Insightful Musings on the Scriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67

Greetings, dear ones.

It’s almost like a cyclone here at present. Thanks to those who have shared news bits concerning cyclone damages done in the areas of the South Pacific where we’ve lived. An email I just picked up indicates that the island we lived on last, Santo, Vanuatu, escaped the serious damage done further south, like at Port Vila, the Capital.

I failed to send a post yesterday. Becki didn’t get home from that conference till fairly late. She read and approved of my beginning—but it wasn’t till this morning that I wrapped up the composition from yesterday. Oh well. Whether or not I get to one for today remains to be seen. We now need to hurry off to Pheasant Pointe for our 3pm Gospel Sing.

Blessings.

Love. Dad/Ray.

I talk to a lot of people. And there is one observation I’ve made that applies to them all: They’re all different. I’m quite OK with that. I’m glad God did not choose to make us all cookie-cut replicas of the original. Even today I’ve done business and dialogued with some very unique characters. I think I get along quite well with most. But fellowship goes deepest when I encounter a mutual regard for the Jesus of the Bible.

Apollos is another unique character as presented in our reading. It would be interesting to know more about his background and how he came to faith in Jesus, since his conversion does not seem to flow out of the mainstream of the Biblical record. He’s described to be a gifted orator who “spoke with great fervor.” That description by itself is not an adequate credential for much of anything. I’ve been around gifted orators who fervently spew nonsense. But it says that he “taught about Jesus accurately.” Ah—now we have credibility—now we have a basis of rich fellowship.

One of the unique characters I make reference to above offers an example of a typical incorrect view of Jesus. Whether he knows it or not, he too is a teacher concerning Jesus—simply by how he regards Jesus, and how he uses His Name. So, very likely, his own children live with an incorrect view of Jesus by the teaching medium of his example. At one point in our conversation he said, “Jesus!” In no way was it a Biblically accurate recognition of the Biblical Jesus—it was simply an exclamation—like something someone will spontaneously say when they slam their finger in a door. I can find no compatibility with that version of Jesus.

So what is the standard for establishing a Biblically correct Jesus? Let me cut to the core with my own emphatic conclusion: IF THE JESUS OF THE BIBLE IS NOT RECOGNIZED AS GOD, WE HAVE AN INACCURATE JESUS! In support of that thesis I invite you to again take in the marvelous extravagant awesome description of Jesus as given by the Holy Spirit via Paul in Colossians 1:15-20: “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.”