2 Samuel 11:1 In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel. And they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.
***
David stayed home. He got lazy, complacent and then lustful. His gift and his calling was leadership in war. It was the season for war and yet he stayed back. Contrast this with Bathsheeba's good husband who, when invited home from the battle fields, refuses to accept the luxuries of his marraige bed. What a stark contrast! What a shocking reversal for David!
***
I find myself in a similar situation in every spring of my life. Spring is that time when the air begins to smell of freedom and our bodies thrill at the thought of indulging the senses. But where does this lead? Childhood memories, nostalgia of late summer nights, conjure feelings of happiness which, in turn, stir up discontent. We try to recapture some lost happiness, some thrill of spring, but it is allusive. What did David think would happen after he satisfied his urge to have Bathsheeba? Did he think the happiness would last forever? Did he think there would be no consequences? He didn't think...he felt, and wrongly.
***
Spring - the season for war and fasting. Winter is over and the world falls in love again with life, but we are not yet to the end of our winter as humans. There is still frost that must thaw before our eternal spring.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Thursday, May 22, 2008
The Divine Mystery - Love for All
Ephesians 3:6 This mystery is [9] that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
***
17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
***
20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
***
As unlikely as it may sound, I believe that I am a spiritual heir to the Jewish covenant and tradition. Ashamedly I don't know much about Judeism or even Catholicism, and I certainly think it would be good to learn more. But knowing all of the cultural nuances of this heritage isn't a prerequisite to receive the Love of God, which is the essence of the inheritance itself.
***
God is love. If I must say anything else in explanation, it is only to ward off those dangerous perversions of love that you may assume are associated. God-love, or agape, is better than best friend love, better than lover love, better than homesick love, better than selfish pride. God-love is like all of those loves refined in a furnace, melted down, stripped of hidden bitterness and secret injustice. God's lavish love gushes, covering everything shameful, securing everything once wracked by fear, attending expertly to every wound. This is good news that God is like this, and yet it is so different from what many others say about God. We llok at the world and assume that God is like the world and that through the world we can understand God. God has attempted to tell us that the world has not and cannot, for the most part, understand Him. How could we possibly use the world, which is finite, to draw conclusions about an infinite God. He is mysterious.
***
17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
***
20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
***
As unlikely as it may sound, I believe that I am a spiritual heir to the Jewish covenant and tradition. Ashamedly I don't know much about Judeism or even Catholicism, and I certainly think it would be good to learn more. But knowing all of the cultural nuances of this heritage isn't a prerequisite to receive the Love of God, which is the essence of the inheritance itself.
***
God is love. If I must say anything else in explanation, it is only to ward off those dangerous perversions of love that you may assume are associated. God-love, or agape, is better than best friend love, better than lover love, better than homesick love, better than selfish pride. God-love is like all of those loves refined in a furnace, melted down, stripped of hidden bitterness and secret injustice. God's lavish love gushes, covering everything shameful, securing everything once wracked by fear, attending expertly to every wound. This is good news that God is like this, and yet it is so different from what many others say about God. We llok at the world and assume that God is like the world and that through the world we can understand God. God has attempted to tell us that the world has not and cannot, for the most part, understand Him. How could we possibly use the world, which is finite, to draw conclusions about an infinite God. He is mysterious.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Unsanctioned Violence
[David, speaking to Saul]
1 Samuel 26:23 The Lord rewards every man for his righteousness and his faithfulness, for the Lord gave you into my hand today, and I would not put out my hand against the Lord's anointed. 24 Behold, as your life was precious this day in my sight, so may my life be precious in the sight of the Lord, and may he deliver me out of all tribulation.”
***
[David among the Philistines]
1 Samuel 27:8 Now David and his men went up and made raids against the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites, for these were the inhabitants of the land from of old, as far as Shur, to the land of Egypt. 9 And David would strike the land and would leave neither man nor woman alive, but would take away the sheep, the oxen, the donkeys, the camels, and the garments, and come back to Achish. ...11 And David would leave neither man nor woman alive to bring news to Gath, thinking, “lest they should tell about us and say, ‘So David has done.’”
***
It baffles the mind that David would have the moral strength to restrain himself from two easy assassination opportunities, and yet engages in what we would call genocide. We are given no indication that his raids against these people (27:8-11) is condemned by God in the same way that many of David's later sins would be. So does God care about these people? What are we to make of it that David restrains his hand from killing Saul, the Lord's anointed, who has become a rather rotten individual? What are we to make of it that David fairly nonchalantly kills women and raids villages and kills women so that there are no witnesses to his atrocities? What are we to make of it that David is a man after God's heart and yet has such glaring sins? Obviously it is not his virtue alone which makes him acceptable to God. I don't have a good answer, but I do see in David's character, over the course of many passages and books, a flawed leader who loves God and walks with Him. Many of the details are, as T.S. Elliot might say, too real for me to bear. Perhaps there are two questions that should be asked: Can God love someone like David? And if so, does He love me the same? I believe "yes".
1 Samuel 26:23 The Lord rewards every man for his righteousness and his faithfulness, for the Lord gave you into my hand today, and I would not put out my hand against the Lord's anointed. 24 Behold, as your life was precious this day in my sight, so may my life be precious in the sight of the Lord, and may he deliver me out of all tribulation.”
***
[David among the Philistines]
1 Samuel 27:8 Now David and his men went up and made raids against the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites, for these were the inhabitants of the land from of old, as far as Shur, to the land of Egypt. 9 And David would strike the land and would leave neither man nor woman alive, but would take away the sheep, the oxen, the donkeys, the camels, and the garments, and come back to Achish. ...11 And David would leave neither man nor woman alive to bring news to Gath, thinking, “lest they should tell about us and say, ‘So David has done.’”
***
It baffles the mind that David would have the moral strength to restrain himself from two easy assassination opportunities, and yet engages in what we would call genocide. We are given no indication that his raids against these people (27:8-11) is condemned by God in the same way that many of David's later sins would be. So does God care about these people? What are we to make of it that David restrains his hand from killing Saul, the Lord's anointed, who has become a rather rotten individual? What are we to make of it that David fairly nonchalantly kills women and raids villages and kills women so that there are no witnesses to his atrocities? What are we to make of it that David is a man after God's heart and yet has such glaring sins? Obviously it is not his virtue alone which makes him acceptable to God. I don't have a good answer, but I do see in David's character, over the course of many passages and books, a flawed leader who loves God and walks with Him. Many of the details are, as T.S. Elliot might say, too real for me to bear. Perhaps there are two questions that should be asked: Can God love someone like David? And if so, does He love me the same? I believe "yes".
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Freedom & Holy Lawlessness
Galatians 5:1 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
***
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
***
It is an interesting thing to ponder that in the Garden of Eden, or in Heaven, we are perfectly free. The human will bridles at this notion, clinging to the false idea that one's liberty to sin is actually a kind of freedom. This is only true insomuch as one has the freedom to tie oneself up. But once I have bound myself, my freedom is gone. Sin is therefore like a freedom which forfeits itself, and is therefore imperfect. Perfect freedoms procreate in the same healthy fashion that we humans were also intended to be fruitful and multiply. The fruits of the Spirit, as they are called, are given so that they might be regiven ad infinitum, producing more and more freedom in the truest sense of the word. Against these fruits, unlike that first, damned proverbial apple, there is no law. The very first law was, don't eat that fruit or you will die. The fruits of the spirit, on the other hand, are life giving, and unencumbered by any restrictions. You might say that these fruits allow us to live in a state of holy lawlessness. For as Paul also says in the same book: "4 You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified [8] by the law; you have fallen away from grace. 5 For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love."
His love liberates us from the law which judges us. This is only possible, within the universal scales of justice, because Jesus fulfilled the law within himself. The mystery of that supernatural reality is, of course, much more vast than these overused words can communicate, but would serve as a proper launching pad for art.
May the fruits of the Spirit in your life give birth to true freedom and beautiful artistic expression which transcends all the mediums and laws of men.
***
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
***
It is an interesting thing to ponder that in the Garden of Eden, or in Heaven, we are perfectly free. The human will bridles at this notion, clinging to the false idea that one's liberty to sin is actually a kind of freedom. This is only true insomuch as one has the freedom to tie oneself up. But once I have bound myself, my freedom is gone. Sin is therefore like a freedom which forfeits itself, and is therefore imperfect. Perfect freedoms procreate in the same healthy fashion that we humans were also intended to be fruitful and multiply. The fruits of the Spirit, as they are called, are given so that they might be regiven ad infinitum, producing more and more freedom in the truest sense of the word. Against these fruits, unlike that first, damned proverbial apple, there is no law. The very first law was, don't eat that fruit or you will die. The fruits of the spirit, on the other hand, are life giving, and unencumbered by any restrictions. You might say that these fruits allow us to live in a state of holy lawlessness. For as Paul also says in the same book: "4 You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified [8] by the law; you have fallen away from grace. 5 For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love."
His love liberates us from the law which judges us. This is only possible, within the universal scales of justice, because Jesus fulfilled the law within himself. The mystery of that supernatural reality is, of course, much more vast than these overused words can communicate, but would serve as a proper launching pad for art.
May the fruits of the Spirit in your life give birth to true freedom and beautiful artistic expression which transcends all the mediums and laws of men.
Friday, May 16, 2008
Tested Armor
1 Samuel 17:38 Then Saul clothed David with his armor. He put a helmet of bronze on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail, 39 and David strapped his sword over his armor. And he tried in vain to go, for he had not tested them. Then David said to Saul, “I cannot go with these, for I have not tested them.” So David put them off. 40 Then he took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones from the brook and put them in his shepherd's pouch. His sling was in his hand, and he approached the Philistine.
***
In war there is no opportunity to do test drive equipment. If one has the choice between something that feels stronger and something that is known to work, the latter might very well be the logical choice. It is interesting then to note that David is leaning on two 'known' stengths, in spite of voices which question his decision making. First, he trusts in God. Secondly, he trusts in the weapons of his day to day warfare, sling and stone, rather than sword and armor. This should be a lesson to me to trust in God from day to day, using the weapons of daily spiritual warfare in a way that builds spiritual muscle and trust. When goliaths appear, I shouldn't grasp for unfamiliar weapons with which I have no ability. God willing I will have some means of using the things I have practiced with.
***
In war there is no opportunity to do test drive equipment. If one has the choice between something that feels stronger and something that is known to work, the latter might very well be the logical choice. It is interesting then to note that David is leaning on two 'known' stengths, in spite of voices which question his decision making. First, he trusts in God. Secondly, he trusts in the weapons of his day to day warfare, sling and stone, rather than sword and armor. This should be a lesson to me to trust in God from day to day, using the weapons of daily spiritual warfare in a way that builds spiritual muscle and trust. When goliaths appear, I shouldn't grasp for unfamiliar weapons with which I have no ability. God willing I will have some means of using the things I have practiced with.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Reconciliation, Aliens and being Missional
1 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. [11] The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling [12] the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
***
6:3 We put no obstacle in anyone's way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, 4 but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, 5 beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; 6 by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; 7 by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; 8 through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; 9 as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; 10 as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.
***
6:14 Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?
***
17 Therefore go out from their midst,and be separate from them, says the Lord,and touch no unclean thing;then I will welcome you,18 and I will be a father to you,and you shall be sons and daughters to me,says the Lord Almighty.”
***
Within these two chapters of 1 Corintians there seems to be a dynamic tension between being in the world and being holy. While we are called to a ministry of reconciliation, with all of its heroic endeavors, we are also called to be aliens. This is not our home and it should never feel too comfortable. As soon as I start wondering if heaven 'could' be better than this life, I know that either I have ascended to the highest peaks of thankfulness, or more likely, I have succombed to the deception that heaven just isn't as good as the 'real world'. Here is where the lenses from both parts of the passage suddenly come into focus. The Kingdom of God 'is' the 'real world' and we are natives of that land. Our ministry of reconciliation comes in the welcoming of all creation into that new birth and life through Jesus. The term 'mission' has gotten some wear in the last few years, I believe, with a Holy Spirit prompting along these lines. Being in the world, but not of the world seems like a paradox at times, a mystery to the world. but one man;s mystery is another's miracle. What wonder is your life in the eyes of strangers and angels?
***
6:3 We put no obstacle in anyone's way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, 4 but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, 5 beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; 6 by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; 7 by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; 8 through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; 9 as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; 10 as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.
***
6:14 Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?
***
17 Therefore go out from their midst,and be separate from them, says the Lord,and touch no unclean thing;then I will welcome you,18 and I will be a father to you,and you shall be sons and daughters to me,says the Lord Almighty.”
***
Within these two chapters of 1 Corintians there seems to be a dynamic tension between being in the world and being holy. While we are called to a ministry of reconciliation, with all of its heroic endeavors, we are also called to be aliens. This is not our home and it should never feel too comfortable. As soon as I start wondering if heaven 'could' be better than this life, I know that either I have ascended to the highest peaks of thankfulness, or more likely, I have succombed to the deception that heaven just isn't as good as the 'real world'. Here is where the lenses from both parts of the passage suddenly come into focus. The Kingdom of God 'is' the 'real world' and we are natives of that land. Our ministry of reconciliation comes in the welcoming of all creation into that new birth and life through Jesus. The term 'mission' has gotten some wear in the last few years, I believe, with a Holy Spirit prompting along these lines. Being in the world, but not of the world seems like a paradox at times, a mystery to the world. but one man;s mystery is another's miracle. What wonder is your life in the eyes of strangers and angels?
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Prophecy, Tongues and Women in Church
1 Corinthians 14:26 What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up. 27 If any speak in a tongue, let there be only two or at most three, and each in turn, and let someone interpret. 28 But if there is no one to interpret, let each of them keep silent in church and speak to himself and to God. 29 Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said. 30 If a revelation is made to another sitting there, let the first be silent. 31 For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all be encouraged, 32 and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets. 33 For God is not a God of confusion but of peace.
***
As in all the churches of the saints, 34 the women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says. 35 If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church. 36 Or was it from you that the word of God came? Or are you the only ones it has reached? 37 If anyone thinks that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord. 38 If anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized. 39 So, my brothers, earnestly desire to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. 40 But all things should be done decently and in order.
***
These two passages in 1 Corinthians 14 are troublesome on many levels. Firstly, how many Christian churches are actually fostering an orderly atmosphere of prophecy and tongues, welcoming the outsiders and edifying the members? It seems that a vast number of churches would either redefine what prophecy and tongues are, or they would claim they no longer exist. Or, they would err on the other side, allowing the prophets to dominate the service. Paul's guidance is still right on and I long for a community that humbly makes space for the Holy Spirit while using wisdom to discipline ego.
***
Secondly, women speaking in church - it seems that the churches that take the first part literally, regarding the prophetic and tongue speaking advice as something for us today, are the same churches that dismiss the apparently sexist insistence that women should remain silent. I am not sure what to make of this. I have been reading the arguments and supporting women in ministry for a number of personal reasons. My own preference is to read Paul's teaching as a correction to specific cultural phenomena, but then again, if Paul were to come into one of our churches today and say it again, would we explain him away? Many women are specifically anointed for leadership. I don't need to cite Biblical examples, but there are quite a few. So what do we take away from this passage? The tone throughout both passages is of one disciplining children. Paul is definitely speaking as a parent, treating the men and women like brothers and sisters in a family. In my family I have two daughters and one son (and another son on the way). My two girls are quite chatty, and they are older, so they happen to be a bit more articulate than my son. Needless to say, they dominate the dinner table discussion with musings about pre-k, barbie, Hannah Montana, friends and artwork... My son, on the other hand, has a vocabulary of about 20 words. When he sees food, he says, "mmm" in a hungry manner. When you ask him if he wants to eat it, he says , "hyeah" and runs to his high chair. When tell him he is going to bed, he wags his head back and forth in protest, saying "dohhh!" I wonder if Paul's critique on the gender relationship comes from a perspective anything like mine, perceiving male and female as equal, but also perceiving a specific female dominance in the "family" community. How would I, as a father, try to maintain a healthy balance of attention, love and respect in this organic and unequal environment? I might prohibit the girls from talking during certain times so that my son could work on speaking a bit. But this metaphor certainly doesn't go all the way either, for we know that we are wiser than children, at least in some ways. And this might shed light on his verse about child likeness and wisdom- "20 Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature." Jesus says that we need to become like children in order to enter the kingdom of God. Paul illuminates this family dynamic by explaining how child likeness applies to the knowledge of good and evil, so maturity and wisdom still have a place in the Christian life.
***
What does wisdom tell you about these passages in 1 Corinthians? What is Paul trying to accomplish in the church? Perhaps you know more of the context than I do. I would love to know more.
***
As in all the churches of the saints, 34 the women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says. 35 If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church. 36 Or was it from you that the word of God came? Or are you the only ones it has reached? 37 If anyone thinks that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord. 38 If anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized. 39 So, my brothers, earnestly desire to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. 40 But all things should be done decently and in order.
***
These two passages in 1 Corinthians 14 are troublesome on many levels. Firstly, how many Christian churches are actually fostering an orderly atmosphere of prophecy and tongues, welcoming the outsiders and edifying the members? It seems that a vast number of churches would either redefine what prophecy and tongues are, or they would claim they no longer exist. Or, they would err on the other side, allowing the prophets to dominate the service. Paul's guidance is still right on and I long for a community that humbly makes space for the Holy Spirit while using wisdom to discipline ego.
***
Secondly, women speaking in church - it seems that the churches that take the first part literally, regarding the prophetic and tongue speaking advice as something for us today, are the same churches that dismiss the apparently sexist insistence that women should remain silent. I am not sure what to make of this. I have been reading the arguments and supporting women in ministry for a number of personal reasons. My own preference is to read Paul's teaching as a correction to specific cultural phenomena, but then again, if Paul were to come into one of our churches today and say it again, would we explain him away? Many women are specifically anointed for leadership. I don't need to cite Biblical examples, but there are quite a few. So what do we take away from this passage? The tone throughout both passages is of one disciplining children. Paul is definitely speaking as a parent, treating the men and women like brothers and sisters in a family. In my family I have two daughters and one son (and another son on the way). My two girls are quite chatty, and they are older, so they happen to be a bit more articulate than my son. Needless to say, they dominate the dinner table discussion with musings about pre-k, barbie, Hannah Montana, friends and artwork... My son, on the other hand, has a vocabulary of about 20 words. When he sees food, he says, "mmm" in a hungry manner. When you ask him if he wants to eat it, he says , "hyeah" and runs to his high chair. When tell him he is going to bed, he wags his head back and forth in protest, saying "dohhh!" I wonder if Paul's critique on the gender relationship comes from a perspective anything like mine, perceiving male and female as equal, but also perceiving a specific female dominance in the "family" community. How would I, as a father, try to maintain a healthy balance of attention, love and respect in this organic and unequal environment? I might prohibit the girls from talking during certain times so that my son could work on speaking a bit. But this metaphor certainly doesn't go all the way either, for we know that we are wiser than children, at least in some ways. And this might shed light on his verse about child likeness and wisdom- "20 Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature." Jesus says that we need to become like children in order to enter the kingdom of God. Paul illuminates this family dynamic by explaining how child likeness applies to the knowledge of good and evil, so maturity and wisdom still have a place in the Christian life.
***
What does wisdom tell you about these passages in 1 Corinthians? What is Paul trying to accomplish in the church? Perhaps you know more of the context than I do. I would love to know more.
Monday, May 5, 2008
Judging Angels
1 Corinthians 6:1 When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints? 2 Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? 3 Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life!
***
I'm not sure what this means that we would judge angels. I also find the tone of the verse provocative since it assumes that we should know this. I can certainly see how we should live holy lives and resolve our disputes at the lowest level, but the argument seems to come from the perspective of one with cosmic vision. Paul seems to see the world in terms of the infinite. I pray that I would gain that vision and that I would live a more saintly life, fit to do justice.
***
I'm not sure what this means that we would judge angels. I also find the tone of the verse provocative since it assumes that we should know this. I can certainly see how we should live holy lives and resolve our disputes at the lowest level, but the argument seems to come from the perspective of one with cosmic vision. Paul seems to see the world in terms of the infinite. I pray that I would gain that vision and that I would live a more saintly life, fit to do justice.
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