JEREMIAH 18

Jeremiah 18:1-15

If any of you have been tempted to read straight through the whole book of Jeremiah, you may end up getting quite confused because the book appears to be anything but coherent.

From the time I was in high school, this was my opinion of most of the books of prophecy and a lot of the other books in the Bible. It disturbed me because I loved great works of literature. The Bible certainly contained great individual passages, but often each individual book did not seem to be organized as a whole so that it all fit together and flowed well. I thought I was alone in my negative view of the literary value of biblical books such as Jeremiah until I started reading commentaries. Here are a few examples taken from the recent literature on the subject:

“Why the book was arranged as it was, we do not know. Every outline of Jeremiah is somewhat arbitrary.”

            “It is hard to discern a principle underlying the order of the book.”

            “It must be obvious even from a cursory examination that the contents of the prophecy are not arranged in what, to the western mind, would be called a logical order.”

            “Neither of the standard criteria for arranging the prophetic books, chronology and subject matter, works very well in an analysis of this book.”

            “When we come to inquire whether any principles of arrangement can be observed in the book

 of Jeremiah, we have to admit that any consistent principles escape us."

 

            One can scarcely blame [the reader] for concluding that he is reading a hopeless hodgepodge

 thrown together without any discernible principle of arrangement at all.”

If the Bible was truly inspired by the Holy Spirit and God is a God of order, why this hodgepodge? As

 usual, the problem was not with God but with my own lack of understanding.

Figure 1: The Structure of Jeremiah

I. Historical Introduction (1:1-3)

II. Prophet to the Nations (1:4-12)

III. Prophecies Concerning Judah and Israel (1:13-13:27)

IV. Woe to the Leaders (chs. 14-25)

III'. Prophecies Concerning Judah and Israel (chs. 26-44)

II'. Oracles to the Nations (chs. 45-51)

I'. Historical Conclusion (ch. 52)

These seven sections contain a total of seven similar statements such as “The Word of the LORD came to Jeremiah” with slight variations of wording so that they also form symmetrical pairs. Seven is a symbolic number in the Bible, usually indicating completeness or totality

If you look at the subject matter of this center section of the book, you also find perfect symmetry.

Figure 3: The Structure of Section IV (chapters 14-25)

A. No Cup of Consolation (14:1-17:18)

B. Message to the Kings (17:19-27)

C. The Potter's Vessel (18:1-23)

1. Vision and Meaning (18:1-17)

2. Plot against Jeremiah (18:18)

3. Jeremiah's Lament (18:19-23)

C'. The Clay Jar (19:1-20:18)

1. Symbol and Meaning (19:1-15)

2. Jeremiah Arrested and Beaten (20:1-6)

3. Jeremiah's Lament (20:7-18)

B'. Messages to the Kings (21:1-22:30)

A'. The Cup of Wrath (23:1-25:38)

The vision in Chapter 18 shows a potter molding the pliable clay as he pleases, with the closing message that it is not too late for Judah to repent. The probable historical background here is in the early reign of King Jehoiakim well before the Babylonians took Jerusalem in 597 BC. By contrast, the symbol of the baked clay jar of Chapters 19-20 prepares us for its end in destruction since the nation hardened its heart and was only fit to be broken in pieces.

1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: 2 “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I 

will give you my message.” 3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel

. 4 But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into

 another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.

This is not the first time that God has spoken to Jeremiah through things that he has observed in daily

 life (see the almond shoot and boiling pot in chapter 1). When I know in advance that I am going to

 teach a Bible study on a particular subject, it is amazing how often I run across illustrations for it from

 movies I see, TV programs, books I am reading, etc. And I notice that our pastor does the same thing in

 coming up with sermon illustrations. Are we on the lookout for spiritual lessons in the everyday

 activities around us? Louis Pasteur said on his accidental discovery of penicillin: “Chance favors the

 prepared mind.”

Jeremiah 18:3 “Potter” in Hebrew is literally “shaper,” The verb from which it is derived first appears

 in Genesis 2:6 where God shapes man from earth.

Jeremiah 18:4 Like the parables of Jesus, we can't push the details too far. Otherwise it would seem to

 teach that God sometimes makes mistakes in his work of creation. It is usually the quality of the clay

 that frustrates the potter's original intention rather than his lack of skill (the implication of the

 subsequent verses). It is commonly held that this “parable” teaches the patience of God in slowly

 forming us according to His will, but that is not the conclusion drawn from the following verses. It

 is God's sovereignty over our lives rather than his patience that is being stressed.

The NIV translation of verse 4 is not the best here. The original reads more like “whenever the pot he

 was shaping was marred...” indicating that it happened more than once, perhaps with the same lump 

of clay.

5 Then the word of the LORD came to me. 6 He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter 

does?” declares the LORD. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel. 7 If at

 any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, 8 and if that

 nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. 9

 And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, 10 and if it 

does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it.

There is some heavy theology here and some ideas easy to misunderstand.

 

Jeremiah 18:6 Why did God call Judah Israel?

Designating Judah as the nation of Israel reminded the people of their heritage and original purpose as a

 unified covenant people before the split in the Kingdom. It also reminds them of the fate of the

 Northern Kingdom.

Jeremiah 18:7-8 Can you think of a concrete Biblical illustration of this teaching? The story in Jonah on

 repentance of Nineveh is prime example. “Harder for a Jew to swallow than it was for the fish to

 swallow Jonah,” as one commentator joked.

Jeremiah 18:8 I first read this verse in KJV, where it states that God will repent of the evil he planned to

 do. That caused me a lot of problems. Look at more recent translations. NIV says “relent,” NRSV says

 “change my mind” and AB has “think better of.” It is a different Hebrew word from the one applied to

 the nation repenting of, or turning from, its evil ways.

This brings up the difficulty in understanding the complex relationship between God's actions and

 man's actions. There are two extremes of understanding: One is ultra-Calvinism in which man's actions

 have no effect on God whatsoever since God is totally unchanging and has everything planned in

 advance including who will and won't be saved. The other extreme, more recent, is Process Theology.  

It is derived from ideas of philosopher Alfred North Whitehead

Cobb states concerning this view, “The character of the world is influenced by God, but it is not determined by him and the world in its turn contributes novelty and richness to the divine experience.”

Consequently, God is in some sense dependent on the universe to be complete. Whitehead wrote, “... (God's) derivative nature is consequent upon the creative advance of the world”"

In other words, according to this belief system, GOD IS IN THE PROCESS OF BEING, hence the name of the movement. He is not immutable. Also, His change and development is contingent on the development of the universe.

I am reminded of one definition of heresy: a truth taken too far.

The standard evangelical position seems to be clearly taught in these verses and is somewhat in the

 middle: God may change his course of action depending on man's actions (God grants us the dignity of

 our choices) but He by no means changes His nature or His overall plan for the universe, and He is

 never surprised by man's actions.

There is even more of a problem in the two usages of the same word (ra'a) for evil in verse 8. Most

 translators describe God's action here as disaster, harm or even judgment. For God, the classic

 statement is found in Isaiah 45:7: “I form the light and I create darkness. I make peace and create evil. I

 the Lord do all these things.” Are there a different base meanings to the word in Hebrew? Generally

 speaking, when an author uses the same word several times in a given passage, the meaning is the same

 in each. My conclusion: the meaning of evil is the same in each case, something that is bad in the eye

 of the beholder. When it comes to God labeling something evil, this is made clear in verse 10 by the

 modifying phrase “in God's sight.” which appears about 45 other places in the OT. Even when it

 doesn't occur, it is understood that God is doing the judging and His judgments are righteous. On the

 other hand, evil from God toward us, from our perspective, is whatever we do not like, even though it

 may ultimately be good for us and certainly forwards God's overall plans.

Jeremiah 18:9-10 demonstrates the two sides to God's sovereignty. It clearly teaches the contingent 

nature of God's blessings for a nation. This is especially appropriate for our own nation to contemplate.

11 “Now therefore say to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, ‘This is what the LORD 

says: Look! I am preparing a disaster for you and devising a plan against you. So turn from your evil

 ways, each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions.’ 12 But they will reply, ‘It’s no use. We

 will continue with our own plans; we will all follow the stubbornness of our evil hearts.’”

Jeremiah 18:11 Each word and phrase is loaded with meaning. Preparing, or shaping, is a verb that the

 noun potter comes from. There is a two-part repentance of turning (initial act) and reforming

  (continuous process). This is somewhat parallel to the subtle difference between ways (attitude) and

 actions (results arising from our changed attitude). Each one of you: Note that the call to repentance

 here is to the individual, not the nation as a whole. It is easy to zero in on verses 7-10 which refer to

 nations and point the finger at godless society. Some of those who rant and rave the most about moral

decline in our nation could use some reformation in their own character. It is harder for us when we

 have to personalize the teaching. Jesus described this as trying to take the dust particle out of another

 person's eye when we have a log in our own.

Jeremiah 18:12 Discuss the meaning of “It is hopeless.” It may reflect despair (no ability to change or

 bowing to inevitable fate) but more likely means unwillingness to change (rebellion). J. A. Thompson

 said that the end result of continuous evil doing is a state “where all desire and hope of repentance is

 lost and men are content to follow the uninhibited promptings of their own rebellious and wicked

 hearts.” This is quite a bit like the end result described by Paul in Romans 1 when people follow their

 own plans vs. God's plans. Three times Paul says, “God gave them up to their lusts and passions.”

New Bible Commentary: “The sin of the people is as irrational as it is tragic.” It has been said that

 atheism is an irrational response driven more by moral reasons than intellectual ones. A book I would

 recommend to anyone interested in apologetics was written by Bertrand Russell, the prominent

 philosopher and logician titled Why I Am Not a Christian. It is one of the most illogical books I have

 ever read. Russell's deep-seated hatred of Christianity and America stemmed from an incident where 

he was denied a visa to enter the country by pressure from Episcopalian and Catholic clerics due to his

 immoral teachings and lifestyle.

13 Therefore this is what the LORD says:

“Inquire among the nations:

 
Who has ever heard anything like this?

 
A most horrible thing has been done

 
by Virgin Israel

.
14 Does the snow of Lebanon

 
ever vanish from its rocky slopes?

 
Do its cool waters from distant sources

 
ever stop flowing?

 
15 Yet my people have forgotten me;

 
they burn incense to worthless idols,

 
which made them stumble in their ways,

 
in the ancient paths

.
They made them walk in byways,

 
on roads not built up.

Jeremiah 18:13 The idea is that even the pagan nations would be appalled that Israel had abandoned her

 God. This is an idea expressed even more clearly in Jeremiah 2:10-11: Cross to the coasts of Cyprus 

and look, send to Kedar and examine with care; see if there has ever been such a thing. Has a nation

 ever changed its gods, even though they are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for 

something that does not profit. This sort of negative witness has a modern application since outsiders

 may be looking to us as examples.

Jeremiah 18:14 There are many translation problems with the Hebrew in this verse. I won't go into the

 details, but the main point seems to be clear. Mt. Hermon, the highest mountain of Lebanon, remains

 snow-capped almost all the time. And the streams coming from the mountain provide a never-ending

 source of water. These two perennial conditions are given in contrast to the changing attitude of Judah.

 Nature is constant, but Judah is not.

Jeremiah 18:15 NIV and TEV have burning incense to “worthless idols;” New English Bible has “mere

 idols;” There is actually no adjective in the original. A more literal translation is vanity or emptiness

 (KJV), nothing (Jerusalem Bible), delusion (NRSV) or The Fraud (AB). The verse literally reads that

 the idols made them stumble, but is better understood as saying that their worship of idols made them

 stumble. Instead of following the clear paths that God has marked out, they are always trying to find

 shortcuts

HOSEA 4

Rebuking Destructive Behavior: Hosea 4:1-14

When you read the Prophets, if they seem to ramble and repeat themselves, you're not alone. Many scholars have commented on the difficulty of discerning the pattern behind the book of Hosea.

“It does not exhibit any overall design.”

"It shows little superficial evidence of careful composition or organization.”

“even the effort to establish broad lines of divisions evokes much debate.”

" deciding where one passage leaves off and another begins has been a major consideration for every commentator.”

I love a challenge so the figure below shows some of my analysis on how the book is put together. Take it or leave it. It does have a definite structure, and this fact is not just academic. There are important lessons to be learned from the way it is organized.

Figure 1

Three-Cycle Structure of Hosea

Cycle I: Hosea 1-2

A. Hosea and Gomer (Hosea 1)

B. God and His People: Condemnation (Hosea 2:1-13)

C. God and His People: Redemption (Hosea 2:14-23)

Cycle II: Hosea 3-11

A. Hosea and Gomer (Hosea 3)

B. God and His People: Condemnation (Hosea 4:1-10:12)

C. God and His People: Redemption (Hosea 10:13-11:12)

Cycle III: Hosea 12-14

A. Jacob (Hosea 12)

B. God and His People: Condemnation (Hosea 13)

C. God and His People: Redemption (Hosea 14)

Look at the repeated pattern: a specific example is given first: the marriage of Hosea and Gomer is sort of an acted-out parable for the people to see, and it starts the first two cycles. In these, harlotry is a metaphor for the people going after other gods. The third cycle starts by reaching back into history to point out the various faults of the patriarch Jacob as an example. In the second sections of each cycle (B), the people are condemned for their sins but God holds out the possibility of redemption in each concluding section, labeled C.

Unfortunately, today's passage falls in the large section of the book labeled IIB, which is one of the Condemnation sections. I'm afraid you will have to look elsewhere to get any redemption. It is interesting that for this large section, the word hesed acts as a set of bookends since it appears in the first and last verses. The King James Version translates this as “loving-kindness,” and it is usually applied to God himself. So God's love is prominent even in these rather negative passages.

Further subdivisions can be seen in Figure 2.

Figure 2

Cycle IIB              Opening              Opening          Closing Reference 

Section                 Addressee           Accusation              to Judah

1 (4:1-16)          Israel                   list of sins                 positive

            2 (4:17-7:1a)          Ephraim                 harlotry             positive

            3 (7:1b-8:14)         Ephraim         list of sins             negative

            4 (9:1-10:12)     Israel                           harlotry        negative

Hosea addresses either Israel (Northern Kingdom) or Ephraim (one of the larger tribes whose territory marks the Southern boundary of Israel).

Look further at the first three of these subdivisions since they are part of the background reading for this lesson.

Figure 3: The Structure of Cycle II, Section B1

a. Opening Call “O people of Israel” (4:1a)                                     Yahweh (twice)

b. A People With No Knowledge (4:1b-3)                                  Elohim

c. The Sins of the Priesthood (4:4-10)

(1a). punishment (4:4-5)

(b). “my people” misled (4:6a)

(a'). punishment (4:6b)

                                                                        ------------------------                         Yahweh and Elohim

                                                            (2a). punishment (4:7)

(b). “my people” misled (4:8-9)

(a'). punishment (4:10)

b'. A People With No Understanding (4:11-14)                          Elohim

a'. Concluding Warning “O Israel” (4:15-1                                     Yahweh (twice)

The opening “O people of Israel” is neatly balanced with the concluding summons “O Israel.”

Look at sections b and b': God starts out condemning the people for lack of knowledge and ends up accusing them of lack of understanding (or wisdom.) What is the distinction between the two? Can you have one without the other?

Enhancing the symmetry of this section is the careful placement of names for the God. “Elohim” occurs three times in the passage, once each in sections b, c, and b'. Similarly, “Yahweh” appears five times, twice each in the first and last sections and once at the end of the center section c.

Figure 4: Cycle II, Section B2 (Hosea 4:17-7:1a)

a. Evil Deeds (4:17-5:2)

b. Estrangement (5:3-7)

                                            c. Punishment (5:8-12)

                                            c'. Punishment (5:13-14)

b'. Estrangement (5:15-6:7)

a'. Evil Deeds (6:8-7:1a)

This section ends on a wistful note with God longing to restore his nation – exactly as the previous section ended (4:16b). God is always willing to give his people a second chance.

Figure 5: Cycle II, Section B3 (Hosea 7:1b-8:14)

a. Israel's Sins: Turning against God and to Other Nations (7:1b-16)

(1). sin (7:1-11)

(2). judgment (7:12-13)

(1'). sin (7:14-16)

a'. Israel's Sins: Turning to Other Gods and Rulers (8:1-14)

(1). sin (8:1-4)

(2). judgment (8:5-10)

(1'). sin (8:11-14)

What can we learn from these broad overviews of the book? In the first place, it is impossible to miss the close connection between sin and subsequent judgment by God; it is a simple cause-and-effect relationship.

In Figure 3, twice sin is bracketed by punishments whereas in Figure 5 punishment sections are twice bracketed by sin sections.

And in Figure 4 we see that there is an intermediate state: estrangement from God. A person who is estranged from God misses out on the blessings of fellowship with him and his people and is in danger of God's actual punishment.

We can also see that each of these three subsections in chapters 4-8 of the book deal with a different class of people under condemnation. Working backwards, in Figure 5 (chapters 7-8), the main audience for this denunciation is the political leadership of Israel who entered into unholy alliances with pagan nations rather than relying on God for their sole strength. The key words king and prince appear a total of ten times in this section.

Section B2 (Figure 4) is unusual in the book of Hosea because it includes the Southern Kingdom Judah in God's denunciation as well as Israel.

That brings us back to Chapter 4, our specific lesson for today. Here (Figure 3) the centerpiece of the structure concerns not the political leaders but the religious leaders of the nation.

Section c. can be subdivided into two halves. In each, the priests' effect on the people is bracketed by appropriate punishments. In Unit c(1), the judgment falls on both the previous generation (mothers--vs. 5b) and subsequent generation (children--vs. 6b). There is a similar symmetry to Unit c(2): it begins with the priests increasing (vs. 7a) and concludes with them not multiplying (vs. 10).

With all that prelude, we can now deal specifically with Hosea 4:1-14. You may have a little trouble following me since I will be reading from a fairly literal translation: the New Revised Standard Version. You will find that there is a great deal of variation from translation to translation since the Hebrew original is hard to understand in places and there are a lot of judgment calls to be made.

4:1 God brings a lawsuit against Israel. He acts like both prosecutor and judge. This reminds us of the Book of Job where God is the judge, Satan is the prosecuting attorney, and Job longs for a defense attorney (Christ) to help him.

Faithfulness (genuineness, integrity, reliability) and loyalty (loving-kindness) are key attributes of God. (Compare other translations) They are missing in his covenant people. “There is no conduct in accord with God's revealed will or consistent with his character.”

“No knowledge of God” sounds like an intellectual problem but we will see in the next verse that that isn't true. Here are helpful quotes from three commentators:

“Lack of knowledge of God leads to lack of acknowledgment of God (which is how NIV translates it)”

“Knowledge referred to is the correct apprehension of God and his will for the life of the people in the historical moment, specifically knowing and adhering to divine instruction.”

“To know God thus involves knowledge of His character and requirements, and obedience to these requirements.”

Nature abhors a vacuum so in the absence of real knowledge of God, all sorts of evil creeps in (like Christ's story of someone cleansed of a demon but without anything it in his life, many demons then come in.) One prominent American put it this way: “He who stands for nothing will fall for anything”: Alexander Hamilton.

Sins of omission are listed in this verse, followed by sins of commission in verse 2.

4:2 Half of the 10 commandments are specifically included here. Gordon Fee points out that although Hosea's message is not original, by choosing only half of the Ten Commandments, shortening them to one word each, and quoting them out of order, they have a certain freshness in the mind of the audience, who is more likely to think about what is being said than if the Ten Commandments were simply quoted. A good preacher does the same thing, presenting old truths in brand new ways.

“Lying” shows that the commandment to not bear false witness (legal setting) has broader implications.

Adultery elsewhere in Hosea is usually used as a metaphor, here it is literal.

“Break out” is a verb used for violent acts such as armed robbery. It may be a separate sin. If so, then there are ten sins are listed between verses 1-2.

“Bloods touch bloods” is the literal rendering of the last line.

4:3 Drought appears to be the specific reference here. All nature suffers for the sins and ignorance of the people. Creatures of air, land and sea are impacted. Can you think of any other times in the Bible when the sins of the people lead to an impact on creation? Parallel to Genesis 3 for curse on the land due to mankind's sin, Also in the time of Noah. During the plagues of Egypt the firstborn of all the animals were killed along with the humans. And in Romans 8, Paul talks about the very earth groaning for salvation.

Specific “ecological sins” can take many forms—wasting the valuable resources God has given us, polluting the land and sea, wiping out endangered species around the world. I think of people in the Far East who out of ignorance ingest powdered rhino horns because they think they will cure diseases or enhance their sexual prowess. The bottom line: sin cannot be compartmentalized. It has wide consequences for those around us and even the world in general.

4:4 Translators have trouble with this verse. NIV renders it in a totally different manner. The meaning is probably that no one but the prophet Hosea needs to accuse the priests of sin since he will do it in God's name. Who is to blame for lack of knowledge of God? It is the priests and false prophets. The chief priest may be in mind here or the priest of one of the central temples, or all the priesthood.

4:5-6 Here are three alternating accusations and judgments using a key word from the accusations each time: destroy, reject, forget (ignore). “Forget” in 6b means more than not being able to recall some fact; it means “to ignore its significance so that it no longer guides a person to the proper response.”

Mention of a mother being destroyed and children forgotten goes back to story of Hosea and his family in the previous chapter. Some commentators take “mother and children” as literal, citing the example of Amos (7:10-17) who cursed the priest Amaziah and his wife and children. But “mother” in this case may mean the tribe of Levi from which all the priests came, or the nation Israel. “Knowledge (2x in v. 6)” in Hebrew is “the knowledge” indicating that some specific knowledge is meant, i.e. knowledge of God.

Bring it down to today. How do spiritual leaders today keep the knowledge of God from those they should be leading? (selective quoting of scripture, denying portions of the Bible, substituting other scriptures or authoritative sources, poor exegesis, teaching that Bible study is only for the experts, etc.).

4:7 Paul may not have been quoting from Hosea in Romans 1:24-25, but he uses similar language.

“Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the degrading of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator...” As the Bob Dylan song says, “You've gotta serve somebody.” It is always an exchange.

4:8 There is a pun here. The same word in Hebrew can be translated either sin or sin-offering. Literally, the more the people sinned, the more they needed to give animal sacrifices, which the priests got a portion of. The priests actually profit by keeping the people in bondage to sin. Some Christian leaders do the same thing today using either the carrot or the stick.

In the church I grew up in: preachers would constantly instill guilt feelings in the congregation if they didn't attend all services and give substantially to the church. When I was in graduate school I visited a church that was having a guest speaker: a pastor who had a radio program (The Word by Word) and ran a small Christian college. He browbeat a small congregation I visited and actually told them that he was more righteous than they were since he was in full-time ministry and they weren't. Guilt is out of fashion today so the carrot is usually used. There are TV preachers who are constantly asking for money to support their ministry and even hold out the promise of financial gain the more one gives.

The obvious question at this point is, shouldn't the people get off free because their problems are solely the fault of their religious leaders? Shouldn't we be able to blame or pastors if we don't know enough about God?

4:9 gives the answer NO. The people are just as guilty. And if they were guilty back then, we are twice as guilty today and have no excuse. We have access to the word directly. Also God's spirit dwells within us. Look at the Jeremiah 31:31-34 prophecy of the New Covenant: “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other 'Know the Lord,' for they shall all know me.”

4:10-11 Drunkenness and use of temple prostitutes characterized Baal worship.

4:12 The next sin condemned is divination, trying to determine one's future by the use of magical devices. I once had a Sunday school teacher who swore by astrology and thought she could continue to practice it and be a good Christian, too.

4:13 zeroes in on actual idol worship. As it has often been pointed out, the idols we have are not so easy to identify but they are idols nevertheless.

4:14 Two explanations have been given for lack of condemnation of the women: (1) The first phrase should add the word “only” to give intended meaning. (2) Others feel that the woman were not condemned because they were forced into ritual prostitution. However, there is no evidence for this sort of practice.

This is not announcement of a coming judgment but to explain an existing situation.

One sign of false religion in Hosea's time was ritual sex. Still happens today—There was a recent example nearby where I live in Texas of some college students who joined a cult that practiced deviant sex as part of their worship.

Application Question: What are some of the more common signs of “sick” religions and their effects on those who follow them? (How do you recognize them?)

All-inclusive (no discernment between truth and falsehood)

Exclusive (judgmental toward outsiders, sin of pride, control by leader, stifling)

Supplementing the Bible with extra sources of truth (ends up devaluing the Bible)

Weakening the authority of Bible (ends up questioning the whole thing)

Reliance on ritual (form is more important than substance)

COLOSSIANS 2

Colossians 2:8-23

I may talk around these verses rather than addressing them directly today. That is so we can concentrate

 on a question found in our quarterly: “Would you be able to identify a false teaching about Jesus if you

 heard one?” We can generalize that question to refer to discernment on any teachings on spiritual

 subjects. One problem with those who have been attending a good church for years is that you may be

 surrounded by very trustworthy sources (pastors and S.S. teachers) so that you can start to lose the

 ability to weigh ideas for ourselves by going back to the source. Warning—I'm not one of those

 trustworthy sources. This morning I will expose you to some ideas that are probably true, some that

 may or may not be, and some that are definitely false. Put up your antennas and use your discernment

 to decide for yourself whether these are from God or not.

False teaching comes from one basic source, Satan. And it usually manifests itself in one of two ways:

 (1) misinterpreting or twisting the Scriptures themselves or

(2) relying on a source outside the Bible as authoritative. This seems to be the main problem with the

 Colossians.

In approaching this book, one problem to face right off the bat is that the natural paragraph divisions

 don't really match up with the chapter divisions in our modern Bibles. That is not a problem with the 

inspiration of the Bible, merely a reflection on the archbishop of Canterbury in 1227 AD who came up

 with those divisions.

Another problem comes from a perceived (1) lack of clear logical order to the book, (2) often a lack of

 chronological progression, (3) unnecessary repetitions, and (4) taking up subjects, interrupting with

 other material and then resuming subject. All of this has led to a THEORY of multiple sources, long

 periods of time for its creation, and a series of editors.

Schools of form criticism, source criticism, historical criticism, literary criticism, linguistic criticism.

There is nothing wrong with the word criticism (it just means careful investigation). But these schools 

of thought were driven by highly skeptical scholars using some very dubious assumptions, which leads

 to destroying any credibility one might have in the Word as inspired. But some of the particular 

phenomena they point out can't be denied.

About 25 years ago a trend began, especially among more conservative Bible scholars—schools of 

thought known as canonical criticism or new literary criticism. They said, let's start with the Bible in 

the form it is now and assume that a single intelligence is behind each book. Maybe the problem isn't 

with the books themselves, but in our inability to fully understand how they were composed. The key

 was the realization that a basic principle of all scripture is repetition. Important ideas and events are

 almost never given just once, but usually are repeated, often in a very regular manner. As a simple 

example, just consider Biblical poetry.

Here is one randomly chosen example:

    The LORD will keep you from all evil;

    He will keep your life. Ps. 121:7

Note that the same basic thought in the first line is repeated in the second line with minor variations.

And this same format appears throughout the Bible in even more complicated variations.

Here is one way to diagram the book of Colossians with the similar Roman numerals and indentation 

indicating the presence of parallel thoughts and wording.

 

The Structure of Colossians

I. Opening Greetings (1:1-2)

II. Fruit of the Gospel and Prayer (1:3-14)

III. God the Reconciler (1:15-20)

IV. Our Holiness (1:21-23)

V. Christ in You (1:24-2:7)

                                                                    VI. False Teachings (2:8-23)

                                                            V'. Raised with Christ (3:1-4)

IV'. The Old and New Natures (3:5-17)

III'. Transformed Relationships (3:18-4:1)

II'. Living the Christian Life in Prayer (4:2-6)

I'. Final Greetings (4:7-18)

Today's lesson (Section VI), with its warnings against false teachings, comprises the important, central composition in the letter, and is quite different in tone from the rest of the epistle. This section can itself be seen to possess a symmetry of its own.

Structure of Section VI

A. Christ vs. Elemental Spirits (2:8)

    B. The Fullness of Christ (2:9-10)

        C. Our Identification with Christ (2:11-12)

        C'. Our Identification with Christ (2:13-14)

    B'. The Fullness of Christ (2:15-19)

A'. Christ vs. Elemental Spirits (2:20-23)

In A and A', Paul takes potshots at:

Philosophy = intellectual Gentile exercises; Human tradition=Jewish traditions. In either case, human

 ideas = not divine revelation.

There is an interesting Greek word (stoicheia) translated as “basic principles of the world” or

 “elemental spirits.” Any other translations?:

(1) a basic element (Read 2 Peter 3:10—But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the

 heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire..”). Therefore,

 paying more attention to the creation rather than the creator.

2. Evil spirits or demons described in Gal. 4:8-9—“Formerly, when you did not

    know God, you were enslaved to beings that by nature are not gods. Now,

    however, that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God

    how can you turn back again to the weak and beggarly elemental spirits?”

3. Stoicheia may also be translated as a first step, the ABC's. Thus, Paul may be

    referring to the Old Testament laws and customs, which have been fulfilled or

    superceded by Christ's coming.

Regarding vs. 23, we recently had the season of Lent, which many Christians observe. Does strict

 observance of Lent curb the fleshly appetites if it is preceded every year by observance of Mardi Gras?

Sections B and B'

v. 9 “Fullness of the Deity” states that Jesus is wholly God while “bodily” indicates that he was wholly

 man. Anything less than this is heresy. Interestingly, Jehovah Witnesses will say that Jesus is deity, but

 not God.

v. 10 We are not divine like Christ, but our salvation in Him is lacking nothing.

------

v. 15 One aspect of Christ's work on the cross: disarming all the powers of evil.

Sections C and C'

vv. 11-12 This is the only place in the Bible where baptism and circumcision appear together, and they

 are contrasted rather than equated (contra those who use the analogy of circumcision to teach infant

 baptism). Inner circumcision by God who cuts out our old heart.

vv. 13-14 Second aspect of Christ's work on the cross: saving us from our sins.

vv. 14 Picture is one of an IOU being torn up.

But what about those who believe in other authoritative sources of spiritual truth outside the Bible. Let's

 try an interesting exercise to help put yourself in the mindset of early Christians in the first century AD

 who did not have a universally recognized canon of writings called the Bible. I will read a number of 

passages from various sources, and I would like you to give me your comments regarding their

 teachings. We will see if you have the gift of discernment.

Didache, The Teachings of the Twelve Apostles (100AD)

“Thus shall you baptize: baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit in

 running water. But if you do not have running water, then baptize in still water; and if you are not able

 to baptize in cold water, then use warm water. But if you have neither, then pour water on the head

 three times in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. But before the baptism let

 him that baptizes and him who is baptized and any others also who are able fast... for a day or two

 beforehand.”

Gospel of Thomas (130-150AD)

“The harvest is indeed great, but the laborers are few, but pray the Lord to send laborers into the

 harvest.”

(same as Luke 10:2)

“A city built upon a high mountain and fortified cannot fall, nor can it be hidden.”

(similar to Matt. 5:14b)

“This heaven shall pass away and the one above it shall pass away and the dead are not alive and the

 living shall not die. In the days when you devoured the dead, you made it alive; when you come into

 light, what will you do? On the day when you were one, you became two. But when you have 

 two, what will you do?” (not at all in the NT, similar to Gnostic teachings)

Psalm 151 (Arab version; This psalm is accepted by the Orthodox Church as being authentic) “I went

 out to meet the Philistine, and he cursed me by his idols. In the strength of the LORD, I cast three

 stones at him. I smote him in the forehead and felled him to the earth. But I drew his own sword and

 beheaded him.” (Not in typical Hebrew poetic format, and contradicted by I Sam. 17—took five stones

 but only threw one)

Infancy Gospel I (several from 2nd-5^th Cent. AD)

And Joseph, wherever he went in the city, took the Lord Jesus with him, when he was sent for to make

 gates, or milk pails or sieves or boxes. And as often as Joseph had anything in his work that needed to

 be longer or shorter or wider or narrower, the Lord Jesus would stretch his hand toward it. And

 immediately it became as Joseph wanted it. So that Joseph had no need to finish anything with his 

 hands, for he was not very skillful at his carpenter's trade. (total fabricated nonsense)

2 Esdras 6:42 (part of the Apocrypha, later excluded from the Catholic canon, 80-100AD)

Ezra praying to God, “On the third day you did command the waters to be gathered together in the

 seventh part of the earth; six parts you did dry up and keep so that some of them might be planted and 

cultivated and be of service before you.” Columbus used this passage in arguing to Ferdinand and 

Isabella that the trip to India would be a short one.

Tobit (2^nd cent. BC book in the Apocrypha referring to 7^th cent. events) contains poltergeists and

 magic potions.

Advice from the arch-angel Raphael: “Do good and evil shall not touch you. Better prayer with

 sincerity, and almsgiving with righteousness, than wealth with wickedness... Almsgiving preserves a

 man from death and wipes out all sin.” (12:8-9) This passage was used to justify the selling of 

indulgences, which helped bring about the Reformation in Germany.

“These signs will accompany those who believe; by using my name they will cast out demons; they

 will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes in their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it

 will not hurt them.” Mark 16:17-18a These verses are not in the oldest copies of Mark's Gospel, see 

 modern translations.

Fourth Maccabees (80-120AD) : accepted by Greek Orthodox Church as part of the canon.

And when the guards said to him, “Consent to eat, so that you may be released from your tortures,” he

 said to them, “Your method, O miserable minions, is not strong enough to lead captive my reason. Cut

 off my limbs, and burn my flesh, and twist my joints; through all the torments I will show you that in

 behalf of virtue the sons of the Hebrews alone are unconquerable.” As he thus spoke, they set hot coals

 upon him besides, and intensifying the torture strained him yet tighter on the wheel. And all the wheel

 was besmeared with his blood, and the heaped coals were quenched by the humours of his body 

dropping down, and the rent flesh ran round the axles of the machine....he groaned not at all but nobly

 endured the torment, saying: “Follow my example, O brothers. Do not desert me, and forswear not our

 brotherhood in nobility of soul. War a holy and honorable warfare on behalf of righteousness, etc, etc.”

Jude 14-15 (from Book of Enoch)

See, the Lord is coming with ten thousands of his holy ones, to execute judgment on all, and to convict

 everyone of all the deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all

 the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him. A non-canonical book is quoted in a NT

 book. Does that mean that everything in that book is the truth? Read Enoch some time and decide for

 yourself.

EXODUS 12

Exodus 12: Passover and Redemption

Passover      Redemption

1. The sacrifice must be a lamb (12:3)

                    Christ was the Lamb of God (I Corinthians 5:7)

2. The lamb must be without spot or blemish (12:5)

                    Christ was without spot or blemish (I Peter 1:18-19)

3. It must be in the prime of existence when offered (12:5)

                    Christ was in the prime of his manhood when offered (33 years)

4. The lamb's blood is shed that they might have life (12:6-7)

                    Christ's blood was shed that all might have life (John 3:16; I Peter 2:24)

5. Each one wishing benefit from the blood must apply it to his door with a bunch of hyssop (12:7,22)

                    Each one wishing benefit from the blood must apply it to his own heart by faith (Romans 3:25-26; I Corinthians 9-10)

6. The blood must be seen from the outside (12:7)

                    Christ must be openly and publicly confessed before men (Matthew 10:32-33)

7. There is no safety except behind the blood-stained doors (12:22)

                    There is no safety except behind the blood of Christ (Mark 16:16)

8. They must feed upon the lamb whose blood had saved them from death (12:8)

                    We must feed upon Christ, whose blood has saved us from death (John 6:53,56)

9. The flesh must be eaten with bitter herbs (12:8)

                    We should constantly remember, in a spirit of contrition, what this redemption cost Christ.

10. The meal must be separated from all leaven (12:8)

                    We must not practice sin, avoiding the appearance of evil (I John 3:9-10)

11. They must maintain the pilgrim attitude; loins girded, shoes on feet, staff in hand (12:1)

                    Those saved by the blood of Christ should maintain a pilgrim attitude in this world (I Peter                     2:11; Hebrews 11:13)