Yes! The fact that God revealed himself at particular times, in particular places, and in particular languages requires us to be good historians. He has put the burden on us by privileging certain historical moments and contexts.
This flies in the face of the chronological snobbery that assumes that our advanced technology privileges us over the past. The fact that Jesus didn't come in 21st century America should humble us. It should cause us to seek the historical-grammatical understanding of Scripture for the sake of authentic personal encounter with the living God.
For instance, biblical writers assume the covenantal understandings of signs and promise and household. This is because God revealed himself via covenants, where he made promises, gave visible signs of those promises, and worked through the authority structures of families, churches, and states. We are at such a distance from covenantal culture that we have to deprogram our individualism and program covenantal structures. We have to enter redemptive history through the word and sacraments of the church and think historically about our redemptive history. Christianity didn't begin with us, and so we must begin where Christianity began--in history!
6 comments:
Good stuff here, Heckel. If there were one message I could verbalize to evangelical churches, it's that doctrine means next to nothing apart from the history in which it occupied. Redemptive-historical - it's both/and.
Well said.
Matt--
I am glad you are a "thinker"
and are ever seeking "our Lord".
May God's Holy Spirit--fill you
all the days of your life.
I believe if "God's Holy Spirit"
is in a person when they die--they
are assured entrance into "His
Heavenly Kingdom".
I finally found your blog Dr. Heckel! I liked the post. I agree that we can't ignore the importance of knowing history. I do have a question for you though.
When the Israelites are fleeing Egypt, we see God part the Red Sea. We see God lead them as a pillar of fire. In 1 Kings 18, we see Elijah tell the priests of a pagan god to call upon their god to take their sacrifice. Nothing happens. Then Elijah calls upon God to take up the sacrifice, and God consumed it with fire. My question is, do these kinds of miracles that defy all science and reason still occur today? I'm curious to know what you think. It's easy to believe that these things happened, but I'm wondering if it's different today, or if I'm simply missing something.
-Parker
Glad you found it Parker!
Good question! We seem to be living in a time without prophets and apostles, at least like the ones we see in Scripture. They were used by God to reveal the Scripture and do signs and wonders that confirmed their message. We are called to witness to that message. In fact, an Apostle had to have seen the risen Christ!
This does not mean however, that God is done doing miracles as you well know! James 5:13-20 talks about calling the elders to pray for the sick and the prayer of faith will make the sick person well. I also think that there could be apostles and prophets in the sense that Barnabas was an apostle; i.e. on specially called, set apart, and gifted for a special task and perhaps even working miracles.
I hope you are a regular visitor and commenter Parker. Blessings! Dr H
Why do you think we don't have prophets or apostles like there once were? Is it because they had to see Christ? The reason I brought this up is because I was talking to a friend of mine, he is a non-believer (essentially a diest), and his hang up with Christianity and the Bible is....
1.)He's fallen into the trap of thinking the Bible is hypocritical
2.)He doesn't understand why God would do these types miracles then, but we don't see anything as obvious now.
I was able to help him with his first hang up, but his second problem was much more difficult to try to explain, because I didn't know the answer myself.
-Parker
Ah! That context helps.
God isn't obligated to do miracles or call any prophets or apostles to perform them. The fact that he did is sheer grace. The fact that he still does perform the miracle of conversion and heal the sick is pure grace.
Paul points out in Romans 1 that God's existence, power, and wisdom are already obvious and so is Christ's death and resurrection for sin.
Jesus also said: "An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" (Mt. 12:39-40). Jesus death and resurrection is miracle-more-than-enough
Jesus told Thomas that he believed based on what he saw but blessed are those who believe without seeing.
Miracles are no guarantee that it will be easier to believe either. The Israelites saw some of the most astounding and continually grumbled against Moses. Even some who heard a voice from heaven speak to Jesus said it had only thundered.
God also seems to call prophets and apostles at distinct points of new revelation. Christ was the final revelation so we should not expect prophets and apostles like Moses, Elijah, John the Baptist, or Paul right now. Does this help?
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