N.T. Wright on humanity being an image-bearer of God

What does it mean to be an image-bearer of God (Genesis 1:27)?

We have been addressing this, in various ways, throughout our current teaching series, CREED: 2016 on the Doctrine of Man.

Here's is N.T. Wright's wonderful answer to this question:

In the early stories, the point was that the Creator loved the world he had made, and wanted to look after it in the best possible way.  To that end, he placed within his world a looking-after creature, a creature who would demonstrate to the creation who he, the Creator, really was, and who would set to work developing the creation and making it flourish and fulfill its purpose.  This looking-after creature (or rather, this family of creatures: the human race) would model and embody that interrelatedness, that mutual fruitful knowing, trusting and loving, which was the Creator’s intention. ~ N.T. Wright, Simply Christian 

Book of Genesis - A Clip from "From the Dust"

In From the Dust, a feature-length documentary film from Highway Media and The BioLogos Foundation, renowned theologians, educators, and scientists reexamine this perennial debate, and infuse it with fresh theories, new theological insights, and an open desire for truth and dialogue. You can order the film here, and learn more about the project here.

Here's a very helpful clip explaining how to read and understand the Book of Genesis:

Be Convinced: Abraham, Paul and Us

As we look into the life of Abraham it is easy to think his life is something totally different than our own and that his story is separate from ours. He did live a long time ago in a world very very different from our own. Even with this huge historical gap, this man is important for our world. Abraham is known as the Father of faith, and not just Christian faith but Jewish and Muslim as well. In fact, as Pastor Heath pointed out a couple of weeks ago, all the millions and millions of people belonging to any of these major religions claim Abraham as their Patriarch. Abraham does mean, "Big daddy" and he lives up to this name!

Abraham is important not only because he is a major religious figure, but also because he believed God in some pretty enormous circumstances. We can connect with father Abraham in this, for we too have been called to believe God. There are many characters in the Bible since Abraham who have followed in his footsteps of faith. Joseph believed God would vindicate him and deliver his people even as he rotted away in an Egyptian dungeon. Daniel and his friends showed faith in standing against the multiple attempts of their Babylonian captors to deter them from worshiping the God of their fathers. This resulting in exposure to a lion's den and a fiery furnace. Moses had faith to obey God's voice from a burning bush to return to the kingdom he had fled for his life from just years before. This trend of faith is explained by the Apostle Paul in the New Testament as being the true children of Abraham- Galatians 3:7. Jesus believed that the true children of Abraham were not the ethnic Jews, but those who had the same faith as Abraham, Jew or Gentile -John 8:31-47. Abraham is indeed someone we can and should connect with.

Abraham was not perfect. As Pastor Heath demonstrated from Genesis 12 in this series, he, at this time still named Abram, was not always faithful. He was fearful of Egyptian power and lied to Pharaoh in order to preserve his own life. Abram was given a promise from God but that was forgotten when he was faced with danger. God still delivers Abraham. The next time we see Abraham, he is a different man. When Lot and him become too big to share land they split ways. Abraham does not express a fearful or anxious attitude in dealing with Lot. In fact his desire is solely for that of "peace between you and I" Gen.13:8. When Lot is a little later captured, Abraham shows no fear in leading his forces out to deliver him. Sometime between the chapters, Abraham comes to truly believe God, he has become convinced.

This same faith is seen in Paul. Romans has been called a "towering mountain" by some who have dared to scale its heights. This is not only because of the sheer immensity of its theology, but also because of the enormity of its beauty and consoling truths. Romans is for everyone, do not fear the mountain! With that said, another thing that makes it such a mountainous work is the whole of history that it surveys. Paul retells the story of Israel from the standpoint of Jesus as Messiah and his story stretches from Creation to the restoration of the Cosmos. Romans is a cosmic work and it is a very personal and faith building work. What is interesting, is in chapter 8, at the highest point on the mountain, the cosmic, Paul reveals something of his own faith and its plain to see why he has spent so much time connecting his story to Abraham. Paul stands on the peak of history, seemingly in the stars and even the throne room of the New Jerusalem and declares that suffering has come and will continue to come upon the cosmic people of God. Rather than being discouraged and without faith, Paul says that he is "convinced". There is no more question in Paul, as there was no more doubt in Abraham. God will restore this world and his humanity. He will put all that is wrong back to rights, this is his promise and his glory. And right before Paul begins the heart of Romans (chs. 9-11) dealing with the question of God's faithfulness despite Israel's faithlessness, he stands as a man convinced that nothing in all of evil, from the most powerful to even death itself, is able to thwart the Mission of God. He is convinced that nothing will ever separate the people of God from his love poured out upon them through the Messiah (see Romans 8:37-39).

I want to be convinced as well. This has been my prayer lately. Our world is very different from Abraham's and from that of Paul's. Our faith cannot be. Like them, we live in a world that is broken. Paul is not only describing evils in his day but in ours as well. Death, disease, oppressive powers, broken relationships and horrible atrocities are everywhere in our world as well as the ancient one. Technology has not been able to thwart these but has been used at times to increase them. Western philosophy despite its claims and promises has failed to correctly diagnose, much less heal us. We as a people need to be convinced that God has achieved victory in Jesus. We must know that our faith is not in vain. We must have faith of this even, or especially in, those times when we are called to stand in evil's way, when all is dark and seems hopeless.

So I am reforming my prayer. I pray we as a people demonstrate and find peace and joy in the same faith as that of Abraham. I pray that like Paul we can look out on a broken world being devoured by evil and see our Messiah taking the full weight of this terror on himself. And being filled with the same spirit that raised him from the clutches of death, declare that we are convinced. Nothing will stop the love of God from conquering and repairing all who are broken. God is faithful, he will do it.

Love + Marriage + Singleness

Currently, at Grace Church, we are in a series on the first 11 chapters of the book of Genesis called, GENESIS: The Promise.

In Genesis chapter 2, we are introduced to the human need for relationship as God says - "it is not good for man to be alone.”  There's a communal quality to humanity in which we only function properly and rightly when connected to others.  We are introduced to the need for relationship through a description of the pinnacle of human relationship - a marriage between a man and a woman.  In the beginning, relationship and human community was wonderful, safe, and full of love.  Genesis 2 concludes with man and woman living in God's paradise, Eden, and being comfortably naked and warmly secure within each other's presence. Everything was as it was supposed to be.

It would be wonderful if that's the kind of world we live in.  But Genesis 3 describes the account of how everything went wrong, how Eden was lost, and how God's good creation came undone.  Sin came in and immediately brought a disconnected and self-centered shame between the man and woman.  They covered themselves from one another, they hid from God, they blamed one another, and they longed for autonomy.  Along with this great fall came everything we hate – fear, embarrassment, shame, disconnectedness, and other types of relational pain.

Essentially, though we still long for healthy connectedness, human relationships became harmful and toxic.  And, as demonstrated with Cain + Abel, we have a tendency to hurt those ones who are closest to us.

We need God's healing and help. 

We need a Gospel pronouncement of hope and correction.

We long for healthy connectedness and only God can give it.

So, this Sunday, November 4th, Steve Lee will be addressing the pinnacle of human connectedness - marriage. Whether you are married or single, this Sunday's topic is an essential one; and all of us, no matter the season of life we may find ourselves, need the guidance of God's right way in interacting with others.

If you are married, you already well know the joys and pains of marriage; and you also know the help we need from God's word and our church community in order to have a thriving marital relationship.  This Sunday, and next week's Community Group discussions, will be a great assistance to you.

If you are single, this Sunday's message, and next week's Community Group discussions, can help you prepare for what's next in your life, equip you to come along side your married friends (offering prayerful and practical help), and enlarge your understanding of God's correct way of living in every category of life – including love, relationships, sex, and marriage.

It’s been a while since I posted anything on marriage or relationships, so…

Here are some recent, and very helpful, resources on Love + Marriage + Singleness:

You May Never Marry Right Person – How Our Culture Misunderstands Compatibility
Timothy Keller explains why the quest for compatibility seems to be so impossible.

7 Ways to Destroy a Marriage
Perry Noble shares 7 sure ways to bring great harm to your marriage.

The Truth about Marital Compatibility – For Singles and Married Couples
Phil Smidt shares 5 questions for singles and marrieds about compatibility.

The Meaning of Marriage – Introduction
The Introduction to Timothy Keller’s new book on marriage.

Lastly, here’s a wonderful interview with Tim and Kathy Keller about singleness, relationships, marriage, and sex…

How to Read Genesis?

Old Testament scholar and author John Walton (Old Testament Professor at Wheaten and author of Zondervan’s NIV Application Commentary on Genesis) offers some important reminders with regard to how we should approach a reading of the book of Genesis. First and foremost, says Walton, we have to approach Genesis for what it is, which is an ancient text.  Therefore, we must interpret it through a lens of what we know of the Ancient Near East and attempt to ask the questions the original author(s) would have been asking. 

Here’s a video with Dr. Walton explaining these very matters:

Related to the above video, John Walton discusses the content of Genesis 1 and how it should be read. The account in Genesis is not intended to be an account of material origins, says Walton. Therefore, if that is so, the Bible has no narrative of material origins—and if that is so, we don't need to defend the Bible's narrative of material origins against science's narrative of material origins.  I think it’s imperative that we ask contextual questions about what the original authors would have been trying to convey through the text of Genesis ch.1 and not laying on the text questions it wasn’t meant to answer (e.g., creationism vs. evolution, literal or non-literal, etc.).

Check out what Professor Walton has to say:

Q+A - Should Genesis be Read Literally and Historically?

First and foremost,  we have to approach Genesis for what it is, an ancient text.  Therefore, we must interpret it through a lens of what we know of the Ancient Near East and attempt to ask the questions the original author(s) and audience would have been asking, not what we (modern day readers) would be asking and wondering when it comes to the origin of all things.

So I think it’s imperative that we ask contextual questions uncovering what the original authors would have been trying to convey through the text of Genesis ch.1-11 (such as monotheism, human significance, and human and cosmological connectedness) and not laying on the text questions it wasn’t meant to answer (e.g., creationism vs. evolution, literal or non-literal, the age of the earth, the ever expanding cosmos, etc.).

There are many aspects of Genesis 1 that simply do not make scientific sense - for example, the sun was created on the 4th day when vegetation was created on the 3rd day.  When Christians speaks of 7 literal days and use the biblical time-line to date the age of the earth there are also significant scientific problems.  

Now, for those who really want to hold to a view of Genesis being literal history and a true account for the order of creation and the age of the earth, there are some suitable (but challenged) answers and/or theories to these questions. But to view the purpose of the Genesis text as answering these questions is a hermeneutical error.  Modern science did not play a role in the mind of the original audience.  We must be careful not to approach Genesis this way. 

As with all literature, there are interpretative rules which need to be applied.  For example, we do not read the newspaper the same we read Moby Dick and we do not read The Hobbit the same way we read Who Moved My Cheese.  Genre, type of literature, must play a big role.

Genesis 1 is song or a poem (rhythm and repetition), not historical narrative.  (for example):

• the repetition of "it was good"
• the building of the days - 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc...
• the Hebraic symbolism of 7 - being the number of completion

In comparison, listen to the introduction to Luke's Gospel, which is historical narrative: "Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word.  With this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you..."

Clearly different and thus we must interpret them differently.

Also, something we must consider when reading Genesis, which is an Ancient Near Eastern piece of literature, are the other Ancient Near Eastern writing styles and cultures.  Archaeologist and other academic fields have uncovered many writings from times that predate the Hebrew culture - thus predate when our Bibles where written.

Most scholars agree, Genesis is an anthology - a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler or compliers (which one of them I believe to be Moses) over time. It is more highly unified than most anthologies, however, because all of the material falls into one congruent narrative. But it’s not like modern day history; it’s primarily a collection of what may be called hero stories – intermittent tales focused on a central character with whom the reader is to identify with – interspersed with genealogies. Even more specific, the first three chapters belong to a genre known as origin stories and the rest of Genesis also has affinities with the epic genre.

There are certain motifs that ring true in almost all Ancient Near Eastern literary findings on mythology, epics, and/or origins.  For example, in the Epic of Gilgamesh, the Epic of Atrahasis, and and the Tale of Adapa we find very similar themes and motifs found in the Bible:

• tricky and evil serpents 
• gardens
• food that gives and takes away life
• floods that kill of human race except one man, his close family/friends and some animals 
• In Sumerian list of the Kings we find lineages with extremely long life spans - indicating the significance of their rule

For more about the Bible and how it's similar to other ancient wittings, listen to "Hello, My Name Is..." (from the Grace Church podcast).

The bottom line...I think the question of whether Genesis, and in particular Genesis 1 -11, being a historically accurate account of what happened or not is not a hill we should die on!  That's not the point of the text.

The text is to be read theologically and typologically:

• It reveals to us the Maker of all things, the origin of all life - God 
• It reveals that all of creation was wonderful and good
• It reveals that all of humanity is significant and is the pinnacle of all creation -  for we, and we alone, are created in the image of God
• It reveals that all of humanity - since Adam means "man" and Eve means "woman", rebelled against God's created order; we were expelled from God's presence (typologically expressed as a "garden"); and the shalom of God (peace and perfect order) was replaced with a brokenness and an ever present evil.  Thus, it reveals that life is not as it should be.

I think Christians far too often get their undies all in a bundle over things that we should not be overly concerned with.  We end up looking foolish and, even worse, arrogant and spiteful because of this.

And let's be rational objective about both views...

If God is eternal and sovereign, as Genesis describes no matter how you read it, literally or non-literally, couldn't he create something outside of the scientific norms?  Couldn’t he have created plant life one day and the sun the next?  Couldn’t he create a rock that's a 60 billion years in a nanosecond?  Couldn't he have created species to have such strong DNA similarities with only small percentages of difference which separate a human from a dog?  Couldn’t he do that?  I think so.

And if God is eternal and sovereign, as Genesis describes no matter how you read it, literally or non-literally, couldn't he have simply chosen to reveal himself to the Hebrew people in a way that was culturally relevant - using symbolism and motifs they were already familiar with?  Do you even think that a finite people could even understand how the only infinite Being actually created everything?  Do you you think they, or we for that matter, could even understand how he actually did it all?  Don't you think there will be always be a wonder to how God works and how things came and come together?  I think so.

All the scientific questions are extremely interesting and worth peacefully discussing and contemplating. But let's NOT superimpose modern questions, that really make little difference in the whole scheme of things, onto these wonderful ancient documents that were meant to reveal the only true God who made everything, the purpose of humanity, what went wrong in the world (i.e., why there is death, pain, heartache, and suffering), and how, in the Gospel of Christ, promised in Genesis 3:15 and as N.T. Wright expresses it, God is putting everything in the cosmos back to rights again.

For more on the message of Genesis and how we can apply it's truth to our life - check out our teachings from our series entitled, Genesis: The Promise, on the Grace Church podcast.

As always, grace + peace to all of you.

Intro. to Torah + Genesis

They are not just idle words for you—they are your life. By them you will live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess. Deuteronomy 32:47

Intro to the Torah:
The Old Testament and Its Divisions - The 39 books of the O.T. can be divided as such:

• Pentateuch/Torah: Genesis - Deuteronomy
• Israel’s History: Joshua - Esther
• The Writings: Job - Song of Solomon
• Major Prophets: Isaiah - Daniel
• Minor Prophets: Hosea - Malachi

The division of O.T. books in the Hebrew Bible (Tanach) is a bit different from that in our English Bibles. (Ours finds its divisions by way of the second-century B.C. Greek translation known as the Septuagint.) The Hebrew Bible is divided into three parts:

• The Law (Torah or “books of Moses”)
• The Prophets (the Former Prophets, including Joshua through Kings [minus Ruth], and the Latter Prophets, including Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Book of the Twelve [the so-called Minor Prophets]),
• And the Writings (the Psalms [including Lamentations], the Wisdom books [Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs], Daniel, and the four narrative books of Ruth, Esther, Ezra-Nehemiah, and Chronicles).

 
The Significance of Torah and A Vision of Jesus:
Torah – (Hebrew: תּוֹרָה, "Instruction"), also known as the Pentateuch (Greek: Πεντάτευχος from πεντα- penta- [five] and τεῦχος teuchos [tool, vessel, or book]). For the Hebrew, the Torah was to be much more than 613 laws to obey. The actual laws, along with the worship/sacrificial rituals within them, were very important; but the essence (that to which the Torah points) and “heart” of the law was always most important and it was to dominate one’s passions, working its way into every category of life.

See Deut. 6:1-9; 32:47; Psalm 1:2; 119:34, 77, 165, 174

Why? Torah was the very Word of God and so connected to its sovereign author that some rabbinical teachings even personified the Torah. Torah, being the Word of God, in their minds, preexisted creation and God created everything through his Word. Thus Genesis chapter 1 records God (Elohim) as speaking the cosmos into existence.

This is also why John introduced Jesus in his Gospel by saying, “In the beginning was the Word….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. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:1-5). He linked, not only the Greek word logos (word) to Jesus, he also linked the Hebrew belief of things being made through Torah and that Torah was the light of the world (a common rabbinical teaching) to the work and essence of Christ himself.

The significance of all this is that the only to know and experience God for the Hebrew was through the Torah (especially after the temple was destroyed). John is/was saying the Torah has “now become flesh and made his dwelling among us” (John 1:13); meaning, God is now closer than ever! Furthermore, another common rabbinical expression about the Torah was that it was the truth, the life, and the way! Sound familiar? In John, retelling of some Jesus’ last words to his disciples, he writes:

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
If you really know me, you will know my Father as well.
From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” ~ John 14:6-7

The Book of Genesis:Questions about Title, Authorship, Date, and Original Audience:
The English title “Genesis” comes from the Greek translation of the Torah called, Pentateuch, and it means “origin,” a perfect title because Genesis is all about origins. The Hebrew title, Bereshith = “in [the] beginning”, from the first phrase in the book, serves as its title and is suggestive as to what the book is about. Genesis tells of the beginning of God’s story – creation, human disobedience, and divine redemption – while it also begins the Torah/Pentateuch, the story of God’s choosing and making a covenant with a people through whom he would bless all peoples (Gen 12:2–3).

In the strict sense, Genesis (and all of Torah for that matter) is written anonymously. But traditionally Genesis, like the rest of the Torah, has been ascribed to Moses and even labeled “the Books of Moses” (2 Chron. 25:4; Ezra 6:18; Neh 13:1; ect…). The other books of the Torah relate Moses' life and his role in bringing Israel to the borders of Canaan, and parts of these books are expressly said to have been written by Moses (e.g., Num. 33:2; Deut. 31:24). Genesis is clearly an introduction to the books that follow, so it is natural to suppose that if Moses was responsible for their composition, he must also have been the author of Genesis (cf. John 5:46).

Genesis reflects an origin in the second millennium b.c. For example, the flood story finds its best parallels in the Atrahasis and Gilgamesh epics and in the Sumerian flood story, which were composed in 17 centaury b.c.; while the genealogies of Genesis 5 and 11 find a parallel in the Sumerian King List, dated about 1900 b.c. As far as the patriarchal stories are concerned, many features show that they are at home in the early second millennium. Their names are typical of that period, and many family customs correspond to what is known from that era. The rise of Joseph to be vizier (the highest official in Ancient Egypt), though not mentioned in Egyptian texts, is quite feasible in the era of the Hyksos (Semitic rulers of Egypt, c. 1600 b.c.). Whatever date is preferred for Moses and the composition of the Torah, several centuries must have separated him from the patriarchs, during which the stories about them were presumably passed on by word of mouth.

The World of Genesis:
Genesis describes events in the ancient Near East from the beginnings of civilization to the relocation of Jacob's (Israel's) family to Egypt. The stories of Genesis are set among the oldest civilizations known to man (in ancient Mesopotamia).

The Division of Genesis:
The narrative of Genesis itself comes in two basic parts: a “prehistory” (chapters 1–11), the stories of creation, human origins, the fall of humanity, and the relentless progress of evil – all against the backdrop of God’s enduring patience and love – and the story of the beginning of redemption through Abraham and his seed (chapters 12–50), with focus on the stories of Abraham (11:27–25:11), Jacob (25:12–37:1), and Joseph (chapters 37–50).\

Things to Keep in Mind When Reading Genesis:
Most scholars agree, Genesis is an anthology - a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler. It is more highly unified than most anthologies, however, because all of the material falls into the overall genre of historical narrative. But it’s not like modern day history; it’s primarily a collection of what may be called hero stories – intermittent tales focused on a central character with whom the reader is to identify with – with interspersed genealogies. Even more specific, the first three chapters belong to a genre known as the story of origins. Genesis also has affinities with the epic genre because the story is one of universal history (chapters 1–11) and the origins of the nation of Israel (chapters 12–50).