image of his father.[d] 4After the birth of Seth,[e] Adam lived another 800 years, and he had other sons and daughters. 5He died at the age of 930.
6When Seth was 105 years old, his son Enosh was born. 7After the birth of Enosh, Seth lived another 807 years, and he had other sons and daughters. 8He died at the age of 912.
9When Enosh was 90 years old, his son Kenan was born. 10After the birth of Kenan, Enosh lived another 815 years, and he had other sons and daughters. 11He died at the age of 905.
12When Kenan was 70 years old, his son Mahalalel was born. 13After the birth of Mahalalel, Kenan lived another 840 years, and he had other sons and daughters. 14He died at the age of 910.
15When Mahalalel was 65 years old, his son Jared was born. 16After the birth of Jared, Mahalalel lived 830 years, and he had other sons and daughters. 17He died at the age of 895.
18When Jared was 162 years old, his son Enoch was born. 19After the birth of Enoch, Jared lived another 800 years, and he had other sons and daughters. 20He died at the age of 962.
21When Enoch was 65 years old, his son Methuselah was born. 22After the birth of Methuselah, Enoch lived another 300 years in close fellowship with God, and he had other sons and daughters. 23Enoch lived 365 years in all. 24He enjoyed a close relationship with God throughout his life. Then suddenly, he disappeared because God took him.
25When Methuselah was 187 years old, his son Lamech was born. 26After the birth of Lamech, Methuselah lived another 782 years, and he had other sons and daughters. 27He died at the age of 969.
28When Lamech was 182 years old, his son Noah was born. 29Lamech named his son Noah,[f] for he said, "He will bring us relief from the painful labor of farming this ground that the LORD has cursed." 30After the birth of Noah, Lamech lived 595 years, and he had other sons and daughters. 31He died at the age of 777.
32By the time Noah was 500 years old, he had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
Dig Deeper
If we’re honest, most people skip over chapters like Genesis 5. We assume that these are simply nothing more than boring lists that tell us who was born and when they were born. The assumption is that there isn’t really anything that can be learned from these kinds of lists. In fact, however, there are many interesting things that we can find in many of these geneaological lists in the Bible.
One thing we can learn from this list is how many years passed from the time of Adam’s creation to the onset of the flood. Try adding up the years and see if you can figure out how many years had passed between these two events. Some people claim that this is a representative genealogy and that there may be many generations skipped. The problem with that line of thinking is that there would be absolutely no reason to include the ages of each man and his age when his son was born if the intent was not convey how much time had passed. In fact, by including the ages of each man when his son was born, there is no room given to insert other generations.
We also learn that none of these important patriarchs who are the ancestors of Noah, and ultimately Jesus, were alive at the time of flood. There is one interesting exception to that, however. Noah’s grandfather was named Methuselah. He lived to be 969, which makes him the oldest recorded man in the Bible. If we add up the dates, we find that Methuselah apparently died in the same year of the flood. Does this mean that Noah’s grandfather was not a righteous man and did not want to get on the ark, and so he died? Interestingly, the name Methuselah can be taken to mean ‘when he dies, it shall be sent’. It appears that God waited until Methuselah had died to send the flood.
There is one other interesting fact in this chapter. Verse 1 tells us that people were made in the likeness of God, but in verse 3, which is after the Fall, we are told that Seth was in the image of his father. If you remember, image can mean ‘representative’. This seems to indicate that after the Fall, man ceased to be God’s direct representative.
In this passage, we see that the purpose of representing God has also not escaped the devastating effects of sin. In chapter 1, we were told that God made man in his image. Now, however, we are told that Adam’s son is born in his image. Sin separates us from the ability to truly represent God’s wisdom to His creation (see Ephesians 3:10).
Devotional Thought
Just as we can be tempted to overlook passages like this and miss the wonderful things that we can learn, there is also a temptation to overlook certain people in our lives. Take time to look at the people in your life and see if there is someone (particularly an older person) that you haven’t paid much attention to. Make an effort to spend some time with them and learn from them. They may have many wonderful things to teach you.
Thursday, June 07, 2007
Genesis 4:1-26
Cain, Abel, and Seth
1Now Adam[a] slept with his wife, Eve, and she became pregnant. When the time came, she gave birth to Cain,[b] and she said, "With the LORD's help, I have brought forth[c] a man!" 2Later she gave birth to a second son and named him Abel.
When they grew up, Abel became a shepherd, while Cain was a farmer. 3At harvesttime Cain brought to the LORD a gift of his farm produce, 4while Abel brought several choice lambs from the best of his flock. The LORD accepted Abel and his offering, 5but he did not accept Cain and his offering. This made Cain very angry and dejected.
6"Why are you so angry?" the LORD asked him. "Why do you look so dejected? 7You will be accepted if you respond in the right way. But if you refuse to respond correctly, then watch out! Sin is waiting to attack and destroy you, and you must subdue it."
8Later Cain suggested to his brother, Abel, "Let's go out into the fields."[d] And while they were there, Cain attacked and killed his brother.
9Afterward the LORD asked Cain, "Where is your brother? Where is Abel?"
"I don't know!" Cain retorted. "Am I supposed to keep track of him wherever he goes?"
10But the LORD said, "What have you done? Listen--your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground! 11You are hereby banished from the ground you have defiled with your brother's blood. 12No longer will it yield abundant crops for you, no matter how hard you work! From now on you will be a homeless fugitive on the earth, constantly wandering from place to place."
13Cain replied to the LORD, "My punishment[e] is too great for me to bear! 14You have banished me from my land and from your presence; you have made me a wandering fugitive. All who see me will try to kill me!"
15The LORD replied, "They will not kill you, for I will give seven times your punishment to anyone who does." Then the LORD put a mark on Cain to warn anyone who might try to kill him. 16So Cain left the LORD's presence and settled in the land of Nod,[f] east of Eden.
17Then Cain's wife became pregnant and gave birth to a son, and they named him Enoch. When Cain founded a city, he named it Enoch after his son.
18 Enoch was the father of[g] Irad.
Irad was the father of Mehujael.
Mehujael was the father of Methushael.
Methushael was the father of Lamech.
19Lamech married two women--Adah and Zillah. 20Adah gave birth to a baby named Jabal. He became the first of the herdsmen who live in tents. 21His brother's name was Jubal, the first musician--the inventor of the harp and flute. 22To Lamech's other wife, Zillah, was born Tubal-cain. He was the first to work with metal, forging instruments of bronze and iron. Tubal-cain had a sister named Naamah.
23One day Lamech said to Adah and Zillah, "Listen to me, my wives. I have killed a youth who attacked and wounded me. 24If anyone who kills Cain is to be punished seven times, anyone who takes revenge against me will be punished seventy-seven times!"
25Adam slept with his wife again, and she gave birth to another son. She named him Seth,[h] for she said, "God has granted me another son in place of Abel, the one Cain killed." 26When Seth grew up, he had a son and named him Enosh. It was during his lifetime that people first began to worship the LORD.
Dig Deeper
We are told that Abel's sacrifice was more acceptable to God than was Cain's. We are not told specifically why, however. It may have been in the attitude of the sacrifice or it may have been that God had given previous instructions on sacrifice, and that Abel followed these instructions while Cain did not.
Regardless of the reason, Cain's response is the main problem described in this passage. He gets angry, pouts, and eventually kills Abel, presumably due to jealousy. God warned Cain to respond in the correct way because sin was waiting to attack him if did not, but Cain did not listen to God's warning.
God's punishment could rightly have been death, but instead He shows grace by punishing him to banishment. Again, Cain's response is inappropriate. He responds to God's gracious discipline with self-pity.
Many people wonder from where Cain got his wife, if there was only Adam, Even, Cain, and Abel. The Bible makes a practice of only recording people who are central to the account being given. Adam and Even had many children that are not mentioned (56 according to Jewish tradition), so it is probable that Cain married his sister. This was not against God's law well after the flood. Adam was 130 when Seth was born so he and Eve could easily have had hundreds of children, grandchildren, etc., by the time Cain killed Abel.
We are also told that Cain built a city in the land of Nod, which means "wandering." We should not confuse this with a modern city. The point is that Cain built a permanent settlement for his family despite God's pronouncement that he should be a homeless fugitive.
This passage demonstrates a truth that we all, sadly, have experienced in our own lives. Sin immediately corrupted the relationships between human beings, as the relationship between humans quickly spiraled into envy, jealousy, hatred, and violence. Rather than humans serving the purpose of helping one another, sin pits them against one another. Genesis clearly has shown that three of the four major purposes for which man was made have been corrupted by sin. In tommorow's reading we will see the effects of sin on the final purpose of man.
Devotional Thought
One of Cain's big problems what that he responded poorly when things didn't go the way he wanted them to. Do you ever have that problem? In what ways do you tend to act poorly when things don't go as you might have wished? Spend some extra time praying that God will help you to be more controlled in situations that don't go your way.
1Now Adam[a] slept with his wife, Eve, and she became pregnant. When the time came, she gave birth to Cain,[b] and she said, "With the LORD's help, I have brought forth[c] a man!" 2Later she gave birth to a second son and named him Abel.
When they grew up, Abel became a shepherd, while Cain was a farmer. 3At harvesttime Cain brought to the LORD a gift of his farm produce, 4while Abel brought several choice lambs from the best of his flock. The LORD accepted Abel and his offering, 5but he did not accept Cain and his offering. This made Cain very angry and dejected.
6"Why are you so angry?" the LORD asked him. "Why do you look so dejected? 7You will be accepted if you respond in the right way. But if you refuse to respond correctly, then watch out! Sin is waiting to attack and destroy you, and you must subdue it."
8Later Cain suggested to his brother, Abel, "Let's go out into the fields."[d] And while they were there, Cain attacked and killed his brother.
9Afterward the LORD asked Cain, "Where is your brother? Where is Abel?"
"I don't know!" Cain retorted. "Am I supposed to keep track of him wherever he goes?"
10But the LORD said, "What have you done? Listen--your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground! 11You are hereby banished from the ground you have defiled with your brother's blood. 12No longer will it yield abundant crops for you, no matter how hard you work! From now on you will be a homeless fugitive on the earth, constantly wandering from place to place."
13Cain replied to the LORD, "My punishment[e] is too great for me to bear! 14You have banished me from my land and from your presence; you have made me a wandering fugitive. All who see me will try to kill me!"
15The LORD replied, "They will not kill you, for I will give seven times your punishment to anyone who does." Then the LORD put a mark on Cain to warn anyone who might try to kill him. 16So Cain left the LORD's presence and settled in the land of Nod,[f] east of Eden.
17Then Cain's wife became pregnant and gave birth to a son, and they named him Enoch. When Cain founded a city, he named it Enoch after his son.
18 Enoch was the father of[g] Irad.
Irad was the father of Mehujael.
Mehujael was the father of Methushael.
Methushael was the father of Lamech.
19Lamech married two women--Adah and Zillah. 20Adah gave birth to a baby named Jabal. He became the first of the herdsmen who live in tents. 21His brother's name was Jubal, the first musician--the inventor of the harp and flute. 22To Lamech's other wife, Zillah, was born Tubal-cain. He was the first to work with metal, forging instruments of bronze and iron. Tubal-cain had a sister named Naamah.
23One day Lamech said to Adah and Zillah, "Listen to me, my wives. I have killed a youth who attacked and wounded me. 24If anyone who kills Cain is to be punished seven times, anyone who takes revenge against me will be punished seventy-seven times!"
25Adam slept with his wife again, and she gave birth to another son. She named him Seth,[h] for she said, "God has granted me another son in place of Abel, the one Cain killed." 26When Seth grew up, he had a son and named him Enosh. It was during his lifetime that people first began to worship the LORD.
Dig Deeper
We are told that Abel's sacrifice was more acceptable to God than was Cain's. We are not told specifically why, however. It may have been in the attitude of the sacrifice or it may have been that God had given previous instructions on sacrifice, and that Abel followed these instructions while Cain did not.
Regardless of the reason, Cain's response is the main problem described in this passage. He gets angry, pouts, and eventually kills Abel, presumably due to jealousy. God warned Cain to respond in the correct way because sin was waiting to attack him if did not, but Cain did not listen to God's warning.
God's punishment could rightly have been death, but instead He shows grace by punishing him to banishment. Again, Cain's response is inappropriate. He responds to God's gracious discipline with self-pity.
Many people wonder from where Cain got his wife, if there was only Adam, Even, Cain, and Abel. The Bible makes a practice of only recording people who are central to the account being given. Adam and Even had many children that are not mentioned (56 according to Jewish tradition), so it is probable that Cain married his sister. This was not against God's law well after the flood. Adam was 130 when Seth was born so he and Eve could easily have had hundreds of children, grandchildren, etc., by the time Cain killed Abel.
We are also told that Cain built a city in the land of Nod, which means "wandering." We should not confuse this with a modern city. The point is that Cain built a permanent settlement for his family despite God's pronouncement that he should be a homeless fugitive.
This passage demonstrates a truth that we all, sadly, have experienced in our own lives. Sin immediately corrupted the relationships between human beings, as the relationship between humans quickly spiraled into envy, jealousy, hatred, and violence. Rather than humans serving the purpose of helping one another, sin pits them against one another. Genesis clearly has shown that three of the four major purposes for which man was made have been corrupted by sin. In tommorow's reading we will see the effects of sin on the final purpose of man.
Devotional Thought
One of Cain's big problems what that he responded poorly when things didn't go the way he wanted them to. Do you ever have that problem? In what ways do you tend to act poorly when things don't go as you might have wished? Spend some extra time praying that God will help you to be more controlled in situations that don't go your way.
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Genesis 3:1-24
The Man and Woman Sin
1Now the serpent was the shrewdest of all the creatures the LORD God had made. "Really?" he asked the woman. "Did God really say you must not eat any of the fruit in the garden?"
2"Of course we may eat it," the woman told him. 3"It's only the fruit from the tree at the center of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God says we must not eat it or even touch it, or we will die."
4"You won't die!" the serpent hissed. 5"God knows that your eyes will be opened when you eat it. You will become just like God, knowing everything, both good and evil."
6The woman was convinced. The fruit looked so fresh and delicious, and it would make her so wise! So she ate some of the fruit. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her. Then he ate it, too. 7At that moment, their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they strung fig leaves together around their hips to cover themselves.
8Toward evening they heard the LORD God walking about in the garden, so they hid themselves among the trees. 9The LORD God called to Adam, "Where are you?"
10He replied, "I heard you, so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked."
11"Who told you that you were naked?" the LORD God asked. "Have you eaten the fruit I commanded you not to eat?"
12"Yes," Adam admitted, "but it was the woman you gave me who brought me the fruit, and I ate it."
13Then the LORD God asked the woman, "How could you do such a thing?"
"The serpent tricked me," she replied. "That's why I ate it."
14So the LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, you will be punished. You are singled out from all the domestic and wild animals of the whole earth to be cursed. You will grovel in the dust as long as you live, crawling along on your belly. 15From now on, you and the woman will be enemies, and your offspring and her offspring will be enemies. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel."
16Then he said to the woman, "You will bear children with intense pain and suffering. And though your desire will be for your husband, he will be your master."
17And to Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate the fruit I told you not to eat, I have placed a curse on the ground. All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it. 18It will grow thorns and thistles for you, though you will eat of its grains. 19All your life you will sweat to produce food, until your dying day. Then you will return to the ground from which you came. For you were made from dust, and to the dust you will return."
20Then Adam named his wife Eve, because she would be the mother of all people everywhere. 21And the LORD God made clothing from animal skins for Adam and his wife.
22Then the LORD God said, "The people have become as we are, knowing everything, both good and evil. What if they eat the fruit of the tree of life? Then they will live forever!" 23So the LORD God banished Adam and his wife from the Garden of Eden, and he sent Adam out to cultivate the ground from which he had been made. 24After banishing them from the garden, the LORD God stationed mighty angelic beings to the east of Eden. And a flaming sword flashed back and forth, guarding the way to the tree of life.
Dig Deeper
Genesis 3 records perhaps the saddest day in human history. It is the day that our ancestor Adam chose to disobey God and allow sin to enter our world. Even one sin separates us from God as Adam and Eve soon found out.
Satan convinced Adam and Eve to sin by using the same lie that he stills uses on us today. He convinced them that that they could do things their own way rather than God’s.
What is exciting is that even as man was sinning and disobeying God, He already had a plan ready for mankind to be forgiven of our sin. God gives a prophecy of this plan in verse 15, called the protoevangelium, when He predicts that the offspring of a woman would crush the head of Satan, the great serpent. Normally, in biblical times, a child would be said to be the seed or offspring of a man. This verse is a clear prediction that a child would be born of a woman in an unusual way, which is exactly what Jesus Christ did.
This passage also explains many other biblical doctrines for us and why things are the way they are. For example, why women have pain during childbirth but animals do not (v. 16), why men have authority in the family (v. 16), why we must work for a living and just to survive (v. 17), why we wear clothes (vv. 10, 21), etc.
We see in this passage, and in the following chapters, that the entry of sin into the world, corrupted all four of the primary purposes for man that God had intended. Two of those are clearly in sight in this chapter. First, in verses 17-19, Adam is told that he will no longer work for himself, but must work hard just to provide for himself. Working for ourselves is a sign of rebellion that can only be restored by a relationship with Jesus (see Matt. 6:33). Second, the purpose of having an intimate relationship with God is also destroyed by sin, as we see Adam and Eve were banished from God’s presence and His Garden. Sin always separates us from God (Isaiah 59:2), another condition that can only be solved through Jesus.
Devotional Thought
Even though Adam and Eve did a terrible thing by sinning against and disobeying a perfect and holy God, He showed them mercy immediately. Before they even sinned God had a plan to reconcile with His creation. What an awesome God. Spend a few extra minutes each day this week praising and thanking God for His mercy and forgiveness in your own life. Think of specific ways in your life in which He has showered you with His grace and mercy.
1Now the serpent was the shrewdest of all the creatures the LORD God had made. "Really?" he asked the woman. "Did God really say you must not eat any of the fruit in the garden?"
2"Of course we may eat it," the woman told him. 3"It's only the fruit from the tree at the center of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God says we must not eat it or even touch it, or we will die."
4"You won't die!" the serpent hissed. 5"God knows that your eyes will be opened when you eat it. You will become just like God, knowing everything, both good and evil."
6The woman was convinced. The fruit looked so fresh and delicious, and it would make her so wise! So she ate some of the fruit. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her. Then he ate it, too. 7At that moment, their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they strung fig leaves together around their hips to cover themselves.
8Toward evening they heard the LORD God walking about in the garden, so they hid themselves among the trees. 9The LORD God called to Adam, "Where are you?"
10He replied, "I heard you, so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked."
11"Who told you that you were naked?" the LORD God asked. "Have you eaten the fruit I commanded you not to eat?"
12"Yes," Adam admitted, "but it was the woman you gave me who brought me the fruit, and I ate it."
13Then the LORD God asked the woman, "How could you do such a thing?"
"The serpent tricked me," she replied. "That's why I ate it."
14So the LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, you will be punished. You are singled out from all the domestic and wild animals of the whole earth to be cursed. You will grovel in the dust as long as you live, crawling along on your belly. 15From now on, you and the woman will be enemies, and your offspring and her offspring will be enemies. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel."
16Then he said to the woman, "You will bear children with intense pain and suffering. And though your desire will be for your husband, he will be your master."
17And to Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate the fruit I told you not to eat, I have placed a curse on the ground. All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it. 18It will grow thorns and thistles for you, though you will eat of its grains. 19All your life you will sweat to produce food, until your dying day. Then you will return to the ground from which you came. For you were made from dust, and to the dust you will return."
20Then Adam named his wife Eve, because she would be the mother of all people everywhere. 21And the LORD God made clothing from animal skins for Adam and his wife.
22Then the LORD God said, "The people have become as we are, knowing everything, both good and evil. What if they eat the fruit of the tree of life? Then they will live forever!" 23So the LORD God banished Adam and his wife from the Garden of Eden, and he sent Adam out to cultivate the ground from which he had been made. 24After banishing them from the garden, the LORD God stationed mighty angelic beings to the east of Eden. And a flaming sword flashed back and forth, guarding the way to the tree of life.
Dig Deeper
Genesis 3 records perhaps the saddest day in human history. It is the day that our ancestor Adam chose to disobey God and allow sin to enter our world. Even one sin separates us from God as Adam and Eve soon found out.
Satan convinced Adam and Eve to sin by using the same lie that he stills uses on us today. He convinced them that that they could do things their own way rather than God’s.
What is exciting is that even as man was sinning and disobeying God, He already had a plan ready for mankind to be forgiven of our sin. God gives a prophecy of this plan in verse 15, called the protoevangelium, when He predicts that the offspring of a woman would crush the head of Satan, the great serpent. Normally, in biblical times, a child would be said to be the seed or offspring of a man. This verse is a clear prediction that a child would be born of a woman in an unusual way, which is exactly what Jesus Christ did.
This passage also explains many other biblical doctrines for us and why things are the way they are. For example, why women have pain during childbirth but animals do not (v. 16), why men have authority in the family (v. 16), why we must work for a living and just to survive (v. 17), why we wear clothes (vv. 10, 21), etc.
We see in this passage, and in the following chapters, that the entry of sin into the world, corrupted all four of the primary purposes for man that God had intended. Two of those are clearly in sight in this chapter. First, in verses 17-19, Adam is told that he will no longer work for himself, but must work hard just to provide for himself. Working for ourselves is a sign of rebellion that can only be restored by a relationship with Jesus (see Matt. 6:33). Second, the purpose of having an intimate relationship with God is also destroyed by sin, as we see Adam and Eve were banished from God’s presence and His Garden. Sin always separates us from God (Isaiah 59:2), another condition that can only be solved through Jesus.
Devotional Thought
Even though Adam and Eve did a terrible thing by sinning against and disobeying a perfect and holy God, He showed them mercy immediately. Before they even sinned God had a plan to reconcile with His creation. What an awesome God. Spend a few extra minutes each day this week praising and thanking God for His mercy and forgiveness in your own life. Think of specific ways in your life in which He has showered you with His grace and mercy.
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Genesis 2:1-25
1 So the creation of the heavens and the earth and everything in them was completed. 2On the seventh day, having finished his task, God rested from all his work. 3And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when he rested from his work of creation.
4This is the account of the creation of the heavens and the earth.
The Man and Woman in Eden
When the LORD God made the heavens and the earth, 5there were no plants or grain growing on the earth, for the LORD God had not sent any rain. And no one was there to cultivate the soil. 6But water came up out of the ground and watered all the land. 7And the LORD God formed a man's body from the dust of the ground and breathed into it the breath of life. And the man became a living person.
8Then the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he placed the man he had created. 9And the LORD God planted all sorts of trees in the garden--beautiful trees that produced delicious fruit. At the center of the garden he placed the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
10A river flowed from the land of Eden, watering the garden and then dividing into four branches. 11One of these branches is the Pishon, which flows around the entire land of Havilah, where gold is found. 12The gold of that land is exceptionally pure; aromatic resin and onyx stone are also found there. 13The second branch is the Gihon, which flows around the entire land of Cush. 14The third branch is the Tigris, which flows to the east of Asshur. The fourth branch is the Euphrates.
15The LORD God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and care for it. 16But the LORD God gave him this warning: "You may freely eat any fruit in the garden 17except fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat of its fruit, you will surely die."
18And the LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a companion who will help him." 19So the LORD God formed from the soil every kind of animal and bird. He brought them to Adam[a] to see what he would call them, and Adam chose a name for each one. 20He gave names to all the livestock, birds, and wild animals. But still there was no companion suitable for him. 21So the LORD God caused Adam to fall into a deep sleep. He took one of Adam's ribs[b] and closed up the place from which he had taken it. 22Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib and brought her to Adam.
23"At last!" Adam exclaimed. "She is part of my own flesh and bone! She will be called `woman,' because she was taken out of a man." 24This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one. 25Now, although Adam and his wife were both naked, neither of them felt any shame.
Dig Deeper
Some people criticize the Bible because of this very chapter in Genesis. They say that Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 are two different accounts of creation that contradict one other. That of course, is not the case. Genesis 2 is not just another creation account because it does not mention the creation of the heavens and the earth, the atmosphere, the seas, the land, the sun, the stars, the moon, the sea creatures, etc. Chapter 2 mentions only things directly relevant to the creation of Adam and Eve and their life in the garden God prepared specially for them. In truth, chapter 1 is creation from God’s perspective , an overview of the whole creation, while chapter 2 views the more important aspects from man’s perspective.
The word translated "account" in verse 3, actually means generations. It records an account or record of events and is used at the end of each section in Genesis identifying the patriarch to whom it primarily referred, and possibly who recorded the information. There are ten of these generational accounts in Genesis.
These generational statements indicate that 1:1 - 2:4 is a separate account of the universe, while 2:5 – 5:1 is the account of Adam. Genesis 2, then focuses on the creation in the Garden of Eden that was directly important to Adam. It refers to the plants and grains of the Field which needed Adam to cultivate them. In the same way, verse 9 mentions trees but only the trees in the Garden, not trees in general.
Genesis was written like many historical accounts with an overview or summary of events leading up to the events of most interest first, followed by a detailed account which often recaps relevant events in the overview in greater detail. Genesis 1, the ‘big picture’ is clearly concerned with the sequence of events. The events are in chronological sequence, with day 1, day 2, evening and morning, etc. The order of events is not the major concern of Genesis 2. In recapping events they are not necessarily mentioned in chronological order, but in the order which makes most sense to the focus of the account. For example, the animals are mentioned in verse 19, after Adam was created, because it was after Adam was created that he was shown the animals, not that they were created after Adam.
Genesis chapters 1 and 2 are not therefore separate contradictory accounts of creation. Chapter 1 is the ‘big picture’ and Chapter 2 is a more detailed account of the creation of Adam and Eve and day six of creation.
Through this passage we see purposes three and four in the creation of mankind. The third is that God created man to have an intimate relationship with man. We also see that God created humans to have pure and helping relationships with other humans. In the following chapters we will see what happened to those purposes for which God made humans.
Devotional Thought
God gave everything in the Garden to Adam and Eve. There was one thing that they were not capable of controlling yet, and that was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. For their own good, God tells them not to eat of it. When you consider the things that the Bible tells us to stay away from, do you see them as restrictive limits, or caring boundaries set up for are own good? How would the way you views God’s commands impact the way you follow them?
4This is the account of the creation of the heavens and the earth.
The Man and Woman in Eden
When the LORD God made the heavens and the earth, 5there were no plants or grain growing on the earth, for the LORD God had not sent any rain. And no one was there to cultivate the soil. 6But water came up out of the ground and watered all the land. 7And the LORD God formed a man's body from the dust of the ground and breathed into it the breath of life. And the man became a living person.
8Then the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he placed the man he had created. 9And the LORD God planted all sorts of trees in the garden--beautiful trees that produced delicious fruit. At the center of the garden he placed the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
10A river flowed from the land of Eden, watering the garden and then dividing into four branches. 11One of these branches is the Pishon, which flows around the entire land of Havilah, where gold is found. 12The gold of that land is exceptionally pure; aromatic resin and onyx stone are also found there. 13The second branch is the Gihon, which flows around the entire land of Cush. 14The third branch is the Tigris, which flows to the east of Asshur. The fourth branch is the Euphrates.
15The LORD God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and care for it. 16But the LORD God gave him this warning: "You may freely eat any fruit in the garden 17except fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat of its fruit, you will surely die."
18And the LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a companion who will help him." 19So the LORD God formed from the soil every kind of animal and bird. He brought them to Adam[a] to see what he would call them, and Adam chose a name for each one. 20He gave names to all the livestock, birds, and wild animals. But still there was no companion suitable for him. 21So the LORD God caused Adam to fall into a deep sleep. He took one of Adam's ribs[b] and closed up the place from which he had taken it. 22Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib and brought her to Adam.
23"At last!" Adam exclaimed. "She is part of my own flesh and bone! She will be called `woman,' because she was taken out of a man." 24This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one. 25Now, although Adam and his wife were both naked, neither of them felt any shame.
Dig Deeper
Some people criticize the Bible because of this very chapter in Genesis. They say that Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 are two different accounts of creation that contradict one other. That of course, is not the case. Genesis 2 is not just another creation account because it does not mention the creation of the heavens and the earth, the atmosphere, the seas, the land, the sun, the stars, the moon, the sea creatures, etc. Chapter 2 mentions only things directly relevant to the creation of Adam and Eve and their life in the garden God prepared specially for them. In truth, chapter 1 is creation from God’s perspective , an overview of the whole creation, while chapter 2 views the more important aspects from man’s perspective.
The word translated "account" in verse 3, actually means generations. It records an account or record of events and is used at the end of each section in Genesis identifying the patriarch to whom it primarily referred, and possibly who recorded the information. There are ten of these generational accounts in Genesis.
These generational statements indicate that 1:1 - 2:4 is a separate account of the universe, while 2:5 – 5:1 is the account of Adam. Genesis 2, then focuses on the creation in the Garden of Eden that was directly important to Adam. It refers to the plants and grains of the Field which needed Adam to cultivate them. In the same way, verse 9 mentions trees but only the trees in the Garden, not trees in general.
Genesis was written like many historical accounts with an overview or summary of events leading up to the events of most interest first, followed by a detailed account which often recaps relevant events in the overview in greater detail. Genesis 1, the ‘big picture’ is clearly concerned with the sequence of events. The events are in chronological sequence, with day 1, day 2, evening and morning, etc. The order of events is not the major concern of Genesis 2. In recapping events they are not necessarily mentioned in chronological order, but in the order which makes most sense to the focus of the account. For example, the animals are mentioned in verse 19, after Adam was created, because it was after Adam was created that he was shown the animals, not that they were created after Adam.
Genesis chapters 1 and 2 are not therefore separate contradictory accounts of creation. Chapter 1 is the ‘big picture’ and Chapter 2 is a more detailed account of the creation of Adam and Eve and day six of creation.
Through this passage we see purposes three and four in the creation of mankind. The third is that God created man to have an intimate relationship with man. We also see that God created humans to have pure and helping relationships with other humans. In the following chapters we will see what happened to those purposes for which God made humans.
Devotional Thought
God gave everything in the Garden to Adam and Eve. There was one thing that they were not capable of controlling yet, and that was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. For their own good, God tells them not to eat of it. When you consider the things that the Bible tells us to stay away from, do you see them as restrictive limits, or caring boundaries set up for are own good? How would the way you views God’s commands impact the way you follow them?
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