上帝, “圣经”和政治正义: 章 6
We All Want Justice
As we prepare to look at the prescriptive Laws of Moses it is important that we first take time to look at two things. One is the importance of the meaning of our words and where we get those definitions, which we will look at in this chapter. 第二个, we will take up in chapter seven, is the differences between moral and civil law.
What Are We Missing
There is something in the New Testament that no longer seems to draw our attention. In my own study and reading this began to be highlighted and bother me. From the second chapter of Acts on there is a response from people the writer struggles to describe using words and phrases like “bewilderment,“”完全不感到惊讶“和”惊讶和困惑。“那些咒骂是在一个单一的段.
使徒行传 2:4-12
4 所有这些都充满了圣灵的精神使他们开始说方言. 5 现在有住在耶路撒冷上帝虔诚的犹太人，从天下各国. 6 当他们听到这个声音, 人群一起来到困惑, 因为每个人听到自己的语言说话. 7 毫无惊讶, 他们问: “不是所有的这些人说加利利? 8 那是怎么回事，我们每个人都听到他们在我们的母语? 9 帕提亚, 玛代和拦人; 美索不达米亚的居民, 犹太和卡帕多西亚, 庞和亚洲, 10 弗里吉亚和潘菲利亚, 埃及和利比亚附近昔兰尼; 从罗马的游客 11 (无论是犹太人和犹太教的信徒); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!“ 12 Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”13 Some, 但, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”
“What does this mean,” indeed?
All the people present that day in Jerusalem lived in or were visiting a very cosmopolitan city. This is not the first time they have heard foreign languages. There would have been a cacophony of different tongues around them all the time. This is certainly not the first time they have heard drunks in the street. So what is it that draws their attention and causes them to be “amazed?“这种类型的语言惊奇持续整个新约的消息从耶路撒冷周围的外邦文化传播.
In Pisidian nearly the whole city turns out to hear Paul and Lystra the crowds that Paul and Barnabas were gods and wanted to worship them. In Thessalonia they accepted as the words of God not of men.
In Rome Paul declares the message he is preaching to be a mystery hidden from the beginning of time for all nations. To the Colossians Paul says that this mystery hidden for ages and generations is now revealed in Christ in whom are “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” To the Ephesians Paul says he is an administrator of this great mystery and asks that they pray he will fearlessly make this mystery known. And Peter tells us that even the angles want to look into these things, but apparently cannot.
What Have We Lost?
What is it that we do not seem to experience any longer in the preaching and the hearing of the gospel? What have we grown so accustomed to and no longer notice? 或者是什么东西，我们已经失去了能够看到基督的讯息，在我们的现代理解? 留下这样的问题时，我假设，如果“圣经”的劳动是一个点，因为这一点总是需要来把握，以便我们正确理解上帝和他的消息. 也有一些是怎么回事行为，并通过了新约教会的经验，涉及到如何将这些人认为自己的“神/ s的剩下的东西。”关于“本神”宣布在他们的语言，他们不能受孕.
如果我们看看“神/秒”在旧约时代，我们看到，他们被视为神灵的人居住的土地. 他们是神/ s的山区或平原, 神大海或天空, 月亮或太阳. 他们是神的“人,“土地,“非利士人, 克里特岛, 希腊人或玛代. 所有这些国家都非常愿意接受信誉的另一个“亚伯拉罕的神”，后来成为“上帝的犹太人。”不同文化背景的人们畅所欲言，一些其他国家的力量之神/秒. 根据敌人的神的属性，他们甚至制定军事战略. 这是犹太人民的思想. 它不仅是“我们的神是真神,“这是”我们的衣食父母，是我们的衣食父母。“定义这些神灵的民族和人民. 为他们和他们嫉妒.
This Is Our Way
We can imagine how human beings came to these views. These wonderful creatures created in the image of God but separated from the God of that image must try to understand “god” on their own terms. They have no doubt that there are/is a power/s greater than themselves. The world they inhabit is full of danger and empty of understanding. Why does the volcano erupt, or a storm swell and destroy the fishing fleet? Who or what kills the corpse lying in the wilderness? Why is one farm prosperous while another fails, one baby live and one die? Where do dead people go and babies come from. Are they the same spirit? Do I need a boat to travel to the next life? What do I need to take with me? 是每天一个新的一天或当天一遍? 什么将保证我们的安全? 从天气? 从怪物? 从疾病? 从敌人? 彼此? 这些都是问题的生存.
如果我们生活在山区，我们开始寻找钥匙尚存在那些山. 这些发现生活是如此重要，他们开始成为信仰的教义的意义超越信息. 想象一下，一个渔村低渔获挣扎. 在条款说, 一个渔夫，他进入他的船没有完成他早上喝倒在沙滩上，他离开. 那一天，他抓到更多的鱼，他们已经看到整个赛季. 每个人都想知道“你做了什么? 你在哪里钓鱼? 你用什么饵?” The bewildered fisherman does not know…the day seemed common. He did what he always did. Except? And then he remembers. He poured his morning drink out on the beach! That’s it! That’s what the god of the sea requires… a drink offering, a libation for the god of the sea to bless them. In order for the tribe to survive and eat we must offer the sea a gift. And so it begins…
One step at a time, a people, a tribe a nation lays down a system of ideas that experience, 历史, the ancestors have taught is “the way” to be safe, to prosper, to be blessed. These ideas become beliefs and these beliefs become the tacit basis for culture and religious faith. These ideas describe, “How things work,” reality. They keep the tribe safe and they become deeply woven in the group consciousness generation after generation. Intricate systems of living become known as “the Jewish,” “the American way,” “the African way,” “the Latin way,” “the Asian way.” They define who we are as a people and how the world works. We feel these beliefs very strongly. We would go so far as to say “god gave us this way.” And in some of our many beliefs, He did. And the fact that God did speak to our forefathers has made us, 部分, a great nation.
现在, someone comes along and says there only one way? And they say it in the language that was designed to communicate “our way?” The audience is amazed, bewildered and perplexed. If this is such an important Biblical message where have these incredibly strong feelings and reactions gone?
今天
“井”，我们可能会说，, “我们现在生活在一个更加开明的时代。”“我们不再是如此控制那些迷信和禁忌, 至少不会在大多数文化中。“在某些领域的生活，这也许是真实的. 但是，它可能在生活的其他领域, 思想, 相信我们仍然, 甚至作为基督徒, 我们守住这些文化的证券和舒适的? 是否有可能，我们躺在耶稣的信息在上面这些默契, 现实的基本定义? 难道说我们今天所宣讲的福音甚至没有开始接触我们的文化现实? Could this be why the global Church of Jesus has such patchy blessing and our lifestyle cannot be distinguished from those who live around us, except on Sunday?
Consider this!
We All Want Justice
If we ask anyone in any country from any religion, with only the grossest of exceptions, to answer the following questions, we would get the same answer:
*Do you want political justice? 是!
*Would you like to be a slave? 没有!
*Do you want people to be poor? 没有!
* Would you work for me for nothing? 没有!
*Should people be loved? 是!
*Do you think we should kill people? 没有!
*Is it a good thing to steal things from others? 没有!
*Is telling the truth better than lying? 是!
*Do you think people should have sex with other people’s wives/husbands? 没有!
*Is it a good thing to disrespect your parents? 没有!
*Should a person be convicted of a crime they did not commit? 没有!
*Is abortion, drug use, lying, cheating, stealing a good thing? 没有!
*Do you love your family? 是!
*I don’t have a car. Can I take yours? 没有!
We all want the same things, don’t we? I have been to more than half the countries of the world and I have yet to encounter a culture or a people who are crying out to be more corrupt, poorer, less developed and with no justice whatsoever.
所以, what is the problem? Why do we not have world peace, global quality of life, wonderful whole families and zero crime rates? Is it possible that it is because when we use the words, 正义, poor, 腐败, development, kill, 工作, steal, 性别, disrespect, 犯罪, 和平, own, property, freedom… we are not talking about the same thing. Our definitions have vastly different meanings? We seek the same values in “word” but they are not the same values in meaning. When we watch the news and see the protesters placard, “We Want Justice,” we would be wise to stop and ask their definition of “justice” before we agree or disagree.
Is it possible that this is just as true among believers as it is among those of different faiths? If we are to “disciple all nations” in “Kingdom justice” we must make sure our definitions are the same as God’s. 否则, 我们可能再次看到“国王在他的荣耀”，并意识到只有“一个人在一个骡子。”换句话说，我们可能会看到耶稣带来正义和不承认它，因为它不是“我们的”正义的定义. 或, 可能更糟, 我们宣讲会，是不是神的所有司法, 但更多的一个犹太, 美国人, 拉丁, 阿拉伯, 非洲的, 亚洲版的正义.
有什么可以提供我们任何人从我们的文化失明?
只有一个来源
只有一个地方去，以了解具体的定义，上帝给了这些条款. 这是摩西的律法和先知. 正义并不意味着我们想要的东西，它的意思, 王国大使，它意味着什么上帝说，这意味着. We have a set of values in Scripture by which to measure and correct our own personal and/or cultural definitions of reality.
These, Jesus had mastered by the time He was thirteen.
神在时间轴上勾画出他的圣经启示祂自己, 开始与创造, 男人的体面成为全球暴力, 洪水, 男人的体面终于再次陷入暴力和亚伯拉罕和上帝使用一个国家的战略，以显示他的心脏和战略，对所有国家. 通过亚伯拉罕和他的后裔，神会带来“法,“他的思想，生活的全部，”他的儿子,” His solution for the redemption of all creation. God continues to tell us two millennium of Jewish history, which is anything but good. 该法将“祝福”谁住, setting them free from tyranny but only the Messiah will bring release from our “slavery to sin” and unveil the “mystery” kept secret for ages.
Jesus Loved the Law
圣经, 旧的和新的, 回指建立在摩西律法, 摩西五经. 耶稣在“马太福音”五清楚地表明，律法和先知为他的消息，他的行动打下了基础:
17″不要想我来要废掉律法和先知。; 我已经来不是要废掉，乃是要成全他们. 18我来告诉你真相, 直到天地都废去了, 不是最小的信, 不大笔一挥, 以任何方式从法律上消失，直到一切都完成. 19任何人废掉这诫命中最小的之一，并且教别人做同样的被称为至少在天国, 但不管是谁的做法和教导这些命令会在天国要称为大. 20我告诉你，除非你的公义超过法利赛人和文士, 你一定不会进入天国.
如果我们的思想不建立的价值和法的定义，那么我们就可以不明白的地方，耶稣是我们与他的消息. 他没有给我们一个有同情心, 骨气, 自我感觉良好的肉汤. 实际上，耶稣义法提出的要求超越了摩西可以理解. 我们不重新诠释旧约与新, 也不是新与旧, 而是看到他们作为一个4000年神正在建设思路. It is a continuum of ideas that begin in Genesis and build towards His ultimate return. 和, it instructs us as to how we should live in the meantime.
It is impossible to define “justice” or “mercy” without the Old Testament definition of “justice” and “mercy.” It is impossible to define “political justice” without God’s definition in the Old Testament. 这些概念不意味着什么，我们希望他们的意思，因为我们的礼品或个性, 文化或次. 他们的意思是非常具体的东西向神，只有他有权利来定义他们为我们. If we seek to be God’s ambassadors then we must represent His policies not the current policies of the world or even sometimes the thinking and policies of Christians in our age.
At this point you may be feeling like skipping ahead to the revelation of the “great mystery.” But before you can understand that you must labor with God through several hundred years and pages of painful Jewish history, even after the Law. 然后, 然后才, 你会明白什么基督做了什么我们今天的消息.
