Tag Archives: Biblical interpretation

When Numbers Get In the Way, Pt. 2

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My example in the last post led to quite an interesting discussion about worship; let me give another example of my frustrations with chapters and verses, this time not about worship. This example comes from the book of Romans.

Romans 8:1-2 reads:
“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.”

Over the years I’ve sat through many fascinating discussions about “the law of sin and death,” with much speculation about what Paul means by that phrase. I’ve even heard some say (and may have said myself) that it refers to the Law of Moses.

Do you know why we have such a hard time understanding this? Because of a big number 8. That’s right. Erase that big number 8, flow the verses the way they were originally (remember Paul didn’t separate this into chapters), and you see that Paul identifies the law of sin in Romans 7:25:
“Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.”

I’m embarrassed to say that I’d been a Christian for over 20 years and a full-time minister for more than 10 before I realized that the interpretation of that phrase was clearly stated two verses before! How blind could I be?

That realization helped me to see the connection between Romans 7 and Romans 8. I had always studied Romans chapter by chapter, seeing only the loosest of connections between each chapter. I remember the outline we learned in college: Romans 5-Freedom from death, Romans 6-Freedom from sin, Romans 7-Freedom from law, Romans 8-Freedom from condemnation… How can you separate Romans 7 and Romans 8? In Romans 7, Paul talks about the frustration of trying to live life relying on human strength; in Romans 8, he provides the solution to the problem, which is being led by the Spirit.

I’ve thought about where I would put the chapter break if I were making the decision. And I’m not sure that I could do any better. I’d probably split Romans 7 and 8 into three sections, maybe Romans 7:1-13, Romans 7:14-8:17, Romans 8:18-39. But that probably wouldn’t help any. What’s really needed is a little more awareness on our part that chapters and verses weren’t in the original. No deep study should be done without taking that fact into account. We need to look at biblical books as a whole, looking for meanings that flow throughout the whole book. That’s nothing new, I know. It’s just something that I forget all too often.

When Numbers Get In the Way

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Can you imagine what it would be like to read the Bible without chapters and verses? It would be okay for devotional reading (in fact, it’s great), but for study, those reference numbers are an incredible help.

And sometimes, they are an incredible hindrance. Sometimes they get in our way from seeing obvious connections.

Case in point: Hebrews 12:28 and following:
“Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.” (Hebrews 12:28-29)

After these verses comes a big number 13, telling us that the author has changed subjects and the following verses have nothing to do with what was just said. Wrong! Beginning with the next verse, the author tells us what worship is. How do we worship God? With our lives, by doing the daily acts of service listed in the first part of Hebrews 13. As he talks about showing hospitality, visiting those in need, etc., the author has a growing crescendo of worship language, culminating in:

“Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.” (Hebrews 13:15-16)

The author doesn’t return to a discussion of worship in these two verses… he continues it. This whole section is on worship. Verse 16 summarizes what the previous verses have stated: we worship God by doing good, by living moral lives, by looking to the needs of the less fortunate. And yes, we also do it by the “sacrifice of praise,” which is confessing with our mouths what our lives are already saying.

(A side note: I’ve come to believe that “sacrifice of praise” in this verse is actually a technical reference, a reference to the “peace offering” of Leviticus. In continuing his parallels to Old Testament worship, the author says that we make this offering by confessing Jesus’ name, especially in times of persecution. I know that only the KJV ever calls that the “sacrifice of praise” in the O.T., still it seems to fit.)

Hebrews 13 is one of the greatest descriptions of what worship is, and I almost missed it because of a big number 13.

Verses We Don’t Like

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My experience has been that when the Bible says something I want it to say, I use that passage over and over. A case in point is Acts 20:7. The King James version reads:
And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread… (Acts 20:7a)

From that offhand comment, I can build sermons that show that we have to meet on Sunday, that we have to take the Lord’s supper on Sunday, and that we have to take the Lord’s Supper every Sunday. That’s quite a lot of doctrine from a fragment of a sentence. But then we get to verses about enrolling widows, about laying on of hands, anointing with oil, raising hands when praying… and I’d just as soon ignore those verses.

A good example is Acts 13:2. Let’s read from the ESV this time:
“While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.””
(Acts 13:2)

This verse is interesting to me for several reasons. For one, it’s the only passage that I know of that describes Christians as being assembled for worship. Or should I say, worshiping when assembled. The Bible talks of Christians as doing many things when they come together, but this is the only passage I’ve found that applies the word “worship” to what they did (admittedly the KJV calls it “ministering to the Lord,” but I think we can agree that this is worship).

And what were the Christians doing when assembled? They were fasting, among other things. That fact shouts out to me on several levels. For one thing, I’ve often been told that Christians shouldn’t tell each other when they are going to fast. This passage suggests otherwise. Either they had planned this fast together or this was an amazing coincidence (and the Holy Spirit told Luke that they were fasting). I think it’s obvious that they all agreed to fast on this day.

Now a question for you: How many times have you experienced this? How many times has your church or the leaders of your church had a planned fast? Some of you have experienced that, others have gone a lifetime without following this example. Why is fasting not on the radar for most churches in our brotherhood? Why is this example any less normative for us than other examples of early church life?

We see that fasting was a normal part of Christian life, from the example here, other examples in Acts and from Jesus’ teachings. We see that the church planned group fasts. It appears, from this passage (especially verse 4) and from Acts 14:23, that prayer and fasting were part of the leader selection process. I think that we’ve done ourselves a great disservice by ignoring this fact. On the one hand, it weakens our position when we claim to be restoring the early church; is it fair to only restore the parts we like? But more importantly, I think we’ve cheated ourselves out of great spiritual benefits by not teaching and practicing fasting as a corporate activity of the church, as something that we do together in worship to God.

I think that Acts 13:2 should have as much a place in the life of the church as does Acts 20:7. And the church would be all the stronger if we gave this verse its place.