The controversy of New Perspective heats up
28 Wednesday May 2014
Posted N. T. Wright, Tom Wright
in28 Wednesday May 2014
Posted N. T. Wright, Tom Wright
in24 Saturday May 2014
Posted apocalyptic literature
inI’m going to blog about chapter 27 of my book. The passage of Rev. 7.1-17 is quite difficult. People have been fascinated by it, sometimes to an unhealthy degree. Their main fascinations by it are two. First, many would speculate on what the 144,000 people are. Second, some may go further to what the seal meant.
Once again, the method to solve the identity exists both within and outside of the text. Within the text, how does number function in Revelation? As I said before, we need to make sure our system of interpretation is consistent within Revelation. 144,000 is a number in multiples of 12 and 10. How are 12’s and 10’s used in Revelation? What about the sealing of the forehead in Revelation? Within the storyline, what did the sealing mean for the entire story of Revelation itself? Is there another instance of sealing in Revelation? How about 666?
Another item within the storyline that deserves our attention is the identity of Israel? Who is Israel? Many commentators just speculate that this Israel is the same as the Jews in Romans 11. Before we can harmonize Paul and John, we have to ask how language of nationality and nations functioned in the book. For the answer, we have to look at all instances of geographical locations and nationalities in the storyline of Revelation to determine the meaning of Israel instead of assigning it arbitrary meaning based on other biblical texts that may not even be related at all.
External to the text, what would numbering of people do in the time of John? The social and political function of numbering something we need to consider. What about the image of a seal on the forehead? How did John’s audience see a seal to the forehead? What did sealing of the forehead or any other body part do?
These are the hints in solving the problem.
As I always say, the texts are not at fault. The interpreter is!
22 Thursday May 2014
Posted church, discipleship, Matthew 18, Right Texts Wrong Meanings
in
11 Sunday May 2014
Posted Right Texts Wrong Meanings
inI’m going to blog about chapter 26 of my book. Rev. 3.20 is the bedrock of many gospel tracts. People usually start by saying that God has a purpose for you and ends with the punch line of Revelation 3.20. They would tell the unbeliever that Jesus was knocking on the door and that all they had to do was to open up the door to let Jesus in.
The spiritual meaning of this verse is obviously analogizing the person’s heart as the door and Jesus can somehow “come into your heart” through that door. Besides a questionable description of how a person comes to faith, this usage of Rev. 3.20 is just plain wrong.
When reading the text, the most basic question to ask is, “To whom was this material written?” The incorrect answer is always “To me.” The answer should be obvious, but when the author says “anyone” whom did he mean? Believer or unbeliever? The answer to such a set of questions would seem obvious, but with the wrong traditional interpretation, the right answer is never obvious.
As I always say, the texts are not at fault. The interpreter is!
06 Tuesday May 2014
Posted Uncategorized
inTags
As I indicated in my previous posting here, the “story” about the “Jesus’ Wife” fragment (and the other items in the small cache of papyri placed with Prof. Karen King) seems now increasingly clearly one of fakery and deception. To their credit, the news media that so eagerly took up the Harvard Divinity School’s press releases and pronounced the fragment one of the most important discoveries about early Christianity of all time, have now begun to pick up on the evidence of fakery.
I’ve previously cited a few recent stories, and there is now another recent one, a 05 May story in the Washington Post here. For more links, see Mark Goodacre’s “roundup” of developments here, which includes a link to the PBS interview with Michael Peppard here.
Update: Although cited in a recent New York Times article as still entertaining the authenticity of the “Jesus’ Wife”…
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04 Sunday May 2014
Tags
I’m going to blog about chapter 26 of my book. Rev. 3.16 has had its fair share of misreading. The usual meaning can be summarized by a famous mega-church pastor’s Facebook update, “Nowhere does the Bible say, ‘Because you’re white hot, I’ll spew you out of my mouth.’” This little sound byte (which happens in pulpits all across the US every Sunday) may preach well. The only problem is, the Bible also doesn’t say that Christ would spew you out of his mouth because you’re cold. In fact, Christ may like cold water. That’s just my guess from reading Matthew 10.42. I could be wrong. He could also like hot water. The problem with this kind of interpretation is that it has mistaken that the original readers analogize the biblical analogy in the same way and that somehow they experience life the way we frame our spirituality. In this case, nothing is further from the truth.
In my last two blogs, I’ve discussed the importance of reading the text based on the experience of first century. One of the experiences would be geography. Water existed in geographical locations in those days. People would get the water from such locations and make use of it. Thus, in this blog, I will lay out the geographical experience, and you decide the meaning.
Laodicea (modern town of Laodikeia) located in the middle of Lycus River that came down through the Lycus Valley in Asia Minor. Downstream from it was Colossae. Due to the volcanic activities, the upper Lycus Valley, in the areas of Hieropolis, possessed hot springs that were beneficial for healing. By the time the water reached Laodicea, it would’ve been luke-warm. As the water continued to make its way down to Colossae, its impurity had been cleansed and the Colossians could drink the cool water. Thus, in upstream area of Hieropolis, the hot water had a better use for healing. In the downstream area of Colossae, the cold water was great for quenching thirst. Right in the middle was Laodicea where the luke-warm water was. Think about what Rev. 3.16 actually was saying.
As I always say, the texts are not at fault. The interpreter is!
PS. For more reading on the geography of the Seven Churches, get Colin Hemer, The Seven Churches of Asia Minor in their Local Setting.