PRACTICING MIDRASH: READING THE BIBLE’S ARGUMENTSAS AN INVITATION TO CONVERSATION

by Tim Moore

CHAPTER 1 – WHICH GOD CREATED THE WORLD?

Differences in the Two Creation Stories of Genesis 1 and 2

First Story—Genesis 1 Second Story—Genesis 2–3

Name for God Elohim Yahweh Elohim

Period of creation Six days, plus Sabbath. One day.

Order of creation Light, sky, dry land, vegetation, sun, moon, animals, and humans.

Earth, a human, vegetation, animals, and a second human.

Mode of creation God spoke things into existence with words.

God planted vegetation and formed a human and animals.

Process of creation Methodically planned. Trial and error.

Humans Made in God’s image. Became living souls with God’s breath.

Given dominion over the earth.

Made caretakers of the garden.

Given every plant upon the earth.

Given the fruit of every tree, except one.

Evaluation It was very good. Some things were not good.

Conclusion God rested on Sabbath. Paradise was lost.

COMPARISONS OF GOD IN THE TWO CREATION STORIES

First Creation Story Second Creation Story

A transcendent God An immanent God

God is a non-corporal being. God has human characteristics.

God creates with distant words. God creates with intimate formation.

God creates methodically. God creates by trial and error.

God’s power seems unlimited. God’s power has limits.

God perfectly carries out intentions. God makes mistakes.

God’s creation is very good. Not everything is good in God’s creation.

God is holy. God is loving.

God is distant. God is present, but not continuously.

Humans are made in God’s image. Humans come alive with God’s breadth.

In times of trouble the faithful find hope in a powerful God who carries out intentions.

In times of trouble the faithful find hope in God’s grace which imparts good into the

struggles of life.

PRACTICING MIDRASH: READING THE BIBLE’S ARGUMENTSAS AN INVITATION TO CONVERSATION

by Tim Moore

CHAPTER TWO – HOW DEEP AND WIDE IS THE LOVE OF GOD?

The LORD’s Self-Descriptions in the Ten Commandments

Deuteronomy 5:9–10 and Exodus 20:5–6 Exodus 34:6–7

9/5 I the LORD am a jealous God, 6 The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,

punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and fourth generation of those who reject me.

7 Keeping steadfast love for the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin,

10/6 But showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.

Yet by no means clearing the guilty, but visiting the iniquity of the parents upon the children and the children’s children to the third and fourth generation.

GOD’S UNCONDITIONAL COVENANT WITH MOSES

Exodus 34:8-12 “Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth, and worshiped. He said, ‘If now I

have found favor in your sight, O Lord, I pray, let the Lord go with us. Although this is a stiff-necked people, pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.’”

“[God] said: I hereby make a covenant. Before all your people I will perform marvels, such as have not been performed in all the earth or in any nation; and all the people among whom you live shall see the work of the LORD; for it is an awesome thing that I will do with you.”

“Observe what I command you today. See, I will drive out before you [the peoples of the land]. Take care not to make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which you are going, or it will become a snare among you.”

The Ten Commandments of Exodus 34

1) “You shall worship no other god, because the LORD . . . is a jealous God.

2) You shall not make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land. . . .

3) You shall not make cast idols.

4) You shall keep the festival of unleavened bread. . . .

5) All that first opens the womb is mine. . . .

6) Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even in plowing time and in harvest time you shall rest.

7) You shall observe the festival of weeks, the first fruits of wheat harvest, and the festival of ingathering. . . .

8) You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven. . . .

9) The best of the first fruits of your ground you shall bring to the house of the LORD your God.

10) You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.”

“The LORD said to Moses: Write these words; in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel. He was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread nor drank water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten commandments” (Ex 34:14–28, numbers added).

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This arrangement of the Ten Commandments of Exodus 34 is laid out so that a reader can more easily see this Decalogue. Of course, this is just one possibility. Another analysis of this passage might interpret the breaks between commands differently, and even determine that there are more than ten commands here–as many as thirteen or fourteen. (The traditional set in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 could also be re-numbered as eleven or twelve commands.) None of which changes the fact that the passage itself calls these commands “The Ten Commandments.”

This “ritual” set shares 3 commands with the traditional Decalogue. All of these commands are repeated elsewhere in the Torah – they were well known to ancient Israel.

CHAPTER TWO – HOW DEEP AND WIDE IS THE LOVE OF GOD?

An Unconditional Covenant A Conditional Covenant

2 Sam 7:11b–16 – “The LORD declares to you that the LORD will make you a house. . . . I will raise up your offspring after you . . . and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever . I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me. When he commits iniquity, I will punish him with a rod such as mortals use. . . . But I will not take my steadfast love from him. . . . Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me; your throne shall be established forever.”

1 Kgs 2:3–4 – “Keep the charge of the LORD your God, walking in his ways and keeping his statutes, his commandments, his ordinances, and his testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses, so that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn. Then the LORD will establish his word that he spoke concerning me: ‘If your heirs take heed to their way, to walk before the me in faithfulness with all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not fail you a successor on the throne of Israel.’”

2 Sam 7:24–26 – “You established your people Israel for yourself to be your people forever ; and you, O LORD, became their God. And now, O LORD God, as for the word that you have spoken concerning your servant and concerning his house, confirm it forever ; do as you have promised. Thus your name will be magnified forever in the saying, ‘The L ORD of hosts is God over Israel’; and the house of your servant David will be established before you.”

1 Kgs 6:11–13 – “Now the word of the LORD came to Solomon, ‘Concerning this house that you are building, if you will walk in my statutes, obey my ordinances, and keep all my commandments by walking in them, then I will establish my promise with you, which I made to your father David. I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel.’”

The Deuteronomistic Historian changed the unconditional covenant God made with David into a conditional promise, based on keeping the Mosaic Law. The original covenant assumed David’s descendants would commit sin (above), yet God would never take away God’s steadfast love.

In the unconditional version “forever” is the key word. In the conditional version it is based in an “if – then” relationship.”

1 Kgs 9:4–7 – “If you will walk before me, as David your father walked . . . according to all that I have commanded you, and keeping my statutes and my ordinances, then I will establish your royal throne over Israel, as I promised your father David. . . .

“If you turn aside from following me, you or your children, and do not keep my commandments and my statutes that I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, then I will cut Israel off from the land that I have given them; and the house that I have consecrated for my name I will cast out of my sight.”

DEUTERONOMY’S “IF – THEN”

“If you act corruptly by making an idol in the form of anything . . . I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that you will soon utterly perish from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to occupy; you will not live long on it, but will be utterly destroyed” [Dt 4:26].

“Do not follow other gods, any of the gods of the peoples who are all around you, because the LORD your God . . . is a jealous God. The anger of the LORD your God would be kindled against you and he would destroy you from the face of the earth” [Dt 6:14-15].

“If you do forget the LORD your God and follow other gods to serve and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish” [Dt 8:19].

“See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse; the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I am commanding you today; and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the LORD your God . . . to follow other gods that you have not known” [Dt 11:26-28].

“But if you will not obey the LORD your God by diligently observing all his commandments and decrees . . . then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you” [Dt 28:15].

“See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity. If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God . . . the LORD your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess. But if your heart turns away and you do not hear, but are led astray to bow down to other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall perish. . . . I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live” [Dt 30:15-19].

“Joshua said to the people, ‘You cannot serve the LORD, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you harm, and consume you, after having done you good.’ And the people said to Joshua, ‘No, we will serve the LORD!’” [Josh 24:19-21].

CHAPTER THREE – DO YOU WANT THE WHOLE TRUTH?

To Tell or not to Tell, That is the Question

2 Samuel 11:1–4 1 Chronicles 20:1–3

1 In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab with his officers and all Israel with him; theyravaged the Ammonites,

and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.

1 In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, Joab led out the army,

ravaged the country of the Ammonites, and came and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.

2 It happened, late one afternoon, when David rose from his couch and was walking about on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; the woman was very beautiful. 3 David sent someone to inquire about the woman. It was reported, “This is Bathsheba, daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” 4 So David sent messengers to get her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. . . . Then she returned to her house.

Joab attacked Rabbah, and overthrew it. 2

David took the crown of Milcom from his head; he found that it weighed a talent of gold, and in it was a precious stone; and it was placed on David’s head. He also brought out the booty of the city, a very great amount. 3 He brought out the people who were in it, and set them to work with saws and iron picks and axes. Thus David did to all the cities of the Ammonites. Then David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.

CHAPTER THREE – DO YOU WANT THE WHOLE TRUTH?

Bad Jacob / Good Jacob

Genesis 27:1–45 Genesis 26:34–35; 27:46—28:9

A Mother’s Intervention

“Now Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game and bring it, Rebekah said to her son Jacob . . .” (27:5–6). Rebekah then schemes to help Jacob steal Esau’s first-born blessing.

Esau’s Hittite wives made “life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah . . . . Then Rebekah said to Isaac, ‘I am weary of my life because of these Hittite women. If Jacob marries . . . one of the women of the land, what good will my life be to me?’” (26:34–35; 27:46).

A Father’s Blessing

After tricking his father into thinking he was Esau, Isaac said, “May God give you the dew of heaven, and of the fatness of the earth . . . . Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you . . . . Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be everyone who blesses you!” (27:28–29). Isaac’s blessing of Jacob emphasizes fertility and dominion. There is no mention of Abraham’s covenant with God.

After Rebekah’s complaint, Isaac calls Jacob, charges him not to marry one of the Canaanite women and blessed him, “May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and numerous . . . . May he give you the blessing of Abraham . . . so that you may take possession of the land where you now live as an alien—land that God gave Abraham” (28:3–4). Isaac’s blessing recalls the covenant with Abraham—progeny and land.

Jacob travels to his Uncle Laban’s home

With Esau determined to kill Jacob, Rebekah told him to “flee at once to my brother Laban in Haran, and stay will him a while, until your brother’s fury turns away” (27:43–44). Jacob received his father’s blessing, but is forced into exile as a consequence.

Instructed not to marry a local Canaanite (Hittite) woman, Jacob is told to “go at once to Paddan-aram to the house of Bethuel, your mother’s father; and take as a wife from there one of the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother” (28:2). Jacob leaves with his parents’ well wishes.

CHAPTER FOUR – DUELING PROPHETS

Prophetic Messages: True or False

Destruction Salvation

Israel 722 BC True False

Amos: “I will punish you for all your iniquities” (3:2).

Hosea: “They shall not remain in the land of the LORD” (9:3).

Hosea: “I will not execute my fierce anger” (11:9).

Judah 701 BC False True

Micah: “Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins” (3:12).

Isaiah: “The Assyrians shall fall by a sword, not of mortals” (31:8).

Judah 594 BC True False

Jeremiah: “I will do to the house that is called by my name . . . just what I did to Shiloh” (7:14).

Hananiah: “I will bring back to this place all the vessels of the LORD’s house” (Jer 28:3).

Ezekiel: “They shall know that I am the LORD, when I disperse them throughout the countries” (12:15).

Why

Habakkuk: “Why do you look on the treacherous, and are silent when the wicked swallow those more righteous than they?” (1:13).

CHAPTER FIVE – WHICH PEOPLE ARE OUR PEOPLE?

WHICH PEOPLE ARE OUR PEOPLE?Ruth, Jonah, and “Second” Isaiah resist Ezra & Nehemiah

Ezra 4:1–4 – The Assyrian/Israelite descendants were not allowed to worship or help build the new Temple of the LORD with the returning exiles. Ezra called them the “people of the land.”

Jonah 3:1–3 – The LORD told Jonah, “Get up, go to Nineveh [the capital of Assyria], that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you.” Jonah went to Nineveh, and the people repented.

Ezra 6:21 – The Passover “was eaten by the people of Israel who had returned from exile, and also by all who had joined them and separated themselves from the pollutions of the nations of the land to worship the LORD, the God of Israel”

Isaiah 49:6 – “I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” [For other “light of nations” references, see also Isaiah 42:6; 51:4; and 60:3]

Ezra 9:1–4 – Ezra condemns marriages to “peoples of the lands”; his list includes Moabites, though Moab no longer existed as a nation.

Ruth 1—4 – The story of Ruth the Moabite tells of her faithfulness to her mother-in-law Naomi, an Israelite from the tribe of Benjamin.

CHAPTER FIVE – WHICH PEOPLE ARE OUR PEOPLE?PART 2

Ezra 10:1–44 – Men who had married “foreign” women were forced to abandon their wives and children and send them away. Thus, those who had been exiled are forced to exile their own wives and children. The list of men included Priests and Levites.

Ruth 1:6–19 – Ruth, a widow, leaves Moab to join her widowed mother-in-law Naomi in her hometown of Bethlehem. “Where you go, I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall become my people, and your God my God. Where you die, I will die – there will I be buried.”

Neh 10:28–30 – All the people who have “separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to adhere to the law of God” enter into “a curse and an oath to walk in God’s law . . . to observe and do all the commandments of the LORD our Lord.” As part of their promise to keep God’s law, the people promise not to marry the people of the land.

Ruth 2:8–13 – Boaz, a rich and respected man, allowed Ruth to glean the harvest behind his workers. Ruth asked, “‘Why have I found favor in your sight . . . when I am a foreigner?’ But Boaz answered her, ‘All that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband has been fully told to me. . . . May the LORD reward you for your deeds.’”

Neh 13:1–3 – When the people heard that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of God, “they separated from Israel all those of foreign descent.”

Isaiah 56:3–8 – “Do not let the foreigner joined to LORD say, ‘The LORD will surely separate me from his people.’ . . . for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”

Neh 13:23–31 – Mixed marriages were condemned again. Moab was one of three “nations” mentioned. Even the high priest’s son had married the daughter of the Samaritan governor.

Ruth 4:13–17 – Boaz married Ruth. They had a son, making Naomi a grandmother. “They named him Obed; he became the father of Jesse, the father of David.” Thus, King David’s great-grandmother was Moabite.

CHAPTER SIX – COUNTERTESTIMONIES

Three books of countertestimonies argue with Israel’s faith as it had been, and as part of the whole Bible with Christianity’s faith to come.

• Job is a surrogate for the Jewish exiles. Like Job they had lost everything when the Babylonian army reduced Jerusalem to rubble, killed tens of thousands, and exiled thousands more. Job argues with his so-called friends who represent conventional theology of the Priests and Levites. Job wants to know where is God when tragedy happens and why terrible things happen to good people.

• Ecclesiastes is the musings of a Teacher, who, unlike Job, has everything he could ever want. Yet, he finds himself asking, “Is this all?” He comes to the conclusion that life doesn’t have any meaning and that God doesn’t really care about human beings. The Teacher argues with all of Israel’s teachings, asking them to prove their faith against his life experience.

• The Song of Songs (or Solomon) is love poetry between two unmarried lovers. The young woman undauntedly pursues her lover against the wishes of family and community. This Poet argues with the restrictions placed upon women and sexuality by scripture. It is the story of how God blesses forbidden love. The Church thought is was such a dangerous message that it taught it as an allegory of Christ’s love for the church, or God’s love for Israel, until the past century.

CHAPTER SEVEN – FOLLOWING JESUS

PARABLE OF THE GROWING SEED vs. PARABLE OF THE WEEDS

Both Mark 4 and Matthew 13 have three parables about seeds. Each begins with theParable of the Sower; each ends with the Parable of the Mustard Seed.

In between each has third parable. Matthew either changes the Parable of the Growing Seed or replaces it with the Parable of the Weeds.

Mark 4:26-29 Matthew 13:24-30

“The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground.”

“The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field.”

The farmer sleeps. The farmer and workers sleep.

An enemy sows weeds among the wheat.

The seed sprouts. The plants bear grain; then the weeds appear.

The farmer does not know how it grows. The farmer knows “an enemy has done this.”

The earth produces. The plants bear grain. The farmer lets the wheat and weeds grow.

When the grain is ripe, the farmer harvests the wheat.

The weeds are collected and burned; the wheat is harvested.

Matthew changes a parable of grace into a parable of judgment.Not all in the Christian Church are “good” seed, but some have been planted by the enemy.

CHAPTER SEVEN – FOLLOWING JESUS

PARABLE OF THE FEAST

Matthew 22:1–14 Luke 14:15–24 Thomas 64

Host A king Someone A person

Event A wedding banquet A great dinner A dinner

Announcement His slaves were killed Excuses were made Excuses were made

Reaction Killed the murderers; then invited all in the

streetsInvited all in the streets Invited all in the streets

Response “Both good and bad” filled the wedding hall

Outcasts come and the host compels his slaves

to fill his house.NA

Ending The king notices a guest without wedding clothes

& he throws him out.NA NA

Conclusion Many are called, but few are chosen.

Those invited will not taste my dinner.

Buyers & merchants will not enter the places of

my Father.

Here, Matthew changes a parable of grace into judgment as well as from faith to action.It serves as a warning to those in the Church. Just because you have been baptized and

become a follower of Jesus doesn’t mean your salvation is complete, yet.And what are the wedding clothes disciples are to wear?

The commandments from the Sermon on the Mount are a good place to start.

CHAPTER SEVEN – FOLLOWING JESUS

STORY OF THE RICH YOUNG MAN

Mark 10:17-31 Matthew 19:16-30

17 ...A man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

16 Then someone came to him and said, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?”

18 Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone.

17 And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you wish to enter into [eternal] life, keep the commandments.”

19 You know the commandments….” 18 He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said….

20 He said to him, “Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth.”

20 The young man said to him, “I have kept all these; what do I still lack?”

21 Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, “You lack one thing; go, sell… and come, follow me.

21 Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell… then come,

follow me.”22 When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.

22 When the young man heard this word, he went away grieving, for he had many possessions.

23 Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” 24And the disciples were perplexed at these words….

23 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven.”

25 “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

24 …It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

26 They weregreatly astounded and said to one another, “Then who can be saved?” 27Jesus looked at them and said, “For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.”

25 When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astounded and said,“Then who can be saved?” 26 But Jesus looked at them and said, “For mortals it is impossible, but for God all things are possible.”

Matthew’s addition in verse 17 changes a story about faith and trusting in Jesus into a reaffirmation that keeping the Law brings eternal life along with faith in Jesus.

HOW MARK AND JOHN APPROACH THE CROSS John never says Jesus is to suffer, whereas in Mark Jesus says that he must “undergo

great sufferings,” which include being rejected, betrayed, mocked, spat on, and flogged before being killed.

Three times Jesus foretells his tortuous fate in Mark (Mk 8:31; 9:31; 10:33-34). In John three times Jesus foretells that he will be “lifted up,” which is symbol of victory (Jn 3:14; 8:28; 12:32). The day before his crucifixion John’s Jesus declares, “I have conquered the world!” (Jn 16:33).

When Jesus suggests his penultimate fate in John, it is always with positive images. He is being “lifted up.” He is “going away” to be with the Father, to prepare a place for us, and to send the Spirit (Jn 8:21; 13:1; 14:3, 28; 16:7, 17). He nobly lays down his life for others (Jn 10:11; 15:13). Jesus uses the metaphor of a seed “dying” by being planted in the ground and springing forth in the new life of a plant as a perspective for his fate on the cross (Jn 12:24).

In Mark Jesus’ life is taken from him unjustly, but he does not defend himself. In John Jesus lays down his life by his own accord. “No one takes it from me…” (Jn 10:18). More importantly, Jesus has the power to lay his life down and to take it up again (Jn 10:18). Mark’s Jesus mentions his resurrection, but how he is to rise again is left unsaid. He does not claim the power to take his life up again.

Mark’s Jesus is silent before his accusers (Mk 14:61; 15:5). John’s Jesus lectures his accusers (Jn 18:19–24, 34–37).

In Mark Jesus says that those who follow him must carry their cross daily (Matthew and Luke repeat this command). John never uses the word cross until Jesus is forced to carry it for his crucifixion. In Mark Jesus says, “those who want to save their life will lose it and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel will save it” (Mk 8:35). Here, the cross is the metaphor and serving others is the point. In John Jesus says, “Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life” (Jn 12:25). Here, the planted seed is the metaphor and life in this world is to be released for eternal things.

Mark’s Jesus deeply grieved prays three times in the Garden of Gethsemane that “the hour” (his fate on the cross) might be taken from him (Mk 14:32–42). John’s Jesus bravely asks, “Should I say – ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour” (Jn 12:27). In John Jesus does not pray in Gethsemane.

While Jesus is the “suffering Servant” from Isaiah’s 53rd chapter in Mark’s gospel, in John Jesus is victorious as he heads to the cross. In Mark, he’s a victim of injustice. In John, he’s a victor who has conquered the world. The cross is approached from two different perspectives in Mark and in John.

CHAPTER EIGHT – WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR?

Love One Another vs. Love Your Enemies

John 13:34–35 & 15:12–13 Luke 6:32–35 & 10:25–37

“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. . . . But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.”

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

“You shall love the Lord your God . . . and your neighbor as yourself. . . . But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Then Jesus told the Good Samaritan Parable, in which a Samaritan (who were enemies to Jews) risked his life to save the life of a Jewish man.

CHAPTER NINE – SAINTS AND SINNERS

The arguments between Paul’s letters and John’s letters about sin

Paul – Saints and Sinners John – Saints or Sinners

Rom 5:8 – “God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.”

I Jn 2:4 – “Whoever says, ‘I have come to know [God],’ but does not obey his commandments, is a liar, and in such a person the truth does not exist.”

Rom 5:20–21 – “Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more . . . leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

I Jn 5:18 – “We know that those who are born of God do not sin, but the one who was born of God protects them, and the evil one does not touch them.”

Rom 7:15–20 – “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. . . . For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. . . . Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

I Jn 3:6–10 – “No one who abides in [God] sins; no one who sins has either seen him or known him. . . . Everyone who commits sin is a child of the devil. . . . Those who have been born of God do not sin, because God’s seed abides in them; they cannot sin, because they have been born of God. . . . All who do not do what is right are not from God.”

CHAPTER TEN – WHO SHOULD BE LEADERS IN THE CHURCH?

How do you choose Church leaders?

Paul – By Giftedness Pastoral Letters – By Reputation

I Cor 12:7–11 – “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given. . . . All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.”

I Tim 3:2–12 – “Now a bishop must be above reproach, married only once, temperate, sensible, respectable, hospitable, an apt teacher. . . . Deacons likewise must be serious . . . not greedy for money . . . and let them manage their households well.”

I Cor 12:31—13:13 – “But strive for the greater gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way. If I speak in the tongues of . . . angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong. . . . The greatest of these is love.”

I Tim 3:7; 5:14; 6:1 – Select leaders who will be “well thought of by outsiders” so that “the name of God and the teaching may not be blasphemed” and there will be “no occasion to revile us.”

I Cor 12:13 – “For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body – Jews or Greeks, slaves or free – and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.” Gal 3:28 uses a similar sentence and adds “male or female.”

Titus 2:5, 9 – Women must be “submissive to their husbands, so that the word of God may not be discredited. . . . Tell slaves to be submissive to their masters . . . they are not to talk back.”

Rom 16:1 – “I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon of the church at Cenchreae.” In verse 7 he names Junia, who is an apostle.

I Tim 2:12 – “I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she is to keep silent.”