UNIT TWO: THE EVOLUTION OF CHRISTIAN MORALITY

Covenants, Callings, Relationships

Our faith is rooted in Judaism(Judeo-Christians)

Our understanding of God is based on the Jewish faith’s understanding of God. At a very early time in history, their understanding of God was unique. First, they understood there was only one God. Secondly, they saw God as being a loving parent and that therefore we were in relationship with God. Unlike other ancient religions of the time, we were not USED by the gods as “playthings” to entertain them.

Covenant

Is defined as an agreement between God and human beings (originally, the Israelites).

Therefore, what takes place is a relationship with God, that teaches us how to be in relation with others and with the earth itself. It is in relationship we understand what is right and wrong.

Our faith is rooted in our covenantal relationship with God.

1st Covenant: Adamic

We are designed to be in relationship (to be “fruitful and multiply” and to assist God in looking after the earth. (relationship)

We therefore, are stewards of the earth and each other.

2nd: Noahic Covenant

The Noahic Covenant was an unconditional covenant between God and Noah (specifically) and humanity (generally). After the Flood, God promised humanity that He would never again destroy all life on earth with the Flood (see Genesis chapter 9). God gave the rainbow as the sign of the covenant, a promise that the entire earth would never again flood, and a reminder that God can and will judge sin.

3rd : Abrahamic Covenant

In the story of Abraham (Genesis 12), he is chosen by God to be the “Father of great NATIONS” if he will follow God.

Always in the stories of Abraham, he is given choice to agree or to decline. He agrees, leaving his home, practices circumcision, simply put, he does what God asks of him.

Once again the story stresses a relationship where Abraham is permitted to question God (Genesis 18: 16-33).

Abrahamic Continued

Through the “numerous descendents” of Abraham, “all other nations shall be blessed in him”.

The 12 tribes of Israel all stem their roots back to Abraham.

All Christians and all Muslims therefore trace their roots (religious roots) back to Abraham.

You will be my people and I will be your God.

The Covenant with MosesThe Torah

With the stories of Moses we begin to understand more who is called, what is God’s name (what does it mean) and what rules must be our guidelines to living a good life.

Moses gives to us the Torah (law) 613 Laws

God’s Call and His Revelation

Through the stories of Moses and the different prophets, one of the themes that is made clear is that God calls all of us.

Structure of a Call Story

Confrontation with God Intro speech Imparting of a mission Objection by the prophet-to-be Reassurance by God The sign

Vocation

A Call from God 1st, we are all called into the “family of God”. 2nd, we are also called to a way of life that is

founded on the love of God and the love of neighbour.

3rd, we each have our own path, our own specific calling from God on how we are to best serve each other.

“For just as the body is one and has many members,…so it is with Christ.” 1Corinthians12:12

Revelation

“the essence of Revelation lies in the fact that it is the direct speech of God to man.”

Once again at the core of our faith is the belief that we are in a “relationship” with God

Therefore it is necessary for there to be “communication” from God to us.

As Christians, we understand this as the most significant way God made Himself known to us.

God’s name What’s in a name?

All names have meaning: Biblical names like;

1. Abraham: “Father of Many” 2. Israel (Jacob’s “nickname”): “One who

wrestles with God” 3. Moses: “Because I drew him out of

water” and Egyptian, “Is born”. 4. Peter (Simon’s “nickname”): means

rock

Smith

The name originally derives from smitan, the Anglo-Saxon term meaning to smite or strike (as in early 17th century Biblical English: the verb "to smite" = to hit). This term led to the name of the occupation, smith or blacksmith, because such persons must continuously strike metal with a hammer in order to shape it. Metallurgy required the development of specialist skills, and was practiced throughout the world from the Bronze Age. The use of Smith as an occupational surname dates back to Anglo-Saxon times, when inherited surnames were still unknown: Ecceard Smith of County Durham was recorded in 975.[7] Smithers may also have derived from the Celtic word "smiterin" which meant "blown to bits".

Jones

Child of John: The origins of the surname "Jones" were derived from the

first name of John (or Jon) through a naming convention called patronymics. (Patronymics is a style of naming in which a child's name is derived from the combination of the child's given namewith their father's first name in order to create a complete name.) The surname Jones was most widely adopted was the country of Wales. The most likely reason for this was due to passage of "The Act of Union" in 1536. The Act prohibited the use of the Welsh language in official records, thus, Welsh surnames had to be registered in an anglicised (English) form. Many Welsh family names like "Johnnes", "Ieuan" or "Sion" were translated to "Jones" because it was closest anglicized version of many Welsh family names.Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_does_the_name_Jones_mean#ixzz20uFB1zPf

Moses and God’s Name

What is his name? what shall I say to them? “God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”.(Yahweh) Exodus 3:13-14

I am who is I shall be who I am

Yahweh

God’s name like all names has meaning: In telling Moses His name, God is stating

not just who “He” is but WHAT “He” is. Yahweh is a name that is filled with power.

God’s name is translated; “I AM” Because it is a name with such great

power, God is given respectful titles like; A) Adonai: “my Lord” B) Elohim: “God” (in Arabic: Allah)

Exodus

The book of Exodus tells us of how the people of Israel come to truly see themselves as God’s Chosen People.

God’s Laws: The Torah There are 613 laws found in the first five books of the Bible

(given to Moses by God) but the most important ones are the most famous ones: the Decalogue or 10 Commandments. These 10 laws can be found in the Books of Exodus and Deuteronomy.

These moral laws are what is needed at the very core of any community’s (small or large) survival.

The first three contain how to love and Honour God and the other seven concern the human community.

The theme of this covenant with God is one of love. It is God’s love for us and to follow the commandments (to live up to our part of the covenant….or agreement) is to show our love for God and our fellow human beings.

The Decalogue

1. “You shall not have strange gods before me”.

2. “You shall not take the Lord’s name in vain”.

3. “Remember to keep holy the Lord’s Day.”

Although these three laws deal with our relationship with God, they also help in strengthening our relationship with one another. To be true to our beliefs (not hypocrites), to not take our faith for granted and come together as a people of one faith.

4. Honour your parents. 5. You shall not kill. 6. You shall not commit adultery. 7. You shall not steal. 8. You shall not bear false witness against

your neighbour. 9. You shall not covet your neighbour’s

wife. 10. You shall not covet your neighbour’s

goods.

Biblical foundation set

To follow the Decalogue is to live as God wants us to. To do the opposite is to go against God, to think only of oneself and therefore, SIN. “Sin was a word borrowed from the Babylonians meaning transgressions.”

What was still unclear to the Israelites was the WHY and so they got caught up on the laws themselves rather than the inner meaning. This would be cleared up with God’s greatest revelation: The Word Made Flesh.

Part II: Jesus explains the Why

Interpreting Scripture A glimpse at the Gospels The Beatitudes The rest of the Sermon on the Mount What and where is the Kingdom of God? Eschatological, Parousia and Apocalyptic Hermeneutics and exegesis

Interpreting Scripture

Exegesis: refers to the study of scripture of texts in their original context. In order to understand what the authors intended, we need to understand something about their world, their time, their motivations.

Hermeneutics: is the task of interpretation. A way of interpreting texts and events to help us understand what they mean for us in the 21th Century.

Exegesis and Hermeneutics in Action

Jesus’ rising from the dead was not covered in a newspaper article or in a YouTube video. Originally, the followers of Jesus told the story of His death and resurrection by word of Mouth. Those original followers of Jesus were Jewish, so what was important to them was their history as it was unfolding…….

Understanding Exegesis

In order to understand fully what was happening during the writing of the Gospels we will examine in “Christianity: The First Thousand Years” what was happening in the church.

Israel was under Rome…

Being under Rome, for the Jews was a definite sign that God was unhappywith them, that He left due to their sins.Therefore, they were not under God’s reign but their enemies instead. By the middle of the first century (A.D), the Jews had grown tired of this and some decided maybe it was time to do something about it. It was time to end “this evil-dominated history”.

To make matters worse, those running the sacred temple, were not worthy of the position. They were seen as corrupt, business men, working with the Romans rather than true Religious leaders who did God’s work.

Apocalyptic Literature: Writing Using End Times Imagery.

In 70 A.D., their Temple is destroyed.

With the destruction of the Temple and the Romans kicking them out of Jerusalem, the Jews truly believed God had left them. It is in this climate that the Gospels begin to be written.

The Gospels

Gospel: “Good News” First written: Mark ( Written in 75 A.D. to

a Christian community in Rome when it was illegal to be Christian)

Matthew and Luke then wrote their Gospels (using both Mark’s Gospel and another document known as Q source material)

Matthew’s Gospel

Written around 85 A.D. (so, ten years after the destruction of the Temple)

Jewish followers of Jesus believed He would come again (Parousia “at the end of the age”, and he will judge the living and the dead. But 50 years after Jesus’ death, it was time to prepare for the “long haul”.

Written to Jews (those who believed in Jesus as the Messiah as well as those who did not) with the purpose of making clear that Jesus is indeed the Messiah the nation has been waiting for all this time.

He points out Jesus is related to their greatest King (David) in a very special way, is recognized as important by very smart visitors and then he is compared to another great Jewish hero……

Moses and Jesus

MOSES: JESUS

Born in slavery in Egypt Death of babies at time

of birth Saved when taken in

by Egyptian royalty God chose him to free

the Israelites from slavery

Gave the Israelites God’s Law

Born a Jew under Roman rule

Death of first born at time of his birth

Saved when fled to Egypt God chose him (His only

son) to free us from the slavery of our sin

Gave the Israelites a better understanding of God’s Law.

Matthew presents Jesus as the perfect teacher. Because he is the Son of God, he is THE one to explain what God calls us to do and be, he best understands what God’s rules mean and how we should follow them. Also, in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus explains the Reign of God (the Kingdom of God is “at hand”). Jesus states that when we live our life following the commandments properly, we HAVE taken the first step into the Kingdom.

The BeatitudesIn Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus explains in two parts how his followers shouldlive their lives (he does this on a mountain, once again paralleling Moses).The first part of the “Sermon on the Mount” is “The Beatitudes”.It is in the Beatitudes that Jesus makes clear how good people should follow God’s commandments. What is important is not the “Letter of the Law”, which is what their Religious leaders thought, but rather the “Spirit of the Law”. Simply put, the Beatitudes express a happiness that comes with the proper attitude and doing what you KNOW is the right thing to do; that is, to be good to others no matter how you may be persecuted and your reward will be great in the end….Eternal happiness and being with God.

Sermon on the Mount cont’d

The second part of Jesus’ sermon dealt with the importance of a) spreading the message (by word of mouth and more importantly, by ones actions) and b) being the best person you can be.

His lessons sound harsh in this section (example: verse 27-32), but the point is to aim high, to do your best, if one does this one will be the best person they can be.

Live Jesus’ words, don’t just say them…..

As the sermon comes to an end, Jesus sums up his teachings with the golden rule;

“In everything do to others as you would have them do to you…” (vs.12)

In Jesus’ time as well as ours, this way of living is not the common practice. Jesus states, enter the narrow gate (don’t follow the crowd, do what YOU know is right.

It is important to have a good relationship with God (Jesus makes this clear by pointing out that God is the loving father, “abba” and that we should pray to HIM.

In Comparison, Luke’s Gospel

Written around 90 A.D. (Luke is the only other Gospel that mentions

the Beatitudes….a shorter version). Written to non-Jewish Christians with the

intention of making it known that Jesus is the Messiah for everyone.

Mentions A) Mary is visited by the Angel Gabriel B) Jesus’ birth in the manger C) Jesus’ first visitors were shepherds D) Jesus is blessed by both a male and female

prophet.

A bit about John

John’s Gospel (95) is a lot more philosophical, dwelling deeper into the mystery of who Jesus is.

He writes that Jesus is the Way, the Truth, the Light and the Word of God made flesh.

Eschatological Ethics

The text states that our ethics is an eschatological ethics. This pertains to the end or fullness of time, when we will totally be in God’s presence.

That is what the Gospel writers state we should strive for, to be “prepared” for that time. It is a difficult thing to do, because the world tells us to do the opposite.

Jesus ushers in this eschatological event and this is referred to as the Parousia (second coming of Jesus)