Gossip

We are told that it is wrong to gossip and it is. Here is a Biblical verse to that effect:

“For I am afraid that perhaps when I come I may find you to be not what I wish and may be found by you to be not what you wish; that perhaps there will be strife, jealousy, angry tempers, disputes, slanders, gossip, arrogance, disturbances” (2 Corinthians 12:20).

Now occasionally there will be Christians who go about behaving badly towards others, mistreating them, and giving Jesus a bad name by their actions. When word of this bad behavior becomes known and begins to be discussed among people, these same individuals will run around accusing other Christians of gossiping. What they mean is that people are saying things about them that are negative. They equate this with gossip.

But what does the Bible actually mean when it teaches against gossip?

In 2 Corinthians 12:20, the word translated gossip is psithyrismós (ψιθυρισμός) and it actually means “whispering slander”. Slander means to “make false and damaging statements about” someone. The key here is that for a negative statement to be considered gossip it must be false. Gossip is slandering someone in a whispering, secretive manner. Slander that is not secretive but said out loud is katalalía (καταλαλία) (see 2 Corinthians 12:20; 1 Peter 2:1).

All this means that something negative someone says about you cannot be considered gossip if it’s true.

So if you don’t want people telling others that you are mistreating people …

Answering a Parental Question about The Satan

Tonight I received a question from a parent about how to answer her child's questions regarding the Satan. Here is her questions and my response.

"[My son] is 7 years old. Tonight he was asking about how Satan was made. And he asked if we could pray to Satan to ask him to lose. I was not sure how to answer. And I don't know where in the Bible it says how Satan was made. Can you give me any info or advice as to how I can answer these questions?"

The Bible does not explicitly state how and when Satan was made … of course, the Bible does not explicitly state how and when angels were made either. The Bible states frequently that God is the creator of everything and it is presumed that he created the angels and also Satan. The Bible states that God created man “a little lower than the angels” (Psalm 8:5; Hebrews 2:7). This suggests that God created angels as well as man.

Now Satan is generally considered to be some form of angelic being. He is present in heaven when other angelic beings come before God (Job 1:6; 2:1). Satan is said to transform himself into an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14). Satan has his own angels (Rev. 12:9). Satan is said to inhabit “heavenly places” (Luke 10:18). He is also the ruler of the demons (Matthew 12:24; Luke 11:18), which are considered to be fallen angels. If Satan is an angelic being, then he was created by God.

Satan’s original purpose appears to be to accuse people of sin before God (Job 1:9; Zechariah 3:1). He appears to have eventually gone from accusing people of sinning to prompting them to sin.

Never pray to Satan. Always pray to God. God defeated Satan through Jesus on the cross (1 John 3:8). And while Satan is still active on earth and can still cause trouble (1 Corinthians 7:5; 2 Corinthians 2:11; 1 Thessalonians 2:18), he is not in good condition (Romans 16:20; Rev. 20:2).

A professor once told me that God keeps Satan on a very short leash. By that he meant that God keeps Satan within certain bounds for the present time. We do not have to be afraid of him.

However, I think it is perfectly fine to pray to God that Satan does not succeed in particular battles, even though he has lost the war (Luke 22:31-32).

I suggest that you encourage Matthew to pray to God that Satan does not tempt (1 Corinthians 7:5), have power over people (Acts 26:18), and that he does not hinder the Church (1 Thessalonians 2:18). And do this all within his sphere of influence (i.e., family, friends, church, etc.)

I hope this helps. If not, let me know what else I can do. Please feel free to ask me anything, anytime.

 

Mary, Martha, and the Concept of Anxiety

Luke 10:38-42 tells the story of the time Jesus visited the home of Mary and Martha. While Mary sat to listen to Jesus talk, Mary was busy preparing the meal. In the course of these preparations, Martha became “distracted” (v. 40) with her work and eventually complained to Jesus that he should rebuke Mary for not helping. Jesus replied “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her” (v. 41-42).

Now the typical way of interpreting this story is to either argue that Martha was wrong for being too busy and should have followed Mary’s example, or say that Martha just should have minded her own business. I think both of these interpretations miss the mark. This isn’t a Mary vs. Martha story. If you look at the words being used in the story, we see that the subject of this story is worry and anxiety, a repeated theme in the New Testament.

The Greek word for “distract” is perispáō (περισπάω) and means “to be distracted with cares”, “to be troubled, distressed”. The Greek word for “worry” is merimnáō (μεριμνάω) and means “to be anxious”, “to be troubled with cares”. The Gospel writers (Q source) use this word several times when Jesus speaks on his frequent theme of not being anxious or worrisome (Matthew 6:25-34; Luke 12:11-26). Its cognate mérimna (μέριμνα) is used elsewhere in the New Testament, which we will come to. The word for “bothered” is tyrbázō (τυρβάζω) and means “to be troubled in mind, disquieted”.

Anxiety is a frequent theme in the Bible because, while it is not necessarily sin, it is the occasion of sin (see the work of Soren Kierkegaard and Reinhold Niebuhr). I’ve cited Jesus’ “Do Not Worry” teaching (Matthew 6:25-34; Luke 12:11-26). Jesus also talks about anxiety in his famous Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:18-22; Mark 4:14-20; Luke 8:11-15). He says that there are those who hear the good news, have the foundation, but do not bear the true results of their faith because they are choked by the world. Jesus used the analogy of thorns that choke a plant, preventing it from bearing fruit. The world is constantly producing frustrations and distractions that inauthenticate our lives and prevent us from living out our faith fully. Mérimna is used in Luke 21:34 when Jesus warned the people not to be distracted from the coming destruction of Jerusalem by Rome. Paul uses the term in 2 Corinthians 11:28 when describing the troubles and burdens he faced as an apostle. Along with the beatings, shipwrecks, pains, hunger, thirst, and other sufferings he experienced that sought to prevent him from preaching the gospel, Paul adds the anxiety that comes upon him ministering to the churches. Like his other sufferings, this anxiety sought to distract and prevent his Kingdom work. Peter uses mérimna in his first letter when talking about suffering and submission (5:7). He quotes Psalm 55:22, saying, "Give all your anxiety to [God] for he looks after you." Essentially, this is the same teaching of Jesus when he tells his disciples to avoid fear but have faith in God who looks after you (Matthew 10:28-31).

 

Martha’s problem was not that she was busy serving and making preparations for dinner while Mary sat and listened to Jesus speak. Her problem was that she allowed her busy activities to create a distracting anxiety in her mind that occasioned her lashing out at Jesus and Mary. Jesus does not reprimand Martha for serving or being busy; he chides her for her worry that resulted in her lashing out. But why did she lash out at Jesus? Look at what Martha says in verse 40:

“Lord, do you not care [μέλω] that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone?”

The word mélō (μέλω) means “to care, to be concerned about”. It is the exact same word that the disciples used when they were out on the lake in a boat with Jesus and a storm erupts.

“Jesus himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him and said to Him, ‘Teacher, do you not care [μέλω] that we are perishing?’” (Mark 4:38)

Jesus immediately calms the storm and then asks the disciples where there faith is.

In their fear, worry, and anxiety the disciples lashed out at Jesus who remained calm, confusing his faith with uncaring. In the same way, Martha, worked up in her anxiety, accuses Jesus of not caring.

So I do not think that the point of this story is a lesson about being too busy serving to stop and sit at the feet of Jesus to hear what he has to say. The words of the story – the very words of Jesus – indicate that the subject matter is worry and anxiety, a prominent theme in the Bible.

Jesus as Israel in the Wilderness Temptations of Matthew 4:1-11

For the past two weeks I’ve been thinking about the Temptations of Jesus in the wilderness, particularly as it is recorded and shaped in Matthew 4:1-11.

There are several interesting, underlying things about this passage that are exploring who Jesus is. Indeed, I think the primary thrust of the argument being made is that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, specifically as both of these designations denote the person as the representative of Israel and thus the corporate embodiment of Israel. In this sense, the story is attempting to identify and equate Jesus with Israel.

For example, Matthew 2:14-21 tells of the child Jesus going into Egypt to escape Herod and then finally leaving when it is safe. This going to and exiting of Egypt strongly points to the Exodus story and God’s deliverance of Israel. In verse 15, Matthew reinforces this connection with a quote from Hosea 11:1: “When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.”

Later on, Matthew continues the Exodus theme with Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (chps. 5-7), making a connection with Moses’ giving of the Law at Mt. Sinai to Israel (5:21, 27, 33, 38, 43). Still further in 10:1, Jesus will have assembled 12 disciples around himself, representing the 12 tribes of Israel.

But in Matthew 4, we have Jesus going into the wilderness for 40 days. Following upon his childhood exodus from Egypt, this is an obvious allusion to the Israel’s wandering in the wilderness for 40 years. Here Jesus is experiencing the Exodus wilderness as Israel, God’s son. Indeed, Jesus even experiences the temptations of the Israelites in the wilderness. In Exodus 16, the Israelites grumbled about the food they were eating in the wilderness. Here in Matthew 4, the devil tempts Jesus about conjuring bread from stones. Jesus responds by Deuteronomy 8:3: “man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD.”

We must keep in mind that Deuteronomy is Moses’ farewell address to the Israelites while they are still in the wilderness and about to enter the Promise Land. He is giving them final instructions about where they came from, why they are where they are (8:2), where will they go (8:1, 7), and, most ominously, the warning that God would exile them from the Promise Land if they ignore the covenant and commandments and worshipped other gods (8:11, 19), a threat that came to fruition in the Israelite exile in Babylon.

Here Jesus does not grumble but submits to the authority of God, succeeding where Israel failed. Jesus is the true Israel succeeding where ethnic Israel should have succeeded.

In Matthew 4:7, Jesus responds to the temptation to put God to the test by quoting Deuteronomy 6:16: “Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God, [as ye tempted him in Massah].”

It was at Massah that the Israelites argued with Moses about water and Moses rebuked them for testing God and questioning whether God was actually present with them in the wilderness (Exodus 17:2-7).

Just as with the bread, Jesus demonstrates he is the true Israel succeeding where ethnic Israel failed.

The final temptation that Jesus faces is to gain the kingdoms of the world by worshipping the devil. Once again Jesus replies by quoting Scripture, this time Deuteronomy 6:13: “You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.”

This is the final test and Jesus once again succeeds where Israel failed. It was in Exodus 32 that Israel made its original sin of making a golden calf to worship while Moses was up on Mt. Sinai receiving the Law from God. The result of this sin was that God would not go with Israel to the Promise Land (Exodus 33:1-5). It was outside the Israelite camp that the tabernacle housing the presence of God would be placed (Exodus 33:7).

But as stated earlier, Israel ultimately failed to heed the warnings of Moses in Deuteronomy and paid the penalty of exile from the land and the abandonment of God's presence from his people [588 BCE]. But even with the eventual physical exile was over [538 BCE], there still remained a spiritual exile in the minds of the Jewish people who were still waiting for the presence of God to return. There was still a sense that God had not fully forgiven his people for their sin.

What Matthew is arguing is that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, the true Israel who succeeds in the wilderness where ethnic Israel failed. What he will continue to argue is that Jesus is not only true Israel succeeding where Israel failed, but that Jesus is actually God returning to his people, bringing the forgiveness of sin.