Bible Topics

The secret to understanding the Holy Spirit is to keep the basic meaning of "spirit". In Hebrew and Greek, it means "breath" as the sign of life. Adam was a lump of clay until Yahweh breathed in the "breath of life" and he became living. Then the first Adam failed and had to be replaced. Mary and Joseph started off the "new Adam" with the "holy Breath." The New Adam left the "holy breath" to his followers. This Holy Breath is seen in harmony and sharing.

The theme of Matthew is "Basileia" of the Heavens — "kingdom of God." This is a Greek "eia" ending which always gives us an "ing" word in English. It refers to something that is being done right now. The only equivalent is in checkers. A person moves to the other end of the board and says "King me!" Then his checker takes on new power.

Matthew says a follower of Christ is "kinged." Then he describes all the powers of the process. It is not a quality that takes you out of the world but gives you the power to live in harmony in the world.

The idea of "kinging" is even better than I expected. The first Christians did not see themselves as founding a separate society. They were convinced of the sense of "sharing" that Jesus propounded. They were to carry this ideal into the world in which they lived.

The memory of Jesus was to be kept alive by the followers who were convinced and lived their ideals.

I have been smiling gleefully at the full description of a Christian in the Son of Man's own words in Matthew.

It takes in the whole notion of "Son of Man" from David which is the phrase for the "new Adam" or the "real Adam." Then it gives all the personal qualities of "kingship" which have been ignored in formal theology. Finally, it describes exactly how the "Harmony" or "koinonia" is to be established in the whole world by the lives of the followers of Jesus. Then the clincher is that this is a foretaste of what heaven is all about. Heaven is this "koinonia" with no glitches.

I lined up all the ideas on "Kingship" in Matthew. The part that strikes most forcefully is the clear description we get of heaven or after life. It is identically the same notion of "sharing" except the people involved are extended. All the people who measure up from the beginning of time will be there. We can know all these people and share our ideas, accomplishments and questions with all of them.

Homosexuality was a common part of all fertility cults of all the ancient peoples. The most prevalent was men with men and young boys who were conscripted for the royal courts in Rome, Athens, Egypt, the Middle East countries. The prophets were always warning against the practices but the people went for it wholesale.

Lesbianism was also common in the harems but no one made much of the problem because women were considered mere chattel.

We know from Paul's own statements that Luke edited some of his letters. We know from the Apostolic Fathers that Luke is credited with 3 major works yet we have only two in the New Testament.

My own conclusion is that Luke edited all the letters of Paul. The editing was done to remove some of the mean, self-centered comments of Paul. Luke tried to tone Paul down. First Corinthians was such a violent Pauline attack that Luke included this picture of Christian love to give a positive conclusion to the mean attitude of Paul.

The shepherd is a perfect picture of Christian leadership.

"To telos" are two important words. They mean end as "complete fullness." So the end of the world is not a moment when the whole world disintegrates. It means when the world is brought to its completion or fulfillment. We need only think of all the progress that has been made in the last fifty years by way of discoveries and inventions and we can see that the "telos" is an ongoing process.

When Christ was dying on the cross, his last word was "tetelestai." He bowed his head and died. This is the verbal form of "telos" and means "I have accomplished all I set out to do."

This morning I reviewed all the books of the Bible from the viewpoint of "Story" instead of factual history. I have this written but I have thought of a lot of refinements.

Genesis: The story of beginnings.

Exodus: The story of deliverance.

Numbers: The story of deliverance — continued.

Leviticus: The story of ritual and sacrifice.

Deuteronomy: The story of the covenant renewed.

Joshua: The story of entrance into the Promised Land.

Judges: The story of leaders, good and bad.

By using the word "story" we go back to the approach of years ago. We avoid the scrapping about "history." They are stories, some fact and some fiction, that answer the question "why," not "how."

I started to re-read Josephus. He was frequently quoted in reference to the Bible. Like Augustine, Josephus had an opinion on everything, liked to be on the cutting edge and often proposed opposite ideas in various presentations. I'll read more today.

I think the first generations of Christians had a good grasp of the ideals and plans of Christ. They lived as a group and infiltrated the society in their daily lives. The leaders of the Jews saw them as a threat. Rome was not about to buy a plan the exact opposite of their philosophy. Today, the Christian ideals have to be re-presented.

The real goal now is to write a description of Jesus, the Christ, as the people knew him during his public life. You said he should have left Jerusalem and he would have escaped death. I think not.

Jesus did not plan to do all this work by himself. He was a starter but his ambition was to get his message to the whole world. For this he needed convinced followers — able and willing to spread out and work on their own. This would not happen until he was gone and they caught the "spirit" as a personal conviction. So he "died" for his plans to show how convinced he was, and was raised from the dead as he had done for Lazarus.

I thought of a title for Paul's letters: "The story of Paul, the correspondent, and his editor, Luke."

The first writings of the New Testament era came from Peter. These are the Good News as Peter saw it and written by Mark in his Gospel and the two letters of Peter. The key thought is in 1 Pet. 3:15. To be a follower of Jesus, you must always have a firm conviction for your personal hopes, ideals and goals. This can be easily understood because it was the opposite that led Peter into his gigantic personal failure. He was not convinced until he made his mistake and learned the true meaning of the message of Christ the hard way.

Paul is a strong character of the overbearing domineering type. Fortunately, he hired Luke as his physician and Luke edited some of the harshness out of Paul. Both men were outstanding men and served during the Roman tyranny and the Jewish hatred.

Paul's letters are the oldest writings of the NT except for the gospel according to Mark. Each letter has at least one good positive point. Paul certainly set the stage for downgrading women. Yet Luke is the one who gave women their equality in the Gospel and Acts. Paul was really mean, assertive and pompous.

St. Paul started a group and then put an elder in charge. They gathered for their "basket suppers," talked, encouraged each other and went on. The only problem was "freeloaders." They brought no basket but dug into the food brought by all the others.

The elders were called "presbyteroi" in Greek. That's the word that becomes "sacerdos" or "priest" in Latin.

We were talking about my writing last night. I am not really concerned about the publishing at present. The writing is achieving two goals. Number One: I have a far keener insight into the persons of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. From what they accomplished, they were certainly Family #1 in the Jewish world. They were extraordinary because they did so many ordinary things well. They deserve the highest praise and respect and honor but it should never degenerate into maudlin drivel.

Secondly, my mind is constantly at work with new ideas and viewpoints into this big picture.

You mentioned the two basic teachings of Christ. First: "Kepha" or "Bedrock," and "Shepherd" as known in those days in Palestine.

Kepha in Mt 16:18. This notion stresses that all authority is a foundation on which the ideals of society are to be built. Authority was never to be a roof that clamped down from the top. Kepha or foundation stressed the ever broadening growth that was to develop.

"Shepherd" stresses that authority leads — not drives or pushes. The shepherd is out in front leading and calling. The shepherd knows each sheep individually and promotes the good of each. The sheep need only to respond.

This last figure was stressed in John's Gospel as Christ addressed Peter three times after the Resurrection. His question: "Simon, do you love me more than these? Then Feed my Lambs. Feed my sheep. Take complete care of the flock."

The word "Pastor" was kept so that this aspect of leadership would never be lost or changed.

There is no doubt the NT presents "Son of Man" as the primary title of Christ. Whether this was self-generated or developed by the early Christians is not certain. There is no doubt the early Christians looked on Daniel as their favorite. Regardless of the origin in the NT, the title will give a living vibrant picture of the personality of Christ.

The first major use of the title "Son of Man" is in Ezechiel. It is used over and over in the one passage where Ezechiel is given his mission — to go into exile with the first wave of Jews captured in 597 B.C. He is to convert the captive Jews and turn them back to Yahweh.

They did not listen and figured Ezechiel was just a pessimist. Yahweh would take care of them as he always had. The title "Son of Man" in this context refers to the universal aspect of Yahweh's plan. The stress is on "personal responsibility" throughout Ezechiel.

The next OT use of the phrase "Son of Man" is in Daniel in the 2nd century B.C. This is the reference referred to in the New Testament. The key notion here is the "new Adam." The old Adam failed to become true man as Yahweh intended so the Messiah is to atone for the "Old Adam" and establish the "real Adam." All the New Testament references will deal with the qualities of the "new Adam" from his first public adult appearance at his Baptism to his death on the cross when he gives back the breath of the first Adam.

When Christians live in the "Holy Breath" they establish the New Adam or true man.