Monthly Archives: February 2016

Truthfulness Redefined

Christian Life, , ,

TRUTHFULNESS REDEFINED

 ‘Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but keep your oaths you have made to the Lord.’

‘But I tell you, do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; or by the earth, for it is His footstool; or by Jerusalem for it is the city of the Great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. Simply let your “Yes” be “Yes,” and your “No,” “No”; anything beyond that comes from the evil one.’ (Matt. 5: 33-37)

The Greek word poneros – here translated “evil one” – indicates that this kind of thinking comes from what is morally culpable rather than from the evil one.

The Torah had clear instructions regarding oaths and vows.

Do not swear falsely by my name and so profane the name of your God. I am the LORD. (Lev. 19: 12)

When a man makes a vow to the LORD to take an oath to obligate himself by a pledge, he must not break his word but must do everything he said. (Num. 30: 2)

If you make a vow to the LORD your God, do not be slow to pay it, for the LORD your God will certainly demand it of you and you will be guilty of sin. (Deut. 23: 21)

In the above passages, the Torah teaches three things about taking an oath:

  1. A person must not profane the name of the Lord by making a dishonest vow in His name.
  2. A person must be faithful to honour his vow to the Lord.
  3. A person who makes a vow to the Lord must honour his word speedily or it will be counted against him as sin.

Making a vow was permissible as a pledge to fulfil a promise, but it was not to be made lightly and it was to be honoured in full.

The prophets and Psalms emphasised the importance of heart attitudes. Truthfulness and faithfulness were to be the attitude of the heart, which would make the taking of vows and swearing of oaths unnecessary.

Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place. (Psa. 51: 6)

However, when we read Jesus’s correction regarding the swearing of oaths, it is clear that abuse had crept in so that people’s word meant little unless it was accompanied by an oath. We do this today with a qualifying statement like “I promise you . . .” as though everything else we say is questionable.

The emphasis had shifted from truthfulness in everything to honouring only those vows that were sworn in the name of the Lord. Jesus exposed the hypocrisy of the Pharisees by showing how foolish their distinctions were.

Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold or the temple that makes the gold sacred? (Matt. 23: 16-17)

Their arbitrary decisions about what was binding and what was not binding led them to pepper their conversations with all kinds of meaningless oaths just to make an impression. They had shifted the emphasis from being truthful to honouring only those vows made to the Lord and had justified their use of empty vows.

Jesus said, “Don’t do it!” No amount of vow-taking can change anything. How much better to be a person of your word without having to back everything up by an oath! A simple “Yes” or “No” should be sufficient. How phoney for the Pharisees to think that making distinctions between the temple and the things in the temple would make their vow more binding! He exposed their wicked hearts by pointing out that everything relating to the temple was the same as invoking God Himself.

LORD, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill? He whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous, who speaks truth from his heart . . . (Psa. 15: 1-2)

If one is always truthful, there is no need to take an oath to vouch for the trustworthiness of one’s word.

What about making impulsive vows? People sometimes make impulsive vows after a bad experience, for example, “I will never trust that person again; or” I will never get married”; or “I will never… “ How binding are these vows? These kinds of vows are often spoken in a moment of emotional pain. Some counsellors believe that the counselee needs to renounce vows taken in haste in order to be free from their consequences.

Vows based on bad experiences are not undone by renunciation but by repentance. What do I mean by repentance? Repentance is not about being sorry for doing something wrong, for example, making a vow during an emotional moment which one regards as binding for the rest of one’s life. Repentance is about returning to the way of Yahweh when one has made a bad decision and left the path.

A vow made in haste is usually a way of managing emotional pain. “I will never…” is often the result of misinterpreting one’s circumstances. Let’s use the example of a young girl who is raped. She may respond by vowing something like this: “I will never get married,” or “I will never trust a man,” because she feels responsible, guilty and defiled; or because she feels unworthy of a good man’s love; or because what one man did to her represents what all men think of her. How does she repent of these emotions that feel true because they arise from her beliefs about what happened to her?

Repentance is a response to what is the truth as opposed to what feels true. Repentance is essentially a change of mind. An encounter with Jesus in those memories allows Him to reveal the truth. It takes a willingness to acknowledge one’s feelings and open oneself to Jesus to be set free from the emotional pain which spawned the vow in the first place. Once the issue has been resolved, the vow becomes irrelevant.

Scripture is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my first book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

ISBN: Softcover – 978-1-4828-0512-3,                                                                              eBook 978-4828-0511-6

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or Kindle version, on www.takealot.com  or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

My second book, Learning to be a Disciple – The Way of the Master (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing), a companion volume to Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart, has been released in paperback and digital format on www.amazon.com.

For more details, check my website:

http://luellaannettecampbell.com/

Have you read my blogs on www.learningtobeason.wordpress.com ?

 

 

Divorce Redefined

Christian Life, , ,

DIVORCE REDEFINED

It has been said, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, causes her to become an adulteress, and anyone who marries the divorced woman commits adultery. (Matt 5:31-32)

The issue of divorce was a thorny one in first-century Jewish society. Opinions were divided between those of rabbis Hillel and Shammai

“Hillel and Shammai were two leading sages of the last century BCE and the early 1st century CE who founded opposing schools of Jewish thought, known as the House of Hillel and House of Shammai. The debate between these schools on matters of ritual practice, ethics, and theology was critical for the shaping of the Oral Law and Judaism as it is today.

“The House of Shammai held that a man may only divorce his wife for a serious transgression, but the House of Hillel allowed divorce for even trivial offenses, such as burning a meal.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillel_and_Shammai (from the article on “Hillel and Shammai”, retrieved March 2015).

Jesus expanded and clarified His teaching on divorce on one occasion when some Pharisees questioned Him on His opinion because they wanted to know which of the sages He supported. As always, He did not base His view on what other rabbis taught, but on Torah, applying His yoke based on the spirit of Torah.

Some Pharisees came to Him to test Him. They asked, ‘Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?’

‘Haven’t you read,’ He replied, ‘that at the beginning the Creator “made them male and female”, and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one. Therefore, what God has joined together, let man not separate.’ (Matt. 19: 3-6)

Jesus did not dally with the rabbis’ opinions. He went back to the beginning – to God’s instruction in the Torah. Divorce was not in God’s equation in the beginning. It was an addition because of men’s hardness of heart.

‘Why, then,’ they asked, ‘did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?’

Jesus replied, ‘Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman, commits adultery.’ (Matt 19: 7-9)

How we have fouled this one up in Jesus’s name! What is “marital unfaithfulness”?

The opinion of Christian theologians and preachers is that this refers to adultery on the part of the wife. However, marital unfaithfulness was much wider than adultery.

Before a Hebrew couple was formally engaged and began their betrothal period, they entered into a ketubah, a prenuptial marriage contract which stated the conditions of their relationship as husband and wife.  If either party willfully broke the ketubah and refused to repent after the other party had followed the correct procedure of intervention (Matt. 18: 15-17), the offended husband or wife was permitted to divorce his or her spouse on the grounds of marital unfaithfulness.

Jesus was dealing here with the abuse of the reason for divorce. Since the House of Hillel was more lenient on the grounds for divorce, men were finding an excuse to divorce their wives if they found someone more to their liking. Women were sent away and left destitute, based on a flimsy excuse, while their husbands married someone else. Jesus declared that these men were committing adultery because they had already lusted after other women in their hearts.

Divorce only became an option because of the hardness of men’s hearts. Once again, when mercy prevailed in a marriage relationship, it formed the basis on which echad could be built. Without mercy, husbands felt they were free to dump their marriage partner for one they thought more suitable on the Halakhah that “Hillel said it was okay.”

Scripture is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my first book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

ISBN: Softcover – 978-1-4828-0512-3,                                                                              eBook 978-4828-0511-6

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or Kindle version, on www.takealot.com  or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

My second book, Learning to be a Disciple – The Way of the Master (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing), a companion volume to Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart, has been released in paperback and digital format on www.amazon.com.

For more details, check my website:

http://luellaannettecampbell.com/

Have you read my blogs on www.learningtobeason.wordpress.com ?

 

 

Adultery Redefined

Christian Life, , ,

ADULTERY REDEFINED

You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart (Matt. 5:27)

This is another halakhaic statement. Once again, Halakhah, or the way of life regarded as the acceptable norm of behaviour, focused on outward conformity to the Law but said nothing about the attitude of the heart.

This commandment also sounds simple on the surface but, like murder, it has a much deeper root. Let’s go back to the Torah to unpack its meaning. The roots of this command come from who God is.

The most well-known part of the Sh’mah prayer recited in the synagogue in the morning and evening services and at bedtime is found in Deut. 6:4-5:

Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength . . .

God created man in His own image and likeness,

. . . In the image of God, He created him; male and female He created them. (Gen. 1:27b)

What is the image of God? Theologians enter into long and involved discussions about the image of God and differ widely in their interpretations. What does Torah say?

The LORD our God, the LORD is one. (Deut. 6:4)

God is one (echad), not one person, but three in one, unity in diversity.  God created the entire universe to be interactive and interdependent as a reflection of who He is. Everything God put into human beings that resembles Him – self-awareness, self-determination, morality, love, and the ability to commune with Him – all flow into God’s purpose that we should be one with Him, one with humanity and one with creation.

The world is echad – everything functions as a unit, e.g., the ocean currents affect the climate of the earth, the pull of the moon causes the tides, etc. God’s creation reflects His image. Therefore, we find our fulfilment in pursuing wholeness – echad – and anything that sabotages echad brings destruction.

The deepest cry in our heart is to be connected in oneness because God is one. A hypocrite is one who divided inside of himself.

For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. (Gen. 2:24)

Marriage is not just companionship for life, a cure for loneliness, or legalised sex.  At its core is a picture of God’s echad.

Sexuality is much more than just a physical act. To a Hebrew person, having sex constituted marriage. To rape a woman meant you were married to her. There is no sex in heaven because we won’t need the picture any more. Our sex drive is strong because of our need to be connected in an echad relationship.  Marriage is supposed to be a demonstration, not just an announcement of God’s oneness.

When Adam disobeyed God, he destroyed the unity between himself and God and threw the universe out of sync with Him, affecting all of the creation. This is evident in the natural world where creatures prey on creatures and the plant world is invaded by weeds and toxic plants. All of the creation awaits restoration as does redeemed mankind.

For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. (Rom. 8:20-21)

God is one and He keeps everything together in unity The force that holds the universe together is called echad – oneness.  If we do anything that sabotages unity, we go against the very power that holds the universe together. Since we are part of the universe, we are actually a part of what is tearing the universe apart.

Adultery leaves a person disjointed and fractured. Sex is only a part of adultery. Anything we do that sabotages unity is adultery. Division in the church is the opposite of echad. Whatever is in the atmosphere that destroys unity is adultery.

Therefore, to look lustfully at a woman is a symptom of echad already disrupted. Adultery does not break a marriage. It is a sign of a marriage relationship already broken. It has serious consequences because it is part of the force that tears lives, families, communities and nations apart.

Adultery is contrary to the spirit of Torah. It is also evidence that the marriage relationship is devoid of mercy. Where mercy functions within a family, that which is weightiest in God is at work, uniting and holding relationships together and contributing to the echad-ness of the family.

Scripture is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my first book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

ISBN: Softcover – 978-1-4828-0512-3,                                                                              eBook 978-4828-0511-6

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or Kindle version, on www.takealot.com  or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

My second book, Learning to be a Disciple – The Way of the Master (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing), a companion volume to Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart, has been released in paperback and digital format on www.amazon.com.

For more details, check my website:

http://luellaannettecampbell.com/

Have you read my blogs on www.learningtobeason.wordpress.com ?

Murder Redefined

Christian Life, , , ,

MURDER REDEFINED

You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ (Matt 5: 21).

“This is a “halakhaic” formula.

By making this statement, Jesus was asserting that there is more to the requirements of Torah than meets the eye.

What is Halakhah?

The word “Halakhah” is usually translated “Jewish Law” although it should more accurately be translated as “the path that one walks”.

Judaism is much more than a set of beliefs about God, man and the universe. It is a comprehensive way of life governed by rules and practices that affect one’s whole life from morning until night and from life to death and, more especially it is about how you treat God, man, animals and the earth. This set of rules and practices is known as the Halakhah. Halakhah came from three sources; the Torah; laws instituted by the rabbi; and long-standing customs.

The ancient rabbis had made many pronouncements additional to the 613 laws of Torah in an attempt to interpret what Yahweh meant by His instructions. The result was a confusing conglomeration of rules and prohibitions which focused on external behaviour, but which often ignored the spirit of Torah or what Jesus called “the more important (or weightier) matters of Torah” (Matt. 23:23). 

When an “expert” in the law asked Jesus what he should do to inherit eternal life, Jesus threw the question back at him.

‘What is written in the Law?’ He replied. ‘How do you read it?’ (Luke 10:26)

The man responded by quoting from Deut. 6:5 and Lev. 19:18.

Love the LORD you God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength . . . Love your neighbour as yourself.

Jesus commended him for his answer and counselled him to do as the Torah said. But what was Torah saying?

The essence of the Torah was threefold: to protect love; to preserve unity, and to promote contentment.

All the regulations written in the Torah were detailed instructions for working out these three principles in their everyday circumstances. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus highlighted six areas where “Halakhah” pronouncements had clouded the issues and made them problems of behaviour and not of attitude.”

(Quoted from “Learning to be a Disciple” © 2104, Luella Campbell, Partridge Publishing, page 111-112)

The first area of concern was the issue of murder. According to Halakhah, the commandment not to murder had only to do with the actual act. However, Jesus examined the attitude which led to the act. If the attitude of the heart was wrong, it was as though the person had already committed murder even if he had not actually done the deed.

But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca’, is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool,’ will be in danger of the fire of hell (Gehenna). (Matt. 5:22)

“The issue is the dignity of another person. The question is not about taking someone else’s life. It’s about stripping the dignity off of someone else, looking down on him, treating him with contempt.  Jesus deals with this.

Since anger is the start of the slide towards murder, the anger must be dealt with before it goes any further. Anger, a sustained feeling of anger, is as much a reason for judgment as the act itself.  To say raca replicates the sound of someone who is about to spit, indicating a feeling of contempt. To call someone a fool is to judge him as a morally corrupt person, someone whose life is completely dysfunctional and therefore not worth anything, and must be exterminated.

Jesus said that we are just as guilty if we do it in our heart as if we had done it with our hand. If something is true in your imagination it might as well as be true. Once you want someone dead, or believe they are worthless or degrade them by slander or sarcasm or make fun of them, you are guilty of murder.

The antidote to murder is to apply the “weightier matters of the law” – justice, mercy and faithfulness. The answer is to keep on the path, with our eyes fastened on the “landmark” – Jesus, whom we are to follow because He is God’s light, the shining of the star that shows us the path. He is the words of Elohim.

By applying His yoke of mercy, Jesus swept aside all the irrelevant provisions of Halakhah and revealed the spirit of Torah. In Him, we see mercy in action. There is no need to clutter God’s Torah with intricate details of interpretation because Jesus is the model of mercy and, by imitating Him, we will fulfil His requirements.”

(“Learning to be a Disciple,” page123-124)

Scripture is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my first book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

ISBN: Softcover – 978-1-4828-0512-3,                                                                              eBook 978-4828-0511-6

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or Kindle version, on www.takealot.com  or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

My second book, Learning to be a Disciple – The Way of the Master (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing), a companion volume to Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart, has been released in paperback and digital format on www.amazon.com.

For more details, check my website:

http://luellaannettecampbell.com/

Have you read my blogs on www.learningtobeason.wordpress.com ?

 

You Are Light – Be Light

Christian Life, , ,

YOU ARE LIGHT – BE LIGHT

You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on a stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let you light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven (Matt. 5:14-16).

Salt and light – both essential for life. Just as corrupted salt loses its value and is good for nothing but to be discarded, so is a light that is hidden away of no use to the members of the household.  Why would one bother to light a lamp if it is not used to light a room? The purpose of a lamp is to enable those in the house to see.

But, at the same time, didn’t Jesus tell His disciples not to do their good deeds in front of people in order to gain their admiration? Which one did He mean? Did He contradict Himself? Not at all! We must examine His use of “light” in the context of Old Testament usage.

“Light” was the first word spoken, and the first thing God established on the shapeless and empty earth in the process of creation.

And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light (Gen 1:3).

Strangely enough, though, He only created the heavenly bodies on day four (Gen.1 14-15). What provided the light that God spoke on day one?

John 1:1-5 gives us a commentary on Genesis 1. John presents Jesus as both the Word and the Light. Before God created physical light, Jesus, the second Person of the Trinity, provided light on the earth.

The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world (John 1:9).

The Old Testament often used light as a metaphor for the Word of God. For example:

Your Word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path (Psa. 119:105).

To be light, therefore, in the light of Old Testament usage, is to be a person whose lives his life according to the instructions of God’s Word. When Jesus claimed to be the light of the world, He was, in effect, confirming His purpose to “fulfil the Law” (Matt. 5:17). By fulfilling He meant that He had come to do what the Law both said and intended, not according to what the religious leaders considered “fulfilling” but according to God’s intention from the beginning.

Being light is much more than doing a few “good works”. Being the light is living according to the instructions God gave His people for living the best life which included not only obeying the Law but also being motivated by the right attitude to God’s instructions. Jesus showed, by His life, that obedience was much more than just keeping the letter of the Law. Without a heart of love for God and for one’s neighbour, obedience is nothing more than outwards acts which have no meaning to God without the right heart.

Deeds without a heart are like an unlit lamp. However, a life lived to reflect the true nature of Jesus, through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, is like a lamp that shines in the darkness. Unlike the Pharisees, who paraded their good works to win the approval of simply out of love for Him, unconsciously reflects the light of God’s Word everywhere, like a lamp on a lampstand.

Jesus wanted His disciples to understand the difference between a person who did the right thing on the outside but whose heart was still greedy and selfish, and the one whose life reflected his love for Jesus by his heart attitude as well as his deeds. This inner “light” is not something a person can create by outward behaviour. It is the light of God’s life within that comes from Jesus’ indwelling presence through the Holy Spirit.

Jesus is the Word made flesh. Only as He lives His life through the believer, can He become the Word made flesh within. Those who try to copy His life without His life within are no better than the Pharisees who tried to live “righteous” lives by doing the right thing with hearts that remained unchanged. Jesus called them “whited sepulchres”, painted on the outside but full of dead bones.

Only the Spirit of God can bring life to our dead spirits. It is a work of God which He does in the heart of a person who “sees the light” and responds in faith to Jesus’ words.

For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ (2 Cor. 4:6).

Scripture is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my first book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

ISBN: Softcover – 978-1-4828-0512-3,                                                                              eBook 978-4828-0511-6

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or Kindle version, on www.takealot.com  or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

My second book, Learning to be a Disciple – The Way of the Master (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing), a companion volume to Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart, has been released in paperback and digital format on www.amazon.com.

For more details, check my website:

http://luellaannettecampbell.com/

Have you read my blogs on www.learningtobeason.wordpress.com ?