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On the Mission of Jesus Only to the Lost Sheep of Israel: A Pastoral Dialogue

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I chatted with a Pastor friend on the blog entry about Jesus being sent only to the lost sheep of Israel. Among other things, my Pastor friend believes such a claim implies a few discordant things:

  1. Gentiles are “an afterthought.”
  2. Jesus is the Savior of only the Jews, and many Jews did not even accept him.
  3. Gentiles today should be practicing Judaism, not Christianity.

I am sympathetic to him and others who would feel that way. I had similar thoughts and discomfort when I was first confronted with these issues some years ago. However, I do not think the picture is as bleak or fuzzy as my friend may appear to imply. Let’s unpack the points one after the other.

First, I must reiterate that I did not claim that Jesus was only sent to the Jews in the first century. The Matthean Jesus did. In his own words, Jesus understood his mission as primarily to first-century Jews. So, even if a reader dislikes my explanation, the text remains and confronts us:

Matthew 15:24 ESV
[Jesus] answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

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On 1 Peter 3:1-6: Navigating Ancient Norms with Christ-Centered Wisdom

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Background

We previously discussed the Household Code passages found in Colossians and Ephesians. These passages outline how Greco-Roman Christian households were expected to behave in a manner that honors Christ. We argued that these texts do not prescribe a uniform way for all Christian homes throughout history to operate. If they did, it might imply that every Christian household must own slaves. Instead, these passages illustrate Paul’s efforts to engage with a Gentile issue that even Jesus did not confront in his Jewish context.

The Greco-Roman family consisted of a husband and father who held legally granted absolute power over everyone who lived under his roof – a wife, children, and slaves. How he handled his home was tied to his public reputation and dignity. Women typically were married off by age 15, generally to much older men. Usually, love had very little to do with the marriage. Indeed, the Greco-Roman man was not required to love his wife. Paul found himself in this cultural context, and the options were few. He could have demonized the practice, as the European missionaries to sub-Sahara Africa did, and required the Christians to do marriages the “Christian way,” whatever that might have meant. But that move would be somewhat naive, impractical, and even foolish. First, cultural norms do not change overnight; expecting otherwise is embracing inevitable failure. Second, Christians were a minority, accounting for less than 10 % of the Roman empire at the time, and were despised for their culture-inverting beliefs and claims. An Emperor would later actively persecute them. So, Paul seemed to have taken a “slowly but surely” path to winning the Greco-Roman family structure for Jesus. He sowed the seeds and trusted God to enable germination.

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Genesis 2 and Paul: Women’s Equality Unveiled

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The Undifferentiated Adam

No other literature has shaped our world quite like Genesis 2 and 3. These two chapters have generated extensive analysis, and people approach them from diverse perspectives. Some assert that the story underpins the idea of women’s ontological inferiority, arguing that “God made the woman for the man.” In contrast, many readers draw entirely different conclusions from the same text. In this piece, I will demonstrate why I believe Genesis 2 does not teach the inferiority or subordination of women.

These chapters tell the famous story of the creation of Adam and Eve, the first human parents in the narrative world of Genesis. It will benefit readers to keep a few things in mind as we proceed. The word adam is borrowed from the Hebrew language. In the passages we will explore, adam has multiple roles. Sometimes, it refers to the male human in the passage. Other times, it refers to the couple, the man and the woman. It also can refer to the undifferentiated, genderless human – the being from whom Eve was formed. In this entry, I shall use the pronoun “it” to describe the adam, except where gender is implied. The other thing to watch out for is this passage’s narrator’s use of wordplay, significantly contributing to the message. Two instances of paronomasia would prove critical to understanding the narrative. Let’s begin where the actions start in Genesis 2:

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Abraham and the Aqedah in the “Hall of Faith” (Series Part 4, Finale)

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One of the clear, overarching lessons in the Bible is that there are no true heroes among humans. The best of humanity is merely human at best. Yet, the Bible demonstrates that some individuals can display admirable qualities, even in a fallen state. Alongside these examples, we also encounter characters who are hopelessly self-absorbed. Later writers tend to praise earlier Scriptural figures but often do so selectively, focusing on specific attributes while neglecting the fullness of their characters. These figures become literary constructs where certain aspects of their lives are highlighted, but the reader must remember the whole story and context.

My examination of the Aqedah would be incomplete without delving into the Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11. This chapter underscores individuals who exemplified faith in God’s promises, contributing to the unfolding of God’s plans for humanity. These figures should not be elevated to the status of ideal humans to model our lives after in every respect; nevertheless, they serve as examples of faithfulness to God’s promises. Let’s first consider some straightforward examples:

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Still on the Aqedah: A Friendly Exchange with a Pastor Friend (Series Part 3)

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While discussing my last writing with a very dear pastor friend, something I think is worth writing about came up. In my previous blog entry, I had zeroed in on the following passage where God spoke to Abraham:

Genesis 22:2 ESV
[2] He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”

I argued that two elements in this statement are inaccurate: Isaac is not Abraham’s only son, and we have no clear evidence that Abraham loved Isaac. My friend disagrees with this claim on the grounds that God himself makes the claim, and we may not challenge God’s statement. Now, this is a critical pushback. But if we argue that the statement MUST be correct because God says so, then we have to wrestle with the fact that God earlier (Genesis 17:20) acknowledged Ishmael as Abraham’s son and even promised to bless Ishmael for that reason. The argument would imply a contradiction or divine amnesia. That’s one reason I think the divine statement is not meant to be taken at face value but invites readers to look deeper.

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Did Abraham Pass the Aqedah Test? (Series Part 2)

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Pre-Abraham State of the World

Scholars have established that the first 11 chapters of Genesis serve as an extended prologue, providing essential context and foundational insights for the narratives that follow. These chapters effectively recount the story of creation and delineate how the nation of Israel emerged as a privileged people within this overarching narrative. Genesis opens with God’s profound intention to create beings that can reflect His image, leading Him to craft a suitable environment for this endeavor. He then forms humanity and imparts clear instructions for their living—guidelines that they are fully capable of following. Yet, it becomes evident that other forces interfere with God’s plan. Before long, the trajectory of this project is disrupted, even with just two humans involved. The situation escalates—by the time there were four named individuals, there was a tragic murder. From that point, the narrative continues its descent into chaos.

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Abraham and the Aqedah: Child Sacrifice in the Hebrew Bible (Series Part 1)

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Fewer biblical passages elicit intense visceral reactions than the Aqedah, the story of Abraham binding his long-awaited son Isaac for sacrifice as God commanded. This enteric rejection is not unique to modern readers, as some ancient readers, such as the prophet Jeremiah, felt just as strongly against child sacrifice. Traditionally, the account is often read as an instance of Abraham finally demonstrating complete reliance on God. This reading is not without merit. After all, Genesis chronicles Abraham’s sinusoidal faith in his journey with God. When called to leave his home country, Abraham obeyed without any questions (Genesis 12). God promised Abraham that he would become the father of many nations and that his descendant would inherit the land of Canaan (Genesis 12:7). Yet when there was a famine in the land, and he journeyed to Egypt for relief, Abraham had no troubles offering up his wife for potential sexual exploitation (Genesis 12:11-15). He did not even seek God for help – whether to go to Egypt in the first place or how to survive in Egypt. So, in one chapter, we see the man go from exercising enviable faith and departing his homeland to prioritizing self-preservation over the well-being of his wife. This wife was to enable him to become the father of many nations, as God promised. This pattern of highs and lows continues in Abraham’s life, as we shall see shortly. So, the traditional reading of the Aqedah is sensible, though not without problems.

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Was Jesus Slain from the Foundation of the World?

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The short answer is No. The long answer is “No, but.” And, no, I’m not contradicting Scripture. This issue came up during a recent conversation. It is a popular idea among churchgoers, and I think it is worth writing about briefly. There are two matters surrounding this issue. One is textual (or linguistic), and the other is philosophical. The primary text for the idea is Revelation 13:8. The chapter is about the beast from the sea who will wage war against the people of God and get some of them killed. Here is one translation,

Revelation 13:8 NKJV
[8] All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

Clearly, this translation says the Lamb, Jesus, was slain from the foundation of the world. Here is another translation,

Revelation 13:8 ESV
[8] and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.

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In the Beginning was the Word: Where Did John Get the Idea?

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John 1:1 is one of the well-known Bible verses: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. It can be a puzzling verse. To many readers, it appears that John was poetic and cared little for precedence. But was he? Did John express a fresh revelation about the divine with this description, or did he have an Old Testament practice to rely on? The latter is the case.

Whereas today, the “word of God” can mean anything from a preacher’s sermon to the Bible, the phrase had other uses in the Hebrew Bible. Today, we are used to thinking about the “word of God” primarily as an AUDITORY thing. In the Old Testament, however, the phrase is also used VISUALLY – which informs John’s writing.

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On the Identity of the Twenty-Four Elders of Revelation: A Friendly Dialogue with a Catholic Priest (Series Part 4)

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With a joking undertone, I  wrote earlier that had John written the book of Revelation as a graduate school work in today’s world, he would score an “F” for plagiarism – failure to cite his sources. I was not exaggerating. In Part 1, I demonstrated how John uses the finest textual details to make theological points. In Part 2, we considered the human and angelic identity arguments of the angels of the seven churches in Revelation. Something similar is going on with our present subject of the identity of the twenty-four elders. Are they human or divine beings? As it turns out, John provides enough data to argue both ways. John uses many different Hebrew Bible imagery, allusion, and ideas in describing the elders in Revelation.

I recently had a Facebook discussion with a Catholic priest, Chinaka Justin Mbaeri, on this subject. He uses his page to educate readers on the heritage and doctrines of the Catholic Church while also correcting what he believes are dangerous ideas to the faith. In one such post, the priest argues at a considerable length in defence of the Catholic Church’s uses of images and statues in its affairs. He argued that Protestants of Nigerian extractions are ill-informed about the practice and so condemn what they know not. He pointed out that Catholics do not worship images or statues but use them as visual aids to teach members of the faithful exploits of saints. He vigorously defends these uses, pointing out that the Bible doesn’t condemn the use of images per se but strongly prohibits worshiping images – and I think he is right. He then says that when Catholics seek the prayer of saints, they are under no delusion that the saints (or their statues) have any power to grant prayers. On the contrary, the idea is to enlist the saints, who are already perfected and in God’s presence, to pray alongside the earthly faithful. He relies on Revelation 5:8 and 8:3-4 as the critical passages for the practice, which is where I disagree. Let me quote these verses below for easy reference before sharing the unedited exchanges:

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