Genesis changed the way the ancient Israelites saw God. To a people enslaved in Egypt by the Pharaoh, believed to be a descendant of the gods, Moses brought a tale of a God who lovingly and deliberately created mankind to be in fellowship with him. This was the purpose of all creation, to provide a home for the human race. Man was intimately and lovingly fashioned by God.
When John wrote the prologue to his gospel, he accomplished a number of things by linking it to Genesis. Just like Genesis 1 told Moses’ original audience that God wasn’t who they’d believed him to be for generations, so also John 1 told John’s original audience that God had done something their religion hadn’t anticipated.In Genesis, God lovingly and personally shaped the very first man and woman to be in fellowship with him. In John, the author tells us that the same God who was in the beginning, who was the Creator, came to lovingly and personally reshape mankind so that they could once again be in fellowship with the Creator.
The Creator in Genesis created life - the sun, the moon, the stars, the trees, fish, birds, creeping and crawling creatures, and Man and Woman. In John, this Creator, the Word, is the very source of life - "In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind." This source of life was what came into the world, not as mythological gods did but in humility to serve and love.
As we saw in an earlier post, light is a prevalent image in John. Next time, I'll look at it a little closer.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Faith in Genesis
The first thing we need to see to understand the connection between John and Genesis is the purpose behind the writing for both books. One of the features of the Bible is that it contains a series of ‘progressive revelation.’ That means that God slowly and gradually revealed both himself and his plan of salvation. He only gave the people what they were able to handle at that time. Receiving it all at once would have been beyond their ability to comprehend. (That’s very important to remember when we’re dealing with God in our own lives. How often do we fume when God won’t tell us ‘why’? If we realize that our understanding or ability to handle it is insufficient to process what God knows, we can gain a measure of trust and simply follow God. As we grow, we’ll be able to handle more. God will give us more in the right time.)
So, the story of creation in Genesis – it was not, as popular opinion holds, told as a scientific explanation for the creation of the world. It was told as a religious, a faith-based explanation. At the time of its original telling, the creation of the cosmos was generally accepted to have come about through the machinations, and sometimes war, of a pantheon of gods. Mankind had been created to serve the gods and their descendants. Mankind were intended to be slaves.
So, the story of creation in Genesis – it was not, as popular opinion holds, told as a scientific explanation for the creation of the world. It was told as a religious, a faith-based explanation. At the time of its original telling, the creation of the cosmos was generally accepted to have come about through the machinations, and sometimes war, of a pantheon of gods. Mankind had been created to serve the gods and their descendants. Mankind were intended to be slaves.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Creator-Redeemer
When you look at the prologue of the Gospel of John side-by-side with the opening of Genesis, you can easily see that John deliberately echoed Genesis:
In the beginning - was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God - God created the heavens and the earth. - Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. - And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. - The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. - Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness - to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. - Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. - The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. - "And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel." (From Genesis 1:1-4, 26; 2:7; 3:15 and John 1:1-14, John in italics)
Next time I will 'unpack' this, show what John was telling us by deliberately connecting to the story of creation, but why don't you look for yourself right now? See if you can figure out the connections.
In the beginning - was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God - God created the heavens and the earth. - Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. - And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. - The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. - Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness - to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. - Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. - The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. - "And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel." (From Genesis 1:1-4, 26; 2:7; 3:15 and John 1:1-14, John in italics)
Next time I will 'unpack' this, show what John was telling us by deliberately connecting to the story of creation, but why don't you look for yourself right now? See if you can figure out the connections.
Friday, January 21, 2011
Light and Life and Going Deeper.
I love the Gospel of John. It's an amazing book. I love the way it beautifully connects with two of my other favorite books of the bible, Genesis and 1 John.
You may have read all three of those books, but you may have never noticed their connection, quite deliberate on John's part. Look at this:
This is the wonders of deep bible study. I love it, and if you care to hang around for a while. I think I'll explore the interconnectedness of these passages for a while.
You may have read all three of those books, but you may have never noticed their connection, quite deliberate on John's part. Look at this:
"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. .... darkness was over the surface of the deep, ... And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness." (from Genesis 1:1-4)Do you see how each section has its own theme; creation, who Jesus is, who we are in Jesus; and yet they are woven together with the repetition of the images used to explore those themes? It is fascinating and you will never discover it through normal 'devotions.'
"In the beginning was the Word, ... and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; ... In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." (from John 1:1-5)
"That which was from the beginning, ... we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; ... we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. ... This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth." (from 1 John 1:1-2, 5-6)
This is the wonders of deep bible study. I love it, and if you care to hang around for a while. I think I'll explore the interconnectedness of these passages for a while.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
In a Stable?
One of the great ironies about those who want to get back to the ‘true meaning of Christmas’ is that they usually are firm believers in the myths of Christmas. No, I’m not talking about Santa, nine reindeer and a sleigh full of toys. No need to look at obvious fantasy to find a myth, just look at any ‘nativity scene.’
The bible never says Jesus was born in a stable. In fact, an in-depth bible study, complete with understanding Matthew’s and Luke’s stories through the eyes of a first century Jewish Christian, will show you the fallacy of the stable myth.
When the angels told the shepherds that they would find the babe in a manger, they weren’t telling them to look for a barn, they were telling them to look for a peasant’s home. See, peasants’ homes in Judea had mangers in the entryway which was a little lower than the main living area. Almost everyone had at least a few sheep and goats. Most nights, they would bring their sheep and goats into that front entryway. In the morning, the town’s shepherds would gather up all the sheep and take them out to the field.
Bethlehem was a very small town. Those shepherds probably knew everyone in town. They knew who was pregnant, so they didn’t have much trouble finding the right house.
The purpose of that story was to show that the Messiah was a peasant, not a king. It was only the beginning of the ways he would be unforeseen even though he was long expected. That’s part of the true meaning of Christmas – our God is found in unexpected places.
The true meaning of Christmas isn’t about a mean innkeeper and finding room for Jesus in your heart. The inn is another myth of the Christmas story.
The bible never says Jesus was born in a stable. In fact, an in-depth bible study, complete with understanding Matthew’s and Luke’s stories through the eyes of a first century Jewish Christian, will show you the fallacy of the stable myth.
When the angels told the shepherds that they would find the babe in a manger, they weren’t telling them to look for a barn, they were telling them to look for a peasant’s home. See, peasants’ homes in Judea had mangers in the entryway which was a little lower than the main living area. Almost everyone had at least a few sheep and goats. Most nights, they would bring their sheep and goats into that front entryway. In the morning, the town’s shepherds would gather up all the sheep and take them out to the field.
Bethlehem was a very small town. Those shepherds probably knew everyone in town. They knew who was pregnant, so they didn’t have much trouble finding the right house.
The purpose of that story was to show that the Messiah was a peasant, not a king. It was only the beginning of the ways he would be unforeseen even though he was long expected. That’s part of the true meaning of Christmas – our God is found in unexpected places.
The true meaning of Christmas isn’t about a mean innkeeper and finding room for Jesus in your heart. The inn is another myth of the Christmas story.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
The Origins of Christmas
One of the first things we need to understand about Christmas is that there is no biblical indication that God intended for us to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Remember? Most certainly! That’s why the story was told. But unlike the resurrection which is repeatedly talked about in the New Testament, the birth of Jesus is never mentioned outside of the nativity stories in Matthew and Luke. The early church remembered and celebrated the resurrection, but there is no indication in the bible that the birth of Jesus was to be celebrated.
There is extra-biblical evidence that Clement, one of the late first century church leaders, did encourage Christians to observe Christ’s birthday as a primary feast day, but whatever day that was has been lost in antiquity. Some early evidence actually placed the day of Jesus’ birth in the spring, some in the fall. It wasn’t until early in the fifth century that December 25th was finally accepted as the best tradition by most of the church.
The best guess for how we finally settled on December 25th is that the date is of pagan origin. The pagan winter festivals took place around that time. As Christianity spread from Rome up into Europe, many of the pagan festivals were substituted for Christian festivals.
These festivals, coinciding with the end of the year (since the shortest day of the year, the winter solstice, is on December 21, the sun was once again ascending, therefore it was a new year), were celebrated around the world. Many of them included swapped roles – the master became the servant of the slave – and exchanging gifts, as well as, of course, feasting. Many of our contemporary Christmas traditions are rooted in some of those ancient pagan winter festivals.Does all that mean we shouldn’t celebrate Christmas? Or does it mean that we need to be very careful when we preach about the ‘true meaning of Christmas’?
There is extra-biblical evidence that Clement, one of the late first century church leaders, did encourage Christians to observe Christ’s birthday as a primary feast day, but whatever day that was has been lost in antiquity. Some early evidence actually placed the day of Jesus’ birth in the spring, some in the fall. It wasn’t until early in the fifth century that December 25th was finally accepted as the best tradition by most of the church.
The best guess for how we finally settled on December 25th is that the date is of pagan origin. The pagan winter festivals took place around that time. As Christianity spread from Rome up into Europe, many of the pagan festivals were substituted for Christian festivals.
These festivals, coinciding with the end of the year (since the shortest day of the year, the winter solstice, is on December 21, the sun was once again ascending, therefore it was a new year), were celebrated around the world. Many of them included swapped roles – the master became the servant of the slave – and exchanging gifts, as well as, of course, feasting. Many of our contemporary Christmas traditions are rooted in some of those ancient pagan winter festivals.Does all that mean we shouldn’t celebrate Christmas? Or does it mean that we need to be very careful when we preach about the ‘true meaning of Christmas’?
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Jesus' Birth, or Christmas?
This is a fascinating time of year for me. I have to be very careful because I run the risk of getting myself in all kinds of trouble. See, I'm a Christian - bible-believing, tongue-speaking, dancing-in-worship Christian, and yet I don't see what all the fuss is about Christmas.
Truthfully, the Christian beliefs about Christmas have often left me more than a little confused. Why do we get so wrapped up in the traditions of man? If you stop to think about it and seriously consider it, that's what Christmas is, the traditions of man. The Word of God never says to celebrate Christmas. In fact, in all our talk about stables and innkeepers and gifts and room in your heart, we somehow lost the original messages that Matthew and Luke presented to their readers. To understand the bible as the Word of God, not just as historical literature. we must understand it as the original readers did. Only then can we apply it to our own lives.
So what was the original intent of the nativity stories? To understand that, you need to study the prophecies of the Old Testament. Then you will see that both Matthew's and Luke's primary intent was to show their readers how Jesus' birth had fulfilled some of the prophecies of the Messiah.
When was the last time you celebrated Christmas with an understanding of the true meaning of what the gospels were written to convey? Do you even know how that original intent affected the first century readers? If you don't, I purpose to you that you don't know the true meaning of Jesus' birth. You probably don't even know the true meaning of Christmas. Would you like to?
Truthfully, the Christian beliefs about Christmas have often left me more than a little confused. Why do we get so wrapped up in the traditions of man? If you stop to think about it and seriously consider it, that's what Christmas is, the traditions of man. The Word of God never says to celebrate Christmas. In fact, in all our talk about stables and innkeepers and gifts and room in your heart, we somehow lost the original messages that Matthew and Luke presented to their readers. To understand the bible as the Word of God, not just as historical literature. we must understand it as the original readers did. Only then can we apply it to our own lives.
So what was the original intent of the nativity stories? To understand that, you need to study the prophecies of the Old Testament. Then you will see that both Matthew's and Luke's primary intent was to show their readers how Jesus' birth had fulfilled some of the prophecies of the Messiah.
When was the last time you celebrated Christmas with an understanding of the true meaning of what the gospels were written to convey? Do you even know how that original intent affected the first century readers? If you don't, I purpose to you that you don't know the true meaning of Jesus' birth. You probably don't even know the true meaning of Christmas. Would you like to?
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