Foreword

Jesus from the oldest sources: What resources are there to support today's uncommited investigator? What kind of book is the Bible? Where to start? How does it fit? What questions deserve a nod? What ideas could usefully be addressed? What hazards lie in the path? So I set out to produce this blog.

Literalist and/or fundamentalist? Liberal? Evangelical? Post- modernist? Presuppositions and predilections? Prejudice or spiritual blindness? I suppose these and other swear words might seem handy? (Do any of them apply in a truly literal sense?) It is one thing if a person applies one or more of these words to themselves. It is another thing if others use them to label. I think that broad generalisations are not helpful and I should avoid them.

I doubt anyone actually just takes all Bible expressions on apparent or simply literal face value. I do not see how that can be done. Maybe some folk have space for talking snake(s)? What about plucking out an offending eye? Both of those examples are found in 'our' Bible.

Not all the literature between the covers of the Bible is of the same type. Some is prose; some poetic; some is metaphorical. "Love your enemies" (Matthew 5:44) is one kind of text. Surely it is obviously different from ^"proclaim from the housetops" (Matthew 10.27). (Note also, both those quotes are ripped from their contexts, with signficant error if taken literally in the case of one.) In 26 of the 27 NT books the nature of the text seems clear, perhaps with the exception of the 3 'last things' chapters (Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21; the final NT book presents a different challenge!).

I found that academic theological studies can be interesting and productive. However, technical questions aside, some experts I read wanted to remake the NT (or Bible) to say what appealed to them; to reconstruct it to fit with their own notions and purposes. (Speculations can be engaging, but that is beside the point.)
 
Information and reasons are one thing; opinion another. (Which, of course, is my opinion!) True - many scholars devote themselves to minute and detailed examination of the Bible text. They can provide a lot of information about, and insight into, the ancient writings, especially in the original settings. Unfortunately, intelligent, perceptive and diligent people may become (even overt) Bible 'remakers'. (Later I intend to detail an example.)

My own approach in this blog is to treat all of the Bible as it is and reject none (though I do have sympathy for Luther's view of James!). There is a need for interpretation? The Bible is its own best interpreter (someone said). The significant 'catch', then, is to know the whole well enough to understand the part. It may take time.

Admittedly, here and there, there are 'variants', 'puzzles' and odd points of translation uncertainty. Resolution may not be available. Nothing fatal there to the task - and, since God is - not likely to be. From time to time I look at selected books or articles. However, in this blog I am not setting out to combat particular critical views, nor to present academic arguments. (Help can be found elsewhere if needed; for example, W:publicchristianity.org  may be useful to you.)

I shall aim to avoid suppositions, prejudices and unlabelled guesses. It is my position that God is true and God can be truly known. In fact God wants to be known and welcomes all-comers.

This blog is intended to help an enquirer engage with the NT. The main point is access to the records. So I will fill in some background and give some kind of 'glossary'. You can sample various translations. I suggest an optional order of engaging the documents (reading plan) in lieu of the assumed conventional (start at page one and read to the end)...

In my posts I give priority to the four Gospels, treating them as primary sources.  It is possible or probable that the first written text to come into the hands of early learners was something from Paul, eg, Galatians or Romans. However, the message the potential earliest disciple heard was from the (oral) account of Jesus, probably accompanied by selections from the Old Testament (OT).  

Overall, I am saying Jesus of Nazareth, Risen Christ (Messiah), Lord and Saviour, can, by God's help, be encountered and best truly understood through the pages of the NT, enriched by the OT. I hope you can meet him, whom to know is life eternal.  God bless you.

Scripture is taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Tune Out!

"Be deaf when anyone speaks to you apart from Jesus Christ,
Who was of the stock of David,
Who was from Mary,
Who was truly born, ate and drank,
was truly persecuted under Pontius Pilate,
was truly crucified and died
   in the sight of beings heavenly, earthly and under the earth,
Who also was truly raised from the dead,
His Father raising him".*

The style of these ancient words may be more familiar to some readers! I am focussing on the good advice in the first line, rather than the doctrine or dogma following it.

These slogans (creed-like phrases) were written by Ignatius of Antioch about 1,900 years ago. As we shall see, unsurprisingly Jesus had anticipated the problem. The false speaker was a problem from Jesus' own antiquity. 

Ignatius came just after the Apostles. He was one of those seeking to ensure the scattered groups of Christians held to orthodox beliefs. (I do wonder about one clause there, Ignatius!)  He was martyred in Rome about 110 CE.

Round about those times there were rival voices and even the emergence of rival/alternative/extra gospels. Strong leaders with alternative views gained followers and established belief communities. The complex overall situation in the century after the first Easter is obscure to me. Clearly, the spread of unorthodox teaching saw the emergence of contenders such as Ignatius. His admonition to listen only to those who speak through Jesus Christ is a telling one. (How, however, is that done?)

The debate over the fourfold Gospel (four, no more, no less) was probably beginning. Evidence comes from Irenaeus, disciple of Polycarp of Smyrna, who had been in Ephesus when the Apostle John lived there. Irenaeus was a missionary in the west (Gaul, a.k.a. France) (E. Britannica). It is overwhelmingly true today that the fourfold Gospel (Matthew; Mark; Luke; John) is securely established.

Beliefs? Credal formulas continued to be developed until the texts (creeds) known as 'Apostles' and 'Nicene' were adopted. Many Christian groups today profess adherence to the creeds. Some corporately recite the words from time to time. Sounds secure?  Might have pleased Ignatius, Polycarp, et al.? Maybe, but, a couple of years ago (2013 I think) I heard a current day (employed) leader in a professing body asked in a radio interview about the extent of their commitment to the doctrines regularly confessed. No real surprise but, I regret to say, the answer was that the professional's recitation of the creed was 'aspirational', rather than actual! So, the stated allegiance of a leader, or the identity of their salary paying body, or their formal label, unfortunately is no guarantee. Sadly, they may speak to you 'apart from Jesus Christ'. Difficult?

The only reliable test is specific comparison with the Gospels, the NT, the Bible. (Note, however, almost everyone claims Bible support.) You can and should check! Test everyone, including me! So Jesus had previously warned; John echoed him. Those truly informed by the Bible had resources to resist the blandishments of falsity. (This is largely a matter of knowing the whole, rather than a verse here or there.)

Matthew 7

True and False Prophets

¹⁵ “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. ¹⁶ By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? ¹⁷ Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. ¹⁸ A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. ¹⁹ Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰ Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

True and False Disciples

²¹ “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²² Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ ²³ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

I John 4

 1Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. ² This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, ³ but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.

This is not the 'full story'. There is more (similar) in my page, 'Be Alert'.

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. 

*Ignatius,  Trall. 9:4, quoted in J.N.D.Kelly, Early Christian Creeds, 3rd Ed., (London; New York: Continuum, 2006) 68 (in Google Books)

A bit Here; a bit There? v0.7ed

A personal disclaimer:
In spite of all the evidence I am giving to the contrary in this blog, I am not really fond of taking a thought, or line, from one place, and putting it with a sentence from another, and then making a case of it. Care and caution are needed!

God's Time!

"Unfortunately for Jesus, his timing isn't great".