The post Bible Hacks: Identifying Theological Realities and Obedient Actions appeared first on Brandon Kelley.

[callout]For the next five weeks, I’ll be co-teaching a class called, Bible Hacks where myself and Daryl Docterman will teach short sessions designed to help you read the Bible better. Below are my teaching notes from session three as well as the audio of the class. Past sessions are listed here:

Session one: The Overarching Story of the Bible – by Daryl Docterman

Session one: Seeing the Gospel in Every Crevice of the Bible – by Brandon Kelley

Session two: Understanding the Old Testament Context – by Daryl Docterman

Session two: Understanding the New Testament Context – by Brandon Kelley

Session three: Going From Original Meaning to Contemporary Application – by Daryl Docterman

[/callout]

Audio Version:

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If you really want to read the Bible better, I don’t know that there is anything better you can do than to carefully read one book at a time. Instead of jumping right into a “read the Bible in a year” plan, you may find that it’s better to jump into one book a time and take your time working through it.

This past year, I decided to get a journaling Bible because I wanted to start writing notes in the margins and underlining my Bible (which I had never done before). When I got my journaling Bible, I decided to create a color key for my underlines (I bought some markers that are specifically for marking in Bibles). Three colors are all that I use. And what this has done for me is allow me to see a flow that brought me to this conclusion: our identity in Christ drives our obedience to Christ. 

Let’s make sure we’re all on the same page with these terms. A theological reality includes a lot of things, but let me give you a simplified definition before we dig deeper. A theological reality is something that God says through the Bible that is true about Himself and His creation. For a quick example, consider the theological reality we see in Genesis 1:27, that God created mankind in His image. Just imagine all the implications from this one statement. If we’re made in the image of God, then that means we must consider what God is like and by doing so, we may have an idea of how we are made in His image.

Another way of saying our big idea for the day – our identity in Christ drives our obedience to Christ – is our theological reality informs us of and drives us to obedient actions. An obedient action is anything God says through the Bible that we ought to do. Let’s go back to Genesis 1 to see how this plays out:

And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” – Genesis 1:28

Here we see two implications of the theological reality of being made in the image of God: we were created to create and rule. God told Adam and Eve to create more humans and to rule over the earth and all the animals in it. Mankind is creative (meaning, in more areas than procreation) and it is in charge of caring for and ruling over the earth and animals. Remember, we are made in the image of God which means that our creativity and our authority must be submissive to His way and His will. He is the Creator and the Ruler of all.

In order to see this play out even more, let’s look at 1 Corinthians 6 and walk through it together.

When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints? 2 Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? 3 Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life! 4 So if you have such cases, why do you lay them before those who have no standing in the church? 5 I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers, 6 but brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers? 7 To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded? 8 But you yourselves wrong and defraud–even your own brothers!

The tension in 1 Corinthians is seen all throughout the letter, especially here in this chapter. But notice what Paul is doing. What’s the last word of the first verse? Saints. At first, we’re not entirely sure who Paul is referring to as saints, but then he makes it clear in verse four. The saints are those in the church. The unrighteous have no standing in the church, they are not saints. Do you see the theological reality Paul is appealing to? Those who have been saved by Christ are saints which means they settle disagreements in an entirely different way than those who have not tasted of God’s grace. Let’s go on.

9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. 

Do you see the obedient action? Do not be deceived. Do you see the theological reality Paul reminds them of? Verse eleven spells it out completely. In other words, don’t go to the very people who will not inherit the kingdom you are heirs to in order to settle a dispute that shouldn’t even have gotten this far in the first place. You are people who have been made new and have been forgiven by Christ. Live into who you are.

12 “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything. 13 “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”–and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14 And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. 15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! 16 Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” 17 But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. 18 Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

Scholars aren’t decisive on who Paul is quoting in verse twelve and the first half of verse thirteen. Some say that he is quoting from what others were saying to him in order to justify the sin they were participating in. Others say that he is quoting something he had taught the Corinthian Christians but they had wrongly used to justify the sin they were committing. Either way, notice that he moves to a back and forth between theological realities and obedient actions.

Take a moment and work through 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 and identify each.

Here’s the worksheet.

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The post Bible Hacks: Identifying Theological Realities and Obedient Actions appeared first on Brandon Kelley.