5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

6 Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
7 rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!

9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

There is much to be said here. Verse 5 bridges the hymn back to what Paul has been talking about. The model that Messiah’s colony should follow is that of their Messiah. The Love and Humility that are to be the central virtues of the colony are shown in the gospel story, the story of Jesus. The relationships that make up the colony, not just personal relationships but those of business practices and those of commerce. This mustn’t be reduced to how one treats his friends or fellow Christians. It is the entirety of human life. The parent-child, husband-wife, employer-employee, teacher-student, business-client relationships must all be built around this narrative, this story. The king must rule and govern according to this narrative, the people governed by the king must follow the king according to this narrative. The whole society and community must be centered on the virtues this narrative glorifies.

The hymn itself contains so much to be digested. From Philippians 2:6 we learn that Jesus existed in form as Yahweh and yet distinct from the person Yahweh. We learn about the place of Jesus within the triune nature of God. He is equal with God in his nature and being and existence. And yet there are at least two distinct persons sharing this same nature, God. There is the father and there is Jesus, both God yet not the same person.

Secondly the hymn teaches the incarnation of God in the Messiah Jesus. Jesus, one of the persons who shares the nature (μορφή) of God, became a man. The hymn doesn’t say that Jesus ceased being God but rather became a servant to God, giving up his rank and status. Just as the Psalms say man is lower than the angels, so Jesus descended down to the level of human. But he didn’t just go down the level of human where he could have rightfully taken and/or established a throne to rule of the entire planet. The incarnation went farther and God became a servant. Not just some one who serves another person voluntarily or is paid for the service. Rather Jesus became a doulos, a slave (μορφὴν δούλου λαβών). He gave up all rights. He so humbled himself that he died the death required of him.

Thirdly the hymn gives us the justification of Jesus, the vindication of Jesus. God exalted Jesus to the highest place and gave Jesus the name above all names, Lord. Hidden in this exaltation is the resurrection. The spirit of Jesus didn’t receive this reward but the whole person, the God-man Jesus. He was raised from the dead and brought before God to receive his vindication before all of the world. Jesus is Lord of the world. He is lord over all lords, even Caesar.

Fourthly, the hymn gives the eschatological goal of Jesus’ mission: the bringing the world under the rule of Jesus. Every tongue confesses and every knee bows. He is their king, not Herod in Jerusalem. He is their Lord, not Caesar in Rome. Jesus, the one exalted to Lord, will bring all the world under his rule and dominion. And not in the providential rule of Jesus as God, but the kingdom of the Jewish Messiah and the Jewish God. And at the confession of Jesus as Lord by all of the world and all who live in it, the father of Jesus, God the Father, will fully display his glory in the whole world being filled with knowledge of him.

Fifthly, this eschatology of Jesus gives the church its mission, to declare to the world that Jesus is Lord–not Caesar. He is the rightful king. They must repent and surrender to him, bowing the knee and confessing the tongue. The church is to be the colony the brings Jesus’ lordship to the earth and shows the world what the lordship is to look like when Jesus bring the whole world under it. And by seeing that lordship on display in the church, God’s imperial colony, they will abandon the domain of sin and death and join the dominion and lordship of the Messiah Jesus.

Thus as individuals we must model our lives after the life of Jesus, being obedient to God to the point of crucifixion. As a community, the church is to be obedient to God to the point of crucifixion. The world must see what it looks like to be obedient to its Creator and Lord. It must see the true strength of humility and love, forsaking the self to look to the well-being of the other. By living lives of other-focused humility and love, the church completes its task of declaring that God has retaken his throne as king.

And when that task is complete, the world will be transformed into a world that not even the Garden of Eden could compare to. It will be the world that God had envisioned Adam and Eve to create. We won’t go back to the Garden because we will go forward to the heavenly city come down to earth with Jesus seated on the throne ruling as a slave to his God and to his people. And it is this slavery that we model our lives after, giving up all rights to any claims we might have in the knowledge that such abandonment will be vindicated with the greatest reward God will give. So let us figure out how to create a society whereby the virtues are not ambition at the cost of the other, but rather humility and love for the other at the cost of the self. Every level of that society will love the other above the self. That will be when we make heaven a place on earth, if I may borrow from a certain song.

1 Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

Paul gives his command or admonition within the framework of a “if…then” conditional statement. It’s like when as a kid I wanted to go play video games with my high school friends, Jay Wolf and Christopher Bunch, and seeking permission from my parents. They would say, “If you will clean your room, do the dishes, and finish the laundry,then you can go play video games at your friend’s house.” My parents would give me conditions to fulfill and upon filling those conditions I could go and have fun. Parents are the masters of “if…then” statements.

Philippians 2:1 gives the conditions: encouragement from union with Christ, comfort from his love, common sharing in the Spirit, tenderness, compassion. In other words, Paul is saying if the Philippians are these things then they can obey the command. Are they united with Jesus? This union means to be joined with Jesus in such a way that one’s own identity becomes Jesus. He represents us before God and we represent him before the world. His name is our own. That which God has given him–vindication and resurrection and blessing etc.–we share with him. Read passages like Romans 6:1-11 or Ephesians 2:1-10 or Galatians 2:16-21. Paul wants to know if there is encouragement from this union.

Do the Philippians possess Jesus’ love expressed most fully in his incarnation and death and resurrection? It’s the love that means Jesus doesn’t cling to his divinity but is found as a slave in human likeness and becomes obedient to the point of death on a cross (Philippians 2:6-8). It’s the love that enables his people to overcome all things (Romans 8:38-39). Do they possess this love from Christ?

Do they share together the Holy Spirit? Does the Spirit inhabit and indwell the Philippian Christians?

If these conditions are true of them, then Paul has one request: complete his joy. What’s his joy? From Philippians 1, correct me if I’m wrong here, it is his declaring that Jesus is Lord to the world in partnership with the Philippian church. He rejoices in seeing God complete his good work in them. He rejoices in those who share the gospel, whatever their intentions and desires. Christ, himself, is his greatest joy. He asks the Philippians to complete that joy, complete the sharing of the gospel message that Jesus, through his life and death and resurrection, has been declared and made Lord of the world. Complete the work of the kingdom.

To complete his joy, the Philippians are to be unified in their love for others and valuing them above themselves (Philippians 2:2b-4). The unity they are to exemplify is one that takes their differences and bring them together in a glorious harmony. This unity brings order to their chaos. It allows each person to come to the community as an equal and participate. They are all united to the one Christ, experience his one love, fellowship in the one Spirit. They are one, therefore be one. Have the same purpose and love. Accomplish the task of proclaiming Jesus is lord. Show the world which is in chaos that Jesus brings shalom, peace and order. Be like a song, which takes various instruments and singers and brings them into one. Be like a body which has many parts that do different tasks but is still one (1 Corinthians 12-14).

To do this he changes their virtues that they are to esteem and value. No longer are they to seek their own glory and ambitions but they are to act in humility. They must lower the value they place on themselves. Paul turns their focus outwards, away from the self of the individual and the community, to the world around the Philippians. If they were sitting in pews at a church, Paul would want each individual hearing the letter read aloud to seek to fill the needs of the persons to the left and right. Then this community of individuals who value and esteem others more than themselves would seek the interests and needs of the communities around theirs. And these communities would then seek to fill the interests and needs of the society around them and the world.

It was Jesus who said he came not to be served but to serve and give his life. Paul points out the humility of Jesus in Philippians 2:6-8 as he empties himself to take on the form of a servant in human form and became obedient the point of crucifixion. That is our model. This is the virtue that the King has established for his kingdom. If we belong to his kingdom, then that is our virtue. We humble ourselves and look to the other. We are to show the world what the future kingdom looks like by living it out right here and now. It starts at home with family and moves in the local and state and national and global scenes.

It’s time for preachers of the gospel to stop looking only at how to help individuals to be more humble in their own immediate spheres. It’s time to start thinking in a kingdom way, a kingdom that spans the globe as Revelation envisions. How do we get these individuals to be humble? How then do we get these humble individuals to come together as a community and a kingdom and show the world the way God created it to be? That has to be the question.

And it is that question that I just cannot think in terms of. How does one get an entire community to look totally away from self? What does that look like at a systemic level? I don’t know. It’s so different from the Western World that I live in which is based upon the “American Dream” that creates poverty and injustice, and then feeds off of it. My ways of thinking are so ingrained in this mindset that I cannot help but think, “Do what’s best for me and mine.” That’s not humility. That’s selfish ambition and vain conceit, even if I’m doing it with the best intentions.

I look at the nation I look in. It worships the economy and that idolatry is coming back to visit us. The Tea Party and the Occupy Wall Street movement has sprang up to say that there is something wrong with the system that this nation lives in, the system that worships the economy. Neither movement has the answer, but Jesus’ kingdom does. But the church needs to get the model down so that we can go to the Tea Party and the Occupy Wall Street movements and say, “Here is the answer to the problem you’ve correctly identified. It’s the Kingdom of Jesus!” But how do we model it on a large-scale, systemic fashion. How can we move this country, not just the individuals living here, to this virtue of humility and love?

Oh God, help me become more humble like my King Jesus and love others and value them more than myself. What can I do to be more Christ like? How can I move this people, this nation, this human race to be the people you created them to be? Oh please show us how to be model Jesus to a world that is crying out for him to come and be their king! It’s in his name that I plead. Amen.

For Paul, being worthy isn’t about wielding a hammer–although I would love to have Mjolnir as my hammer–it’s about something else entirely. Something more powerful than a hammer that was forged in the heart of a star with an indestructible metal called “uru.” For Paul it’s to wield a message. It’s to stand in a spirit. It’s to strive for a faith. He puts it like this in Philippians 1:27-30 (NIV),

27 Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in the one Spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel 28 without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved—and that by God. 29 For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him, 30 since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have.

Paul pleads for the Philippians to “conduct [themselves] in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.” He is pleading with them to conduct their lives (Gk: πολιτεύομαι; “I live”) in a way that is worthy of the message that they carry. Much like Thor was to conduct himself worthy of the position he held as firstborn to Odin and heir to Odin’s throne–signified in the carrying the hammer, so to are Christians to live in a way that is worthy of carrying the message that Jesus is Lord and not Caesar. This means we must live all of life in a way worthy. The way in which we interact with fellow Christians, non-Christians, the way we work at our jobs, the way we manage our monies, the way we vote and interact politically with the governing authorities. Every area needs to be lived in a manner worthy of the message that Jesus is Lord. Not only must we care for the unborn, but for the born who are impoverished and oppressed. Those who have no food both here in America and abroad. We must live worthy in how we view immigrants and the environment. We must live worthy in how we conduct business with other people.

If the Philippian Christians are living a worthy manner, then Paul will know two things: they are standing firm in the one Spirit (Greek can also read: standing firm in one spirit [ἑνὶ πνεύματι; heni pneumati]); they are striving together as one for the faith of gospel. I see this as meaning that Christians are walking worthy of the Gospel of Jesus when they are unified in their stand for Jesus as Lord. Together, in the Spirit, they are showing the world what it means for Jesus to be King of the world and not Caesar, not the US Constitution, or any other government. That’s what it means to be worthy. Living the future world now, in the present. It starts with love and moves to unity. This unity is not one in mind like a hive mind. But rather a oneness that comes from the one Spirit and from the one faith. We live together in this oneness that brings together our diversities in a beautiful tapestry.

And this living in a worthy manner speaks a powerful message. When the world sees the kingdom people living out the kingdom they see their doom. Caesar sees that Jesus has defeated him. The world will come back. But they know it’s a futile attack. They know they will be destroyed (Gk: ἔνδειξις ἀπωλείας; lit: declaration of destruction) and that we are safe. Caesar is doomed, we are safe. Jesus’ kingdom will last, not the empire of the world. And in the process, people will see the unity of our diversity, see our safety, and will jump ship from Caesar’s empire to God’s kingdom.

Thus Paul says to live worthily without fear. Be bold in telling the world that Jesus is Lord. The sign of our unity will not speak the message it is intended to speak. Fear destroys everything Jesus set out to accomplish. Thus Paul bolsters the Philippians up with his own example (Philippians 1:12-26, 30). And he also gives the Philippians one fact to ponder, it is God’s gift to his people to not only believe on behalf of Christ, but to suffer on his behalf. By suffering without fear, fighting for our unity in the faith of the gospel, the world will receive it’s message.

What Paul isn’t saying to the Philippians is to create a counter-culture that is divorced and disengaged from the world around them. He wants their community to interact with the larger community. To participate in dialogue about all the important issues of their day. To bring the Word of Christ to bear on the larger Roman world. Christians today have bought into the myth that the framers of the constitution worked so hard to establish, namely keep the church and state separate. Well, I take that back. Except for two issues (homosexuality and abortion), Christians keep their Christian worldview out of the public square. And I feel that this has helped to establish some of the anti-intellectual sentiment in Christianity. Give me Jesus to save me from my personal sins and the rest of the world can burn in hell. The entire mission of the church has been refocused into a salvation narrative, salvation for personal sins, instead of a kingdom narrative that brings the ideals of Jesus to bear on the world. Paul wants Christians to interact and to challenge the world with the truth that God has reclaimed his throne through Messiah Jesus. Let us get back to fulfilling that biblical command to live life, all of it, worthy of the good news that Jesus is King of the world, not Caesar.

12 Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel. 13 As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. 14 And because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear.
15 It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. 16 The latter do so out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. 17 The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. 18 But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice.
Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, 19 for I know that through your prayers and God’s provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance. 20 I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 22 If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! 23 I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; 24 but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. 25 Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, 26 so that through my being with you again your boasting in Christ Jesus will abound on account of me. (Philippians 1:12-26 NIV)

The question here in this text seems to be the impetus for the advance of the gospel, that the crucified Jesus of Nazareth is the risen Messiah and Lord of the world. Why share this declaration of good news? Paul has been arrested and his arrest has been the cause for the advancement of Jesus’ Messiahship and Lordship. Men and women have come out of the woodwork to boldly proclaim the gospel of the Kingdom of God and its King. But there are two motivations that divide this group into two camps.

There are those who do so out of love and goodwill, both to Paul and to those around him. They are part of Paul’s partnership whereby men and women defend and proclaim Jesus as Lord, and not Caesar. Through love they boldly proclaim Christ. The second group is another story. They see Paul in prison and the seek to do him harm. They begin to spread the news that Jesus is Lord in order to bring harm and shame to Paul. Their motives are false and insincere. But for Paul, it does not matter. Both are proclaim the good news that Jesus has been declared by God to be the Lord of the world through his resurrection. And Paul rejoices in this, contrary to the intentions of the latter group.

And it’s this joy that Paul has in seeing Christ proclaimed that has John Piper writing books like Desiring God and God is the Gospel. What is Piper seeing? Paul rejoices because of his confidence through the prayer of the church in Philippi and God’s gift of the Spirit of Jesus that he will not be put to shame. Jesus will deliver him (σωτηρίαν, soterian). So Paul has courage to exalt Christ in his own body through life or death. Because for Paul, to live is to represent Christ here on earth and build up Christ’s people–the Philippian church for example–and to die is to go to a state of existence in the very presence of Christ. And that plane of existence is far better than any life here on earth. For Piper, that’s the joy! Paul’s greatest treasure is Christ and we must seek to satisfy ourselves in God through Jesus the Messiah by the Holy Spirit.

But Paul is split between this “greater joy” of being with Christ and living on earth as Christ’s ambassador and the fruitful labor that comes with that. The need and the joy are in tension with each other here. For Piper they are not. Joy in Christ produces the fruitful labor. But I don’t see Paul grounding one in the other in this passage. Rather, I see Paul putting aside the “greater joy” for the “joy” that comes in the needed fruitful labor for the name of Christ among the kingdom-people. I see in Paul a love, mirroring that of his Lord, that looks totally away from the self and towards the Other to provide joy for them.

I might be making too much of this and could be splitting hairs. But I feel like Piper’s form of Christian Hedonism doesn’t understand “love” the way Jesus does and models, nor the way Paul does and models. Paul says in Philippians 3:17 that the Philippians are to follow his model. I think we would be wise and do the same. Our joy is in the fruitful labor that we sacrifice for here and now as Christ’s ambassadors. Is it a greater joy to be in the presence of Christ? Not arguing. But Paul set that joy aside to continue to minister to those who needed him. As Captain Spock from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn said, “The needs of many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one.” While Utilitarian, there is room for this ethic in a truly Christian view of love–the source for our ethics.

H/T: Founders Ministries

8 May he have dominion from sea to sea,
and from the River to the ends of the earth!
9 May desert tribes bow down before him,
and his enemies lick the dust!
10 May the kings of Tarshish and of the coastlands
render him tribute;
may the kings of Sheba and Seba
bring gifts!
11 May all kings fall down before him,
all nations serve him!
12 For he delivers the needy when he calls,
the poor and him who has no helper.
13 He has pity on the weak and the needy,
and saves the lives of the needy.
14 From oppression and violence he redeems their life,
and precious is their blood in his sight.

The psalm consists structurally of three prayers. Verses 1, 8, and 15 all contain jussive verbs that express the psalmist’s pleas to God. Verses 2-7, 9-14, 16-17 contain imperfect verbs that communicate the results of Elohim granting the wish of the jussive verbs. But I think that the prayers found in 72:8-14 and 15-17 must be understood in light of the prayer of 72:1-7. The things that he does in 72:12-14 is a restatement of 72:2-7 where the king who has received Elohim’s righteousness defends the poor for the oppressed and violent. And 72:15-17 restates what has been prayed for in 72:1-14.

Now from this prayer in Psalm 72:8-12 the psalmist prays for king and his kingdom in two ways: the extent of the kingdom to expand world-wide (72:8-11) and that the right decisions and just decisions with which the king judges Israel will have the same freeing, liberating, enemy-destroying, prospering effect on the whole world (72:12-14).

The psalmist envisions a messianic kingdom as he prays for the extent of this king’s authority and dominion to be from sea to sea. It is similar to what the prophet Zechariah states in Zechariah 9:9-10, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you…and he shall speak peace to the nations; his rule shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.”

The king will rule the whole earth and bring righteousness and justice to all of the earth. The poor not just of Israel is seen here but the oppressed of the whole world will be delivered. The psalmist is very missions-minded (for lack of a better term). In praying for the glory of the king, in praying for Elohim to bless the king, the psalmist is forced to pray for the whole world to be delivered from the violent, wicked oppressors. If all the nations of the world were to submit to Elohim’s king, then by necessity the whole world would experience the fair and just decisions that free the poor and oppressed and cause the land to prosper.

Again I come back to idea that if the Christian were to pray for Jesus to show his glory, if the Christian were to pray for God to show his glory, and for the King to extend his honor throughout the whole world it is a good thing. The people are blessed as a result. The expansion of the King’s dominion shows how powerful and mighty he is. But that expansion frees the poor and liberates the oppressed, crushing their enemies. I cannot escape that to pray for God to display his honor and glory as King means that I am praying for the people of God to be blessed. I am not seeing how some people think it is so horrible to pray for this. When one boils it down, a person is praying for God to bring food to the hungry through is church, alleviate the financial woes of the poor, the shelter the homeless, to graciously touch the lives of sinners and bring them into the kingdom of God. Praying for God to show his glory and honor is to ask God to put an end to hunger and poverty, to destroy death and remove injustice from his creation. This is what happens when God brings forth his glory for all to see.

Thus I join the psalmist and pray for my King, King Jesus, to expand his dominion over all the earth and bring all the nations in subjection to himself, and therefore bring honor to himself. Because for the King to be honored means that the poverty is done away with, disease is wiped out, the homeless are sheltered, and the gates of hell are torn down and Hades is destroyed.

Ted is my roommate’s cousin and that’s how I met Ted. My roommate Eric was talking at somepoint in the afternoon and I heard that the converstaion took a theological flavor to it. I know not who opened up the disucssion but I was drawn in for two reasons: 1.) to see what Ted would say, and 2.) to see how Eric would respond. Ted had said that the point of life is enjoying oneself and being good people. He said that life is about helping people and having fun while doing it. While expressing agnostic doubts, he felt like all religions were like spokes on a bycicle wheel, they all point to the center. For him that center was living a moral life and when one dies all that matters is having lived that life and if there is a god, that god will give the person entrance into heaven for his effort to better society.

I wanted to interact with Ted so I spoke up. HIs wheel analogy advocated that it didn’t matter which religion one followed because they all taught the same thing. There is no right or wrong religion. But this isn’t true. For example, Islam and Judaism accept Jesus as a prophet but not as the incarnation of I AM. God is not trinitarian. They reject for Jesus the title: Son of God. Christianity also says that only through Jesus can one attain heaven. I asked him if that claim from John 14:6 is correct or was Jesus wrong. He told me that I had to prove Jesus said it. So I argued that the gospels were written by eyewitnesses to Jesus (i.e. John) or are the collections of eyewitness testimony (i.e. Mark). These testimonies were then copied and handed down through the age of the church. That claim isn’t a textual varient in the manuscript tradition so he needed to first demonstrate the claim wasn’t made. When that wouldn’t work, I pressed him to answer if Jesus is the only way AS HE CLAIMED. Ted said that if the exclusivity found in John 14:6 meant some tribe in South America who has never had the chance to hear about this only way and have to go to hell because of it, then yes Jesus was wrong. I wanted to press him on that but the topic was quickly changed back to just living a moral life. But he has in effect told God that he is wrong to say that the only way to eternal life is not through God! The one who decides who can get into the age to come is wrong if it isn’t the way Ted, the creature, wants it to be set up. That is Romans 1:18-32 being exposed, he is exchanging the Creator for the creature and professing to be wise he is a fool.

I asked him why he thinks everyone should be good and moral people. He said that it is because it’s a good thing to do. It’s good to do good. We enjoy doing good to others. We all believe it, every religion teaches it. He quoted the golden rule, “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” However, he is demonstrating an irrationality. He wants the morals of the religions of the world–in his case Christianity–without the foundations each religion presents for the morals and ethical lives they command their adherents to live. The golden rule is from Christianity, Jesus’ rewording of Leviticus 19:18. He even asked me what the greatest commandment was. I answered like Jesus did with Deuteronomy 6:4-5. Then he asked me what the other one was and I said Leviticus 19:18. He wanted to leave the conversation at that but it is illogical and unreasonable to do so. In Jesus answer the greatest commandment is Deuteronomy 6:4-5, the other greatest commandment is Leviticus 19:18. THe first quote predicates the second. A person cannot have Leviticus without Deuteronomy first. Any reading of Leviticus will tell anyone that. It is a command given to people who worship Yahweh. God, more precisely the Christian God, is the foundation for the command. It is his command that he gives only to those who follow and submit to him. It only works in a Christian context. When Paul says what counts is faith expressing itself in love (Galatians 5:6) is that it is faith in Jesus Christ (One will note that in that chapter that this love is for others which is summed up as Leviticus 19:18 and that it is a fulfillment of the whole law). Only in the context of following Jesus does that moral command fit and have ground. We love because we have been loved by God first, a love expressed in Jesus’ work on the corss as the propitiatory sacrifice.

When I asked him why I should enjoy letting people die of disease as opposed to curing disease, he asked why not cure disease? I said because of his premise of enjoying life. I enjoy watching people suffer from cancer and other terrible disease. Why is that wrong? Why should I not do that and instead find cures for disease? I follow Leviticus 19:18 and seek to love others because I follow the one who gives that command. The command rests in Jesus’ authority to command us and to punish us for our failure to obey. Ted didn’t know what to do with that, ‘why do “evil” as he said instead of “good?”‘

He then began to question why Chritians always look for the bad in people. The answer is that they are fallen creatures who only do evil, a corrupt form of righteousness. They are in Adam and therefore rebells against their Creator. Ted said that we should look for the good in people. Before I could answer this charge, the conversation was ended. BUT if I had answered it I would have said this, I can look for the good in people because I believe they are made in the image of the God I worship. There is a foundation to do so in Christianity, Ted has no foundation to look for good or evil. There is no warrant. Why he chooses to do so is not something I discussed. But I would be curious as to why he chooses to look for it.

I told him that he was being irrational and illogical. He told me he was so illogical that he is logical. I don’t think so. It’s so illogical that it’s…illogical.

Oops. Guess that’s a Calvinist and not a Hyper-Calvinist. My bad.