Insightful Musings on the Scriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67

Good morning, dear people.

Lots of irregular activity around here surrounding Becki’s hip replacement surgery. She was actually released from the hospital yesterday about 4pm—having spent only one night there. She’s doing terrific under the circumstances. Perhaps the most taxing problem to be faced during this recovery period is the requirement to wear some special air-inflated gators that wrap the lower leg—attached to an air pump. They are supposed to reduce the risk of dangerous blood clotting. It’s recommended that she wear these things 20 hours per day.

Well, here comes another 4-year-old composition. I think it addresses issues we face and struggle with to this day. Some of these thoughts lead me to conclude that while God’s will is absolute in principle, it is allowed to be somewhat relative in the way it unfolds. What do you think?

Good to have Jill here for a couple weeks—all the way from New York. She’s already been a big help. I picked her up at the airport yesterday just after 11am.

On with the adventure!

Love, Dad/Ray.

I’m finding it difficult to identify anything very positive and devotional in this reading. But, I am definitely seeing some important lessons—lessons that mainly are in the vein of how NOT to do life and faith. So, in an indirect way, it’s still edifying.

One of the thoughts occurring to me is that the narrow-minded and religiously-bound elders and leaders of the church in Jerusalem bound Paul with at least two chains (two forms of bondage) before the Roman commander did so when he rescued Paul from the riot at the Jerusalem temple. The first chain they wanted to hang on Paul was COMPROMISE. Here Paul has been preaching and teaching the New Testament Gospel all over the place, saying that in Christ “dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power: In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ” (Col. 2:9-11, KJV). Now the elders would have him compromise that message just because the large crowd of religiously-bound Jewish Christians had heard that Paul was teaching “all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn away from Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or live according to our customs” (v. 21). They were engaged in manipulating both Paul and the people so that “everybody will know there is no truth in these reports about you, but that you yourself are living in obedience to the law” (v.24). Nonsense! There WAS truth to this report. It may have been twisted and misrepresented, but it needed clarification, not denial. It seems to me that Paul has kind of compromised his message and is violating the very advice he gave to the Galatians (Read Gal. 5:1-6) by yielding to these leaders and not simply vacating Jerusalem. (At this point, who needs Jerusalem anyway?! Besides that, who needs a Christian faith that requires hauling around a big trailer over-loaded with cultural and religious baggage?!)

The other chain that the Jerusalem leaders were imposing on Paul was CONFORMITY. They were so bent on sameness and harmony with the status quo of their exclusive flock at Jerusalem that they resorted to a form of deception so as to not make any waves. They were suggesting a show of appeasement of popular opinion. I think it was a basically wrong opinion. By requiring circumcision and submission to all the laws and traditions of the old system, it was an opinion that was damaging to the effective faith of the Gospel of Christ.

A question that comes to my mind is, “Where in the world was Peter in all of this?” The Jerusalem believers were described as being “zealous for the law” (v. 20). But why wasn’t Peter zealous to teach them the TRUTH that God so profoundly and miraculously had taught him? (Acts 10-11)

I mentioned Galatians 5:1-6 above. I think I will just stick it on here and use it as a conclusion. Please receive it as good advice.

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” (NIV)