What Does This Mean?

Rule #6: Location, Location, Location

Encore Post: For sale: Three Bedroom home, Two Bathrooms, Ranch, $78,000 — or is that $150,000 — or is that $250,000? What is the difference? One is in Fort Wayne, Indiana, another in St. Louis, Missouri and the third in Peekskill, New York. In Real Estate, the price of a home is mostly set by location, location, location.

In literature, the meaning of a word or phrase depends upon the words around it, what kind of writing it is found in, and many other factors. To know what the author means depends very much on what else he or she has to say.

The same rule applies to understanding a verse in the Bible. For example, someone about to eat too much food might claim: “God said, “eat and drink.” (1 Corinthians 15:32)” But when we know the passage ends, “for tomorrow we die,” the passage doesn’t seem so positive about overeating! Obviously this Bible passage doesn’t intend to recommend eating everything you can. It is quoting a pagan philosopher.

And there is even more to the passage. It begins: “If the dead are not raised…” Since even that is written in 1 Corinthians 15, when Paul argues that the dead are indeed raised. In its context, then, the passage means the opposite of what it seems to say. The rule about context means that you should read more than just one verse. It will tell you what the words actually mean.

Reading more than just a passage quoted to you often bears rich rewards, even when it doesn’t change what you thought the words mean. For example, Lutherans like Ephesians 2:8-9: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” But try verse 10: “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Not only does God give us salvation as a gift of his grace, but he views us as his masterpiece and sets things up in our lives so that we will do good works!

So, when you want to know what a Bible passage means, read more than just a quote. Read the words around it as well.

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Rev. Robert E. Smith

Fort Wayne, Indiana

Rule #8: Avoid Anachronism (or don’t make Jesus time traveler)

Encore Post: Anachronism is taking any historical custom, person, object, or event into a time period other than its own. The Biblical narratives exist in time. (Narratives are those passages that relay specific events as a narrated story). They are to be heard and read from within their contextual window.

There was a common refrain around twenty years ago: What Would Jesus Do? The notion was that Jesus, as revealed in the scriptures, could be used as a moral guide to aid your decision-making process. If you would just imagine Jesus in your situation, the correct answer would become clear.

The anachronistic fallacy here is that Jesus does not walk the earth in my time. By trying to drag Him here into my situation, I’m ignoring the teachings in their context. And, I’m about to put my words into Jesus’ mouth somehow to sanctify my choices into biblical truth.

Let’s try another fitment. “Jesus was a socialist, distributist, capitalist, or anarchist.” Jesus lived 1800 years before most of the codified economic systems we know developed. His experience with taxes, market forces, production, and consumption looked far different from our own. The application we should pull from “render unto Caesar” is simply: be a faithful Christian first and the best citizen, resident, or alien you can be second. Anything further pulls Jesus into our temporal context.

For a more timely application that will likely age poorly, would Jesus wear a mask? He came healing the sick. So, surely, that means that he would wear a mask. Again, our specific time and concerns applied to Jesus. We couldn’t discern the answer to that question.

This one dials in more tightly upon the problem with that question. It’s not a good question. Jesus came healing the sick, giving sight to the blind, casting out demons, and forgiving sin as signs of what was to come. These signs demonstrate the fullness of God in human flesh subsisting. Jesus healed, recreated, forgave, and even raised dead to life again to teach what His death meant. Jesus died to forgive the sins of the world. All the brokenness and other evidence of the corruption of sin will fade away in the blinking of an eye at the resurrection of all flesh. His life and ministry testify to that. Who cares what political system, hand sanitizer, or chicken sandwich he may or may not have preferred?

Dear Baptized, let us abandon anachronism and bless the Lord of time and eternity!
Thanks be to God!

Rev. Jason M. Kaspar
Sole Pastor
Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church & Preschool

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Rule #7: Respect the Original Languages

Encore Post: The Bible, it’s stories, phrases, poetry and images are so woven into our culture we don’t even notice it. Even more so, it is a part of our worship, prayers and teaching that it is a natural part of our faith. So it is easy to forget that God’s word was not originally spoken and written in English, but in two or three eras of the Hebrew language, Aramaic, and the everyday Greek of the Roman empire. The King James Version was so well done that it had a staying power of nearly 500 years and influences all of our modern translations. Yet even it loses some of the meaning moving across languages, culture and time period. That is why Lutheran pastors have been traditionally taught to read the Hebrew and Greek of the original texts.

One way to see that is to try to translate from English to English. Think of the word “Excellent.” What word would you use in its place if you could not use the word “Excellent?” Does the word you picked mean exactly “excellent?” Not really. Some shades of meaning are lost — like when you see a picture in black-and-white instead of color.

So, when you are trying to understand a passage, consider the original language. If you never learned them, there are tools you can use to get at the original. With the advice of your pastor, select two to four different translations for your study. Pick ones that are somewhat different in approach. When you study, read them together. If they say virtually the same thing, you know the original is not difficult to translate. If they are very different, check the notes of a study Bible or ask your pastor what is going on behind the translations.

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Rev. Robert E. Smith

Fort Wayne, Indiana

Doesn’t God Love Me Just the Way I Am?

Christianity is often a system of maintaining polar opposites without compromise. The law accuses us of sin (even in its instructive sense), and the Gospel forgives sin with no merit or worthiness in us. We receive salvation through God’s gifts of repentance and faith by Sacrament and Word. Damnation comes to unbelievers solely because of their stubborn unbelief and hatred of God.

These aren’t systems we built for ourselves. They are truths taught by God’s Word that leave us with concepts that defy our human logic. The tension makes us uncomfortable, leading us into accidental error. Arminian decision theology and Calvinist double predestination are two notable examples.

Jacob Arminius harmonized the clear teaching that damnation is our own doing and our own choosing in unbelief, by teaching that we choose salvation as well. “And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.” (John 3:18-19 ESV) He was and is half right. Damnation is entirely on us and because of our sinful unbelief.

John Calvin harmonized the clear teaching that God chooses some for salvation, by teaching that salvation and damnation were solely by God’s choosing. “In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.” (Ephesians 1:4b-6 ESV) In Calvin’s desire to uphold God’s sovereignty, Calvin made God a capricious ruler, separating without discernible reason.

The biblical position, which we Lutherans hold, is that damnation is our doing and salvation is God’s doing. We sometimes call this single predestination.

The same sort of harmony confusion is at play here. We should much more correctly say that God loves us despite the way we are. Poorly hidden behind the God-loves-me-just-the-way-I-am view of myself is a desire to overwrite God’s Law. I don’t want to leave my former sins behind. I want God to bless my sin and call it good. I want Jesus to Jesus me in the way that I would have Him Jesus me, rather than the way that he does.

Jesus doesn’t bless our sin. He forgives it AND sends us off without sin. To the adulteress spared from stoning, He says, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.” (John 8:11b ESV) The forgiveness we receive delivers a clear conscience, which will flee from sin.

St. Paul describes our sinful situation as a state of death. Only God can bring life into dead things. “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2:4-7 ESV)

God loved us despite our deadness in sin. His love revives us and sets us free from that sin. He has delivered us out from the “way we are” into the way He would have us be.

Go forth and sin no more,

Rev. Jason M. Kaspar
Sole Pastor
Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church & Preschool
La Grange, TX

Rule #5: Look for the Intended Meaning

Encore Post: In the Middle Ages, the most popular way of understanding a Bible passage was to look for four meanings in the text — the one that author intended for his readers to find there and other, “deeper” meanings. The problem Martin Luther and the Lutheran reformers found with this method is it allowed a person to find anything they wish in the Bible. So they insisted a principle summed up in the sentence: sensus literalis unus est — “there is one intended meaning [in each passage].”

What they observed is that God used human beings, using human language to speak to his people. To understand what God wants us to believe, then, we find that original message, paying attention to the words, sentences, paragraphs, grammar and figures of speech the author uses. We look the kind of literature it is (is it intended as history? Poetry? Is it a letter? A sermon? What were the customs of that time and place?) Most of the time we do this out of habit. When we do serious study of a passage, however, a good study Bible is very helpful with these efforts.

When most Christians talk about interpreting the Bible literally, they do not mean that we should always take it at face value. It means to understand it according to the words — what the author intended it to say to his readers. So, no one thinks that, when Isaiah said, “the trees clapped their hands” (Isaiah 55:12) that cedars grew limbs to clap. They understand it to be poetry to describe how they move in the wind. When we read the Bible, then, we understand what it says as normal speech when the book it is written in is a letter or a history. We understand it figuratively when the kind of literature it is poetry, parable or similar kinds of writing.

So, this rule tells us to work to find the meaning the author intended to send. It is that message that God wants us to hear and believe. We assume that the passage has only one of these meanings, unless the text tells us otherwise.

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Fort Wayne, Indiana

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Rule #4: Use the Bible to Understand the Bible

Encore Post: Many beloved passages in the Bible are as clear as mountain streams fed by melting snow. “In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth.” (Genesis 1:1). “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only son (John 3:16). “God is Love.” (1 John 4:8) These and dozens like them are so clear, we teach them to small children. Yet others are not so clear. Some, like the detailed laws God gave to Israel we suspect that God no longer wants us to observe. Others don’t seem to make sense to us at all. How can we be sure what they mean for us?

The answer is actually a part of Rule #1: since the Bible is God’s word, we can use one passage to explain others. We can be sure of the interpretation we discover this way, because the words we are using are God’s own words.

Let’s look at a few passages to see how this works. We know that most of the national law God gave to the Kingdom of Israel does not bind us, because St. Paul tells us not to allow anyone to judge us on the basis of them. (Colossians 2:16-23) We know, however, that the Two Great Commandments do, because Jesus tells us to observe them. (Luke 10:26-28) In another place, when God told Abraham to sacrifice his son, we wonder what he was thinking. The author of the Book of Hebrews tells us. Hebrews 11:17-19)

So, when you wonder if there’s more to a passage, look elsewhere in the Bible. God will often give you more insight when you do this.

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Rev. Robert E. Smith

Concordia Theological Seminary

Fort Wayne, Indiana

Rule #3: Two Main Teachings of the Bible

Encore Post: When you read the Bible as a story, the main plot, salvation history, is all about Jesus (See Rule #2). Yet the Bible is not only a story, it is God’s message to his children. In it, he explains in great detail how he made the world, how it works and what he wants us to do, what happens when we do not do it and how he intends to restore it to its original condition. It gets kind of complicated. That is why God sums it up in two main teachings. Luther and Lutheran theologians call these teachings The Law and The Gospel.

These teachings help us organize all that the God teaches us in his word. The Law is about God’s will for our lives and how he wants us to live it, what happens when we disobey his commandments, what the likelihood is of us doing his will on our own, what the punishment is for rebelling against him and everything associated with the governing authorities he has appointed to keep at least some order in this life. (The Three Uses of the Law)

The Gospel is the good news that God, in his mercy, sent his Son, Jesus, to be born in the womb of the Virgin Mary, suffer, die, rise from the grave on the third day and ascend into heaven for our sakes. It tells us how the death of Christ has destroyed death, earned for us the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation and all of this is given to us by grace alone, received by faith alone for Christ’s sake alone. It contains all the precious things which God promises us because of what Jesus did for us. (See It’s His Story)

The rule teaches us to keep these two teachings straight. When we say the law saves us, we encourage sinners to try to save themselves; we deny them the comfort of the gospel. When we say that forgiveness comes with conditions, we place barriers between Jesus, his Means of Grace and the grace that is his free gift. So, we do what Luther described as the most difficult art — we allow the law to be the law — requiring perfect obedience, condemning us for our inevitable violation of it and pointing us to the gospel. We allow the gospel to be all the precious promises of God’s free grace and encourage his people to rely on it.

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Rev. Robert E. Smith

Concordia Theological Seminary

Fort Wayne, Indiana

Rule #2: The Bible is All About Jesus

Encore Post: When you see a good friend reading a book, so taken by it that they shut the whole world out, you ask them, “what’s it all about?” Your friend will sum it up in a few sentences. Of course, there is a lot more detail to the tale, but all of the words, images it creates set the mood and move the plot along. Yet no really good story holds our interest if there is not a single, central story that we care about.

The Bible is the most important book in the world, because it is God telling the story. This story is more than an enjoyable yarn. It is the story about how God saved us and how he will make the creation new again. Theologians call that Salvation History. So, if someone asks, “What is the Bible all about?” The best answer is “It is all about Jesus.” Jesus himself tells us this. (John 5:39)

Knowing that the Bible is all about Jesus helps us to understand its message and the place of each verse in that message. On the surface, the Bible is a small library of sixty-six books with different messages. They can seem disconnected and at odds from time to time. By this rule, we come to see the Bible has one story with a beginning, middle, climax and end, all tied to what Jesus did and will do to save us. It helps us to see that we are actually a part of this story. Unlike good fiction, this story is real news, not fake news. It is actually has a two-part message for us — which we’ll take up in the next post.

So, by knowing that the Bible is all about Jesus, or said in more formal language, all theology is Christology, we can unlock the treasures of the Holy Scriptures. The Bible is not all about how to live a happy life in this world, although it can help us with that. It is not about predicting the future, like some giant puzzle or math problem. It is not the key to success and riches, or even about what we should do to be good people. In fact, it is not so much about what we do, but what God has done: In Christ, he made the world, sorrowed over its sin, set out to save the world, was made man in the womb of the Virgin Mary, lived a perfect life in our place, suffered, died, rose again, ascended into heaven and one day will return to raise us from the dead to live with God forever. As you read the Bible, then, ask yourself: what does this have to do with Jesus? You’ll be surprised how much it helps to hear what God is saying to you in his word.

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Rev. Robert E. Smith

Concordia Theological Seminary

Fort Wayne, Indiana

Rule #1 for Reading the Bible

Encore Post: For most Christians, the first rule for understanding the Bible seems obvious. The Bible is God’s Word. Yet believing that God speaks to us in his own words and is the author of the Bible affects the way we look at the Scriptures, how we approach it, what we expect from it and the assumptions that we make about what it says.

Because the Bible is God’s message to us, we believe that it is not fiction, a myth made up by people to explain the world, or something that it just very well written words to inspire us or make us feel good — like a great movie, a catchy song, or an absorbing novel written by our favorite author. After they make us feel good and escape the world for awhile, nothing changes and life goes on. The Word of God, however, comes with the power of God to change our lives, brought to us by God’s own Holy Spirit. (see Romans 1:16-17, 2 Peter 1:16-21) It creates faith in hearts which do not believe and strengthens faith where it exists.

So, the clear teachings of the Bible are the final authority on everything it speaks about. When it says that all people are evil, not good, at heart, we believe that, even though our mind and culture tells us everyone is basically good. When it tells us God made the world in six days, we believe that, too, even if the world’s myth tells us the universe has always existed and developed over millions of years into what we now see. When the Bible tells us both that God decided to save us before he made the world, but if we reject him, we can loose our faith, we believe that too, even though it doesn’t make sense to us.

So, this rule is that we assume that what the Bible teaches is true and use those things which are perfectly clear in it to understand things that are not so clear.

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Rev. Robert E. Smith

Concordia Theological Seminary

Fort Wayne, Indiana

Athanasian Creed: the Conclusion – Works and Faith, Sheep and Goats

Encore Post: The legacy of Saint Athanasius is one of standing firm in the face of opposition to the word of God. Throughout his 45 years as Bishop including 17 years in exile, he stood unwaveringly against the errors surrounding him. The Arian heresy, denying the divinity of Jesus, and all of the derived and adjacent heresies are still with us. But, we have a firm confession from the Word of God to fall back on in defense of the faith. That is the continuing gift given to us by Athanasius and those of his theological tradition. “I and the Father are one.” (John 10:25-30)

Alexandria in Egypt, the bishopric of Athanasius, is no longer a center of Christendom. Augustine of Hippo who owes much to Athanasius, and is a father for us in the western church, presided over a region of North Africa that is no longer a center of Christianity. It’s wise for us to remember but the centers of Christianity Today may not be the centers of Christianity tomorrow.

The concluding remarks of the Athanasian Creed are one that can give us pause. While reinforcing the bodily resurrection, there seems to be an assertion of works righteousness in the creed.

“He will come to judge the living and the dead. At His coming all people will rise again with their bodies and give an account concerning their own deeds. And those who have done good will enter into eternal life, and those who have done evil into eternal fire.”

We should always hear these words of judgement within the context of Jesus work of Salvation for us. The accounting of our deeds is not done according to human reason. Just as Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness. So, by faith we receive eternal salvation. Let’s consider the sheep and the goats.

The Gospel according to Saint Matthew, chapter 25: “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. ³²Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats … Then the righteous [sheep] will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? … Then [the unrighteous goats] also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’”

Neither the sheep nor the goats can make any sense out of this accounting. Those who are righteous by faith are ever more aware of their sin and their need for salvation day-by-day. Those who condemn themselves by their sin and persistent unbelief are ever self-justifying and judging themselves to be “good” by their own standard apart from faith. And, Saint Paul gives us this useful nugget.

The epistle to the Ephesians, chapter 2: ”But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved — and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

The good works are credited to us, sheep. These works themselves are produced by faith, which is a from God, alien to our nature. And, those works are prepared for us beforehand. The works we set out to do may not even be among them. Dear Christians, live in the Word and in the Christian faith. The Spirit produces faith and good works from the Gospel of salvation in Christ Jesus.

Dear Baptized, let us celebrate the faith credited to us as righteousness!

Thanks be to God!

Rev. Jason M. Kaspar
Sole Pastor
Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church & Preschool
La Grange, TX

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