Revisiting the Scripture 1

I find it constantly amazing (and a little amusing), that so much of what I thought I knew by way of interpreting scripture has been wrong! (Ouch!)

Often, my understanding of a particular passage has proven to be the exact opposite of that which culture or tradition has led me to believe!

Perhaps not so surprising I suppose; when you consider that we are talking about ‘an upside down kingdom’! Let me give you an example from Luke’s gospel.

Luke 15:2-7

2 And both the Pharisees and the Scribes murmured, saying, this man receives sinners, and eats with them. 3 And he spoke to them this parable, saying, 4 what man of you, having a hundred sheep, and having lost one of them, does not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbours, saying to them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost. 7 I say to you, that even so there shall be joy in heaven over, one sinner that repents [Metanoeo], more than over ninety and nine righteous persons, which need no repentance [metanoia].


Jesus began his ministry by challenging all who would listen with the following:

“Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand”.

Such a message often met with fierce opposition from the religious leaders of the day; let’s look at why it was that they were so indignant; let’s firstly examine the idea of repentance.

Revisiting Scripture 2

I find it constantly amazing (and a little amusing), that so much of what I thought I knew by way of interpreting scripture has been wrong! (Ouch!)

Often, my understanding of a particular passage has proven to be the exact opposite of that which culture or tradition has led me to believe!

Perhaps not so surprising I suppose; when you consider that we are talking about ‘an upside down kingdom’!

Let me give you an example from Matthew’s gospel:

In Matthew 28:19-20, we read:

19 Go therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost: 20 teaching them to obey all things whatsoever I commanded you: and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.

Firstly, let’s unpack the verse in the original language:

Revisiting Scripture 3

I have long been uneasy as to the correct interpretation of this passage of scripture which follows and since it bears on so much of what the Church is all about I thought I would finally try to extract it’s meaning as accurately as possible.  All comments and contributions are welcome.

Matthew 16:18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

“… You are Peter”

Christ responds to Peter's emphatic ‘thou’ with another, equally emphatic. Peter says, “Thou art the Christ.” Christ replies, “Thou art Peter.” Πέτρος (Peter) is used as a proper name, but without losing its meaning as a common noun. The name was bestowed on Simon at his first interview with Jesus (John 1:42) under the form of its Aramaic equivalent, Cephas. In this passage attention is called, not to the giving of the name, but to its meaning.

“…you are Peter (Petros) -  In classical Greek the word means ‘a piece of rock’, as in Homer, of Ajax throwing a stone at Hector (“Iliad,” vii., 270), or of Patroclus grasping and hiding in his hand a jagged stone (“Iliad,” xvi., 784).

Revisiting Scripture 4

“Oh what a wretched man am I; who will free me from this body of death”?

Oh … how that scripture resonated within me some time ago!! I felt like shouting out loud:

“YES, Paul …YES; I ‘know’ where you’re coming from! But that wouldn’t help … or would it?

In researching Paul’s use of the metaphor of: ‘a body of death’, in Romans 7, I discovered something very interesting. (You may want to skip this next paragraph if you are a bit squeamish)

When a transgression was deemed severe enough to warrant prolonged and painful punishment, culminating in death; crucifixion was not the only means employed during Paul’s day. Apparently in such cases, a dead (and decaying) body was literally bound to the transgressor. Death by such means was sure, but incredibly slow; as the putrefying flesh ‘ate into’ the once healthy flesh and turned it into a … well you get the idea! In this way the transgressor literally carried around with them: ‘the aroma of death’ … until death … had its way; and the ‘flesh’ was finally defeated!

What an incredibly, graphic metaphor! This gives us some understanding of the agony Paul experienced in relation to his ‘flesh life’. Now while some may contend that Paul was speaking of his (then) current circumstances in this particular passage; I’m more inclined to believe that he was instead referring to his previous unregenerate state (Romans 7) and then, that of his new status as a child of God (Romans 8).

It is tempting however, to allow this metaphor to speak to the circumstances we sometimes find ourselves in as believers; especially, regarding our: ‘stinking’ thinking and subsequent ‘foul’ attitudes.

Revisiting Scripture 5

I find it constantly amazing (and a little amusing), that so much of what I thought I knew by way of interpreting scripture has been wrong! (Ouch!)

Often, my understanding of a particular passage has proven to be the exact opposite of that which culture or tradition has led me to believe!

Perhaps not so surprising I suppose; when you consider that we are talking about ‘an upside down kingdom’!

Let me give you an example. In Matthew 28:19-20, we read:

19 Go therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost: 20 teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you: and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. 

My understanding of this passage went something like this:

Preaching That Hinders - A.W. Tozer

What follows is an extract from Chapter 5 of A.W. Tozer’s 'Paths to Power'. The original work was published in 1911 however, the content is timeless!

"To any casual observer of the religious scene today, two things will at once be evident: one, that there is very little sense of sin among the unsaved, and two, that the average professed Christian lives a life so worldly and careless that it is difficult to distinguish him from the unconverted man. The power that brings conviction to the sinner and enables the Christian to overcome in daily living is being hindered somewhere".

It would be oversimplification to name any one thing as the lone cause, for many things stand in the way of the full realization of our New Testament privileges. There is one class of hindrances, however, which stands out so conspicuously that we are safe in attributing to it a very large part of our trouble. I mean wrong doctrines or overemphasis on right ones. I want to point out some of these doctrines, and I do it with the earnest hope that it may not excite controversy, but bring us rather to a reverent examination of our position.

Fundamental Christianity in our times is deeply influenced by that ancient enemy of righteousness, antinomianism. The creed of the antinomian is easily stated:

• “We are saved by faith alone;
• Works have no place in salvation;
• Conduct is works, and is therefore of no importance.
• What we do cannot matter as long as we believe rightly.
• The divorce between creed and conduct is absolute and final.
• The question of sin is settled by the Cross; conduct is outside the circle of faith and cannot come between the believer and God.”

Such, in brief, is the teaching of the antinomian, And so fully has it permeated the Fundamental element in modern Christianity that it is accepted by the religious masses as the very truth of God.

Root of the Righteous - AW Tozer

The following is an excerpt from the 'Root of Righteousness', Chapter 12; and is entitled: "Faith Is a Perturbing Thing."

Here, once again the prophetic warning sounds loud and clear ... and very much needs to be heeded in today's post-modern Christian maze.

"... something has happened to the doctrine of justification by faith as Luther taught it. What has happened is not so easily discovered. It is not a matter of simple fact... It is more elusive than that, and very much more difficult to come at; but what has happened is so serious and so vital that it has changed or is in the process of changing the whole evangelical outlook.

If it continues it may well turn Christianity inside out and put for the faith of our fathers something else entirely. And the whole spiritual revolution will be so gradual and so innocent appearing that it will hardly be noticed. Anyone who fights it will be accused of jousting against windmills like Don Quixote".

The faith of Paul and Luther was a revolutionizing thing. It upset the whole life of the individual and made him into another person altogether.

It laid hold on the life and brought it under obedience to Christ. It took up its cross and followed along after Jesus with no intention of going back. It said goodbye to its old friends... It had a finality about it... It captured the man and made him from that moment forward a happy love-servant of his Lord.

It realigned all life’s actions and brought them into accord with the will of God... It made him little and God big and Christ unspeakably dear. All this and more happened to a man when he received the faith that justifies.