Suppression Of Truth (part 3)

Building on what has been said then, not only would glorifying the Creator God have consisted of Adam and Eve (the original image and covenant bearers) following His direct command, but through disobedience they would, apparently for the first time according to the story told in Genesis, fall short of His glory as well (sin), thereby losing the ability to adequately and properly and perfectly reflect the glory of their Creator into the world. 

Though this was supposed to be rectified by the call of Abraham and Israel, this expected rectification would ultimately be left undone until Jesus placed a foot on to the stage of history.  Clearly then, Adam and Eve can be understood to have not been thankful for the responsibility with which they had been charged, nor the exalted position with which they had been blessed.  Continuing to allow an overplay between the first chapter of Romans and the beginning of the Scriptural narrative, with the influence of the serpent, their thoughts did indeed become futile.  It could certainly be said that their thoughts were turned towards themselves and away from that which was their God’s purpose for them. 

It could even be said that the inward turning of thought was the beginning of futility, along with being the beginning of idolatry, as Adam and Eve were convinced to focus on themselves and that which they could gain for themselves (becoming like God, knowing right and wrong), rather than on what their God had done for them and what it was that they were supposed to be doing in and for the world, and for His glorification. 

In consideration of the statement from the Apostle Paul that “their senseless hearts were darkened,” could it not be said that, prior to the ill-fated taking from the tree and the subsequent fall, that they had no sense of nakedness, no sense of shame, no sense of fear, no sense of the knowledge of good and evil, no sense of remorse, and no sense of guilt?  Now and quite unfortunately, following the cataclysmic act of the fall, these senses were all present, having been darkened by the presence of sin---falling short of the glory of the Creator God (bearing His image in and for the world).  The insistence of Scripture is that prior to this paradoxical livening and deadening of their senses, they lived in a conscious state that were devoid of these things, but with what had been done, that condition was darkened by an evil presence. 

Yes, they ate from the tree.  It is said to have been the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  As the story goes, the serpent told them that if they did so, they would become like divine beings.  The serpent said that their eyes would be opened.  The serpent said that they could have power.  Power?  Yes, because they understood the power of their God; and because this tree was connected with knowledge, it could be said that on display here is the first human premonition that knowledge is power, and they wanted it. 

It is said that part of the motivation for taking and eating from the tree was that not only was the fruit “attractive to the eye” (Genesis 3:6b), but that it was also “desirable for making one wise” (3:6c).  Did wisdom come?  What is to be found in the next verse here in Romans?  “Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools” (1:22).  Fools!  What is it that the Scriptures have to say about fools?  The Psalmist writes that “Fools say to themselves, ‘There is no God.’  They sin and commit evil deeds; none of them does what is right” (14:1).  So what one here observes is that Eve first, and then Adam, desiring wisdom but becoming fools.  In essence and effect, as they cast off their right bearing of the divine image, they declarie that “there is no God.”  Is this not what they were truly expressing in their desire to become like gods, beings that know good and evil? 

Deceit & Judgment (part 2 of 2)

With this somewhat clear presentation of idolatry as the reason for judgment to fall upon Israel, one can then go on to make sense of reading about children that “are always thinking about their altars and their sacred poles dedicated to the goddess Asherah, set up beside green tress on the high hills and on the mountains and in the fields” (Jeremiah 17:2-3a).  Following that, the God of Israel says, “I will give your wealth and all your treasures away as plunder” (17:3b).  So here an explicit connection is made between idolatry and the material wealth of the people.  Before that point is reached here in chapter seventeen however, the reader will have stumbled across some words that should help to properly shape the conception of the true problem of idolatry that was being presented here by the people of Judah. 

In the sixteenth chapter, when the Creator God gives Jeremiah an answer to give to the people that might find themselves questioning the reason for the judgment and disaster that was going to befall them, He says to tell them, “It is because your ancestors rejected Me and paid allegiance to other gods.  They have served them and worshiped them.  But they have rejected Me and not obeyed My law” (16:11).  That sounds pretty bad, but it does not end there.  The covenant God continues His answer with “And you have acted even more wickedly than your ancestors!  Each one of you have followed the stubborn inclinations of your own wicked heart and not obeyed Me” (16:12). 

What is to be found in that statement?  Effectively, it is self-idolatry---the same old sin from the time of the garden---which always seems to get a far harsher reaction and treatment from the Creator God than the simple worshiping of wood and stone.  It is with this conception of self-idolatry that one can then move back to the Creator God’s statements about the human mind and its deceit and incurable “badness.”  Following that statement then, one finds “I, the Lord, probe into people’s minds.  I examine people’s hearts.  I deal with each person according to how he has behaved.  I give them what they deserve based on what they have done” (17:10). 

What does this have to do with idolatry or self-idolatry?  Well, connecting the thoughts concerning idolatry and wealth and treasures found just a few verses before, the reader goes on to learn in the next verse about “The person who gathers wealth by unjust means” (17:11a).  This is what follows talk of the human mind being more deceitful than anything else and incurably bad.  It could be said that the person who gathers wealth by unjust means is guilty of self-idolatry, especially in light of the statement in Deuteronomy that the Lord “is the One Who gives ability to get wealth” (8:18b). 

Surely, it can be said that a Creator God-granted ability to get wealth will see wealth accumulated by just means, and will therefore result in proper worship of the God that gave the ability, and Who therefore gave the wealth.  Wealth gained by unjust means will result in worship of what provided for the accumulation of wealth, which is the marred and falling-short-of-the-divine-image heart and mind that is said to have come about because of the desire on the part of the first humans to be like their God.  Because of this, it can be surmised that not only was idolatry, along with its companion of self-idolatry, the reason for the judgment that came upon the people of the covenant God, but one can also now understand that the gathering of wealth by unjust means, which will generally be connected with idolatry and with the extension of suffering and oppression, was a reason for that God’s judgment as well. 

Law To Become Void (part 4 of 5)

What was the basis for the ridicule that Jesus is said to have experienced at the hands of the Pharisees and the experts in the law?   As suggested by the construction of the narrative, it was most likely Jesus’ statement about money, for though it is said that they loved money, the Pharisees and experts in the law would not necessarily have possessed a great deal of it.  Though there would certainly be exceptions, they were not necessarily a part of the aristocratic ruling class of Israel.  In the majority of cases, when it came to wealth, they would have been little better off than the rest of the people. 

However, one’s honor status was not necessarily tied to wealth, and the honor competition is always at the forefront of these interactions.  Because of what was likely relative poverty of Jesus’ primary interlocutors, as they could demonstrate themselves to be suffering right along with the people in the shared experienced of subjugation to the Caesars and the Herods and the oppressive burden of taxation, they could be in a position to seize upon Jesus’ words about the service of money, point to their own empty pockets (in a manner of speaking), and thereby demonstrate that they did not serve money, being therefore devoted to the service of the Creator God of Israel.

It is also possible, however, that this particular slice of interpretation when it comes to talk of money, limits the intended reach of the parable and of the words of Jesus, as the context that has been created thus far has attempted to connect wealth and the true riches with the correct use of the law and the kingdom of the Creator God.  Therefore, the dichotomy of serving two masters might be better understood as their service of the law itself, in a selfish and non-inclusive pursuit of the blessings to be had in the fulfillment of the covenant and the coming of the kingdom of heaven, with this service taking place rather than the service of the God of the law and the covenant, and the all-nations inclusiveness of that covenant that was clearly presented in its original iteration to Abraham, and buttressed by its detailed expansion especially to be found in the prophecy of Isaiah (which was highly influential among those with messianic expectations and sensibilities in their considerations of things related to the kingdom of heaven). 

In response to their ridicule, in which they attempted to justify themselves against Jesus’ pointed accusations (quite possibly in a way such as what was just described), Jesus says, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in men’s eyes, but God knows your hearts.  For what is highly prized among men is utterly detestable in God’s sight” (16:15).  These words from Jesus about that which is “utterly detestable” forces the observer to make an additional consideration of what it was that these men had been saying in their attempts to defend and justify themselves. 

One can continue with musings concerning the boundaries that were being placed around the Creator God’s covenant promises, and of those boundaries and the associated blessings being limited to those that acceded to the works of the law as then commonly understood (the three primary indicators that revealed one’s allegiance to the Creator God), and find oneself in a position to hear the Pharisees and law experts who, along with their pointing out of their insignificant financial status, are able to speak about their extraordinary efforts to protect and defend the law (the guide to being properly human) and therefore the honor standing of the God of Israel, by keeping Gentile sinners outside the bounds of the covenant.