Memes give me something to blog about, so that’s cool. My friend Jim at Lord I Believe, Help My Unbelief tagged me with this one about favorite books of the Bible. It was started by another friend of mine, Brother Maynard at Subversive Influence.
I don’t think I have a favorite entire book in the Bible. When I think about the Bible, it is always certain passages that stir up my emotions. I guess some of my favorite chapters in the Bible are in John, specifically chapters 13-17 but especially chapter 15. I find Jesus’ words to his friends so poignant in light of the soon-coming events in Jesus’ life. They are words of love and hope, not words of expectations and demands. I find this incredibly moving from one who is about to be tortured and killed by the objects of his love. Love each other. You are my friends. See, I am going to lay down my life for you, my friends. Go and do likewise.
But I am also quite fond of Colossians 2, especially the way Peterson puts it, especially this part:
6-7My counsel for you is simple and straightforward: Just go ahead with what you’ve been given. You received Christ Jesus, the Master; now live him. You’re deeply rooted in him. You’re well constructed upon him. You know your way around the faith. Now do what you’ve been taught. School’s out; quit studying the subject and start living it! And let your living spill over into thanksgiving.
8-10Watch out for people who try to dazzle you with big words and intellectual double-talk. They want to drag you off into endless arguments that never amount to anything. They spread their ideas through the empty traditions of human beings and the empty superstitions of spirit beings. But that’s not the way of Christ. Everything of God gets expressed in him, so you can see and hear him clearly. You don’t need a telescope, a microscope, or a horoscope to realize the fullness of Christ, and the emptiness of the universe without him. When you come to him, that fullness comes together for you, too. His power extends over everything.
11-15Entering into this fullness is not something you figure out or achieve. It’s not a matter of being circumcised or keeping a long list of laws. No, you’re already in—insiders—not through some secretive initiation rite but rather through what Christ has already gone through for you, destroying the power of sin. If it’s an initiation ritual you’re after, you’ve already been through it by submitting to baptism. Going under the water was a burial of your old life; coming up out of it was a resurrection, God raising you from the dead as he did Christ. When you were stuck in your old sin-dead life, you were incapable of responding to God. God brought you alive—right along with Christ! Think of it! All sins forgiven, the slate wiped clean, that old arrest warrant canceled and nailed to Christ’s cross. He stripped all the spiritual tyrants in the universe of their sham authority at the Cross and marched them naked through the streets.
16-17So don’t put up with anyone pressuring you in details of diet, worship services, or holy days. All those things are mere shadows cast before what was to come; the substance is Christ.
18-19Don’t tolerate people who try to run your life, ordering you to bow and scrape, insisting that you join their obsession with angels and that you seek out visions. They’re a lot of hot air, that’s all they are. They’re completely out of touch with the source of life, Christ, who puts us together in one piece, whose very breath and blood flow through us. He is the Head and we are the body. We can grow up healthy in God only as he nourishes us.
20-23So, then, if with Christ you’ve put all that pretentious and infantile religion behind you, why do you let yourselves be bullied by it? “Don’t touch this! Don’t taste that! Don’t go near this!” Do you think things that are here today and gone tomorrow are worth that kind of attention? Such things sound impressive if said in a deep enough voice. They even give the illusion of being pious and humble and ascetic. But they’re just another way of showing off, making yourselves look important.
Yeah, that’s good stuff. Darin and I talk about how we should get on the “starting our ministry” bandwagon and call it “Colossians 2 Ministries: We don’t tolerate people who try to run our lives.” ROTFLMAO.
Just kidding. I really don’t like the idea of pulling pieces of Scripture out here and there to justify a cause or a denomination. I try to understand my faith as expressed through Scripture in the context of its theme. When I take Scripture as a whole, what is the message it delivers? Because really, I could justify any desire of my heart or condemn anyone with a verse or passage taken out of context.
Also, saw Jim’s thoughts about Erin’s thoughts about theology for the first time this morning and have to say that I agree with them. Theology is so often just trying to figure God out. Get him down to a science. And also to justify people’s ministries before man. Sorry. It’s laughable to me that some would require a college degree in order to be called a minister of God. How does that square with Scripture? Oh, I know, there’s probably a verse you can pull out that explains it.
Oh, and I tag:
Don’t forget to link back here and to Brother Maynard’s original post.
Tags: bible, colossians, Jesus, scripture
June 22nd, 2008 at 1:03 am
Glad you came by my blog, because I didn’t know my reader wasn’t picking up your feed anymore.
Jesus set us free for the sake of freedom, I think that’s what Paul said. While I was busy trying to figure God out, I was denying that freedom by chaining myself to the concept of God that I was trying to build.
I like how your translation wrote Col 2:6-7.
June 22nd, 2008 at 1:06 am
I’m glad I stopped by your blog also, and glad you visited here. As always, your thoughts are well worded.