Persisting with Greek

Teaching Greek as a subject is almost equivalent to teaching two subjects in normal offerings. Not only the amount of time for preparation for lectures is intense but delivering the lectures in an interesting manner is another challenge altogether. For the last three weeks we have been looking at Participles, from Present, Aorist and Perfect with its active, middle and passive voice respectively there are more than 10 paradigms to memorize. As participles are used widely in the New Testament, it is essential to understand how participles work in order to begin to exegete any NT passage in question.

But persisting in Greek has its own rewards. Some of the nuances in Greek are almost impossible to translate to English. We translated John 2:1-8 in class today. We have been meeting half an hour earlier to read aloud and parse each verse from the beginning of John's Gospel. Jesus' answer to his mother: "What is it to me and to you, woman?" (2:4) is a mild rebuke that she could no longer expect her son to do her bidding. By calling his mother "Woman" (yune), Jesus probably intended to put a distance between himself and his mother that from thence it would be the Father's will that Jesus would obey.

Revelation Seminar

I have had a wonderful time in Johor Bahru yesterday. From 2pm to 9:15pm at the Holy Light Presbyterian Church I taught the book of Revelation and the End-Times. The eighty participants were great. I received very encouraging feedback. I am so glad that at least five or six people mentioned the chiastic structure I introduced as a most helpful model to understand the structure of the book of Revelation. Questions came thick and fast and I had difficulty in answering some of them. By 8:30pm I felt my feet were cramping. If it went on for another hour, I might not be able to stand upright. For three sessions of 2 hours each, I stood and spoke almost non-stop except for the times when I was interrupted by questions. But the hospitality was great. Many thanks to my good friend, Dr Alex Tang of Random Musings, an elder of the Church for hosting me and organizing such an enjoyable seminar. I have known Dr. Alex for about three years now over the blogosphere but yesterday was the first time I met the Doctor in person.

RSS Feed to my Blog

Recently it has come to my notice that readers of my blog are not able to access in full my blogposts. I have changed my settings and I hope things get better from now on. Thanks to Nick Norelli who noted the problem and mentioned my blog in his blogpost.

Am I a Liberal?

I could not put down Paul Krugman's book The Conscience of a Liberal (2009). I am a fan of American politics for some 30 years now (since the time of President Jimmy Carter). It's really light reading provided you know a little about the concepts of political economy.

Am I a Liberal? In American politics, Yes except for abortion and gay rights. Gays have rights, human rights I won't deny. No one should be persecuted or harassed because of their sexual orientation. But not "rights" that are against the God-ordained order. Marriage is a sacred union between a man and a woman. Not man with man or woman with woman. It's sin against God (Rom 1).

In politics, I am a liberal but in theology I am a conservative. By no means like a typical American Christian conservative (I know this is somewhat a caricature and and there are different shades of American conservatives) but a believer in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the apostolic testimony as attested in the New Testament.

According to Krugman, the Southeners in 1960s were mainly segregationists. And it is in the American South that you find the Bible Belt States. How ironic. Bible-believing Christians who are segregationists. I can't see a bigger contradiction. If held genuinely, how hypocritical! No Bible-believing Christian can be a segregationist. For the cross of Christ has broken down the wall of division between Jews and Gentiles, abolishing the enmity between races and thus making peace. Out of the two, making one new man in Christ. In Christ Jesus, there is neither Jew nor Greek. Neither whites nor blacks. Segregation was the sin of Peter the apostle in Antioch (Gal 2) when he withdrew from fellowship with his non-Jewish brothers. Paul withstood Peter to his face so that the truth of the Gospel might remain with us until today.

I still follow President Obama's progress in the White House with great interest. It's disappointing that Obama might have to backtrack with his health care reforms due to partisanship in Congress, especially now that the Republicans won the 41st Senate seat. If there is a time for political leadership, it is now, Mr President! You have a big majority in the House of Representatives and a solid majority in the Senate. It is the mettle of a great President to do what is right and not what is popular. In any democracy, popular support is important. But populism is a death knell to taking tough decisions for the sake of what is good for the nation, especially the poor and the weak. The poor and the weak need governmental intervention more than the rich and the middle class. That's why despite the high costs and extra taxation on the rich, I am still in favour of a universal health care system. No doubt, all politics is local. No wonder Obama has to focus on jobs, jobs and jobs. But the urgent cannot take the place of the important. This is a historical moment. Only the bold will seize it.

Still on politics, I almost fell out of my chair when I watched Tony Blair gave his testimony on the Iraq Inquiry. He shamelessly said, "I genuinely believe that...Iraq is better off without Saddam Hussein". Ask the families of 1 million Iraqis who lost their lives to war and suicide bombing. Ask the millions who are injured and scarred for life. Ask the majority of Iraqis who have to live in the turmoil of war daily. It's the height of hubris: "I genuinely believe..." Who needs such belief? When Tony Blair first became the British PM in 1997, I had high hopes. But political leaders disappoint and they disappoint greatly. Yet, their decisions affect the nations of the world. I am not expecting miracles. I am a realist. But I am also a believer, not in my own judgment or my intellectual ability (I am no Blairite!!), but in God who is sovereign over all. He can pluck and plant nations. He builds and overthrows kingdoms. No one can say to Him: "Why are you doing thus?" Therefore, it's my prayer that President Obama will not disappoint and for that I can only pray and hope for only time will tell.

Chinese Connection

I don't think I ever suffered from an identity crisis. I am an overseas Chinese who can't speak Mandarin. My Chinese/Mandarin is so bad that I got lost finding my way to Peking University three years ago. My cab driver who spoke Beijing Mandarin was at a total loss to understand my very limited Malaysian Mandarin. I have no ties to China except that my grandmother came from China when she was 17 years old (now she is 92).

Today, I heard a wonderful testimony from a Taiwanese student about her trip to Wenzhou, China last December. It was heart-moving and heart-warming. She talked about how Taiwanese like herself and mainland Chinese have their political differences, but going to China and serving the Christians there have changed her perspectives on China and the Chinese.

I was reminded how as a young Christian I used to pray regularly for China using Patrick Johnstone's Operation World. I even had a map of China and laid hands on it while praying for the Middle Kingdom.

I can't understand why I happened to be a Chinese. God's purpose is still unfolding and I wait with eager expectation of what He has prepared for me. After my conversion in NZ, I worshipped in a Kiwi Caucasian church. In Sabah, Malaysia I joined a tribal Church with me a stand-out or one born out of time, the only ordained Chinese pastor among 300 full-time workers. Only now in Singapore, my ministry is mainly among the Chinese (Singaporean Chinese). I have only one mainland Chinese student in my Greek 2 class.

O China! What do I have to do with you? May the Lord bless His people in China. Even as China rises economically and politically, may the Church in China rise to fulfill God's purpose for China and the world for Jesus' sake.

Lecturer as Minor Poet

After the intensity of preparing for my lectures on 1 Corinthians and a seminar on Revelation this coming weekend, I thought I'd read something light. Sitting on my desk is a book I borrowed from the library called, The Pastor as Minor Poet: Texts and Subtexts in the Ministerial Life by M. Craig Barnes (Eerdmans, 2009). But a passage caught my eyes as I read (p. 48):

Even the most cursory reading of Scripture reveals that God is not easy on those called into ministry. It even seems as though some get overused in the biblical drama. By the end of their lives, Abraham, Moses, David, all of the prophets, Paul, and all the disciples were scarred over from their wounds. The apostles had been kicked out of most towns in the Roman Empire, often with a shower of stones behind them. At the end, when Paul was imprisoned and presumably executed in Rome, the success of his life's work in founding churches was hardly secure....There isn't a single battered leader in the Scriptures who would have opted out of the story simply because it costs so much to be used by God. That's because they had discovered Paul's surpassing joy. How did they do that? By paying attention to holy drama within their own souls, which was the only way they could be of sacred use to the people they were called to serve.

This afternoon the burden of delivering a series of lectures on 1 Corinthians was overwhelming in many ways. How can one explain the great apostle's thought penned 2,000 years ago but now translated for us who live in the 21st century? The problems faced by the Corinthian church are equally seen writ large in today's churches. The dissensions over charismatic leaders or church disunity, the favouring of the theology of glory over the theology of the cross, the plenora of gifts but exercised by mostly soulish and fleshly Christians (1 Cor 2-3), the laxity of sexual purity requirements, the neglect of church discipline (1 Cor 5-6), the subverting of God's order (1 Cor 11:3) and the chaotic worship (1 Cor 14), all these one way or another mark out today's Christians and Churches as much as their first century Corinthian counterparts.

Who is adequate to speak God's Word in this age and generation? I felt a real sense of weakness and unworthiness as I tried to answer the many questions from the class at the last half an hour. I can only testify as Craig Barnes so nicely put it: I have also experienced in my soul the divine drama and as a participant in it I pray that I could be of some sacred use to those I minister and called to serve, my students and my friends.

Revealing Revelation

I had a few moments of doubt last week, perhaps I should not have agreed to give a Seminar on Revelation in JB this weekened. Then yesterday I had a chance meeting with a DTh candidate from India at the library counter and he told me how his friend who followed my CDCM class on Revelation last year (Sept-Nov) was excited about the book and he himself would want to get down to study it seriously. I thought to myself that perhaps my efforts were not in vain after all.

I plan to offer the book of Revelation as an elective (BD/MDiv) in 2012. Why 2012? Because I just don't think it will be the end of the world then as some have claimed. Nonetheless, it is probably timely in 2012 to teach the course at a 3rd Year MDiv level over 14 weeks, more than double the time afforded in the CDCM course. In fact, after 2012 I intend to offer the Acts of the Apostles in 2013, if the Lord still tarries.

Preaching last Sunday on the prophetic call of Jeremiah, I realized that if there is such a church called to be a prophetic community it is the church or churches of John's Revelation. The two witnesses are not just the two olive trees but they are also the two lampstands (Rev 11:4). In Revelation the lampstand (menorah) is a symbol of the church (Rev 1:20). The seven angels of the seven churches are the prophets-pastors of the churches as I have argued elsewhere with John, being the chief prophet.

The phrase that rings the book in the beginning of the narration of the end-time events and at Jesus' (second) coming is "the testimony of Jesus Christ" in Rev 1:2, 9 and Rev 19:10, the latter verse in ch. 19 concludes the book with sevel seals and introduces the new scene of the heaven opening and a white horse coming with the armies of heaven (19:11-16).

The enigmatic angelic pronoucement that "the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy" has spanned many comments and commentaries. As I was preparing my sermon for Sunday I came to the understanding that the phrase should be interpreted as meaning the testimony given by Jesus is the prophetic spirit in that the words of Jesus act as the conduit of the prophetic spirit to the churches and through the churches to the world. This is further supported by the inclusio found in the seven letters to the seven churches in Rev 2-3 where in the beginning of each letter what Jesus says is also what the Spirit would say to the churches which serves as the refrain at the close of each letter. The words of Jesus are prophetic and these words channel the prophetic spirit that nourishes the Church just as the fresh oil from the two olive trees is poured into the golden lampstand (Zech 4).

In the book of Revelation, the two olive trees are the individual prophets of the End-times who are anointed with God's Spirit for they stand in the presence of the Lord of the whole earth (Rev 11:4). In turn, these two prophets channel their prophetic spirit to the churches symbolized by the two lampstands. This should not surprise us as we find that God could take a portion of His Spirit that was on Moses and impart that to seventy elders who then prophesied (Num 11:25).

The figure two is the number for valid testimony for as it is written let everything be established by two or three witnesses (2 Cor 13:1; Heb 10:28). The churches (the two lampstands) led by the two prophets (the two olive trees) will testify to word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ for they are those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus (Rev 12:17). The Church in step with its prophetic leaders thus becomes the prophetic community of the End-times, boldly testifying and prophesying in the last three and a half years before the return of the Lord (Rev 11:3, 6, 7).

The Church's Prophetic Calling

Last Sunday I had the privilege of preaching on the life of Jeremiah and his prophetic calling based on a given text for the day: Jer 1:4-10. Although I prepared the sermon in such a way to elucidate the text in the context of Jeremiah's time and the specific calling of God on the prophet Jeremiah himself, I found myself constantly during the delivery of the sermon to speak on how Jeremiah's prophetic calling can also serve as an example of the Church's prophetic calling.

For sure, not every Christian is called to be a prophet and I cited texts from Eph 4:11-13 and 1 Cor 12:28 to prove that. Yet, the Church as the corporate body of Christ has a prophetic role, namely to speak prophetically first within the Church (internal self-criticism) but secondly and equally importantly to speak prophetically to society within a nation. In fact, Jeremiah's call to be a prophet to the nations can be seen as a blueprint for the church to serve as the prophetic voice to the world, the non-believing nations of this world.

This prophetic call is usually taken up by the leaders of the church. Leaders, preachers and pastors thus must speak prophetically (every sermon should have some prophetic dimension to it) to the church - to admonish, to warn and to rebuke when necessary if members of the church fall out of line with orthodoxy or orthopraxy.

Rarer still is the prophetic voice of the church heard in the nation. It seems muted at best. Whenever there is some controversial issue needing clear guidance from church leaders, sometimes it is not forthcoming soon enough and when it is spoken it is often too late to be of any use to anyone. The water has passed under the bridge, as they say. On occasions, instead of making an intelligent response to some issues facing the church and the nation, many choose to remain silent since silence probably is seen as the safe policy, but not necessarily an approach approved by the Lord. Sometimes a statement purportedly coming from leaders may prove counter-productive and put a dampener on the church's enthusiasm or zeal for the cause of the Lord. Instead of providing some intelligent answers and pastoral counsel, some statements are mere commands to toll the line and are in short gag orders. No wonder some church members are much discouraged when the prophetic dimension of leadership is missing and found wanting.

I am not saying that we are to be fool-hardy and that everytime a controversial issue crops out, we blurt out something for the sake of making noise or taking a stand. There are times silence and patience is indeed the solution and the storm would soon blow over. Making noise can be counter productive, it may be even dangerous to the church if society views the church in a skewed manner due to our lack of wisdom and perceived verbosity. But acting wisely and circumspectly does not negate the fact that the church must also be bold and courageous in its witness.

God had to tell Jeremiah: "Do not be afraid of them. I shall be with you to deliver you." (Jer 1:8). The prophet will encounter opposition. The prophetic calling will have its detractors. How often because of fear, our response is muted or compromised. We fear what other people may think. We are afraid what the authorities may think. We are more concerned with our reputations rather than the Lord's honour.

Exercising a prophetic calling means that there are times we must challenge the powers to be with the truth of our convictions and our ideals. If Christians do not have ideals and convictions, we are most to be pitied. Why pretend to live righteously if nothing is worth defending and nothing is worth staking a claim?

Let me be clear on this. We are not rabble rousers nor trouble makers, but we are the mouthpiece of the Lord to speak the Word to this generation. God's Word spoken in season is God's will. We speak with the words of our testimony, convincing the world of the truth and rightness of our cause. And our cause is one that is aligned with the Word of the Lord, because God alone is worthy of our worship and of Him alone we must testify and to Him alone we must give account.

I ended my sermon by referring to a current issue of the ethnic groups segregating within a particular area and even within a block of flats. To overcome this, it has been suggested that there must be quota system when different races are allocated residences so that there is a mixture of ethnic groups or races within each block of flats. While the policy is commendable, I doubt it will really promote integration within the community. People can simply lock themselves up and gather with their kind a few blocks down the road and ignore others who are different culturally from them. They may show courtesy to neighbours of a different race but that is only superficial.

Real integration among races will only take place when one ethnic group takes the initiative to get to know people from a different ethnic group. This responsibility falls mainly on the local population and the majority group to be hospitable, to open one's houses to welcome foreigners and minorities in their midst. But alas it is sad to say this happens rarely. I think Christians bear some blame for this. Because most have not practised hospitality. Ask yourself this simple question. When was the last time you invited a foreigner into your house for a meal? Or perhaps befriending a foreigner or a migrant worker is something furthest from your mind? What about the new faces you see in church? Have you extended a hand of friendship to them? Let us not love in words or speech, but in truth and action (1 John 3:18).

Master of Theology in NT

The deadline for registration for admission to TTC for international students is 31st Jan 2010. This coming new academic year starting July 2010 we expect to have a good number of MTh candidates in the New Testament. There are more than 10 applicants for July entry and we are now in the process of determining their qualifications. My task is basically to mark their research or qualifying essays in order to gauge their suitability in pursuing postgraduate study in the New Testament.

For the incoming students and those interested and could not make it this time round, I have a number of suggestions. First, ensure your Greek is up to standard. I have found most MTh candidates having to work hard in their Greek, most having to audit the language classes.

Second, read the most recent commentaries in the area of your research interest. For instance, a number of massive commentaries in Romans have been published in recent years including ones by Charles Talbert, Douglas Moo and Robert Jewett (more than 1,000 pages). Older commentaries by James Dunn (1988), Kasemann and FF Bruce are still excellent. Few years ago, Thomas Tobin wrote an excellent book on Romans, The Argument of Romans (2004) though I disagree with many of his inferences and conclusions that Paul had significantly changed his theology from the time of Galatians (50 AD) to the writing of Romans (58AD).

Third, read the latest journals on offer. Journal articles are the cutting-edge of research and you can see how the trend of scholarship develops by reading journals.

Reveling in Romans

I almost missed my bus-stop home tonight. I was reveling in Romans during my bus-ride and reflecting on Paul's exhortation that Roman Christians welcomed one another as Christ has welcomed them for the glory of God (Rom 15:7). Often we miss the last part of a sentence like this one which gives the theological rationale why we should accept one another - it is because Christ has welcomed us in the first place as sinners and now redeemed by grace and that welcoming one another glorifies God. God is glorified when we do not leave out the weak or despise them either for their theological naivety or scruples on matters that are not core to the gospel.

For the past three weeks I have been wrestling with Romans after reading Galatians which is Romans' younger twin companion of Pauline thought and theology.

Paul's appeal that we do not conform to this age (the Greek word aioni [dative of aionos] here is better translated "age" rather the "world") cuts deep into the entrenched cultural values that encapsulate the spirit of this age. I was meditating on this this evening and that alone requires much interpretive effort as Paul lays a principle without going into the specifics. Perhaps this is the beauty of Paul's thought so that each generation will wrestle with what these cultural values are that contradict our confession of God and the call to present our bodies as living sacrifice to God as "logical service" (logiken latreian). There are things in this age that go against "logic", against our reasonable worship or service to God. What I reflect on this, a number of things came to mind.

Recently there has been much press attention on the risk of beauty treatment including surgery. Today's Straits Times advertised that doctors offered body sculpting including liposuction and plastic surgery to enhance appearance and reduce weight. But the word of God tells us that what matters is the heart and not outward appearance for God looks into the heart and not outward appearance. Yet appearance and outward things are preached around the pulpits today. Since we are the King's kids we should wear branded clothes and nothing less than the best is worthy of Christ's ambassadors, so they claim. Not only is prosperity gospel being preached but alongside wealth now we have "the gospel of eternal youth". You can stay young if you believe in Christ. Just take the holy communion more often, do it daily and do it yourself at home and you can stay youthful, so they claim. Tertullian's idea of the eucharist as "the medicine of eternal immortality" is taken as the antidote to aging and sickness. Tertullian must be turning in his grave.

"Do not be conformed to this age" but be transformed by the renewal of the mind is a call to intellectual integrity in thinking after Christ for we have the mind of Christ and to think in a manner that conforms to the will of God is an imperative, of what is good acceptable and perfect.

To be transformed by the renewal of our minds is an inward work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts and minds producing in us a renewed intellectual ability to think God-ward and reject the patterns and values of this age.

The call for mind's transformation is not a call for us to transform culture because the culture of this world cannot be transformed for it is subject to the elemental spirits of this age or in John's terminology "under the power of the prince of the world". What can be transformed are human lives held captive under the cultural mores of this world that are anti-God. These cultural mores are a result of sin, of human beings' trangression and rebellion against God. The culture of this world will only be transformed when more and more people are redeemed by Christ to become His sons and daughters and by living in the world as light and salt, the world is thus transformed in a measure.

We cannot transform the entertainment culture by becoming entertainers ourselves because that would put us under the same power that hold entertainment culture captive to sin and ungodliness. We cannot convert the rock singers of this world by becoming rock singers ourselves. We cannot rescue these semi-nude dancers by becoming semi-nude dancers ourselves. We can rescue them not by becoming like them but by preaching or testfying to the gospel of Christ's redeeming grace. Do not be conformed to this world means we do not dress like the world, speak like the world, think like the world or live like the world. With our minds renewed after Christ, we will indeed be ready to put on the full armour of God with our feet shod with the gospel of peace for even as Paul says, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach good news" (Rom 10:15).