Gnostics.

1 John 1.1-4.

Y’ever noticed somebody on the internet who claimed they knew stuff? Secret stuff? Stuff where, if you click on this link and read their blog, or buy this book, or watch this video, or attend this seminary, or buy any their other products, you too can learn these secrets?

• Better career, bigger income, more money, more leisure time?
• Better health? Conquering disease, especially without Big Pharma or the healthcare industry enriching themselves at your expense, or even maliciously keeping you sick?
• Better nutrition? All the stuff the food industry’s replaced with chemicals, or is manufacturing in substandard ways for a quick buck?
• More freedom?—’cause the government’s not telling you stuff, or big business doesn’t want you to know what rights they’re exploiting?
• Better sex?—which you don’t know about ’cause of various cultural taboos?
• Other secrets “they” don’t want you to know?

People love the idea of having exclusive information, of knowing stuff the general public doesn’t. And we’ll get really irritated “they” don’t want us to know such things. “How dare ‘they’ not want me to know about nutrition!” Plays right into all our paranoid fears about class warfare.

But hey, we frequently see Christians doing it too.

• God’s secret plan for your life!
• God’s hidden plans for the End!
• Mysteries of Ezekiel—revealed!
• Seventy-six promises of God “they” don’t want you to know!

How dare those [NOT-VERY-CHRISTIAN EXPLETIVE]s not want me to know God’s promises!

Okay, calm down there little buckaroo. Again, it’s about playing into people’s fears and the things we covet. It’s about trying to grab our attention with the word “secret,” or suggesting there’s forbidden knowledge which we really oughta have access to. You know, same as the serpent tempted Eve. It’s all clickbait.

And many of these things aren’t really secret. They’re just not widely known. Or they are widely known, but either you’ve never heard ’em before, or didn’t believe them (and still kinda don’t).

Problem is, often Christians will claim to have access to secret knowledge. And if you want those secrets, it’ll cost you.

Well, God’s about revelation, not secrets. He’s about sharing the mysteries of salvation and his kingdom to everyone with ears to hear. God wants everyone to know Jesus is Lord: Who he is, what he teaches, and how to follow him and be saved. Jesus told us to tell everyone: “Go make disciples of all the nations” and all that. Mt 28.19 “All nations” means all. (Of course if your ears are closed, that’s on you.)

Yet throughout human history, even predating the bible, there have been folks who specialize in secret knowledge. The Greek word for knowledge, γνῶσις/gnósis, is where we get our own word “know.” And if you’re someone who knows things, it means you’re a γνωστικός/gnostikós, a gnostic. (The opposite of agnostic, someone who’s entirely sure they don’t know things.) Today’s gnostics don’t always call themselves that, ’cause the word tends to only be used with religion (and agnostic with non-religion). Still, it’s the same idea.

Upbuilding takes priority over “freedom in Christ.”

Romans 14.19-23

Many a Christian likes to point to Romans 14 as the “freedom in Christ” chapter, and claim Paul therein teaches us we can do as we please so long that it doesn’t violate our consciences. And while that idea is certainly in there, it’s actually the opposite of what Paul’s trying to teach.

True, we’re free to do what doesn’t violate our consciences. But, more importantly, more the point of this chapter, we’re not free to do what violates others’ consciences. If they’re weak in faith, these things do violate their consciences. To their minds these things are sin. To their minds, when we exercise our “freedom in Christ” to do as we please in violation of their consciences, we’re sinning. To their minds, if we push them to do these things too—“Stop being such a spiritual baby and just eat and drink what I do”—we’re tempting them to sin. To their minds, if they listen to us, we got them to sin.

Their under-developed consciences are gonna bug them about it, and it’s gonna monkey with their Christian growth. They’re not gonna trust their consciences, instead of learning to hear the Holy Spirit through ’em. Rather than naturally move on to the next step, they’re gonna think every next step has to be offensive and uncomfortable—exactly like we made ’em feel by demanding they “grow up” too soon—and sometimes take “next steps” that don’t actually go in Jesus’s direction. Then live with those errors for a while… and hopefully realize they’re wrong and correct themselves, instead of leaping to the conclusion Christianity as a whole is wrong, and quit Jesus altogether.

Worst case, they’re gonna ditch all the Christians who are “leading them astray,” and go find a church full of fervent legalists who tell them yes, everything they believe is sin really is sin; plus hundreds of other things are sin, and the only safe thing they can do is give away all their possessions and move onto their compound and join their pastor’s harem. Yes of course I’m describing a cult. What’d you think the worst-case scenario was, apostasy? That’s awful too, but it’s actually not worst.

Ultimately this sort of callous disregard for newbies’ feelings tears them up, not builds them up, and Paul wants us to build one another up. As he says right here:

Romans 14.19-23 KWL

19So for peace, then,

we should also pursue building one another up.

20Don’t destroy God’s work over food!

“Everything is clean,”

but it’s evil for a person

to eat what trips them¹ up.

21It’s good to not eat meat

nor drink wine

nor whatever trips up your¹ fellow Christian,

{or makes them scandalized or sick.}

22You¹ have a belief of your¹ own:

Have it between yourself and God.

You who don’t condemn yourselves¹

for what you think is right

are awesome.

23One who still doubts it’s okay when they¹ eat,

was condemned because it’s not their belief.

Everything which isn’t their belief

is sin.

Instead of telling them, “Oh that’s not a sin; do it anyway” we need to recognize for them, for now, it is sin. And accommodate them, not mock them for their immaturity. Build them up till they can recognize on their own it’s not sin—not impatiently tell them, “You need to function on my level,” and ignore they’re not ready.

God’s kingdom is justice, peace, and joy. Not food.

Romans 14.14-18

There’s an American saying, “Don’t major in the minors,” which is actually not about baseball: It’s about how we mustn’t make a big deal out of irrelevant things. Minor issues shouldn’t take up the majority of our time and brainpower.

But all too often, they do. Happens in politics all the time. There’s an art form to it: Get everybody riled up about something which doesn’t actually matter, but really triggers people’s prejudices, and they won’t notice the more important problems which you’re not dealing with—or worse, causing.

In Romans 14 the particular issue is vegetarians versus omnivores. Ro 14.2 The issue wasn’t meat per se, but animals that had been ritually sacrificed to pagan gods, and their meat sold at discount, which helped fund the pagan temples. Certain Christians figured this meant the meat was now cursed, and they didn’t want their money going to support pagan worship, so they’d rather be vegetarian. Other Christians figured pagan gods aren’t real gods, 1Co 8.4 and if you bless God when you eat that meat, it’s all good.

People are still easily outraged by other people’s diets. I’ve known vegans who were offended by the existence of meat-eaters, and hunters who were offended by the existence of vegans. Not their bad behavior (and both groups can be mighty ill-behaved), their existence. They don’t want them to exist. They want everyone to be exactly like them, and if they refuse to conform, they must die. Well, not die; be force-fed nothing but meat, or nothing but vegetables. Make ’em violate their consciences in exactly the way Paul of Tarsus told the Romans not to. Ro 14.22-23

In today’s passage, Paul admits he’s in the omnivore camp. He has no problem with eating such meat. A steak is a steak; it’s all steak, so it’s all good. But—if you’re eating it to antagonize the vegetarians of your church, and show off your freedom of conscience and “freedom in Christ,” you’re being evil.

Likewise the vegetarians who get rid of all the meat in the dinner, and force the omnivores among them to eat like they do. Forcing others to be like you, instead of encouraging others to be like Jesus, is not Christian, no matter how Christian you might claim to be.

Romans 14.14-18 KWL

14I knew,

and was convinced by the Master Jesus,

that nothing is inherently unclean

unless someone reckons something to be unclean—

then it’s only unclean to that person.

15For if your¹ fellow Christian

is bothered by food,

you’re¹ no longer walking in love.

Don’t destroy that person over your¹ food!

Christ Jesus dies for them.¹

16So people mustn’t slander

your² good deeds,

17for God’s kingdom isn’t food and drink,

but justice and peace,

and joy in the Holy Spirit;

18for one who serves Christ Jesus in these things

is pleasing to God

and appreciated by people.

In either case, focusing on food, and what our fellow Christians should and shouldn’t be eating—especially during fast times, like Daniel fasts or Lent—is once again majoring in the minors. Our religious practices are not what’s important in Christianity. Our moral practices are.

God’s kingdom is exemplified by justice, peace, and joy. Which are best exhibited when we love one another. And love neighbors, enemies, pagans, heretics, and even antichrists. When we function as Jesus to them on his behalf. When we promote the kingdom through that behavior—not our condemnation, which is something Jesus himself refuses to practice. Jn 3.17

Each individual Christian answers to God.

Romans 14.10-13, Isaiah 45.18-25.

One of the many things about the ancients—and therefore the bible, ‘cause it’s ancient—which confuses Christians, especially kids, is the idea of collective guilt, collective responsibility, and collective punishment. Because it’s not how our culture works anymore. You don’t punish a whole family, a whole city, a whole state, a whole religion, a whole country, a whole ethnicity, for the acts of one person, or a few people. Isn’t that in fact a crime against humanity? A war crime? Doesn’t it violate the Geneva Convention?

You may not be aware the reason moderns think this way, is because Paul set the precedent right here in Romans 14: The idea God doesn’t judge entire people-groups, but individuals. The idea we individually stand before God, and have to individually answer for our sins and trespasses, and get individually rewarded or penalized for them. This idea is hinted at many times in the scriptures, but it’s spelled out pretty explicitly in today’s passage.

Thing is, the other idea—that you and I are part of a society, part of a collective, part of a tribe or nation or commonwealth, and if one of us sins we can bring down the whole—is all over the bible too. So much so, Christians will even claim it’s a biblical principle, and use it as the basis for some of their nationalist beliefs. And okay yes, it’s found in the bible… because it’s how the ancients thought. Doesn’t mean it’s how God thinks.

True, there are Old Testament passages where God punishes all Israel because the vast majority of the population is sinning themselves sticky. Yeah, sometimes he orders Israel or its judges to wipe out an entire Amorite city, including any children who might grow up and feel duty-bound to avenge their wicked forebears, because the city’s sins are just so vile. Collective guilt and punishment is found all over the bible. But those who are quick to condemn this behavior when they think God’s committing it, forget God frequently made exceptions to these genocidal-sounding orders. Like sparing Noah and his family when he flooded the land. Like sparing Rahab and her family when Israel wiped out Jericho. Like sparing Lot and his family when God poured burning sulfur upon Sodom. Repentant people got to live—in total violation of the “biblical principle” of collective guilt. Pagan kings would’ve spared no one. God spares lots of people.

Paul saw God’s tendency to judge individuals, not the collective, in the scriptures. Which is why he could confidently say the following when he corrected Roman Christians about criticizing one another, especially the weak in faith.

Romans 14.10-13 KWL

10You:¹ Why do you judge your¹ fellow Christian?

Or you¹ too: Why do you look down on your¹ fellow Christian?

For all of us will present ourselves before God’s judgment seat,

11for this was written:

“The Master says this: ‘I live.

Everyone will bend the knee to me.

Every tongue will confess God.’ ” Is 45.23

12Therefore each of us, by ourselves,

will give a word to God,

13so we should no longer judge one another.

Instead, judge this all the more:

Don’t place an obstacle before a fellow Christian,

nor something to trip them up.

’Cause you do realize some of the reason Christians are so adamant about condemning and penalizing every single misdeed, is this irrational, unjustified fear God’s gonna condemn the whole. I’ve heard so many Christian nationalists insist unless we ban this or that sin from the United States, God’s gonna smite our nation with the worst plagues and famines and natural disasters we’ve ever seen. (And that’s saying something, considering the Great Recession, the Covid pandemic, and the wreckage of the last 20 years of hurricanes.) But what’re they basing these worries on? Well, loopy End Times interpretations, plus the misbegotten belief God has some special covenant with the United States when he has no such thing. He only has a covenant with its Christians—and, as this passage plainly states, it’s with individual Christians.

Therefore neither the nationalists nor us have any basis for persecuting Christians who sin differently than we do. They individually answer to God. As do you. As do I. He knows whether we’ve been following Jesus, whether we’ve been listening to the Holy Spirit, whether we’ve behaved consistently with Jesus’s teachings and our consciences, and how much of it was earnest and how much was hypocrisy. He’s an absolutely fair judge; we are not, which is precisely why it’s not for us to judge. Work on yourself. And don’t trip others up.

Is Jesus your motive for what you believe?

Romans 14.5-9

Hopefully I’ve made it clear, in my articles for TXAB, that our religion oughta be Jesus; that if our practices, rituals, and beliefs don’t lead to a closer relationship with Christ Jesus, they gotta go. If they don’t encourage us in that direction, if we’re doing ’em because it’s our custom, or it’s what every other Christian claims they’re doing (although they might not really, ’cause they’re hypocrites), then our practices are dead religion. Again, they gotta go! But if they do help us follow Jesus, they’re living religion. Do ’em as long as they help. Drop them when they no longer help.

Not every Christian shares this mindset, which is why they don’t drop these practices once they stop working for them. They think the practices are their religion. Not Jesus. Not that Jesus isn’t there in their religion… somewhere. And they’ll insist Jesus is central to the religion. But the fact their religion includes, and requires, all these other things, means these things can take precedence over Jesus—and often do. And never should.

Paul of Tarsus makes this clear in today’s passage, using the examples of Christians who refuse to eat meat sacrificed to idols, and Christians who observe special days. To make it obvious what kind of day he’s writing about, I inserted the word holy where appropriate. “Holiday” for short, but no, he doesn’t mean vacation days—they’re for worship.

Romans 14.5-9 KWL

5Someone reckons a day as holy,

apart from the other days,

and another one reckons every day the same.

Each of you: Be fully convinced

in your own mind.

6One who observes a holy day

observes it for Master Jesus,

and one who eats everything

eats it for Master Jesus.

For they¹ give thanks to God.

And one who’s not eating everything,

doesn’t eat it for Master Jesus,

and also gives thanks to God.

7For none of you² live for yourself,¹

and no one dies by themselves.¹

8For when we live, we live for the Master,

and when we die, we die for the Master.

Whether we live and whether we die,

we exist for Master Jesus.

9This is why Christ Jesus dies and lives:

So he might rule over the dead and the living.

In the context of Christians who are weak in faith, Ro 14.1-4 it’s the weak in faith who need to practice veganism, who need special holy days as a reminder to follow Jesus. Once they’re more spiritually mature, they’re no longer gonna need these training wheels. Meanwhile, do as Paul advises: If you’re vegan, don’t denounce the omnivore; if you’re an omnivore, don’t mock the vegans. Love one another, dangit.

The weak-in-faith Christian.

Romans 14.1-4, 22-23.

Sometimes I’m asked about a certain topic. Recently it was about Romans 14, and I figured that’s a discussion which needs something far more than a short answer. Christians use this chapter in a number of ways; typically to fight whatever they describe as legalism and hypocrisy, whether it’s actually those things or not.

The chapter begins by Paul introducing his audience—the Christians of the city of Rome, a city he’s not yet visited, though he knows a number of its denizens—to the concept of the weak-in-faith Christian. It’s one a lot of Christians skim over, ’cause we’re too busy preaching on legalism and hypocrisy. But it’s an important concept, so let’s take a minute to look at it closely. To the scriptures!

Romans 14.1-4 KWL

1Take in the weak-in-faith Christian,

not the argument-starting Christian.

2One person believes they¹ can eat everything,

and one weak-in-faith person only eats vegetables.

3You who eat everything:

Don’t scorn the one who doesn’t eat!

And you who don’t eat:

Don’t condemn the one who eats!

For God accepts them,¹

4and who are you¹ to judge another’s servant?

They¹ stand or fall

before their own master,

and they¹ will stand up

because their¹ Master can make them stand.

Lemme start by defining weakness in the faith, and I’ll define it the way Paul does at the end of this chapter.

Romans 14.22-23 KWL

22You¹ have a belief of your¹ own:

Have it between yourself and God.

You who don’t condemn yourselves¹

for what you think is right

are awesome.

23One who still doubts it’s okay when they¹ eat,

was condemned because it’s not their belief.

Everything which isn’t their belief

is sin.

Being weak in faith is not, as some Christians claim, the same thing as being new in the Christian faith. That’s a teaching I’ve heard from time to time—that these folks are weak in faith because they’re new in faith; they haven’t followed Jesus long enough to learn to be strong in faith. ’Tain’t necessarily so. I’ve known longtime Christians who are extremely weak in faith. We’re meant to grow out of it, but some of us haven’t, and at this rate never will.

What Paul’s talking about are people whose consciences won’t let them do things. That’s actually true of all of us: My conscience tells me I shouldn’t steal. So does the bible; so do the laws of California and the United States, and most countries. But what decisively gets me to not rob people is, of course, my conscience. If my conscience didn’t have any problem with it—if I thought theft was okay under certain circumstances, or that I’m somehow an exception and it’s okay for me—I might steal. Might steal a lot; theft is way easier to get away with than most other crimes. Those of you with consciences which forbid stealing, might call me a sociopath, and you’d be right if I took thievery so lightly. But as you can see, most of us have consciences which forbid the things most folks consider sin. We were raised to not sin; to recognize these sins seriously disrupt the social order; to believe God strongly disapproves. Our consciences were well-trained.

But the weak in faith: These are the people whose consciences are extra restrictive. They believe more things are probably sins. They believe there are many things Christians are forbidden to do. Not just stuff in the bible, either: Christians should do all that too, but we should also abstain from loads of things. No swearing. No drinking. No gambling. No popular music. No movies other than G-rated Disney fairy tales. No being alone with an unrelated member of the other sex. No voting for the opposition party. No, no, no—not just for them, but for any Christian, and if you do ’em you’re probably not Christian.

Yep, weak-in-faith Christians are what we’d call legalists. These folks don’t entirely trust we’re saved by grace, and focus a little too much on works righteousness.

And Paul tells us not to scorn them. Which, y’might notice, is what non-legalists typically do. Quite often we quote Romans 14 when we’re doing it. “But why dost thou judge thy brother?” Ro 14.10 KJV we’ll say, to condemn the legalists… and ignore how, in context, the verse specifically addresses us non-legalists, who are judging them for judging us, and think Paul wrote Romans 14 because he has our back. He does not. He’s telling us to stop sticking stumbling blocks in front of the legalists, Ro 14.13 because they are the weak in faith.

The non-legalists? Strong in faith. They’re not so tempted to sin, they need a few thousand bonus rules, just in case. Legalists? Super tempted. Rules against swearing because they’d swear their heads off if they could. Rules against drinking because they’d get alcohol poisoning every night if unrestricted. Rules against gambling because they’d leave every casino not just penniless, but butt naked with their thumbs broken. They can’t be trusted to be good without a ton of rules. Too immature.

And we who are strong in faith, need to have their back. So stop condemning them and help these weak sisters and brothers out!

Suffering for goodness.

1 Peter 4.1-6.

You remember in 1 Peter 3.18, Simon Peter wrote, “Christ Jesus once also suffered for sins… so that he could bring us to God, putting us to death in the flesh and making us alive in the Spirit.” (My translation.) In today’s passage he bounces back to that idea. Jesus suffered, and in so doing conquered sin.

And y’know, if we suffer, we can kinda conquer sin:

1 Peter 4.1-6 KWL

1So, about Christ suffering in the flesh:

Prepare yourselves² as well with the same mindset.

For one who suffers in the flesh prevents sin;

2is no longer into human desires,

but the rest of the time they’re in the flesh,

is into God’s will.

3The past was plenty of time

to achieve the desires of gentiles—

living in unchastity, lust, drunkenness,

partying, drinking, breaking the law for idols.

4They’re surprised you don’t join them in these things;

in the same flood of indecency as they,

slandering you.

5They will give an account

to the One who has to judge the living and dead,

6This is why the dead are preached to:

Though they are judged by human flesh,

they may yet live by God’s Spirit.

Now yes, there are certain Christians who take this idea “One who suffers in the flesh prevents sin” in verse 1, and put it into practice in very unreasonable ways. They look for ways to suffer. They figure “Suffering builds character,” so they set out to do things in the most challenging, backwards, wasteful, ridiculous ways. They put up with abuse, instead of resisting it or getting their abusers rightly prosecuted, because they think they’re meant to suffer. They deprive themselves of healthy things, and fast way longer than is medically safe. They reject medical treatment and ordinary comforts. They whip and cut themselves. They seek out the sort of people who would murder them, because they want to be martyred.

Christians have been doing this stuff throughout Christian history. And unless they were following the explicit orders of the Holy Spirit, they were wrong to do it. Yes, life is suffering, but Jesus has conquered the world, Jn 16.33 and there’s no reason for us to suffer unnecessarily. There’s plenty enough suffering in our lives! Family and friends die, accidents and disasters happen, we lose money, we lose our health. There’s lots we can’t prevent—without adding more to it, just because we’ve fooled ourselves into thinking random suffering makes us righteous.

In context, Peter is writing about the pushback his audience got from pagans who couldn’t understand why they were no longer living like pagans—who could no longer even condone pagan behavior.

Preaching to the spirits in prison.

1 Peter 3.19-22.

Today’s passage confuses Christians because it refers to Jewish mythology, and most Christians know nothing about Jewish mythology. (Nor Jewish history, nor the Old Testament, but that’s a whole other—and far more important—issue.) Simon Peter grew up hearing about Jewish mythology, and the people who read his letter likely heard of it too, so they knew what he was talking about. Us, not so much.

Problem is, not all the ancient Christians knew of it. Gentiles hadn’t. Gentiles knew pagan mythology; they grew up in pagan culture, so they knew the stories of Zeus, Hermes, Apollo, Hades, and Zeus’s half-human, half-divine offspring like Perseus and Herakles. They also knew how to make up mythology… and that’s what they did with this passage. This is where several popular Christian myths come from.

One of the most popular is “the harrowing of hell,” as some Christians call it. It’s a story about how Jesus, after he died but before he was resurrected, went into the “prison” of the afterlife, and preached the gospel to “the spirits in prison.” Apparently the Old Testament saints were there, like Jesus’s ancestors Abraham and David; apparently, because Jesus hadn’t yet died for the sins of humanity, they had to be there, to suffer for their sins. But now Jesus had died for them. And once these saints eagerly accepted Jesus as Lord (’cause of course they would; everybody the ancient Christians considered a hero of the faith would) he freed them from prison, and took ’em with him to heaven. So they’re in heaven now. It’s why Orthodox Christians now call them saints (i.e. St. Abraham, St. David) although for some odd reason, even though they do believe these guys are in heaven now, Roman Catholics don’t.

Yeah, you’ve probably heard the “harrowing of hell” story, in one form or another. Doesn’t come from bible. Doesn’t come from this passage either, although many a Christian has pointed to it and claimed our myth is based on it. Nope; this passage isn’t about our myth; it’s about the Jews’ myth.

I’ll quote the passage first, then get to the myth.

1 Peter 3.19-22 KWL

19The One going to the spirits in prison

also preaches by the Spirit

20to those who’d been disobedient

when, in Noah’s days,

God’s patience was eagerly awaiting

the box’s preparation,

in which few—eight lives, that is—

escaped through water.

21Which now corresponds to you² also—

how baptism saves.

Not by removing dirt from flesh,

but a response to God,

in good conscience;

through Christ Jesus’s resurrection,

22who is at God’s right hand,

gone to heaven,

angels, authorities, and powers

submitted to him.

Good behavior is part of our ready defense.

1 Peter 3.15-18.

As I said in my previous piece on 1 Peter 3.15, Christian apologists love this verse because they figure it justifies everything they do to “defend” Christianity by arguing in its favor. Nevermind the fact argumentativeness is a work of the flesh; they’re doing it for Jesus, so that makes it righteous.

But when we keep reading 1 Peter 3, you’ll notice it’s not to be done argumentatively. We’re to keep things civil. Respectful. Gentle—with our emotions in check, because it’s a proper fruit of the Spirit, and actually righteous.

We’re not to resort to the misbehavior of fleshly Christians and pagans, who care far more about winning than behaving themselves and being truthful. They’re gonna violate their consciences, ’cause they’re willing to do what they know is the wrong thing—manipulate and cherry-pick data, try to get one’s emotions to override facts, insist their opponents listen to them instead of listening to the Spirit. Roman rhetoricians did all that stuff when they debated, because they sought to win no matter what. But it does matter how we defend ourselves. Still gotta avoid fraud, untruth, anger, and sin.

And if we’ve done that, our opponents can’t point to our misbehavior and use it to justify dismissing us. See?—goodness has its advantages. As Simon Peter pointed out.

1 Peter 3.15-18 KWL

15Sanctify Christ the Lord in your² minds,

always ready with a defense

for everyone who asks you² for a word

about the hope in you.

16But do it with gentleness and respect,

having a good conscience,

so when you’re² spoken about,

those who verbally abuse your² good lifestyle

might be disgraced.

17For, God willing, doing good is better

than to suffer for evildoing,

18because Christ Jesus once also suffered for sins—

the just for the unjust—

so that he could bring us to God,

putting us to death in the flesh

and making us alive in the Spirit.

Be good to one another.

1 Peter 3.8-15.

Simon Peter starts today’s passage with τὸ τέλος/to télos, “The last [thing],” but there’s two more chapters in his letter. How is this his last thing? Well it’s the last of his instructions to his readers about how we oughta live as Christians.

Scholars call these types of instruction “household codes,” but they’re not properly codes—meaning a list of laws one has to live under—so much as the right attitudes one should have when living under a patriarchal environment. You remember Peter began by addressing how people should live under Roman government, then how slaves and servants oughta be, then how wives and husbands oughta be. Some of these “household codes” also include instructions to the children of the family, but Peter doesn’t do that. Paul does. Ep 6.1-3, Cl 3.20

So this’d be the last part of Peter’s code—how Christians in general oughta be with one another.

1 Peter 3.8-15 KWL

8The last thing:

Everyone ought to be united,

sympathetic, loving one’s family,

compassionate, humble-minded.

9Not returning evil for evil,

nor insult for insult.

On the contrary, blessing,

because you’re² called for this reason—

so you² might inherit a blessing.

10For “One wanting to love life,

and to see good days:

Stop the tongue from evil,

and the lips from speaking deceit.

11Turn away from evil. Do good.

Seek peace and pursue it.

12Because the Lord’s eyes are on the right-minded,

and his ears are for their request,

and the Lord’s face is on evildoers.” Ps 34.12-16

13When you² become zealous to do good,

who will harm you²?

14But if you suffer for righteousness,

you’re awesome.

“Don’t be afraid of their fear,

nor should you² be bothered.” Is 8.12

15Sanctify Christ the Lord in your² minds,

always ready with a defense

for everyone who asks you² for a word

about the hope in you.

“Wives, be subject to your husbands.”

1 Peter 3.1-7.

Just after Simon Peter addresses how household servants oughta live under difficult masters, next he deals with how wives oughta live under difficult husbands. And again, he’s speaking to people in a different culture, in the Roman Empire, where women lacked rights and couldn’t always escape their tyrannical spouses. They’d be suffering in the very same way a slave would under a despotic master. Does God care about them too, and have grace for them too? Of course he does.

And of course tyrannical spouses misuse this passage, and claim it justifies all their evil. It does not. Plenty of other scriptures warn ’em God doesn’t approve. Peter warns ’em too, in verse 7. In no way does any part of this passage negate those other passages, and in no way should you trust any pastor who suggests otherwise.

1 Peter 3.1-7 KWL

1Likewise you² women submitting

to your² own men

—and if a certain man doesn’t obey the word,

perhaps they’ll be won over without the word

through the lifestyle of their women,

2seeing their holy lifestyle

in fear.

3About them:

Don’t be externally like the world—

with elaborately braided hair,

decorated with gold,

or dressing in conspicuous clothing.

4Instead be like a private, thoughtful person,

looking into the incorruptible things

of a gentle, quiet spirit,

who is precious in God’s sight.

5For holy women who hope in God

lived this way at some point,

arranging themselves in submission

to their own men,

6like Sarah listened to Abraham

and calls him Master.

You² who do good deeds are her daughters,

and aren’t afraid of anything startling.

7You² men likewise—

living with your² women

with the understanding

that they’re like a weak utensil;

showing them honor

like they’re your² fellow heirs of living grace

—lest your² prayers be cut off.

I should remind you: Most bibles tend to translate women and men (Greek γυναῖκες/yinékes and ἄνδρες/ándres) as “wives” and “husbands.” Contextually, that’s usually what the New Testament authors meant. But not always. A patriarch was responsible for all the women of his house, whether they were married to him or not; this’d include unmarried sisters and daughters, widowed mothers-in-law, and any other family members under his protection, and of course household servants and slaves. They’d also be “his” women—and for the women, he’d be “their” man. They wouldn’t be married; they’d be in no sexual relationship (or at least they really ought not be!) but as the ruler of the family, they were expected to heed his authority and wisdom, and he was expected to take them into consideration and not act unilaterally. Did they always do this? Nah. Hence Peter’s need to remind ’em to do so.

Like most people dictating their letters, Peter uses some run-on sentences, out-of-place clauses, and forgets to use verbs. Makes translation and interpretation tricky—but not impossible! What he’s basically saying is: Christian women, be a good devout example for your crummy men. They may not listen to God’s word, but maybe despite this, they’ll listen to you; they’ll respect you, and be won over by your Christlike behavior. Hey, it’s been known to happen!

“Servants, be subject to your masters.”

1 Peter 2.18-25.

So here’s a passage which has been regularly misinterpreted and abused by people who want employees, subordinates, “servants,” and slaves to unquestioningly obey their masters. Whenever they wanted a proof text that’d get people to shut up and permit their own exploitation, they’d quote 1 Peter, and claim Simon Peter endorses their despotism. After all, the word the KJV translates “master” in verse 18 is literally δεσπόταις/despótes… so apparently Peter was fully aware these people were living under tyrants, and it was okay with him.

It wasn’t, and I’ll explain. First, the passage.

1 Peter 2.18-25 KWL

18Those of a household submitting

in all fear, to the boss—

not only to the good and reasonable bosses,

but also the crooked ones—

19this receives grace,

if it’s because of an awareness of God

when someone who is wrongfully suffering

undergoes grief.

20For how is it glory

if sinners will undergo being beaten?

But if do-gooders will undergo suffering,

this receives grace from God.

21For this is why you² are called;

for Christ also suffers for you² all,

leaving you² an example

so you² might follow his steps—

22Christ who “doesn’t sin,

nor is deceit found in his mouth.” Is 53.9

23Christ who, being disrespected, doesn’t disrespect back;

suffering, doesn’t threaten back;

he yields to the Righteous Judge.

24Christ who “bears our sins himself,” Is 53.4

in his body, on the wooden cross,

so people, dying to our sins,

might live for righteousness.

“You’re² cured by his wounds.” Is 53.5

25You’re² “like straying sheep,” Is 53.6

but now you² return to the shepherd,

and the supervisor of your² souls.

We have to remember there’s a cultural context Simon Peter is dealing with. He didn’t write to the 21st-century United States; and if you’re not from the States he didn’t write to you either. His letter was for first-century eastern Romans. These people practiced a form of patriarchy—the paterfamilias, the head of the family, functioned like the king of the family, and largely had the power of life and death over everyone in it.

Obviously this includes slaves, but you might not be aware it also includes kids: Roman fathers could kill their children. Yes, this includes their adult children. Not for just any reason; he had to justify it to Roman society, but there were many reasons Romans would consider totally valid, such as defying or shaming one’s parents. Yep: Embarrass your dad, and he might have you whacked.

If you’ve ever seen movies and TV about Italian organized crime, like The Godfather or The Sopranos, there are a lot of similarities; these mobsters like to imagine themselves as modern-day Romans, and deliberately mimic Roman patriarchy. So, much like you can’t easily extract yourself from a mob entanglement, it was extremely hard to get out from under a Roman patriarch.

Don’t needlessly provoke your government.

1 Peter 2.13-17.

First I wanna remind you Simon Peter, when commanded by the Judean senate to shut up about Christ Jesus and how they had him killed, informed them, “We ought to obey God rather than men.” Ac 5.29 KJV Then two decades later, he wrote the following passage in 1 Peter:

1 Peter 2.13-17 KWL

13{So} submit yourselves² to every human institution,

because of the Master—

whether to kings,

to authority figures like kings;

14whether to leaders,

to agents sent by them to punish evildoers

and to praise those who do good.

15For this is God’s will:

Those who do good are to silence

the ignorance of foolish people.

16Be like freemen—

not like those looking for an excuse for evil,

but like God’s slaves.

17Treat everyone with respect.

Love the Christian brotherhood.

Reverently fear God.

Respect the king.

There are two ways I’ve seen people tackle this passage. More often it’s the folks who insist, “This passage tells us to obey our leaders, our institutions, and our elders”—and never notice this therefore creates a massive discrepancy between the Simon Peter who write this, and the Simon Peter who stood up to the Judean senate and told them he couldn’t obey them. I’ve pointed this out to these people, and it makes ’em hem and haw for a minute, as they’re desperately trying to think up a quick ’n dirty way out of this new bible difficulty I’ve presented them. Relax; it’s not a bible difficulty. They’re just interpreting 1 Peter wrong.

Then there are the folks who ignore it entirely. Most of ’em haven’t even read the letters of Simon Peter, though they will quote ’em to proof-text their favorite End Times beliefs. They might know this passage, but they hand-wave it away, and do as they please—and don’t respect human institutions. Don’t respect the government. Don’t respect federal and state agents, don’t respect cops and the military, don’t respect elected representatives. To them, government is bad, and anyone who works for the government is bad. And they might believe this for religious reasons—iike certain Mennonites, Quakers, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and the Nation of Islam, who believe human governments are forms of treason against God’s kingdom and Jesus’s reign. (Well, not the Muslims, who believe Jesus doesn’t reign till his second coming.) But most of the folks I know, believe this for libertarian reasons: Human governments are usurpations of their reign. They believe they are sovereign, and answer to no one.

Neither of them is correct. Neither misinterpretation, nor no interpretation, is the way to go. The ancient biblical worldview is that God rules all… but God allows humans to set up our own little kingdoms for the sake of law and order. and approves of them when we do right, and doesn’t approve—and sometimes intervenes, and has ’em overthrown—when we don’t. And, contrary to Christian nationalists, God doesn’t need them to be Christian or Israeli to get his approval. You do realize every human government outside of ancient Israel was neither Christian nor Israeli?—and that most governments on earth today are neither? But if they’re just, and stop evildoers from murder and theft and exploiting the weak, God’s usually okay with them. Someday Jesus will overthrow them all, but for now, they can do their thing.

The Roman Empire and Judean senate of Peter’s day were none of those things, and the United States federal government of our day is none of those things. God help us all. But that’s the proper historical context of this scripture. We gotta take that into consideration when we interpret it. Peter’s not writing about obeying a righteous government, nor only obeying a righteous government, nor obeying an unrighteous pagan government. But we do have to take our governments into consideration when we live under them. And that, not blind obedience, is what submission is actually about.

The new people of God.

1 Peter 2.9-12.

Passages like the section of 1 Peter I’m analyzing today, tend to get quoted by people who wanna preach replacement theology, the belief Israel is no longer God’s chosen people, ’cause he ditched them because they rejected their Messiah. It’s not a belief consistent with the scriptures, ’cause God never ditched ancient Israel. He may have let the Assyrians and Babylonians conquer them, but he stuck with them regardless. Yes, after they rejected Jesus, he let the Romans conquer them. Yet he still hasn’t ditched them. Still wants to save them. Still wants to be their God, and they his people.

But—so long that we continue to abide in Christ, y’know, Jn 15.4 God also considers us Christians his people. A new people, bonded to him by his new covenant. Simon Peter applies some of the covenant-language of the Old Testament, previously applied to Israel, to us Christians. Not because those Old Testament passages were prophesying about Christendom; they weren’t. They’re absolutely about ancient Israel. But when we come out of the darkness and into God’s light, we become like ancient Israel, and discover our relationship with God looks like everything he promised their relationship with him coulda been—and could still be!—had they only followed him.

1 Peter 2.9-12 KWL

9All of you² “chosen generation,” Is 43.20

you² “kingdom of priests

and holy nation,” Ex 19.6

you* “people I preserve” Is 43.21

exist so the virtues might be made known

of the One calling you² out of darkness

into his wonderful light.

10 Previously not a people,

and now God’s people.

Previously not shown grace,

and now you² were shown grace.

11Beloved, I encourage you² all,

like foreigners and refugees,

to stay away from fleshly desires—

whatever wages war with the soul—

12having your² way of life among the gentiles

be better so that,

though they speak ill of you² like criminals,

yet still seeing your² good deeds,

might glorify God on Judgment Day.

There are a lot of similarities between Christians and the ancient Hebrews. Previously they lived in darkness; they weren’t really a people-group; they were slaves in Egypt until the LORD rescued them. Christians, in comparison, before we turned to Jesus, were slaves to sin. God had to rescue us, same as he rescued the Hebrews—and wants to lead us towards a glorious destiny, same as he intended for the Hebrews.

If only we’d continue to follow him. Too many of us really don’t, give in to our fleshly desires, 1Pe 2.11 and hypocritically pretend that’s okay; we’ve got grace now! That’s gonna have consequences. Peter doesn’t get into that, but I remind you to learn the lesson from Israel’s bad example. There but for God’s grace go we.

Peter writes of Jesus our rock.

1 Peter 2.1-8.

Simon bar Jonah’s nickname ܟ݂ܺܐܦ݂ܳܐ/Kifá (Greek Κηφᾶς/Kifás, “Cephas”) comes from the Syriac and Hebrew word for rock. Jesus even uses a little wordplay with it: “That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church…” Mt 16.18 KJV The name “Peter” is from the Greek translation of his nickname, Πέτρος/Pétros, which also means rock.

Some Christians claim Peter’s name actually means “pebble.” The more common word for rock in ancient Greek is πέτρα/pétra (yes, like the Christian band), and supposedly the masculine form of this word, pétros means a small rock, while a pétra is more of a boulder-sized one. I don’t now who invented this story, but it’s rubbish; both words mean rock. Besides, Jesus spoke Syriac and gave Simon a Syriac nickname, and Kifá means rock. Jn 1.42 That’s that.

No we don’t know why Jesus gave him that name. Some Christians speculate it’s because—and only because—of Jesus’s line about building his church upon Peter. Other guesses come from all the reasons we’d name somebody “Rock,” or refer to them as “my rock”—they’re big and strong, or they’re stable individuals. Peter wasn’t all that stable when he first followed Jesus, but Christians imagine that’s just because he was young; he grew into that. Maybe so. Again, lots of speculation.

Interestingly, in today’s passage of Peter’s first letter, we see Peter write about how Jesus is his rock. And of course ours.

1 Peter 2.1-8 KWL

1So be rid of every evil,

every trick, hypocrisy, and jealousy,

every evil talk;

2crave reasonable, pure milk

like newborn infants,

so by it you² might grow into salvation,

3if you² taste that the Master is gracious.

4Come to the Master,

a valuable living stone

which was rejected by people

and elected by God,

5Like living stones yourselves²,

you’re² being built into a Spirit-led house,

into a holy priesthood

to offer Spirit-led sacrifices

received by God through Christ Jesus.

6For this reason this is in the scripture:

“Look, I put a stone in Zion,

a valuable, chosen cornerstone.

One who believes in him

ought not be ashamed.” Is 28.16

7So, value to you² who believe.

To unbelievers, “the stone the builders reject:

This becomes the foundation stone,” Ps 118.22

8and “a stumbling block,

an offending rock.” Is 8.14

The apostle Peter and the prophet Isaiah.

1 Peter 1.22-25, Isaiah 40.6-8.

Simon Peter, in his first letter, is addressing Jewish Christians (and obviously any gentiles who worship along with them) scattered throughout what’s now northern Türkiye. His first chapter mainly greets them, reminds them what Christ Jesus does for them, and in today’s passage he commends them for being good Christians—for legitimately loving one another. And throws in an Isaiah quote while he’s at it.

Here’s the passage:

1 Peter 1.22-25 KWL

22You² purified your² souls

by obeying the truth,

in brotherly love—

not insincere,

and out of a pure heart.

Fervently love one another!

23—you² who were born again,

not from corruptible seed

but incorruptible,

through God’s living, abiding word,

24 for “All flesh is like hay,

and all its glory, like a hayflower.

Hay dries.

A flower falls off.

25The Lord’s word

abides in the age to come.” Is 40.6-8

This is the word

evangelized to you² all.

And here’s the Isaiah passage Peter quotes. It comes right after the “voice in the wilderness calls out, ‘Clear the way for the LORD’” part Is 40.3-5 which John the baptist quoted. It’s a passage about the coming of God’s kingdom.

Isaiah 40.6-8 KWL

6There’s a voice saying, “Call out!”

and he says, “What am I calling out?”

“All the flesh is grass.

All its love is like a flower in the field.

7Grass withers.

A flower wilts when the LORD’s wind blows on it.

Certainly ‘grass’ describes the people.

8Grass withers and a flower wilts;

our God’s word stands, for eternity.”

There’s a little wordplay going on in Isaiah when God (who has the red-letter parts) says a flower wilts “when the LORD’s wind blows on it”—the word for wind, יְהוָ֖ה/ruákh, can also mean “spirit,” and the LORD’s Spirit is of course the Holy Spirit. The Spirit could wither a person if he so chooses, but this passage isn’t about judgment; it’s about God’s דְבַר/devár, “word,” which both the Septuagint and Peter translates as ῥῆμα/ríma, “word”—the messages he gave Moses and the prophets—standing until עוֹלָֽם/olám, the vanishing point, till we can’t see any further; basically forever.

The meaningless lifestyle of heritage.

1 Peter 1.17-21.

One of the odd things about Christianity is we’re meant to follow Jesus… but nearly every Christian, and nearly all our churches, act like we’re meant to follow Christian tradition.

I’m not knocking Christian tradition… well okay, I’m not knocking certain Christian traditions. There’s a whole lot of good stuff we’ve been given by previous generations of devout followers of Jesus. They made an effort to get to know our Lord, taught a lot of useful lessons, and gave us a lot of practical stuff we can use so we can get to know our Lord. Why reinvent the wheel when we pretty much have a forest of wheels available?

But of course too many Christians would have us fixate on the stuff instead of Jesus himself. Because we can manipulate the stuff. But Jesus doesn’t bend.

The ancients had a similar problem: Lots of traditions they inherited from their forebears. You had Pharisees, the devout Jews who established synagogues wherever they could throughout the Roman Empire—which the apostles regularly visited so they could tell the Jews about their Messiah, Jesus, and how his kingdom has come near. You also had Greco-Roman pagans (or in Africa, Greco-Egyptian pagans) who had their own national myths, which claimed they were a great people with great gods, and you’d better follow those gods lest they be displeased.

You have all these people-groups with all these great heritages. And Jesus disrupts all of that, and tells us nope; now we’re his people. Ditch that ethnic pride; his kingdom is multiethnic and excludes no one. Ditch that “noble history” …which, let’s be honest, consists of a lot of fabrications, mythology, and whitewashing. (True, the Old Testament tells ancient Israel’s story, warts ’n all, but if you ever read Flavius Josephus’s Antiquities, you can see a bunch of that whitewashing right there. Every ancient culture did that. And if you read any grade-school American history textbook, you’ll see we totally do it too.)

Simon Peter calls all that stuff ματαίας/mataías, “empty, profitless, meaningless.” That’s what the ancient Christians left behind. Rightly so! We’re not trying to establish a new great people, a mighty Christian nation, which needs its own traditions and myths and heritage. We point to Jesus. We just live out our lives as best we can, scattered throughout the kingdoms of this world like Diaspora Jews, and let him worry about empire-building. We just follow him.

And we beware anyone who tries to establish any “Christian kingdom” in which Jesus is not physically standing upon the earth to rule it himself.

1 Peter 1.17-21 KWL

17And if you² call upon the Father,

who impartially judges each person by their work,

behave yourselves² with reverent fear

during the time of your² sojourn—

18knowing it’s not the perishable,

not silver nor gold,

by which you² were ransomed

from your² meaningless lifestyle of “heritage,”

19but precious blood,

like an unblemished lamb;

and spotless Christ.

20Foreknown even before the world’s founding,

and made known in the last times

because of you²—

21because of believers in God,

who raised Jesus from the dead

and gives him glory

so your² belief and hope are to be in God.

Study the prophets and be holy.

1 Peter 1.10-16.

There are a few popular, but greatly mistaken, Christian beliefs which Simon Peter debunks in today’s portion of his first letter. The first is obviously that we don’t need the Old Testament ’cause we have the New; that the only things we need to study are in the New Testament, and the Old is out of date, or even nullified.

The second is that the Old Testament prophets only prophesied about the events of their day. That whenever we say, “This Old Testament passage is clearly a Messianic prophecy,” we’re taking the passage out of context, because the OT prophet was only speaking of the king of Jerusalem in his day; he wasn’t at all thinking of the Messiah to come, the King of Kings, our Lord Jesus. We’re just reading Christian beliefs and wishes into his statements, instead of looking at the author’s actual intent.

Peter reveals nope, the Old Testament prophets were speaking of Jesus… because the Holy Spirit who inspired the prophets, is the very same Spirit of Christ who empowers us. These prophets foresaw, to varying degrees, a coming Messiah whose rule would never end. They wanted to know about him; they asked the Spirit about him; they foretold him because the Spirit answered some of their questions. Yes, they were totally talking about the events of their day, and totally speaking to the people of their day, but they still foretold of Christ Jesus, and the salvation he’d bring the world.

And this, among other things, is why we need to study the Old Testament—or “the Prophets,” as Jesus and the people of his day called the portions of the bible written after the Law of Moses. You want a greater picture of who Jesus is, and what he came to earth to do? Yeah, you read the New Testament; of course. But you also look at what the Spirit said through the Old Testament prophets.

1 Peter 1.10-16 KWL

10The Prophets search for and study this salvation—

those who prophesy of the grace God grants you²,

11these investigators making clear what or when

the Spirit of Christ within them foretells

of Christ’s sufferings

and the glories after that.

12This is revealed to the prophets—

not just to themselves;

they minister these things to you².

They’re proclaimed to you²

by those who share the gospel with you

empowered by the heaven-sent Holy Spirit.

God’s messengers set their hearts

upon looking into these things.

13So buckle up your² minds,

sober up,

and trust till the end

in the grace being brought to you²

in Christ Jesus’s revelation.

14Be like obedient children,

not falling back on your² former ignorance and desires,

15but according to the holy One who calls you².

Become holy yourselves², in every way of life.

16This is why it’s written,

“You² will be holy because I am holy.” Lv 11.44

I should note: In verse 12 I translated ἄγγελοι/ángeli, which is typically translated “angels,” by its literal meaning “messengers.” Popular Christian culture likes to claim the Holy Spirit revealed the mysteries of Jesus and salvation to us Christians, but not to the angels, even though they totally yearned to know it. Thing is, there’s no legitimate biblical basis for this belief; just misinterpreted verses. In fact the angel Gabriel totally knew about these things—and Gabriel’s the one who shared some of it with the prophets Daniel, Zechariah, and Mary. This angel knew the mysteries first; I wouldn’t be at all surprised if all of ’em knew it first. After all, darn near all of them appeared to the shepherds to announce our Savior had been born.

Anyway, for this reason I’m pretty sure Peter meant any messenger of God should wanna look into these things, whether angels or humans. You should wanna know. Every Christian should! So, as Peter continues in verse 13, buckle up!

Simon Peter and the kingdom we inherit.

1 Peter 1.1-9.

Simon Peter wrote a few letters before his death under Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus in the 60s. We have two of ’em in the New Testament—one which he wrote to the Christians of what is now Türkiye, and another which he wrote to Christians in general.

Some commentators think he wrote his letters under persecution, and some think he wrote ’em before. And of course that’s seriously gonna influence the way we interpret the letter. When Peter writes about “the testing of your faith” in verse 7 of today’s passage, we’re gonna wonder whether he’s writing about the usual difficulties of daily life in a largely pagan culture… or whether he’s writing about full-on tribulation, as the Romans tried to round up people whom they thought were terrorists. Nero blamed the Great Fire of Rome in 64 on them, and hunted them down like ICE hunts immigrants; to put ’em in island concentration camps like he did John, or to execute them like he eventually did Peter.

I mean, 1 Peter can be applicable in both situations—under life’s usual trials, or under a fascist purge. Most scriptures are flexible like that. But we don’t know which of the two the west Asian Christians were going through, and I’m gonna presume Peter wrote it before the persecutions… otherwise there’d be way more about persecution in the letter.

Now, some Christians insist it had to have been written during persecution, ’cause Peter talks so much about the second coming of Jesus. But that’s because Peter expected the second coming to happen in his lifetime. He was off by a few millennia, but he didn’t know that. All he knew was he was right there when Jesus got raptured into heaven, and the two men told him and the Eleven he coming back in the same way. Ac 1.11 He saw Jesus get transfigured. He knew this future kingdom of Christ is coming. He was excited about it! We should be excited about it! So this comes out in his letter. Doesn’t take persecution to bring it out of you.

1 Peter 1.1-9 KWL

1Peter, apostle of Christ Jesus,

to the “foreign” elect of the Diaspora—

of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia,

Asia Minor, and Bithynia.

2By God the Father’s foreknowledge,

in the Holy Spirit’s holiness,

into obedience—

and the sprinkling of Christ Jesus’s blood—

may grace to you², and peace, multiply!

3Blessed are you God,

father of our Master, Christ Jesus.

By his great mercy he makes us born again,

into a living hope

through Christ Jesus’s resurrection from the dead.

4Born again into an inheritance,

unspoiled, untainted, unfading,

under guard in the heavens for you² all.

5And you² are guarded

by God’s power, through your faith,

for the salvation he prepared,

to be revealed in the End Time.

6In that, you² can jump for joy—

for now, briefly, it’s necessary to grieve

from our various temptations.

7Thus the testing of your² faith,

which is more precious than gold,

which perishes through fire,

might be found proven,

to the praise, glory, and honor

at the revelation of Christ Jesus.

8You² don’t see him;

you² still love him.

You² can’t look upon him just now,

and you believers still jump

for inexpressible and magnificent joy

9at receiving the outcome of your² faith:

Salvation of your² souls.

Christians in slavery.

1 Corinthians 7.21-24.

As you likely know, slavery was practiced in bible times. It was part of ancient cultures’ criminal justice systems: If you broke the law, or were on the wrong side in a war, they’d either kill you, fine you, or enslave you. They didn’t do penitentiaries; their prisons either held people for trial, or held slaves.

Occasionally people object to the scriptures, and the apostles, because they didn’t fight slavery, nor declare it sin. To a large degree they didn’t have to. Plenty of scriptures mandated that Hebrews and Christians treat slaves humanely, treat Christian slaves like Christian family, and once they’ve worked off their debts to society, grant them freedom. And American slavery demonstrated that plenty of depraved people will distort or ignore the scriptures for their evil gain, claim to be Christian nonetheless, and eagerly go to war to keep people in chains.

Roman slavery was better than American slavery, but was still rife with abuse, evil, rape, and murder. Just because it happened in the bible, and in many ways is even a biblical principle—as we’ll see in today’s passage—does not mean slavery should still exist. All the more reason we needed to abolish it, and should continue to fight slavery and human trafficking where we find it.

Anyway. The last passage of 1 Corinthians I looked at, was about how Christians—well, male Christians—oughta remain in the same state of ritual circumcision they were in when they came to Jesus. If you’re a circumcised Jew, remain one; if you’re an uncircumcised gentile, remain one. You don’t need to change for Jesus. Work with the situation you’re in.

Today: Same thing if you’re a slave or freeman.

1 Corinthians 7.21-24 KWL

21Were you a slave when God called?

Don’t you mind.

But if you’re able to become free,

behave yourself all the more!

22For a slave called by the Master

is a freeman in the Master.

Likewise a freeman called by the Master

is the Master’s slave.

23You are properly purchased.

Don’t become slaves to people.

24Each person is in the place

where they were called, fellow Christians;

remain there, with God.

If you were a slave when you became Christian, Paul and Sosthenes say, “Don’t you mind.” 1Co 7.21 Slavery doesn’t disqualify you from God’s kingdom. It definitely limits how and where you can minister; your slaveholder has to grant permission, same as the warden of a prison, the case officer of a parolee, or the parent of an undisciplined child. If your slaveholder says you can’t, you really can’t.

But at the same time: Don’t you mind. Don’t worry about it. God is fully aware of your situation, and what you can and can’t do. And he has final say, not your slaveholder.