The Use of Didactic Materials from the Bible in Spiritual Formation: Part One

The Use of Didactic Materials from the Bible in Spiritual Formation

Part One

“Don’t judge a book by its cover.” This popular adage is normally applied to instruct a friend or a child to be more sensitive toward another person whose first impressions may rub some spots raw. It should equally be applied to the book of books, the Bible. The various pages of this collection of individual books divided into two sections, The Old Testament and the New Testament appearing chronologically on either side of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, contain varying genres, or styles of writing.

Poetry is easily recognized on most printed pages by the unusual format, although there are various subtypes that appear in poetic form: songs, hymns, proverbs, and prophetic utterances. The bulk of the material appears in prose form, word after word from beginning to the end of a line followed consecutively by more words forming sentences, paragraphs and entire chapters. Yet within these many words punctuation marks often distinguish between types: narratives frequently include “direct quotations” and “verbal command are identified with a punctuation mark!” Yet many lines have no identifying marks except for the comma and period. A third concern that frequently requires a touch of sensitivity so as not to draw the wrong conclusion appears in the voice of address used. The biblical text may simply be telling a story in the third person as it describes the actions of David, Samuel, Jeremiah, or Jesus. Yet other times it will use the second person form of address when “you” is/are included in the reading. Is the “you” singular-an individual reader- or plural-a community of readers? It is difficult to tell in most English translations.

A final distinction among prose writing comes in the oft-misunderstood teaching sections, where instructional, or didactic, words are written to an audience prior to the first century of our calendar. What shall I do with these words of instruction that most often seem foreign or address issues I am not encumbered with? That becomes the issue when you and I attempt to read the Bible to gain spiritual nourishment from the river of life. Didactic materials are focused primarily in the New Testament letters, although it is not unusual to encounter such materials in the Old Testament in places like Jeremiah 29, where Jeremiah writes to the exiles living in Babylon sometime between 597 and 587 B.C. Because mining for gold requires finding a rich vein, you and I will do most of our excavation where we know gold may be found.

Old Testament Prophets

This Blog was originally written in September 2014 but was never posted.

Recently our university hosted Palmer Chinchen, author of The Barefoot Tribe, on campus. During a very pleasant conversation over a Vietnamese dinner, he began to mention his focus on Justice. The word itself echoes powerfully in the ear of the reader who has spent time in the prophetic books of the canon. Justice is a critical theme for the prophets; it has to do with setting the world aright under God’s plan.

Therefore, return to your God,
Observe kindness and justice,
And wait for your God continually. (Hosea 12:6, NAS95)

The justice Palmer mentioned was surprising to me since he used no modifier in front of it as so many proponents use: Social Justice, Economic Justice, Legal Justice, etc. Later in a hallway conversation with James Bryan Smith, the two recognized that they are using different words to propose the same concept: Christ-imitating behavior.

Take away from Me the noise of your songs;
I will not even listen to the sound of your harps.
But let justice roll down like waters
And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. (Amos 5:23-24. NAS95)

 The role of the prophet in the Old Testament was to help others confront false narratives. The basic narrative needing correction was that Israel’s powerful, important people (kings) were not gods, as many nations around them held their kings to be. Instead, they were to be God’s representatives on earth to insure that powerful, wealthy and influential individuals did not allow selfishness and personal ambition to overrun the status and personhood of their weak, poor, and common countryman. In other words, the King was to insure Justice. The prophet’s role was to remind the ruler of his duty to enforce justice.

Another role of the prophets was to remind the rulers (that’s normally who they talk to!) that there was one and only one God in Israel. Idolatry was not going to go unpunished since it eroded the people’s participation in their covenantal obligations. Idolatry by the leaders was mirrored among the common people. The prophet served as the moral compass and conscience for the nation when they forgot their spiritual center.

What, then, can we learn today from the prophets of old, if anything, about spiritual formation?

First and foremost, God indicates through the prophets that the activity of his people is to protect the rights of the poor and helpless. Those who are engaged in spiritual formation to be shaped into the likeness of God and his son Jesus must consider their treatment of the less fortunate as a primary responsibility.

‘Dispense true justice and practice kindness and compassion each to his brother; and do not oppress the widow or the orphan, the stranger or the poor; and do not devise evil in your hearts against one another.’ (Zechariah 7:9-10, NAS95)

Second, the role of the followers of Jesus is to remind their sojourners of the danger of beginning to lose sight of the holiness of God. The culture in which we live offers a multitude of attractions a follower of Jesus can pursue if he/she becomes stagnate in his/her life or relies on the activity of God at an earlier time of life to substitute for a living encounter with God’s presence in the now time.

Followers of Jesus must serve a prophetic role within their community of co-followers and gently encourage one another to return to a trusting, enlivening relationship with Jesus. More importantly followers of Jesus must be willing to build transparency within their community that allows them to listen and respond to brothers and sisters who bring a word of correction through the Spirit of God’s leaning. We do not walk alone!

 And just as He called and they would not listen, so they called and I would not listen,” says the LORD of hosts. (Zechariah 7:13, NAS95)

Advent (re-visited)

On December 10, 2012 I posted the following comments.

During the Advent Season, many church attendees are confronted with the idea that Christmas is more than a single day holiday celebration: like Independence Day, Memorial Day, and Labor Day  to name a few, and more than an extended buffet of shopping excursions into the commercial establishments screaming, "stuff, stuff, stuff your home with our stuff".  Instead these attendants to Christian Church worship services are encouraged to anticipate, to actually expect the coming of the Christ Mass, the celebration of incarnation. Thus in one fashion or another a local congregation accentuates the regularly scheduled worship with something more, the Advent reading and Advent candle lighting.

The most popular quad-diurnal theme focuses on Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love.  However, the website faithandworship.com provides an additional fourteen possible combinations. I remember vaguely from my childhood three from a fourplex of Prophets, Angels, and Shepherds. The churchofengland.org website states that the Four Last Things, Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell are traditional themes. What to make of the variety?  That is the real questions.

Does the celebration of advent and the selected themes speak to our human condition? Does the selection from the CoE speak about the focus of our celebration differently from the selection of Hope-Love?  I would say that the choice does speak about our human condition, but even more it speaks about our human focus.

Take for example the popular Hope-Love advent topics.  Are these something we possess already or something we look to receive at this time of year?  Is our focus on receiving from God?  Then shift to those from my memory, Prophets-Shepherds.  These represent those who proclaimed the coming of the messiah.  Does our selection reflect an emphasis on proclamation?

Symbolism is powerful. It not only reflects our thinking, it in turn shapes our thinking.  Be careful what you wish for, you may actually receive the same!

What does it take for you to prepare to celebrate the Incarnation? 2016 has been an unseasonably warmer fall. The frost on the pumpkins didn't come until well past October 31st and tomatoes were still putting on fresh fruit into November. Is cold weather a requirement for your mental preparation for Christmas? Must you wait until at least one week past Thanksgiving? The first Sunday of Advent falls only 3 days past Thanksgiving in 2016. How will you celebrate this sentimental season this year? More importantly, how will you live this season with expectations for God of Creation to be with you?

An Intentionally Spiritual Application-(I hope)

(These are draft comments on Romans 4. Feel free to comment!)

The question may remain in some minds regarding the applicability of Abraham’s life to a Gentile of the first century or to anyone living in the 21^st. Yet, Paul specifically describes these words of faith righteousness as written, not merely in testimony to Abraham, but as an example for those Roman Christians seeking God. The faith of Abraham is the type of faith necessary for those who hear the proclamation of the resurrected Jesus; one must believe God can give life to the dead!

            What does this imply for those of us in the 21^st century? Simply stated, faith righteousness means that we, you and I, recognize that God the Father who gave life to the dead and infertile body of Abraham as well as to the dead and buried body of Jesus our Lord is able to bring life to any situation in our existence in need of life. God is the only source of life in this world and he breathes life into our lifeless existence through this seeming mystery of faith. These lifeless moments occur within our daily existence: broken relationships, meaningless jobs, or dysfunctional family situations. But the question may be asked, if our faith is in God, what role does Jesus play in this faith righteousness?

            Paul concludes Romans 4 and begins Romans 5 with a description of the critical role of Jesus that includes our transgressions, our justification and finally our new peace with God. This peace we have is covered in Chapter Five, our transgressions in Chapter Eight, so that leaves only the idea of our justification for discussion at this point. This idea of justification, or the verbal element of righteousness as with Abraham, is directly tied to the resurrection of Jesus. The death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus is crucial to this faith righteousness, indeed it is the only ingredient that can bring it about. Just as law righteousness could not succeed according to Paul, law righteousness fails in our lifetime as well. Faith righteousness comes in our decision to trust the promise of God to bring his special type of life to our lifeless existence.

            To use a different analogy entirely, in Jesus’ resurrection the first fruit of this righteous character of God, of this covenantal faithfulness, of this steadfast love or, as it is often translated in the Psalms, this lovingkindness blooms into visible sight. Jesus’ resurrection is the ultimate expression of Paul’s main idea from Romans 1:16-17, “I am not ashamed of this good news, for it is the power of God for the preservation of everyone believing, Jewish first and then Greek. The righteous nature of God is revealed by faith to faith, as it is written, “The righteous one will live by faith.” Just as Abraham serves as the validating example that both Jew and Greek, circumcised and uncircumcised, have access to God through faith in the life giving power of God so, too, Jesus serves as the example that everyone subject to the death penalty of sin has access to the life giving power of God through this same type of faith.

Yet, this faith is not simply a mental tip of the hat to the existence of God. This faith is not merely the voicing of a specific phrase or prayer in response to another’s leading. The faith Paul describes is an all-encompassing recognition that reshapes and reforms our patterns of living in this world so that our physical existence is filled with the blessings of God’s provision because we trust God to provide them everywhere life is needed and a faith that provides us with the hope that this physical existence and its ensuing physical demise and death is not the sum total of all God ever intended for humanity. The faith Paul proclaims is a pattern of living allowing God the Father through the resurrection of Jesus the Son and the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit to systematically replace the dead cells of our existence with living, breathing cells that transform us into life proclaiming followers of Jesus.