Monday, May 26, 2008

"I discovered that the Bible can shed a lot of light on commentaries"

Johnny Cash, from the intro to Man in White, his novel about the conversion of Paul

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

All judgement handed to the one who will not judge

What does it mean that the Father has handed over all judgement to the Son? What on earth does it mean that the Son then will not judge the world, but his words will?
Will people be judged on whether they accepted God's refusal to judge?

Holiness

If Holiness is transcendant moral purity, how is God Holy in himself, or is it only in relation to creation that God is holy? Again if holiness is a transcendant standard, how are diverse created beings ever going to attain it, except by massive conformity?
Perhaps holiness is an appropriate relationship (or web of them), grounded in the self giving love of the Trinity. The Father is appropriately and lovingly related to Son and Spirit etc. God is Holy to his creation by being creations loving God, by continuing to be God even when creatures refuse to act as creatures. The holiness required of Israel is fundamentally relational, to God, but especially to the society surrounding each individual. Their seperation from the nations is not arbitrary, but by the means of their relationships being renewed. They are not to be like the nations, but they are with them.
Jesus is Holy in his self giving love, peculiar to his identity as saviour of the world.
This allows particularity in our conception of holiness today. My holiness will resemble but not be the same as yours, since we are in a related but different set of relationships and situations. The way in which we are appropriately related through self giving love in each will vary.
Hmm, don't know where to go with this

Theology, History, Exegesis

As we spend weeks wadeing into the minutae of Greek syntax and small texts, I can't help but ask why. The constant refrain is that it is context that most controls meaning. Sure, exegesis is an important skill, but
Theology and History are more important, since the ultimate context of any text is God and his world