Ethan R. Longhenry's Blog, page 21

1 John 2:3-6: Keeping His Commandments

And hereby we know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, “I know him,” and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoso keepeth his word, in him verily hath the love of God been perfected. Hereby we know that we are in him: he that saith he abideth in him ought himself also to walk even as he walked (1 John 2:3-6).

In our examination into the first letter of John, we have seen that John’s purpose is to encourage Christians in the face of false teachers and “professors” of Christianity. He has previously established that the message he provides concerns the Word of Life, how He is light, and in Him there is no darkness (1 John 1:1-5). He then establishes that we must walk in the light: we will not do so perfectly, for we all sin, but we must strive to cease from sin (1 John 1:6-2:1). If we do sin, we have an advocate in Jesus Christ, who is the propitiation for the sins of all the world (1 John 2:1-2).

John continues to speak about Jesus, and his specific concern involves how we demonstrate that we “know” Jesus (1 John 2:3-6). In a world of competing claims regarding Jesus, how can we know whether we practice the truth? This question was as concerning in the first century as it is in the twenty-first.

John does not leave the disciples in doubt: to know Jesus is to do His commandments. This message is entirely consistent with the message Jesus provided during His life. The comparison between the man who built on the rock versus the man who built on the sand was the difference between those who keep and do Jesus’ words and those who do not (Matthew 7:24-27). In His farewell address to His disciples, Jesus indicates that if His disciples love Him, they will keep His commandments (John 14:15). Those who have and keep Jesus’ commandments loves Jesus, and such are loved by the Father (John 14:21). We are to keep His commandments just as He kept His Father’s commandments (John 15:10); this is to be done so that the disciples’ joy may be full, which is the very purpose for John’s letter (John 15:11, 1 John 1:4). To keep Jesus’ commands is to be His friend (John 15:14).

John does not shy away from the need to follow Jesus’ commands; in fact, he constantly emphasizes that need. James has similar things to say in James 1:22-25, contrasting those who “hear” the word from those who “hear and do” it.

The only legitimate test as to whether one who professes Jesus is truly His follower is to understand what he does: what is his fruit (cf. Matthew 7:15-20)? Is there evidence of repentance: is there less sin and more righteousness (Galatians 5:17-24)? Do they justify their sin or do they glorify God? Do they represent humble believers in the King, or have they been swept away by some other teacher (Luke 17:7-10, 2 Timothy 4:3-5)? The only way we can demonstrate that we know Jesus is to do what He tells us to do!

Those who profess knowing Jesus and yet do not practice His commands are liars (1 John 2:4). It does not matter how sincere or dishonest they may be: they do not have the truth either way. This is why it is so important to do His commandments!

If we keep His commands, John says that the love of God is perfected in us (1 John 2:5). While some may try to make some kind of absolute out of the statement, such distracts us from John’s true meaning. It is not as if we will ever entirely keep Jesus’ commands (1 John 1:8), but it is the humble obedient servant of Jesus Christ whom God can make complete in the Son. Such people can truly understand the nature of Jesus; they entirely understand, by their practicing of the truth, all the love that God has richly poured out on us through Jesus Christ.

Lest anyone believe that this knowledge is somehow based only in learning, John goes on to demonstrate that “keeping His commandments” is “walking as Jesus walked” (1 John 2:5-6). If we “abide” in Jesus, we ought to walk in His ways. The only way we can ever come to a deeper knowledge and understanding of the ways of Christ are to walk in those ways. We keep His commandments not in some Pharisaical attempt to check off obligations, but in order to be conformed into Jesus’ image: to love as He loved, to show compassion as He showed compassion, to avoid sin as He avoided sin. In short, it is to walk as Jesus walked. The only way to know Jesus is to know His life, His ways, and His suffering in our own lives. Let us strive to know Jesus!

Ethan R. Longhenry

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The End of Pleasure

I thought to myself, “Come now, I will try self-indulgent pleasure to see if it is worthwhile.”
But I found that it also is futile.
I said of partying, “It is folly,” and of self-indulgent pleasure, “It accomplishes nothing!”
I thought deeply about the effects of indulging myself with wine (all the while my mind was guiding me with wisdom) and the effects of behaving foolishly, so that I might discover what is profitable for people to do on earth during the few days of their lives. I increased my possessions: I built houses for myself; I planted vineyards for myself. I designed royal gardens and parks for myself, and I planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. I constructed pools of water for myself, to irrigate my grove of flourishing trees. I purchased male and female slaves, and I owned slaves who were born in my house; I also possessed more livestock – both herds and flocks – than any of my predecessors in Jerusalem. I also amassed silver and gold for myself, as well as valuable treasures taken from kingdoms and provinces. I acquired male singers and female singers for myself, and what gives a man sensual delight – a harem of beautiful concubines! So I was far wealthier than all my predecessors in Jerusalem, yet I maintained my objectivity: I did not restrain myself from getting whatever I wanted; I did not deny myself anything that would bring me pleasure. So all my accomplishments gave me joy; this was my reward for all my effort.
Yet when I reflected on everything I had accomplished and on all the effort that I had expended to accomplish it, I concluded: “All these achievements and possessions are ultimately profitless – like chasing the wind! There is nothing gained from them on earth” (Ecclesiastes 2:1-11)

The Preacher has seen the end game of pleasure. It is absurdity and a chasing after wind.

The Preacher has established the core emphasis of his message: everything is hevel, a vapor, futile, absurd (Ecclesiastes 1:1-2). Time under the sun proves cyclical: what has happened before will happen again; there is nothing truly new on the earth (Ecclesiastes 1:3-11). Man’s activities and behavior are a “chasing after wind”: pursuing them for their own ends will never lead to getting much of anything permanent; even the pursuit of wisdom is chasing the wind, since wisdom leads to greater frustration and vexation with the way things are (Ecclesiastes 1:12-18).

The Preacher’s message is a hard pill to swallow. We humans do not like to imagine our existence as ephemeral and our labors ultimately futile; we invest a lot of energy into our pretenses of meaning and permanence. The Preacher’s audience can think of many objections and difficulties with what he is trying to advance. To this end the Preacher developed his theme by expanding on many of its components.

The Preacher began such expansions by considering pleasure. The desires and passions of life are basic and primal: humans want to avoid pain and thus to enjoy some level of pleasure. We want life to be enjoyable and pleasant. We want to satisfy our desires. We think this is well and good for us.

“We” should be taken very literally and seriously: the Preacher might be adumbrating the general posture of Epicureanism in the tenth century BCE, but many in the Western world have fully accepted it, however unconsciously, as the default philosophy of modern secularism. What do a lot of people imagine the universe to be? Mostly dead, having developed essentially by chance. Thus, how should people live? We cannot expect to find much meaning intrinsically in the world, so we should do what we can to avoid pain and to find some enjoyment in life. This is what Epicurus had advanced 2300 years ago; this is how many modern people imagine is the way of the world.

But is life really all about comfort and enjoyment? What if we could play out the end game of comfort and enjoyment: if we could have all comfort and all enjoyment, would we find joy and satisfaction? If we could truly avoid pain, would we find life satisfying?

Most of us can only play out this end game in theory. The Preacher, however, can speak from experience, and relied on his personal testimony to provide wisdom regarding the end of pleasure. As Solomon, king of Israel, he was infamous for his great wealth in power, riches, wisdom, and women (Ecclesiastes 2:1-10; cf. 1 Kings 3:1-10:29). So he fully indulged in pleasure. He withheld nothing from himself: he partied. He got all the possessions he wanted. He built houses and elaborate gardens. He owned slaves, livestock, silver, gold, and plenty of jewels. He enjoyed the performance of great singers. He enjoyed the fleshly pursuits with many wives and concubines. In terms of wealth and pleasure, it seemed good to be the king.

Therefore, if anyone could tell us whether or not pleasure could really satisfy, it would be the Preacher. But what did he conclude? It was futile, foolish, accomplished nothing, and was a chasing after wind (Ecclesiastes 2:1, 10-11).

The Preacher’s conclusion might seem harsh and dismissive but proved true. For example, consider some delicious food. We can enjoy the sensual experience of the first bite: the flavors, the texture, the quality of the food. We may enjoy another few bites. Yet after a few bites the food cannot replicate that first experience. Those who use drugs recreationally bear witness in a similar way: the first high might prove to be a powerful and exhilarating experience, and such people will continue to use the drugs to attempt to enjoy that experience again. Yet future highs never quite reach the same level as the first one; often more and more of the drug is required to get any kind of experience; ultimately, those who use those drugs become dependent on and truly enslaved to them. Every other pleasurable pursuit will end in the same way: we become habituated to the experience and it does not provide as much pleasure as it used to. We have to put in a lot more effort to receive diminishing returns of enjoyment. And none of this even begins to touch the process of aging and decay and its concomitant effects on the ability to enjoy pleasures.

Jesus would provide similar wisdom a millennium later: what would a person gain if they gained the whole world but would forfeit their lives (Matthew 16:26)? If all we are living for is comfort and pleasure, what will we do when we can no longer enjoy either? How much are we sacrificing, and how many people are we hurting, in order to obtain something ephemeral and can never deliver on its promises?

Thus the Preacher has explored the end of pleasure for us. Pleasure promises much but delivers little. We cannot find comfort, deliverance, or rescue in pleasure. At the bottom of that well can only be disillusionment, frustration, and pain. Life cannot be just about satisfying our desires. May we instead seek to find deliverance, joy, life, and rescue in God in Christ!

Ethan R. Longhenry

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Power in the World

[Jesus] said to [His disciples], “The kings of the nations lord it over them, and those who have authority over them are called ‘benefactors’ (Luke 22:25).

There were many aspects of Jesus’ teaching and ministry which the disciples did not fully understand while He remained with them. Jesus proved patient with them, recognizing how all things would be fully revealed in time and through the Spirit. But when the disciples sought to jockey among themselves for position, Jesus worked immediately to nip their attitudes in the bud.

We can easily understand why the disciples were acting the way they were. They had come to believe that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God: and to them, that meant Jesus was going to inaugurate a great Kingdom, one that would overcome the might of Rome. As Jesus’ closest associates they stood to gain positions of great influence, prominence, and above all, power. But who would stand to gain the most and have the greatest power among them? Even though James and John already enjoyed great intimacy in their standing before Jesus, they did not want to risk anything. They asked their mother to speak to Jesus and to ask for them to stand at His right and left hand, to have the two highest positions of power beneath Jesus, when He entered into His Kingdom (Matthew 20:20-23, Mark 10:35-40). Jesus knew they did not really understand what they were asking to receive; He humored them, yet let them know that it was for the Father to decide who would stand at Jesus’ right and left hand. The other ten disciples proved indignant at James and John: not because in their greater piety or spirituality they understood how foolish the request was, but more likely because they themselves had not made the request first, and were concerned that they would have inferior positions of power when Jesus entered His Kingdom (Matthew 20:24, Mark 10:41, Luke 22:24)!

Jesus was well aware of what His disciples had assumed regarding how His Kingdom would work: as if it was just another power in the world. The ruler had great power over others which he would use to aggrandize himself and his associates (Matthew 20:25). He would act as if his rule provided all kinds of benefits to his subjects (Luke 22:25). Competitors might try to unseat him so they could enjoy the resources that would come from maintaining such power.

Such is the way of power in the world. The means by which rulers obtain power may differ over time and place; some may be elected, while others inherit their position or overthrow previous rulers. Once in power, though, we tend to see a similar story play out: the ruler uses power to benefit himself and his associates, however broadly defined. Sure, the ruler will likely make grandiose proclamations about all the ways that his rule has benefitted all the people. There might be some infrastructure projects built, and you will definitely be able to tell who was responsible for building them. The world is littered with statues and other forms of art commissioned by said rulers to memorialize, glorify, and highlight all of their achievements; as propaganda they seek to justify the rule in the sight of those subjected to him.

For those who receive the benefits and advantages of that ruler’s power, everything seems well and good. They share, to some degree, in economic benefits. They have reasonable confidence they will be heard and their concerns taken seriously. They have reason to feel loyal to the ruler and to support and reinforce his regime.

Yet, almost invariably, there will be many other groups and people who will not share in such advantages. In fact, they will suffer disadvantage on account of the way the ruler exercises his power. They will be made to suffer in various ways. They may have to pay undue taxes and suffer the loss of property. They may even be harassed, persecuted, or even killed. Even in less severe circumstances they are made to understand that the rulers that be have no desire to support or benefit them in many meaningful ways. They have no confidence they will be heard or that their concerns would be taken seriously. They suffer under the oppression of the regime and feel no loyalty towards them.

What will the oppressed groups do? Sometimes oppressed groups rise up in revolt and overthrow the current regime. When this happens, a ruler comes out of the oppressed group, and very often will simply reverse the situation. Now those once oppressed become the oppressors and gain great advantage; those who once oppressed now suffer the disadvantages once experienced by others.

At other times oppressed groups find ways to make their voice heard, and their oppressors repent to some degree. We do not find that groups with power and privilege welcome others to share in that power or privilege without such provocation. Even so, those who had enjoyed the advantage and privilege of authority are always concerned that it will be done to them as they did, however consciously or unconsciously, to others. Truly indeed, to those used to inequality, greater equality feels like loss and oppression.

The Scriptures attest to such an understanding of power in the world from beginning to end. Pharaoh oppresses the Israelites; only after a series of plagues and the demonstration of the power of YHWH would he relent and let them go (cf. Exodus 1-15). In the days of the Judges we find local nation after local nation oppressing the Israelites, and God providing deliverance through the judges, who become continually more corrupt over time (cf. Judges, 1 Samuel 1-8). David and Solomon rule over all Israel and a large empire; the nations of the empire would have experienced this as oppression, and even the Israelites themselves found maintaining a king oppressive in and of itself (cf. 2 Samuel 1-1 Kings 11). Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Macedon, and Rome develop empires, oppress others, and are defeated and become part of the empires of others in turn.

For the two thousand years since Jesus lived, died, and was raised in power, this story of the use of power has continued unabated. Power provides advantages and benefits to some but not to all. The desire to exercise said power is always tied up with the desire to obtain and/or enjoy such benefits, even if it comes at the harm of others. And perhaps worse are those who have so much power and advantage that they cannot see it, for everything works for them the way they think things ought to work, and in their blissful ignorance they presume it should likewise work for others for whom the rulers and systems have not provided such advantages. Many times we do not recognize how much we have come to love and appreciate power until we are faced with the prospect of losing it.

Such is the way power works in the world; such is the way power will continue to work in the world until the Lord Jesus returns. Yet, as Jesus wanted to make abundantly clear to His disciples, it should not be so among the people of God (Matthew 20:26, Mark 10:43, Luke 22:26). The people of God instead consider Jesus their example of how power ought to be used: to serve and to suffer on behalf of others (Matthew 20:26-28, Mark 10:43-45, Luke 22:26-27). May we not prove blind or naïve regarding how power works in the world, and may we diligently strive instead to exercise power according to the way of Jesus the Christ!

Ethan R. Longhenry

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1 John 2:1-2: Jesus Our Advocate

My little children, these things write I unto you that ye may not sin. And if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and he is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the whole world (1 John 2:1-2).

In 1 John 1, John identifies the source of his message and the message which he brings– God is light, and in Him there is no darkness. He then establishes the need for all of us to walk in the light if we would follow Jesus. He demonstrates that we all have sin, both past and present, and if we deny such, we deceive ourselves. Nevertheless, if we confess our sins before God, He is faithful to forgive us.

John begins chapter 2 by addressing his “little children.” We ought not take this statement too literally here; he uses this same term of endearment another eight times in his short letter. John has great love for his fellow believers, like the love of a father for his children, and therefore we have his tender term of address for them.

John continues by making clear that he writes to the Christians so that they would not sin. Yet, in 1 John 1:8, John says that if Christians say presently that they do not sin, they deceive themselves. Is John contradicting himself?

By no means! We must remember that chapter divisions came much later than the original writing; there is no fixed division between 1 John 1:10 and 1 John 2:1. John is making clear that although the reality is that we all stumble, we are not justified in our stumbling. We have no right to infer from 1 John 1:8 that we have license or excuse to go and sin, and that somehow we cannot “help ourselves.” John here is providing the same type of clarification that Paul does in Romans 6:1-10: just because God’s grace abounds does not give us license to sin.

Christians must strive to avoid sin and to do that which is good (Romans 12:9). We never “have” to sin; there is always a way of escaping temptation (1 Corinthians 10:13). Christians should never be satisfied with removing only a few sins from their lives– they must keep striving to reflect Jesus in their lives, since they were crucified in Him (Galatians 2:20).

Yet, even though John writes so that Christians will not sin, he knows that Christians do stumble. Lest the believers lose hope, John reminds them that if Christians do sin, they have an Advocate– Jesus Christ the righteous (1 John 2:1). The word “advocate” here is the Greek parakletos, which refers to a legal advocate, a helper, assistant, or comforter (cf. Thayer’s). If we were to imagine a heavenly courtroom, with the Father as Judge, Satan as the prosecutor, and the believer as a defendant, Jesus would be the advocate on behalf of the defendant, interceding on the defendant’s behalf before the judge. Paul indicates that Jesus is the Mediator between God and man, since He is both (1 Timothy 2:5), and the Hebrew author demonstrates that Jesus can sympathize with us on account of His sufferings (Hebrews 4:14-16). These are very comforting thoughts indeed!
Yet how is it that Jesus can be our Advocate? It is because He is the Righteous One, the propitiation for our sins (1 John 2:1-2). As Peter indicated, Jesus committed no sin, and thus was entirely righteous (1 Peter 2:21-24). His death was not for Himself, but for us, that we could be cleansed from sin (Romans 5:6-11, Hebrews 9:11-15).

Jesus, as the Lamb of God, brought cleansing from sin for not just “us,” but for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2, cf. John 1:29). While many throughout time have taught that Jesus’ blood only cleanses the sins of believers, and are horrified at the thought that Jesus’ blood would be “wasted” on unbelievers, John is pretty clear about the universal efficacy of Jesus’ blood. John is not saying that everyone will have the cleansing through Jesus’ blood, but is teaching the same thing as the Hebrew author in Hebrews 9:12: Jesus made His sacrifice once, and it is able to atone for anyone. No one is hindered from receiving the redemption of their sin through the blood of Christ (cf. 1 Timothy 2:4).

Yet the blood of Jesus can only atone for those who will confess that Jesus is their Advocate (cf. 1 John 1:9). Those who reject Him or deny Him, either by word or deed, refuse their own atonement (cf. Matthew 10:32-33). Jesus’ blood is wasted on those who have heard the word of salvation and refuse it to continue in the darkness of sin (1 John 1:6, Hebrews 10:26-31, 2 Peter 2:20-22). It is indeed a horrifying thought that Jesus’ precious and righteous blood would be wasted. Claim Him as your Advocate today!

Ethan R. Longhenry

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Arabia

Few landscapes in the world prove as inhospitable as the desert lands to the south of Israel. Nevertheless, tribes of people have lived and even thrived in the land of Arabia throughout time.

“Arabia” generally refers to the Arabian Peninsula, the large strip of land extending south of Israel and Mesopotamia between the Red Sea and Persian Gulf. Throughout recorded history the majority of this territory has been desert, able only to sustain nomadic tribes of pastoralists which we often call the “Bedouin.” Only the areas in the southern Arabian Peninsula in modern day Yemen and Oman featured more rainfall and a more pleasant climate; Yemen was thus known to the Romans as Arabia Felix, and these regions were the main provider of frankincense used throughout the ancient world in religious rituals. In Solomon’s day Yemen was ruled by the Kingdom of Saba, from which the Queen of Sheba would come and visit him (cf. 1 Kings 10:1-10).

For our purposes we will focus upon the northwestern portion of the Arabian Peninsula: the lands directly south of Israel and Edom, which is in modern day northwestern Saudi Arabia, parts of southern Jordan, and the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt. All of these lands receive very little precipitation; only on oases could anyone maintain permanent dwellings. Since the people were mostly nomadic, it is difficult to speak of the “land of Midian” or the “land of Amalek” like we would speak of Egypt or Israel or Assyria; their “lands” would be the areas in which they would roam to find places to feed their animals and survive.

People have dwelt in Arabia for a very long time. According to the Scriptures the tribes the Israelites encountered in Arabia descended from Abraham: Midian was Abraham’s son through Keturah; Ishmael would become known as the father of the Arabian tribes; Amalek was a grandson of Esau (Genesis 25:2, 12-18, 36:10). These Bedouin tribes in the Sinai and northwest Arabian Peninsulas feature prominently in pre-monarchic Israelite history.

The Amalekites proved a concern because of their proximity, dwelling in the Negev, the southern part of Judah which would not have maintained a firm boundary out in the desert (cf. Numbers 13:29). We know of them only through the Biblical witness; descended from Esau, yet deemed by Balaam as among the first of the nations (Numbers 24:20). The Amalekites attacked Israel while they were wandering in the Wilderness, yet Israel was able to defeat them through YHWH’s help (Exodus 17:8-16); because of this Moses will compel Israel to destroy Amalek (cf. Deuteronomy 25:17-19). YHWH charged Saul to complete this task, and he did kill many in Amalek (1 Samuel 15:1-9, 33), but not everyone. The Amalekites would continue to harass and attack the southern reaches of Judah and Philistia, including Ziklag when David was king over it; David attacked and killed that band of Amalekites (1 Samuel 30:1-31). We hear nothing more of Amalek after this, although it would seem Haman, enemy of Israel in the days of Xerxes of Persia, as an Agagite, might descend from Agag king of Amalek (1 Samuel 15:33, Esther 3:1, 10).

Midian and the Midianites are generally strongly associated with the areas to the east and southeast of the Gulf of Aqaba in modern day northwestern Saudi Arabia. It is not known whether we can speak of Midian as a tribe or a confederation of tribes. In Exodus 2:13-22 Moses fled from Egypt to Midian; Reuel (named Jethro in Exodus 18:1) was deemed a priest of Midian, and Moses married his daughter Zipporah. Since Moses is shepherding Reuel’s flock when he comes to Horeb/Sinai, it might well be that Sinai is not the traditionally accepted mountain in the Sinai Peninsula, but instead Jebel al-Lawz in northwestern Saudi Arabia; if that is the case, then Israel spent a lot of time in Midianite territory while wandering in the Wilderness. It would seem that Balak king of Moab was in a strong alliance with the Midianites, since he plotted with the Midianite elders against Israel and hired Balaam son of Beor to prophesy against them (Numbers 22:3-7). The idolatry of Baal of Peor was primarily about Israelites taking Moabite women, but Cozbi, killed by Phinehas, was a Midianite princess, and YHWH commanded them to destroy Midian for this offense (Numbers 25:1-18). Israel struck Midian violently and killed Balaam son of Beor who was among them in Numbers 31:1-24). Yet the Midianites endured. Zebah and Zalmunna, kings of Midian, oppressed Israel in the days of Gideon and maintained a mighty army; Gideon, his associates, and the Ephraimites struck the Midianites strongly and thoroughly defeated them (Judges 6:1-8:28). We do not hear of the Midianites in any significant capacity afterward.

The Kenites seem to be either a family within or a tribe among the Midianites. The Judges author identified the Kenites as the descendants of Reuel/Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, and spoke of them as living in the Negev of Judah (Judges 1:16). Heber the Kenite’s wife Jael would become famous for being the one to drive a tent peg through the head of Sisera, army commander of the Canaanites (Judges 4:11-22). Balaam prophesied that the Kenites would be consumed and taken away by the Assyrians (Numbers 24:22); nevertheless, Rechab the Kenite and the Rechabites also dwelled in tents in Judah throughout the monarchic period, receiving commendation from YHWH for their faithfulness to their father’s decrees in Jeremiah 35:1-19. Some Kenites, therefore, would assimilate into the population of Judah and likely remain thus to this day.

We can notice that the Scriptures speak less of these Arabian tribes once the Israelite monarchy is well established; from this we can conclude that they took advantage of political instability and caused distress and grief to the Levantine peoples until a strong centralized government held sway and kept them at bay. Whoever might remain among them would have continued to dwell as the Bedouin of the area.

A great power would arise in these parts of Arabia in the wake of the collapse of the Kingdom of Judah: the Nabataeans. The Nabataeans might descend from Nebaioth, son of Ishmael (Genesis 25:13); they seem to be an Arabic tribe which came out of an Aramaic cultural milieu. As the Edomites encroached upon Judahite territory during the days of the exile, it would seem the Nabataeans encroached on Edomite territory. With the local powers decimated, the Nabataeans took over the trade routes leading deeper into Arabia and its frankincense and myrrh. The Persians left them alone since they let Cambyses travel to Egypt in peace, but the Seleucid Macedonians constantly, and unsuccessfully, attempted to overcome the Nabataeans in order to secure those trading routes. The heyday of Nabataean power came in the first centuries BCE and CE: they conquered parts of Syria and ruled over Damascus and most of the Transjordan, as was prophesied by Ezekiel (Ezekiel 25:1-10). The “Arabia” to which Paul fled would have been this Nabataean Kingdom, perhaps even to Petra its capital (Galatians 1:17); the King Aretas of 2 Corinthians 11:32 is Aretas king of Nabataea, whose daughter had been married to Herod Antipas until the latter divorced her to marry his sister (cf. Matthew 14:3-5). In anger Aretas fought against Herod and destroyed his army. Over the next century the Nabataeans ceased their warlike spirit and took to the life of trading and agriculture, developing extremely complex engineering to allow them to maintain continual sources of water at Petra, a city which remains one of the great architectural masterpieces of antiquity. The Nabataeans would be conquered by the Roman emperor Trajan in 106, converting their land into the Roman province Arabia Petraea.

The desert lands to the south of Judah and Edom proved harsh and difficult but not entirely inhospitable. The Israelites met their God in those lands; YHWH might well have been served by some of those desert nomads. May we all seek to honor and glorify God in Christ!

Ethan R. Longhenry

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Striving After Wind

I, the Teacher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. I decided to carefully and thoroughly examine all that has been accomplished on earth. I concluded: God has given people a burdensome task that keeps them occupied. I reflected on everything that is accomplished by man on earth, and I concluded: Everything he has accomplished is futile – like chasing the wind! What is bent cannot be straightened, and what is missing cannot be supplied.
I thought to myself, “I have become much wiser than any of my predecessors who ruled over Jerusalem; I have acquired much wisdom and knowledge.”
So I decided to discern the benefit of wisdom and knowledge over foolish behavior and ideas; however, I concluded that even this endeavor is like trying to chase the wind! For with great wisdom comes great frustration; whoever increases his knowledge merely increases his heartache (Ecclesiastes 1:12-18).

The Preacher knew of what he spoke. We do not have to like it, but we do well to seek to understand and respect his witness.

The Preacher has testified that all things are hevel: a vapor, futile, even absurd (Ecclesiastes 1:1-2). He understood time as a cycle; nothing is really new under the sun, all things have already been done beforehand, and later generations have forgotten (Ecclesiastes 1:3-11).

The Preacher now sets forth his purpose. He spoke of himself as Qohelet, the Preacher or Teacher, even though he was king over Israel in Jerusalem; thus we understand him to be Solomon (Ecclesiastes 1:12; cf. Ecclesiastes 1:1, 12:9). He wanted to understand human effort and striving on the earth. He understood it to be the burdensome tasks God has given to mankind to keep them occupied, and yet they are all futile (Ecclesiastes 1:13-14).

The Preacher introduced us to one of his favorite images which exemplify the futility of life and deeds under the sun: a striving after wind (Ecclesiastes 1:14). To strive or chase after the wind represents sheer folly: how could you catch the wind? It continues to blow across the earth; you cannot expect to grab ahold of it; and even if one could theoretically capture wind, it would immediately cease being the wind!

Humans bristle at the thought that all their work ultimately does not mean much and that we strive after wind. We tell ourselves motivational and uplifting platitudes about how what we do will influence and shape the world. We seek to satisfy desires and enjoy the good life. We recognize we have various challenges and difficulties but want to imagine that if we just had a little more money, a little more time, or worked on ourselves just a little bit more, we would be able to overcome them and get what we want.

Can we all think of people who have profoundly influenced our lives and our patterns of behavior? Absolutely. Is the Preacher thus wrong? Not in the grand scheme of things. What has become of all the “influencers” of four or more generations ago? They have been forgotten, just as the Preacher expected (Ecclesiastes 1:11). To seek after meaning and renown in the works of this world is to strive after wind: fame and meaning are ephemeral vapors which will not last.

Likewise, to live for the future and expect things to get better with just a little more this or that is also a striving after wind. If you do come into a little more money, there will always be more reasons to spend. If we work on ourselves a little bit, we will find other problems. We can never fully overcome our limitations, challenges, and difficulties; the “ideal” or “good life” is futile, absurd, and a striving after wind. One can pursue it all day long; whatever one captures will cease being what is desired after being obtained. Thus, indeed, all that is crooked cannot be made straight; what is lacked will never be fully satisfied (Ecclesiastes 1:15).

The Preacher continued with an extraordinary claim: he had become wiser and more knowledgeable than those who had ruled over Jerusalem before him (Ecclesiastes 1:16). We might be skeptical of such a “flex” and boastfulness, yet God indeed had given Solomon great wisdom (1 Kings 3:12-13, 4:30). Furthermore, his goal is not to vaunt himself as much as it is to establish credibility for what he was saying. Humans understandably resist what the Preacher has to say; they would be tempted to wonder who the Preacher was to make such claims and why we should accept them. The Preacher spoke thus of himself to establish his bona fides: he has explored wisdom and knowledge. He has greater depth of experience, knowledge, and wisdom. Will we thus consider what he has to say?

Surely a man as wise and knowledgeable as the Preacher would thus affirm the great power and importance of wisdom and knowledge. Yet when he compared wisdom and knowledge with folly, or attempted to know both wisdom and folly, he considered them also a striving after wind (Ecclesiastes 1:17)!

How could the same man who so exalted wisdom over folly in the Proverbs here consider all of it a striving after wind? The question, as always, is to what end? Paul rightly warned Christians that knowledge can make arrogant (1 Corinthians 8:1); we must remember that it also ultimately is a striving after wind, since what we learn dies with us, and of the pursuit of knowledge and wisdom there is no end. Furthermore, was Socrates wrong when he considered that all he knew was that he knew nothing, for the more he learned, the more he recognized he had to learn?

The Preacher recognized frustration and grief attended to knowledge and those with wisdom consign themselves to heartbreak (Ecclesiastes 1:18). Consider Cassandra of Greek legend: she was able to see the future, but whenever she would speak of it, she would not be believed. A similar curse comes to all who have reliable wisdom and knowledge. One would like to think wisdom and knowledge would be heeded, yet many people’s livelihoods depend on them not accepting such wisdom and knowledge. Folly parades in the streets seemingly unmolested and those with insight are left to mourn and weep. Such is how it feels today; yet in truth, such is the way it has always been. Perhaps this is part of the reason the old adage declared ignorance to be bliss! From the beginning knowledge has come with a curse, and we must not delude ourselves into thinking that wisdom and knowledge will save the day. To this end the author of Proverbs thus reminds us of the limitations of the wisdom and knowledge he so thoroughly exalted in its pages. It can only go so far, and it causes great grief when one perceives how well wisdom is considered and honored.

Thus the Preacher has established his central premise: human life under the sun is futile and a striving after wind. We look for meaning where none will endure; we want permanence where there is nothing but vapor and wind; we want to hang our hat on some certainty, some form of advantage that will endure, and find them all flawed, limited, and ultimately hopeless. It will all be forgotten in the end. It is a bitter pill to swallow, but the Preacher is not wrong about this life. Such is why it is so important for us to invest in what God is accomplishing in the Lord Jesus Christ so we may obtain eternal life in Him!

Ethan R. Longhenry

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1 John 1:8-10: Our Sin

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us (1 John 1:8-10).

After John confirms the authenticity of his message, he puts forward His message that in God is light, and there is no darkness in Him (1 John 1:5). If we walk in that light, we have association with God and the blood of His Son cleanses us from sin (1 John 1:7).

Yet we, as humans, are not perfect creatures. As Paul indicates in Romans 3:23, we have all sinned, and we all fall short of God’s glory. John recognizes this, and thus after he establishes that we are to walk in the light, he addresses the difficulty of our sins in 1 John 1:8-10.

Verses 8 and 10 speak directly regarding our sin. Unfortunately, these verses are often misunderstood or intentionally under-emphasized. In these verses, John confesses our previous and current sin; some would rather believe that John is just speaking of our past sin. Verse 10 is rendered in the perfect tense in Greek, indicating that we have sinned in the past; to deny this is to make God a liar, and proves that His Word is not in us. Verse 8 is rendered in the present tense, and therefore indicates that we still do continually and/or repeatedly sin. If we deny this, we are deceived, and God’s truth is not in us!

The issue of our present sin is a very thorny problem; after all, Jesus died so that we would be set free from sin, and Paul indicates that we should no longer be bound to sin (Romans 6). Yet even Paul recognizes our constant struggle: he uses the present tense when saying that we all “fall short of the glory of God” in Romans 3:23. We continually do not live up to our ideal. We still struggle against the will of the flesh, and we still fail at times (cf. Galatians 5:17-24). Some try to deny this, and attempt to emphasize passages that speak of becoming “perfect” (cf. Matthew 5:48; the word may be better translated as “mature”). They then think that we can somehow get to the point of not sinning. Yet John says that this is not the case, not even of himself. We must remember that the sum of God’s Word is truth (Psalm 119:160). When John says that we deceive ourselves if we say that we have no sin, we must accept it. We must continue to strive to be like Christ, yet recognize that we will never live up to the ideal.

Why, then, does John feel compelled to include these verses in his discussion? After all, if one fact is clear from the Scriptures, it is that mankind is sinful. In all likelihood, some of the Gnostic groups of the day denied the idea of sin and the idea that we have sinned. This is completely false, as John asserts, and to believe it is to be deceived, to fall into a lie, and a demonstration that God’s Word is not in us. John affirms that there is such a thing as sin, and we have been guilty of it and are still guilty of it.

Yet what is to be done regarding our sin? Sin represents darkness, and we are told that there is no darkness in God (1 John 1:5)! As John established in verse 7, the blood of Jesus, the Son of God, is able to cleanse us from all sin. John does not mention how our past sins are cleansed; Peter and Paul make it clear that baptism accomplishes this (Acts 2:38, Romans 6:3-7, 1 Peter 3:21).

While baptism cleanses us from our past sins, what can cleanse us from our sins since baptism? John answers this question in verse 9: if we confess our sins, God will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. This verse is also rendered in the present tense: as we continually sin, we must continually confess our sin, and God is continually faithful to cleanse us continually. Confession is the Greek word homologeo, “to speak the same thing.” Confession is not some generic statement declaring that we have sinned, but represents a sinner declaring his sinful deeds before God and requesting forgiveness from them. This can only be accomplished when there is repentance for those sins (cf. Luke 13:3), the attempt to overcome those sins.

As Christians, we strive to walk in the light. Unfortunately, there are times when we stumble into the darkness. As opposed to denying this, or trying to justify it, we must instead freely admit it to God, and strive to do better at walking in that light. When we do so, we are cleansed of our sins, and maintain our association with God. Let us not be lost to the darkness, but instead walk in the light!

Ethan R. Longhenry

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Power

The world is all about power.

Power very much drives modern society. We often talk about power in terms of electrical and/or mechanical energy: electric power, horsepower, and the like. Our entire society is built and utterly dependent on such power to function! And so it is also with the power found in and among humans: our ability to influence the thoughts, feelings, and actions of others, and how our thoughts, feelings, and actions are influenced by others.

When we think of power in human terms, we naturally gravitate toward governments and their representatives, and for good reason. Governments exist and maintain control on account of their ability to project power. A government might try to use encouragement, praise, and exhortation so that its citizens, or fellow governments, might comply with requests. Nevertheless, governments have power on account of their ability to exercise coercive force through violence and/or imprisonment: if people do not listen to the dictates of the government, the government might use its police or military forces to imprison, injure, or kill them; if another government refuses to respect them, a government might declare war against it and use violence to accomplish its desires and purposes. All such power exercised with the threat of force and violence is known as “hard” power, and it has a God-given purpose: governments are entrusted with such authority by God and should exercise it to reward the good and punish the evil (Romans 13:1-7).

Yet power goes well beyond electrical and mechanical energy and the “hard” power of governments. The “soft” power of influence generally proves far more important to our lives. Most of the beliefs we maintain, feelings we feel, and actions we take have been significantly shaped by the various influences manifest in “soft” power. We would like to think that we are all unique individuals and have come to the conclusions we believe and compose and conduct ourselves in the ways we do based upon the exercise of conscious choice based on objective deliberations. And yet those who truly would do so are quickly deemed as “weird.” Deep down, none of us want to be that “weird.” In truth, we all are very much shaped by influences all around us which we have internalized throughout our lives. Our parents and our families began thus shaping us according not only to what was said but particularly what was accepted and done. As we got older we would dress and compose ourselves to fit into the friend group in which we associated. Throughout this whole time culture and society also shaped and molded us through the emphases manifest in our education, the media we consumed, and the products which were heavily marketed to us. If we grew up in a Christian environment, hopefully we were profoundly shaped by that influence so that we might grow up to become conformed to the image of Jesus (Romans 8:29). As we reached early adulthood, we likely went through a period of rebelling against certain ideas, feelings, and behaviors with which we had been acculturated, and might well have changed many of our views. As adults we recognize, however, how powerfully shaped we were by these past influences, and they will always inform how we think, feel, and act, for better and for worse.

Such forms of influence do not exist only for children. We are continually influenced by the perspectives and behaviors of those around us: the people with whom we interact, the customs of the place in which we live, the continual bombardment of information and ideology propagated through various forms of media, the relentless marketing and selling of products in our consumerist capitalist society, etc. Likewise, we in turn influence others through what we express toward them.

We do not normally think of such engagement and interaction in terms of power; in the modern world, it seems that only the Marxists want to talk about power and class and ideological struggle. But we need not be Marxist to come to see the role power plays in every aspect of our lives: in ourselves and the thoughts, feelings, and decisions we manifest; in our families and the family dynamic; among our friends; in our churches; in our local communities; in the country and the world; and even in the spiritual realm. The only people who have the luxury to not think about power are those who have power and privilege, who receive respect, deference, and honor by what seems to them like “default,” so as to be “normal,” and yet would never allow themselves to be treated in the way that they treat others.

Whenever people engage and interact with one another, power dynamics will be at work in some way or another. People engage with one another based upon whether they believe they are among those who are “superior” in age, status, or influence; peers in age, status, or influence; or “inferior” in age, status, or influence. In our modern pluralist democracy many might want to presume a more “egalitarian” society of equals, but humans are not egalitarian by nature. Humans are constantly ranking each other based on all kinds of standards. By virtue of birth, education, charisma, etc., some people maintain greater influence than others. Any organization involving human beings will have “politics” to navigate: who should be consulted about what, who are the people who get things done, who really has the power or influence in an organization, whose support you have to secure in order to succeed, etc. Sometimes these politics have written out rules; most of the time they are unwritten. But you will come to know them when you try to go around them or do things differently!

The Apostle Paul understood this world as remaining in the hands of the Evil One and the powers and principalities over this present darkness (cf. Ephesians 2:1-4, 6:12); John vividly envisioned the same in terms of the dragon and the beast in Revelation 12:1-13:18. Christians therefore should expect that power in the world is used to enhance the quality of life for those who have the power without any necessary regard to the quality of life of those who do not enjoy that power. Christians should expect power to thus be abused for selfish and personal gain to the deprivation, or even active harm, of others. We should not be surprised that power in the world is abused, and that many lust for power not to truly do good but to be able to finally receive its benefits and to harm others. Not a few have naively imagined they could become a force for good but ultimately get caught up in the power dynamics and structure of the world and either passively allow or actively participate in the advancement of evil.

Jesus also understood the nature of power dynamics in the world; He saw it becoming manifest among His own disciples who were jockeying for positions of power. He reminded them how the Gentiles exercised political and economic power over them and others, and made His will quite clear: it should not be so among His people (Matthew 20:25-26).

Jesus then gave a paradox for Christians when it came to power: those who would seek to be great or first in the Kingdom of God should serve and be a slave to others (Matthew 20:26-27). Those who are servants and slaves, by definition, have no power; there is no room for “advancement” for them in those conditions. Such is how Jesus warned His disciples, and therefore all who would profess faith in Him, to reject the entire construct of power in the world.

He instead offered up Himself as the alternative model: He came not to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many (Matthew 20:28). Jesus’ alternative model does not deny the existence of power, nor does it intrinsically mean a divestment of power: throughout His life Jesus remained the Messiah, the King of the Jews, and at no point ceased to be God the Son. The alternative model involves how power ought to be leveraged: He used His authority and power to serve others. He healed the sick, cast out demons, and taught the truth about His Father. He, the Lord and Master, would wash the feet of His disciples, the most humiliating form of service, and encouraged them to do the same (John 13:1-15).

All people, including all of God’s people, have power to some degree or another. We will all be held accountable for how we leveraged the power we were given (cf. Romans 14:10-12). Did we seek to influence people to become more like Christ through how we thought, felt, spoke, and acted like Jesus? Did we use the power we were given to advocate for those who had less power, to seek their best interests, or did we use the power we were given to try to maintain our power and privilege and that of those like us against other people? Are we exposing the base and evil ways power is leveraged in the world by loving, serving, and emptying ourselves for others, or have we been caught up in fear and tribalism so as to express such base and evil uses of power unwittingly? May we leverage the power and influence we have been given in ways that glorify and manifest God in Christ, and obtain the resurrection of life in Him!

Ethan R. Longhenry

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Nothing New Under the Sun

What exists now is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; there is nothing truly new on earth.
Is there anything about which someone can say, “Look at this! It is new!”?
It was already done long ago, before our time. No one remembers the former events, nor will anyone remember the events that are yet to happen; they will not be remembered by the future generations (Ecclesiastes 1:9-11).

“New and improved!” “Grand opening!” “Grand Re-opening!”

Marketing and branding focus on what works, and for modern Westerners few appeals work quite like novelty. We love new things. The experience of a new car, an updated piece of technology, or even a new relationship is exhilarating. We spend time on social media and television in order to find out what is new in the lives of other people; the gossip mill has churned for millennia on the basis of the newest scoop. Fortunes can be made or lost in the attempt to ascertain the newest trends in beauty, fashion, politics, technology, and the like. “New” comes with great status: our culture worships youth and the vitality it expresses, and is enraptured with new and dazzling scientific and technological discoveries. Wealth and standing is now displayed by newness and freshness. In our progressive optimism we are convinced not only of the greatness of all the new things with which we are surrounded, but presume a continual stream of these new things which will make life ever better and grander in future generations.

Meanwhile, the Preacher spoke as if a curmudgeonly contrarian. Everything is futile and absurd: vanity of vanities (Ecclesiastes 1:2). Life and time are cyclical, neither progressive nor regressive (Ecclesiastes 1:3-5). The Preacher anticipated the kind of dazzling pretenses as we see in our society: eyes are not satisfied with seeing, and ears are not content with hearing (Ecclesiastes 1:6). We are always looking for new and ever greater forms of entertainment and stimulation.

But, the Preacher noted, nothing is truly new. It was done before. Everyone forgot. And everyone will forget again (Ecclesiastes 1:9-11).

Many would seem to think it very easy to contradict the Preacher. You are reading this article on the Internet on a technological device unimaginable to Solomon or anyone in the ancient world; thus, it is a “new” thing, and so there are “new” things on the earth!

If we took the Preacher absolutely, such criticism would be valid and the proposition nullified. But the Preacher was not really concerned about things but people and the things they do. And despite all protestations to the contrary, people have not changed.

For all of our scientific and technological advances, we remain very much human. Humans before us took stones or spears and used them to hunt animals or kill fellow human beings. Later humans developed different tools with different metals, but always to the same end. Perhaps the Preacher could never conceive of nuclear power; but he would not at all be surprised to learn how nuclear power was used both to provide energy to improve the quality of life for thousands and to make bombs with which to slaughter thousands. We now carry small machines in our pockets and purses which have more computing power than existed in previous generations, but what do we do with them? We talk with other people. We look for love and lust. We try to present the best possible picture of ourselves, and often do not hesitate to portray others as their worst. We line up in tribes and justify ourselves and condemn the others. We use it as a profitable medium of exchange as well as a means to deceive, extort, and steal from others. Our technology is really a mirror that reflects us and our nature in its beauty and in its corruption. It is the same old story with fancier gadgets.

A long, long time ago there was a man who was raised with lesser means but learned of his nobility. He then had to fight against long odds to discover his true strength, to overcome his opponents, and to take his rightful place as a leader of his people. This is the plot of Star Wars; it is also the story of Sargon of Akkad, Moses, and many others. Or perhaps you have heard about the king who was unjustly murdered by his brother but was then avenged by his son? Children might think you speak of The Lion King, but it is also the story of Hamlet and Osiris and Horus. Have you heard the song about a lover who has scorned the singer’s advances, or who has broken the singer’s heart? Those songs exist on the Top 40 chart today, have existed on the Top 40 chart as long as it has existed, and are also the songs of the medieval troubadours and ancient Egyptian love poets. Today many analyze these archetypes for what they tell us about themselves; for the Preacher it would be seen as further confirmation that nothing is really new. All good stories derive from certain narrative tropes and types. They are not new.

Yet we do well to sit in the Preacher’s lament regarding the “tyranny of the present.” How many times have we seen an atrocity take place and then hear, “never again”? How many have confidently asserted how “history will remember” a given person or event in a certain way, or have maintained confidence in being “on the right side of history”? We have often heard George Santayana’s quote that “those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it.”

The Preacher has argued that no one really remembers the past. We might want to protest: did we not all have to sit through history class? And again, if we take the Preacher absolutely, the criticisms would be valid and the proposition refuted. But should we imagine that the Preacher had no knowledge of people who came before him? Absurd! Instead, he speaks in a general way, and one we can see playing out until today. A generation learns the lesson of their recent ancestors but might well in the process forget other lessons from previous ones. Another generation arises which never experienced the traumas of their great-grandfathers and replicates their folly. Markets learn from bad behavior, promote other forms of bad behavior, and when sufficient time has passed since the last major correction, fall back into previous bad behaviors. Atrocities happen again. How we understand what happened in the past constantly changes and adapts based upon changes in perspective. We can understand the history of the twentieth and the twenty-first century so far according to this pattern. It has all happened before. And it’ll happen again.

Thus the Preacher continued to strip his hearers of all the pretenses they have erected to try to find ultimate value in what is truly futile and fleeting. Everything under the sun is futile, vain, and absurd: time is cyclical, and nothing is really new. Each generation in succession makes mistakes and learns from them, only for the next generation to come and make their own mistakes. Perhaps we have a well documented family and can trace our ancestry back a few generations: yet how many of them are simply names, perhaps a notation of birth, date of marriage, and death, and for those of the past two hundred years perhaps a picture at best? And how many remain mostly unknown? We have forgotten our ancestors; within a few generations, we also will be forgotten. It is all absurd.

We cannot be invested in this life under the sun to provide ultimate meaning. We cannot sustain the delusion that everything is getting better, and remain entranced by what we deem new and shiny things. Under the sun we will live, die, and likely become, at best, just another branch in our descendants’ family trees, noting birth, marriage, children, and death. It is only in Christ that we can have hope for eternal life and ultimate meaning; may we find life in Him and be saved!

Ethan R. Longhenry

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Jargon

Jargon: it is something that you hear all of the time. When you understand it, everything is well and good. When you are not “in the know,” however, it can be quite frustrating!

Jargon is language specific to a particular group of people, generally understood in terms of specialties. There is medical jargon: CPT codes, the many long terms from Latin and Greek for various conditions and illnesses that always sound scary, pharmaceutical names, and so on. There is also legal jargon: that legalese in contracts that is very difficult to understand. There is also plenty of jargon in the tech community: apps, HTML, CSS, PHP, Java, and all other kinds of terms that you either understand or you do not! Jargon can be found among almost every group of people, and in many cases, it serves necessary functions for those who understand it. It would be much more difficult for a lot of groups to function if they could not use terminology specific to their groups!

There is also a lot of jargon in religion, especially in the Church. Think about it for a moment: how many terms do you use among Christians that you would probably not use in any other circumstance? Baptism, gospel meetings, faith, repentance, justification, sanctification, hermeneutics: all these are examples of jargon. Even whole phrases like “guide, guard, and direct us,” “separate and apart,” “watery grave of baptism,” and so forth are examples of jargon.

Is it wrong or sinful to use jargon? No, not at all! Nevertheless, jargon can become a barrier hindering understanding for those who are not in Christ or who are not familiar with the terms. This can become a particularly acute problem when we assume that everyone else understands what we mean when we use this jargon and, in reality, they do not!

For a long time it was believed that the whole New Testament was its own form of jargon; some suggested that “Holy Spirit Greek” was its own dialect of the language. Yet papyri discoveries over the past two hundred years have painted a very different picture for us. The New Testament was not written in some special form of language that was not understood; it was written using the common language of the people. God’s message was communicated to the world in a form that was designed to be understood!

We see this push toward understanding throughout the book of Acts. When preaching to Jews, the Apostles used language and stories familiar to the Jews (cf. Acts 2:14-36, 3:12-26, 13:16-41). When preaching to Gentiles, they used language and even quotations familiar to the Gentiles (cf. Acts 17:22-31)! Paul provides the general principle in 1 Corinthians 9:22-23:

To the weak I became weak, that I might gain the weak: I am become all things to all men, that I may by all means save some. And I do all things for the gospel’s sake, that I may be a joint partaker thereof.

If we are to become all things to all men so that some may be saved, should that also not mean that we should communicate to our fellow man in ways that he understands?

The New Testament is clear: the message is to be taken to all men so that all men may understand and come to the knowledge of the truth (Matthew 28:18-20, 1 Timothy 2:4). For them to understand, the message must be presented in a way that is understandable. Yet how can the message of the Gospel be understandable if the people with whom we speak do not understand the terms that we use to describe the message of Jesus? We should give some thought to the version of the Bible we use in order to teach others. How effective will our teaching be if those whom we teach must first decipher the English in order to get to God’s message?

Our main concern must be with the language we use in presenting God’s message. We must come to grips with the fact that we live among a generation of people to whom Biblical terms and concepts might as well be a foreign language. On the whole, people do not know the Bible or the terms used in its pages. For example, what do people think of when they hear “gospel”? They might think of it in terms of a genre of music as much or more as “the good news of Jesus Christ.” What is “baptism” to them beyond a religious ritual that many experienced as a baby (or not at all)? For too many, “faith” is nothing more than the opposite of “science.” People might know what “sin” is, but what actions are defined as sin and the consequences of sin are not as well understood. Terms like repentance, sanctification, justification, Trinity, and the like are almost entirely unknown to many of those in the world.

But how can we present the message of God without using some of these terms? We really cannot, just like people in technical fields cannot describe their work without using some of their jargon. The issue is not the use of jargon in and of itself; the issue is making sure that people understand the message that is being communicated!

In terms of evangelism, therefore, we should give some thought as to how to explain the terms that we use, and, whenever possible, get away from jargon and use terms people understand. For example, if one of the main evangelistic events is a “gospel meeting,” let us ask ourselves: do people know what a “gospel meeting” is? Would they know what to expect at a “gospel meeting”? How can we expect anyone to attend a “gospel meeting” if they do not know what it is?

Another example of this is the phrase, “the watery grave of baptism.” For believers “in the know,” it is a way of speaking of baptism in terms of Romans 6:3-7, making clear that it indicates immersion and what its purpose is. But if someone is entirely ignorant of Scripture and Christianity, what does “the watery grave of baptism” sound like? Does it sound like anything in which they would want to participate, or does it sound more like an event in a horror movie and therefore something to avoid?

We could go on and on, but the point ought to be clear. We are supposed to take the message of Jesus Christ to all people and help them to understand who Jesus is, what He has done, and why it should be of the greatest importance to them (Matthew 28:18-20, Romans 10:13-17, 1 Timothy 2:4). Would we ever dream of going out and trying to teach the message of Jesus in Greek to Americans who speak English? Of course not! Therefore, why would we try to teach the message of Jesus to people today in terms that people do not know or understand without any sort of explanation?

Jargon is a part of life. It is not wrong, but we must be careful to make sure that we “make the message plain” and make sure that people understand the ideas and concepts behind the message of the good news of Jesus Christ. We cannot assume that people automatically understand the words we use, and therefore we should give consideration how to best present the Gospel of Christ to all men. Let us do so, becoming the servant of all, so that some might be saved!

Ethan R. Longhenry

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