Romans, the Sword, and the Bane of Memory Verse Theology

“Romans 13”-Quoting-Christians do so oblivious to the key context of the that text: it is addressed to Christians who are called to fear the sword of God-instituted government.

“But if you do wrong, [Christians], be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain.”

Paul has just asked these Roman Christians:

“Would you have no fear of the one in authority? Then do what is good…”

The key backdrop, standing behind these verses, involves the Zealots, the 1^st Century insurrectionists who picked up the sword against Roman soldiers whenever they found an opportune moment. They sought to overthrow their occupiers, their Roman enemy, and they would bring down the house with the Jewish War which would begin in A.D. 66.*

Paul writes to the Roman Christians in the Year of Our Lord 57, three years after the Jews began their return to Rome following the death of Claudius, who had expelled the Jews from Rome c. A.D. 49, following the insurrections of A.D. 46-48, and the execution of the sons of Judas the Galilean.

Judas had led an insurrection (Acts 5:37) in A.D. 6 when Judea became a Roman Province. Varus crushed that revolt with the sword, and crucified 2,000 Jews around Jerusalem (see Josephus).

In this pain-filled milieu, Paul writes to the Roman Christians, Jew and Gentile:

“Do not be conformed to this world…Bless those who persecute you…Do not repay anyone evil for evil…Do not take revenge…If your enemy is hungry, feed him…Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities…”

*A fuller , annotated timeline and text, here.

Amen! I Want to Be Left Behind

I want to be Left Behind

³⁶ “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. ³⁷ But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. ³⁸ For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, ³⁹ and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. ⁴⁰ Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. ⁴¹ Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left. ⁴² Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. ⁴³ But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. ⁴⁴ Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.  Matthew 24

[Text highlighted to show the parallels: came…coming…took…taken…]

The flood ‘came’ and ‘took’ them.  “So also” The Son of Man comes and one will be ‘taken’…clear parallels. 

[The other clear parallel between the days of Noah and the days of the coming of the Son of Man: people will be going about their normal business.]

Scholars see the “taken” as being “to judgment.”  Robert H. Mounce (New International Biblical Commentary), sees this “taken” as parallel with the ‘”taken away” by the flood’ (v. 39). Others think it is ‘left for judgment (e.g. NICNT) [But this seems to be based on some presupposition rather than on the context which seems to be blatantly ignored]. Context makes clear the parallels.  But here is the key point–“The coming of Jesus marks a complete and permanent division” (Leon Morris) “. . . the decisive moment.”

“The sayings emphasize the completely unexpected nature of the Man’s coming” (AB).

THIS is the Parousia, “the coming of the Son of Man,” the Second Advent, the final judgment, (vv. 27, 29-31, 44), not some secret “beam me up Scotty!” fiction. This context leaves “Left Behind” out in the cold. [The enigmatic saying about the vultures receives a variety of educated guesses.  HERE is the best exposition that I have read.] And the context of the primary passage (which is distorted to fit the modern “Rapture” doctrine) also leaves the fiction behind. See the clear context of 1 Thessalonians– https://textsincontext.wordpress.com/2013/05/11/second-coming-rapture-vs-scripture-christian/

Revelation 4. No Rapture of the Church

Revelation

4 After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” 2 At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne.

Three Faithful Witnesses, Called teachers of the Church

A Commentary on the Book of Revelation, by George Eldon Ladd:

After the first vision of the exalted Christ caring for and protecting his churches, the revelation of “what must take place after this,“ i.e the coming of God’s Kingdom, begins. This revelation will include the destruction of the powers of evil, of Satan, and death, but before these evil powers are destroyed, they will break forth in a final desperate effort to frustrate the purposes of God by destroying the people of God. However, the terrible conflict that takes place on earth, between the church and the demonic powers embodied in an apostate civilization…are in reality expressions in historical form of a fearful conflict in the spiritual world between the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan.

John is caught up in a vision to heaven at 4:1…

Verse 2. John heard the voice which had already spoken to him (1:10), summoning him to come up hither to receive further revelations of future events. At once he was in the Spirit;…

There is no reference in 4:1 to the rapture of the church, the language is addressed exclusively to John and refers only to his reception of the revelation of this book.

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“Straight way I was in the Spirit.”

The idea of prophetic rapture is widespread in Jewish literature. Micaiah told the king of Israel, “I saw the Lord sitting on the throne, and all the host of heaven…” Amos reports that God does nothing “without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7). John views himself as a prophet (1:1), and being “in the Spirit”...There is no basis for discovering a rapture of the church…

—The New International Commentary on the New Testament, The Book of Revelation by Robert H. Mounce

The supposed rapture of the church is to be found nowhere, here, in The New International Greek Testament Commentary, The Book of Revelation, A Commentary on the Greek Text, by G. K. Beale

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This invention of the human mind about the “church” not being on earth after Revelation 4:1 is based on a false, supposed ‘exegesis’ of that verse, and on a nonsensical point about the “trumpet” and an argument from silence leaning on the fact that the word ekklesia (church) is not used again until 22:16. But the saints are there throughout (e.g. 6:1; 7:3, 14, 17; 13:7f; 14:12f).

Addendum: From The New International Greek Testament Commentary, “The tribulations of 8:6-12 are executed…at all times during the church age..”

G. E. Ladd, noted evangelical Prof. of NT and Exegesis, Revelation: “…chapter seven pictured the fate of the church in this fearful period….the two multitudes, which picture the fate of the church in the time of tribulation….the plagues of divine wrath fall upon the rebellious…but…the church, which has been sealed with the protective seal of God, is somehow spared from the sufferings of those plagues.” [Think, the blood on the doorposts in Egypt.] “But the church in the tribulation will be the victim of persecution and martyrdom as she has been throughout her entire history.”

Against today’s subjectivism (‘what this verse means to me’), we must clearly declare, “knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation” (2 Peter 1:20). READ (link)

We Christians need to maintain our integrity. Cast off sloth and hubris. Study and know God’s word in context: https://textsincontext.wordpress.com/2012/05/17/of-ponds-and-pitfalls/

“God did not appoint us to wrath”

Left Behind enthusiasts, when told that First Thessalonians does not teach their Left Behind scenario, quickly respond with half of a verse taken from its whole context which they left behind:

“God did not appoint us to wrath”–1 Thessalonians 5:9a.

But here is the context! –This is The Day of the Lord when he comes to bring his wrath on the unbeliever and salvation for his people.

Paul began this letter with the affirmation that we “await His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead–Jesus our deliverer from the coming wrath”–1 Thess. 1:10. This is “the second coming” (NICNT)*…”The Advent (Parousia) of Christ” (F. F. Bruce).** This is “the day of Christ’s revelation in glory, when he comes to vindicate his people and judge the world in righteousness (cf. Acts 17:31)”–Bruce. There lies the ground of our “hope.”

Matthew 24

And here is the context of 1 Thess. 5:9a, quoted at the start, above. “Paul proceeds to speak of salvation negatively and positively. God’s purpose for us is not wrath…On the contrary, he purposed that they should obtain salvation…” (NICNT)

8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and the helmet of our hope of salvation. 9 For God has not appointed us to suffer wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. 10 He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with Him.…

Rahab let down the red cord and her house was saved in the midst of the judgment on Jericho which fell.

God’s people in Egypt put blood on their doorposts and were saved from the judgment on their neighbors brought by the angel of death.

We have the blood of the Lamb on our doorposts.

Paul ends this section as he began it. Reassuring those Christians that:

“whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with Him.…”

He began, at 1 Thess. 4:13, by addressing a concern of those Christians at Thessalonica:

“But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope…”

The exposition continues here (link). https://textsincontext.wordpress.com/2013/05/11/second-coming-rapture-vs-scripture-christian/

*New International Commentary on the New Testament, Leon Morris, 1991.

**Word Biblical Commentary, F. F. Bruce, 1982.

The Lord’s Prayer: Forgive

“And forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven our debtors” –Matthew 6:12.

All standard translations use the word “debts.” The New Living Translation has “forgive us our sins…”

Our liturgical use of the Lord’s Prayer uses “forgive us our trespasses…”

What we miss in all of these is that “forgive” and “debts” share the same root word. Forgiveness is the cancellation of our debt. What we also miss is the clear context that Jesus gives this line from the Lord’s Prayer.

Forgiveness is granted to the one who asks for it in his Parable of the Unmerciful Servant which follows Peter’s famous question,“Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him?…”–Matthew 18:21.

Jesus answered, “I tell you, not just seven times, but seventy times seven!

Because of this, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants….

So, a servant was brought before his master who owed a debt that was impossible to pay. (This is our state, too.) The servant’s pleas moved the master to compassion. [This was not something the master was doing for himself.] He canceled the debt. But then this servant went out and demanded payment from a fellow servant who could not pay his debt. This fellow servant, too, pleaded for compassion, but received none from the forgiven servant.

When his fellow servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and recounted all of this to their master.

Then the master summoned him and declared, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave all your debt because you begged me. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had on you?’ In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should repay all that he owed.

That is how My heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.”

Today, the world sells forgiveness as some sort of self therapy, something we do for ourselves, rather than following Jesus’ teaching that began this section, Matthew 18: If your brother sins against you, go and confront him privately. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over….

AND, Matthew 5:23: So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.

The focus here, too, is on the offender:

Reconcile quickly with your adversary, while you are still on the way to court. Otherwise, he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. Truly I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.

Be a true disciple, a learner, a student of Jesus. See Chapter Three, Forgiveness and Repentance.

The Church Is Mentioned After Revelation Chapter 3, by Bible Church Online

While the Greek word for church, εκκλεσια, ecclesia, is not mentioned after Revelation chapter three, the saints, which are the church, certainly are mentioned after Revelation chapter three. Those saints are mentioned at least fifteen times after Revelation chapter three.

Church, Ecclesia

There is an argument in some circles, that since the word ‘church’ is not mentioned in Revelation after chapter three, the church is absent during that period. This type of argument is known as an argument from silence. That is a rhetorical fallacy that uses the absence of evidence as actual evidence in support of the argument. Article Continues here (link)

See Also 1 Thessalonians 4

2 Thess. Antichrist

The Last Days. The Days Between Christ’s Advents

Hebrews 1

In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets; but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.

Acts 2

Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them, “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day; but this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:

‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh

In the New Testament, the Last Days were inaugurated by Christ’s First Advent and will be consummated by Christ’s Second Advent. We, now, as did the early Christians, all live in these Last Days.

“The expression is found in the LXX [the Greek translation of the OT], where it not infrequently refers…to the days of the Messiah….in Jesus the new age, the Messianic Age, has appeared…”–The Expositor’s Bible Commentary

Too often, unknowing Christians relegate these to the future or think that only now have we entered them, as for example, when interpreting Paul’s words to Timothy:

But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of stress. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, inhuman, implacable, slanderers, profligates, fierce, haters of good,…–2 Timothy 3

But Paul was describing his own day, as the concluding line shows:

“Have nothing to do with these people.” v.5

“I and the Father are one.”

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.–Deuteronomy

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and my Father are one.”

The Jews again picked up stones to stone him.–John 10

Deuteronomy, Chapter Six (verses 4-9), presents the first section of the “Shema” which means simply, listen; take heed; hear and do.

Birgir Gerhardsson stated that we “can almost be sure that Jesus and his disciples started and ended the day with this” [The whole of the Shema].

This practice is “firmly rooted in his time.”

Jews of his day recited this twice a day.

The Shema was “always in Jesus’ mind throughout his whole life.”

F. F. Bruce: “The previous occasion of his enemies’ trying to stone him in the temple precincts was when he made the declaration, ‘Before Abraham was born, I am’ (John 8:58, 59). The claim implicit in that declaration was similar to that made more expressly in the words, ‘I and the Father are one.’”

Armageddon And the Book of Revelation

 

The Seven Bowls of God’s Wrath

Chapter 16: Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, “Go, pour out the seven bowls of God’s wrath on the earth.”

…Then I saw three impure spirits…They are demonic spirits that perform signs, and they go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty.

15 “Look, I come like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake and remains clothed, so as not to go naked and be shamefully exposed.”

16 Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.

17 The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and out of the temple came a loud voice from the throne, saying, “It is done!”

Revelation in Context

The ‘Battle of Armageddon’ is one of the most misrepresented verses in the Bible by memory verse Christians who harden their hearts against reading God’s word in context.

• Seven is the number of completeness. This completes God’s wrath at the end of time, just as seven days completed God’s creation.

• It follows Christ’s Return. “And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war….And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations” Rev. 19
• ‘It is clearly the eschatological “battle of on the great day of
  God Almighty” (vs. 14). –Geo. Eldon Ladd, Revelation
• An eschatological battle, not a human battle. The armies are destroyed by “the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth” 19:21
• “The ultimate reality is the Lord’s return. This is the event which is the focus of the expectation of the saints.” –Ladd

 

Contrast with Off-The-Wall Interpretation of Ray Comfort

“While no respected biblical scholars have named the nations [in Rev. 16:16] they do agree that certain nations will come together against Israel in one climatic end-time battle called Armageddon.”

If any scholar has made such an interpretation, it is not Bible scholarship, but eisegesis—reading his own preconceived notions into the text (think Left Behind).

Shock and Awe in Parables of Jesus

What We Don’t Know of Jesus’ Times Deflates the Impact

The Pharisee and Publican Praying in the Temple

https://textsincontext.wordpress.com/2013/11/03/the-publican-only-half-a-surprise/

The Publican, a Jewish tax collector, was a traitor, being hated as one who worked for the occupation force of a pagan power, Rome. In rabbinic literature “hatred was to be extended even to the family of the tax collector” (ISBE).

Just pointing to a tax collector praying in the Temple would have been a shock!

The Scandal of the Samaritan

https://textsincontext.wordpress.com/2013/08/08/the-scandal-of-the-samaritan-2/

Jews despised Samaritans and viewed them as unclean foreigners. This went back in history to Assyria’s conquest of the Northern Kingdom….

Preface to The Good Samaritan : Of Lawyers, Language, and Learning (Link)

The Parable of the Dishonest Manager

https://textsincontext.wordpress.com/2013/10/29/parables-surprise-and-the-american-mind/

“What?! The master praised this servant???”

A Yoke? (link)

A Mustard Seed

https://textsincontext.wordpress.com/2012/04/17/a-mustard-seed/

“…smaller than all seeds…”

For the technical mind, “all” must mean “all.” But for a parable, it is a literary device to convey the point

The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant

https://textsincontext.wordpress.com/2017/09/18/jesus-parable-unforgiving-sin-forgive/

Ten Thousand Talents–Have you ever heard a tall tale, or an outlandish story to which you exclaimed, “WHAT???”

The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant, Part Two

https://textsincontext.wordpress.com/2018/02/10/its-a-parable-part-two/