Christopher Watkin on Christianity, Society, and Freedom

The latest Cambridge Paper from the Jubilee Centre is available online here (from where a pdf can be downloaded), this one by Christopher Watkin:

Christopher Watkin, ‘Are Christianity and Society in Conflict: The Case of Freedom’, Cambridge Papers 28, 2 (September 2019).

Here is the summary:

‘We increasingly hear the argument that biblical values are in fundamental conflict with contemporary Western society, but is that really the case? This paper considers the example of freedom, a core value of Western liberal democracy and also a major biblical theme. Paul’s treatment of the dominant values of his day in 1 Corinthians 1 shows the inadequacy both of straightforwardly opposing biblical and societal values, and of seeing them in simple continuity. The paper draws implications from Paul’s cruciform account for the areas of evangelism, apologetics, and cultural critique.’

Preaching by Listening to Paul

The below article has been posted on the website of the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity as a supplementary piece to the resource on whole-life preaching.

Paul’s letters unfold to congregations the significance of the good news of what God has done in Jesus, and the summons to live worthy of God’s call on their lives – within the community of faith and in the face of the wider world. His letters are not sermons, clearly, but they were written as a substitute for his presence, read out loud in Christian gatherings, and so give some indication of what Paul would have said had he been present. If Paul’s letters do provide a window of sorts into his preaching, they might give us a model for our preaching ministry more generally.

What, then, do we learn from Paul about preaching?

1. We preach to a people who are being discipled by culture

Learning a certain pattern of life is inevitable. It’s not a question of whether we will or won’t be ‘discipled’ as we go about our lives, but of who or what will disciple us. Many problems in the church at Corinth, for instance, had to do with their tendency to think and act in ways that were typical of first-century Corinth. On issue after issue that Paul tackles, there was an uncritical acceptance of the values and behaviour of the society in which they lived.

Here, then, is a reminder that Christians need to be discipled for the places where they spend the majority of their time, and for the particular challenges and pressures they face there. As we take our cue from Paul, we can see the significance of preaching which seeks to nurture Christian communities – in Colchester or Cleethorpes as much as in Corinth – into the likeness of Christ.

But how do we do this?

2. We preach to remind people of the gospel of God

In his letters to different churches, Paul is able to appeal to what’s foundational in their various circumstances, taking his cue from the core events of the death and resurrection of Jesus, through which the Christians have been saved and brought together as one in the body of Christ. In doing so, Paul often reminds his congregations of what they already know or have previously been taught – a helpful encouragement that we don’t have to say something new every week!

Back in Corinth, the gospel is core to how Paul directs the church there. Paul calls the Corinthians to a different way of living, to rethink the norms and practices of their society in the light of the gospel. So, in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, Paul reminds them of the gospel he had preached to them as something he had himself ‘received’ and ‘passed on’. Jesus Christ crucified and risen again, ‘according to the Scriptures’, is the ‘good news’ that Paul preached, on which the Corinthians have taken their stand, and by which they are saved. Following Paul’s example, we should never be embarrassed about reminding God’s people about the gospel they already know – a gospel in which we stand, a gospel through which we are being saved.

In fact, the whole of 1 Corinthians invites us to reflect on how the good news of the death and resurrection of Jesus – which stand as bookends between chapters 1 and 15 – calls us to live. Paul assesses cultural values (such as wisdom and power) in the light of the cross and resurrection, and calls the Corinthians to live out the implications of the gospel. Such an approach encourages us to preach letters like 1 Corinthians from the perspective of our missional identity and see how what Paul says shapes us in our own walk of faith, hope, and love.

But such an identity flows from our place in the bigger story of God’s work in the world, from creation to new creation.

3. We preach to draw people into a bigger story

Paul wrote letters, not stories, but his letters have ‘a narrative substructure’ – the story of God’s dealings with Israel, and with the whole of humanity, indeed with the whole creation, from the beginning of all things to the renewal of all things.

Sometimes the story bubbles to the surface of his letters so that we get a short summary of it, as in Philippians 2:5-11 or Colossians 1:15-20. Much of the time, though, it’s implicit, and Paul can allude to it, or refer to particular parts of it to make a point – Abraham here, the law there, the temple here, the wilderness wanderings there. This shows how Paul deals with issues on the ground in specific contexts not in an ad hoc way, but by appealing to the larger story of God’s dealings with his people and with the world, and the place of Christ in that plan.

It’s on this basis that Paul calls his congregations to be a part of an alternative world – the new creation God has brought about in Christ – and to a way of living that runs counter to their previous way of life and the life of the world around them. This is not to escape the world, but to enable them to live in it with integrity as followers of Jesus, as those who take their identity from Christ, bearing witness to him in word and deed, participating in God’s own mission to the world.

For reflection or discussion

1. What can we learn as preachers from what Paul is doing in:

• 1 Corinthians 10:1-13?

• Romans 8:28-39?

2. Which part or parts of the big story told in Scripture are particularly pertinent to your congregation at the moment?

More Videos from the Bible Project

The Bible Project continues to put together a series of helpful short videos, some of which introduce the structure and themes of biblical books, and others of which trace some major themes through the entire Bible.

Since I lost posted on this, several other Bible book videos have been made available (including on Ruth, Job, Psalms, Matthew, 1 Corinthians, and Hebrews), and one themed video on atonement.

Check them out from here (click on ‘Videos’ or scroll down to the ‘Videos & Study Guides’ section) or see them all via YouTube here.

Horizons in Biblical Theology 33, 2 (2011)

The latest Horizons in Biblical Theology carries four interesting-looking main essays, with the following summaries:

Nicholas Ansell

On (Not) Obeying the Sabbath: Reading Jesus Reading Scripture

This essay examines the sabbath controversy of Mark 2:23-28 to see how Jesus faces the challenge of biblical interpretation as he models what it means for his disciples to image God in freedom. In dominant approaches to the Gospels, the interpretive process set in motion by this passage, which I characterize as ‘reading Scripture reading Jesus reading Scripture,’ is confined to its earlier stages – a reductionism that calls for hermeneutical reflection. If a narrative has a ‘life of its own’ beyond authorial intention (indispensable though the author may be), can we say the same about a character who is central to a narrative? If so, is ‘the Jesus of Mark’s Gospel’ ‘more than’ the ‘Markan Jesus’ of much scholarly concern? This essay seeks to develop an intertextual, Christocentric hermeneutic by attending to the implicit as well as explicit ways in which Jesus’ reading of Scripture takes place ‘within’ the Gospel narrative.

James E. Robson

Forgotten Dimensions of Holiness

This article explores a sometimes forgotten dimension of divine holiness, divine holiness as love. It starts by reflecting on an apparent incongruity between the New Testament summary of the law, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself” (Lev 19:18) and that verse’s context in Leviticus, where a more probable summary is the call, “Be holy for I, YHWH your God, am holy” (Lev 19:2). It examines the significance of the conjunction of Lev 19:2 and 19:18, and argues that it is appropriate to speak of love as a dimension of divine holiness. In the main part of the article, which looks at the Old Testament more widely, including Exodus, Ezekiel, Isaiah, Hosea and the prayer life of Israel, divine holiness as love is evident on closer examination in three ways: holiness and self-disclosure, holiness and saving activity, and holiness and divine presence.

Yung Suk Kim

“Imitators” (Mimetai) in 1 Cor. 4:16 and 11:1: A New Reading of Threefold Embodiment

When it comes to the language of “imitation” (mimesis) in Paul’s letters (1 Cor. 4:16; 11:1; Phil. 3:17; 1 Thess. 1:6-7; 2:14), divisions among scholars are most clearly manifest. At one end of the scholarly spectrum, Paul follows a Stoic model of imitation, according to which the teacher exhorts pupils to follow him, based upon his authority established (demonstrated) by good conduct. Accordingly, Paul is viewed as an advocate of the Hellenistic ideal of unity at the expense of diversity. At the other end of the spectrum, Paul is seen as a social conservative and an obstacle to true liberation. Here the idea of imitation serves as a means of control and domination of others, as post-colonial and feminist scholars have pointed out. So Paul’s exhortation to “be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1) is understood as a demand for sameness, an appeal to copy Paul. However, the language of imitation can be read through the eyes of “embodiment” – a way of life, as an alternate meaning of imitation in 1 Corinthians, which will lead to the involvement of three aspects of God, Christ and the believer. I argue that imitation in 1 Corinthians is neither a copy or sameness nor a type or model to be emulated by the Corinthians. Rather, it should be understood as a way of life rooted in the image of Christ crucified, which plays a central role in the letter, deconstructing abusive, destructive powers in a community and society and reconstructing a beloved community for all.

Mark McEntire

The God at the End of the Story: Are Biblical Theology and Narrative Character Development Compatible?

If the end goal of theology of the Hebrew Scriptures is a description of God and God’s relationship to the world, then the Hebrew Scriptures present us with a dilemma. It is increasingly apparent that the Tanak provides a wide variety of portraits of the divine being. There are two basic possibilities for making use of all of these portraits. The first option is to lay all of them out on a level surface and allow them be in dialogue and tension with one another. The second option is to place these portrayals on a trajectory which gives a position of privilege to those which are at some particular point along the path. Of course there are three choices of trajectory: Historical, canonical, or narrative. The last two differ far more for the Christian Old Testament than for the Tanak. A strictly narrative approach, which reads the biblical story from Genesis to Nehemiah, presents a divine being who is changing and developing as a character, a process which has been well demonstrated over the past decade by Jack Miles, Richard Elliot Friedman, W. Lee Humphreys, Meir Sternberg, Jerome M. Segal, and others. There is general agreement that the divine character portrayed at the end of this narrative trajectory is the one which matches the religious experience of those who were putting the literature, both the individual books and the canon, into its final form. This conclusion would seem to point toward a narrative method of doing theology which gives this endpoint a place of privilege, an observation which raises two questions. First, does this match the actual use of texts by those who are attempting narrative approaches to biblical theology? Second, what role do those portrayals which present earlier stages in the divine character development play in a narrative approach to a theology of the Hebrew Scriptures?

Vaughan Roberts on True Spirituality through 1 Corinthians

Vaughan Roberts, True Spirituality: The challenge of 1 Corinthians for the 21st Century Church (Nottingham: IVP, 2011), 224pp., ISBN 9781844745180.

Here’s another helpful-looking book from Vaughan Roberts, this one considering the nature of spirituality through an exposition of 1 Corinthians.

After an Introduction, his treatment of the letter is divided into eight portions:

1. True spirituality focuses on Christ’s cross, not on human wisdom

2. True spirituality respects faithful leaders, not flashy ones

3. True spirituality demands holiness, not moral permissiveness

4. True spirituality affirms both marriage and singleness, but not asceticism

5. True spirituality promotes spiritual concern, not unfettered freedom

6. True spirituality affirms gender differences, but not social divisions

7. True spirituality prioritizes love, not spiritual gifts

8. True spirituality focuses on a physical future, not just the spiritual present

Roy E. Ciampa and Brian S. Rosner on 1 Corinthians

Roy E. Ciampa and Brian S. Rosner, The First Letter to the Corinthians, Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids/Nottingham: Eerdmans/Apollos, 2010), ISBN 9781844744848.

With the exception of D.A. Carson’s commentary on John, I was fairly disappointed with the first few volumes in the Pillar New Testament commentary series. However, more recent volumes, in my opinion, have been excellent; the last few years alone have seen the release of commentaries by Douglas J. Moo on Colossians and Philemon, David G. Peterson on Acts, G. Walter Hansen on Philippians, and Peter T. O’Brien on Hebrews (to join his earlier excellent entry on Ephesians). Now the series taken as a whole is shaping up to the best, if not the best, of commentaries written from an evangelical perspective at this level.

Having some familiarity with Brian Rosner’s work elsewhere, I’ve been looking forward to this one on 1 Corinthians. I expect it will become a standard mid-level evangelical work to refer to on the letter for a new generation of students, a position that Gordon Fee’s commentary held for quite a long time.

There is a very generous excerpt available here, which includes the Introduction and part of the commentary on chapter 1. And the bibliography is available here.

The Introduction takes in the church in Corinth, the identity and aims of Paul, the interpretation of 1 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians in recent research, and some features of the commentary.

A nice paragraph at the end of the Introduction caught my eye, where they describe 1 Corinthians as:

‘Paul’s attempt to tell the church of God in Corinth that they are part of the fulfillment of the Old Testament expectation of worldwide worship of the God of Israel, and as God’s eschatological temple they must act in a manner appropriate to their pure and holy status by becoming unified, shunning pagan vices, and glorifying God in obedience to the lordship of Jesus Christ.’

Here is how they outline the letter:

I. Letter Opening, 1:1-9

A. Salutation, 1:1-3

B. Thanksgiving, 1:4-9

II. True and False Wisdom and Corinthian Factionalism, 1:10–4:17

A. Request for Unity, 1:10-17

B. Condemnation of False Wisdom: The Wisdom of this World, 1:18–2:5

C. Affirmation of True Wisdom: The Wisdom of the Cross and the Spirit, 2:6–3:4

D. Reflections on the Nature of Christian Leadership, 3:5–4:17

III. “Flee Sexual Immorality” and “Glorify God with Your Bodies,” 4:18–7:40

A. Condemnation of Illicit Sexual Relations: “Flee Sexual Immorality” (and Greed), 4:18–6:20

B. Affirmation of Sexual Purity: “Glorify God with Your Bodies,” 7:1-40

IV. “Flee Idolatry” and “Glorify God” in Your Worship, 8:1–14:40

A. Condemnation of Idolatrous Practices: “Flee Idolatry” (Food Offered to Idols), 8:1–11:1

B. Affirmation of Edifying Worship: “Glorify God” in Your Worship, 11:2–14:40

V. The Resurrection and Consummation, 15:1-58

A. Affirmation of the Central Role of the Resurrection of Christ in the Gospel Message, 15:1-11

B. Explanation of the Consequences of Denying the Resurrection of the Dead, 15:12-19

C. Explanation of the Significance of Christ’s Resurrection, 15:20-28

D. Exhortation in Light of Positive and Negative Responses to the Resurrection of the Dead, 15:29-34

E. Answers to Philosophical Objections to Belief in the Resurrection of the Body, 15:35-49

F. Explanation of the Necessity of the Resurrection for the Realization of God’s Ultimate Victory, 15:50-57

G. Final Appeal in Light of the Affirmation of the Resurrection, 15:58

VI. Letter Closing, 16:1-24

A. Instructions for the Collection for the Saints, 16:1-4

B. Travel Plans, 16:5-9

C. Request on Behalf of Timothy, 16:10-11

D. Update regarding Apollos, 16:12

E. Exhortations, 16:13-14

F. Commendation of Stephanas, 16:15-18

G. Greetings from Others in Asia, 16:19-20

H. Paul’s Final Greeting and Farewell, 16:21-24