We can stand firm on the proven foundation of biblical wisdom that has been handed down to us.
Psalm 31:2, 5, 6, 14, 19, 23-24 – Listen closely to me; rescue me quickly. Be a rock of refuge for me, a mountain fortress to save me. 5 Into your hand I entrust my spirit; you have redeemed me, Yahweh, God of truth. 6 You hate those who are devoted to worthless idols, but I trust in Yahweh. 14 But I trust in you, Yahweh; I say, “You are my God.” 19 Oh, how abundant is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you and worked for those who take refuge and trust in you, in the sight of the children of mankind! 23 Love Yahweh, all his faithful ones. Yahweh protects the loyal, but fully repays the arrogant. 24 Be strong, and let your heart be courageous, all you who put your hope in Yahweh.
Psalm 31 is a psalm attributed to King David. If anyone knew about God being a refuge for those who trust in him, it would have been David. Hunted and pursued by Saul and his men, David was quite literally seeking refuge from danger every day.
1 Samuel 23:8, 14 – And Saul summoned all the people to war, to go down to Keilah, to besiege David and his men. … And David remained in the strongholds in the wilderness, in the hill country of the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but God did not give him into his hand.
Yet in this psalm, David, in his typical poetic fashion, likens the physical refuges he had found in the caves and strongholds in the wilderness to trusting in Yahweh. The trust, faith, and hope in Yahweh itself becomes a haven of protection against the designs of detractors.
In verse 19, David says there is abundant goodness stored up for those who trust God in the sight of others. Imagine what a blessing we can be to others as our solid trust and faith in Yahweh stands firm against the swirling doubts and shifting opinions of this generation in everything from social identity to political ideals. God’s people can stand firm on the proven foundation of biblical wisdom that has been handed down to us.
Psalm 119:97-100 – Oh how I love your Torah! It is my meditation all the day. Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the aged, for I keep your precepts.
When we can learn to let go of the cyclical patterns of conjecture by consensus and fully place our hope and trust in Yahweh, we enter that refuge, that stronghold fortress which cannot be assailed by the shifting opinions of our culture. We will then be able to say with David: “Be strong, and let your heart be courageous, all you who put your hope in Yahweh.”
If you enjoy these daily blog posts, be sure to visit the growing archive of the Core of the Bible podcast. Each week we take a more in-depth look at one of the various topics presented in the daily blog. You can view the podcast archive on our Podcast Page, at Core of the Bible on Simplecast, or your favorite podcast streaming service.
The legacy of believers today is one of hard and necessary work on behalf of others.
1 Peter 2:4-5 – As you come to him, a living stone – rejected by people but chosen and honored by God – you yourselves, as living stones, a spiritual house, are being built to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Yeshua Messiah.
As we have seen in previous writings, Peter is writing to groups of early Jewish believers who had been scattered throughout the Roman empire. This was the result of their diaspora, their scattering, due to their ancestral idolatry and rejection of the Torah of God. God had removed the northern ten tribes from the land of Israel with the Assyrian invasion of 740 BC, and they were distributed and exiled throughout the known world at that time.
1 Peter 1:1 – Peter, an apostle of Yeshua Messiah: To those chosen, living as exiles dispersed abroad in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia…
Now, over 700 years later, Peter is writing to their descendants and sharing the good news that God is restoring his lost sheep of those tribes into one flock and one fold through faith in Messiah. Peter is using the imagery of the temple as a way of illustrating their restored relationship to the true faith as the remnant of God, a remnant once again called out from among the overall religious majority of what was at the time orthodox Judaism.
Amidst this temple imagery, Peter illustrates how it is not the physical temple that matters; he knew it was about to be destroyed because Messiah had prophesied it decades earlier. Instead, Peter relates how the remnant people chosen by God were in the process of becoming something else, a spiritual priesthood that would have the privilege of offering spiritual sacrifices to God.
Biblically, the priesthood did not exist for its own purpose; the priesthood was a selected tribe within the larger community of Israel as a nation that was to be the mediators, the go-betweens. They had been chosen and set apart by God for the purpose of serving the others by presenting the sacrifices and offerings on behalf of the rest of the nation to God. Peter is conveying that these remnant believers scattered among the nations were not believing just for themselves, but that their role was to be a spiritually set-apart group that would be the example to others who would come after them, those who would believe because of their faithfulness. In so doing, they would effectively become a spiritual priesthood, the go-betweens who would bridge the divide between the natural priesthood which was about to be destroyed and the spiritual reality of the new temple in the New Jerusalem, the spiritual temple of the ongoing kingdom of God. They had become the “living stones” within the temple that Yeshua had prophesied he would build.
Mark 14:58 – “We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple made with human hands, and in three days I will build another not made by hands.’ “
Are believers today the spiritual priesthood that Peter is writing to? No, we need to recognize that he was writing to a specific group of people at a specific point in time two thousand years ago. However, are there symbolic parallels between believers today and those of the scattered Israelite remnant who were being brought back into the fold? Indeed, believers today are a minority group of people called out from the masses of the overall population; we are to be examples of faithfulness to those among the rest of the community; and we are to be serving others with spiritual sacrifices on behalf of God. We are participants within the spiritual temple built by Yeshua who have the privilege of enjoying God’s presence.
We must always remember that we are standing on a legacy of faithful believers who have gone before us, but we are not here to enjoy the mercies of God for our own benefit. No, if we are to be true to our calling, we are here solely for the purpose of others. We must, like the early called-out remnant, perform our spiritual service to others with obedient and caring hearts, that others may also participate in the spiritual temple within the eternal kingdom of God: The New Jerusalem.
If you enjoy these daily blog posts, be sure to visit the growing archive of the Core of the Bible podcast. Each week we take a more in-depth look at one of the various topics presented in the daily blog. You can view the podcast archive on our Podcast Page, at Core of the Bible on Simplecast, or your favorite podcast streaming service.
The heritage of believers is a thread winding its way from Genesis to Messiah and beyond.
Core of the Bible podcast #54 – Remaining in the Way
Today we will be looking at the topic of holiness, and how the path of holiness, or the Way of holiness, is an intentional and purposeful path to walk.
Isaiah 35:8 – And there will be a highway called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not travel it—only those who walk in the Way—and fools will not stray onto it.
In the time that these words were written, what was called a highway was what we would consider today a well-trodden trail. Even thought it was little more than a wilderness trail, it was a definitive path that left no doubt as to the right way to go. Being on this trail brought with it a sense of confidence: all one had to do was to follow the trail to reach their destination.
The path of holiness is here called the Way. When one is on this path, one is separated from the rest of humanity that is choosing to follow its own way or its own desires.
Even today Jews are well acquainted with this Way of holiness that Isaiah spoke of. To them it is known as the Derech Hashem, the Way of the Lord, or the Way of Yahweh. Of course, no Jew would pronounce the name of God, so they have substituted instead the word Hashem which means the Name. The Derech Hashem is such a powerful metaphor, that Jewish literature abounds with this concept.
In the early 1700’s, a well-known rabbi by the name of Moshe Chayim Luzzatto penned a compilation of ideas as a type of systematic theology known as the Way of God, or the Derech Hashem. This has become a classic book in Jewish literature, much like Pilgrim’s Progress might be to Christians today. The Derech Hashem covers the nature of God, the nature of man, prophecy, the purpose and role of man and how one should conduct themself as a faithful Jew. This book also goes into detail regarding many man-made Jewish traditions and superstitious practices, some originating from the studies of Kabbalah, or Jewish mysticism. However, it is nonetheless a compelling and vital insight into Jewish thought and tradition and how they came about.
Now reviewing this concept in the Bible, the Way is well-attested throughout, from the earliest beginnings in Genesis all the way through the NT writings. The Way of Yahweh is variously described as the way to the tree of life, the way of wisdom, the way of righteousness, and sometimes simply the Way.
Genesis 3:23-24 – So Yahweh God sent him away from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove the man out and stationed the cherubim and the flaming, whirling sword east of the garden of Eden to guard the way to the tree of life.
Exodus 18:19-20 – “Now listen to me [Jethro speaking to Moses]; I will give you some advice, and God be with you. You be the one to represent the people before God and bring their cases to him. “Instruct them about the statutes and laws, and teach them in the way they must walk to live and what they must do.
Exodus 32:7-8 – Yahweh spoke to Moses: “Go down at once! For your people you brought up from the land of Egypt have acted corruptly. “They have quickly turned from the way I commanded them; they have made for themselves an image of a calf. They have bowed down to it, sacrificed to it, and said, ‘Israel, these are your gods, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.’ “
Deuteronomy 13:4-5 – “You must follow Yahweh your God and fear him. You must keep his commands and listen to him; you must worship him and remain faithful to him. “That prophet or dreamer must be put to death, because he has urged rebellion against Yahweh your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the place of slavery, to turn you from the way Yahweh your God has commanded you to walk. You must purge the evil from you.
Job 28:23 – But God understands the way to wisdom, and he knows its location.
Psalm 25:8-9 – Yahweh is good and upright; therefore he shows sinners the way. He leads the humble in what is right and teaches them his way.
Proverbs 2:20 – So follow the way of the good, and keep to the paths of the righteous.
Isaiah 48:17 – This is what Yahweh, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel says: I am Yahweh your God, who teaches you for your benefit, who leads you in the way you should go.
Isaiah 40:3 – A voice of one crying out: Prepare the way of Yahweh [derech Yahweh] in the wilderness; make a straight highway for our God in the desert
This famous verse, of course, is where the charting of the way of God crosses over into the NT writings, and one which we will follow more closely in just a moment.
As we began to explore, the “voice of one crying in the wilderness” was John the baptizer’s own evaluation of himself and his ministry in the wilderness when he was questioned by the Jewish officials from Jerusalem.
John 1:22-23 – “Who are you, then? ” they asked. “We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What can you tell us about yourself? ” He [John] said, “I am a voice of one crying out in the wilderness: Make straight the way of Yahweh – just as Isaiah the prophet said.”
The ministry of John the baptizer had also been foretold by the prophet Malachi, one of the last prophets to speak to the Jews of second temple Judaism.
Malachi 3:1 – “See, I am going to send my messenger, and he will clear the way before me. Then the Lord you seek will suddenly come to his temple, the Messenger of the covenant you delight in – see, he is coming,” says Yahweh of Armies.
The way was to be cleared, and this was John’s role: to warn and compel, to condemn and to provide deliverance to those who would be obedient to this Way. Therefore, Yeshua himself had also become to be identified with this Way that John had spoken of.
Matthew 22:15-16 – Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to trap him by what he said. So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are truthful and teach truthfully the way of God. You don’t care what anyone thinks nor do you show partiality.”
Even beyond the ministry of Yeshua and early in its growth among the Jewish believers of the first century, the believers in Messiah were identified with this growing sect of Judaism which became known as the Way. This was more likely conveyed as an ironic reference that was used of their detractors as a way of suggesting that these believers felt their way was the only true way to God. This could be similar to how we might use air quotes today around a phrase to mock someone’s pompous statement about themself. “Those believers of Yeshua who are part of ‘the Way’ think they have the true understanding of God’s Word.”
The true irony is that these believers actually were the continuation of the Way, the Derech Hashem, that had threaded itself all throughout the Scriptures, as we have seen. Their belief in the Messiah was the catalyst that caused the Remnant people of God to be separated for God’s purpose and ultimately spared from the judgment that was about to fall upon Jerusalem and the whole Judaic system of religious elitism and traditionalism.
That these early believers were called members of the Way is well documented throughout the book of Acts.
Acts 9:1-2 – Now Saul was still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord. He went to the high priest and requested letters from him to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any men or women who belonged to the Way, he might bring them as prisoners to Jerusalem.
Acts 18:24-25 – Now a Jew named Apollos, a native Alexandrian, an eloquent man who was competent in the use of the Scriptures, arrived in Ephesus. He had been instructed in the Way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he was speaking and teaching accurately about Yeshua, although he knew only John’s baptism.
Acts 19:9, 23 – But when some became hardened and would not believe, slandering the Way in front of the crowd, he withdrew from them, taking the disciples, and conducted discussions every day in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. … About that time there was a major disturbance about the Way.
Acts 24:14, 22 – “But I admit this to you: I worship the God of my ancestors according to the Way, which they call a sect, believing everything that is in accordance with the law and written in the prophets. … Since Felix was well informed about the Way, he adjourned the hearing, saying, “When Lysias the commander comes down, I will decide your case.”
So it can be seen that these early believers were being identified with this concept of the Way. To be honest, and maybe this is just me, I think it is a more meaningful moniker than the name “Christian” would be, since it demonstrates the continuity of the faith that has come down to us through the millennia since God originally called Abraham.
One of the most compelling reasons that believers became associated with this Way is that Yeshua, in no uncertain terms, promoted himself (that is, his teaching and his life) as the only Way to God the Father.
John 14:3-6 – “If I go away and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself, so that where I am you may be also. “You know the way to where I am going.” “Lord,” Thomas said, “we don’t know where you’re going. How can we know the way? ” Yeshua told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
This exclusivity of the Way of the Messiah has been troubling to those from other faiths over the millennia, and is flat-out unnerving to the modern society where it is thought that “all paths lead to God.” Today it is sincerity to one’s own personal beliefs that is considered the only reasonable understanding of spirituality. However, this type of feral universalism is the very thing that the entire message of the Bible, not just this statement of Yeshua, rallies against.
Isaiah 45:5-6 – “I am Yahweh, and there is no other; there is no God but me. I will strengthen you, though you do not know me, “so that all may know from the rising of the sun to its setting that there is no one but me. I am Yahweh, and there is no other.
Nehemiah 9:6 – You, Yahweh, are the only God. You created the heavens, the highest heavens with all their stars, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to all of them, and all the stars of heaven worship you.
1 Corinthians 8:5-6 – For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth – as there are many “gods” and many “lords” – yet for us there is one God, the Father. All things are from him, and we exist for him. And there is one Lord, Yeshua Messiah. All things are through him, and we exist through him.
Ephesians 4:4-6 – There is one body and one Spirit – just as you were called to one hope at your calling – one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.
1 Timothy 2:5 – For there is one God and one mediator between God and humanity, the man Messiah Yeshua,
All throughout the Bible there is only one God, and all others are to be rejected. Therefore it makes perfect sense that there would be only one logical path that the Anointed One of that God, the Messiah, would direct us toward. Understanding this concept is one of the over-arching themes within the narrative of the Bible, and a reality that allows the kingdom of God to come alive within each generation since that time. Every believer in the Messiah is a demonstration that the kingdom of the one God is continuing to expand over time, with the goal that it will be fully realized among all the nations of the world.
Now that we have charted a brief history and context for the phrase “the Way” through the Old Testament, the ministries of John and Yeshua, and the early believers, let’s review the original verse in Isaiah that started us down this road once again to hopefully draw out some helpful conclusions for application.
Isaiah 35:8 – And there will be a highway called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not travel it—only those who walk in the Way—and fools will not stray onto it.
We have seen how historically this Way of Holiness has played out through faithful believers all through biblical history. But Isaiah focuses here on the holiness of this Way, the fact that it is set apart from all other ways that might also be out there.
The teaching of Messiah on the Narrow Way echoes this statement of Isaiah.
Matthew 7:13-14 – “Enter through the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who go through it. “How narrow is the gate and difficult the road that leads to life, and few find it.
Once again, Yeshua defines the exclusivity of this Way, which points to its set-apartness from the routine paths and highways of the world. Those who travel this path are uniquely set apart for a specific purpose, the purpose of God in establishing his kingdom in this world.
Depending on which version of the Bible you may read, the last part of the verse in Isaiah 35:8 where it says “fools will not stray onto it” can be viewed in a couple of meaningful ways. In some versions, like the Berean Study Bible I have quoted here, it gives the impressions that the fool will not accidentally stray onto it. This would imply that the Way is intentional; one chooses to be on it and does not fall upon it by whim or chance. Psalm 25, as we have seen, states that one has to be shown, taught, or guided to the right Way, and does not stumble upon it on their own or by their own wisdom.
Psalm 25:8-9 – “Yahweh is good and upright; therefore he shows sinners the way. He leads the humble in what is right and teaches them his way.”
This implies that being on the path is not something that we can take credit for ourselves, as if by our own volition, wisdom, and cunning we have somehow figured out the meaning of life.
There are also English versions of Isaiah 35:8 that provide a different shade of meaning to “fools will not stray onto it.” These renderings will say something along the lines of “even a fool will not stray from it.” This provides a different sense of meaning that the Way is so clearly defined that even if one is foolish they have the ability to remain on the path. This is also echoed in the teachings of Yeshua where he states that one can only enter the kingdom in the simplicity and humility of a child.
Matthew 18:3-4 – “Truly I tell you,” he said, “unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. “Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child – this one is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
If even a child can be shown the Way and be considered great within the kingdom, this carries the idea that once we are on that path, we have all the ability needed to remain faithfully traveling its length for the duration of our lives here on earth.
In either view, the Way is something that is distinct from where the rest of the world travels. As we have seen, this Way has a long and winding legacy through the faithful believers of the distant past, right down to our present day belief in the true God of the Bible through his Messiah, Yeshua. Being on this Way of holiness means that one is traveling within a way of life that is intentionally set apart for God’s purposes, and this Way can keep even our foolish inclinations in check.
If you enjoy these daily blog posts, be sure to visit the growing archive of the Core of the Bible podcast. Each week we take a more in-depth look at one of the various topics presented in the daily blog. You can view the podcast archive on our Podcast Page, at Core of the Bible on Simplecast, or your favorite podcast streaming service.
The deepest relationships are built over shared communication, not one-way conversations.
Psalm 5:1-3 – Listen to my words, Yahweh; consider my sighing. Pay attention to the sound of my cry, my King and my God, for I pray to you. In the morning, Yahweh, you hear my voice; in the morning I plead my case to you and watch expectantly.
This psalm is attributed to David and is contextually a prayer for protection of the wickedness of his enemies. However, there is a common biblical principle embedded in the verses of this psalm that, if applied on a regular basis, can enhance our communication with God.
At the end of verse 3, David says, “in the morning I plead my case to you and watch expectantly.” This Hebrew word translated as expectantly is sometimes rendered as “look up, eagerly watch, look forward, or look out expectantly.” The definition of the word means, “to lean forward, i.e., to peer into the distance; by implication, to observe, await.” The idea is to present an earnest request to God and then to eagerly wait for an answer. It’s not as if one prays and then goes about their usual business, but instead after praying they remain or immediately go to a place where they intently wait for a response from God, not doing any other activities until they have heard from him.
In the time of the prophet Habakkuk, God was raising up the Chaldeans against unfaithful Israel, and Habakkuk would pray to God and then God would answer him in a reciprocal fashion; this became the text of the prophecy and the outline of the book. However, this same Hebrew word is used again as Habakkuk delivers his plea to Yahweh, and then describes his time of waiting for an answer:
Habakkuk 2:1 – I will take my stand at my watchpost and station myself on the tower, and look out to see what he will say to me, and what I will answer concerning my complaint.
Habakkuk committed himself to “look out” to see how God would respond, and to formulate his next response. It is my belief that this type of back-and-forth communication is something that God desires to have with all of his children. Yet we typically become so distracted with the things of this life that, after presenting a request or question to God, we run off and go about our business hoping to somehow receive some sort of subconscious sign or indication of God’s response to us. In that self-induced busy-ness, I think we sometimes miss what he actually does respond to us, and we assume that his “silence” on a matter is an indication that he has left us to our own devices.
We need to slow down and savor our relationship with our Creator. We don’t build real relationships with other people over text or messaging or “tweeting.” For those who are important to us in this life, we carve out time in our days and evenings to spend time with them, sharing activities and long conversations with them. The back-and-forth discussions provide insights into each other’s thoughts and emotions that actually bind us to each other.
If we truly want to have a relationship with God, we must do the same. We need to provide some room in our days and nights to spend quality time alone with him, bringing him our concerns, praying over difficult scripture passages, seeking answers to to life challenges we face with open hearts and open Bibles in our laps. And then we need to do the most important thing: we need to listen, expectantly waiting to hear what direction or insight, comfort or correction he may have for us.
This is how close friends and family members communicate effectively. This is what it means to be a child of God in communion with him.
Micah 7:7 AMP – But as for me, I will look expectantly for Yahweh and with confidence in Him I will keep watch; I will wait [with confident expectation] for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me.
If you enjoy these daily blog posts, be sure to visit the growing archive of the Core of the Bible podcast. Each week we take a more in-depth look at one of the various topics presented in the daily blog. You can view the podcast archive on our Podcast Page, at Core of the Bible on Simplecast, or your favorite podcast streaming service.
The best hope for faithful future generations is the faithfulness of those living today.
Proverbs 20:7 “The righteous walk in integrity—blessed are the children after them!”
It is a wonderful thought to consider that a life of integrity can result in the happiness and blessedness of one’s children after them. Whether parents are sensitive to this principle or not, they have the responsibility to provide and care for their children. Most parents will demonstrate this through the physical provision for their children like the food they eat and clothes they wear, making sure they have a safe place to live and grow up, hopefully into productive adults.
However, parents also have a responsibility to be examples of integrity before their children; they must walk in their integrity, not just preach it. The Hebrew word for walk can mean to go or come, to travel or traverse, but it also means a manner of life or how one lives out their life.
Proverbs 14:26 “In the fear of Yahweh one has strong confidence, and one’s children will have a refuge.” Psalm 112:1-2 – Praise Yah! Happy is the person who fears Yahweh, taking great delight in his commands. His descendants will be powerful in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed.
Parents need to provide the opportunity not only for a physical refuge for their children, but a spiritual one. By demonstrating their faith in their everyday dealings, the children can tangibly understand what it means to truly fear Yahweh and to place one’s trust in him.
Now, these admonitions to live a life of integrity are not guarantees that one’s children will follow in the faithful footsteps of their parents. Unfortunately, there are many examples of great heroes of the faith whose children took a different, and sometimes opposite path.
Samuel was a great prophet of God, but his sons were wicked deceivers.
1 Samuel 8:1-3 – “When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as judges over Israel. His firstborn son’s name was Joel and his second was Abijah. They were judges in Beer-sheba. However, his sons did not walk in his ways – they turned toward dishonest profit, took bribes, and perverted justice.”
David is considered a man after God’s own heart, and yet his sons did not all follow in his righteous ways. Absalom attempted a popular coup to usurp David, his own father, as king.
2 Samuel 15:6, 10 – “So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel. … Then Absalom sent agents throughout the tribes of Israel with this message: “When you hear the sound of the ram’s horn, you are to say, ‘Absalom has become king in Hebron! ‘ “
Jotham was a faithful king and did what was right, but his son Ahaz was so wicked as to even sacrifice his own son.
2 Kings 15:32, 34, 38; 16:2-3 – “In the second year of Israel’s King Pekah son of Remaliah, Jotham son of Uzziah became king of Judah. … He did what was right in Yahweh’s sight just as his father Uzziah had done. … Jotham rested with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of his ancestor David. His son Ahaz became king in his place. Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. He did not do what was right in the sight of Yahweh his God like his ancestor David but walked in the ways of the kings of Israel. He even sacrificed his son in the fire, imitating the detestable practices of the nations Yahweh had dispossessed before the Israelites.”
As disheartening as these examples may be, they stand to remind us that there are no guarantees that children will be faithful to the same spiritual standards that are laid out for them by their parents. However, that does not relieve parents of their obligation to live righteously and uphold those spiritual standards for their children.
Colossians 3:21 – “Fathers, do not exasperate your children, so that they won’t become discouraged.” Ephesians 6:4 – “Fathers, don’t stir up anger in your children, but bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.”
Just as parents want to provide their children the best odds at being successful and productive in life, we must also provide them the best odds at becoming faithful and active within God’s kingdom. This can only be done when we also walk and live faithfully and actively with God in our exemplary lives before them.
If you enjoy these daily blog posts, be sure to visit the growing archive of the Core of the Bible podcast. Each week we take a more in-depth look at one of the various topics presented in the daily blog. You can view the podcast archive on our Podcast Page, at Core of the Bible on Simplecast, or your favorite podcast streaming service.
Political world domination takes a back seat to the real Authority over the world.
Hegemony is not a word that is often used today, and if it is, it is typically conveyed with a negative connotation. The Oxford Dictionary describes hegemony as: “leadership or dominance, especially by one country or social group over others.” The Merriam-Webster definition is similar: “the social, cultural, ideological, or economic influence exerted by a dominant group.”
The Merriam-Webster definition provides some added background of the word:
“Hegemony was first used in English in the mid-16th century in reference to the control once wielded by the ancient Greek states, and it was reapplied in later centuries as other nations subsequently rose to power. By the 19th century, it had acquired a second sense referring to the social or cultural influence wielded by a dominant member over others of its kind, such as the domination within an industry by a business conglomerate over smaller businesses.”
Synonyms include words like: leadership, dominance, dominion, supremacy, ascendancy, predominance, primacy, authority, mastery, control, power, sway, rule, sovereignty.
Now, in the sense of geopolitical strategies and governmental power over regions of the world, historically there have always been dominant civilizations. The Bible mentions ancient world-stage players such as Babylon, Assyria, Greece, Rome. More modern examples might include the 18-19th century British Empire, or the Nazi expansionism in the early 20th century which sparked the last World War.
Yet, viewed from the lofty perch of our current perspective in time looking back over the millennia, one constant theme emerges: they all pass away. This does not imply that they were or are without significance, but history has shown how one civilization or empire is always succeeded by another.
As believers in the God of the Bible, whether we recognize the specificity of the term or not, we are believers of an eternal hegemony: the kingdom of God. This is easily demonstrated by the terms used to describe his kingdom. In Hebrew, the term for his kingdom is the mamlakah, meaning kingdom, sovereignty, dominion, reign. In Greek the word is basileia, meaning kingdom, sovereignty, royal power.
We read about this eternal dominion of God in our Bibles, and even sing about it in our hymns and psalms. Here is just a small representative sampling:
Psalm 33:8 – Let all the earth fear Yahweh; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him! Psalm 47:2, 7 – For Yahweh, the Most High, is to be feared, a great king over all the earth. … For God is the King of all the earth; sing praises with a psalm! Psalm 57:11 – Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let your glory be over all the earth!
Psalm 83 even goes so far as to urge the overthrow of the surrounding nations to Israel in defence of God’s own glory and protection of his people.
Psalm 83:1-2, 17-18 – O God, do not keep silence; do not hold your peace or be still, O God! For behold, your enemies make an uproar; those who hate you have raised their heads. … Let them be put to shame and dismayed forever; let them perish in disgrace, that they may know that you alone, whose name is Yahweh, are the Most High over all the earth.
This is the kingdom that Yeshua ushered in to the reality of this world two thousand years ago.
Matthew 4:17 – From that time Yeshua began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Matthew 24:14 – And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
The world’s most famous prayer, the Lord’s prayer, even contains the revolutionary concept of God’s kingdom coming to earth with His will, not the will of the nations, being accomplished in its fulfillment.
Matthew 6:10 – Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
But this is not a kingdom we fight flesh and blood to establish. Our warfare is not defined by the weapons of this world, but it is just as difficult a struggle, if not more so, than the occupation of a foreign army in a land not their own. Paul conveyed some of the struggles the apostles fought in their establishment of various congregations, and revealed their weapons were not those of hardened steel, but of righteous actions and overpowering wisdom of God.
2 Corinthians 6:4, 7 – but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, … by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left…
2 Corinthians 10:3-5 – For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Messiah…
Yeshua himself conveyed how the kingdom of God was not something that would be fought for on the battlefields of this earth, but it was a real and enduring kingdom nonetheless.
John 18:36 – Yeshua answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.”
While the kingdom may not be physically originating from this world, it is no less encompassing than any world-dominating empire of the past. However, this kingdom will not pass away like the civilizations of the past. The prophet Yeshua said it was like the mustard seed that would grow “larger than all the other garden plants.”
Matthew 13:31-32 – “He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”
Daniel was so bold to pronounce that this kingdom would grow to fill the earth and not only last forever but put to rest all other kingdoms of this world; that is the very definition of hegemony.
Daniel 2:44 – “And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever…”
Hegemony may have a negative connotation today, but remember that we serve a world-dominating King and look forward with anticipation to his dominion and rule over the hearts of men of all nations, where swords are beat into plowshares, and his peace reigns supreme over all.
If you enjoy these daily blog posts, be sure to visit the growing archive of the Core of the Bible podcast. Each week we take a more in-depth look at one of the various topics presented in the daily blog. You can view the podcast archive on our Podcast Page, at Core of the Bible on Simplecast, or your favorite podcast streaming service.
The community of Messiah is far more than just a weekly event.
1 Corinthians 12:20-25 – As it is, there are many parts, but one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you! ” Or again, the head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you! ” On the contrary, those parts of the body that are weaker are indispensable. And those parts of the body that we consider less honorable, we clothe these with greater honor, and our unrespectable parts are treated with greater respect, which our respectable parts do not need. Instead, God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the less honorable, so that there would be no division in the body, but that the members would have the same concern for each other.
The Commentary of the Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges relates the following in regard to this passage of Scripture:
“God had specially provided against this [schisms in the body] by giving to those who occupy the less honourable and ornamental positions in society the compensation of being the most indispensable portions of it. The ‘comely parts’—the wealthy, the refined, the cultivated, the intellectual—obtain honour and respect by the very nature of their gifts. God has signified His Will that due honour and respect should be paid to those to whom it is not instinctively felt to be owing, by so ordering society that we cannot do without them. But our class distinctions and jealousies, our conflicts between capital and labour, shew how little Christians have realized this obvious truth.”
It would seem that we still need to learn these lessons today. While the passage under consideration is less about social class convention and more about differing gifts and abilities, it is true that gatherings of believers have become less community-oriented and more focused on becoming an event that one attends. Those “less honorable” parts of this community are becoming more and more marginalized to where they have less opportunity to participate meaningfully in the life of the congregation. In a sense, class distinctions among believers still persist.
Applying the metaphor that Paul provides, believing congregations represent the body of Messiah to the world. If one is not even caring for the extremities of one’s own body, how can the body function as it should? Paul’s admonition to the Corinthian body is that “the members would have the same concern for each other.” The word used here for concern is actually a Greek phrase meaning “over-anxious to the point of distraction.” It’s the same phrase used by Yeshua in the famous passage in Matthew 6 about not being anxious for tomorrow.
Matthew 6:34 – “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
It seems odd to apply this same type of anxiety to the care and concern believers should be exhibiting for one another. Can we truly say we are “anxious to the point of distraction” about the well-being of others and for the equality of different types of spiritual gifts that may be exhibited in our believing community?
1 Corinthians 12:18 – But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.
Paul says that the differences in ability and gifting among us exist for the purpose of causing us to be a diverse community with spiritual abilities far beyond just any one of us as individuals. We need to learn to recognize the value that these diverse abilities and gifts provide the whole for the sake of honoring the God who has put the body together just the way he wants it to be.
If you enjoy these daily blog posts, be sure to visit the growing archive of the Core of the Bible podcast. Each week we take a more in-depth look at one of the various topics presented in the daily blog. You can view the podcast archive on our Podcast Page, at Core of the Bible on Simplecast, or your favorite podcast streaming service.
Forgiveness is firmly integrated in the inner workings of love.
1 Corinthians 13:5 – “[Love] is not rude, is not self-seeking, is not easily provoked, and does not keep a record of wrongs.”
As an artist, I enjoy how each layer of a painting can modify the overall image, and enhance the original idea to the point of sometimes changing the picture completely. Typically, this is something that is controlled through the use of various shading and highlighting to bring out the intended emphasis. As a painting is nearing completion, I enjoy the highlighting aspect most of all because it begins to bring focus to the whole image.
On occasion, I have attempted to paint multiple paintings at once based on the same theme to see if I could duplicate an idea. No matter how hard I tried, even using the same colors and brushes, each finished painting would have a slightly different “feel” than the others.
I recently had a dream where I was commissioned to paint four similar paintings of a cabin in a snowstorm. In this dream, I was using the same colors and brushes, but I was purposely changing the brush technique to see how each painting’s emphasis would shift. All of the paintings were very dark and dreary, showing the intensity of the snowstorm.
Then, in an unintentional movement of my hand in the fourth painting, I had inadvertently created a shadow behind the roof of the cabin. It was a simple and quick move of the brush, and suddenly the entire character of the painting was transformed. Instead of the harsh, dreary, and hopeless nature of the the other three paintings, there was suddenly the sense of light breaking through the storm and creating this inadvertent shadow. The contrast of the single shadow changed the emotion of the painting from one of hopelessness into one of hope. The sun had broken through the snowy maelstrom in one small area of light, hinting that the storm would pass.
The reason this type of contrast is significant is because in art, contrast creates depth and meaning. A painting that is uniformly and methodically structured, even if done with great skill, lacks emotional impact and appears washed-out.
In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, he has, in my estimation, penned the most comprehensive practical definition of love that exists. Most English versions will convey verse 5 as “[love] does not keep a record of wrongs.” In the original Greek, the sentiment conveys a harsher tone, more literally rendered as “[love] takes no accounting of the evil.”
In taking no accounting of the evil in others, we will need to operate within the principle of forgiveness. To forgive others is the only way that we can not take into account some evil that they may have done toward us. Just like in the painting process, forgiveness provides the contrast where all other natural responses of anger and resentment paint a washed-out picture of hopelessness. Forgiveness is the spark, the singular, powerful stroke of contrast that imbues a relationship with the depth and emotion that provides hope. It’s the sunlight through the snowstorm.
Matthew 18:21-22 – “Then Peter approached him and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? As many as seven times? ” “I tell you, not as many as seven,” Yeshua replied, “but seventy times seven.”
We may not be able to control the way others choose to interact with us, but we can control our reaction to their influence in our lives. As believers, we are urged to provide forgiveness which contrasts with the world’s way of dealing with resentment. This single, powerful stroke of contrast makes us stand out from others and honors the One who desires us to be the catalyst of restorative and hope-filled relationships, just as He has been with us.
If you enjoy these daily blog posts, be sure to visit the growing archive of the Core of the Bible podcast. Each week we take a more in-depth look at one of the various topics presented in the daily blog. You can view the podcast archive on our Podcast Page, at Core of the Bible on Simplecast, or your favorite podcast streaming service.
Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.
Proverbs 22:17-19 – Listen closely, pay attention to the words of the wise, and apply your mind to my knowledge. For it is pleasing if you keep them within you and if they are constantly on your lips. I have instructed you today – even you — so that your confidence may be in Yahweh.
Solomon’s goal in providing the written instruction within the proverbs he was writing had the primary purpose of instilling confidence in Yahweh to the hearer or reader. The wisdom that God had provided a great measure of wisdom to Solomon and demonstrated that teaching in this manner is the basis of faith and confidence in God.
When God revealed himself on Sinai, it was with the purpose and intent that this event would be taught to successive generations so that they would learn to fear him and follow his ways. Moses explained this to the people before they crossed the Jordan.
Deuteronomy 4:7-10 – “For what great nation is there that has a god near to it as Yahweh our God is to us whenever we call to him? And what great nation has righteous statutes and ordinances like this entire law I set before you today? Only be on your guard and diligently watch yourselves, so that you don’t forget the things your eyes have seen and so that they don’t slip from your mind as long as you live. Teach them to your children and your grandchildren. The day you stood before Yahweh your God at Horeb, Yahweh said to me, ‘Assemble the people before me, and I will let them hear my words, so that they may learn to fear me all the days they live on the earth and may instruct their children.’
God’s method of creating faith and trust in his people is through the recounting of these stories through his Word. This is why teaching is such a great responsibility, to ensure one is not leading others astray.
James 3:1 – Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.
This is also why the apostle Paul encourages Timothy ensure that those to whom he is committing his message are faithful men.
2 Timothy 2:2 – What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, commit to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.
All of this Bible teaching and recounting of the glories of the past events and workings of Yahweh is for the purpose of instilling faith and trust in people of all nations. This is the ongoing fulfillment of prophetic Zion, the New Jerusalem.
Isaiah 2:2-3 – “In the last days the mountain of Yahweh’s house will be established at the top of the mountains and will be raised above the hills. All nations will stream to it, and many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of Yahweh, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us about his ways so that we may walk in his paths.” For instruction will go out of Zion and the word of Yahweh from Jerusalem.”
As we faithfully recount God’s Word in each generation, we are instilling faith in those whom God is calling to participate in his kingdom. The stories of Israel, the house of Jacob, are designed to give glory to God, so that all people may “walk in [God’s] paths.”
If you enjoy these daily blog posts, be sure to visit the growing archive of the Core of the Bible podcast. Each week we take a more in-depth look at one of the various topics presented in the daily blog. You can view the podcast archive on our Podcast Page, at Core of the Bible on Simplecast, or your favorite podcast streaming service.
Core of the Bible podcast #53 – Sowing, weeding, and doing good
Today we will be exploring the topic of vigilance and how the act of maintaining the purity of our heart and our actions requires constant vigilance and continual grooming.
Mark 4:18-19, Amplified Bible – And others are the ones on whom seed was sown among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word, but the worries and cares of the world [the distractions of this age with its worldly pleasures], and the deceitfulness [and the false security or glamour] of wealth [or fame], and the passionate desires for all the other things creep in and choke out the word, and it becomes unfruitful.
In this parable of the sower sowing his seed, Yeshua explains that the seed represents the word of God, and he describes the conditions of the hearts of those upon whom the seed is sown.
The seed being sown among the thorns represents those individuals who receive the word of God, but their hearts are so overcrowded with worldly cares and other ambitions that the seed cannot grow to maturity; it gets choked out and cannot bear fruit.
If we are to reflect on our own lives, how much of our time and attention is spent on the thorny distractions of this age, the deceitfulness of wealth, and passionate desires for other things besides the kingdom? We need to remain vigilant that the weeds and thorns of these other concerns do not overcrowd the truly important and impactful things that surround the kingdom: hearing and understanding the word and bearing fruit.
This process of God sowing his Word in the hearts of believers is commonly misunderstood to be a one-time event. It is believed that once God’s seed is sown that work is done and the seed will either grow or not depending on the condition of the soil. However, this parable of Yeshua along with other scriptural insights teach us that if we receive the Word gladly, it is up to us to continue to sow that good seed for the harvests to grow beyond that which was just sown initially.
For a farmer to have a continual harvest throughout the year, they must be continually preparing soil and sowing the appropriate seed at the appropriate season. Even in ancient Israel there were multiple harvests throughout the year depending on the crop. First was the barley harvest which occurred at the Feast of First-fruits during the week of Unleavened Bread in the spring. Then came the first of the wheat harvest which took place at Shavuot or Pentecost at the beginning of summer. Finally, the richest and fullest harvest of the other crops took place at the Feast of Ingathering or Tabernacles in the autumn. Immediately after the autumn Feast of Ingathering, the work of re-plowing the fields and planting for the Spring harvest would begin. Each of these seasons indicates a different harvest for a different crop, but for that to be taking place there must constantly be new seed being sown.
Just like farmers preparing the soil in their gardens, we need to constantly churn the earth of our hearts, ensuring there is sufficient compost and nutrients to receive what is planted so the seed can successfully multiply and grow to its fullest capacity.
Galatians 6:7-8 – Don’t be deceived: God is not mocked. For whatever a person sows he will also reap, because the one who sows to his flesh will reap destruction from the flesh, but the one who sows to the spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit.
Sowing to the spirit means that there are choices that need to be made each day. I think it’s pretty evident how we sow to the flesh, but sowing to the spirit is all about receiving continual seed throughout each day so that we can remain focused on the kingdom and conduct our lives with integrity according to the Word of God. For us to be able to do so, then we must have a continual input of the Word throughout each day.
Consider how much time you may be spending on social media, or watching television, or being involved in worldly aspirations. In reality, none of these things are wrong in and of themselves, but they can easily become time-sucks that draw our full attention away from living in according to God’s Word. In fact, a good indicator that one of these things may be a negative activity for you would be that if you are engaged in it and lose all sense of time until you snap out of that engagement, you may be getting pulled further into the weeds that can choke out the Word.
If these are your primary interactions with others within the context of your world then you may be suffering from a lack of good and and nutritious input for your spiritual life. The digital age we live in provides us many alternatives to be in the Word throughout each day. Besides just Bible podcasts like this one, there are more significant Bible apps and audio Bibles that can help keep you in the actual Word without having to be sitting and reading or studying.
Think of how much time you might spend driving throughout the day, or exercising, or doing redundant chores around the house that don’t require a lot of concentration: things like ironing, or cleaning, or mowing the lawn. I regard these types of activities as “idling” activities, where you may be physically active but your brain is kind of sitting in an idle mode. Instead of popping on the TV or listening to the news, or scrolling through random videos, why not instead listen to an audio Bible on your device while you are doing these types of things? There are lots of free options out there with various narrators and versions of the Bible to choose from.
Perhaps you have some good, doctrinally-sound worship music that can help keep your mind focused on God and his gracious mercy towards us. Using those times to their fullest helps to keep your spirit engaged with God. I have found it becomes much easier to receive personal and private direction for challenges I may be facing when I am interacting with the Word in these various ways.
Another indication that may demonstrate getting choked among the weeds is to consider if you are primarily a consumer or a creator of digital media. As believers and image-bearers of God in this world, we have the ability to use and create informative engagements with the things and people of this world for God’s glory and the furtherance of the kingdom. Social media can help spread God’s Word through written articles and photos, and videos can be created to explain how the Bible has relevance for people today.
As a personal example, one of my goals with coreofthebible.org is to continue to build a multi-tiered approach to sharing the information in these articles in different platforms: through written articles, weekly audio podcasts, and also through videos. However, through all of this, I am having to be very selective with how I approach each of these areas, as it is dangerously easy to become consumed with editing and posting and monitoring multiple platforms in an effort to maintain effective engagement. I don’t want to get lost in the weeds of the process to where I am losing effectiveness in the content. I am just trying to keep things as simple and to-the-point as possible to maximize the value to each reader, listener, or watcher of the content.
When we consider all of the various ways we receive information input throughout each day, we need to be intentional and purposeful with the time we have so that we can maximize our spiritual growth.
Proverbs 4:23 – Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it is the source of life.
In a metaphorical manner of speaking, King Solomon as the writer of Proverbs indicates that our heart or our inmost self-awareness is the source of the quality of our life. That source is sometimes compared to a well of water.
This type of metaphor would be readily received and understood in ancient times, since life in a desert or wilderness environment is not possible without water. The quality of that water depends on how we maintain that well; is it overgrown with poisonous weeds, is it unprotected from animals that can trudge through and muddy its waters or destroy its flow? Is our heart becoming defiled through the things on which we constantly focus?
Yeshua even takes this metaphor further by saying whatever is in our heart is what spills out of our mouths:
Mark 7:20-23 – And [Yeshua] said, “What comes out of a man, that defiles a man. “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man.”
Guarding our heart, then seems to be a concern that we should not take lightly, and should prompt us to take the appropriate time to strategize how to maintain the soil our our hearts at all costs.
In our American culture at least we seem have lost a sense of just how impactful the constant bombardment of worldly information flow can be to our lives, and it seems we are even becoming addicted to always having a music playlist going or having the television on in the background. As believers, we need to ensure that the well of our heart is filled with pure and nutritious water, not the potentially poisonous and unprotected muddy water of the world. It is our individual responsibility to guard our hearts; that means to protect what we allow to influence our hearts, because whatever is in there is what will ultimately come out through our speech and our actions. It’s like the old saying, “garbage in, garbage out.” Why not instead turn that saying on its head by changing it to “purity and goodness in, purity and goodness out.”
Even saying such a thing has Pollyana-ish overtones and seems awkward and simplistic. But is it really, or is that just our natural inclination has already become so jaded that we find it difficult to identify with what is good and right about human nature and living according to the positive and kind admonitions of God’s standards?
You know an interesting bit of Bible trivia relating to textual interpretation centers on a specific New Testament verse that has had a defining impact on believers over the last two millennia. And it has to do with the name “Christian.” For some context, allow me to read a passage out of Peter’s first epistle.
1 Peter 3:8-16 – Finally, all of you be like-minded and sympathetic, love one another, and be compassionate and humble, not paying back evil for evil or insult for insult but, on the contrary, giving a blessing, since you were called for this, so that you may inherit a blessing. For the one who wants to love life and to see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit, and let him turn away from evil and do what is good. Let him seek peace and pursue it, because the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do what is evil. Who then will harm you if you are devoted to what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear or be intimidated, but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, ready at any time to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you. Yet do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that when you are accused, those who disparage your good conduct in Christ will be put to shame.
So we can see contextually that Peter is encouraging the believers to have good conduct at all times because this honors God. Now the passage with the textual consideration I mentioned previously is actually in chapter four; I’m going to read it in the YLT because even though it’s awkwardly phrased, it still brings out more of the clarity of the point I’m about to make.
1 Peter 4:15-16 – for let none of you suffer as a murderer, or thief, or evil-doer, or as an inspector into other men’s matters; and if as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; and let him glorify God in this respect;
Let’s look at some interesting commentary on this idea of suffering as a Christian.
Ellicott’s Commentary
(16) Yet if any man suffer as a Christian.—St. Peter purposely uses the name which was a name of derision among the heathens. It is not, as yet, one by which the believers would usually describe themselves. It only occurs twice besides in the New Testament—in Acts 11:26, where we are told of the invention of the nickname (see Note there), and in Acts 26:28, where Agrippa catches it up with the insolent scorn with which a brutal justice would have used the word “Methodist” a century ago. So contemptible was the name that, as M. Renan says (p. 37), “Well-bred people avoided pronouncing the name, or, when forced to do so, made a kind of apology.” Tacitus, for instance, says: “Those who were vulgarly known by the name of Christians.” In fact, it is quite an open question whether we ought not here (as well as in the two places of Acts above cited) to read the nickname in its barbarous form: Chrestian. The Sinaitic manuscript has that form, and the Vatican has the form Chreistian; and it is much harder to suppose that a scribe who commonly called himself a Christian would intentionally alter it into this strange form than to suppose that one who did not understand the irony of saying a Chrestian should have written the word with which he was so familiar.”
Cambridge Bible Commentary
Yet if any man suffer as a Christian] The occurrence of a name which has played so prominent a part in the history of mankind requires a few words of notice. It did not originate with the followers of Christ themselves. They spoke of themselves as the “brethren” (Acts 14:2; Acts 15:1; Acts 15:3; Acts 15:22, &c.), as “the saints,” i.e. the holy or consecrated people (Matthew 27:52; Acts 9:13; Acts 9:32; Romans 1:7; 1 Corinthians 6:1; Ephesians 1:1, &c.), as “those of the way,” i.e. those who took their own way, the way which they believed would lead them to eternal life (Acts 9:2; Acts 19:9; Acts 24:22). By their Jewish opponents they were commonly stigmatized as “the Nazarenes” (Acts 24:5), the followers of Jesus of Nazareth, the city out of which no good thing could come (John 1:46). The new name was given first at Antioch (Acts 11:26), shortly after the admission there, on a wider scale than elsewhere, of Gentile converts. Its Latin form, analogous to that of Pompeiani, Mariani, for the followers of Pompeius or Marius, indicated that the new society was attracting the attention of official persons and others at Antioch. The word naturally found acceptance. It expressed a fact, it was not offensive, and it might be used by those who, like Agrippa, though they were not believers themselves, wished to speak respectfully of those who were (Acts 26:28). Soon it came to be claimed by those believers. The question, Are you a Christian? became the crucial test of their faith. By disowning it, as in the case of the mildly repressive measures taken in these very regions by Pliny in the reign of Trajan, they might purchase safety (Pliny, Epp. x. 96). The words now before us probably did much to stamp it on the history of the Church. Men dared not disown it. They came to exult in it. Somewhat later on they came to find in it, with a pardonable play upon words, a new significance. The term Christiani (= followers of Christ) was commonly pronounced Chrestiani, and that, they urged, shewed that they were followers of Chrestus, i.e. of the good and gentle one. Their very name, they urged, through their Apologist, Tertullian (Apol. i. 3), was a witness to the falsehood of the charges brought against them.
F.F. Bruce, in his commentary on Acts adds the following:
“Xrestus (“useful, kindly”) was a common slave-name in the Graeco-Roman world. It “appears as a spelling variant for the unfamiliar Christus (Xristos). (In Greek the two words were pronounced alike.)” (F. F. Bruce, The Books of Acts, 368).
So, just for a little mental hypothesis, what if, in the great span of history, believers were being chastised and ridiculed early on, not for being “Christians” or followers of Christ (since people unfamiliar with the scriptures would not know what a “Christ” was) but instead were being ridiculed for being “Chrestians” or “do-gooders”? Non-believers could certainly identify those individuals, and believers faithful to their calling could definitely be accused of that, since they were instructed to follow the “good-doing” of their Lord and Master:
Acts 10:38 – “how God anointed Yeshua of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how he went about doing good and healing all who were under the tyranny of the devil, because God was with him.
Galatians 6:9 – Let us not get tired of doing good, for we will reap at the proper time if we don’t give up.
2 Thessalonians 3:13 – But as for you, brothers and sisters, do not grow weary in doing good.
1 Peter 2:15 – For it is God’s will that you silence the ignorance of foolish people by doing good.
1 Peter 3:17 – For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.
Of course I would not be dogmatic about this name identification, but it does raise an interesting concept and emphasis that may be lost in our modern understanding of that word. Christian implies that one believes a certain thing, while Chrestian implies that one does certain things. Which one would have been more derogatory? The word Chrestian would have, and indeed did, identify the early believers as do-gooders based on the fact that their Messiah was always doing good.
So what does all this side-bar about the Christian name have to do with the influence of our hearts? Well getting back to our main focus, this would mean that the content of the heart would have to have good intentions implanted there, and that believers would have to be acting out that goodness based on the overflow of their hearts, as Yeshua taught.
You see, without constant attention, the garden soil of our hearts can be quickly overrun by weeds. And when it’s overrun by weeds, it will become unfruitful; we cannot do the good things that we are called to do. It’s not about what we believe, but what we do.
We must weed the garden at all times to ensure that as the seed grows, it is clear of any other obstructions to the light and moisture that it needs. The weeds can block the light and consume the water of the rain and irrigation meant to nourish the seed for maximum growth. Removing weeds can be hard work, especially if we have neglected to review it on a regular basis.
It’s always good to remember that we need to mind the gardens of our hearts with vigilance. When we do so, we will be honoring the Master Gardener by maximizing the return he has planned for the seed that is continually being sown in us.
If you enjoy these daily blog posts, be sure to visit the growing archive of the Core of the Bible podcast. Each week we take a more in-depth look at one of the various topics presented in the daily blog. You can view the podcast archive on our Podcast Page, at Core of the Bible on Simplecast, or your favorite podcast streaming service.
The Core of the Bible 