The Making of Right Texts, Wrong Meanings: Ephesians 2.14 and God’s Peace

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Ephesians 2.14, He is our peace, peace in the first century

I’m now blogging about chapter nineteen of my book.  Peace is what we desire in our lives and peace is what we often ask for.  Ephesians 2.14 can be quoted for its value in discussing peace.  Yet, we can see that this verse has nothing to do with the “feeling” of peace.

When looking at this verse, a lot of people see the discussion of the cross in 2.16 automatically points to the direction of peace between God and humans.  Yet, if we look closely, the author was not talking about peace between God and human in 2.14 at all.  The book context is important to determine the meaning.

Besides book context, we have to also look at how people in the first century construe peace.  Would the word “peace” evoke the idea of a psychological state?  In all the words associated with psychological state in that world, peace was probably not one of them.  In many cases, peace was a political word (e.g. Pax Romana).

As I always say, the texts are not at fault.  The interpreter is!

The Making of Right Texts, Wrong Meanings: 2 Corinthians 6.14 Unwittingly Invoked

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2 Corinthians 6.14, Do not be yoked together with unbelievers, unequally yoked

I’m now blogging about chapter eighteen of my book.  This one popularly misquoted verse almost always makes me choke whenever someone invokes it for the way Christian marriage or even dating relationship should work.

The faulty logic goes something like this.  2 Corinthians 6.14 has Paul telling his congregation not to associate with unbelievers.  Therefore, since our closest association is normally our marriage (unless you’re going steady with someone in a dating relationship), we should not marry unbelievers?  Make sense?

There’s only one slight problem with this usage of scripture; it is used out of context and from the wrong sphere.  Paul repeatedly analogized the problem with the temple and idol worshipping.  He contrasted righteousness with wickedness.  The word for wickedness can also mean “lawlessness”.  It is a strong word Paul used elsewhere (Rom. 6.19) for something that is the very opposite of purity.  On the surface, this verse could apply in broad principle to marriage, but then Paul went further to talk about the temple and God’s people.  He was talking about the religious sphere, the public worship life of the church.  What in fact would this way about the application of the verse?

Therefore, when we apply our verses, we must look at one important question, “Where would this verse be applied when the writer wrote it?”  Asking the right question of the text can often yield fruitful corrections to our misunderstanding.

As I always say, the texts are not at fault.  The interpreter is!

The Making of Right Texts, Wrong Meanings: 1 Corinthians 11.1 and Imtatio Christi?

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1 Corinthians 11.1, Follow me as I follow the example of Christ, Imitation of Christ, What would Jesus do?, WWJD

I’m now blogging about chapter seventeen of my book.  The great cliché “WWJD” (i.e. “What would Jesus do?”) is so well worn that many unbelievers are actively making fun of it by coming up with alternate sayings.  Besides the ignorance of most evangelicals of the question coming from the social gospel movement, the frequent usage of this phrase itself has become the running mockery of the evangelical faith.  Coming on its coat tail is the often quotation of 1 Corinthians 11.1 to “imitate me as I imitate Christ.”  Some preachers would personalize the “me” (i.e. apostle Paul) as themselves.  After all, it is easier for the congregation to listen to us when we identify with the “good guys.”

Such is not the meaning of 1 Corinthians 11.1 at all.  At the very least, this verse belongs to the bigger section of 1 Corinthians 10.14-11.1.  The overall topic is about how to navigate the sticky issues of a non-Christian society specifically with the area of eating idol meat.

1 Corinthians 11.1 is the conclusive remark of the great section. In other words, Paul’s command was the solution to the problems the Corinthians faced regarding idol meat.  In what way would imitating Christ becomes the solution of facing such gray area of life?  In what specific way should a believer imitate Christ to find such a solution? Would the believer imitate Christ in making water into wine? Would the believer imitate Christ by going into the temple and kicking out merchants?  Would the believer imitate Christ’s kosher diet?  Obviously, not all these solutions are workable.  Then what?  As long as the solution does not solve Paul’s problem, it is not the right interpretation no matter how well-intentioned and how traditional the meaning is.

As I always say, the texts are not at fault.  The interpreter is!

The Making of Right Texts, Wrong Meanings: 1 Corinthians 6.12-20 and the believer’s “body”

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1 Corinthians 6.15, 1 Corinthians 6.19, Body and the Holy Spirit, Christian drinking, Christian smoking

I’m now blogging about chapter sixteen of my book.  This is an interesting portion of Paul’s fiery letter to the Corinthians.  The two most quoted verses are 1 Cor. 6.15 and 6.19.

When I was young, I frequently hear these verses being quoted to me by well-meaning preachers and counselors who were trying to keep kids off cigarettes, drinks and drugs, or worse yet, tattoos.  The logic usually goes something like this.  If you don’t respect your body by taking care of it, you’re really not honoring God.  After all, the Spirit lives in that body of yours.  It all sounds good until we examine the verses.  As I grow older, I hear such verses to be quoted as evidence for the “indwelling of the Spirit” in a believer’s life.  The way that doctrine is explained sounds superstitious and mythological.  By then, these explanations no longer even sound good.

It is important to look at a larger context of Paul’s argument first.  Paul was not talking about drinking and smoking.  He was talking about people in the church going to prostitutes (or a singular prostitute).  He was talking about a more serious moral issue than what we think.

The verses also have a translation problem we should pay attention to.  This is where the limitation of English translation shows.

Paul curiously mixed his plurals and singulars in the two verses to form some unique concepts.  Let me point your attention to Paul’s construct.

For 1 Cor. 6.15, the translation can look something like this.

“Do you know that your bodies (plural) IS members (plural) of Christ himself?”

For 1 Cor. 6.19, the translation looks something like this.

“Do you (plural) not know that your (plural) body (singular) is a temple (singular) of the Holy Spirit, who is in you (plural), whom you (plural) have received from God?”

What we can see is that the first instance is talking about the bodies of believers but in relation to the greater church itself.   The second instance shows the singular Body of Christ and how each believer is related to it.  The Spirit then dwells within the Body not bodies.  Obviously, there are many more important concepts, applications and implications in these verses but you’ll have to read my book.  The important thing to take away from this is not just the popular meaning is misleading but that the seminary Greek class your pastors (and if you’re a minister, you) have taken need to come into use when understanding the meaning of scriptural passages instead of settling for the popular meanings because the popular meanings are frequently wrong.

By applying these verses out of context and out of their construct, we actually trivialize the seriousness of Paul’s admonition.  While I do not advocate drinking or smoking necessary, we should talk about some real sin that the Bible talks about rather than some imaginary hang-ups of modern fundamentalist Christians.

As I always say, the texts are not at fault