I’m still learning how to study my bible, so I figured I’d post this approach to Isaiah that I’m taking in case it helps someone find some direction for their own study.
I’m currently digging into Isaiah because Paul establishes much of his thinking, purpose, and ministry on the ideas and words in Isaiah. My approach is this:
1. Listen to Isaiah
Listening to the scriptures is how much of the ancient Jewish world absorbed them. And like a school of fish in water, the ancient Jews understood their scriptures not just as a component of their culture, but their culture itself; the environment they lived, worked, and breathed in. My goal here was to get the big picture; understand where ideas, topics, and audiences shifted; and to see Isaiah come to life in my mind like a movie. Aside from audible chapter breaks, there would be no verse numbers or chapter headers distracting me.
Listening took me about three days to do so as contiguously as possible. I’ve worked hard at learning how to pay attention to audio study as I’m going about day-to-day activities, e.g., driving or cleaning around the house. And when I can’t pay attention, like when I enter the grocery store to pick up a few items, I pause the audio. I know I want to pay attention, and I have to modify my behavior in order to do this effectively. I know that looking for items on the store shelves will require more attention than I have to also hear what’s playing through my headphones. So I pause. When I listen, I listen at 1.5x speed. If you listen to The Bible Project podcasts, you’ll thank me for that if you aren’t already listening at 1.5x.
2. Listening to audio, write down 3-10 key ideas and details for each chapter
This took a couple of weeks. I couldn’t do this in the car. I had to do this sitting down, closing my eyes, and hitting play on the bible app. I would listen to each chapter in its entirety, listening carefully, making mental notes, and then pause at the end of the chapter to write down some bullet points.
I use Logos to support my study. It will read the audio, allow me to adjust the speed, and provide a single repository for all my notes in a tag-able, searchable format. I know YouVersion will play audio for free. And probably other apps too.
3. Transcribe Isaiah chapter-by-chapter
Yes, I’m typing the words of Isaiah from the ESV into my Logos notes as I read them out loud to myself. While I’m doing this I also have the interlinear pane turned on so that I can see the Hebrew and have quick access to Logos Word Studies that give me fingertip access to meanings and context.
In my transcription I substitute Yahweh for LORD, Yaweh sabaot (Lord of hosts – the leader of Yahweh’s army), El or el / Eloha / Elohe / Elohim for God, elohim for god (when distinguishing between Yahweh the El of Israel and the other gods / el/elohim of other nations), Qadosh Israel (Holy One of Israel), and Adonai for Lord (the English translators use “lord” to mean a few different things) in order to help me make the words I’m reading very clear to me so I get the right understanding, e.g., which god are we talking about, or which form or role of the Hebrew God is in play.
Taking this approach gives me an opportunity to understand what the original writers were thinking. This all helps with clarity of meaning of the text. As I write this on Dec 28 I’m around chapter 50.
You can find free interlinears online. Logos interlinear is a paid feature (I think around $20) and well worth the cost for the extremely effective formatting and the integration with the entire Logos platform.
Try following this example.
This is my transcription of a segment of Isaiah 41. Notice the “god” words. Qadosh is Holy One; Yahweh is usually translated LORD; and Elohe is god/God, so in this case it’s the God of Israel (as opposed to another god).
Transcription Example: Notice the “god” words
Here is what the interlinear in Logos looks like and what I used to make my English substitutions. When I click on a word in the text, the interlinear pane at the bottom of the screen highlights the current word and provides context. In this case I’ve highlighted “the God” and you can see in the interlinear that the transliteration (English spelling of the Hebrew sounds) is Elohe. Logos will tell you what part of speech the word is and even pronounce it for you.
Interlinear Example
Sometimes I come across an English word in the ESV that just doesn’t sound right in the context of what I’m reading. One of those cases for me is the word “savior” as used a few times in Isaiah. I’m thinking that they aren’t talking about a savior the way modern evangelicals think about Jesus and that this word can confuse ideas and lead to a misunderstanding of Isaiah. I use the interlinear to help me understand what’s happening behind the English translation. In this case I’m thinking “deliverer” provides a clearer understanding of the point Isaiah makes.
The Hebrew linguistic context of the English translation Savior in Isaiah 43
Without departing too far from my workflow, I can quickly get additional context in Logos by right clicking a word. Logos provides a number of options to drill into.
Right clicking on “Savior” provides this contextual menu of options in Logos
If I choose Bible Word Study near the top right of the context menu, Logos provides, well, a Word Study tool where I can get an understanding of the word, its meaning, and how its used throughout both scripture and other non-biblical content that I own in my Logos library.
Logos Word Study – Savior
4. Chapter-by-chapter notes and in-depth contextual study
Once I complete the transcription I’ll leverage my Logos library (in which I’ve invested quite a bit) to support my study. I’ll take notes on my findings as I spend time reading passage-by passage through Isaiah again, accessing dictionaries and commentaries, soaking in the history and looking up words I don’t know. Places and geography matters. Finding these on maps will further refine my understanding. Most of this work I can do in Logos without having to keep hard copy books open on my desk. Having multiple monitors helps keep all the content accessible.
This will have been my fourth pass through Isaiah, getting a bit deeper with each pass.
5. Understanding the interconnections within the text
One of my goals in this phase of the study will be to identify and understand where and why Paul refers to Isaiah as he corresponds with the different churches as well as the record of Paul’s behavior in Luke’s account of Acts. How did Paul’s understanding of Judaism change? How does he understand his role in God’s unfolding plan? What is Paul’s understanding of the meaning of scripture? There are many questions here.
In one sense this is pretty easy to do. Most English bibles footnote the New Testament text where the writers refer to Old Testament passages. So just follow the footnotes.
In another sense, this is crazy stupid hard to do because you have to channel your inner ancient Israelite in order to really get it. New Testament writers don’t refer to an Old Testament passage just for the passage’s sake. That’s called proof texting, and the ancient Israelites didn’t handle their scriptures that way. Because the ancient community is as familiar with their heritage as a fish is with water, when the writer refers to a passage, that writer also assumes the reader or hearer will pull in all of the Old Testament context associated with that passage in order to understand the point. As modern readers, we don’t get that context at all by just following the footnotes. In order to understand our New Testament the way the NT writers meant us to, we have to not just know the words in our OT, but also their context and meaning. They need to live within us. For me, everything I outlined above is the foundational work that helps me get ready to do the hard work of interconnection.
I have Matt Halstead’s book Paul and the Meaning of Scripture on my list. It’s not in Logos yet, so I’m debating on the Kindle version now ($10), or wait. NT Wright’s academic work on Paul is also on my list, but it’s a 1,600 page slog. Both of these will make the connections between the Jewish scriptures and Paul’s thinking that will provide context for New Testament readers. I do own the Dictionary of Paul and his Letters which I expect to aid in my research. What’s nice about Logos is that I don’t have to remember what content I own. I perform the searches I need to do, and Logos returns the hits across my library.
So that’s how I’m approaching my Isaiah study. I hope this helps.
If you have an attrition rate of even 10% – 10% just bag it – ok, because they run into questions and you don’t teach them anything, and they just lose their faith. Every one of those 10% is going to have a circle of friends and family. And they’re going to relate why they are not Christians to those people.
Michael Heiser
I almost fell out of my chair watching this. It’s Michael Heiser, one of the theologians I follow, discussing the damage of even 10% attrition in the church caused by poor biblical teaching. My home congregation, and the fellowship of churches that I am a part of, the International Church of Christ, experiences about 75% attrition. I know, right? 75%. Of all the hard work done to bring someone into a relationship with Jesus, we lose 3 out of 4. From those who continue to stick around I hear the comment that it doesn’t matter what scripture is used, the sermon is the same every week. Week after week. Year after year. There really isn’t constructive biblical instruction happening. And you don’t have to look too far on, say, Facebook to see the ramifications of the damage done to former members. This ranges from meh to active hostility in public forums.
That 75% number hits hard. About 350 people currently identify my local congregation as their family and community of worship. When I was a young Christian in the late 1980s and early 1990s, this congregation numbered about 800. I’ve experienced the shedding of maybe 1,500 people in the intervening years. And these aren’t just flighty people with low levels of commitment; they are sons and daughters of my dear friends, and their friends who have become my friends. People who have grown up with my daughters and around my family.
This experience isn’t just anecdotal. Andy Fleming1 studied attrition in the ICOC in detail and published his findings in a 2018 paper entitled Let Each One Be Careful How He Builds: A study of the statistical narrative of the International Churches of Christ (ICOC) – the initial growth phase. Fleming identifies faulty strategic planning and decision making that did not account for the data in the underlying assumptions that led to ineffective approaches to structuring a church and ministry. Fleming interprets the data through a number of charts he developed that point over and over to faulty building practices. I’m guessing this is why he titles his paper as he does.
On page 21 Fleming comments on a tipping point where the number of people leaving the fellowship and the number of people staying resulted in a reduction of the growth rate eventually leading to a point of no growth in 2002. At the end of 2002 the absolute membership number was essentially the same as the start of 2002.
ICOC Additions and Deletions Pre 2003. Credit Andy Fleming
This article began by identifying a movement-wide tipping point in 1999 that seemed to come without warning. This “tipping point” corresponded to a strong decline in the number of annual “additions,” [baptisms] and a delayed and weaker decline in the number of “deletions” [people leaving] . . . We also noted that this same phenomenon was experienced almost simultaneously among the World Sectors and therefore no particular World Sector’s performance served as a warning to the others.
Andy Fleming
Fleming focuses on the data and provided some commentary on the inner workings of ICOC planning that played a part in this dynamic. What Fleming doesn’t address are external influences on the ICOC. External influences would be a different study. I suspect with the then recent attack on the World Trade Center buildings and the ensuing war and hunt for Sadaam Husein, a number of cultural dynamics fundamentally shifted, and our church structures, leadership, and worldview were not ready or able to address these.
Fleming does address in a footnote on p23 the continued success of God’s work in China:
Worthy of mention among these churches of over 2,000 members was the solid building done by God through Scott & Lynne Green. The Hong Kong church grew exponentially for its first 9 years (as compared to the 4.3 average for this church size) and had an “overall accumulative retention rate” of 59.5% after 10 years (as compared to the 38.1% average for this church size).
Andy Fleming
God will make himself known in a country that takes the position that God does not exist or denies that Jesus is the messiah. Quiet stories of growth and God making himself known surface regularly out of atheist and Muslim regions of the world.
Kyle Spears hosts the Truth, Trauma, and Theology podcast, YouTube channel, and paid membership Patreon site where he directly interacts with his audience. Spears’ interview with Fleming on Patreon introduced me to Andy Fleming and his work. The conversation was enlightening and led me to read Fleming’s findings. Spears hosts a number of conversations with ICOC leaders on his YouTube channel that I think are worth paying attention to. I’ll provide a list of these at the end of this post.
With a 75% attrition rate you would be justified asking why I’m still part of this fellowship. A similar question was raised in the Spacemakers community group recently: “Would people stay if it weren’t for the relationships?”
I would restructure this question a bit. My understanding of Christianity is that Jesus is the messiah that the Jewish people expected. As such, Christianity, in a real sense, is built on the foundation of Judaism and all that comes with it – its 4,000 years of tradition, the deep sense of community, the thorough understanding of their God, a well constructed and edited written scripture, and the compassion and generosity expected of them as God’s people tasked with drawing The Nations back to himself. With that as the backdrop, I’ve been a member of my home church, this specific congregation, since 1987. This is my family. I met my wife here. I raised my daughters here. My oldest was married here. My best friends are here. I’ve met nearly weekly for almost 20 years with two men in this fellowship. Together we’ve worked through the deaths of those close to us, difficulties in raising our children, struggles through our marriages, our own pride and behavior that has hurt others, mental health and counseling, and church and leadership issues. Like the Jewish people who simply are Jewish, I am a Christian and this is my family. It’s not even that I’m committed to this group of people I call family and I won’t give up on them. Like blood relations, I didn’t ask to enter this community. I’m just in it. Where else would I go?
While I don’t know the practices of other churches, the mindset of moving from church to church doesn’t make sense to me (seriously no judgement on those that don’t stay with one specific church body; my statement is about me). That isn’t to say that I won’t find myself in the proverbial Babylon at some point with God saying this was his doing so be content with it. In that case it won’t matter what mindset I have and I’ll find myself in another faith community. As it is, it’s the church leaders, the ministry staff, who come and go over time in my local congregation. The members are the ones who are consistent from year to year and decade to decade. At least the 25% who are able to accept the dysfunction, adapt, and stick around. So, for me, it’s not the relationships that keep me. This is my church, my family. If someone goes, pretty much no matter how bad it gets, it won’t be me. Perhaps I’ll eat these words at some point.
What might some underlying causes of the horrific ICOC attrition rate be? I’ll comment on one because it’s prevalent in the churches geographically close to me.
At the end of his paper, Fleming provides commentary on his findings. Among his conclusions is that after the first leaders essentially trained themselves up in the 1970s, the subsequent waves of leaders were not equipped for the task of effectively leading churches.
The evangelistic zeal that characterized most pre-2003 ICOC church plantings demonstrated the emphasis placed on mastering the “first principles” (KJV for “elementary teachings”) and the success of that training. Many church plantings grew quickly and experienced a “multiplication” effect as a direct result of this intentional equipping of every new disciple to study the Bible with another person. In strong contrast to this deliberate training, there was no corresponding “second principles” available to equip the disciples to responsibly train each other in the “constant use” of “the teaching about righteousness.” That is not to say, that such training never happened, but this second stage of “making disciples” was never granted the priority or clarity that learning to “baptize” a new person had been given. (It should be noted that since 2003, a small number of church families have seriously addressed this lacking and implemented training programs and even designated leadership roles for the sole purpose of ongoing discipleship.) Admittedly, the first part of making disciples is more straightforward and easier to master when compared with the lifelong challenge of living the Christian life every day and developing deeper relationships—discipleship can be a “messy” business. Consequently, this emphasis on the mandate “to baptize” unconsciously relegated “teaching them to obey everything” to a less important position.
Fleming, p33
Fleming goes on to communicate personally and vulnerably his own failure to train others. I can’t say how much I appreciate and respect his honesty.
All through these planting years my wife and I tried to serve in love and good conscience, and to this day have close relationships with many brothers and sisters and continue to receive warm and loving welcomes from these congregations. At the same time, as Paul said, “my conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent.” (1 Cor 4:4) The first year of the Moscow church witnessed 850 baptisms, and the planting of three new congregations. During that first year, the mission team met together for ministry training four mornings a week where we studied great quantities of scripture, focused on personal discipleship, and spent time in prayer. After one year, many of these ministry interns became the leadership of three new mission teams and were sent out to plant new churches. God blessed these efforts and all these new congregations got off to a great start and reached 500 in membership within their first 3 years. But unfortunately, reproducing that same training experience proved to be very difficult, and from that point forward the teams went out more poorly trained and were less capable of converting large numbers of people. In my zeal to plant more churches quickly, I know that I exposed under-prepared disciples to some very challenging situations—and for that I am sorry.
Fleming, p37
Today, we’re still in that space.
Most ministry staff in the ICOC has no formal training. At one time this was recognized as a positive characteristic of our leadership. After all, the Jewish leaders recognized Jesus’ disciples as unschooled ordinary men. This point of view didn’t take into account Jesus’ disciples knowing both what their scriptures said and what their scriptures meant because they learned from Jesus, their rabbi. It’s not that the disciples were ignorant that caused the Jewish leaders to take note. They took note because the disciples’ understanding of the scriptures was on par with their own – even though they were unschooled ordinary men.
What are the ramifications of this lack of training IRL? A lead pastor recently recommended the book The Bait of Satan to me. He told me another lead pastor recommended this book to him. This gave me pause after reading it. It’s not a terrible book, but it’s not at all the mature equipping that Jesus’ followers need to fulfill the mission of making disciples and building his church. And I fear our church leaders aren’t in a position of being equipped enough to notice that a book like this is more of a problem than it is part of the solution: They don’t know what they don’t know. Warren Buffett, arguably the world’s greatest investor, describes this as a difficult position to be in and to stay away from investments in this space because you can’t make good decisions. In the church context, as scary as that scenario is, even that isn’t an insurmountable problem. It’s when those ministers aim to undermine the peoplewho are equipped and don’t understand their own blindness that we have a problem.2
Anyway, The Bait of Satan was recommended to me by a lead pastor. I know. With a title like that I didn’t expect much either. I read it. let’s just say the book met my expectations. It’s an ok enough personal devotional book. In a couple of places the author makes very good points about personal character development. You could categorize this as Christian Self-Help, similar to the secular titles like Awaken the Giant Within or the Mars-Venus book.
The author of The Bait of Satan makes liberal use of proof texting and bible versions (mostly KJV) that translate the Greek and Hebrew as “offense” as in “take offense” or “are offended” because it fits his preconceived ideas. You kind of know when an author is stretching to make a point when the KJV isn’t their primary translation. When they use 15th century English to make points in the 21st century, they generally need to equivocate over language because a modern translation doesn’t make the point they need to make. Take the idea that God has prepared a mansion in heaven for each one of us. I’m sure you’ve heard this before. And the statement brings to mind a beautiful home that I’ll call mine for all eternity. That concept originates in the KJV where in the 15th century the word mansion is nothing more than the common word for a house or apartment that we might use today.
Sure, I get it. “Andy, you’re just complaining.” Maybe you’re right.
Consider that every chapter of the book starts with a comment from a reader like this:
I thank God for your obedience in writing The Bait of Satan. This book is so anointed that the Spirit of the Lord dealt with me the entire time while I read it, which only took a couple of days. This book has changed my life completely. I have been freed from the chains of offenses and will continue to exercise my heart, mind, and emotions to remain free.
L.M., South Carolina. The Bait of Satan, Intro to Chapter 12
And what do I mean by self-help? Here’s an extended example from the author straight out of chapter 13:
An incident occurred in my life involving someone in the ministry. This extreme offense I experienced was not isolated but was one of several with this person that intensified over a year and a half.
Everyone around me knew what was going on. “Aren’t you hurt?” they asked me. “What are you going to do? Are you just going to stand back and take it?”
“I’m fine,” I said. “It hasn’t affected me. I’m going on with the call on my life.”
But my answer was nothing more than pride. I was extremely hurt but denied it, even to myself. I would spend hours trying to figure out how all this could happen to me. I was in shock, numb, and amazed. But I suppressed these thoughts and put on a strong front when in reality I was weak and deeply injured.
Months went by. Everything seemed dry, the ministry was stale, my prayer closet was lonely, and I was in torment. I fought devils daily. I thought all the resistance was because of the call on my life, but in actuality it was the torment from my unforgiveness. Every time I was around this man I came away feeling spiritually beat up.
Then came the morning I will never forget. I was sitting on the deck in my backyard praying. “Lord, am I hurt?” I asked.
No sooner had these words left my lips when I heard a shout deep in my spirit: Yes!
God wanted to make sure I knew I was hurt.
“God, please help me get out of this hurt and offense,” I pleaded. “It is too much for me to handle.”
This was exactly where the Lord wanted me — at the end of myself. Too often we try to do things in the strength of our souls. This does not cause us to grow spiritually. Instead, we become more susceptible to falling.
The first step to healing and freedom is to recognize you are hurt. Often pride does not want us to admit we are hurt and offended. Once I admitted my true condition, I sought the Lord and was open to His correction.
I sensed that the Lord wanted me to fast for a few days. Fasting would put me in a position of being sensitive to the voice of His Spirit and provide other benefits as well.
“Is this not the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke?” – Isaiah 58:6
I was ready for those bonds of wickedness to be broken and to be free from oppression.
John Bevere. The Bait of Satan, chapter 13
Yes, the author really published that reader comment about being freed from the chains of offense. And he actually recounted this story of interpersonal conflict. He called on God as his personal concierge with much success and decided to fast. Then he equated both of these to Isaiah 58:6. Yeah, he really did that.
Ok Andy, if that’s not right, how should we understand Isaiah 58? Idunno. Maybe start at the beginning? Let’s take a quick look at say, Isaiah, uh . . . chapter one:
2 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth;
for the Lord has spoken:
“Children have I reared and brought up,
but they have rebelled against me.
3 The ox knows its owner,
and the donkey its master’s crib,
but Israel does not know,
my people do not understand.”
4 Ah, sinful nation,
a people laden with iniquity,
offspring of evildoers,
children who deal corruptly!
They have forsaken the Lord,
they have despised the Holy One of Israel,
they are utterly estranged.
5 Why will you still be struck down?
Why will you continue to rebel?
The whole head is sick,
and the whole heart faint.
6 From the sole of the foot even to the head,
there is no soundness in it,
but bruises and sores
and raw wounds;
they are not pressed out or bound up
or softened with oil.
7 Your country lies desolate;
your cities are burned with fire;
in your very presence
foreigners devour your land;
it is desolate, as overthrown by foreigners.
8 And the daughter of Zion is left
like a booth in a vineyard,
like a lodge in a cucumber field,
like a besieged city.
9 If the Lord of hosts
had not left us a few survivors,
we should have been like Sodom,
and become like Gomorrah.
Isaiah 1:2-9 (ESV)
Isaiah opens with the nation of Israel is in utter shambles not knowing the God whose people they are. Foreign nations and foreign gods have devoured them. If God himself had not been merciful, they would have been completely destroyed as Sodom or Gomorrah. When you get to Isaiah 58, this is the kind of oppression and wickedness that God says you fast successfully in response to.
The author on the other hand reduces the God that created order out of chaos, who rules the gods of the nations from his throne, who directs the armies of the world and subdues all of their power towards his ends and purposes, to a cosmic concierge at his beck and call to help him feel better about an interpersonal conflict, and then equate his personal struggle with the affairs of Israel at the hands of the Assyrians in view of this God. That’s what I mean by self-help Christianity.
Not that you don’t take interpersonal conflict seriously among the people of God. And that conflict could require much prayer and fasting. But to drag Isaiah into a personal disagreement is a gross misunderstanding of the story of God and his people. This author has a warped view of the Old Testament and how the scriptures relate to our real lives. To this author, God is a farce, and the author doesn’t even realize it.
Back to Fleming’s comment on the ineffective equipping of church leaders: If content like The Bait of Satan is the kind of content our church leaders lean on, we have to get them access to mature biblical instruction.
Those of us who have been true readers all our life seldom fully realize the enormous extension of our being which we owe to authors. We realize it best when we talk to an unliterary friend. He may be full of goodness and good sense but he inhabits a tiny world. In it, we should be suffocated. The man who is contented to be only himself, and therefore less a self, is in prison. My own eyes are not enough for me, I will see through those of others. Reality, even seen through the eyes of many, is not enough. I will see what others have invented . . . Literary experience heals the wound, without undermining the privilege, of individuality. There are mass emotions which heal the wound; but they destroy the privilege. In them our separate selves are pooled and we sink back into sub-individuality. But in reading great literature I become a thousand men and yet remain myself. Like the night sky in the Greek poem, I see with a myriad eyes, but it is still I who see. Here, as in worship, in love, in moral action, and in knowing, I transcend myself; and am never more myself than when I do.
CS Lewis, An Experiment in Criticism
Like the horse, though, we can lead them to the water. They’ll have to want to drink.
For those of you in ICOC congregations, you may want to listen in on these conversations with Kyle Spears and some of the influential folks in our fellowship. Some good thinking here.
You’ll find additional ICOC content as a Patreon subscriber to Spears’ content. Access beings at $5/month. No, I don’t get any affiliate payment for this. I just respect his content enough to share the value of it with others.
1 Andy Fleming is a well-known and respected leader in the ICOC. He’s planted and led churches in Russia and Ukraine. His formal training included a bachelors in Christian Ministry and a masters in Christian Missions from Abilene Christian University. You can read the abstract of his paper on Disciples Today and get access to the full paper on academia.edu.
Fleming focused on the internal dynamics and decision-making that led to building failures. I suspect there are also external factors that were ignored such as the inability of leadership to understand culture shifts and the political climate that play a part.
2 Listen to the hot mic after the camera is turned off. And if you want to be horrified, feel free to listen to the entire message.
3 To access this free resource, create an Internet Archive account and borrow the book. You can borrow from the Internet Archive in intervals of an hour to multiple weeks. It’s a collection you should get used to accessing because of the availability of primary sources.
A short reflection as a father supporting the healing and management of his daughters’ mental illnesses
The month of May in the US is mental health awareness month. I’d like to complete this month with a personal reflection.
We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
In baptism we share not only the resurrected life of Jesus, but the pain and anguish of death and burial. Mental illness is part of this pain. And like any illness, sometimes like a cold, a couple days in bed takes care of it. Sometimes, like a broken bone, it’s more serious, requiring hospital care. Sometimes, like diabetes, the illness is chronic, requiring vigilance, long-term treatment, and sometimes a no-holds-barred intervention.
In the resurrected life there is the hope of God. In our allegiance to him through baptism, we join him in his work of restoration. In this work fathers have a sacred calling. There is the hope of a father who drops what he’s doing to be present on the other end of a two-hour phone call because he’s unsure of the outcome if he ends the call before she’s ready. There is the hope of a father who places no judgement on his daughter who could not muster the will to do the work to pass a class. There is the hope of a father who spends an hour waiting with his daughter who finally musters up the courage to step into an elevator.
There is the hope of a father humble enough to understand that he himself is broken so he seeks the treatment his family needs him to want.
Our hope is in our partnership with each other in Jesus. Our calling in this resurrected life is to join in the work God is doing to restore his creation. Our care for the mental health of ourselves and each other is foundational and restorative.
do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
And because there is no peace in our hearts we might think, “I must be praying incorrectly.” Or maybe, “ ‘This peace of God’ just can’t be true.”
Paul knows the difficulty of reality. Praying to a point that conquers anxiety is foreign even to him. Only a few paragraphs earlier Paul tells the Philippians that
I have thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, and your messenger and minister to my need, for he has been longing for you all and has been distressed because you heard that he was ill. Indeed he was ill, near to death. But God had mercy on him, and not only on him but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. I am the more eager to send him, therefore, that you may rejoice at seeing him again, and that I may be less anxious.
What Paul didn’t say is that, “I prayed for Epaphroditus and it all got better.” No, Paul experienced relief that God spared him more sorrow on top of his existing sorrow and anxiety.
The trauma of life so followed Paul that he and his companions were
so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death.
I have limited experience with the first century understanding of mental health other than the New Testament authors pointing out someone demon possessed or “in his right mind” in a handful of instances. It seems they knew something of it. It would be difficult given Paul’s descriptions and what we understand of the historical brutality that enforced the peace of the Roman Empire that the realities of, say, PTSD weren’t unknown if not prevalent.
It’s much too simplistic to point out a “command” like
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
My family recently provided our thoughts about mental illness in a communion message. My wife shared about her own failures when helping our family navigate mental illness. She provided a wish list of items she wished she had done better. After service, she let me know that she forgot one: I wish I would have respected my children’s privacy and not talked about them to other people just because I was feeling insecure. This woman is my hero. She makes the space to reflect deeply on herself. I appreciate her so much and am grateful that I get a chance to partner with her in our life together.
Let’s continue the ongoing work in partnering with God to restore his creation. And in that work let’s provide the support for each other as we work to heal and manage our mental health.
The significance of the Genesis 6 story in literature from this period is much clearer. The Book of Watchers and Jubilees blame the watchers for the existence of evil spirits. These evil spirits lead people to worship idols and (in Jub.) to shed human blood.
Modern New Testament study generally attributes the introduction of sin in the world to the fall in Genesis 3. Judaism in the Second Temple, or intertestamental, period attributes the source of sin to multiple beings and events. Ryan Stokes (Yale Divinity School) explores the sources of sin as understood in the works of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
Hebrews 10:24-25, ESV
Mike Heiser points out in his podcast on Hebrews 10 (transcript) that common use of Hebrews 10:24-25 isn’t too damaging, and can be beneficial, but its use usually misses the critical point.
In my experience, I hear this from the pulpit when midweek attendance is down, or in a one-on-one conversation when someone hasn’t been at church for a few weeks. The gist is that you need to be at all the meetings of the church. And the implication is that if you miss a few for no good reason, or if you miss consistently, then you’re not doing too well spiritually. I’m not sure too many people could define “not doing well spiritually,” but it sounds like you really know what you’re talking about when you use the phrase.
Heiser points out that ecclesia – the word translated as church – isn’t used in this passage. He then identifies the two uses of ecclesia in Hebrews. First in Hebrews 2:11-12 where ecclesia is translated “congregation”:
That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, 1saying,
“I will tell of your name to my brothers;
in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.”
Hebrews 2:11-12
and then in Hebrews 12:23 where it’s translated “assembly”:
But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
Hebrews 12:22-24
In the context of chapters 2 and 12, ecclesia describes the brothers and sisters who have made it – they’ve fought the good fight and are glorified. The author is not referencing the church on earth or its meetings.
I like how Heiser describes the point of the passage:
The point here in this passage (Hebrews 10:25)… The writer is afraid for those who habitually refuse community. It is a present active participle. “Neglecting” there is present active in Greek. The reference is to some activity that is ongoing and that is probably even habitual. Why is he worried about that? Is he worried that believers won’t get the correct number of hours in a week to keep God happy? No. He’s worried about that because the community can help encourage them to keep believing. They’re under persecution. Life is hard. It has nothing to do with meeting a quota of hours per week to keep God happy. Honestly, that is a wicked legalizing of something that’s really important, that just far and away transcends that kind of thinking, especially if you appreciate the context here. This was a big deal. Because as people would drift away and they would doubt and think, “Should I go back to Judaism?”… This is the whole focus of the book— the superiority of Christ! It would be spiritual insanity to want to go back to this.
The passage is framed in the context of the entire book of Hebrews – Jesus is superior to the Torah. Hold on to your faith! When your faith is challenged, stay plugged in to the faith community. Don’t drift away.
When the passage is used to mandate physical presence and attendance at church meetings it misses the point that being in community can strengthen your hold on your faith during persecution and the difficulties of life. If you’re bored, uncommitted, distracted, kids soccer on Wednesday night … meh … this passage isn’t the one you’re looking for. You have different issues.
The real harm in using this passage to support church meeting attendance is that it sets members up not for the intended encouragement, but for failure. The standard is no longer being in a community that strengthens you, but how many services have I missed. Or having a pastor or friend question you about your spiritual well being. You might question your ability to live up to the standard and even question your own faith. There may be guilt that keeps you away. Rigid standards are brittle. They may be strong, but when they fail they shatter and fail completely.
Richter provides one of the most beautiful summaries of the community in the book of Ruth as the “ideal eschatological community.” She cites Kathernine Doob Sakenfeld’s essay “Ruth 4, An Image of Eschatalogical Hope: Journeying with a Text.” This essay appears in Liberating Eschatology: Essays in Honor of Letty M. Russell.
the book of Ruth presents a picture of the ideal eschatological community and functions as “an extended metaphor for God’s New Creation.” With its picture of a community in which old and young alike are cared for, where there is physical sustenance for all, where ethnic identities cease to divide, and people participate in the divine חסד [kindness or love between people, of piety of people towards God as well as of love or mercy of God towards humanity], Ruth shows an “eschatological vision of future hope.” Sakenfeld notes that the hopefulness of the text stands out especially since the story of Ruth is set in the days of the judges, a time marked by Israelite warfare against enemy nations as well as internecine carnage in which women especially suffer (see, for example, Judg 19-21). So, into the midst of a time of warfare and struggle comes a picture of peace, righteousness, and plenty. God gives blessing and God’s name is blessed, and human fruitfulness is shown not only in the birth of Obed, but also in an entire genealogy of descendants.
Is the community context of Ruth in the timeframe of the Judges in the minds of first century Christians as they read the Matthean genealogy? Richter references it in her dissertation which, by definition, should engage all the relevant scholarship on the topic, so one could say possibly. In any case, it’s a beautiful picture of the providence of God to fashion the wonderful out of a most difficult circumstance.
