4/23/2011 Devotional Thoughts from Genesis... Obeying God in What Seems Ridiculous (Genesis 6:13-22)

A Christian's Guide to Studying and Applying the Old Testament

Text: Genesis 6:13-22 (NKJV)

     13 And God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth. 14 Make yourself an ark of gopherwood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch. 15 And this is how you shall make it: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. 16 You shall make a window for the ark, and you shall finish it to a cubit from above; and set the door of the ark in its side. You shall make it with lower, second, and third decks. 17 And behold, I Myself am bringing floodwaters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall die. 18 But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall go into the ark—you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. 19 And of every living thing of all flesh you shall bring two of every sort into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. 20 Of the birds after their kind, of animals after their kind, and of every creeping thing of the earth after its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive. 21 And you shall take for yourself of all food that is eaten, and you shall gather it to yourself; and it shall be food for you and for them.” 22 Thus Noah did; according to all that God commanded him, so he did.

Devotional Thoughts and Commentary:

Without establishing this right now, imagine a situation where you did not know what rain was. Every morning there was a very heavy dew, but no rain. Now, some guy shows up shouting about a dew that comes down all day so heavily that all the land will get covered with water. Ok, maybe not understanding rain or floods is a little incomprehensible for us today. Imagine you are in the middle of a desert and it isn't even the part of the year where there is a little rain. A guy is shouting about how a huge flood is coming. How silly he must seem! In Noah's day, they didn't understand the idea of rain, let alone a worldwide flood. For that matter, he was preaching about living righteously and God's coming judgment for at least decades and up to 120 years (2 Peter 2:5, "preacher of righteousness"). At first, some may have wondered if there was something to it, but after 50 years of nothing happening, he must have seemed ludicrous. Building and building. And building. And building. Noah was, to his contemporaries, a lunatic. They didn't need the God he kept talking about and there certainly wasn't any "flood" coming that needed such a huge boat, or so they thought.

God tells Noah that the end to the human race as it existed at that time ("all flesh" was idiomatic for the human race), except as provided in verses 18-21.In order for righteous Noah and his family to escape such destruction, they had to be obedient to the specifics of what God had commanded. The theoretical questions arises about what would have happened if Noah had decided to make it a little bigger, thus disobeying God. I don't know, but I suspect that God found Noah righteous knowing that he would obey. Thankfully, Noah did obey the details of what God commanded, despite the long years of ridicule and hard work.

According to the scholars Whitcomb and Morris, the dimensions of the ark were 437.5' x 72.92' x 43.75' for a total deck area of 95,700 sq. ft. and a volume of 1,396,000 cu. ft. The sheer size of this and gathering of animals is a very strong argument against what many claim must have been a local flood (theory to be examined more in depth in later posts). This boat is roughly the size of the huge oceanic transport ships used today.1 The literally translated "gopherwood" was most likely what we would call cypress today.

Note verses 17 and 18. God promises destruction on the living things of Earth when one of my favorite Bible words makes its appearance- "but." Despite our human failures, there is a "But I" or "But God" to fall back on. He is merciful. He is longsuffering. He made a covenant with Noah to preserve humanity when He was under no obligation to do so. Praise the Lord!

Then, as God finished speaking, we see in verse 22 that Noah obeys. This is immediately and a direct response. No negotiating, no complaining, and no arguing. I think this is an excellent model of obedience for us to follow.

1. The Genesis Flood by Whitcomb and Morris, 10.

Application(s):

Obey God like Noah- immediately and without question. Today, we don't have the voice of God speaking to us audibly out of the heavens, but we do have the Bible (the Word of God). Every time we encounter the Word of God, we either move closer to God by reacting rightly toward it in obedience (of thought or action) or we move further away from Him by reacting wrongly, again in thought or action. The challenge is to react rightly when you see something in God's Word to obey it. Sometimes things in it seem ridiculous or too much, but remember what was expected of Noah here and consider Jesus as in Hebrews 12:1-3.

Take some time in prayer today to praise God for His mercy (not giving us the judgment we deserve) and longsuffering. He would be upright in annihilating each of us anytime we sin, but He doesn't. In fact, He forgives us freely based on the personal sacrifice of Jesus on our behalf.

Other Studies from Genesis
"Herme- what?" How to Understand the Bible

4/22/2011 Devotional Thoughts from Genesis... The Toledoth of Noah (Genesis 6:9-12)

A Christian's Guide to Studying and Applying the Old Testament

Text: Genesis 6:9-12 (NKJV) 

     9 This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God. 10 And Noah begot three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
     11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.

Devotional Thoughts and Commentary:

"This is the toledoth of Noah..." This is how this section of Genesis is introduced. Unfortunately, the majority of scholars today erroneously believe Wellhausen's Documentary Hypothesis regarding the authorship and authenticity of Genesis, and they write off these four verses as a later and aberrant insertion after the previous eight. Let me provide you with an extended quote that will far better answer this than I could:

Verses 9-12, far from being an alien intrusion on this narrative actually represent a culmination of verbal motifs developed in the first eight verses. "When man began to multiply on the face of the ground"- the first clause of the first verse sets up a verbal play on the relationship of "man" ('adam) and "ground" ('adamah). This play emphasizes man as a creature, and as a creature he is obeying God's will to be fruitful and multiply... However, the good that was multiplying (rbb) in verse 1 has become evil that was becoming great (rbb) by verse 5. "Man" ('adam) is now in this verse presented in connection with a broader term than "ground" ('adamah). Now evil is multiplying in the "earth" ('eres). In the supposedly alien verse 12 this progression is completed. "Earth" is repeated, but now "man" is replaced with the more general term "all flesh". And so the man/soil motif has been developed in three steps: man/ground: man/earth: all flesh/earth... Far from being two different accounts, Genesis 6:1-12 could scarcely be more tightly unified.1

In the last ellipsis there, the authors provided roughly another page worth of even more technical arguments for the unity. Again, great book to read about Genesis. Moses wrote this book "with such complete mastery over his materials (whatever their source) that it makes no literary sense to speak of him as an editor."2 While Moses compiled information from his resources, he was accurate and a master of the information. Really though, the thread that holds this together is the inspiration of the Holy Spirit (God) revealing His truth through Moses.

Now, moving from the integrity of the text to actually gleaning information from it, let's look at the content of this passage. Verse 9 says, "Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations" (see also 7:1). What exactly does this mean? Jewish rabbis have debated the question since before Christianity existed as a religion. Many of them interpret this passage to mean that Noah was righteous compared to his generation of people (which was the most wicked ever in human history), but he was not actually righteous as compared to, say, Jacob or Abraham. The New Testament does provide some illumination. In 2 Peter 2:5 (NKJV), the Bible states that Noah was a "preacher of righteousness." Hebrews 11:7 (NKJV) lists Noah with other faithful saints of the Old Testament right before Abraham, saying, "By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith." I suppose that I would say Noah was a righteous man, both compared to his generation and other saints of other times. He withstood what had to be some of the greatest pressure, being the only Godly person really left on Earth. He faithfully preached the truth of God in the face of mockery and built a boat for a flood when no one had ever even really seen rain before. He is listed in the New Testament among that Hall of Fame in Faith (Hebrews 11). However, it really comes back to Romans 3:23 (NKJV), which tells us that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." No one but Jesus Christ is perfect, and when compared to God, everyone else falls short.

Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. The traditional view, based on largely on genealogies and their related tales elsewhere in Genesis and the Old Testament, holds that these three men led their families out from the Ark to repopulate in three different directions- Shem toward Asia, Ham toward Africa, and Japheth toward Europe. It was then from these men that the races originated.

Verses 11-12 continue to paint a very bad picture of humanity at this time. The term translated as "corrupt" carries the connotation that mankind had ruined or destroyed what God had originally created. Clearly, the Earth was not actually broken apart in some sort of nuclear holocaust, but humanity had ruined the goodness of Creation. The wickedness of humanity had "became so conspicuous to God, that He could not refrain from punishment."3 The sin was so bad that God could no longer allow it to exist. This toledoth of Noah shows us to the story of the judgment and salvation of humanity through one Godly man. 1 Peter 3:18-22 teaches us that the physical salvation of the righteous few in Noah's ark prefigured the salvation of the righteous, believing few (by percentage, see Matthew 7:13-14) through spiritual baptism given for the righteous answer of a heart and mind toward and through Jesus Christ.

1. Before Abraham Was by Kikawada and Quinn, 85-87.
2. Ibid., 83.
3. Keil, C. F., & Delitzsch, F. (2002). Commentary on the Old Testament. (Ge 6:10–12). Peabody, MA: Hendrickson.

Application(s):

Again, the normal interpretation of the Bible is the best. Don't be dissuaded by those who want to detract from it. Believing the Bible requires belief, but it is not baseless- ours is a credible faith.

As Noah's Ark was the only hope of physical salvation for humanity then, so is Jesus Christ the only hope for spiritual salvation of humanity now. Believe in Him and accept Him as your Savior at once if you have not already!

Other Studies from Genesis
"Herme- what?" How to Understand the Bible

4/18/2011 Devotional Thoughts from Genesis... The Cultural Context for Noah (Genesis 6:1-8)

A Christian's Guide to Studying and Applying the Old Testament

Text: Genesis 6:1-8 (NKJV) 

     1 Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, 2 that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose.
     3 And the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” 4 There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.
     5 Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7 So the LORD said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.

Devotional Thoughts and Commentary:

This brief passage sets the stage for the toledoth of Noah, and it lets the reader get an idea of just how bad things had gotten on Earth since Creation. What had started as a perfect setting of mankind communing directly with God in the Garden of Eden had been ravaged by sin, resulting in a downward spiral into oblivion. The near universality of totally wicked behavior and rejection of God brought a divine hand of judgment; however, God promised to spare righteous Noah (will get to a technical but interesting tidbit on Noah and righteousness in the next post) and anyone who would obediently enter the ark. Only Noah and his immediate family entered the ark, of course also containing representatives of the world's animal species.

Now, let's dive into the text at hand. The meaning of verses 1-4 is hotly contested among Biblical scholars, and there must be some challenging questions that arise. Who were these "sons of God"? If they were angels as many believe, how did they produce offspring since angels do not reproduce? Is this proof of a different race of similar-to-but-not-human beings? Some have suggested that the were fallen angels (demons), aliens, human rulers, or the sons of Seth as the Godly lineage from Adam. Let's examine the views on who the "sons of God" are below:

• Angelic Beings: It would seem that Jesus taught that angels do not reproduce in Matthew 22:30. The expressions there are idiomatic and indicative to that end, but they really don't totally preclude the ability of angelic beings to reproduce, just that the good angels in Heaven do not marry (thus, reproduce). Additionally, angels are described as God's messengers and ministering spirits, but they are not portrayed in the role as His sons elsewhere in Scripture. That being said, this would best account among these ideas for the nephilim ("giants") in 6:4. This theory also fits well with the theme of this introduction- sin, as this was outside the system established by God. I am going to describe the theory that fallen angels are the "sons of God" as possible.
• Aliens: There is no evidence in the earlier chapters of Genesis or the entire Bible to reflect the existence of any other physical beings outside of Earth. We'll leave this theory for the loonies.
• Human Rulers: I think this one is possible; however, I don't really think it is a good one. Certainly those with power could be seen through the higher ascription "of God" than "of men", but that really isn't very consistent with the narrative. If this were the case, it would be more a condemnation of inter-class marriage than fitting with the theme of sin in this passage.
• Sons of Adam's Son Seth: Of these four theories, I think this is one of the two most likely. In it, the Godly lineage of Seth was allegedly intermarrying with the wicked lineage of Cain. This would represent the universal pervasiveness of sin at that time best, but it doesn't really make sense of the nephilim. 

I never really claim to have the answers, but here I won't even hint at it. I don't totally have my mind made up either way (demons or sons of Seth). I would suggest further reading on it if you have the interest level for it. You are welcome to discuss it here in the comments.

Looking into verses 5-7, a very sad picture is painted. The sin of humanity, primarily in rejecting God, was so pervasive and heinous that God is grieved to the point of changing course in His relationship with mankind. In the Garden, God was a close God, portrayed like an older friend. With the sin of Adam and Eve, that relationship changed as sin put distance between man and God. Then, men were condemned to certain physical death and spiritual death if apart from faith in God. By the days of Noah, the rejection of God in the sins of humanity was so great that God declares a new stage in the relationship- appropriate judgment. God declared that He would wipe out the human population and all the living creatures.

Thankfully, there is a verse 8. Of course, omniscient God knew that Noah would exist eternally before this moment in time; however from a human perspective, humanity's existence hung by a thread. Only one human being on the face of the Earth found favor in the sight of God, due to his faith in God and righteous behavior. It is Noah's toledoth that we will see in the next verse (in the next blog) and will be studying for the next three chapters.

Application(s):

Our world is becoming a place where, when compared with the standards of the Bible, there is great wickedness on the Earth and most people spend their time thinking Biblically wicked thoughts. Jesus taught in Matthew 24:37-39 that such wickedness as in Noah's day would describe the Earth right before the Tribulation judgments and the end of time. I am not making some claim that Jesus is returning on May 14, 2012, nor am I necessitating that He will return in my lifetime. However, judgment is coming on the unbelieving, as in and actually even worse than in Noah's flood. Reflect on your eternal destiny. Do you know for sure where you are going? If you know it is Heaven, what are you doing to preach the truth for others as Noah did faithfully?

Although you are hopefully a Christian, we need to live righteous lives. They serve as testimonies to show Christ to a world that does not believe in Him, they glorify God, and they are an act of obedience to God. Read Romans 6:1-14 if you are struggling with the idea of needing to live obediently to God.

Other Studies from Genesis
"Herme- what?" How to Understand the Bible

"Herme- what?" How to Understand the Bible

There are many ways to interpret (understand the meaning of, not translate) Scripture; however, the first place one must start is an evaluation of exactly what it is. Is the Bible a revelation from God or is it a collection of stories by various authors? Is it fact or fiction? Is it accurate or faulty? Where one stands on questions like that will have great impact on how the Bible is understood.

I believe that the Bible is the revelation of God by God through man (2 Timothy 3:15-17; 2 Peter 1:20-21). This was accomplished as God-breathed it to human authors (the meaning of the underlying Greek word in 2 Tim. 3:16). The mechanics of exactly how this happened were not revealed, but the Holy Spirit used human authors, not as robots, to record the Word of God to be preserved for mankind. The Bible is totally without error and is positively true in all aspects as originally written. It has been preserved as a manuscript better than any other in history through thousands of fragments, complete books, and translations. If one does not understand the Bible as God's accurate revelation, there is little basis for faith or religion. At that point, it has become at best a collection of human moral teachings mixed with some crazy ones. Why put your hope for eternal destiny in a flawed book or one that is just an allegory? How could you?

Now having established this, the way to interpret the Bible is a field called "hermeneutics." There are many means of interpreting it, from the allegorical hermeneutic that takes everything as an allegory to be used for moral living to the normal, literal hermeneutic that accepts what the Bible says in the most literal way as intended for the original/intended audience unless the text itself says otherwise. Because of my belief in the Bible as the Word of God, I feel compelled to go with a normal, literal hermeneutic.

Let's look at how that fleshes out in practice. Prophecy and parables are introduced as such within their context and often contain figurative language. Figurative language is interpreted figuratively and as it would have meant to the intended, original audience in their culture. Idioms are expressions that mean more than the sum of their words ("tongue in cheek," "smell a rat," etc.), and so one has to understand what they meant to the author and original audience within their historical, cultural setting. Basically, I interpret the Bible like it was meant to be given my belief that it is the Word of God. If Jesus told His 1st Century Jewish disciples to look at a group of spiritually hungry people as being "white unto harvest," I need to understand 1st Century agriculture in Palestine to get a really accurate picture of what He meant. Genesis tells us that the world was created by an omnipotent God in 6 consecutive days, so I interpret that as 6 literal, consecutive days, unlike others who see them as representative of epochs of time or separated by millions of years. Am I making this picture clear here?

To interpret the Bible fully and properly, one has to look at individual words, context, writing style, genre, linguistic history, culture, geography, science, political history, philosophy, and really everything that went into writing and understanding it with the original author and original audience. Isn't that exactly what we do whenever we read something written today? While we probably don't do it consciously, all these things happen. That is why this hermeneutic is called a "normal" hermeneutic, because it interprets the Bible as it would normally be interpreted. Sounds like a daunting task? It is, but that shouldn't discourage anyone from just reading it and thinking it through. There are study aids, pastors, and the most importantly the Holy Spirit to help you understand. Also, it is a lifelong learning progression, so that doesn't happen overnight.

This post is only intended to be an introduction to the topic, and by no means does it explain things to their end. If you would like to study some more about how to interpret the Bible, I would suggest reading Basic Bible Interpretation by Roy Zuck.

An Apologetic Introduction to Genesis

The Book of Genesis has probably faced the most scrutiny from every angle of any portion of the Bible. It has been challenged as being in conflict with science and history. The authorship of Moses is now denied by many scholars. With so many challenges to the book, I think it is important to write this introduction to address them, at least superficially. Genesis is the first book of the Bible, and if there are problems with it, then there are problems with the Bible as a whole. What we will see is that the book is written consistent with would be expected of literature of its time, the stories it contains are historically and scientifically accurate as far as is possible to prove within the limits of both fields, and the historical Moses from the 1400s B.C. was its author.

Genesis covers an amazingly broad time period. Biblical scholars place the beginning of human history between 7000 and 4000 B.C. and the book ends with Joseph's death in 1804 B.C. That is quite a huge span of time! Now the author accepted by both Judaism, Christianity, the New Testament authors, and Jesus is Moses. The historical Moses lived in the 1400s B.C.

"How," one might ask, "did a man write an accurate book about events that long before him?" That is an excellent question and it is the first one that we will address here. One must remember 2 Peter 1:20-21, which tells us that men wrote the Bible as the Holy Spirit (God) moved them to. That means that Moses was writing because of the Holy Spirit and writing the Word of God for the Holy Spirit, so he doesn't necessarily have to have experienced the things he is writing to be 100% accurate- God knew. However, Moses was likely basing what he was writing on written and oral records of history available to him. Today, oral transmission is not considered accurate in Western culture, but it was so important to many societies pre-writing (and many even after the invention of writing) that it was very accurate. Look at many of the Native American tribes whose history was passed on orally. It was a way of life, culture, and often even profession. The structure of the book is actually a major argument for the accuracy and even genre of the book. The term "generations (or "genealogy" depending on your translation)"- well, actually the underlying Hebrew term תולדה (toledoth)- occurs 13 times in Genesis. Each time it introduces the story of a family genealogy (except 2:4, where it is the toledoth of the universe not a family); thus here, "toledoth is a technical term for a method of keeping family and clan records."1 Under the inspiration of God, Moses was collating the family records of different important clans/families. In some areas this is obvious, such as the birth and death records (genealogies). In other places, these take the form of family stories that are accurately preserved. This was an important legal, historical, and religious document for Israel to have- an accurate record of their families dating back to the beginning. Seen in this light, it is a history book- a secondary source closely connected to the original events- from as close to the beginning as we could get with the system of writing. It is a highly reliable and time honored method of preserving accurate historical records.

Another common concern about the book, at least from critical scholars is this- "Did Moses really write this book? Nah, it is just a collection of writings by various authors of a much more recent date." Julius Wellhausen, a German Bible scholar, published a hypothesis in 1878 that has laid the groundwork for the philosophy most theologically liberal scholars approach the Bible today. In it, he focused on the first five books of the Old Testament, theorizing that there were actually 4 authors (J, E, D, and P) much later that the historical Moses based on the tone and which Hebrew term for God was used in certain places. This theory, when examined in detail, borders on absurd. It requires the material from these authors to have been spliced literally thousands of times in those books, usually even in the middle of sentences. He required there to have been many editors even in addition to the 4 authors. If this were the case, the editors should have been shot with how the 4 sets of material were so badly spliced! Of course, a far more simplistic approach is to accept the view held for thousands of years that a single man, named Moses wrote the book in the 1400s B.C. An absolutely fabulous work has been writing by secular scholars at the University of California Berkeley that refutes this view using literary criticism. Though at times technical, I highly recommend reading Before Abraham Was by Kikawada and Quinn. Though the do not argue for the historical Moses as author (nor do they dispute it), they prove that Genesis had one consistent author. The only exception to the Mosaic authorship of the first five books of the Old Testament is in Deuteronomy 34, which was likely written by Joshua who followed him in leadership. Its style and tone are unique from the rest of these books. I will finish my answer to this question with a quote from them: "The evidence commonly used to show that Genesis 1-11 is a literary patchwork does in our opinion- when closely examined and put in its proper context- support the view that Genesis 1-11 is a literary masterpiece by an author of extraordinary skill and subtlety. So much so, that when we think we find this author napping we had better proceed carefully."2

"What about Creation and Noah's worldwide flood- aren't those ideas in conflict with science?" The director for the human genome decoding project, Dr. Francis Collins, does not think so. At least within the realm of living beings, he argues for intelligent design in our DNA. In The Language of God, he does not go so far as to support the Biblical teaching, but he does lend scientific support for an intelligent creator rather than evolutionary chance. Evolution is a scientific hypothesis. The Bible is an historical record. The realm of human/universal origins really doesn't fit with the field of science (not testable, observable, or repeatable), and should be addressed through history, archaeology, and religion. There are many, many stories from human cultures worldwide of both a divine creation and worldwide flood that parallel the Biblical record (such as the Epic of Gilgamesh). If one were to approach this like an historian looking for the truth about, say, a battle between Egypt and Babylon, the conclusion that would be come to is that these sources describe real events with some details different between cultures due to transcription. Try looking here for an interesting site with more information on the topic. Regarding the flood, The Genesis Flood by Whitcomb is an absolute classic on the matter and is a comprehensive analysis, although it is both long and technical. My answer here is only the tiniest scratch on the surface of what could be said on the matter. If you would like more reading recommendations on the topic, please email me.

There are certainly many more things to be answered and said about the Book of Genesis, but this is just a brief introduction to one of our most important historical records. Feel free to contact me or comment with questions, but I hope this kind of lays the foundation for where we are going. Also, if you have not read my post on how to interpret what the Bible means, I would highly, highly suggest it.

1. Rethinking Genesis: The Sources and Authorship of the First Book of the Pentateuch by Duane Garrett, 93.
2. Before Abraham Was by Kikawada and Quinn, 83.

Recommended Reads on the Topic:

• THE BIBLE
• Before Abraham Was by Kikawada and Quinn
• Actually quite readable while conveying detailed and often technical information. Focuses on a literary analysis that also ends up being a defense of the traditional authorship of the book.
• Rethinking Genesis: The Sources and Authorship of the First Book of the Pentateuch by Garrett
• Another great book for understanding Genesis. Examines historicity, structure, and authorship. Refutes the alleged scholarly JEDP Hypothesis.
• The Genesis Flood by Whitcomb and Morris
• An absolute classic on the topic. Readable and interesting, it is a comprehensive analysis of the Flood Narrative. in Genesis.
•  The Language of God by Collins
• Interesting perspective from a famous scientist responsible for decoding the human genome about the origin of man being an intelligent creator rather than evolutionary chance.

Other Studies from Genesis

Devotional Thoughts on Genesis

• An Apologetic Introduction to Genesis
• 4/18/2011 Devotional Thoughts from Genesis... The Cultural Context for Noah (Genesis 6:1-8)
• 4/22/2011 Devotional Thoughts from Genesis... The Toledoth of Noah (Genesis 6:9-12)
• 4/23/2011 Devotional Thoughts from Genesis... Obeying God in What Seems Ridiculous (Genesis 6:13-22)
• 4/24/2011 Devotional Thoughts from Genesis... The Flood Cleans Things Out (Genesis 7)
• 4/28/2011 Devotional Thoughts from Genesis... The Flood Cleans Things Out, Part 2 (Genesis 8:1-19)
• 5/2/2011 Devotional Thoughts from Genesis... God Takes the Initiative in Restoring Wicked Humanity to Himself (Genesis 8:20-9:17)
• 5/11/2011 Devotional Thoughts from Genesis... Sin Just Won't Go Away (Genesis 9:18-29)

4/12/2011 Devotional Thoughts from Colossians... Reminiscing and Remembrances (Colossians 4:2-18)

Text: Colossians 4:2-18 (NKJV)

     2 Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving; 3 meanwhile praying also for us, that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in chains, 4 that I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak. 5 Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time. 6 Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.
     7 Tychicus, a beloved brother, faithful minister, and fellow servant in the Lord, will tell you all the news about me. 8 I am sending him to you for this very purpose, that he may know your circumstances and comfort your hearts, 9 with Onesimus, a faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They will make known to you all things which are happening here. 10 Aristarchus my fellow prisoner greets you, with Mark the cousin of Barnabas (about whom you received instructions: if he comes to you, welcome him), 11 and Jesus who is called Justus. These are my only fellow workers for the kingdom of God who are of the circumcision; they have proved to be a comfort to me. 12 Epaphras, who is one of you, a bondservant of Christ, greets you, always laboring fervently for you in prayers, that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. 13 For I bear him witness that he has a great zeal for you, and those who are in Laodicea, and those in Hierapolis. 14 Luke the beloved physician and Demas greet you. 15 Greet the brethren who are in Laodicea, and Nymphas and the church that is in his house.
     16 Now when this epistle is read among you, see that it is read also in the church of the Laodiceans, and that you likewise read the epistle from Laodicea. 17 And say to Archippus, “Take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord, that you may fulfill it.”
     18 This salutation by my own hand—Paul. Remember my chains. Grace be with you. Amen.

Devotional Thoughts and Commentary:

Paul here commands the Colossian Christians to  persevere in prayer, and he shares a prayer request with them. Though imprisoned, Paul is not bemoaning the rough situation that he is in; rather, he requests prayer for an opportunity to preach the good news of Jesus Christ where people would hear it. He was imprisoned because of his service for Jesus, and the normal human reaction would probably be to become bitter. Not so with Paul- he takes it as an opportunity to catch up on his reading and writing and to look for opportunities to preach.

In verses 5 and 6, he cautioned the believers to be careful what they say and do around believers. God always sees, yes. They shouldn't act ungodly toward other Christians, true. However, one's testimony among the unbelievers ("those who are outside") only needs one slip-up to be ruined forever. I once had a youth pastor who had lost his previous pastoral position because of a testimony lost to the community when someone he had never met saw him driving home while drinking an IBC Creme Soda. He didn't even do anything wrong, yet his testimony was so marred that he had to leave ministry in that community! Furthermore, they were instructed to redeem the time, especially with unbelievers. Any one of them could die at any moment and go to eternity in Hell, so we should make the most of our time with them to show and share the good news of Jesus's salvation.

I am not going to go through every person mentioned in this personal note at the end, but I think we should not that it is so important to take time to thank people that God took space in His inspired Word to record it.

In the final verse here, one might be taken aback. "Hold on, Paul only wrote these little personal things at the end? What? How is this 'book' even in the Bible?!?" Paul normally used an amanuesis (or, scribe) to take dictation to write his letters. Many people think this was because the thorn in his flesh (2 Corinthians 12:7-10) might have been bad eyesight, making handwriting very difficult. This does not take away from his authorship of this or other books nor does it take away from their weight in Scripture. See also 1 Corinthians 16:21 and 2 Thessalonians 3:17 for other such examples.

Applications:

Take time to pray, or, take extra time to pray. It is probably the most neglected spiritual disciple among Christians, but it is also one of the most important.

Make the most of your time with unbelievers! They may not know it, but their eternal destiny might be locked into Hell at any moment.

Remember to thank people, and I don't just mean a courtesy "Thank You." Praise isn't just for our children, so hand it out when appropriate. In fact, publicly thank and praise people whenever possible and appropriate.

Other Studies from Colossians