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Interpreting the Gospels: MATTHEW

Interpreting the Gospels: MATTHEW. RLST 210/Div/ Rel 3152 November 7, 2011. Today. 3:10-4:10 Plenary Lecture 4:10-5:10 Your Papers: Discussion Groups Group 1 G25, Leader 1: Minnie Murrell (19:27-30; 20:29-34) ( Healing) Leader 2 : Bryanna Jew (20:1-16) ( salvation)

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Interpreting the Gospels: MATTHEW

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  1. Interpreting the Gospels:MATTHEW RLST 210/Div/Rel 3152 November 7, 2011

  2. Today • 3:10-4:10 Plenary Lecture • 4:10-5:10 Your Papers: Discussion Groups • Group 1G25, Leader 1: Minnie Murrell (19:27-30; 20:29-34) (Healing) • Leader 2 : Bryanna Jew (20:1-16) (salvation) • Group 2G26, Leader 1: Jon Snape (19:16-28) (wealth) • Leader 2: Taylor Schomp (19:16-30) (wealth) • Group 3G28 Leader 1: Michael Greer (19:16-30) (world & wordly desires); • Leader 2: John Wheeler (19:1-12) marriage • Plenary Session

  3. Your Context & Shifting Possible Root-Problems • To do anything, agents (people doing something) needs five qualifications:knowledge, will, ability, proper ideology, and proper faith/vision = they need the 5! • In Your Context = believers in which agents (the believers themselves or others) have problematic behaviors (doing the wrong thing) rather than good behaviors (doing the good thing) = the problematic agents have wrong qualifications or miss good qualifications • When there is such a problem (when the proper action does not take place) it is enough that the agents do not have ONE of these qualification (or have ONE wrong qualification)... and this blocks the whole process (preventing good behavior) or brings about problematic behavior • Thus, one needs to review all the possibilities: Is this problem due to a lack of (or wrong)knowledge, will, ability, proper ideology, or proper faith/vision • You come with a context convinced it is one particular problem… but LOOK AGAIN… it might be any of the other 4 qualifications

  4. Theme: Wealth Matthew 6:24 &19:16-22 • 6:24 24 "No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth/Mammon. • 19:16; 16 Then someone came to him and said, "Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?" … 20-22 The young man said to him, "I have kept all these; what do I still lack?" 21 Jesus said to him, "If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me." 22 When the young man heard this word, he went away grieving, for he had many possessions.

  5. Theme: Wealth (from Meeks’s CDC article) • Wealth = Being wealthy means having more than one needs to survive the day (the week, the month, the year) • for Christians, more than one needs to fulfill one’s calling as the “image* of God” or as disciple of Christ. • Wealth includes well-being, capability, freedom, human relations, social capital, and belonging. • Wealth gives one the power to control one’s life and security, but also to control others, their labor, and to exclude others from what it takes to be human. • Wealth in itself is not evil; • in the Scriptures, images of wealth are used to depict salvation.

  6. Theme: Wealth (from Meeks’s CDC article) • Wealth becomes deadly • when one is much wealthier than others, because it leads to inequality, separation from God and neighbor, and lack of solidarity; • when one’s wealth becomes an idol, an object of loyalty and devotion; • when wealth becomes a means of oppressing others. • Wealth’s potential for destruction derives from the power it gives one to control the labor of others or to exclude others from what it takes to be human.

  7. Theme: Wealth (from Meeks’s CDC article) • The NT presents three kinds of teaching on wealth, summed up by “You cannot serve God and mammon [wealth]” (Matt 6:24) • (1) the command to relinquish wealth in order to be free to serve the reign of God’s righteousness; • (2) the spiritual and moral peril of wealth as idol that one serves instead of God resulting in separation from God; • (3) the right (being “rich toward God”; e.g. Mark 10:17–31use of wealth to love God and neighbor ; Luke 12:22–34; 2 Cor 8:1–15; Jas 5:16).

  8. 3:10-3:20 Theme: Wealth (from Meeks’s CDC article) • Church fathers: all wealth belongs to God. • What is strictly needed for one’s life or for the service of others is a legitimate possession. What is beyond this belongs to the poor. • Luxury is condemned. • “The superfluous things of the wealthy are the necessities of the poor” (Augustine). • Justice is administering what belongs to God according to God’s will. • Wealth can be used rightly. “Goods are called goods because they do good”; the right use of wealth “ministers to righteousness” (Clement* of Alexandria).

  9. 3:10-3:20 Theme: Wealth (from Meeks’s CDC article) • The modern rise of the free market economy, it was claimed, meant a “farewell to alms.” • Accumulated wealth came to be seen as a possible sign of one’s election. • Following labor theory of property Christians now consider wealth a form of property that they own, • But one that they must use as good stewards = Our possessions and capabilities are God’s, not our own. The use of every resource of nature, time, and capability is wholly accountable before God. • One creates wealth by combining materials, labor, land, and technology, • Therefore justice that serves the life of human beings and nature demands an inclusive property claim by all and thus a regulated market

  10. Theme: Wealth/ idolatry (CDC) • Idolatry = worship of idols, condemned in ancient Israel because they represented false deities (worship of stone & wood statues) • The early church broadened the meaning of “idolatry” by defining it as the absolutizationof a true but partial revelation, manifestation, or giftfrom God • e.g. the creation, Rom 1:19–23; or • moneyMammon, Matt 6:24. • idolatry is a present-day issue. The opposite of faith in God is idolatry (not atheism) • the adoration of a false god, such as power, capital, consumerism, and the market taken as absolute becomes destructive • a god in whose name millions of human beings and nature are destroyed. • idolatry is the most serious betrayal of the will of the God of life.

  11. Theme: Wealth/ idolatry /marriage (CDC) • Idolatry = absolutizationof a goodgiftfrom God • e.g Marriage: a good gift from God (see PP Sept 19) • Good heteronomous relation = good intimate relationship; when one submits in love to another; when one makes oneself totally vulnerable • being in love changes the color of all my life • Absolutized: the absolute center of my life – no meaning outside this relationship • becomes destructive • Marriage as a possessive relation = you are mine: jealousy • Marriage as a hierarchical relationship = you must obey me; you must satisfy my desire • Becomes an abusive relationship

  12. Theme: Marriage vs. wrong will (lust and wanting to divorce) • See PowerPoint Sept 19 • Matthew 5:27-32 & 19:1-12 as GOOD NEWS • 5:31-32 = To preserve the good relationship that marriage is a GOOD GIFT FROM GOD that WE NEED TO PRESERVE;but with a CONDITIONAL CLAUSE (“except…”): of course, only insofar as this good relationship actually exists.

  13. Theme: Marriage vs. lack of/wrong faith/vision (freedom to divorce) • Matt 5:27-32 & 19:1-12 as Family Album: the “Law” of the New Covenant • “marriage” is “holy matrimony” = a good marriage manifests the presence of God’s holiness in society, so people will give glory to God (marriage = sacrament [Orthodox, etc.]) • but divorce if it does not(= manifests porneia rather than holiness) • Contrast “ethics NOW”:marriage a secular contract agreement • VS “perfectionist ethics of Kingdom” = marriage is a holy sacrament that manifests God’s holiness = people glorify God

  14. Theme: Marriage/faith/vision Eastern Orthodox (CDC) • Eastern Orthodoxy view of marriage as instituted by God with the hope that it will reflect Christ’s union of love with his church (Eph 5:20–33, read for marriage service). • Thus marriage is a call to witness to Christ • Marriage is one of the great sacraments, or mysteries, of the Orthodox Church. • It is God who unites a man and woman in a wedding service • A major purpose of marriage is to provide a means for spouses to help each other as they walk together on the path of salvation toward eternal life. • Marriage is to last forever. Yet in pastoral recognition of human weakness and sinfulness, divorce and remarriage have always been allowed. • The Orthodox Church’s lofty view of marriage is reflected in the exhortation to every married couple to make their home “a little church.”

  15. Theme: Marriage vs. wrong vision = good intimate relationships, impossible • CONTEXT: Being BLIND and NOT SEEING the GOOD THINGS (righteousness) that are happening among us that are MANIFESTATIONS OF GOD’S WILL • Choices of Context: 5:31-32 = People who think, believe marriage and intimate relationships are perverted by business, lust, porn, etc. & divorce is a way of life • Look around you… surprise! There are GOOD INTIMATE RELATIONSHIPS • Teaching: GOOD Kindom relations do exist, • imitate them & preserve them

  16. Theme: Marriage = abusive relations • ROLE OF SCRIPTURE: EMPOWERING WORD • Matthew 5:31-32 31 "It was also said, 'Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.' 32 But I say to you that anyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of unchastity, causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery. • Wives are abused by being dismissed as pets, or unwanted gadgets by very permissive rules for divorce • BACK IN CONTROL: (Abusive) DIVORCE IS PROHIBITED … women regain control • Conjuring a new Relationship between women and men

  17. Kristin Kelly appropriately notes on Garland and Healing • I see Garland’s reading of Matt 8-9 as more of a PENTECOSTAL HEALING TEACHING. Garland spent much time on the understanding of faith and healing of sins in order to be made well/saved … from spiritual sin and physical oppression as well. • For Garland, Matthew wanted the reader to see that Jesus has the power to heal what is seen by society as the “clean” and “unclean” “sinful” and “holy”. • Garland focused on what it meant for Jesus to heal and the [figurative] implications that it made in society and in his relation to God;… for discipleship and how one should follow Jesus based on the matchless power and authority that he displayed. [Seeing} discipleship as a display and understanding of faith. • Jesus healing and the root problem of “lack of faith and vision” … people can’t see that Jesus is being presented to the world as God incarnate to enact passion and healing among the people; a new vision of how salvation and grace work.

  18. Theme: Health & Healing (Western views; CDC) • 1946: World Health Organization defines health as a state of “complete physical, mental, and social well-being.” • health is not just the absence of injury, disease, or disability. It has something to do with the whole of ourselves. We do not just have bodies; we are embodied. • For a Christian theological view, health of mind (or soul) and health of body are not separate matters; each influences the other. Each has to do with the health of our “selves.” • Health involves a capacity for free choice and a capacity for relationship (for INDIVIDUALS) • AFRICAN VIEWS: same holistic view… but the COMMUNITY is sick and needs to be healed first

  19. Theme: Health & Healing (Pentecostal Charismatic; CDC) • Healing in Pentecostalism implies that salvation is not just a juridical solution to the guilt of sin (see Atonement #2), but also deliverance from physical oppression (see Atonement #1). • Healing as deliverance from an “evil power” (the disease; or evil spirit) that possesses the sick • The spiritual gift of healing through prayer is thus regarded as having been won by Christ in his death and resurrection.

  20. Theme: Health & Healing (Orthodox view; CDC) • Holistic healing, or attending to emotional, spiritual, and physical needs, began with early Christians. • faith expressed the instinctive quest of humans for wholeness through the divine • Faith as movement toward God (Problem = the disease sin separates us from God; Root Problem: lack of ability) • understanding of Christ’s mission as a healing ministry, delivering people from physical, mental, and spiritual suffering • Sin as a disease from which Christ heals us (see Atonement view # 1)

  21. Theme: Health & Healing (Pentecostal Charismatic; CDC) • Healing in Pentecostalism implies that salvation is not just a juridical solution to the guilt of sin (see Atonement #2), but also deliverance from physical oppression (see Atonement #1). • Healing as deliverance from an “evil power” (the disease; or evil spirit) that possesses the sick • The spiritual gift of healing through prayer is thus regarded as having been won by Christ in his death and resurrection.

  22. Theme: Salvation (CDC) • For most Christians, salvation suggests spiritual and future salvation – salvation from what separates people from God (sin and evil) and from the disastrous consequences of this separation (especially death). • More diversified in the Bible: • Salvation most generally refers to deliverance from this-worldly bondage, threats, danger, illness, or death • Deliverance from whatever endangers the existence or identity of a people, of a community, or of individuals • Deliverance from disease • although salvation also has spiritual and future dimensions.

  23. Theme: Salvation in NT Saved from what? (CDC) • The terms for salvation (related to the Gk verbs sozo,“save” and ruomai, “rescue,” and to “healing,” “exorcism,” and the “Kingdom of God”) • frequently refer to deliverance from physical threat (drowning, Matt 8:25, par.; shipwreck, Acts 23, 27, 28), death (Mark 5:23, 15:30–31), illness (Mark 5:28, 34), and demonic or satanic possession (Mark 1:34). • Salvation is both healing (from sin as disease) and deliveranceredemption from bondage to the pervasive power of evil (Matt 6:13, in the Lord’s Prayer) • Since sin involves separation from God, salvation is also a reconciliation with God conceived of as redemption (from the bondage to sin), healing, or forgiveness performed by Christ or God

  24. Theme: Salvation in NT State of Being Saved? (CDC) • Salvation is the restoration of the good life through healing, exorcism, or deliverance and includes for disciples participating in this salvation by addressing the needs of the poor, the oppressed, and victims of injustice (Matt 25:31–46) • Yet in NT salvation is primarily spiritual: an overcoming of the separation from God because, in Jesus, God is among us (“Emmanuel,” Matt 1:23) • In the Synoptic Gospels salvation involves “entering” the “Kingdom of God”, “accepting” it as a child would, and as “sit[ting]; a future Kingdom yet also a present Kingdom in Jesus’ ministry (and beyond). • Participation in the Kingdom is viewed as a deliverance at the Last Judgmentand entering into God’s presence for eternal life • But those who will be delivered are already delivered in the present(they “were saved” and thus “have salvation” . Now they are, at least partially, healed or freed from sin, bondage, captivity to Satan

  25. Theme: Salvation Orthodox, Charismatic, and Liberation Views • Salvation as healing from sin as a disease and underscores the positive effects of renewal through Christ: divine presence transforms human life; • salvation is not merely forgiveness, but primarily liberation of the human mind from delusion and the renewal of human nature by union with the God-man Christ, • Salvation is a process rather than a state, a spiritual struggle to be transformed into the image and likeness of God (Theosis) • Charismatic* Movement puts much emphasis on salvation from evil powers now as well as for eternal life. • For Liberation, Feminist, Womanist, and Christians who are marginalized and oppressed, the primary concern is with present-day salvation from oppression, poverty, and injustice; although eschatological salvation remains important.

  26. Theme: World = the culture in which people live • Christ against Culture. converts must choose either to follow Christ or to remain in the “evil world” or “paganism.” • Most missionaries from the North Atlantic to Africa presupposed this view, without acknowledging that for them Christianity was their own cultural and religious heritage. • In practice, portraying Christ as against culture puts in conflict the missionaries’ culture with the prospective converts’ culture and engenders serious social crisis. • The Christ of Culture. T he opposite end of the spectrum: Christ to be the “Son of God” and “Son of man” who comes to affirm the cultural and religious heritage of peoples. • The gospel is the fulfillment of culture, not a threat to it, as the Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5–7) exemplifies. • Christ, the “man for all cultures,” helps people discern and live according to God’s will in the context of their respective cultural traditions.

  27. Theme: World • Christ above Culture. a way of avoiding the conflict between the two preceding perspectives. Making a distinction between the heavenly and earthly cities (Augustine), Christianity becomes transcendentalist, concentrating on “salvation” in heaven and the future. • Christ and Culture in Paradox. another way of avoiding the conflict: Christ is both identified with and contrasted with culture. The church is in the world, though it is not of the world – the view of the Protestant Reformation, especially Luther. Who has the authority to decide the circumstances under which Christ is portrayed in support of or against culture?

  28. Theme: World • Christ the Transformer of Culture. According to this perspective, Christ makes all things new (Rev. 21:5). • Conversion is viewed as a challenge for converts to change their ways and become new beings. • Yet “transformation” presupposes that the earlier way of life is not abandoned; it is transformed through the adoption of new insights and commitments.

  29. Today • 3:10-4:10 Plenary Lecture • 4:10-5:10 Your Papers: Discussion Groups • Group 1G25, Leader 1: Minnie Murrell (19:27-30; 20:29-34) (Healing) • Leader 2 : Bryanna Jew (20:1-16) (salvation) • Group 2G26, Leader 1: Jon Snape (19:16-28) (wealth) • Leader 2: Taylor Schomp (19:16-30) (wealth) • Group 3G28 Leader 1: Michael Greer (19:16-30) (world & wordly desires); • Leader 2: John Wheeler (19:1-12) marriage • Plenary Session

  30. Today • 3:10-4:10 Plenary Lecture • 4:10-5:10 Your Papers: Discussion Groups • Group 1G25, Leader 1: Minnie Murrell (19:27-30; 20:29-34) (Healing) • Leader 2 : Bryanna Jew (20:1-16) (salvation) • Group 2G26, Leader 1: Jon Snape (19:16-28) (wealth) • Leader 2: Taylor Schomp (19:16-30) (wealth) • Group 3G28 Leader 1: Michael Greer (19:16-30) (world & wordly desires); • Leader 2: John Wheeler (19:1-12) marriage • Plenary Session

  31. Today • Group 1G25, Leader 1: Minnie Murrell (19:27-30; 20:29-34) (Healing) with ADRI BULLARD____EUGENE, KRISTIN KELLY, SKYLER HUTTO, CASEY KNORR • Leader 2 : Bryanna Jew (20:1-16) (salvation) with MEGAN YOHE______SAM MALLICK; GABE KING, SIYU WANG, LYDIA FULLER

  32. Today • Group 2G26, Leader 1: Jon Snape (19:16-28) (wealth) with CONRAD QUIROS______ • JAMES ARMES, BRYANT HOLT, JESSIE LIGHT, __CHADGURLEY____ • Leader 2: Taylor Schomp (19:16-30) (wealth) with SCOTT JAMIESON_______ • ANDREW SHEPHERD, ERIC BURTON-KRIEGER, JOHN SUK , ROBIN KNOX

  33. Today Group 3G28 • Leader 1: Michael Greer (19:16-30) (world & wordly desires); with SETH TERRELL • DAVID CHOI, BRENDA DURHAM, JILL BROWN _WHITNEY MITCHELL__ • Leader 2: John Wheeler (19:1-12) marriage with JAMES HENDRICKS______ • KYLE FROHOCK, MONICA WEBER, KRISTA WOLFE, JOEL FITZGERALD

  34. Back from Group: Leaders • What your theme? What is your particular view of your theme? • How did your respondents help you to recognize: • How your view of the Theme is related to your Text? • How your view of the Theme is related to your Context? • How your view of the Theme is related to your Teaching as embodying a particular role of Scripture?

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