Galatians #11

GALATIANS # 11
HISTORY
An overview (10)
9/20/10

As we learned in lesson six: Thus the history of salvation (the acts of God) took place in the context of the history of revelation (the oracles of God). (Mc Grath). in this unfolding revelation of Himself, God chose the Jews as the people through whom He would further reveal Himself; their response was no better or worse than any other group of we humans would have been.

The bible is the written record of this and all other of His revelation: 2 Timothy 3:15-17 ( KJV ) And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.

God is so much more than we are, so “other” that it is impossible for us to know Him on our own; we can only know him to the extent that we comprehend his revelation of himself to us. However, without sincere love of God, even intense study will not acquaint one with Him: study without loving Him with all ones heart, mind, body, and soul, will only cause one to know about God – not know Him.

This is the pit the Jews fell into…the very trap which persists to this day - When so entrapped sinful man (all of us) commences to attempt to force the “square peg” of the knowledge of God, into the “round hole” of our desire to be our own god:
We look at the world through our heart. If our heart is longing for the things of this world, then we see the value of things from that perspective. (Colossians 3:1-2[notes1] ) If our desire is for the comfort of possessions and security of riches, then we interpret what we observe through that filter. That is the vision of fallen man because that is the heart of fallen man, self-reliance. (Wallace)

Considering the milieu in which the Jews found themselves, even though the chosen people of God, it was inevitable their belief would be eroded and contaminated by the onslaught of paganism in which they were immersed. The resistance of the Pharisees to this syncretism fueled their fanatically strict adherence to the letter, the minutia, of the law – while completely missing the meaning of the law, caused them to reject their Messiah:
Mark 7:6-9 ( KJV )
He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.
Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do.
And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.

Though the vast majority rejected Him, Jesus and all the first Christians were Jews. Christianity began as a splinter group of devout Temple worshiping, Hebraic Jews: Jesus was a Jewish Rabbi.

After the 400 year “silent period”, God’s revelation of Himself reaches its climax as it continues with the record of the incarnation, death and resurrection of the Messiah: the New Testament. The New Testament and the Old Testament form a homogeneous unit – not two separate theological treatises: John 5:38-39 ( KJV ) And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not.
Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.

Though only the O. T. was written at this time, this statement includes the New Testament, which is the announcement of His arrival, a record of His teachings and an explanation of the “Good News”.

The protestant New Testament is made up of 27 books: the four Gospels, Acts, the epistles (letters), and Revelations. The Epistles are arranged by length in descending order, longest first, sorted by author. The book of Acts is the first book after the Gospels followed by the Epistles. It was written by Luke, the author of the gospel of Luke and is, to some extent, a continuation of his Gospel. The genre of Acts is unusual – it contains a lot of history, yet isn’t quite historical; has quite a lot of biographical material, yet isn’t really a biography; contains gospel material, but isn’t a gospel; contains a lot of drama and adventure but isn’t an adventure novel…

There are few Biblical scholars who disagree that Acts was written by Luke, a Greek; Luke’s Gospel and Acts are the only Biblical books written by a non-Jew. He brings himself into the story in Acts 16:10 ( KJV )... And after he had seen the vision, immediately we* endeavoured to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them.
*( emphasis added)

Luke then accompanied Paul on his travels up to and including Paul’s final imprisonment in Rome, (Paul’s last letter, 2 Timothy 4:11 ( KJV ) …Only Luke is with me..some scholars believe Paul was released at the end of Acts and then made a missionary trip not recorded in Acts, farther west from Rome, returned to Rome was then arrested again and was then executed.) recording the pertinent information concerning the time he spent with Paul. He then also (probably from visiting with Paul and interviewing other disciples) recorded what had went on in the early church and Paul’s prior activities. This record makes Acts a vital resource to any study of Paul’s letters.

There is no record of where Luke came from or any background information about him: name and geography indicates he was a Greek; the sophistication of his writing indicates he was well educated; he was a physician (Colossians 4:14 ( KJV )... Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas, greet you...) …but, for such a significant figure, we don’t know much about his personal life: was he married? Children? Where was he from? How did he come to be converted? From what was he converted? When and where did he die? Etc.

Acts was completed while Paul was in prison in Rome about 62 AD (remember, we agreed to go for early dates in this study), addressed to Theophilus: Acts 1:1 ( KJV ) The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach...

The cordial, familiar, salutation used here, is a very significant shift from the salutation in the Gospel:Luke 1:3 ( KJV ) It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus...
Where Theophilus is addressed in the formal manner that would be used in addressing a court official; in Acts he is addressed in the manner of a friend – there is a possibility that by the time of Acts Theophilus has became a Christian. In any case, the formal address in the gospel provides a clue to a possible purpose of the letter.

The Roman court structure and proceedings were similar to ours in many ways; for one thing, they had a person who performed much like our prosecutor, but who was also public defender. Before appearing in court the defendant had the opportunity to make their defense in writing – much like a legal “brief” in our system. The appropriate honorific for this person was “most excellent” – this Theophilus could have been the official before whom Paul was to appear and Luke is presenting Paul’s defense. This would explain Luke’s conciliatory tone, his tendency to downplay tension and friction between Christians within the early church (no mention of the conflict between Paul and Peter in Antioch; yet a a detailed account of the Jerusalem council where an accord was reached; etc.) and Jews as much as possible…

In any case, Acts provides the only record of the early church, provides information about Paul not found in his own letters, and corroborates Paul’s letters.

The most significant apparent anomaly between Luke and Paul’s writings is their respective accounts of Paul’s visits to Jerusalem up to and including the trip to participate in the “Jerusalem council” we will delve into this further when we get to that part of Galatians…

DISCUSSION

1. What makes the Bible special?
2. Give one quotation reflecting Jesus attitude towards the Scriptures.
3. Why is it necessary for God to reveal Himself (Karl Barth, “otherness”, etc)?
4. What was the “pit” the Pharisees fell into?
5. What made this nearly inevitable?
6. How did Jesus describe their religiosity?
7. What is the relationship between the Old and New Testament?
8. How many books in the Old Testament (KJV)?
9. How many books in the New Testament?
10. What genre is the book of Acts?
11. What is significant about how Theophilius is address in the Gospel of Luke compared to Acts?
12. How does Acts relate to Galatians?