The Chronology of Kaiser

By Jason Strange
3/1/2011

Kaiser is king when he gives us the history of the Bible. He helps us understand the historical

events as they happened and he carries us from one book to the next showing us the data points of OT and NT history. He moves us in a longitudinal, diachronic way, in lateral motion, fact upon fact. Unfortunately, what we are left with is merely a historical textbook of lateral facts. The messianic consciousness has in a sense vanished and left the building. History has become king and the theological understanding of the text has been raptured away.
When man fell into sin the immediate result was that they saw that they were naked and ashamed and they hid, likewise this is what happens when we read the Bible purely for its historical content devoid of its theological understanding; the history of the Bible becomes naked and ashamed without having Christ at the center of its chronology. Christ is hid among the fig leaves. Kaiser gives us the historical value but leaves us out to dry. He leaves us standing on the historical terra firma, but we are never shown the hot-iron core of Christ at the center of it all.
The history of the Bible is a theological history; it is God working through the timeline of redemptive history. The history is loaded and weighed down with theology. This is the burden of Biblical history that it ought to be read theologically. Kaiser does not allow theology to carry the day, but pure historical information. And as a result he does not see the Bible in Christological color but in historic black and white.
Another result is that this perspective blocks the hermeneutical highway. Kaiser does not allow for additional meaning or further development of any given text, so that typology and eschatology are not given their exegetical freedom, but are dammed up on the shoreline with historical sandbags. I call this historical sandbagging. Jesus is not just another bullet point in the story line, a key component in Israel’s history and future. He’s not a big historical blip on the screen . Jesus demands that we read him (Luke 24; John 5:39). He commands the text of Old and New. He commands the history of it; and just as Ezekiel and John ate the scrolls that became sweet like honey, so too Biblical history is made sweet when Jesus is seen at the exegetical level of all of scripture. History is bitter without Jesus. He makes the text organic, living and active. Chronology is not king, Jesus is King. This is his book, his story; let us not defrock the Lord of glory in all his typological, eschatological, and exegetical awareness. All history began with him and will end in him. He fills up all the data points and all the data points to him and finds their full expression in Him.

The Hypostatic Nature of Revelation Between Men and the Pen

By Jason Strange

2/28/2011

Let us deal with the first prong “dual authorship” as it’s related to the author’s of the NT usage in the old.

Dual authorship is critical in our understanding of the scriptures because this is the way God has worked in and through history to communicate divine truths to mans brain. This is part and parcel to Gods interaction with man. This is man involved in the process as he was always meant to be, image bearing, rightly interpreting God’s word, and resonating Gods glory throughout the world. This is a sacred duty and privilege only for the regenerated man, the new covenant believer whose heart has been reshaped, illuminated, and made new. Dual authorship is impossible where man is still in his sins, but as it is, the believer is part of the new creation, part of a renewed humanity in Jesus and now as Gods man, God can use a justified saint with all his image bearing qualities and put them on display alongside with God assisted governance in penning holy writ. Once again let me reiterate that this is only possible through men made new.

A qualification here must be made: not all Christians have this ability in the formation of scripture, as it pertains to certain offices and calling (apostles and prophets) at precise points in history, yet all believers are called to join in wrestling with scripture and rightly interpreting it.

Jesus’ dual nature as the God-Man becomes the grounds for the dual nature of scripture. It is the hypostatic nature of revelation. Jesus became (in time and space) the perfect representation of divinity and humanity in one. By his very nature he shows not only the possibility but the actuality of something divine and something human coalescing into a one. Word and word both possessing divinity and humanity.

The danger comes when one is overemphasized or underemphasized. When “Big A” dominates “little a” on the inspirational landscape we end up with a robotic approach which is highly mechanical (involuntary, emotionless, perfunctory) man becomes no more than a tool or apparatus for God, and thus bypassing man’s unique and individualistic perspective and personality. God has not done it this way for one because Scripture gives no impression that he has (Luke 1:1-4 and Isaiah 7, Psalms, 2 Peter 1:16-21); and a second reason why he has not gone the route of dictation is because he is not glorified in it. By using man’s abilities in the in the inspirational process he thus receives more glory because he shows forth his multifaceted contours utilizing 40 different men and their contributions as to their backgrounds and stylistic abilities. Geerhardus Voss has stated,

“God chose human instruments both numerous and varied to reveal his multiformity of His nature and character, and that each person chosen was a glass through which the divine light was reflected…”

The reason Voss stated this is due to the progressive nature of revelation where it became imperative that as more light was given the more necessary it was for God to use a wide range of men to display the various prisms of scripture.

God is not the god of the cults whereby he body snatches the individual in a quasi-zombie like state. This is the way in which Satan operates - bypassing man’s God given abilities and throwing them into a state of confusion, conveying dark things; man becoming an automaton, a worldly robot functioning under the commands of its master.

And briefly on the other hand, an overemphasis of little “a” (an underemphasized Big A), turns scripture purely into a human book of inspirational thoughts and suggestions. Men who intentionally commit this fallacy are of debased minds having the dual placards of “Ichabod” and “Anathema” hanging over their mantels of ill-advised and shameful hermeneutics. They are destitute of the fear of the Lord, and therefore devoid of the wisdom necessary to rightly divide the word of truth.

The second prong deals with fuller meaning or “sensus plenoir”. Which means that the OT authors were not fully cognizant of all that was recorded; they did not possess an exhaustive understanding of all the possible meaning, implications and applications of all that they wrote. Jesus thus becomes the interpretive key, and he becomes the source of this original new hermeneutical method which was followed by the NT authors and those that followed. GK Beale has stated, “The redemptive-historic method was the dominant framework used by Jesus, which served as a heuristic guide (helping to learn; guiding in discovery or investigation (a method of teaching) allowing pupils to learn things for themselves.”

The OT contained all the essential ingredients of sacred history, the DNA of progressive revelation, “adumbrations in Israel’s history pointing to the age of the eschaton” (1. To give a sketchy outline of 2. To prefigure indistinctly; foreshadow 3. To disclose partially or guardedly. 4. To overshadow; shadow or obscure.) “So that OT history is revealed as preparatory and incomplete and Christ becomes the final and climatic expression of all that God intended for the OT.”

“We also need to concern ourselves with the ultimate divine intent of what was written in the OT, which could well transcend that of the immediate consciousness of the writer. This is part of the exegetical task, and as such the canon because the ultimate context” (Beale).

But there has come over the Church an “Originaic” fear that the Alexandrians are revitalizing the allegorical method. This fear is legitimate as to past abuses, and so the big bouncers of “double meaning” have been summoned to toss them out from the interpretive building while mislabeling some as “spiritualizers” and “allegorizers”; but if we can show that our exegesis is contextual and normative than we should be able to use it as well; “In addition, just because the method has been abused does not mean that the method is wrong” (Beale). And as Beale has also stated so well, “If we cannot do it like they did it (exegeting scripture like Jesus and the apostles) than there remains a hiatus between the way they did it and they way we do it. How can we feel corporately at one with them in the theological process? That access has been denied.”

The Indispensable Hermeneutical Ingredient

By Jason Strange 

2/28/2011

If all of sacred scripture is not about Jesus than I ask what is it about? If he is not the central message of the Bible than who or what is? Scripture makes it clear that he is the ‘Sine qua non’ (refers to an indispensable and essential action, condition, or ingredient) the indispensable Hermeneutical ingredient of the Bible, things don’t taste right if Christ is dislodged from his Book. It actually becomes a recipe for disaster.  It’s as if the sun were dislodged from its center all the planets would fall from there magnetic fields from which they are held, so too, hermeneutics fail and fall unless Christ is burning at the center of the interpretation (thematically and exegetically) shining his light and warmth upon the text in his full effulgence (brightness, brilliancy, candor, dazzle, brilliance, illumination). 

                Jesus showed that there was an organic connection between Himself and our understanding of the scriptures. Jesus himself declared in Luke 24, john 5:39, that there was a direct correlation to Himself as the central message of Scripture and our comprehension of the parts to the whole.  He is revelatory glue of the text, and when Christ goes scripture becomes ‘papier-mâché- a book layered with stories one on top of the other.

The progressive nature of revelation was a gradual unfolding of the activity of God; it is God’s self-revelation and self-disclosure. It was organic in nature because all historic revelation is divinely bound together into one unit; the tentacles of the divine root streaming through history until the sonic-bloom of the Interpreter shows up on the world scene. He is the One who spoke the world in existence and comes to speak definitively once more.

It was as if a nuclear chain reaction had happened; small explosions in the timeline of revelation, one sparking the next, growing in power and magnitude; and now the times had reached their fulfillment, word giving birth to Word. Each dispensation building upon another, revelation history growing and expanding until the fullness of time had come and the full arrival of God had flowered. It’s as if the OT was so pregnant with Messianic hope and expectation that Christ had to be born. Now all the OT expectation was coming together. And just as the Shekinah had left 400 years later it shows up on a hill in Bethlehem and rests on a child. This child being the light of the world who comes to illuminate the darkness, he comes as the grand interpreter of all that was written. Man’s understanding of the sacred text was severely wounded by Israeli occupation and the true Israel, the new creation of a new humanity arrives to interpret and to put his world back in order.

(By Israeli occupation I mean seeing Jesus (not Israel) at the center of the hermeneutic, at the exegetical level within the OT. "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you,^(BF) that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled." Luke 24.)

Interpreting the Unfolding Drama the Way Jesus Did

By Max Strange

2/3/2011

It is not a limiting theological notion to say that Jesus Christ is the authoritative core and central message of the entire Bible.  Because this so, all passages will be interpreted in relation to this central Figure Head who is God’s final Word, His ultimate Authority, and His definitive Interpreter, Jesus Christ. 

This is not a fanciful theory.  Jesus and His Apostles gave us our approach to read all of Scripture as related, in some way directly or indirectly, to Jesus Christ.  In Luke 24, the Emmaus Road hermeneutic is given to us by Jesus.  He tells us that the entire Old Testament, littered with a Messianic consciousness, is all about Him.  Furthermore, Jesus tells the Jewish leaders in John chapter 5 that the very first books of the Old Testament, the very foundation of their religion written by Moses, is a Christocentric ensemble.  Stephen’s defense in Acts 7 reveals the progressive nature of the Bible all unfolding to the Christ.  This is not mere speculation.  This is not an attempt to allegorize the Scriptures or disregard the immediate context.  The very essence of the Scriptures are Messianic and Christocentric.  Jesus is that crimson thread that weaves through the wide-ranging tapestry of the Scriptures.  He is not the silver lining around the cloud, but the Sun itself shining through the suspended billows.  He is not imposed where He is already located.  He is not superimposed on the pretty picture of the Old Testament.  He is already there being the Source and Substance of His own Word.  We find Christ where He is and assume it foolish to look for any other.  It is Jesus and His Gospel that shapes our whole outlook on the Scriptures.  We can actually go back and read the Gospel of Abraham, the Gospel of Isaac, the Gospel of Jacob, David, etc…because in some germ form, or in some Christo-embryonic way, Jesus and His Gospel is there.  In all the types, shadows, allusions, narratives, poetry, and music, He is there.  This does not mean Jesus will jump out of each line and paragraph.  What it does strongly imply that the Old Testament and New Testament are progressively connected by Jesus who is that life flowing through the entire root system of the Testaments.   Therefore, to interpret rightly is to see Jesus in the interpretation for He is the meaning of it.  To miss Jesus is to misinterpret. 

The character of the Bible is then a Christo-progressing revelation.  From the Old Testament to the New Testament God makes Himself public.  Like an unfolding map, a naturally developing organism, His Bible is a work covering the ages.  Its progress covers redemptive history and its chief object is the self-disclosure of God in the face of Jesus Christ.  As we read, we will find an internal expansion.  Each step down its path brings us to a richer and more comprehensive knowledge of God.  In sequence, God has seen it a happy thing to disclose Himself and perhaps for our best and safest interest. Imagine a poor soul, emerging from a dark cave of 50 years and being accustomed to dark things, would be seriously injured by a sudden flood of light. Graciously, God has given us beam after beam of His Divine light, enabling us to piece together His majesty, keeping us from harm.  It is then, over the long haul of history, we notice the growing truth of God’s radiance.  The light dawns at the beginning of the Story and reaches high noon with Jesus Christ, the Solid Object at which all shadows of the Old get arrested.  Each truth unfolds from the previous showing us that God never acts in isolation from His other deeds.  His acts and words are fused together throughout in an organic and naturally unfolding character.  God gives piece by piece the whole to the puzzle and as each piece is fit, the whole comes into greater clarity and thus making each piece have a greater significance in the accumulation.  If this is so, at the completion of the New Testament and the accomplished work of Christ, we will find ourselves going back through the Cross into the Old Testament.  We will be guided by the author’s of the New Testament into that which preceded to view God’s full disclosure of His Son Jesus Christ. 

In Conclusion, the Bible’s core message is Christ and so it is necessary that our interpretation involve Him.  The Bible also progressively unfolds.  Therefore, the Bible is a progressive unfolding of Jesus Christ. 

The Then-Church & Now-Church Dissimilarity

By Max Strange 9/20/2010

Project: Make a list of the contrast between the first-century Church experience and the normal 21st century local church.

My assumption here is that the Christian church’s mission in skeletal form is found in the book of Acts. This framework is located in Luke’s letter that allows me to make a simple contrast to the Then-Church and the Now-Church. The intention here is not to build an exact theology for mission. Though my scope of the world-wide church is limited and partial, I hope to make a plain comparison. This rough contrast should help us verify how far off the map the church may have wandered from the God-given framework for mission. Together, the framework for mission and the Scripture’s increase by the omnipotent power of God caused the expansion of the church during those early years.

The Comparison:

The Now-Church gives the impression of an individual focused, all-about-me mentality that is quite different from the community focused Then-Church. It may be that Christian opponents have so successfully pushed the Christian faith out of the public sector and have made a community reality into a deeply personal and private matter, called privatization. Secular society has influenced some Christians to turn inward and focus more on a top-secret and classified relationship with Jesus Christ. The termite of privatization has found its way inside the church walls. Whereas the Then-Church, saw a brotherhood of unified people joined under the unilateral preaching of the Word of God and the Gospel of Christ. They were a Scripture investigating community, a prayer-laden community, a new society within the secular society, all bound together as a chosen collection of purchased people under the Jesus banner.

The Then-Church undertook mission and Gospel expansion by the best men the church had to offer (Acts 6, 13). They were sent by local churches and to each were given by public transmission, the authority of elder. The Now-Church work of mission is often carried-out by para-church organizations that work autonomously from the local church. Because of this, the best men are not sent. The best men are those whom mission organization deems to fit the personality type and for those itching to go. Some of our mission men are apparently self-appointed entrepreneurs and business-minded rogues who are looking for ways to avoid the so-called “red tape” of church structure and organization. This individualism is quite different than the Then-Church framework. In Acts, the best and qualified men, with deep character, possessed with a granite Christological understanding of the Scripture, were sent out. They were men who were first under a loving leadership by the Church at Antioch and then given the same-self authority. They went out on behalf of the sending leadership, not as Scripture novices but as skilled craftsmen ready to upbuild Gospel communities.

The Then-Church’s preaching was the Christ-centered message of the Gospel. At the core of the preaching and teaching was the person and work of Jesus Christ. The Now-Church seems to be about human-motivation, good suggestions, great outlines, and the Christian ethic.

The Then-Church trained its own people from their local congregations and grew spiritual in the local context in which they were schooled. The Now-Church farms-out and ships-out the best and brightest to Seminary.

The Then-Church seemed to be under heavy persecution. Though it was ordained of God, it arose because of the bold witness of Gospel messengers, like Stephen, Barnabas, and Paul. The Now-Church, at least in America, seems to enjoy cushions and recliners. It may be that the Now-Church loves comfort and ease and with the loving embrace of tolerance to all worldviews, and as such, the Gospel is not heralded as it should be. Thus, we lack the opposition that motivates the church to move its butt.

The Then-Church had a Christian capitol city called Antioch from which missionaries and financial support were sent to its sister communities. There was a loose but vital inter-dependence between Antioch and the churches that spawned from its hub. The Now-Churches tilt toward complete autonomy and independence, seemingly an island each to themselves.

The Then-Church seemed indicative determined which were followed by the imperatives of Scripture. This has become contorted today in the Now-Church. The Now-Church has either reversed it where the imperatives come first and the indicatives later or unfortunately abandoned altogether. Who God is, what He has done through His Son Jesus Christ, and who we are due to that (Indicatives) are no longer the thrust of modern preaching and teaching. The cry for more application and the ‘tell me what to do’ mentality, artificially slices the way the Scripture has carefully placed the imperatives (commands) flowing from the indicative facts of who God is and what He has done. The Now-Church, if it continues in this muddy track, will eventually lead people into Moralism, law eroding grace, and works salvation.

For me I see quite a difference from the Then-Church to the Now-Church. I do believe there are many Now-Churches that model the Then-Church and are operating from the Biblical framework to the glory of God. We must not forget God’s Word and see in the early stages of God’s work through the Church, how God developed the framework for mission and how it applies for us as a model for present mission in the 21st century. God’s Word keeps on the path to be a people who are unified around the Gospel, working hard to train local leaders for missions, who are inter-dependent with other like-minded Christians, who embrace suffering for God’s glory, and who are indicative-driven in its preaching and teaching.

Paul’s Normative Strategy for the Churches Today

By Max Strange 10/31/2010

After ten years of mission work, the Apostle Paul spoke as if his work had been completed. How can this be after such a short time? Missionaries in the field have spent their whole life dreaming of doing what Paul did in the time it takes a kindergartener to achieve the tenth grade! Missionaries at home and abroad have lingered all over the world doing the most bizarre so-called ministries and labeling them as mission. Many “missionaries” lay no foundations, no lasting gospel/Christocentric community, no instructed people, no self-propagating society; no permanent people rooted and built up in Apostolic doctrine, which marches forward in zealous mission. Paul did have a strategy and there are clear implications that it is normative for the church today. The church is in peril when we are absent a strategy from Scripture for without a strategy a wide world of anarchy introduces itself. It welcomes her through the front door and heartily greets the so-called “mission” work with a legitimate smile when in fact it is not. If there are no guard rails, anything goes, and so does the church.

We see a clear and normative strategy in the Apostle Paul. It was said by Paul that he completed the Lord’s work of establishing the churches…the people of God. He was a “wise master builder” (1 Cor. 3:10). He was the Apostle to the Gentile world who A/authored two-thirds of the New Testament (Acts 9:15). He founded the first Christian churches across the whole Mediterranean landscape, covering three Continents, and does so by using the same ways that strongly point to a laid-out strategy. He also instructed that elders be appointed (Acts 14:23; Titus 1:5) and that they were to set in order the church (Eph. 3:8-10; 1 Tim. 3:14-15). He also instructed believers to imitate him as he imitated Jesus Christ (2 Thes. 3:7-9; Heb. 13:7). Therefore, Paul, the wise master builder, Gentile directed, chosen, one to imitate, founder of many churches, is the ultimate church planter who gives us a normative strategy for church mission today.

It is also to be considered that Paul’s strategy had deep roots. Being worthy of investigation, it seems that Paul learned his strategy from his Jewish training as a Pharisee (Matt. 23:15; Ph. 3:4-6) and thereafter as a Christian, his gospel centered/church-planting strategy was crystallized by Jesus Christ. It was further modeled in and by the churches of Jerusalem and Antioch (Gal. 1:17; Acts 13:1-3; 16:1-6). Paul’s strategy has therefore a universal quality and normative value for Christians today since it was modeled by God in the Old Testament and given by Jesus in the New and passed along to Paul and confirmed by the church. On this side of the Cross, where else should we go to discover how to do Mission? Absolutely no where! In Acts, Paul lays out a pattern for Mission.

It is important to note that Paul’s methods were malleable but not his strategy. He did not have a white-knuckle-grip on his methodology. He held his methods open-handed. He was willing that they be changed, redirected, tweaked, or altered by the Holy Spirit’s providential and pressing circumstances (i.e. ran out of town by jealous Jews). However, his strategy was concrete. It was not wobbly jelly. It was marble strategy that could withstand all the changing gust of time and culture.

If Paul had no genuine strategy and if Jesus did not give Paul his plan, then we should say that any work, in the name of Jesus, is legitimate. Paul’s strategy is Biblical and it gives us guide post to do mission the way God would have us do His mission. We should not look for pragmatic results to justify our ministries. If the pattern is to gather believing congregations upon the gospel of Jesus Christ, leave behind a well instructed and duplicating society of Christians, and to upbuild the church for this very goal, then we ought to get in line with God’s strategy for his global gospel plan.

This strategy fits into the normative pattern we see in Acts which is Word increase and disciple multiplication to the ends of the earth (Acts 6:7; 9:31; 12:24; 16:5; 19:20; 28:30). Paul brought the Word and all its power to bear upon the minds of people. This resulted in new converts by the Spirit’s Word-work. Paul simply lived out the pattern in Acts –by preaching the gospel (Word increase) and gathering new believers (disciples multiplied) into gospel instructed, local assemblies called churches. This work expanded all over the Roman world. Was it the strategy that made it successful? Perhaps, Paul’s success should be rightly directed toward the unified work of the church that sent Paul to speak his clarion gospel in strategic centers, and implement his ancient, yet Christianized and lucid strategy, by the undeterred work of the Holy Spirit.

Unfolding the Great Commission from Ascension to 28

By Max Strange
10/3/2010

Gathered gospel communities of Christians are essential to the grand unfolding of the Great Commission. For many decades and seasons, it has been common to view church mission as being a philanthropic enterprise. Clarification is greatly needed since many things have side-tracked and deterred us from the primary task. Where can we go to understand the primary task in mission? For some, the definer of mission is the inward whisper to simply launch out.  Unfortunately, many on mission get caught up in this individualistic enterprise prompted by the rising hairs on the back of the neck. Church wide, missions at home and abroad appear to have minimal lasting results. In the end, we find that true disciples were never made or well schooled and that the work to multiply believing gospel communities, from which mission evangelism and philanthropy could rightly pour from were never initiated. It is my aim to trace briefly this historical unfolding of the Great Commission all the way through Acts 28. I believe this will help Christians gather their bearings, find true north, and throw a ray of sunshine on Jesus’ intention for the churches participation in His Great Commission.

God’s plan all along was to give spiritual life to dead people and call into existence a multitude from across the world to worship, love, and adore Him. This was the gospel seed promised to Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3. He would become the father of many nations who would share in the same sola fide (justification by faith alone) that Abraham had and thus making Abraham the spiritual father of us all (who first led the way of faith) and we the sons of Abraham(Romans 4:16-25;11:11b; Gal. 3:7-9; Eph. 3:6). All those who share in the same kind of faith as Abraham are gathered into the Christian church.

God’s divine plan for the ages has always been to bring about the Christian church as His arm to reach the nations (Eph. 3:10). The New Testament described the church in various ways that endear the church to any believer in Jesus Christ. The church is building (Eph. 2:19-21), it is Jesus' spiritual body (Eph. 1:22-23), and the object of His love and dedication called His bride for which he died (Eph. 5:25-33). This is the “one new man spoken” in Ephesians 2. The gaze of Jesus is on this “one new man” whom He has brought near by His grace and mercy. He loves the household of God and all those who are fellow citizens of it. Jesus is vitally apart of the church as its cornerstone. He built it upon Himself and upon the Christological expounding of the Apostle’s teaching. In this last eschatological day, God is consumed with and in love with His people, consisting of both Jew and Gentile. Jesus builds it, structures it, joins it, grows it, indwells it, and raises it as a holy-temple-people by the Spirit. The Jewish people are also included if, by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, they believe. There are not two distinct tracks in the New Testament-Israel and the church, Jew or Gentile. Jesus has created in Himself one new man in place of the two (Eph. 2:13-22). The church is God’s plan in these last days of grace (Eph. 3:10).

Now, the Great Commission is vitally tied to the local church. In Matthew 28:16-20, the risen Christ with all authority issues mission to his men and promises the power to carry out the global enterprise in Acts 1:8. He gives the promise and courage to carry it out by not leaving them or us to accomplish it alone. He promised that the mission will be Spirit-driven through regenerated hearts by the sons of Abraham.

As the book of Acts progresses we begin to see the pattern of the mission. Acts 1:8 reveals the pattern of an unstoppable force called the Gospel to the ends of the known world at that time (Rome). This force runs next door, next neighborhood, and next nation through the proclamation of the gospel. Believers are gathered, baptized, gathered into local churches, and instructed. This is the heart of Christian mission and the essence of Jesus’ charge in Matthew 28:16-20.

As Acts unfolds, we see a geographical ripple of the gospel and we also see another pattern indicated by Luke. Luke gives us several markers that indicate this: when the Word increased-disciples multiplied (Acts 6:7; 9:31; 12:24; 16:5; 19:20; 28:30). To say it plainly, Word proclamation produced Kingdom expansion. The Gospel created the church because it is an organizer, a gatherer, a magnet into the one Body. It is like a tornado that sucks everyone into its funnel and then shoots them out on mission. The Gospel fetches people into a spiritual house called “the one new man.” The Gospel creates and sustains Christians and it necessarily then creates a community of people called the church. This global church is not some man-made institution. It exists as a bi-product of Gospel pronouncement when the Spirit moves to bless the declarative Word (See Peter in Acts 2; Stephen in Acts 7; Paul in Acts 17; 22:1-29; Acts 24; 26).

Paul’s primary mission was to preach the gospel, and then gather the newly converted people for gospel instruction. The massive outreach that Paul endeavored upon shows signs of a solitary strategy which was, in the final analysis, always left to the Holy Spirit’s redirection and rerouting. Furthermore, Paul was not alone in this endeavor. There were the twelve Apostles, Barnabas, Timothy, Silas, Stephen, Philip, Paul, Titus, Lucius, Manaen, and others all engaged in Word proclamation, kingdom expansion, and church formation. They all contributed to the founding of churches and the establishment of gospel communities. Those communities included the churches in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, Antioch, Cyprus, Antioch in Pisidia, Lystra, Iconium, Philippi, Berea, Thessalonica, Ephesus, Corinth, etc…and eventually to Rome.

This all unfolded in a relatively short time. The commission bomb was dropped in Acts 1:8. This exploded outward when the Holy Spirit gave the power and the presence to the Apostles and the disciples. Through the proclamation of the Word, the Kingdom of God expanded by the Spirit of Christ. It was the Apostles intention to preach the Word and to organize the new disciples into local gospel communities. The Gospel of Jesus Christ was the agent that multiplied disciples and pulls them together into a new heavenly citizenry called the church (The One New Man).

How the Great Commission Unfolded Historically

By Randy Watkins

"Go into all the world..."

Jesus spent time, enough time with the disciples, teaching and training them for a monumental assignment. They seemed to not be getting the message until after the resurrection when the full impact and understanding of the gospel becomes evident to them. Before Jesus ascended, he spent more time preparing them and showing them “infallible proofs” assuring that there would be no doubt about “that which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life”.

He left the apostles with a clear mission and then how it would be carried out in the coming days: “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the son and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth” This is truly a great commission and would certainly be impossible in human terms.

They were prepared and waited for the day of Pentecost when they would receive the “promise of the Father”. The Holy Ghost moved and flowed through them with power, giving them utterance and declaring prophetic fulfillment with signs and wonders. This was witness by Jews from around the world as they were in Jerusalem at that time. While there were about 120 disciples, the focus is on the preaching of Peter who stands up and proclaims the gospel. Many believe and will apparently carry the good news back home and abroad. The church forms in Jerusalem as the gospel is spread daily from house to house. As the number of believers increase, they begin to effect society and tensions mount. With the stoning of Stephen and great persecution against the church, they are scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria. As they go they carry the gospel with them. Phillip preaches Christ to the Samarians and they give heed and there is great joy in the city. When the apostles in Jerusalem heard about it they sent Peter and John who officially recognized their acceptance and with the Holy Spirit.

As the gospel is spreading through the region Saul is on a mission of persecution. After his conversion on the road to Damascus, he will become a unique and powerful instrument for the growth of the church. His knowledge and understanding of the scriptures as a Pharisee now become effective for the powerful preaching of the gospel. He confounds the Jews with arguments, proving that Jesus is the Christ.

Peter passes through the regions where the gospel has been spreading. God directs him to Cornelius the centurion at Caesarea and as he preaches the gift of the Holy Ghost is poured out on the Gentiles. The significance of the event is recognized by the believing Jews. God has granted repentance unto life to the Gentiles. After this revelation, Barnabas found Saul and brought him to Antioch. They began ministering as a team and traveled to Cyprus and Asia Minor. They would usually begin at the synagogue and preach to the Jews then to he Gentiles. The Jews for the most part would reject them and stir up trouble at which point they were usually expelled from the city. However many believed and a church would be established and from there the Word of the Lord would be published in the region. The team would move on to the next city and events would be similar. They would then return, confirming and exhorting the churches and the reported back to Antioch.

The spread of the gospel to the Gentiles came into question with the some Jews who insisted that these must keep Mosaic laws to be saved. The apostles, at Jerusalem, upon hearing the testimony of Paul and Barnabas, of the works that were done among the Gentiles and the words of the prophets agreeing, concurred and sent letters to the churches, confirming them and disagreeing with the Judeaizers. These letters were sent to the churches who rejoiced.

Paul and Silas journeyed to Macedonia and there, preached the gospel in the cities where churches were again established and the Word was spread in those regions. The gospel impacted societies often with an uproar stirred up by Idolaters and Judeaizers. Paul repeated his journeys and revisited the churches, exhorting and strengthening them. These churches continued to spread the gospel and other churches were established. Paul makes a farewell address to the church at Ephesus, bound for Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to him but that he faced bonds and afflictions as revealed by Holy Spirit.

Paul is recognized at the temple in Jerusalem where uproar is incited by an angry mob of Jews. They accuse him and he is arrested and beaten by the Roman guards who soon learn that he is a Roman citizen. He is given the opportunity to address his accusers want to kill him. He recounts his former life and conversion and mission to the Gentiles further incites them. He is then removed by the guards. He appears before the High Priest, the Pharisees and the Sadducees who try to judge him contrary to the law. Again he is rescued by the soldiers. The Lord encourages Paul and lets him know that he will also bear witness at Rome. A plot to kill him is discovered and Paul is taken by protective guard by night to Felix the governor in Caesarea. He testifies before Felix and appeals to Caesar. Later he testifies to Felix and Agrippa. He is then sent to Rome. The gospel is being declared to the heads of state as well as the guards who have Paul in custody. As they journey and experience perils in the sea, God is protecting Paul and his life and message effect all who come in contact with him. He is given liberty in his bonds and when at last he reaches Rome he is permitted to preach the kingdom of God and teach the things concerning the Lords Jesus Christ. God had providentially brought the gospel by him before the kings and rulers of this world.

The Centrality of the Local Church in Missions

By Randy Watkins
October 2010

A pattern of missions develops in the early church as the gospel is spreading from Jerusalem to other regions. At first the activities may appear random without recognizing the superintending power of the Holy Spirit to fulfill the “Great Commission.” The example of the church at Antioch illustrates several key points:

• They were a mature congregation who knew the scriptures
• They understood the mission sought direction from the Lord
• Sent missionaries with purpose, prayer, and provision
• The missionaries would travel to the regions beyond
• Seek opportunities to evangelize usually in a principle city
• A core of believers would be baptized and form a local congregation
• They spent time teaching and training the new Christians
• They then appointed faithful men as elders to oversee the new church
• Once the church was established they would move on to another location, with help from the new church and the process was repeated
• Later they would revisit to the new churches in person or by letter to strengthen and exhort them
• The new churches would send out the gospel to neighboring communities where new churches would be started
• Eventually the missionaries would return to their sending church, often with new Christians from the new churches
• They would rehearse the account of what God had done and rejoice together
• There was fellowship and partnership with the churches in the work

The first century church was central to the purpose of missions and “missions” was central to the church. That is, the “mission” was to establish churches who would in turn take part in the mission to establish more churches.

Over the centuries the idea of missions has taken many forms and in many cases abandoned altogether. The modern phenomena of “the mission society, or board”, has in many cases isolated the mission from the church. These and other para-church organizations can be greatly helpful but should not supplant the primary role of the church.

The “oneness” of the church, the missionaries and the new churches creates a dynamic bond that is crucial to missionary enterprise and joy in a commissional church.

The Principles and Patterns from the Book of Acts for Today’s Church

By Randy Watkins

Churches tend have patterns or traditional distinctions based on their unique history, beliefs and cultural influences. We can see a wide spectrum of forms which may have little support in principle. For instance, we find churches with forms that range between some of these extremes:

o Charismatic to formal
o Traditional to contemporary
o Biblical to emergent
o Legalistic to licentious
o Hierarchical to autonomous
o Robes to grunge
o Pipe organs to acid rock

Today’s churches whether old line denomination or the many of the variations of non-denominational, seem to be struggling with an identity crisis. Cultural changes and attitudes toward church make their traditions and patterns seem irrelevant. There is a lack of clear direction as to, who they are, and what they should be doing. This leads to trial and error programs, or copying something others are doing. Without focus on scripture the forms and patterns become the substitute for purpose and principle. Some forms may have an allusion to a scriptural basis but not necessarily normative. (I had to use that word somehow) With time and use the pattern becomes tradition and traditions become set in stone. These traditions can be and often are unhelpful, distracting, confusing, tedious, blinding, repugnant, or even blasphemous.

You can almost hear the questions behind the doors of the meeting rooms. Why are we in decline? Loosing members? Why do those people go there? Or why are we coming here? What can we do to be successful like the big churches? How can we attract young people? How can we attract wealthy people? Why do we attract people with special needs? We need new pews, carpet, new hymnals, get rid of the hymnals, sound system, a new wing, building, praise band, Christian schools, daycare, children’s programs, youth ministry, gymnasium, family life facility, health club, dining hall, theater, buses, celebrities, political leaders, healing service, music groups, revival meeting, camp meeting, holy land tour, cruise….

Without a biblical understanding and direction from the Holy Spirit, these activities and forms are just that. Is God moving us to do this? The events and narratives in the book of Acts tell the story of fulfillment of the ‘Great commission by the disciples as they were lead by the Spirit. Particular situations and events occurred not as a pattern but as fulfillment of a prophecy, (ie signs to the Jews) or expedient for a cultural environment. It illustrates that the imperatives that are clear (supported elsewhere in scripture) can be carried out by the church in many forms and with liberty as the Spirit leads. The book of Acts should make us ask ourselves some questions. Am I willing to follow the Spirit? Eagerly? Joyfully? Is it a privilege to be counted worthy to serve or suffer for him? A people bearing the fruits of the Spirit and proclaiming Word of God is the real underlying pattern.

What is Missions?

By Lisa Watkins
October 2010

“Missions” is the disciple’s proclamation of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the salvation of the elect across to the ends of the earth. These disciples are sent out of the local church. It began by divine instruction of Jesus himself before ascending into heaven. Mark 16:15 Go ye into all he world and preach the gospel to every creature.

Matthew 28:18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 19 Go ye therefore, and teach (making disciples ESV) of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.

“Missions” is God’s plan for gospel expansion. Throughout the book of Acts the Holy Spirit is moving on the hearts of men to go to different cities to teach and preach from the Scriptures of the Messiah and how he was crucified at the hands of man thus fulfilling the OT prophesies. Paul said “Men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you feareth God, to you is the word of this salvation sent.” Acts 13:26

Where the gospel was preached and people believed they planted a local church. It was from the local church in Antioch that God called Paul and Barnabas to go. “Now there were in church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers…..”Act. 13:1 As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Paul for the work whereunto I have called them. And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.

The local church is the body of Christ. The body in all its parts is essential in the preparation of disciples for the work of the ministry. The elders put over the church are fulfilling the Great Commission by teaching and making these disciples. Then the Holy Spirit moves to call individuals to go out into the regions beyond to continue this gospel expansion. As the people in those cities believe a church is planted and the training begins there.

As missionaries are used by the Holy Spirit and souls are added to the church, it was important that they report back to the sending church. Acts 14:27 And when they were come, and had gathered the church together, they rehearsed all that God had done with them, and how he had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles. Having missionaries come and report is a great encouragement to the believers who are supporting them through their sacrificial giving. Those visits also give other believers a vision of what God might want them to do.

6 Panels and 5 Markers for Church Expansion in Acts

Max Strange

9/17/2010

The six panels found within Acts and the five markers help develop Luke’s intention and give us a model for the church’s establishment expansion for today. Below is an annotated list of the six panels “books” within Acts. They are accompanied by five transitional markers that signal a major panel change and Luke’s advancement of the book.

Panel #1: Establishment of the Church in Jerusalem (1:1-6:7)

1. The establishment of the kingdom would not be an Israel-centered endeavor but a local launch from Jerusalem to a global encompassing extension to the ends of the earth (1:8; 2:1-13; 39).

2. The foundational twelve Apostles were solidified as the witnesses of Jesus life, death, and resurrection and commissioned to pass the gospel deposit to the churches (1:1-26).

3. The leaders knew well the Word of God (2:14-36; 3:11-26; 4:5-14).

4. The leaders took a unified stance on the truth…the eleven apostles stood with Peter as he delivered his Pentecost sermon (2:14).

5. The church was devoted to corporate gathering that consisted of apostolic teaching, fellowship, prayers, and meals (2:42-47)
6. When the Word of God increased (spread), God added new believers to the Jerusalem church (2:47; 4:4; 5:14; 6:1,7).
7. The leaders appointed men as deacon-like qualified servants to free the Apostles to continue the preaching ministry and maximize the Word ministry (6:1-7).
8. The unity and sincerity of the church was threatened by the display of religious activity without inner integrity (5:1-11).
9. The early church in Jerusalem was temple centered (2:46; 3:11; 5:12).
10. The leaders of the church were bold witnesses (4:5-31; 5:17:-42)
11. The leader’s witness was centered on the person and work of Jesus (2:22-36; 3:12-26 ; 4:8-12; 5:17-32, 42)
Marker 1: “And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied great in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priest became obedient to the faith.” Acts 6:7

II. Panel #2Keys to the Establishment of the Church in Judea and Samaria (6:8-9:31)
1. The leaders/subordinate leaders had a deep knowledge of the Old Testament and understood how to build upon it to explain the gospel (7:1-51; 8:35).
2. The leaders had a Christocentric witness (8:5, 12, 35, 40).
3. God-ordained persecution and suffering due to gospel witness promoted Word expansion by preaching (8:1, 4-5, 12).
4. There was a leadership connection between the Jerusalem church and Samaria (8:14-15).
5. The leaders at Jerusalem (the Apostles) were supportive and sensitive to God’s unfolding plan as they heard the Gospel going out to Gentile lands (8:1-25).
6. The leaders exercised their authority to protect the church from false leadership (8:9-24).
7. Subordinate leadership (Philip), took initiative, yet did not resent or buck their superiors (8:5-25).
8. God directed the movement of His gospel southward towards Ethiopia (8:26).
9. Acts 1:8 continues to unfold.
Marker 2 “So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.” Acts 9:31

Panel #3 Keys to the Establishment of the Church in Antioch (9:32-12:24)
1. The church begins to shed its false view of separatism (10:9-22, 28; 11:1-3, 18-21)
2. God works in people’s hearts prior to salvation (Cornelius-10:1-8, 24-48).
3. God worked through aggressive evangelism by those who had a right view of God’s purposes to draw many Gentiles to Himself (10:34; 11:19-24).
4. The Holy Spirit is poured out upon the Gentiles in Cornelius home (10:45; 11:1, 17-18).
5. Baptism is commanded immediately after salvation (10:46-48).
6. Jerusalem church leaders sent Barnabas to Antioch in response to Hellenist’s Gentile’s responding positively to the Gospel (11:19).
7. God chooses the new Christian capitol called Antioch (11:25-26).
8. The teachers worked hard to preach and teach (11:23-26).
9. Barnabas worked diligently in the basic follow-up of these new Christians at Antioch (11:21-24).
10. Barnabas and Saul met with the whole group and taught them intensively for one year (11:25-26).
11. The Antioch church was involved in inter-dependence with the Judean elders to meet the needs of the Christians (11:29-30).
12. Violent persecution continues (12:2).
13. When the Word increased the kingdom increased (12:24-25).
Marker #3 “But the word of God increased and multiplied.” Acts 12:24.

Panel #4 Keys to the Establishment of the Church in Asia Minor: (12:25-16:5)
1. Under the Spirit’s direction, Antioch commissioned their best men, Barnabas and Saul. They sent their best men by laying their hands on them, an Old Testament sign that meant a transfer of authority (13:1-3).
2. The men who sere sent left a maturing, living local church (13:1-3).
3. Barnabas and Paul were sent to: (13:1-14:28)

     a. Proclaim the gospel

     b. Gather into a local community of believers

     c. Strengthen those who believed

     d. Appoint elders (14:23)

4. After the expansion work, the men went back to home-base Antioch to report and ready themselves to head back to do kingdom work (14:16-28).
5. Early church leaders of apostle and elders guarded the Gospel. Antioch sent representatives (15:2-3) and met at the Jerusalem council to protect sola gratia and sola Christus.
6. The mission team of Paul and Barnabas continued to return to Antioch, give report, and make vital mission decisions within the Christian capitol (15:35-41).
7. Leaders were committed to training faithful men to help and carry on the Apostolic deposit and the work of finding new Christian communities (15:37-39; 16:3; 2 Tim. 2:2).
Marker 4: “So the churches were strengthened in the faith and they increased in numbers daily.” Acts 16:5

Panel #5 Keys to the establishment of the Church in the Aegean Area: (16:6-19:20)
1. Under the Holy Spirit’s direction, Paul worked aggressively in seeking new areas in which to take the gospel (16:6-7; Matt. 28:19-20).
2. Paul had a ministry strategy that was flexible and malleable to the Spirit’s direction and open Gospel portals. I.e. Conversion of Lydia and Philippian jailer (16:6-40).
3. Paul skillfully contextualized the gospel to the worldview of his hearers (17:1-34).
     a. Paul knew the gospel and its connections to the Old Testament.
     b. Paul went where he knew he would gain a hearing and piggy-backed off the existing Jewish synagogue structures (17:2; 19).
     c. Paul boldly explained, reasoned, and proved the Christ from the Old Testament Scriptures with a gospel/kingdom centered message (17:2-4, 17; 19: 8).
     d. Paul reasoned in public venues to gain a hearing (17:17; 19:9).
     e. Paul found common presuppositions with his audience-common starting point (17:22-23).
     f. Paul corrected the worldview of his hearers (17:24-31).
4. God is the author of salvation and opens hearts as He determines (16:14).
5. Gospel work had three responses: some mocked, some wanted to hear more, and some believed (17:32-34).
6. Paul was terrified but trusted God in the midst of it (18:5-9; 2 Cor. 7:5).
7. Paul was occupied with the Word ministry (18:5).
8. Paul was able to do full-time ministry due to the financial giving of believers.
9. Paul established the churches by years of dedicated teaching (18:11; 19:10).
10. Paul and his team were careful to correct any who did not teach the way of God with accuracy (18:24-19:10).

Marker 5: “So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.” Acts 19:20.

Panel 6: Paul’s Completed work and the Gospel Westward Bound (19:21-28:end)

1. Paul revisited his congregations to further establish them (20:1-12).

2. Paul gave elder qualifications that he himself modeled (20:17-38).

3. Paul spent much of his time developing leadership (20:31).

4. Paul charged the elders to shepherd the flock and rely on God and His Word (20:28, 32).

5. Paul understood the role of authorities (spiritual, governmental, antagonistic) in God’s workings and used them as tools of God (Rom. 13:1-6; 21:17-26; 28:17-22).

6. Paul used the authorities to protect himself (23:16-23; 25:10-11).

7. Paul’s boldness led to his persecution which also led church-wide boldness.

WORD Interpreting Word

Jason Strange
9/18/2010

After our Lord rose from the dead he appeared to his people. Was it mainly to shock and awe them? They needed it. Was it primarily so that their slumping hearts might be lifted up and filled with inexpressible joy, they needed that too? Was it so that his apostles might be filled with hope, strengthened with courage, commissioned and sent out? That was part of the agenda. I think the main reason was so that he could hold a 40-day crash-course in Hermeneutics. He wanted to show his people not only his resurrected body as physical, tangible, demonstrative evidence; but he wanted to confirm to his people that the Old Testament was Christocentric, it was all about Him!

Jesus here unpacks the OT and shows how all of Redemptive history has culminated to this point and that Jewish history has just climaxed with the coming of their Messiah, his death, and subsequent resurrection. Not only has Jewish history reached its peak, but all of human history has now just been significantly altered. Jesus knew they needed interpretation, he knew they needed clarification, someone to elucidate Moses, the prophets and the psalms. And by doing this he was showing himself as the author of interpretation; and without a thorough explanation of the OT this new community of believers would still be stuck in a Judaic legalistic moralistic religion, they still would need temple and sacrifice; they would still need ceremonial washings and mediation. They would still be trapped in symbol and shadow.

In Luke 24: 27, “and beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. “ Jesus is demonstrating how we are to view all of scripture and how we are to interpret. We are to interpret with one eye on Jesus and the other eye on the text. Jesus uses himself as the interpretative networking by which the Church is to properly handle our Old Testaments, not as random Sunday school stories focused on us and our circumstances but first and foremost on Christ Jesus and big picture. All the smaller details must be plugged into the big picture lest we lose the Authors intent. We distort the drama of redemption when we forget to plug the small details into the overarching story. Christ transforms the storyline, as he not only is the Author, but the central character of the play. To spiritualize the OT actually puts us at the center of the drama when as Michael Horton has said, “This character must be killed off.”

Jesus-The Ultimate interpreter began with Moses, which means he most likely took them to Genesis and worked through the whole Old Testament illuminating the text and showing that the Gospel message was there all along thus establishing a gospel centered hermeneutic. And now this gospel hermeneutic is the way by which all scripture is to read, in so doing he thus gives us the New Covenant style which flavors our understanding of Old Covenant truths. In essence he was bridging the storyline of Scripture and revealing that there was indeed a causeway of truth that connected the various points of redemptive history. He connected the dots and sketched a picture of himself. This was his ‘arch de triumph’; he arched back into the OT and grabbed it all, gathered it up and presented it as proof that he was who he said he was. This is how Jesus uses himself; WORD interpreting word.

Also in our consideration is Luke 24:44-45. Jesus told them that all things which were written about him in the in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Jesus was the prophetic fulfillment and he stayed back for those 40 days and taught them from the OT showing forth himself. The whole OT is filled with Christological symbols and signs, and Jesus showed them ‘all things’ which were written about him. (We see him as Word, promise, Law, Priest, covenant, Judge, King, Shepherd, song, wisdom, prophet ect…)

Also, in verse 45 it says that he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. He not only was interpreting for them but he was illuminating their minds. This shows the primacy of Gods hermeneutical method and its result. It also shows God’s sovereignty in our understanding and that it is Jesus who opens up the mind for our comprehension and that there is a reversal of sin darkened minds, blinded eyes, and stopped up ears, pointing to New Covenant promises now being fulfilled.

Six Panels To Acts

By Max Strange 9/14/2010

Many people come to the book of Acts for a variety of reasons. Some do the apologetical or historical approach, others do a biographical sketch, some trace Paul’s journey’s with a Mediterranean map while others like to glimpse the good ole’ days of primitive church life. Moreover, Christians often approach Acts in a “restoration mentality” fearing that we have strayed too far into worldly ideologies, Westernization, pragmatic thinking, and/or Romish error. Unfortunately, Acts' readers have been importing much baggage, bias, and presuppositions into Luke's book and it is no wonder why Acts ends up being such a hot and highly debatable book. When the proper rules of interpretation are not first applied, debates on secondary issues commence.  Then our interpretation becomes forced by the grid we created thus making Acts into a newly transformed and hybrid proof-text toward my theological bent. No longer will it be called the Acts of the Apostles but the acts of my prejudice and the act of my new authorship. When Luke’s intent is not present, it is easy to see why water-cooler exegesis of Acts gravitate around such things as church functions and forms, water baptism and second baptism of the Holy Spirit, to tongue or not to tongue (that is the question?), the Lord’s Supper weekly or daily, etc. The A/author’s intent for the book can be more easily found when we look for the author’s intention and not our intention. Starting with an eye on Luke's structure, we begin to seek not our own intent/interests but Luke’s. His purpose (which is God's overall Christological purpose) in selecting and shaping the material, the normative patterns for the church come into focus.

Luke gives us his structure throughout Acts. These natural divisions point to Luke’s overarching theme. We see six panels in the book: (1:1-6:7; 6:8-9:31; 9:32-12:24; 12:25-16:5; 16:6-19:20; 19:21-28:30). These sections give the narrative a sense of forward movement that thrust us from Jew to Gentile lands, from Peter to Paul, from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth, as promised in Acts 1:8. Luke’s interest in this movement, orchestrated by the Holy Spirit, reveals small Judiastic beginnings that turn into a global-wide, Gentile-predominant phenomenon (92). These panels yield the meaning that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is an unstoppable force. Powered by promise and Spirit, the triumphant expansion of the church and God’s intention for the church moves into sharp resolution. It is important as these panels surface, that we follow some key thoughts to control misuse of the text.

In reading Acts, always look for normative patterns that are elsewhere echoed in Scripture. A teaching can become a primary principle only if a pattern does exist and the rule of faith, using Scripture to interpret itself, is employed. Secondary principles, which ought not be held with a death grip, will be implicit statements that provide integrity to explicit statements. Therefore, it is crucial to not make secondary principles primary (normative for the Church). At the same time, we ought not forget that God communicates by explicit narrative in one place only to draw from typological implications elsewhere. The explicit narrative that has Moses striking the rock in the wilderness (Ex. 17:6) is used by the New Testament authors to imply through typology that it was Christ who was struck to provide living water (1 Cor.10:3; John 4:10; 7:38). So we are also cautious not to rule out typological implications as normative for the church.

Furthermore, when using history to back up a position, it must clearly be related to Luke’s intent. Do not make what was historically normal (or was normally done in church history) a binding principle for all Christians. Scripture must be explicit and implications must be clear in order to be binding.

In closing, Acts should be read with Luke’s interests in mind. His intention is indicated by the six panels found across the landscape of Acts which give the narrative a forward thrust. He shows us that God’s relentless Gospel expansion will push outward from Jewish to Gentile lands, from Peter to Paul, from Jerusalem to Rome, as promised. Once this intent is in our purview, normative principles and patterns in Acts, that are also echoed elsewhere and in harmony with Scripture, come to the fore. We hold on to explicit patterns, historic precedent, and typological implications that are primarily related to Luke’s intent. Conversely, we hold loosely those incidentals that are not related to Luke’s intent.

The Interpreter Has Arrived!

By Jason Strange
6/15/2010

Jeremiah says, "Israel broke the covenant." God was their husband as he betrothed them to himself, but his bride was unfaithful and went whoring after other lovers, thus committing spiritual idolatry. This was all due to the hermeneutical failure of their first parents that had wide sweeping effects. Goldsworthy has said, "ever since the disastrous upheaval of sinful man there is now a hermetic of suspicion which now characterizes rebellious humanity."

And as a result of Israel's hermeneutical suspicion and confusion they were characterized as having ears, but not hearing, eyes- but not seeing; spiritually deaf, blind, and dumb as they did not understand or discern the will God (Is. 6:9-10). They had become like the idols they worshipped. Most of these people though possessing the promises and covenants walked in darkness; the law of God was only external, written only on stone and not on their hearts. Isaiah again says, "the ox and ass knew their master, but Israel did not understand (Is. 1:3)." Even dumb farm animals know their owners, but Israel was worse off and had less sense then the ass and the ox not recognizing their Master.

When the times had reached there fulfillment God in his sovereign grace sent the Interpreter, his Son. This is why the New Covenant is a fundamental consideration to Hermeneutics because when Christ came Hermeneutics changed. (now that Messiah has come we can do Biblical theology-he gives color to the shadows, and they begin to dance in three dimensions; he takes that Messianic consciousness and gives it flesh and bone, he says I am the One who was streaming through the minds of the prophets, and the priest, and the kings). The Interpreter has arrived and as such he interprets the New and unpacks the old pealing back the layers of Old Testament history and in essence says, 'look at me! see me there, see me here'; I am God I fill the Heavens and I fill every word found in Scripture and I am its focal point .

Isaiah says now within the land of deep darkness a great light has shined. The light of the world comes and shines forth the hermeneutical beacon. Jesus says' "He who follows me will never walk in darkness." There is a darkness to hermeneutics when it is separated from Christ. There is dark exegesis, dark systematics, and dark dogmatics without Christ Jesus as the hermeneutical principle and the exegetical interpreter. The New Covenant is such that when one partakes of New Covenant realities he is moved up out of a deceased Hermeneutic and is transferred into a new realm of Hermeneutical clarity. Paul said this to the Corinthians that the 'Jews had a veil covering their hearts, but when one comes to Jesus the veil is removed (2 Cor 3).'

The Christ event inaugurates the New Covenant. It is new in the sense that it is distinct, unique, one of a kind, not a spin-off of the old, but has characteristics that set it apart as exclusively special. Israel is promised that she will be given a new heart and a new spirit; new faculties to internalize God's law which will be written on the heart. These partakers in the New Covenant will all know God; they will have an awareness of who he is. And now God vindicating his holiness through Christ death and resurrection sprinkles clean water on us giving us a cleansed conscience, removes the heart of stone, removing sin and iniquity forever. Only through Jesus could all the conditions be met and the full realization of Hermeneutic ability comes to its beach-head on Pentecost where they receive the Spirit of Christ, who now indwells his people 'leading them into all truth', guaranteeing an accurate Hermeneutical outcome for all time. He promised that he is with us till the end, and so the Church is assured that Christ will continue to illuminate his Word until He illuminates the world upon his return.

The Author's Communication: Interpreting Textual Particulars

By John Ambro
6/4/2010

Communication is a funny thing. If we don't pay attention to the particulars within the context of the whole message we miss out on the true and intended meaning of the message, and we misinterpret it to mean something completely different than the original communicator intended. We have all done this to one extent or another. A prime example of this is communication between a father and son. The son is sitting in the living room playing a video game and his father is in the kitchen. The father calls to his son to “Will you take the garbage out.” The son replies “yes” but continues to sit there. That is because he understood the particulars apart from the context. He failed to realize that his father was standing there holding a disgusting, smelly, bag of trash and wanted it taken out right then and there.

We must be very diligent that we do not do the same thing with Scripture. Taking particular verses and interpreting them apart from the full context in which we find them. Isolating particulars outside from their context leads to all sorts of issues and errors. The first issue that arrises is that when one removes the particular (i.e. an individual verse) from its surrounding context, it makes the original author mute. It places a gag order on the author and states, “what you have said has no bearing on what I read from the text”. The second thing that it does is that it not only makes the author mute but it replaces the author with the reader as the interpretive authority of the isolated particulars, and makes the reader/hearer the author.

These two things lead to all types of wacked out doctrines, heresies, and outright evil lies. No where else is this most prevalent than in the Prosperity / Health and Wealth movement. Everyday thousands of “christians” are drawn away from the true gospel of Christ, yet come running to embrace the deaf, mute, and dumb idols of “self-christianity”. Pulling scripture out from here and there, like pithy little “christian fortune cookies” focussing all on self and failing to stop and see (and read) that it is little about us and all about Christ.

But is it not just the crack pots of Christianity that this happens to. Strong Evangelical pastors and leaders, that take scripture out of context (possibly unknowingly) to fit a schema or agenda. One very respected pastor (whose name I will not mention) has isolated verses out of their surrounding context to prove a point that he wishes to drive home, unfortunately instead of knocking a home run he hits scripture out foul and knocks people out with improper isolation of texts that give others leeway to do the same. We also see the effects of isolating particulars in many Evangelical churches with their dogmatic rules and doctrine that they hold on to. This error is however in the reverse, they pull verses out of the historical, non-normative context and apply it to the 21 century church body to the detriment of the body by hindering the work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of the believers. For example a church that I know of has no musical instruments, and no one sings on stage (but only in the congregation) because, that is how they did it in the early church, yet they have no issues using mics for the pastor, video displays, or recording the sermons.

The error of interpreting textual particulars outside of their context can affect anyone, no one is immune to falling into this trap. So the way to stay out of this trap is to keep verses in their context of the original paragraph, chapter, book, and the whole cannon of scripture. Only then will our interpretation of scripture fall in line and under the authority of scripture itself.