Romans 12:1-8

This passage appears as the New Testament Reading in the Revised Common Lectionary, Year A, Pentecost/Ordinary Season.  Most recently, August 23, 2020.

Summary:  This passage is about living.  About a living God at work in our lives...so that we may live, live for Christ and in communion with others.

Key Words:

παρακαλεω (meaning "encourage", 12:1)  This word means a range of things from exhort to encourage to comfort. The noun of it is the word for the Holy Spirit in John's Gospel, the "Paraclete."

οικτριμων (-ος, meaning "mercies", 12:1)  The word for mercies here found in the plural. As BDAG points out, is used to suggest the activities/signs/deeds of God's mercy rather than the general characteristic. I.e., we can always praise God in general for his mercy, but this day we praise God for his mercies, namely, the things God has done for us. 

ευαρεστος (meaning "pleasing", 12:1) This word can be translated acceptable, but it could also mean "pleasing."  For example, this word is used to describe the fruit in the garden of Eden.  This word can mean both flattering or truly pleasing, but in the God-direction it always has a positive connotation. Paul will also use word in Romans 14:18 to say that "the one who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God."  We may not be able to justify ourselves before God, but our work in Christ is pleasing to God!

ζωσαν (from ζαω, meaning "live", 12:1)  The word for "alive" here is a present participle, not an adjective; living is more appropriate.  Interestingly, this is the same word in Peter's confession:  You are the Christ, the son of the living God.  (It doesn't look exactly light because of how the participle is conjugated).  

While I realize as Christian teachers we tend to spent a great deal of time on the importance of Jesus as both Lord and Savior, the fact that God is a living God may be just as important as anything.  We live in age of moralistic-therapeutic-deism.  What is the counter to this?  A living God who transforms us!!

λογικην (-ος, meaning "rational" or "spiritual", 12:1) The word here for spiritual is "logikos" is literally logical. Enlightenment distinctions make this one difficult to translate because the Western tradition, since then, has tended to view "logical" and "reasonable" as something opposed to "spiritual."  No easy translation, but it is not fair to Paul to make this simply a cognitive activity, but it definitely is cognitive!

μη συσχηματιζεσθε (from συσχηματιζομαι, meaning "conform", 12:2).  The form of the verb:  negative, present, imperative suggests that the people actually have been conforming to the world.  It is time to no longer do the previous action!  

The verb has a cognate in English "schema"  No longer be in the mold of the world's schemes!  Don't let yourself be built according to the world's schematics!

It is also interesting that this word is in the passive, suggestion we do not actually control how we are molded to the world -- it happens to us.

μεταμορφουσθε (from μεταμορφοομαι, meaning "transform", 12:2)  This (like conform) is also in the passive, suggesting we are not the agent of change.  This is the word that Paul uses in 2 Cor 3:18 to talk about being transformed from one glory into another; it is also the word that Matthew and Mark use to talk about the transfiguration in their Gospel's.  

Most basic point:  The world is at work seeking to make us conform to its design; the living God is at work changing us, conforming us to the cross.

ανακαινωσει (-ις, meaning "renewal", 12:2).  Renewal is the literal translation, which fits; interesting note -- the word is not found outside of Christian literature!  Renewal is in the dative here, which means that the renewal is the means by which something else is accomplished, namely, the transforming.  The renewal is the means, not the end. 

In fact the εις + infinitive construction means "for the purpose of X", in this case "testing."  The renewing is for a purpose, discerning the will of God.  This is fascinating that the process of transformation is that which allows us -- pay attention here -- not to get into heaven, but to have the mind of God in us that we might live!!  Live here on earth and live as part of something bigger than ourselves -- the community of faith!

Some other notes I may flesh out someday:

  12:2 The word for "testing" is in an "eis+infinitive" clause suggesting purpose. That is, the testing is the result or purpose of the renewal. 12:2 Paul's word for "perfect" here is teleios, just like in Matthew 5:48, that we are to be perfect as our heavenly father. 12:3 The word for think highly is "hyper-phroneoo," rahter Paul encourages us to think "sus-phroneoo," which means to have a sound or sane manner. (More intense grammer note: 12:3 A bunch of the participles in the verse are adjectival or substantive, a good verse to review how these work) 12:4/5 In verse one, Paul told the people to present their bodies; now he tells them that one body has many members...which is a helpful reminder that all of the verb tenses in this passage have been you plural. This does not mean Paul did not intend these exhortations for individuals (technically: distributive plural), but this entire passage is aimed at the community. 12:6 Paul uses the same grammatical construction (adjectival participle) to talk about "the grace given..." as he did in verse 3. 12:6 The word here for different is "diaphoros," which can also mean excellent. 12:7 The word here for ministry is "diakonia" 12:8 BDAG suggests that the word here the NRSV translates as "generously" which is "aplotehs" means more "with simplicity" or "without guile." 12:8 The word here for "diligence" is "spoudaeh," which can mean haste or speed. However, BDAG points out that this means, "oft. in Gr-Rom. lit. and inscriptions of extraordinary commitment to civic and religious responsibilities, which were freq. intertwined, and also of concern for personal moral excellence or optimum devotion to the interests of others."

 

  

Genesis 1:1-2:4a

The Narrative Lectionary begins the Year 4 cycle with this lesson.  The Revised Common Lectionary includes it for Holy Trinity Sunday (Year A); it is also part of the Easter Vigil
 
Summary:  In Genesis 1 order is not a bad thing.  The enemy seems to be a lack of structure, authority and clarity.  To be brought into God's creative task, namely, to be reestablished in his image, is to be brought into the task of organizing creation.  This is likely surprising because much of the creative task of today's world seems to be the breaking free of authority.  

Fragmented or autonomous living is not the intention of God's creation.  I do not argue, nor do I think Genesis 1 justifies, huge systems that simply promote uniformity if not excessive consumption of resources.  Yet, Genesis 1 does speak against an understanding, particularly 21st century American, that autonomy is the goal of the human, if not even the spiritual human.

2020 note:  It is strange to read my previous comments about authority and order given the complex context of this summer, when we've had three months of battles over authority vs individual rights regarding COVID and race.

Key Words/Concepts:

ברה (b-r-h, "create", Genesis 1:1, 1:27, 2:3)  The Bible uses many words to describe God's creative activity in Genesis 1.  Surprisingly, many of the words are common verbs that Adam, other humans and the rest of creation do:  speak, name, divide and bring forth.  This is not the case with "barah."  Only God can create, not just in Genesis, but throughout Scripture. The use of verbs throughout chapter 1 suggests there is something co-creative about creation, but yet God's creative capacity as the creator stands beyond any other entity in creation.

As a side note, in Psalm 51, when David prays for a new heart, the verb is "barah", suggesting that a new heart is only possible from God.

רףה (r-ph-h, "bear fruit", Gen. 1:22, 28).  I like this verb because it reminds me of Jesus' injunction to "bear fruit."  But in this particular story, I find it helpful to remember that just as God tells humans to be fruitful, he also commands the birds and fish the same way.  Creation is not simply our domain!  

 

צלמ (ts-l-m, "image", Gen 1:26,27).  What does it mean, after all, that we are in the image of God?!  Tomes have been written about this.  A few comments

• There is no simply linguistic analysis that will solve this debate, as in, this is what this word originally met.  You can't undo 3,000 year of reflection on this with one look in a Hebrew dictionary!
• Genesis 1:26 isn't the only data on what it means to be in the image of God.  Even if one does not look at all of Scripture, certainly one needs to consider all of Genesis 1, seeing  who God is and then reflecting on what being in that image might mean.
  
• My suggestion is that the image of God is less about an individual capacity but rather a collective capacity -- let us make humankind in our image -- does not read like a statement about one human.
• When used elsewhere in the Old Testament, it often refers to idols of gods.  It is helpful to consider that idols were believed in themselves to have power -- to be portals to the gods and even their eyes in the world.
• What might this mean then for us to be THE God's idols, the God's portals and sentinels in the world?  The NET captures discussions about this topic very well, crouching its discussion within the confines of the book of Genesis:  The "image of God" would be the God-given mental and spiritual capacities that enable people to relate to God and to serve him by ruling over the created order as his earthly vice-regents.

משל (m-sh-l, "rule", Gen 1:18 as verb; 1:16 as noun).  There are a whole series of words relating to power and authority in these verses.  Many of these words are poured over and often critiqued in a post-colonialism world. 

First, it is helpful to consider the string of actions here -- the purpose of the power of the sun and moon:

to give light upon the earth

to rule over the day and over the night

and to separate the light from the darkness

This rule is not harsh, but is intended to provide order and life.

I appreciate how TWOT (Bible works) gives a helpful insight on this verb: "There is no specific theology to be drawn from the meaning of the word. Yet the passages cited and the seventy or so others not cited demonstrate the importance of the principle of authority, the absolute moral necessity of respect for proper authority, the value of it for orderly society and happy living and the origin of all authority in God, himself. Authority is of many degrees and kinds. It has various theoretical bases. It originates in God. Man has no authority at all as man but simply as God's vice regent."

While our society today may be very afraid of power in the hands of super governments and super corporations, there is an instinct in the OT, certainly in Genesis, that anarchy is not a good thing.  Indeed, creation is a story of God providing order over chaos.  Of course ancient humans needed to subdue creation.  "It was a jungle out there."  But of course too, the total destruction of habitat for countless animals was also not desired either.

"Us" - Let us create mankind in our image.  There are a number of ways to think about this verse.  One possibility is that the "us" reflects the Trinity; another is that the "us" is the "royal we"; another is that the "us" reflects angels, ie, the heavenly court.  I don't think we will ever solve this linguistic and theological conundrum.  However, I offer another idea and that is that God is saying to the rest of creation, let's create out of you something in my image.  Elsewhere in Genesis 1, God invites creation into participation in the act of creation.  Given that humanity comes from genetically and is dependent biologically on the rest of creation and that creation has already been involved in creation itself, I think this makes sense.

כבש (c-v-sh, "enslave", Gen 1:28)  In every other Biblical instance this word means some kind of conquering, subduing, enslaving or possibly even raping.  This is difficult for us as modern readers because we do not want to understand our relationship to the earth as one of enslaving it.  While the word rule (רדה, Gen 1:26-1:28) is slightly less problematic, we cannot escape כבש!   My thoughts are

• Farming before technology was difficult work.  Clearing and plowing fields would have felt like an act of battle in many ways against the forces - the ground, the weather, the insects, the other animals.  In this context, that kind of combat verb might have made sense.
• Second, everything that God tells the humans is governed by them being in God's image.  The kind of rule and even dominion that we are to offer is to reflect God's intended rule.
• Third, there is a parallel structure in Genesis 1, with days 1 and 4; 2 and 5 and 3 and 6 corresponding to each other.  This means that our ruling is previously modeled by the moon and sun, providing organization and order.

רדה (r-d-h, "rule", Gen 1:28)  This word means to rule.  It can refer to royal rule (Psalm 72:8, 110:2) or even oversight at a construction site (1 Kings 5:30).  It can be both helpful but also cruel (see Leviticus 25:43 or Ezekiel 34.4).  It is in itself not problematic as "c-v-sh."  Again, see comments above on image and enslave.

 

נתנ (n-t-n, "give", Gen 1:17, 1:29) The final statement of God about creation is that it is a gift!

1 Peter 2:19-25

This passage occurs in the RCL year A during the Easter season, most recently May 3.  
 
Summary: Because this is paired with the Good Shepherd and Psalm 23 passage, I cannot see many people preaching on this.  It is also problematic in that the pericope is really part of instructions for slaves to obey their masters (and citizens their king).  While this makes a fascinating side point -- Christianity has thrived in a wide variety of economic and political arrangements -- it probably gives the preacher pause before commending these words for everyone. 

All of those warnings aside, here is a draft post on this passage:

Key words
χαρις ("grace", 2:19 and 20)  This word typically means grace.  Most translators struggle with this.  The literal translation would be "This is grace, if you suffer..."  Does Peter mean grace is the suffering itself or means to endure the suffering?  It is very hard to say that grace is receiving a beating from your master (vs 20).  I understand why the translators do not want to call this grace!  The NET Bible offers the following comment:
“For this [is] favor/grace with God,” used as a metonymy as in vs. 19 of that which pleases him, which he looks on with favor (cf. BDAG 1079 s.v. χάρις 2)."  (A metonymy means a word substituting for another set of words.)

I struggle with this, not simply because of the slave-master connotation, but because of the idea that our suffering pleases God.  I call to mind Psalm 56:8
"You have kept count of my tossings;  put my tears in your bottle.  Are they not in your record?"

So I strongly disagree with the idea that God is pleased with unjust suffering, but we read on!
 
υποφερει (2:19) vs αναφερει (2:24)  We are to bear suffering (carry-down, literally); Jesus bears out sins (carry-up).  It is interesting to think about the two images here, of carrying down vs carrying up.
Note: In vs 24 this αναφερει appears in its aorist form ανηνεγκεν, which makes it difficult to see!)

πασχων (participle form of πασχω, meaning "suffer", 2:19, 20, 21 and 23)  The word here for suffer is the same that we use to describe the suffering of Christ (passion!).  Peter here links, correlates, if not equates our suffering with that of Christ.

υπογραμμον (from υπογραμμος, meaning "example", 2:21)  This word originally meant a list of all the letters in a language so you could start to learn it.  This is fascinating then, that suffering is the alphabet of Christian faith.

παραδιδου (παραδιδωμι, meaning "hand over," 2:23)  Typically we think of Jesus being handed over to the chief priests, etc.  Peter suggests that Jesus handed himself over to the true judge!


απογενομενοι (participle form of "die", 2:24) What I want to point out here is that this participle is in the nominative case, which means it refers to the subject of the sentence, which is us.  We still die.  Christ's death is for us, but it ultimately we must also die to sin. Also there is nothing subjective about this verb.  "In order that dying to sin, we began to live."  The word for live here (ζησωμεν) is in the subjunctive voice, which might leave the English reader thinking there is uncertainty.  No!  The subjunctive voice is used automatically in Greek within the ινα clause.  There is an if-then; the if is Jesus death (which happened), not our compliance!

επισκοπος ("overseers", 2:25) The word here for overseer comes into English as "Episcopal"  Can you imagine reading that in church: "Jesus is the Episcopal of your soul!"  "Epi" means over; "scope" means see.

ψυχων (from ψυχη, meaning "soul", 2:25)  Just a friendly reminder that in the Jewish mind (of which Peter or any of his students would come from), soul is not the wispy part of your body that lives on after you die.  Here are the verses that talk about a soul in 1 Peter:

• 1 Peter 1:8 Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
• 1 Peter 1:22 Now that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth so that you have genuine mutual love, love one another deeply from the heart.
• 1 Peter 2:11 Beloved, I urge you as aliens and exiles to abstain from the desires of the flesh that wage war against the soul.
• 1 Peter 2:25 For you were going astray like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.
• 1 Peter 3:20 who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water.
• 1 Peter 4:19 Therefore, let those suffering in accordance with God's will entrust themselves to a faithful Creator, while continuing to do good.

On the one hand, the soul can refer to the whole person (3:20); it can also refer to the 'part' of the person opposed to the sinful flesh (2:11).  Worth some more reflection!!  Overall, it refers to the moral core of a person.  This soul is not like the body in that it transcends pain and pleasure, but I would not describe it as having transcended the physical reality of the body.  More to consider...on this passage I doubt any of us will ever preach on!!

Ezekiel 37 and a Chaism

This passage occurs in the Narrative Lectionary Year 4 Advent Cycle.  It also occurs during the Revised Common Lectionary, Year A, Lent, most recently March 22, 2020.

Chiastic structure of Ezekiel 37. 
This week I'd like to show how the language Ezekiel points toward a chiasm.  A chiasm is a structure, used very often in Hebrew, along the lines of this
Point A
  Point B
     MAIN Point C
  Counterpoint/echo B
Counterpoint/echo A

Repetition of words and themes points toward the middle, which reveals the author's main point.  This is a valuable tool for teaching, but I would also argue, for remembering stories as well.  It works very well in Hebrew, a language with a fairly small vocabulary.  English authors cover up these structures by translating the same word in various ways.  In Ezekiel 37, this happens most meaningfully with  (דוח) , which means Spirit, wind or breath. 

Once you start laying out the words, a strong argument for a chaism emerges, with the key verse in the middle: "You shall live and know that I am the Lord"

Point A:  The Spirit (דוח) leads Ezekiel to the valley of dry bones (עצם)
   Point B:  Even prophet (literally, son of Adam) is uncertain about fate of bones (עצם); only God knows (ידע)
     Point C:   Command to prophesy (נבא), to speak the Word of the LORD (דבד) with the promise of the Spirit  (דוח)
                       1)  Bones (עצם) will take on flesh
                       2)  Flesh will come alive (חיה) through Spirit (דוח)
        Point D:  MAIN POINT:  People will be alive (חיה) and know (ידע) that the LORD is God!
     Point C':  Ezekiel Prophesies (נבא)
                        1)  Bones (עצם) take on flesh
                        2)  Flesh comes alive  (חיה) as Spirit  (דוח) comes at Word of God. 
In fact, a whole multitude has been resurrected
   Point B':  People said they did not know their fate, their bones (עצם) had dried up; command to prophesy (נבא) the promise of God's Spirit to the people
Point A:  Spirit (דוח) will be with everyone (not just Ezekiel); they will be in Israel, not in valley; people will be alive (חיה) and know (ידע) that the LORD is God!

Luke 12:13-21

This passage occurs in the RCL Year C, most recently in August 4, 2019.
 
Summary:  I am intrigued by the fact that Jesus does not make a distinction between "needs" and "wants."  So much of my Christian and cultural upbringing taught me to distinguish between "need" and "want."  God gives us what we need; not necessarily what we want; we can keep what we need and given to charity the things we "only" want.  I wonder if it is time for us to explode this distinction and say God gives us all we have; all we have is a gift to be shared!  All possessions, at some deep level, are simply wants.  All we truly need is God, a God who provides us with daily bread and who gives us his eternal Kingdom.

If you are preaching this after Luke 11:1-13 (the Lord's prayer and praying; the RCL's previous week's Gospel passage), this passage becomes a great way to build on what we mean by daily bread and "yours is the Kingdom"!

Key words:

οχλου (genitive of οχλος, "ochlos", meaning "crowd", 12:13)  It is someone in the crowd who calls to him;  The word here for crowd is οχλος, a fairly common word in the NT. It refers to the uneducated  mass of citizens; Jesus is among "the people."

κληρονομια(ν) ("kleronomia", meaning "inheritance", 12:13)  Breaking down this word explains the trouble people had and continue to have with it. The word is literally "portion-law."  κλερος means portion (or lot, as in cast lots); νομος means law (the ending has an "a" because it is a feminine word, but this doesn't change the fact that its root it still νομος).  An inheritance is meant to be a gift, a blessing to future generations.  Due to sin, we cannot leave a gift a gift, but we have to "protect" it with laws until the point where it no longer becomes gift.  It is interesting too that the people want to make Jesus, the savior, into a law-giver.  Again, due to sin, we cannot embrace a gift, but must install law!

πλεονεξια ("pleonexia", meaning "greed" or "coveting", 12:15)  Jesus warns them, "Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed."  The word here for "greed" is πλεονεξια.  This word, whenever it appears in the NT, has a negative connotation, most often used in laundry lists of obvious sins.   Most interesting, however, is the connection that Colossians 3:5 (the RCL's NT reading for this week) provides.  Paul writes that coveting, πλεονεξια is, in essence, idolatry.  Wow!  Greed as idolatry is in itself a great sermon (Walter Bruggeman gave a fantastic sermon on this at Luther Seminary in 2008).  One tidbit he shared is that as Paul connects coveting/greed and idolatry, he connects the last commandment (do not covet) to the first (one God; no idols).

υπαρχοντων (genitive participle of υπαρχω, meaning "possessions", 12:15)  Jesus warns of an excess of possessions.  It is worth reminding ourselves that the word for possessions, υπαρχοντων, does not simply mean toys or things.  It includes: means, resources, the things which one can claim for existence. In fact, the word is a substantive participle, literally meaning "the things that exist to him."
Two examples of where this word shows up:
Luke 8:3  These women were helping to support them out of their own means.
Luke 19:8  Zacchaeus says to Jesus:  Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor.

In other words, Jesus here is not distinguishing between needs and wants.  Perhaps this is really helpful for as American Christians who are told we can have what we need, but not what we want.  Our tendency is to greatly exaggerate what we need!  Jesus here points out that our only need is God and God alone.

αναπαυου (command form of αναπαυω, meaning "rest"; 12:19)  We are a world hungry for relaxation -- stress relief from our anxieties.  The word for relax here is αναπαυω.  This word is used in Matthew 11:28, when Jesus promises us rest (Come to me all you who are weary and heaven laden for I will give you rest."  The parable asks us a haunting question:  Where do we seek our solace?  Where do we seek out rest?  Possessions inevitably require maintenance, rules and effort...and do not bring us the profound solace we had hoped for.

*** A little addendum on Luke 12:22-34)
τρεφει (feed; 12:24), αμφιεζει (clothe; 12:28)  I put these two verbs together.  They appear in these verses:
Luke 12:24 Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds (τρεφει) them.
 Luke 12:28 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe (αμφιεζει) you
In both of these cases, the verb is in the present tense, indicating an on-going action.  God will continually feed and clothe us.  This is not a one-time action to start the human story in motion, but a continuous creator!

προστεθησεται (future passive form of προστιθημι, meaning "add", 12:31)  What is significant here is that this verb is in the passive voice, meaning that the subject (us) is not the agent (the one doing the work.)  If these things are to be added, it is not because of us, but because of God.  If you did not catch that God has agency, not us, in the next verse Jesus says that the Father gives us the Kingdom.

Two little grammar notes:
12:16 "A certain rich man..."   The literal translation of the clause is: "of a man certain rich produced good crops the field." The fact that the first three words - man, certain, rich - are all in same case shows they are related.

12:17/12:18   The verb ποιησω appears in both 12:17 and 12:18.  Even though both spellings are the same, it is conjugated (and therefore translated) differently.  The first time it is translated as an aorist subjunctive: "What shall I do?" In the other it is future indicative: "This I will do." Context determines the correct translation

Genesis 18:20-32

This passage appears in the Revised Common Lectionary, Year C (recently on July 28, 2019)

Summary:  There is a lot of great material in this passage to consider regarding prayer, especially as it is paired with Jesus teaching the Lord's Prayer to the disciples in Luke's Gospel.  But I want to look at the question:  What is the sin of Sodom?



חטאת (meaning "sin", 18:19)  The sins of Sodom are "grave" (כבך meaning "to be heavy") in Hebrew).  There are a lot of potential sins in the Bible.  So what are the sins of Sodom?  

It is often assumed that Sodom was punished for its sexual sins, specifically homosexual lust.  The book of Jude in the New Testament supports this:
- "Likewise, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which, in the same manner as they, indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural lust, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire."  Jude 1:7 


This possibility runs into some difficulty, namely, that the story involving sex comes after God has heard the outcry against Sodom; furthermore, the story involving sex involves gang rape of two men (actually angels) visiting Lot's home and then Lot offering his virgin daughters in their place.  In addition, one must consider the culture's overwhelming value of hospitality, as displayed by Abraham earlier in chapter 18.  Sodom represents total moral depravity; there are multiple moral failures in the gang-rape scene, well beyond sex. 

In fact, in 2 Peter, Sodom (and Gomorrah) get mentioned as THE example of ungodly behavior:
 "by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction and made them an example of what is coming to the ungodly." (2 Peter 2:6)  The writer associates this ungodliness with sexual misconduct in that God:  "rescued Lot, a righteous man greatly distressed by the licentiousness of the lawless" (2 Peter 2:7).  However, the writer/Peter concludes this section by concluding that they "They have hearts trained in greed." (2 Peter 2:14)*  It seems that for Peter, sex is a problem, but not THE problem.  Again, sexual sin goes hand in hand with other sins.

Furthermore, God declares in Genesis 18.19 that he has known/chosen/singled out Abraham so that Abraham may do "righteousness" and "justice" (צדקה and משפת).  These two concepts will be paired again and again in the Old Testament (Psalm 33.5; Proverbs 21:3; Isaiah 56:1, Amos 6:12).  It is fair to wonder if the problem in Sodom is about basic righteousness.

We do not have much evidence in Genesis prior to chapter 18 of what is happening in Sodom.  However, the prophet Ezekiel gives voice to the Lord's judgment against them:  "Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy.   They were haughty and did detestable things before me."  (Ezekiel 16:49-50)

To put it another way, the sexual sins of Sodom are not the problem in themselves, rather they are manifestation of a culture in which people put themselves first, objectify others, and justify their greed.  Sound familiar?  I've read a number of commentators who want to ignore the sexual sins, totally focusing on hospitality, likely as a reaction of those who use this passage in sexuality debates.  I think as a whole, the American church struggles with sexual sins, either obsessing over them or ignoring them.  Perhaps this story reminds us that yes, sexual immorality is a concern to God, but it likely arises alongside of other problems.

Most haunting may not be what happens to Sodom, but the words of judgment that God has in Ezekiel.  Especially when heard with the words of Peter, as he concludes his argument:  "They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption; for people are slaves to whatever masters them."  (2 Peter 2:19) 


*  Admittedly, Peter is referencing the story of Sodom and other passages within a section in which he is critiquing the behavior of members of his church who have gone astray.  It might be difficult to ascertain when Peter is offering commentary on the Biblical characters versus his piers.  That all said, the overall impression Peter gives is that there is sexual sin, but this is more a manifestation of others sins, rather than the problem in itself.

Ephesians 4:25-5:2

This passage occurs in the Revised Common Lectionary, Year B, most recently August 12, 2018.

Summary:  It is summer, so I only offer a brief commentary here.  I mainly want to look at the words related to grace!

χαρις (grace; 4:29)  The word grace appears a number of times in Ephesians.  I want to consider what this particular writer (okay, I get it, there is a lot of debate about whether Paul wrote this letter.  If it turns out not to be Paul, the person who wrote it was a spiritual genius and student of Paul).  I am going to break down grace a bit, which is theologically impossible, but I think it is a necessary intermediate step

• Out of the richest of grace, we have redemption through the blood on the cross (1:7)
• Grace is revealed in the resurrection of Christ and us (2:6)
• Grace is the revelation of the mystery of Christ (3:2)
• Grace is imparted through faith (2:8) and leads to a life of good works
• Grace becomes a way of life, building others up (4:29) and giving grace to others through forgiveness (4:32)
• Grace, one might argue, is that which predestines us (1:6)

Grace isn't conferred in one moment, but becomes the vehicle, it seems through which the Spirit works; to put it another way, grace is the heavenly currency that can never be earned.

χαριζομαι (give freely or even forgive; 4:32)  This word typically does not mean "forgive" but means "be gracious" or "be generous", which includes forgiving one another.  I like this word here first because it reminds us that our forgiveness toward our neighbor is not an abstraction but must bear fruit in real life.  Second it connects to the broader theme of grace!

εχαριτωσεν (from χαριτοω, meaning "bestow freely"; 1.6)  The writer declares we have been freely bestowed with God's blessing through Christ.  The only other New Testament appearance of this word is in Luke's Gospel, to describe Mary as the "highly favored."  Turns out that in Christ we are all highly favored, bears of God's word to the world.