Stephen M. Miller

Pick the true statement

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Q

ONLY ONE STATEMENT IS TRUE. Which one?

  1. At least one of the four Gospel writers said Jesus was nailed to the cross.
  2. An Olympic champion swimmer can beat a Nile crocodile in a 50-meter race.
  3. Apostle Paul, who told Timothy not to let women speak in church at Ephesus, was a married man.
  4. Abortion is not a topic specifically mentioned in the Bible.

A

Yeah, let’s start the weekend getting in trouble.

The correct answer is number four.

Though the Bible frowns on murder, there’s no specific mention of abortion. And abortions were taking place in Roman times, when Jesus ministered. If he addressed the topic, none of the writers picked up on it. Because there is no mention of abortion, the Bible doesn’t link abortion to murder.

Early Christian leaders, however, did declare abortion wrong.

As for 1-3:

  1. Thomas presumed Jesus was nailed to the cross, “I won’t believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands” (John 20:24 NLT). But he may have been somewhere hiding during the crucifixion. “The disciples scattered. They all ran away, deserting him” (Matthew 26:56 Casual English Bible).
  2. A Nile croc swims about twice as fast as the fastest Olympic champion, about 9 mph (15 km).
  3. Paul was a bachelor. Surprise.

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Explain it. Why did Jesus have to die?

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Q

LIFE APPLICATION. Here’s one main teaching of Christianity that doesn’t seem to make much sense to people outside the faith: “Our sins are a capital offense, but God sent Jesus to take our punishment. Jesus bled and died for the sins we committed” (Romans 3:25 Casual English Bible). How would you explain why Jesus had to die and how on earth his sacrifice saves us from getting punished for our sins?

A

That’s a tall order for most Christians. Many would simply say they take it on faith, which doesn’t help make a case for Christianity. Taking it on faith might come across as, “That’s what I’ve been told all my life, so I believe it and I don’t think much about it.”

The problem is that when we think about it, it’s still hard to figure out. That’s because God doesn’t often answer our why questions. Instead, he tells us how it is, instead of why it is.

The Bible teaches that sin separates us from God; it creates a barrier. That gets made clear after Adam and Eve eat forbidden fruit. “God banished them from the Garden of Eden” (Genesis 3:23 NLT). The point gets made over and over through the history of the Jewish people, especially in the book of Judges. There, the people sin. God sends punishment, usually raiders. The people repent. God saves the people from whatever is hurting them. That cycle gets repeated throughout the book. Sin and God don’t get along.

God set up a sacrificial system, allowing people to sacrifice animals to express their sorrow for sin. “Life is in the blood, and I have given you the blood of animals to sacrifice in place of your own” (Leviticus 17:11 CEV).

We can only guess why God chose animal sacrifice. Perhaps because it was common among other religions and familiar to the Jews; it would have made sense to them because it fit into their culture. In addition, it expresses the seriousness of sin. A creature had to die because of sin. Human senses registered the seriousness in several ways: the squealing sound of the creature dying, the feel of the blood, the sight of the creature cut up and displayed on the altar, the smell of burning meat.

It’s also tough to explain why God didn’t come up with a plan of salvation that didn’t involve his Son getting crucified. Maybe one reason is that the Jews wouldn’t have understood any other means of forgiveness because they had been offering sacrifices for about 2,000 years. On the other hand, Jews prohibited human sacrifice: “Don’t sacrifice your son or daughter” (Deuteronomy 18:10 CEV).

Yet Jesus voluntarily sacrificed himself for others. People understand it when someone gives up their life to protect another. A father lies on top of a child, to protect the child from a shooter. A soldier falls on a grenade. For many Christians, why Jesus had to go through this may remain a mystery. But why he did it is clearly taught: “The greatest way to show love for friends is to die for them” (John 15:13 CEV).

Here’s one of many ways of looking at it. Sin created a gap between people and God. Jesus bridged the gap. God invites everyone to cross the gap and join him in his kingdom. Some people have faith in the Bridge, so they cross the gap. They find themselves welcomed into God’s world.

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Can Paul have it both ways?

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Q

First Paul tells Timothy to keep women quiet in the church that Timothy pastors in the city of Ephesus.

“The ladies need to keep quiet” (1 Timothy 2:12).

Then he sends greetings to a woman in Rome who some scholars say he regarded as an apostle like himself, only better looking and less pushy when it comes to fundraising. (Give and give generously, like the Macedonians who don’t have as much as you do but who gave a dickens of a lot.)

“Greet Andronicus and Junia, my relatives who were in prison with me; they are prominent among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was” (Romans 16:7).

Paul also tells slaves to work hard for their masters, which came in handy for American slave owners in the early 1800s.

“Slaves, do what your slave masters tell you to do. Shake with fear about it. What you do for your masters, do with all the sincerity you can muster. Treat their request as though it’s coming from the Messiah” (Ephesians 6:5).

“Can I hear an Amen out there?”

“Amen, Master…[whisper] to Emancipation Proclamation.”

Then Paul writes to a Christian slave owner who hosts a church in his home, and tells him to free the returning runaway slave Onesimus.

“I’m sending him back to you. And it feels like I’m tearing my heart out.

I wanted to keep him with me while I’m here in prison. That way he could’ve helped me tell others the Good News—as your representative.

But I didn’t want to do anything without your permission. I wanted you to help me not because I ordered you to do it, but because you wanted to do it. . . . I’m sure you’ll do this for me. In fact, as I write this I know that you’ll do even more than I ask. One more thing, fix up a guestroom for me” (Philemon 1:12-14, 21-22).

Did Paul know how to twist an arm? Yes he did.

But here’s the question. What do we make of this flip-flopping?

A

You know what, here’s my answer: It’s complicated.

It was complicated getting the Christian movement started, especially with all the rumors about it.

Christians would call a shared potluck meal a love feast, and outsiders would think “orgy.”

Christians would take communion, eating bread and drinking wine to commemorate the broken body and shed blood of Jesus at the crucifixion, and outsiders would think “cannibalism.”

Christians like Paul didn’t want to invite trouble by starting a culture war when he was fighting spiritual one.

Regarding the ladies in church, maybe sometimes they got too chatty there in Ephesus.

And about those slaves, maybe sometimes Paul saw an opportunity to swim against the cultural current and free a slave when most folks thought it was okay to own someone else’s flesh like they’re some kind of a baseball player who can get sold to the highest bidder.

On the other hand, maybe Paul was simply as inconsistent as everyone else walking around with their nose politely planted in someone else’s business.

About Junia, many scholars say she wasn’t an apostle, but was a Christian highly regarded by the apostles…and possibly not highly regarded because she kept quiet in church. Women did pray and prophecy in church (1 Corinthians 11:5).

What do you think? You’re allowed to think.

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Recycling crucified corpses

Q

What happened to most people who got crucified in Roman times?

  1. If they got lucky, a friend sweet-talked someone into freeing them.
  2. They got a proper burial.
  3. They got thrown into a mass grave or nearby pit.
  4. Crows, dogs, and wild critters recycled their protein.
  5. A wild bear ate them.
  6. Witches pulled off the nails and cut off hunks of flesh for casting spells.
  7. Physicians used the nails to cure someone’s pain in the neck and the ropes to treat a fever.

A

All of that happened from time to time.

I’ve been surprised at the wide variety of ways Romans crucified people and what they did with the corpses.

First-century historian Josephus said he talked Roman General Titus into freeing a couple of his friends who had been crucified. In spite of medical help, one died. One lived.

Some corpses got buried. An archaeologist found the bones of one crucified man with a nail still in the heel bone. The victim had been buried properly, in a tomb.

Witches and physicians each used some pretty strange ingredients to take care of business. A first-century natural history writer named Pliny the Elder writes about both. Just google “Pliny, witches, nails.”

Ignore the pictures of fingernails that pop up on your screen. Fingernail clippings were for malaria.

So was menstrual blood, soaked into black wool and worn in a silver bracelet.

If you get a chance, spend some time with Pliny’s Natural History, which is free to read online. It’ll make you happy to be living today, in spite of the high anxiety most everyone seems to be feeling because of [go ahead and fill in the blank if it’ll help you].

Peace to you.

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VIDEOS:
What Romans said about crucifixion
Crucifixion Q: Did the body of Jesus rot on the cross?

 

Traits of a fine church leader

Q

Paul creates a thoughtful and sometimes entertaining list of traits he wants to see or not see in church leaders (Titus 1:5-9). Just for fun, how about trying to put them in order of importance—as you would rate them? Or just pick out some of the ones that you think pose the greatest problem in local churches today.

YES

  • Squeaky clean and above suspicion
  • One-woman man
  • His kids are believers
  • Hospitable
  • Fan of goodness
  • Even-tempered
  • Fair
  • Devoted to God
  • Disciplined
  • Believes what he has been taught about the faith
  • Tells others about Jesus
  • Stands up to people who attack the faith

NO

  • Party animal
  • Rebellious
  • Snooty
  • Bad-tempered
  • Drunk
  • Violent
  • Greedy

A

There are two main reasons local church ministers get in big enough trouble to get fired: sex and money. So we might want to put those concerns near the top of the list when we’re looking for a minister. “Even-tempered” probably needs to be up there, too, because in a sense, ministers are in sales. They are selling Jesus and the Christian faith. In so doing, they have to interact with humans. Some humans are more human than others—so human that a sensible person might rather make a living by observing and recording the nitpicking habits of snow monkeys in Japan.

Reprinted from Leader’s Guide & Atlas Titus & Philemon

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Did Paul make an oops on the Second Coming?

Q

Paul wrote as though he believed Jesus was coming back any minute. He said he expected that the people in Thessalonica, like himself, would be relieved of their troubles “when Jesus returns from heaven, with his entourage of mighty angels” (2 Thessalonians 1:7). Didn’t happen. Jesus did not come back, as far as we can tell from reading ancient Christian writings. Christians continued to suffer. Paul was executed, beheaded according to some reports. Did Paul get it wrong?

A

Many Christian scholars would answer yes, Paul got it wrong. They say that Paul’s earliest writings, such as the letters of 1, 2 Thessalonians, reveal that he expected Jesus to come back before Paul died (see 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17). They also say that later in his life, he came to believe that he might not live long enough to see the Second Coming. In a letter he wrote about a decade later, he wrote from prison saying he was ready to die: “As far as I’m concerned, if I live, I live for Christ. If I die, I win the jackpot. Here’s my dilemma. If I live, I get to keep on working and helping grow the church. But honestly, I don’t know which I want more. I’m pulled both ways. I want to leave and be with Christ” (Philippians 1:21-23).

Reprinted from Leader’s Guide & Atlas for 1, 2 Thessalonians.

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God’s flair for the dramatic

Q

The first birth announcement on record about Jesus went to shepherds working the night shift, “keeping an eye on their sheep” (Luke 2:8). If God has a flair for the dramatic and a taste for metaphor, what do you think the value was in an angelic announcement like this to shepherds whose status on the social ladder was lower than dirt?

A

If God played poker, he saw their status lower than dirt and he raised them higher than the sky. Getting a message from an angel would have put them in the company of Israel’s most respected spiritual leaders. An­gels came to Abraham, father of the Jewish people (Genesis 21:17; 22:11). David, too, Israel’s best-loved king (2 Samuel 24:17). The angel Gabriel visited the prophet Daniel (Daniel 8:17).

Reprinted from Leader’s Guide & Atlas for Luke

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Was Gabriel fair to Zechariah?

Q

The angel Gabriel struck Zechariah mute, and possibly deaf, some experts say, merely because Zechariah asked how it would be possible for him and his wife to have a child: “I’m an old man, and my wife is up there in years, too” (Luke 1:18). Gabriel got ticked by that. And it could seem as though he overreacted. Why do you think Gabriel struck Zechariah mute? He didn’t do that to Mary when she questioned how she could get pregnant since she was “a virgin” (Luke 1:34).

A

There’s no indication about why Gabriel treated Zechariah like that. Perhaps we are getting just part of the story reported in this Gospel, and if we knew all the facts, we would understand why Gabriel did what he did. But because he did strike Zechariah unable to speak, the story of the birth of John the Baptist became so dramatic that Luke decided to include it in his book about the life and teachings of Jesus. If the story hadn’t been so dramatic, with Zechariah miraculously recovering the ability to speak at the birth of his son, who knows if there would have been any mention of the birth of John the Baptist.

Reprinted from Leader’s Guide & Atlas for Luke.

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Is a sermon “God’s word”?

Q

Paul complimented the people of Thessalonica for accepting his message “for what it is: God’s word” (1 Thessalonians 2:13). Christians typically reserve the Bible for that tag: God’s Word. Many preachers, however, describe their ser­mons as God’s word, much like Paul did. When is a message God’s word, compared to a script written by a preach­er or some other well-intended Christian?

A

That’s a bit like asking how the inspiration of the Bible compares to an inspiring book or a sermon. If God still inspires his people today, is his inspiration any less inspiring than it was 2,000 years ago? That’s hard to think about. Most Christians hold the Bible in a special zone of reverence. And if we consider the possibility that something our pastor says is as inspiring as what Paul wrote, that’s perhaps a little too jarring for many Chris­tians today. Maybe a better approach would be to recognize that God still speaks through his people, whether it’s the pastor or our best friend’s mother. But anything from God will mesh with the teachings of Jesus, since Jesus taught, “The Father and I are one” (John 10:30, NLT).

Reprinted from Leader’s Guide & Atlas for 1, 2 Thessalonians.

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A church worth talking about

Q

LIFE APPLICATION. Writing from Corinth, a 300-mile walk (483 km) south of Thessalonica (400 miles/645 km by sea), Paul says everyone in what is now Greece seems to have heard about the people of Thessalonica getting religion: “You have managed to shout out God’s message all over the place” (1 Thessalonians 1:8). Have you ever known of a church like that, which had a reputation for believing in Jesus and living like it? If so, what was it about that church that got people talking?

A

For some churches, the worship services might become the subject of complimentary conversation because of engaging and relevant sermons or vibrant and emotive music that helps carry the congregation to God. Or it might be because of practical ministry the people perform in the community and abroad. The church helps the poor, the elderly, and other needy folks with everyday concerns: painting a house, making household repairs, setting up a daycare or preschool for kids, providing backpacks loaded with school supplies for students. In other words, the church looks for a need and then works on taking care of it.

Reprinted from Leader’s Guide & Atlas for 1, 2 Thessalonians.

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