Killed by the Chief...
…. Buy into the pieces...
It is time that we finally address it... I have used it to converse with you and even used it to make and prove points… Honestly, you have been willing to track with me and I appreciate it but it is time for me to address the elephant in the room…
Are you Ready?
When we sit down to put one of these articles together we try to give you our friends, easy pathways to understand difficult and socially foreign concepts. We seem to have taken a slightly scholastic approach to help you understand the good news about Jesus, his kingdom, and everything else involved with living forever. As children, we use a lot of study tactics in our academic careers but it seems like once we have our degrees, we hang up those tools that helped us get those degrees. Putting these simple but effective study tactics on the shelf is a huge mistake because by this point in our lives, we have truly learned how to study and that has great value; one of the great treasures of our adolescence is the time we are given to study, understand and digest the information of our world. The need to acquire information seems to stick around in our collective consciousness, we have such an ingrained need to accomplish school as a society. Either the schooling process encodes that desire, or our fear of failing school, or our fear of failing families, or ruining our future, but that need to do well helps to shape our opportunity to learn in the best possible way for our individual minds and to connect the informational dots. Stringing concepts and ideas with methods and strategies, weaving our minds into the mix with our cultures and moralities; humanity ends up with words on a page, words for a speech, words for music, or pictures that speak a thousand words without the use of a single one. To say nothing of the sculpting, architecture, or the world of computing… down to the less glamorous but very much needed devotions like carpeting, plumbing, masonry, city planning... and on… and on… and on. Without the process of education mixed with inspiration, we would not be living with all of the revelations of our time. At this point, I am still burying the lead… so what am I talking about? What is the one book that I reference in every one of our conversations? The big book that was given to us by the will of God, written by men and authored by the Spirit, the Bible. This book known as the Bible is in actuality a library of books and here are some basic facts so that you can have some rudimentary information about this library.
The Bible1 is a collections of 66 books
39 books make up the Old Testiment
27 books make up the New Testiment
Those 66 books were written by 40 people
It was written on 3 continents2 “Asia, Africa, and Europe”
It is written in 3 languages3 “Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek”
From the begining to the end the writting and compliling process of the library took roughly 1,500 - 2,000 years
It flows like it was written under the inspiration of one person from begining end its uniformity is flawless. The library written in many nations, on many continents, in many lanuanges, written by many people, over a time frame of roughly 1,500 years and yet flawless.
(What is the difference between the Old and New Testaments? The answer to that question is in the meaning of the word testament so let’s look it up… To the dictionary…)
Testament4: noun
1 a : a tangible proof or tribute
b : an expression of conviction: CREED
2 a : an act by which a person determines the disposition of his or her property after death
3 : WILL
4. a : capitalized: either of two main divisions of the Bible
b : archaic : a covenant between God and the human race
BROKENDICTION: The dictionary is increasingly becoming less of a juggernaut, and even though there are some really cool things we can do with a dictionary; here is proof that we need to keep watch. This is how to avoid “the stupid” when you start to use it as a tool to help you rightly understand the world in which we live. Archaic is often a word that requires the meaning of primitive or old but if you look it up in the dictionary you will find this: (a NOTE from Merriam-Webster: In this dictionary, the label archaic is affixed to words and senses relatively common in earlier times but infrequently used in present-day English.) The Relatively Common definition of the word “Testament” before the current era is a Covenant between God and the human race.
… I leave you with your imagination to decern why that definition is no longer common…
Covenant5: noun
1. a usually formal, solemn, and binding agreement: Compact
2. a written agreement or promise usually under seal between two or more parties especially for the performance of some action.
b :the common-law action to recover damages for breach of such contract
There we have it a testament means a covenant and the difference between the old testament and the new testament is within the “fine print” of the respective binding agreements. We could go down this rabbit trail, but that would take us in a completely different direction, so let’s not and that say we did. But, suffice it to say there is an old agreement expressed through all of the books from Genesis to Malachi and there is a new agreement expressed through all of the books from Matthew to Revelation… this is a basic intro to understanding what the bible is even supposed to be. The old testament is beyond the foundational to the efficacy of Christianity and abundantly needed for actual understanding, but let us just focus on the new testament because it contains the life, death, and ascension of Christ and details his coming back to earth.
MATTHEW | MARK | LUKE | JOHN | ACTS | ROMANS | 1 CORINTHIANS | 2 CORINTHIANS | GALATIANS | EPHESIANS | PHILLIPIANS | COLOSSIANS | 1 THESSALONIANS | 2 THESSALONIANS | 1 TIMOTHY | 2 TIMOTHY | TITUS | PHILEMON | HEBREWS | JAMES | 1 PETER | 2 PETER | 1 JOHN | 2 JOHN | 3 JOHN | JUDE | REVELATION
In trying to get a grasp on the magnitude of these 27 books I think we need to start by asking a couple of very key and necessary questions about each individual book. Who wrote the book? Why did they write the book? What is the purpose of the book? But first, we need to know the basic template and flow of the new testament library to be able to digest the primary reason for its writing.
Matthew, Mark, and Luke: Basically cover the same events from different perspectives and central themes; Essentially the story of the ‘hows” and “whats” of Jesus’s life; written to Jews expressly.
John: Covers a specific sequence of events about Jesus’s life, death, resurrection, and ascension in which the main goal is to prove that Jesus the Messiah is more than just another man and this book is written to Non-Jews.
Acts: Literally called “The Acts of the Apostles”; it is the second part of an account written to Theophilus. Luke is actually the first part of the letter {The book of Luke is written about Jesus and his works} Acts written about the initial Apostles & Disciples, Decaons, and eventually landing on the conversion of Paul and his life subsequently.
All-of-the-IANS: These books are more properly letters to the individual churches and were meant to be read allowed in the presence of those in the respective churches. ie Corinthians was written to the people of Corinth. All of the IANS are written by an apostle named Paul.
Corinth | Galatia | Ephesus | Philippi | Colossae | Thessalonica |
Timothy / Titus / Philemon: These were all letters specifically to these people, with honorable mentions to other people. Some of the books seem like personal mentorship and others parts just seem likewise counsel to friends; these too are all written by the apostle Paul.
Hebrews: The writer of this book is technically unknown because no one claimed it, but just about everyone believes the writer to be Paul writing incognito to believers who were ethnically Jewish who have specifically been in Judaism but come out as Christians Hebrews; they were finding it hard to be ethically Jewish but literally Christians. [It’s an amazing book with lots of goodies.]
James / Peter / John / Jude: These were written by these people to address a whole laundry list of different topics to the church as a whole. James the literal half-brother of Jesus → exciting | Peter the lead disciple… first to speak… first to believe → the man has some kingdom realities straight from Jesus | John the self-proclaimed “disciple whom Jesus loved” much deeper than people realize → again he has a personal revelation from Jesus and was one of the three who participated in a deeper way | Jude another half-brother of Jesus and same parent sibling with James … → small book, punching way above his pay grade… bombs are being dropped … epic |
Revelation: Like many books in the New Testament, the name of this book is generally shortened because humans like to shorten long book titles. The long format name is “ The Revelation of Jesus Christ” …I kind of like to keep this title intact because “Context Matters” #ContxMaters … This book is a next-level book even when compared to the old testament; [ allegories, literalisms, poetry, history, future events, behind the veil conversations ] → Revelation has it all in spades plus then some… ideas and concepts revealed in Genesis get closed in Revelation promises made are proven to be kept in this book as well, along with a healthy dose of what is next for everybody on all sides |
If you took the time to read the little synopsis of the new testament that we just went through, then you would find someone’s name seems to get mentioned a bit more than that rest and more constantly than all of the others. Do you know whose name keeps getting mentioned? Essentially what we are saying is that eight people wrote the New Testament. Assuming the writer of Hebrews is who we think he is; these eight writers give factual and accurate verifiably true statements rooted in logic and faith. They convert that faith which is rooted in the Old Testament and convert it into paper, relaying the message of the fullness of the gospel that is Christ.
Remember what we have is a record of the things that Jesus did and said, the primary accounts of his life→ death→ resurrection→ ascension… It is necessary to state that Jesus did not write any of the books of the New Testament. Yet his life was so impactful that his actions and words echoed in the minds and lives of the Apostles and Disciples. These eight people wrote twenty-seven books and it is because of their accounts, that we have come to know the truth about Christ. The world would have been very different should these eight humans not have been able to write these books; their passing of the knowledge that they possessed to us in the form of these books, is literally a gift from God. They represent Jesus the Christ, to the world as the one who died but is still alive. One of these eight specialized in giving instructions on how to live in a society with other believers and his works seem to speak to us directly. Do your research and you will find out that there is one apostle, that the early church believes God sent to the Gentiles, to give them the good news about God. Naturally, the question arises… what are the Gentiles?
Dude, you already know… Gentile (n.)6 \ Etymology Dictionary…
One who is not a Jew, c. 1400; earlier "one who is not a Christian, a pagan" (late 14c.), from Late Latin noun use of Latin gentilis "of the same family or clan, of or belonging to a Roman gens," from gens (genitive gentis) "race, clan," from PIE root *gene- "give birth, beget," with derivatives referring to procreation and familial and tribal groups. Compare gentle.The Latin adjective also meant "of or belonging to the same nation," hence, as a noun, gentiles (plural) might mean "men of family; persons belonging to the same family; fellow countrymen, kinsmen," but also "foreigners, barbarians" (as opposed to Romans), those bound only by the Jus Gentium, the "law of nations," defined as "the law that natural reason establishes among all mankind and is followed by all peoples alike." The Latin word then was used in the Vulgate to translate Greek ethnikos (see ethnic), from ta ethne "the nations," which translated Hebrew ha goyim "the (non-Jewish) nations" (see goy). Hence in Late Latin, after the Christianization of Rome, gentilis also could mean "pagans, heathens," as opposed to Christians. Based on Scripture, gentile also was used by Mormons (1847) and Shakers (1857) to refer to those not of their profession.
Gentiles are specifically not Jewish people, everybody else, better put people like you and me. There was one Apostle that was sent to us specifically to make sure that we could get the totality of the life of Christ, and that Apostle was Paul. Who is this Paul and why does he keep getting mentioned? The book of Acts starts with Jesus and the Spirit then moves to the twelve Apostles and ends up being all about Paul… It seems like he ghost-wrote the whole book of Hebrews…He wrote to the church in its entirety at Rome… He wrote All-of-the-IANS… He even has three proteges that he corresponded with and we have those on, namely: Timothy, Titus, and Philemon. This guy keeps popping up all over the New Testament… an Apostle… a Prisoner… a Friend… a Writer… a Mentor… a Roman… a Jew… why do we get so much of his story… who is Paul?
When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely” - 1 Corinthians 13: 11-127
Isn’t life just like that… all of the humans on earth want the best life possible but we are confronted with challenges. Over time we learn that we will have to overcome those challenges to get the most out of what life has to offer. We learn that we are sometimes going to have to buck the system if we want to live a life of significance and face those challenges head-on. It is in overcoming the challenges, that life’s most rewarding moments are uncovered. Every person on earth wants their time on earth to count for something; to get to the end of life on earth and know that you gave everything. In the challenges of life, our flaws and shortcomings are made aware to us, sometimes to everyone, but mostly it is in the secret that we find out the truth about ourselves. What is that truth? We are not who we thought we were, we are not who we want to be, and we have no idea how to improve the quality of our on experience on earth. Sometimes it seems like the hardships of life are made exclusively to ruin your life, but you can also learn from them, and God often uses them to lift humanity above their circumstances. Life on earth is hard but people who place their faith in God, in the face of hardships, rise above the challenges, believing that there is an ultimate goal and purpose for life on earth.
For instance, take our conversation about Stephen last week, a well-respected person in his community, full of the Spirit and wisdom. Stephen was chosen along with six other men out of thousands of people to help regulate the food distribution for the widows and end the discrimination of the Jews against the Greeks. Subsequently, he was murdered for believing in Jesus and being sold out to the work of the Kingdom on earth. Do you remember that at the stoning of Stephen, Luke the writer of the book of Acts tells us that the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul? Why the a random fact about a guy in the crowd a person that up to this point no one has ever heard of him? Remember, we only see in pieces, partially, and incompletely! We are inside of time and space and we have to rely on who is outside of time and space; the one who can see the end from the beginning.
1 Saul was one of the witnesses, and he agreed completely with the killing of Stephen. A great wave of persecution began that day, sweeping over the church in Jerusalem; and all the believers except the apostles were scattered through the regions of Judea and Samaria. 2 Some devout men came and buried Stephen with great mourning. 3 But Saul was going everywhere to destroy the church. He went from house to house, dragging out both men and women to throw them into prison. -Acts 8: 1-38
Saul is sweeping through the nation of Israel persecuting people who put belief in Jesus; those people are in the hardship. |There are a couple of other things happening in this book because the writer is trying to show you all of the pieces available and how they fit together. But so this article doesn’t go on for another seven pages… we are going to stay focused on Saul.| The man is dedicated, he has been going all over Israel, and now he is making his way to Syria, specifically to a city in Syria called Damascus. To be clear, Damascus is not in Israel nevertheless, there is Saul empowered by Jerusalem to arrest any believers found in the congregations of the Jews. Saul is on his way to arrest and eventually execute Christians; men and women without discrimination, for their belief in Jesus. Those people were about to be in the hardship, they are about to meet one of life’s challenges. Those people who had placed faith in Jesus are now living abroad and running from the persecution of Saul, yet they continue to believe on Jesus. Honestly, I would not do the story justice by glazing over it, so let’s just read what Luke wrote about this event.
3 As he was approaching Damascus on this mission, a light from heaven suddenly shone down around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?” 5 “Who are you, lord?” Saul asked. And the voice replied, “I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting! 6 Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” 7 The men with Saul stood speechless, for they heard the sound of someone’s voice but saw no one! 8 Saul picked himself up off the ground, but when he opened his eyes he was blind. So his companions led him by the hand to Damascus. 9 He remained there blind for three days and did not eat or drink. - Acts 9: 3-9 9
Saul saw the Light, literally and physically… He encountered the resurrected Jesus… He fell to the ground as he heard a voice saying…Saul… Saul…Why are you persecuting me? Saul is now in the same position that Stephen was in at his death, seeing Jesus, in the glory of his power. Saul is gazing into eternity, into the light, into Jesus who elsewhere in the bible is called, the Chief Cornerstone.
What is a Cornerstone?
"The stone which the builders rejected, Has become the chief cornerstone" - Psalms 118:2210
"Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scripture: “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes?”
- Mark 12:1011
Saul is in the trap of God... he is well and truly caught… the Chief Corner Stone of heaven has been hurled at Saul… Jesus… moving through time and space. Something is about to happen… something is about to change… The people traveling with Saul can hear the voice speaking but they do not see anyone… Yet they are speechless… Saul can hear the voice… He can see the light… Saul is encountering the resurrected Jesus… literally… physically… Saul is being stoned by the Chief Stone Jesus… the Son of the Living God.
Well give more on that particular story in the next article but seemingly at this moment Saul, places his belief on Jesus, and at some point in his story, he takes on a new name. Now if you are tracking with you then you already know what I am about to tell you, but Saul starts to go by the name Paul. That is right the ravenous, raging, Christian-hating Saul encountered Jesus on the way to persecute Christians in Damascus, but he meet Jesus and ended up as one of the eight men to write the New Testament. In truth, his writings make up the majority of the content of the New Testament; remember we only see the pieces. Pieces are all we get in the present, of our lives, and we have to rely on God who sees the end from the beginning; he alone knows the whole story.
Are you in the hardship? I have good news for you, Jesus is right, in the fight, there with you! He was with Stephen, he was with Paul, he is with me, so I know that he is with you. You see in pieces but the one who sees the whole thing is with you! Trust him and buy into the pieces. Hear what he has to say and believe that he knows how to make all of the pieces come together. Look to him, gaze into eternity, and see Jesus, the chief cornerstone of heaven. The truth of Luke’s account is that because of the Apostles the Disciples and Phillip, and especially because Stephen sold out to the life of Christ, Saul bought in to the unshakeable truth of the kingdom of heaven, that Jesus… is alive… Jesus is alive… Jesus. Is. Alive.
- a real Concerned Citizen