Re: Naked Bible 189: Live from Boston
We are taking a short break from Hebrews this week to cover some interesting Q & A from Heiser and David Burnett. We will pick out just a few items.
1. What are the practical implications of the Divine Council worldview?
This one should have been obvious, but way too many people get cerebral about theology. Heiser mentioned one of his blog posts where he mentioned ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and Syria). They take a vow, not so terribly different from the military crusaders in the Middle Ages. They go to sleep at night, contemplating what they could have done better in battle. In the morning they wake up wondering where they will fight next to please their god. They would not hesitate to die for this.
What’s so hard about that for Christ and His Kingdom? Why could we not fall asleep contemplating things we might have done better to glorify Christ? Make peace with Him. Why could we not wake up in the morning thinking about how we can be ready for the next encounter for the gospel?
The Divine Council worldview makes it very easy to discount our fleshly existence because it’s a trap. We have to declare our allegiance to a higher power than the Devil, who owns our fleshly nature. We are at war with the enemy inside our souls. We have the divine power to fight that enemy, but we cannot let a moment slip. How are we going to shine the glory of Christ against the enticements of the Devil?
2. During the storm, Jonah told the other men on the boat that he was a Hebrew belonging to Jehovah. After throwing him in, the storm went away and they all made offerings and vows to Jehovah. Someone was asking if they converted.
The discussion on the forum got wrapped around whether they would have to get circumcised to convert. Heiser and Barrett dropped the ball. Jonah would have naturally told them about the Code of Noah as the applicable law to Gentiles. They may have already known about it, since he got on the boat docked at Joppa. Either way, the only thing we know for sure is that they gave Jehovah credit for that situation, and felt they owed Him something.
The same goes for Nineveh where Jonah preached; he took the gospel message of Noah’s Code. This was not a conversion to Moses, but a conversion to Noah. There was nothing dishonorable about that.
It’s a similar situation with Naaman. He remained under the Code of Noah; there was no particular reason to expect him to become an Israeli. However, he became a devotee under Noah, a henotheist who belonged to Jehovah. The prophet said that was all just fine.
3. Something they touched on but did not directly address: the nature of sin.
The fundamental Hebrew concept is not any specific action or actions, per se. Rather, it’s the image of coming up short. The only righteousness is being a member of God’s family. People who are not in God’s family will always come up short of the redemption He provides. It’s refusing to face the Flaming Sword at the gate of Eden; it’s rejecting the Cross.
In that sense, I’ve said in the past that people outside the Covenant cannot do good. That is, they cannot do good for themselves. That’s not to say they cannot do things that help covenant people, but that they will forever come up short until/unless they come to Christ.
That’s part of the problem with defining “good” and “evil” in Hebrew terms. There is no objective standard of “good” and “evil”. English relies too much on a western epistemology, so it’s natural for us to assume a legalistic definition of specific actions that are inherently right or wrong in themselves. That’s not the Hebrew concept. Rather, it has more to do with motives and intentions, about priorities and commitments.
It all assumes a relationship in which you struggle with your fleshly nature and your failure to grasp moral truth at a higher level. Yes, you can question God. Yes, you can yell at Him. It’s part of being attached to Him. It shows how important He is to you. As noted in the podcast, questioning/doubting versus disbelieving are two different things. People who reject your doubts and questions don’t know God very well.
God said Job didn’t sin in what he said out loud.
