Context
- The last few weeks, one of the bible teaching shows I frequent has had a guest on who leans into the Bible as a legal text
- That is, the Bible builds upon itself, laying out a foundation of rules and precepts that we are to follow not for salvation, but for sanctification
- While I tend to agree with that premise, we need to be cautious in practice
- In talking with my dad, he recommended a podcast that covers a ‘”haftorah” which is married with a section from the Torah and taught together basically a week at church for an average Jew
- The context of this one is married to Exodus 1 and speaks of a time that the Jews would be pulled from their land, brutally slaughtered, and then restored and all made right
Old Testament
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Isa 28:9-13
Who is the LORD trying to teach?
To whom is he explaining a message?
Those just weaned from milk! Those just taken from their mother’s breast!
Indeed, they will hear meaningless gibberish,
senseless babbling,
a syllable here, a syllable there.
For with mocking lips and a foreign tongue
he will speak to these people.
In the past he said to them,
“This is where security can be found.
Provide security for the one who is exhausted! This is where rest can be found.”
But they refused to listen.
So the LORD’s word to them will sound like
meaningless gibberish,
senseless babbling, a syllable here, a syllable there.
As a result, they will fall on their backsides when they try to walk,
and be injured, ensnared, and captured.
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God asks, “who is the bible for, tottlers?”
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Isaiah claims that only tottlers take a verse here or there as opposed to understanding the more abstract context of scripture
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God’s message is simple: “Provide security to the one who is exhausted. Offer rest” — basically, watch out for your neighbor, the oppressed, etc
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Some have made it judgements, measures (line meaning plumb line as in construction)
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God asks “am I speaking in a foreigh language?? THIS IS SIMPLE”
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As a response to his rhetorical, he makes (becomes v.13) the word of the LORD what they wanted, so that they may stumble back to Him
- Isa 29:22-23
So this is what the LORD, the one who delivered Abraham, says to the family of Jacob:
“Jacob will no longer be ashamed;
their faces will no longer show their embarrassment.
For when they see their children,
whom I will produce among them,
they will honor (sanctify, a call to action) my name. They will honor the Holy One of Jacob;
they will respect the God of Israel.
- Isa 29:22-23
What was the message here?
- This was prophesying the Pharasees
- They tended to ask for each measure, saying God’s word was too vague
- God is frusterated because his message is purely: sanctify my name and bless those around you; from there, things will largely work themselves out (v28-29)
New Testament
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We are to worship God not just in “truth” but also in Spirit
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John 4:23-24
But a time is coming - and now is here - when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such people to be his worshipers. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
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Mark 2:23-27 (Exodus 25:23-30; Leviticus 24:5-9)
Jesus was going through the grain fields on a Sabbath, and his disciples began to pick some heads of wheat as they made their way. So the Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is against the law on the Sabbath?” He said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions were hungry - how he entered the house of God when Abiathar was high priest and ate the sacred bread, which is against the law for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to his companions?” Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for people, not people for the Sabbath. For this reason the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”
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Then an apparent contradiction:
- Acts 15:25
But concerning the Gentiles who have believed, we wrote, having decided that they should abstain from meat sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled and from fornication.”
- 1 Corinthians 8:1-13
Now concerning things sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge makes arrogant, but Love edifies. If anyone supposes that he knows anything, he has not yet known as he ought to know; but if anyone loves God, he is known by Him. Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that there is no such thing as an idol in the world, and that there is no God but one. For even if there are so-called gods whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords, yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him. However not all men have this knowledge; but some, being accustomed to the idol until now, eat food as if it were sacrificed to an idol; and their conscience being weak is defiled. But food will not commend us to God; we are neither the worse if we do not eat, nor the better if we do eat. But take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. For if someone sees you, who have knowledge, dining in an idol’s temple, will not his conscience, if he is weak, be strengthened to eat things sacrificed to idols? For through your knowledge he who is weak is ruined, the brother for whose sake Christ died. And so, by sinning against the brethren and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause my brother to stumble.
- Paul’s opinion is that it’s impossible to eat meat sacrificed to an idol because an idol is not a valid thing to sacrifice to. He understands the spirit behind the letter of the law
- Acts 15:25
Secular
A child’s psychology (webmd):
- Ages 2-4 — no understanding of abstraction
- Ages 7-12 — children begin to understand logic and rationality, but only concretely (what they can see and touch)
- After adolence, adults are then able to understand abstract thought
- The risk to being a “concrete” thinker is lack of empathy, the inability to be flexible in thought, and lack of creativity
- Commonly, this is the black-and-white thinker vs someone who lives by the spirit
Important
Question: I can often turn God’s word into a checklist or think through exactly what the scripture says, thinking “did he really say…”. This is a lie from the devil and we should flee from this thinking! (Gen 3:1)The only response we are called to have is, instead, faith that things will work themselves out.What are some ways to safeguard ourselves from this line of thinking?