A Light to the Nations - Scripture Analysis Podcast

Acts 17:22-31.
The Apostle Paul, in Athens, takes the opportunity to preach in the Areopagus. One man, Dionysius, is among those who hear and join him. Athens is named after the goddess Athena. Its name is grammatically plural (detectable in the final “s” - “Athens”), reflecting the many statues and temples erected to the goddess in the city. This was common in the ancient world. Anyone visiting Athens would immediately know to whom the city pertained. Such convention sheds light on an otherwise puzzling fact: in the Bible, “God” in Hebrew (“Elohim”) is grammatically plural. Why is that so? And how is the God that Paul preached unlike the other deities, known and unknown, that were worshipped in the ancient world?

This is Episode 88 of A Light to the Nations, a production of the Ephesus School Network.

Notes:
Genesis 1:1
אֱלֹהִ֑ים (Elohim)

“Sing A New Song” composed and performed by Raphael Shaheen. 

The Son Of Man.

When Jesus refers to himself in the Gospels, it is almost exclusively as “Son of Man;” that is to say, not “Son of God” as in “a king.” Moreover, Jesus is systematically referred to as “a teacher” in the Gospels more than any other appellation. In both of these aspects - Son of Man and teacher - the Gospels are following the lead of both Ezekiel and Isaiah, respectively. In Ezekiel, the title is a belittling of the kings of Judah and Israel who were supposed to be the representatives of God. Because of their disobedience, God makes a mere Son of Man (ben-Adam) his plenipotentiary. In Isaiah, we hear that the servant of the Lord is assigned to restore not only the redeemed of Israel, but is also given as a light to the nations, “so that the salvation of the Lord might reach to the end of the earth” (Isaiah 49:6). This servant is struck by the will of the Lord, after which his progeny is raised via the word, the seed of instruction. Thus, he is a teacher. 

Enter in the Gospels Jesus, the Son of Man, the Teacher…

Notes
Genesis 3:5
Isaiah 49:6;53:6,10-11
Ezekiel 3:1-2
Psalm 45:6-7;82:4,6-7
Matthew 21:23;25:31-33
Philippians 2:5-11

Crystal Ball rehearsal and Bobbi Jo performed by Prince.

The Temple Of (The Biblical) God.

When we hear St. Paul say in 1 Corinthians,  “you are the temple of God, and the spirit of God dwells in you“ we often imagine that he means each one of us is a temple. But that is not true. The “you” of 1 Corinthians 3:16 is not addressed to individuals but to the Church. It is the Church that constitutes the one temple, or “God’s building” as St. Paul had put it in verse 9. It is in the gathering together of his Church, his “called ones” (in Greek ecclesia) that the spirit of God dwells. And in this way the Church is his temple. And since we are dealing with the Biblical God, it is not a temple made of stones. The temple of this God is radically different from the temples of other gods of the ancient world. Those deities could be depicted in representative statues, which were housed in temples made of stone and built by the hands of men. They were attached to both a city and a king, who was the deity’s plenipotentiary. The God of the Bible is not like that. He has no statue, and he doesn’t speak to an earthly king in a palace or temple made of stone. In fact, his first interaction with a people is through Abraham, who is not a king, but rather a Shepherd, a Bedouin sheik (see Genesis 13). 

So when Paul addresses the Corinthian Church in the first century, it is with this understanding of temple - a dwelling place of the spirit of God. Not a building made of stone, but rather anywhere God‘s people are gathered around his word, which is the expression of his will, and led by his spirit. Let’s hear how St. Paul, in chapter 3 of 1 Corinthians, uses the metaphor of architecture -  “you are God’s building” and expands on it to show that the work one does in building up the Church can have a permanent, lasting value, or be considered utterly worthless.

Photo by Brett Jordan.

Love controls all. 
Galatians 5:22-6:2.

Although the works of the flesh are many, there is one fruit of the Spirit. In Galatians 5, St. Paul teaches the difference between working the works of the flesh (our own desires) and living and walking by the Spirit (God). Doing the latter bears fruit, two of the manifestations of which are joy (χαρά) and peace (εἰρήνη). Both are eschatological, meaning they come at the end. In the meantime, we are called to love with the love of Christ himself, who is gentle (πραΰς) and whose yoke is easy (χρηστὸς). 

Notes
Matthew 11:29-30

Photo by Bade Saba.
Ruff Enuff performed by MonoNeon and Prince. Brand New Orleans performed by Prince.

Outside The Tent.

Original intro music composed and performed by Raphael Shaheen.
“Ruff Enuff” performed by MonoNeon and Prince.

The Next Generation.

In Scripture, the mercy of God is expressed in his extending life to the next generation. We hear this demonstrated in two parallel stories in the Gospel of Mark: one in the raising of Jairus’ daughter in chapter 5, and the other in the healing of the man’s son with a mute spirit in chapter 9. In both of these, we hear the same terminology, presented in the same sequence, found later in the New Testament when Paul speaks of Jesus being raised from the dead and then standing in that raised position. When we understand how these two verbs, ἐγείρω and ἀνίστημι, work, we realize why the English translation of the Nicene Creed says (following 1 Thessalonians) that Christ “rose again from the dead.”
Χριστός Ανέστη! Christ is risen!

Notes:
Joshua 4:5; 8:30-35
Mark 5:35-43; 7:24-30; 9:25-27
1 Corinthians 10:1-11
Galatians 1:1
1 Thessalonians 4:14
ἐγείρω - to raise up; to lift up
ἀνίστημι - to be raised up, to be in the raised, standing position 

Music courtesy of Crystal Ball rehearsals.
Read the article on Substack -https://open.substack.com/pub/alighttothenations/p/the-next-generation?r=1wf6e9&utm_medium=ios

Don’t Try This At Home.

If you were to ask someone if Jesus ever got angry, they would probably say yes and refer to the story where he overturns the tables of the money changers. But that’s not accurate. All four of the gospels include a passage about Jesus overturning tables but in none of them does it say anything about his being angry. The noun ὀργῆς (orgēs),

anger, appears in Mark 3:5, and it’s a unique example of this word being applied to Jesus. When we are accustomed to understanding anger as sin, then this is a problem. In the gospels Jesus is presented like Isaiah’s suffering servant, one  who does the will of his God and father without arguing, complaining or trying to figure it out. Moreover, in the gospels, as in Isaiah, it is the will of the Lord that his servant is bruised, is smitten. For no reason. In other words, he didn’t do anything to incur being struck. He is faultless, blameless  - without sin. How then do we reconcile that with this passage from the Gospel of Mark?
 
Join me in a discussion of Mark 3:1-6.

Notes:
Matthew 5:21-22
ὀργῆς (orgēs) - anger

Abba Poemen of Egypt.

“Voodoo Who” and “Run Amok” performed by the Flesh.

Photo by Peter Dyllong: https://www.pexels.com/photo/intricate-stained-glass-angel-with-open-book-35869933/
“Koran” performed by Delirium.

Episode 80 -
Abba/Father.

Your Status Has Changed But Your Behavior Cannot.

Although the Lord’s Prayer does not appear in the Gospel of Mark, key elements of it are found in the passage where Jesus is praying In Gethsemane. One of these is the expression “Abba/Father,” a combination of Aramaic and Greek. Paul uses it in Galatians chapter 4 in his teaching on Christ as the son and heir of God. Using the example of adoption in the Roman regal system, he shows that those who receive the Spirit of the son also call God “Abba/Father;” they are sons of God, and thus, heirs of God through Christ. However, just as the heir who is a child is no better than a slave, so the inheritors of sonship through Christ. Their status may have changed from slaves to sons and thus heirs, but their behavior must still be that of a slave, in other words, they can’t do whatever they want; but must be bound to the will of their Kyrios, their Master,  till he returns.

A discussion of Galatians 4:1-7.

Notes:
πειρασμός (peirasmos) - temptation, testing 
Matthew 6:9-15
Mark 14:36
Luke 11:1-4
Romans 8:15-17

Photo by Juan Pablo Serrano : https://www.pexels.com/photo/father-and-child-s-hands-together-1250452/

Original music performed by Raphael Shaheen.

It is what you think it is. But it is not only that.

In the New Testament, the Greek word πορνεία (porneia) is commonly translated as “sexual immorality.”  This term appears frequently in I Corinthians, and it becomes a central point in Paul’s teaching to his Gentile churches. Unfortunately, due to the influence of Puritanism and because of the different ways this word is rendered in English - fornication, licentiousness, lewdness - our understanding of porneia is usually restricted to matters of sexual behavior. We then conclude that the Corinthians in the first century must have been sexually depraved; or that Paul was so concerned with moral behavior that he considered it a key element in his presentation of the gospel. We should remember however that in his letters, Paul rarely if ever imports words or ideas that are outside of the Biblical story. His primary and most important reference in everything is Scripture. We should understand his use of porneia Scripturally, that is to say, according to the way it is used in the Prophetic literature. And in the prophets, specifically in Hosea and Ezekiel, “porneia” or “harlotry” is the classic Scriptural metaphor for turning away from God; thus it is the prototype of any and all kinds of sin, including but not limited to sexual ones.

In Scripture, God’s will is expressed in his commandments, the first of which is to love him by keeping his laws and statutes, and to demonstrate that love by caring for any and all needy brethren. That is why, in the letters of Paul, when he addresses any problem or issue, his ultimate reference is the way we treat others. It is never simply the issue itself - marriage vs celibacy, fasting vs eating, praying with head coverings vs with no covering; but it is always a matter of behaving in a way that is pleasing to the Kyrios to whom we are enslaved, that is Jesus Christ. 

Join me in a discussion of 1 Corinthians 6:12-20.

Notes:
See also Hosea 2
See also Ezekiel 16, 23

Photo by ArtHouse Studio: https://www.pexels.com/photo/crop-man-with-tattoo-on-arm-reading-old-book-4530615/
Original music composed and performed by Raphael Shaheen.