God Bless the People of Haiti

By Roy Ciampa, PhD
Associate Professor of New Testament

Our hearts have been broken as we have learned of the devastation suffered by the people of Haiti since the recent earthquake and its aftershocks. So much suffering for a country that had already experienced more than its share… Their tragic situation is not helped by the thoughtless suggestion that the massive destruction, leading to the deaths of more than 200,000 people, may have been “a blessing in disguise” (because it could lead to massive rebuilding) or the suggestion that Haiti’s troubles are to be attributed to an imagined pact its people made with the Devil (Pat Robertson: “They got together and swore a pact to the Devil. They said, ‘We will serve you if you will get us free from the French.’ True story! And so the Devil said, ‘OK, it’s a deal.’”). Such tragedies strain our faith and challenge us theologically, just as they challenged Job’s “friends.” The best thing they did was provide comfort by their silent presence for seven days (Job 2:13). But then they also made inappropriate applications flowing from their limited theological understanding. We would also do better to remain silent than to offer such imaginatively unhelpful analysis. Too many Christians have spent too much time coming up with theological grounds for blaming victims of tragic events, as though the world we live in is one where things go well for people unless they have given God or fate some excuse to bring destruction their way. Followers of Jesus Christ, of all people, should know better.

The people of Haiti suffer from tremendous poverty, but such a large number of them demonstrate an equally tremendous faith in and love for God. I remember my wife telling me about the joyous expressions of faith she encountered during her time in Haiti on a mission trip years ago. The news reports have been filled with Haitian people praising Jesus Christ upon every bit of good news in the midst of all the bad. In one extended interview a woman who had been pulled out of the rubble (and who was now in a hospital bed) focused on how her faith in God had sustained her through her time under the rubble and how she reads her Bible every day and was able to remain strong in hope through her reflection on psalms and other relevant texts from Scripture. The constant references to and expressions of Christian faith should not surprise us since the World Christian Database indicates that 95.21% of the country’s population holds to one form of Christianity or another. I am not so confident that I and my fellow countrymen would have such a bold, open and even joyous faith if were to live such materially impoverished lives.

Our own church is supporting the people of Haiti in a few different ways, through special offerings for Hope for the Children of Haiti, and organization that we regularly support and other funding going to World Relief. I hope you and your church will also find a way to make a difference in this and/or other areas where people have such a desperate need for both material and spiritual help. Paul reminds us that even those who are experiencing their own severe trials and extreme poverty may demonstrate rich generosity (cf. 2 Corinthians 8:1-2). May God bless the people of Haiti and help them overcome the many factors that promote economic poverty in that country (and the conditions that lead to living and fragile and even inherently dangerous housing). And may God help the rest of us to learn from the humble faith of those who know how to worship and honor God with all they have even what that “all” is very little in comparison to the resources found elsewhere.

Now, about 1 Corinthians…. Did you know …?

Having recently completed the one of the longest commentaries on 1 Corinthians in history, and being in the midst of a short adult class on the letter at church, I’m thinking about some things that many people don’t know about the letter or its interpretation. For example, did you know …

1 Corinthians has much to say to the modern world. No book in the New Testament, even Paul’s letter to the Romans, does more to explain the grace of God, the lordship of Christ, and the work of the Holy Spirit. The contribution of the letter to the practical knowledge of God is immense. Not only is its ethics searching and rigorous, but its theology, especially of the cross, announces the end of the world as we know it. In addition to supplying concrete answers to many problems which have comparable manifestations today, on subjects as diverse as leadership, preaching, pluralism, sexuality, and worship, 1 Corinthians models how to approach the complexity of Christian living with the resources of the Old Testament and the example and teaching of Jesus. Above all, it shows the importance of asking, How does the gospel of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, which envelop the letter in chapters 1 and 15, teach us to live? [Ciampa and Rosner, First Corinthians (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2010), 1]

Did you know that Paul’s repeated phrase “do you not know” (1 Cor. 6:2-3, 9, 15-16, 19; 9:24) usually communicates an implied rebuke (indicating that they should have already known and not needed Paul’s reminder), unlike my following list of “did you know” questions (which raise issues that I expect many readers may not have already known)? Did you know that the vices listed in 5:11 share an OT background with the quote from Deuteronomy in 5:13? Did you know (re: 1 Cor. 6:19) that in the Roman world sexual immorality only counted as “adultery” if it entailed sex with a married woman (married men engaging in relations with unmarried women were not legally considered adulterers)? Did you know that Paul is not talking about “homosexuals” in 6:19 (that most of same-sex acts would have been done by married men who were having sex with their wives [and perhaps other women as well])? Did you know, regarding the euphemism of “touching” which shows up in 7:1 (translated “marry” by an older version of the NIV and “have sexual relations” by most recent English translations), that men and women didn’t “touch” each other, but that “touching” was a unilateral act – what a man did to the object of his sexual desire (contrast the mutuality repeatedly reinforced in Paul’s teaching in 7:2-5) and that the euphemism was not used of normal sex within marriage, but of various other kinds of sexual relations?

Did you know that the issue discussed in 1 Corinthians 8-10 is not the same as that in Acts 10:11-11:9 (in 1 Corinthians Paul is dealing with food that has been offered to idols [where association with idolatry is the key issue] while Acts 10 discusses the issue of “clean” and “unclean” foods [categories of animals expounded in Leviticus 11 and presupposed in Genesis 7])? Did you know that in 11:2-16, despite an introduction that seems to imply a gender heirarchy, no distinction is made in the passage between the ministries of men and of women (the conclusion is that both men and women will pray and prophesy as long as they are properly attired)? Did you know that Paul considers the gift of prophesy essential to the wellbeing of the church (and that the gift is present and operating even in churches that do not believe in it)? Did you know that the spiritual/natural dichotomy found in 15:44-46 is not the same as a material/immaterial or physical/non-physical dichotomy (the later is a modern conception foreign to Paul’s thought)?

Did you know that Rosner and I argue that 1 Corinthians is “Paul’s attempt to tell the church of God in Corinth that they are part of the fulfillment of the Old Testament expectation of worldwide worship of the God of Israel, and as God’s eschatological temple they must act in a manner appropriate to their pure and holy status by becoming unified, shunning pagan vices, and glorifying God in obedience to the lordship of Jesus Christ” (page 52)? Did you know you could learn more about all these and many other issues in the recently published Pillar New Testament Commentary?

May God lead us, through a growing understanding and assimilation of the message of 1 Corinthians, ever more deeply into the wisdom and power of God in Christ (1:24) that we might flee sexual immorality (6:18) and idolatry (10:14) and glorify God with our bodies (6:20) and in all that we do (10:31), until that day when all things are fully renewed and He is all in all (15:28)!

By David Horn, ThD
Director, The Ockenga Institute

It’s like wandering through the mall. That’s the landscape of the evangelical church today in America. In our part of the country we have Nordstroms and Macys and Marshals and Sears. These are the economic pillars of the mall, the anchor stores. Surrounding these commercial behemoths is a myriad of lesser lights: bookstores, jewelry stores, electronic stores, game arcades, build-your-own-teddy bear shops, the food court.

And we have our mega-churches, churches with multi-million dollar budgets that shore up huge bureaucracies of pastors and support staff, which, in turn, facilitate layers of programs designed to meet every conceivable need of the consuming public. The vision statements of these organisms are now large enough, apparently, to encompass the future of entire countries in Africa. For better or worse, these mega-organizations now anchor our movement.

As I work with churches and pastors, I am increasingly finding that the real impact of these organizations is not limited to their obvious assets. Not only have they become bigger-than-life in real terms; they have become bigger-than-life in our minds and hearts. Whether we want to admit it or not, the mega-church has become the standard by which we define success.

It’s annoying, isn’t it? We have all heard the statistics; it seems like 50% of church attendees in America attend about 5% of our churches. And yet, in the back of our minds as pastors, as we put our new fall programs together or drag our congregations through another envisioning process or consider a new evangelism campaign for our churches, there exist the notion that this just might be the year that God does in our church what He has done in what is described on the back cover of books written by one of a few meg-pastors.

But, the cold hard reality is that for most of us in ministry, we are called to manage a Lids Store or a Hallmark card shop on the far end of the corridor, not one of the anchor stores. How do we live with this reality while seeking God’s best for the place God has called us to serve? How do we long earnestly for growth and change and renewal in settings resistant to growth and change and renewal?

Several years ago, I had an extended yearlong conversation with fifteen pastors from mainline churches around New England on the nature of renewal within their theologically compromised contexts. We met monthly to discuss what it would take to change the climate and attitudes of congregations in need of spiritual renewal.

After our yearlong conversation, we summarized our time together into sixteen precepts that describe what it takes to turn a church around. I have wondered more recently whether many of these precepts relate equally to small, struggling evangelical churches as well. Here they are:

16 Precepts for Turning a Church Around

1. “Called to obedience, not success.”

2. “Longevity matters.”

3. “There will be a point of crisis. Get through it.”

4. “Look for the remnant.”

5. “Old guard, new guard: It’s a matter of critical mass.”

6. “What’s more important: bylaws or vision statement?”

7. “Leadership is generational.”

8. “De-code the battle: personality or theology.”

9. “Conserve your energy” or “Choose your battles carefully.”

10. “Finding the thread that leads to renewal in YOUR church.”

11. “Sometimes the point of absolute death is the point of opportunity.”

12. “Wheat and Tares: Evangelism within.”

13. “Patience, patience, (gasp), patience.”

14. “Renewal: A never-ending story.”

15. “Know when to leave.”

16. “It’s not ultimately you. It’s the Spirit!”

As I have overheard pastors talk about their churches in more recent years, I would add to the above sixteen the further observation that churches are oh-so-very-fragile creatures. In the current marketplace economy of congregational life in America, I am continuously amazed at how quickly churches can loose their momentum. Whether through conflict or through more subtle attrition, seemingly vital churches loose their vitality. It is only through God’s grace and power that our churches--flawed as they may be—become renewable resources for His greater glory.

Silent Night

By Sean McDonough, PhD
Associate Professor of New Testament

Silent Night, Holy Night

All is calm, all is bright…

It is a beloved, and lovely, song…but I do wonder just how silent things were in Bethlehem that night. Singing choirs of angels, singing in exaltation, would presumably be pretty noisy, especially if they were joined by all the citizens of heaven above; you couldn’t help but hark. Back in the manger, baby Jesus may have been meek and mild, but I don’t think that would stop him screaming his little lungs out as he gasped his first breaths of air. Mary was likely pretty animated herself as she labored to push out her first-born. And while I cannot claim any real knowledge of animal husbandry, I would not be surprised if the oxen and sheep and donkeys made a racket themselves in response to all the busy-ness of the birth.

But if the silence of the song doesn’t quite work at the literal level, it does harbor a profound theological truth. Amidst all our work and worry and words, Christmas is a time to sit still. We exhaust ourselves all year with writing and theorizing and speculating about the problems of the world and how we can solve them; now at last we can be silent and hear God’s Answer.