Bible Topics

When the writers gave us written accounts of the Resurrection in the Gospels, they were writing with their background of 1800 years of Jewish thought and in Semitic terms. Jesus Christ was presented as the fulfillment of their expectations but not in the way they expected.

When Jesus began his work, he was in a world dominated by the forces of Rome and the wild dreams of the Jews that they would see the restoration of the "Kingdom of God" by the world triumph of the Jewish people. The Messiah would do all this.

Jesus in no way wanted this kind of picture. He was to establish the "Koinonia" or community of all people in the Fatherhood of God seen in the Brotherhood of man. This was to be accomplished by the group of followers who would live his ideas and ideals and bring the whole world to admire and imitate.

Yesterday, I read through part of my commentary on John's Gospel. This is an early literary development of the 7 weeks of the new creation compared to the 7 days of the first creation. Christ is described as the New Adam and Mary is the "Woman" — the new Eve.

The Gospel received its final editing about 125 AD. Jerome says it was written as a tribute to the work and long years John had put in for the establishment of the Christian community. He had lived through the several waves of Roman persecution and had seen many a friend and convert die in the arena at the Coliseum.

I have been comparing the richness of the writings of the Bible. For a long time, the value of the individual writing was almost destroyed by the effort at "concordance." Everything was jammed together and the individual works were destroyed. It is like taking four art masterpieces of the same theme, jamming them all together, and then calling it a masterpiece. All four individual works are gone and the result is a meaningless mishmash.

John stresses that the whole idea and ideal of Christ is the mutual service and sharing with each other because of love. The first Christians had a grasp of this essential message.

"Son of Man" is used in Ezechiel where Yahweh is speaking to the prophet. The meaning in Ezechiel seems to stress the distance between God and man.

Then Daniel picks up the phrase several centuries later and gives it a clear turn to the future. Some person will come and will be called the Son of Man because he is willing to work with God in his plan for the universe. This is the passage quoted in all the Gospels as fulfilled in Christ. Christ uses it of himself in numerous passages. He is always emphasizing how he is presenting the key ideas and ideals of God as Father to man as son.

"Son of Man" is used often by Christ in connection with his "identity crisis." He knew what he was convinced he must do but he knew and was afraid of the total rejection this would bring. Yet he knew he had to follow his convictions or he would be a rank impostor.

We talked about the message of Christ and what theologians and churchmen have done with it. When Christ came, the leaders of the Jews — Sadducees, Pharisees and Scribes — had destroyed the message and calling of Israel. The Sadducees stressed the tithing for the Temple and all the material aspects of Jerusalem and the feasts and the Temple. The Pharisees were the sticklers for the minutiae of legalism and the Scribes fed the fanaticism of the Pharisees.

Christ removed the empty formalism of the Jewish practice. The message of Christ is service to each other. The "ekklesia" or "Qehala" is the "gathering" of the people and their sharing with each other. There was never to be a new big organization. The organization was already present. It was the civil society of each time and place. The followers of Christ were to live in this society and change the selfishness and greed by their example of harmony and sharing. This is what they did in the first 2.5 centuries and by 313 AD, the Roman Emperor himself was a Christian.

Because of the time in which Jesus lived, he was convinced something had to be done to turn the human race away from crimes of hatred, murders, theft, wars. All these attitudes destroyed. So Jesus came up with his plan. It all boiled down to the one notion of harmony and sharing based on mutual respect. This was the "Holy Spirit" that he bequeathed to his followers.

His followers would be called his "gathering." They would live in regular society and by their "Holy Spirit" they would lead people to admire and imitate and change.

As I read through some of my writings yesterday, I found a lot of ideas about "spirit" or "breath" as it develops through the Bible. The "lump of clay" received a "breath" in his nose and became a living being. Then Elijah had a special "breath" that made him the father of the Prophets. Other prophets shared in the "breath" of Elijah. Isaiah described all the effects of this "breath" in the just person. These were called in the Roman catechism the "seven gifts of the Holy Spirit."

Then the "Holy Breath" shows up in the NT. Mary shared in it before the conception of Christ. Finally, Christ says he has to leave or the Apostles will never get the "Holy Spirit." They will be dependent on him. Once Jesus is gone, the Apostles will develop this "Holy Spirit" — the special gift of sharing and harmony.

The more fully a person identifies self with the Holy Spirit, the greater the person becomes. This is the only point of judgment at the end. According to the degree in which a person shared with the people around him or her, the more real and developed the identity of the person. If there is no Holy Spirit, a person has no identity.

I have had oodles of mental delight talking with the real Jesus Christ as he was known by the Apostles. I think two things are contributing to these pictures. First, I have been reading some of my previous writings. The book on People in the Bible has presented the "brothers and sisters" of Christ. These were the other children of Joseph and Mary. One of them is the person who tried to get Jesus to keep quiet because he would embarrass the family. Another one told him to do some of these great deeds in his hometown so the neighbors could see them.

I want to do a complete study of "Vengeance" in the Bible.

The English word is far too restricted for the Biblical idea. In our language, the word means literally "getting even" with someone for a real or fancied wrong. "Getting Even" is the starting place. Then the avenger goes farther. The Biblical words mean a just requital without making matters worse. It is a delicate balance of justice, equity, fairness, forgiveness and harmony.

The people were not about to reach this ideal. So Yahweh says he will take over. The Jews established the 3 Cities of Refuge or Sanctuary on each side of the Jordan. This was to insure a fair trial for any accused. They were greatly abused.

Jesus handles this idea several times in the NT. The parable of the Prodigal Son is one of the best developments. Peter thought he was really generous when he offered to forgive up to 7 times. Jesus' answer was "70 x 7." The first word on the Cross showed Jesus practicing what he preached.

The letter of Jude is only a note of 25 verses. There was a lot of discussion of his identity. There is a Thaddaeus in one list of Apostles and a Jude in another. Many think these two names refer to the same person. The note is short and hard to define. It was considered authentic.

The gist of his note is a strong warning to avoid falling into sinful habits, especially those connected with the fertility cults. The people he addressed seemed to be bringing some of the fertility cult practices into their way of life.

I went through my commentary on the Letter of Jude. It stresses the necessity to avoid falling into temptations, falsehoods and sins of the surrounding society.

Then I opened my file on the Book of Proverbs. Roland Murphy wrote a short article on the need to preserve the succinct format of the Proverbs. Translations tend to write flowing sentences and lose the sharp impact of the idea being proposed. I follow his suggestion in my translations. I'll finish this work today.

You read the story of Balaam and the talking jackass. I was talking about this story one time and one of the members of the class said the real surprise was not that the donkey talked. The real point of the story was that Balaam answered him. Another member of the class said he'd known lots of jackasses who talked.

The proverbs in the book of Proverbs should be written as they are in Hebrew and stress the poetic form that makes the meaning stand out. Roland Murphy advised translating more accurately to preserve the Hebrew idiom. I have separated the two parts by two spaces, two colons, and two spaces. If they are too long to fit on one line, I'll choose some other method.

I reviewed what I wrote on the Identity of Jesus Christ. I edited some words and deleted others so that the whole unit flows better.

I like what I have because I now have a real person who can be known, admired and followed. Jesus definitely saw his ideas as beneficial to all people if they were understood, accepted and followed. There was no special organization that would set itself up. It would simply be his convinced followers living his ideals in their time and place.

I came up with a title for all my writing: "The Gospel: Who Jesus Christ was in the World of the Caesars!! The Christian: Who Jesus Christ is in the World today!" Christ said "By this shall all people know you are my convinced followers by the love you have for each other." This love for each other, the mutual sharing, harmony and peace is the Holy Spirit.

Old Testament — Jesus Christ in preparation.

Gospels — Jesus Christ in the Roman World.

Christians — Jesus Christ in the World, Today.

These ideas make an introduction to most of my Biblical writings.

I think I have the general summary of my writings figured out.

The overall title is: Jesus Christ Comes!

A. People prepare for the coming: Adam to Daniel.

B. Jesus in the Roman World. Mark, Luke, Matthew and John.

C. The Christian: Jesus in the World Today: Acts to Apocalypse.

At night, as I go to sleep and often when I sit in the chair, I revolve these ideas before my mind. I frequently get a new view or new ideas. At these times, Jesus Christ is real. I can talk with him and he seems to add something or answer a question. This is meditation at its best.

Everyone in the Jewish world was certain that the Messiah was soon to come. In fact, numerous men had risen in the same time period and all had proven to be fakes. The popular idea was that the Messiah was to be a great military leader, like David. He would restore the temporal kingdom.

This was why Jesus forbade Peter to use the name "Messiah" about him. Jesus carefully describes the Kingdom of the Heavens or the Kingdom of God. It is something within us and can be seen. It is something that has to be established by his followers. It is something that will reach its fullness only at the fullness of time.

When Pilate finally asked Jesus, "Are you then really a king?" Jesus responds with the words, "You have that right! For this was I born and for this have I come into the world!" Pilate was totally befuddled and walked away. The title attached to Jesus' cross was "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews."

I did a lot of thinking on the description I wrote of Jesus Christ and his mission. The Gospel writers all stressed a particular aspect of the ideas and ideals of Jesus.

For Mark, who was using Peter as his source, the stress is all on personal conviction. We can understand why Peter stressed this idea so much. Because of his lack of conviction, he failed when confronted with his showdown. Hence in his letters and in Mark's Gospel he stresses over and over the need of conviction.

Luke is the medical doctor. From his writings, his concern is for health in the full sense of the term: physical, mental and spiritual. He stresses the dignity of women and universality of salvation or "health" to be expected. He did everything he could to edit out Paul's meanness from his letters and still preserve the teaching.

Matthew is completely taken with the full notion of Kingship and how this is to be established in the person and in the world. He really stresses the fact that the whole notion of Kingship is to be effected in the harmony and sharing of all the followers.

John is concerned with the new Adam and the New Eve. Jesus and Mary restored the original ideals and goals and went beyond. Success is possible for everyone.

As I was reading and editing my Biblical writings, I realized that the principal outcome for me is the sense of reality I now have with regard to various people, especially Jesus Christ.

He was always a sort of nebulous untouchable until I realized how frightened he was by the antagonism and enmity of the Jewish leaders. He was thoroughly convinced of his ideas and ideals. He wanted them kept alive and spread by his followers. Yet he knew how fickle the crowd really was.