righteousness/holiness vs. faithfulness

The word-group connected to righteousness in the OT is often associated with (Abrahamic) "covenant faithfulness" among NT scholars who follow the trajectory set by the "New Perspective of Paul" approach.  This seems right a priori.  After all, Isaiah makes the case in the second half of the book that righteousness and salvation are part of what Yahweh will be doing when he restores Israel from exile.  Thus,  Yahweh vindicates (right- word group) Israel and also Himself.  This is especially the case in the Third Servant Song in ch. 50, where Yahweh clearly vindicates His servant.

However, this approach fails to take seriously the overwhelming evidence in the corpus that connects righteousness to its legal and Deuteronomic background.  A quick cursory look at the data supports this (see Job below).  Furthermore, right- word group is also intricately connected to the conception of holiness.  Yahweh dwells in his temple/palace in Heaven (His permanent dwelling) in complete otherness (the primary definition of holiness).  He stands upon His throne as judge and he rules in righteousness and holiness.  Isaiah got a partial taste of Yahweh's otherness in Isaiah 6 when the heavenly attendants proclaimed Yahweh's holiness (in triplicate, a Hebraism which signals infinity).   This is not only true for Isaiah, but also for others, including Job whose primary concern is to vindicate his righteousness before Yawheh (ch 31) in light of his suffering.  Job simply cannot comprehend why he would suffer since he has obeyed God's laws, including, as he sees it,  the internal requirements of the law (covetousness).  However, when Yahweh responds out of his theophanic appearing in the "whirlwind" (ch 40), the discussion is about righteousness and whether Job can, as it were, "keep up" with God's own degree of righteousness (connected to His uniqueness as Creator; see Ps 50).  Here also in Job 40, the righteousness of God is deeply embedded in his justice as king.   Numerous examples elsewhere keep adding to this picture of the forensic background to righteousness in the OT so that "justice/righteousness" can be taken as word-pair in the same way that "heaven-earth" can.  

So, if righteousness is not primarily connected to (Abrahamic) covenant faithfulness in the OT, what do the writers of Scripture in the OT use to describe Yahweh's faithfulness and patience based on His covenantal promises?  Here, the evidence points to a different but equally primary term:  hesed-steadfast love or faithfulness.   It is His "steadfast love" that "endures forever." This covenantal faithfulness is  based on His promise that He would restore His people.  To be sure, this is also a manifestation of His righteousness in that he is uniquely (the idea of "holiness") able to restore His people, but this meaning is derivative, not primary when the topic of faithfulness is in view (see Nehemiah 9) 

It seems Paul can still be understood to use this meaning of righteousness also in Romans 1 where the righteousness of God is revealed  as a manifestation of his judgement of idolatrous and immoral humankind. 

Much more needs to be said here, to be sure, but it's important to define these fundamental terms properly if we are ever going to move the discussion forward (i.e., beyond the current debates) when it comes to articulating what it means to be declared righteous in Christ in the New Testament.

"Old Europe"

It appears that God is not quite entirely done with "Old" Europe.  Prime Minister David Cameron doesn't seem to think so as his stirring Easter message indicates. He mentions a recent trip to the Holy Land, the relief efforts during the floods organized by churches, the Alpha course, and emphasizing the love of neighbor as a defining trait of the Christian faith.  (Full disclosure: As a PM he also extends his warm greetings to members of the Sikh religion who celebrate Vaisakhi)

In my own work on early Israelite identities (time of the Judges), often time, identities are sharpened when they are defined against others.  In the climate of post-Christian Europe (and other places), this climate becomes a wonderful opportunity to define what Christianity is all about (over against other religions).  We should be thankful for Prime Minister Cameron to take the opportunity to speak to this on the occasion of what remains a major Bank holiday in Britain (and in the rest of Europe) next week. 

So, no, I don't believe God is done with Europe, at all.  He might just be getting started!


Jesus is risen! He is risen indeed!

Mercy Ships

Here is a GREAT organization worth investing in.  Mercy ships used to be part of Youth With A Mission and still maintain close ties with the mission.  Don and Deyon Stephens were part of the founding fathers of YWAM at the first base in Lausanne, Switzerland in the 70's.  These were  heady days when Corrie Ten Boom, Francis Schaeffer and others would come through the base and revolutionize these young people's lives.  They would then spread to the four corners of the world and found bases that are still pillars of the mission: among the ones close to my heart: Holmstead Manor in West Sussex (where I did my Discipleship Training School in 1984), Hurlach, a Bavarian castle near Munich, the King's Mansion, a gorgeous period mansion in Kealakekua, Hawaii, etc. etc.  But the MV Anastasis is my favorite.  This is YWAM's first ship and the stories behind the purchase and launch of this "mercy" ship are just great. They're included in the book,  Is that Really you God? by Loren Cunningham

I have my own story about the Anastasis.  When we started the SBS (School of Biblical Studies, a YWAM school) in Togo, West Africa in 1991, we didn't have a classroom, no furniture, no housing for ourselves, etc.  Basically we were starting this Bible school from scratch.  The Anastasis happened to be in Lomé, Togo at the time, doing their wonders with surgeries and helping those who were in need of medical attention.  Well, the ship had some old furniture from the original furnishings of the ship from the Fifties:  desks, dressers, etc. Thanks to our very resourceful  co-leader Paul Dangtoumda, from Burkina, we inherited some of these pieces of naval interior decoration. Our students were very thankful.  The whole time that the ship was in town, we made sure to visit the ship regularly and enjoyed some really good food.  What a great ministry.  Now, they have several ships, including the Africa Mercy, their largest ship which is currently in the Republic of  Congo. 

True compassion

David Wells' new book, God in the Whirlwind is a good tonic for the evangelical movement today.  At the risk of oversimplifying it, the central premise is that God's holiness cannot be divorced from His love, what Dr. Wells calls Holy-love.  It's a simple yet profound truth.  This twin idea converges at the Cross where the standard of holiness required by God's very own nature encounters His love as demonstrated by giving Himself up for us. 

When this delicate balance is tampered with, when love becomes a category based solely on some notion of tolerance, kindness and inclusivity, we inevitably lose something on the side of holiness.  Conversely, when holiness is emphasized at the expense of love, we end up with a mentality that judges rather harshly the failings of others and we soon forget that if we applied the standards by which we judge others to ourselves... well, let's just say there wouldn't be many of us looking too good in the end (to put it charitably).   Emotional and sentimental spirituality vs. coldhearted and smug religion.  Two very unattractive extremes!
So what we need to recover is what Luther found out for himself  half a millennium ago:  theologia crucis, a theology of the Cross where the holiness of God is fully displayed and preserved and where His love and compassion for sinners is equally manifested in full force.  Jesus lived out this dual truth: His acts of mercy and compassion and inclusion of sinners were NEVER divorced from his call to repentance and holy living.  In a stunning display of his compassion, he accepted and embraced the one everyone was ready to stone for her sexual sin.  He didn't condemn her BUT he also said: "go and sin no more."  So, the Gospel can never be less than a manifestation of God's love and compassion for the unlovable (sinners like you and me), but if we do not include the call to repentance, we actually dilute the meaning of His love and compassion.  It's only against the background of holiness that the full measure of His love can be manifested.  Preach the Cross, Billy Graham told himself as a young preacher.  Our works of compassion and mercy deserve no less. 

the myth of the calculator

A school (let's just say near Caltech) recently has made the argument that to ask MDiv students to learn biblical languages is no longer useful on the basis of the surge of technology in language tools.  The analogy made by a prominent professor at the same school near Caltech  is that just as the slide rule was replaced by the calculator, the language tools have now rendered obsolete the need to memorize vocabulary and verb paradigms.  The information is out there; therefore there is no need to learn the languages anymore to be good preachers of the Word.

At first, it sounds like a great idea.  No need to spend lots of time learning words that the tools can give you in an instant.  What's wrong with that?

Well, for starters, just because one is able to decipher individual words in a language by learning the alphabet and downloading a program that will give the semantic value of a lexeme in an instant DOES NOT mean the person understands how the language functions as a whole.  Anyone who has ever learned another language knows that there is a turning point in the process, when the system is learned, when the relationship between words start making sense in your mind and the meaning of individual parts are interconnected to others. 

This approach also reflects a rather limiting view of language learning and the value of knowing Greek and Hebrew syntax.  If the goal of learning of say Hebrew ( since this is where I spend most of my time) is only to translate and parse verbs, then, yes, I guess I could live with relying on the tools and translations available since they are going to produce the same result as my own translation of the text. Why spend 5 minutes looking up a form in a lexicon, when Dr. Accordance is handing you the answer in less than a second?  But, if we are looking at the text as a dynamic expression of meaning, then we are also deeply interested in the variations which are intended by the author to convey particular significance or emphases. In other words, this quest is at the core of our interpretation of God's Word.  Often, however, modern translators have smoothed over these variations in Hebrew syntax because the English (or French, etc.) syntax simply is not capable of conveying the precise nuance reflected by the Hebrew. Other times, because Hebrew syntax thrives on the conception of repetition, these very features are dissolved in translation because the English prose would be too "heavy" or repetitive if the exact Hebrew equivalency was retained.  There are countless examples of this phenomenon, but I guess it's not that important anymore.

The other argument made is that we should leave the actual learning of the language to a few specialists and so we can rely on their expertise via their technical commentaries.  Again, this sounds ok at first until you realize that if you take this approach you are basically capitulating the process of interpretation of the text to others.  No doubt commentaries are useful but as a preacher, I have to know what is going on in the text myself.  I need to "crack it open" myself, rather than relying on the commentaries to be the primary voice speaking about the text.  This second-handed knowledge of the text is precisely what the Reformers tried to move away from: "ad fontes" " back to the sources" was their rallying cry. 

Finally, the slide rule vs. calculator/ language learning vs. tools  is not working out too well as an analogy.  Pupils today are still  asked to learn their multiplication and basic math skills, even in the age where we walk around with unbelievably sophisticated devices that make the early calculators look like total clunkers.

All this will do, I fear,  is continue to create two tiered pastors:  those who have spent time in commentaries all week to prepare their sermons and those who have actually spent time in the Word, wrestling with the details of the text and their significance for interpretation.