Category Archives: Ecclesia (The Church)

Various essays on issues in the church and deaing with church culture.

Traditions Of Men vs God’s Word

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Jesus’s main critique of the Pharisees was that they were substituting God’s law with man-made traditions. The Pharisees were scapegoating laws in the Old Testament by reinterpreting certain verses. These reinterpretations would later end up in the Talmud. For example, they interpreted Deut 24:1 to allow for “any cause” divorce or adding “hate your enemies” to love your neighbor in Lev 19:18. Jesus, of course, corrected them in Matt chapter 5:31-32 & 5:43-48, as well as Matt 19 & Luke 10:25-37.

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Christians and Foreigners

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Jesus says in Matthew 22:34-40 that the 2nd greatest commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself (Lev 19:18). The first is to love God with your heart, soul, and strength (Deut 6:4-5). 1 John 4:7-8 says that love comes from God and anyone who doesn’t love is not of God, for God is love. This means it is impossible to love God and hate your neighbor. The Great Commission, according to Matthew 28:18-20, is to teach all nations. The word nation in the New Testament is translated from the Greek word ethnos (ἔθνος), which is where we get the English word ethnicity. This means that biblical nations aren’t specifically referring to nation-states but rather people groups (ethnicities). This refers to the ethnic separation by language at the Tower of Babel in Genesis 10 and 11.

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Persecution vs Punishment

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Peter makes a distinction between persecution and punishment. When bad things happen and people mistreat Christians, they must ask themselves, “Do I deserve this”? If we did something wrong to another, we must apologize, but if they are just haters, then we rejoice as James 1:2-4 says so that our faith can grow, and we are to love on and pray for our enemies as Jesus says in Matt 5:43-48, Paul echoes this in Romans 12:9-21. We must never forget that God is our avenger, so we must not retaliate against people who harm us (Deut 32:35). Let’s look at some of Peter’s writing on the subject.

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Marital Submission

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The Bible instructs spouses to submit to one another, with wives being taught to submit to their husbands as unto the Lord, and husbands to love their wives as Christ loves His church (Ephesians 5:21-33, 1 Peter 3:1-7). Submission is not about being a spouse’s slave; it is about following their lead and choosing to love them even when we don’t feel like it or they don’t deserve it. This means trusting God to lead the husband, and the wife follows. This means continually loving the wife even if she rebels. The submission to the command to love our neighbor as ourselves applies in marriage in a deep, intimate way. If the husband, who is responsible for the family, is failing in his role, God can lead the wife to take action. If she has to choose between God and her husband, God would ultimately come first.

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Christian Nationalism

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Is Christian Nationalism biblical? We can’t apply scriptures that are specific to Israel or the Kingdom of God (which are monarchies) to a democratic republic nation like the USA. Unfortunately, some people cherry-pick Bible verses out of context to make human agenda-based arguments. From a Biblical perspective, American nationalism is no different from Chinese, Russian, or Iranian nationalism. There are Hindu Nationalists in India and Buddhist nationalists in places like Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar who persecute people of Abrahamic faiths. Nationalism just leads to persecution, which is not Christ-like.

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Ambassadors for Christ

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Believers in Christ are ambassadors for Christ (2 Cor 5:20), which means we represent Christ’s kingdom on earth. An ambassador is someone who lives in one country but represents another. Believers were made citizens of the new kingdom when they were born again.

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